MidAtlantic Restaurant and Tap Room serves up the kind of food you’d expect to come out of your grandmother’s kitchen. That is, if your grandmother is a well-trained chef with a knack for putting a modern twist on backcountry classics.
This is chef Daniel Stern’s third culinary exploit in Philadelphia and his first on the west side of the river. He departs from his familiar high-end, French-inspired cuisine, delivering a variety of top-notch comfort food that won’t break the bank.
A quick glance at the drink menu set the stage for our meal to come. Seeing a great selection of local brews ($3-8) from Yards, Victory and Sly Fox to name a few, we could quickly tell that MidAtlantic was committed to providing a true Pennsylvanian experience.
Fall-themed centerpieces, multicolored wood plank walls and chicken sizzling on the rotisserie create a cozy and rustic dining room feel. Add in some exposed ductwork, an open kitchen with sleek new appliances and flat screen TVs over the bar, and what you get is a modern urban tap room that still feels like home.
The mouth-watering appetizer/bar food menu ($9-16) ranges from generously portioned salads to stews, chilled seafood and Pennsylvania Dutch-inspired snacks like homemade sausages, pickled vegetables and soft pretzels with all the fixings. We liked seeing some Chesapeake Bay favorites on the menu, including hard-shell crabs, steamed clams and the little-known but locally famous Smith Island cake.
Our waiter recommended the meat and cheese plate to start, which featured, among other things, their homemade summer sausage, a deliciously sharp local cheddar and a sampling of their “Bucket of Pickles.” The pickled white asparagus especially was a treat.
Our dinner included the baked haddock and the MidAtlantic burger. While the burger was hearty and delicious, it was almost outshone by the bowl of gravy fries that accompanied it. The simply prepared yet perfectly seasoned haddock, famous for being able to stand up to bold flavors, was well-accompanied by the vegetarian scrapple, a creative spin on the traditional PA favorite.
In addition to their entrée selection ($15-20) that includes seafood pots, “sustenance” plates and nightly specials, including “Hot dog!” (that’s right, the exclamation point was on the menu), MidAtlantic also offers a “3 Courses for $30” meal.
The entire dessert menu ($6-10) was tempting and even features some local beers to pair with your sweet selections. Our dessert was marvelous. Root beer sticky buns and Philly-style butterscotch bread pudding left us pleasantly full on the way out. The bitterness of the root beer cut through the super-sticky sweetness of the fluffy buns delightfully, and the chilled bread pudding was rich and delicious.
If there was one downside to this University City newcomer it would have to be its slim vegetarian selection. But that clearly was not an issue for two people that were ready to go round two on the “MA Cheese and Meat Board.”
With so many great choices on the menu, we finished up our meal excited to return. Whether for lunch, happy hour, dinner or late night drinks by the soon-to-come outdoor fire pit, MidAtlantic will not disappoint.
More Than Just Ice Cream 1119 Locust St. (215) 574-0586 Don’t Miss: Cherry vanilla ice cream Skip: Dinner Bottom line: Just stick to the ice cream.
