Monday, November 08, 2010

Whither The Khyber (Pass Pub)

Ah, The Khyber. Just earlier this year I was finally teaching myself to fluently say, without stuttering or hesitation, The Khyber. Now, they've pulled a quickie on me and have reverted back, inserting Pass back on to their marquee again. For years, The Khyber Pass is how they were known and, for many, how they were continued to be called even after they later dropped Pass from their official name. In between all of this, ownership was preparing this summer to drop the live music venue and go 180° into a Japanese izakaya concept. Now comes The Khyber Pass Pub. Must admit, though, that this feels a lot more "right" than the izakaya idea. As an early Old City adopter of craft/micro beer and some of the city's more recognizable names passing behind the bar (see City Paper story for reference), it seems to make sense to see the return of what they are calling "first, finest and longest running beer bar...reasserting its claim to the throne of Philadelphia’s Best Beer Bar". 'Finest', 'throne', and 'best' are all their words and we shall see in the coming weeks and months. But, the early signs are good. They're talking about 20 rotating draft lines, a large selection of bottles, and two cask engines for beers available in glassware from a half pint to a pitcher. From the kitchen, the opening night menu will have some standard pub fare dotted with more interesting items like Cornmeal Crusted Gulf Oysters, Fried Green Tomatoes, Po-boys, and Memphis-style Fried Chicken. I was due to attend a preview party tonight as an invitee of the pub to discover the spruced up joint. However, unforeseen circumstances got in the way, so here I am at home sharing with you instead electronically without any first-hand evidence to offer. Unfortunately, unless they've squirreled away another more current website, it looks as if they haven't focused on this part of their marketing as of yet. Look for the doors to open for the public tomorrow night (Tuesday 11/9) and a grand opening celebration on Thursday, 11/18.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I was due to attend a preview party tonight as an invitee of the pub to discover the spruced up joint. However, unforeseen circumstances got in the way, so here I am at home sharing with you instead electronically without any first-hand evidence to offer."

Bryan you are begining to sound like Jack Curtin! Yikes!

Steve R.

Bryan Kolesar said...

Wow, Steve, that is too funny. That actual thought crossed my mind last night as I wrote it and I considered drawing attention to what a sorry creature I must sound like. I keep aspiring to a higher place in this "niche". If this is how I've got to go about it, then so be it :)