New Pennsport bar will cater to restaurant industry workers

Hospitality industry workers – both those in the front and in the back of the house – are known for working long hours and late nights, many of them rarely getting a chance to enjoy the dining experience they dish out to others.

Good Dog Bar owners Dave Garry and Heather Gleason, along with partner Tom Darby, will cater to these oft-neglected professionals as they open a hospitality-centric bar and restaurant at the former site of The Witch in the Pennsport.

“Philadelphia has one of the most vibrant and close-knit communities
of restaurant and hospitality workers, and we want them to know how
much we respect their hard work and devotion to caring for their
guests,” Garry said in a release. “Part of ‘hospitality’ is taking care of others,
after they’ve worked a long shift, we want ours to be a place where they
can relax.”

The Industry, its name an homage to the dining industry and its workers, will open this spring at 1401-03 E. Moyamensing Avenue. It will serve seasonal American dishes, a rotating selection of 12 local craft beers on tap, cocktails and wine from small producers.

Restaurant industry workers will receive a discount with valid proof of employment seven days a week and both dinner and brunch will be served late – until 1 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively – to accommodate their schedules.

The Industry‘s 80-seat dining room and 18-seat bar will feature reclaimed wood, an open kitchen, portraits of “local hospitality professionals” and an entire wall crafted from mixed timbers.

Chef Pat Szoke, formerly of The Farm and Fisherman, Vetri and Buddakan, will man the kitchen. Sample menu items include house-made charcuterie, beer can poussin, bone marrow with shallot marmalade, shaved vegetable salad, potted trout, buffalo sweetbreads, pork face nuggets and house-made testa.

The Industry will be open for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., during which it will offer a variety of hangover cures, fuel and staples. Diners can expect house-baked breads, shrimp and grits, duck confit hash with eggs, house-made granola topped with Meyer lemon-infused yogurt, Burger Benedict sliders topped with a quail egg and the Hillbilly Philly – fried chicken, cheddar cheese and sausage gravy on a biscuit.

The cocktail menu will feature a tomato-water based Bloody Mary, a Gin Richie with ginger syrup and local ale, a light egg-white rum punch with a float of port called Penn’s Port fizz and a group bowl of Mummer’s Punch to be shared by four to six people.