The apocalypse, as a restaurant theme
How is this for quirky? At Mad Rex, "you'll feel like you've come to the end of the world."
If you're looking for quirky restaurant themes, here's a Revelation.
A restaurant is being planned next to the Fillmore, at Frankford and Delaware Avenues.
Where Hard Rock Cafe does music and Rainforest Cafe re-creates the jungle, Mad Rex's theme, says its creator, will be the post-apocalypse.
How's that?
"You'll feel like you've come to the end of the world," Michael Johnigean said.
Mad Rex's decor, he said, will reflect the aftermath of disaster, including cracked floors and perhaps the shell of a crashed helicopter. The place will have three large theaters.
In a virtual-reality lounge, patrons will recline in wheelchairs, sipping drinks through a straw (but set up like an IV drip), while "experiencing" earthquakes and other disasters, Johnigean said. He describes it as a "rustic, industrial but luxury setting with a survivor's menu inspired by mother nature."
Butchers will work in full view, carving meats and poultry. Some cooking will be done on heated black rocks or Himalayan salt blocks.
He said Philadelphia would be the first city to get a Mad Rex, and "it's ready for it."
But wait. There's more.
Next door, Johnigean is planning Urban EEL — as in "Entertainment Eatery and Lounge." The American menu will include dishes made in a wood-fired oven, sushi, and pizza.
There will be a cigar bar and an 8,000-gallon salt-water tank stocked with moray eels. For show, not for dinner. Both restaurants are due this spring, he said.