Restaurant notes: Menus for Starr's Dandelion
Stick to your ribs.
Restaurant notes: Menus for Starr's Dandelion
Michael Klein, Philly.com
Stephen Starr is eyeing the week of Dec. 27* for the opening of The Dandelion, his English pub occupying the former Stiletto shoe store and Mantra restaurant space at 18th and Sansom Streets.
Starr's PR machine is beginning to dribble out details.
Click to peek at chef Robert Aikens' lunch and dinner menus. Prices have not be announced.
You'll note Aikens' stick-to-your-ribness: charcuterie offerings (chicken and duck liver parfait, grape chutney, cornichons, brioche toast, and a Berkshire pork pate with wheat toast, celeriac remoulade and shallot pear chutney); duck bolognese with pappardelle and fried duck egg; mac-and-cheese amped by ham hock; braised beef short rib & onion cottage pie; fish and chips; Cumberland sausages, mashed potato & onion gravy; and rabbit, root vegetable, bacon and prune pie; grilled mackerel; and chicken and beef roasts "on Sundays and bank holidays." All washed down with specialty beverages from the U.K., including Luscombe's.
* But he may open as early as Christmas Eve.
A real English pub is a reasonably priced, community place for people to linger, not an Epcot-style theme pub. I suspect real, regular people will not be able to afford to eat here.— buca- "buca" may have a point, but there have been upscale and "gastropubs" in London for many years now. It's also true that "real" tapas bars in Spain are usually crowded holes-in-the-wall where you tussle with the locals to get your order in. "Real" cuisine (and especially the real local experience) doesn't travel well.— Addison Waverly
- As an english person, I would love to have a proper english pub in Philly. I don't think this will be it. There's plenty of gastropubs in Philly already, I would have thought that an english pub would be a good opportunity to open somewhere with simple, good food, since the best english food is just that.— Rob80
- I, for one look forward to some excellent versions of English dishes. It doesn't have to "be" one thing or another, just good food and good fun. Looks like it may be both.— LoriNJ
- The Waverly Dandelion....read recently Starr doesn't create he repackages— justMarge
