Philadelphia restaurants are certainly embracing the great outdoors.
And if this summer has taught us anything, it’s that local restauranteurs can and will reinvent the traditions of the outdoor garden-bar, inventively and tastily.
In Center City, summer’s reinvention of the garden-bar-restaurant has meant the redone tropical paradise of Kedera Tiki Bar at Uptown Beer Garden and the brand-new Walnut Garden. Avram Hornik’s wide, outdoor pop-up bar on Walnut Street’s 1700 block is an 11,500 square feet urban oasis of hardcore graffiti, plush ultra-green landscaping, communal bench-style seating with several bars and soft serve ice cream stations.
With its zesty menu of Asian-fusion-inspired fare of generously portioned skewers, Japanese fried chicken Karaage with wasabi mayo, and Korean spicy pork BBQ and Bulgogi beef sliders, Walnut Garden is fun and flavorful. Plus, there are games and kid menus for the young at heart.
Then there is the deconstruction of what was once Le Peg at FringeArts on Front Street into the newly remade, curated culinary experience of Fringe Bar. Along with reinvigorating its bricked expanded dining room and upstairs lounge with pool tables, DJ stations and live band space, the new Fringe Bar has turned its outdoor “Haas Biergarten” into a multi-level, all-ages delight.
Now more welcoming of children and dogs to Fringe Bar—“we really want to be a neighborhood go-to spot, seven days a week,” said Chef Kenny Bush—has meant an outdoor space’s redesign, more outdoor games, picnic benches, and a surprise food truck coming in August that will thrill kids and adult drinkers and diners alike.
“What was important when considering the design inside the restaurant was to be approachable and accessible, but also focused on the stage and the theatrical parts of our space,” said Fringe Bar co-owner Liz Boleslavsky. “For the outside, it was important to make the space feel big and open, and just a little secluded.”
It’s true — Fringe Bar’s garden feels like a private paradise.
What is most fascinating about Fringe Bar’s redesign is how its visual spirit is in-line with executive chef and co-owner Kenneth Bush’s equally adventurous menu. Focusing on what Boleslavsky mentioned was a dip into all-flavors and phases of Philadelphia cuisine, Bush’s curated menu means a savory smoked eggplant, tahini and herb dip served in cute canning jars, over-sized multiple-cheese gluten free fried cheese curds, a grilled bistro filet with the tastiest of piquant green peppercorn sauces, a hearty, stacked-high, slow-cooked fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy dish, and a Brazilian-bread Cubano sandwich of-smoked & roasted pork, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and Dijonaise so authentic you’ll swear you’re in Miami.
And, if you’re super lucky, Chef Bush — an expatriate of both the Garces Group and Bistrot La Minette — will pop out from behind the grand scale open kitchen, and discuss Fringe Bar’s mostly locally sourced ingredients and all that he’s thought up and baked into each new menu item.
“Most people are curious about how Fringe Bar differentiates from La Peg,” said Bush. “In my opinion, we’re hyper-focused on building up a synergy between the theater and the restaurant that felt missing in the La Peg days. We want people to see how the restaurant is an extension of Fringe Arts.”
So, yes, eating at Fringe Bar is adventurous, different and certainly dramatic.
“I think the design and the menus at Fringe Bar go hand in hand because the menu is super approachable, done as a gastro-pub style, yet highlights some of the more artistic and interesting cuisines of Philadelphia,” said Boleslavsky.
