Yum Yum Philly! wine, cheese, beer and a cozy bar

Just off Rittenhouse Square, we found Tria, a wine, cheese and beer cafe.  We were looking for something with small bites, and it was perfect.

We started with a selection of bruschetta, all of which feature one of their gourmet cheeses: Birchrun Blue and Spiced Lancaster Pear Butter, Pistachio Herbed Ricotta with Lavender Honey and Goat Cheese with Garlic and Basil Pesto.  All were good, and not expensive ($3-$4 for two nice pieces, so perfect for sharing!) After that we moved on to some small plates, (Roasted Beets with Bulgarian Feta Cheese, Olive Oil Rosemary Potato Chips with Truffle Aioli) but the standout of the night for me was the Truffled Egg Toast with Fontina Cheese.

Seriously. Ridiculously good.

 In addition to the delicious eats, we also had delicious drinks.  They have a very respectable beer list and wine list, both reasonably priced.   They do not accept reservations, so expect to hang with a glass of wine at the bar on a busy night.  Or, what the heck, just stay and eat at the bar like we did.

We are nightcap people, so after dinner we stopped at a little pub just around the corner from the hotel, called The Black Sheep.

We just had a few whiskeys there, but it was totally cozy with a good jukebox, and the bartender was  friendly.  They also have an interesting menu, which means that we'll just have to go back down to Philly sometime soon.  There just aren't enough meals in the day!!!

Hoppy Christmas! Monk's Cafe: A bit of Belgium in Philly.

One of our goals this trip was to check out some of Philly's beer bars, the first of which was Monk's.

First of all, in addition to the food menu, there are THREE beer menus, one for the front bar draught list, one for the back bar draught list, and this insane booklet called Monk's Beer Bible which looks like a hefty church program but is actually a beer version of a wine list.  It's nearly 20 pages of bottle beers, by far the largest selection of Belgian beers I have ever seen in one place.  And they have others too, from all over the world, and at a wide variety of prices.  It also has a beer glossary and tells you a bit about how beer is made, and what the difference is between all of the brews.  It's pretty cool, and you can buy one to take home for $3.

In addition to drinking several of the yummy and imnteresting beers they have, we also ate there.  The food was for the most part, really great, and not your run-of-the-mill  bar fare.  We started with veal cheeks braised in Abbaye de Val Dieu Brown Ale with vegetables, spanish olives & herbs, and sea scallops topped with a beurre blanc made with the Monk's house flemish sour ale, shallots, chervil and butter, both were outstanding.  My dining companion got the mussels, which seem to be a speciality there because they have eight different preparations.  I got a trout dish which was okay, but the mussels were fantastic.  There are also lamb, duck, and frogs legs dishes on the menu, many of which are prepared with beer so it's a fun place to pair some interesting food and drink.  And they have there own house label as well.

The actual space is very cozy but does fill up fast so try to get there early.  You can take a virtual tour here. It's on 264 S. 16th street, which is just around the corner from Rittenhouse square.