Dining Out – Spotlight on The Farmers’ Cabinet

Introducing a new feature series on Philly PR Girl, “Dining Out!”

With Center City District Restaurant Week approaching, I’d like to highlight one restaurant a week in hopes to help you make a choice in where you will dine this fall.

For my first piece, I have decided to highlight The Farmers’ Cabinet, a “farm-to-table” restaurant in Center City that has been getting rave reviews!  They have won “Best Bar” and “Best New Cocktail Bar” in Philly Magazine’s 2011 issue. A friend described The Farmers’ Cabinet as “early 1900’s meets Prohibition meets Western.”  This is one of the few places in Philly where you can hear live music 5 days a week, featuring old school jazz which make you feel like you walked into a bar Nucky Thompson from Boardwalk Empire would frequent!

The drinks are splendid.   They have the most diverse collection of European craft beer in Philadelphia and they are known for their beer-inspired cocktails, of which my friend and I tried several…..for research purposes, I swear!    I tried a mug of the Bootleg Punch which is made with “illegal” mescal, el jimador, velvet falernum, pineapple, lime, lemon, and basil.  Again for the sake of research, I got a classic Collins with tequila, which is very refreshing.  My friend, who has always wanted to try Mead, finally was able to.  Mead is a honey wine which is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water.  So she tried Makana – an herbal blossom from South Africa.  Recently, The Farmers’ Cabinet started offering a great happy hour special with half price draft beers from 4-6PM Monday through Friday.

Let’s get into the food…you have to start out with a cheese plate.   The majority of cheeses offered are local. The homemade pretzels are the real deal with homemade mustard and crème fraiche ranch dipping sauce!  As my waiter Guy said, “Philadelphia is a chicken town, you can get chicken anywhere.”  So I was sold on the fish of the day, which was FRESH salmon served with shiitake mushrooms and spinach.  Quite frankly, it might have been the best piece of salmon I ever had.   And there’s always room for dessert! We split the Peaches and Cream to end our fabulous night.

Take a peek at The Farmers’ Cabinet’s Restaurant Week dinner menu: http://centercityphila.org/life/menu.php?meal=2&id=52.

They are also one of the select restaurants that are serving a lunch special: http://centercityphila.org/life/menu.php?meal=1&id=52.

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