Restaurant notes: Two debuts on St. Pat's Day

No time like the present, right?

Two pubs have picked March 17 -- one of the busiest drinkin' days of the year -- for their rollouts.

In the works for nearly 15 months, 1518 Bar & Grill is serving a moderate-priced Greek-influenced pub menu (lunch and dinner daily) and 10 beers on tap beneath behind-the-bar TVs in a narrow storefront at 1518 Sansom St. (267-639-6851), next to Oyster House, beneath a portion of Nodding Head, and a couple of doors from Oscar's and Ladder 15.

Owner Willy Bouikidis used to run Race Street Pizza at 13th and Race Streets from 1976 to 2006, when the Convention Center expansion displaced them. His chef at 1518 is Agron Hajdari, last in England. Here are the lunch and dinner menus.

In the works for less than seven weeks is the Farmers' Cabinet, a spacious pub in the former Joe Pesce space at 1113 Walnut St. (215-923-1113) -- in the thick of Celtic country, next to the Irish Pub and across from Moriarty's.

It's the latest from husband-and-wife team Matt and Colleen Swartz and partner Matt Scheller, who also own Fork & Barrel in East Falls. The double-wide property is subtly divided into a beer side and a Victorian side. The beer side is dominated by a wall of 26 taps (22 will be used at first, and four will be added when brewmaster Terry Hawbaker starts making beers in his "nano-brewery," a two-barrel system in the kitchen and visible from the dining room). There's also a walk-up meat and cheese counter. Also on that side are long tables, random hanging beams, and barrels for show. The cocktail side, done up in damask, has a Victorian-style cocktail bar and more sumptuous seating.

Chef Peter Felton's rustic, farm-type menu is priced from $5 to $32. Opening hours will be 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily; lunch and brunch will be added. Menu is here. Cocktail/beer menu is here.

Bring a flashlight. What these kids save in electricity, they spend in candles.