Applause, Applause!

[MarketStEl]

For those of you who wanted to check out Pelicanfish, the seafood place where Girasole used to be on Locust at 13th, but didn't get there before it closed, I have good news: Pelicanfish lives!

Only it's not called Pelicanfish anymore.

This weekend marked the opening of "Applause, Applause," which bills itself as a "theatrical restaurant," in Pelicanfish's space.

For Memorial Day--the head chef's day off--the restaurant offered patrons a free buffet and half-price drinks all day. (The bar has been open for about five weeks and caters to a gay crowd.)

I'll have to go back to report on the fare, for the buffet featured items you will never see on the Applause, Applause menu. (Edited to list them: Roast beef au jus, very tender and juicy chicken breast cacciatore, penne pasta with meatballs, and crab cakes. Crab galette does appear on the menu.)

My host today, an engaging fellow named Kevin, explained to me that the buffet was provided by a caterer who is friendly with the restaurant staff. He also explained to me how this new-yet-not-really-new restaurant came to be.

It seems that the owner of Pelicanfish made two big mistakes: He misjudged the neighborhood and waited too long to open the place after he acquired it, burning up capital on rent for the space without patrons to cover it. Having thus dug himself a hole, he couldn't fill it with enough diners, and -- or so Kevin's comments led me to believe -- may not have made enough of an effort to attract some of the biggest diners out in the neighborhood, namely, its gay residents. So back the owner went to New Jersey--or, as Kevin put it, "We kept the chef and the staff and fired the owner."

The menu still has plenty of seafood dishes, but it's expanded a bit beyond that: entrees also include steak au poivre, lemongrass rack of lamb, roasted seven spice Peking duck and chicken piccata Marsala. One dish that looks intriguing, and which I will have to come back to try, is the broiled tandoor marinated cod--but this raises the question: If this place has a tandoori oven, why is this the only tandoori dish they offer? (Which in turn leads me to wonder further whether this is actually "tandoori" or rather something slow-baked in clay with spices.)

The new management isn't making the mistake of slighting the gayborhood--on the contrary; they're part of it. Rainbow flags now hang in the windows, and when I stopped in this afternoon, I recognized several of the bar patrons from other gayborhood watering holes. In other words, as I put it to Kevin, this place is "Pelicanfish in drag with a bigger menu"--a comment he found amusing and promptly shared with the new owner, who was seated at the bar.

The menu pricing policy is wallet-friendly: The price of the entrée includes a beverage plus soup, salad or an appetizer. (I didn't ask Kevin whether the beverage was alcoholic or not. I'm assuming it isn't. If it is, then this is a real deal.) The menu could use a proofreader, though: I can't say I've ever heard of "Swedish Rolled Salmon Grav-hax" before.

I understand that the food at Pelicanfish was quite good, and as the chef remains, that bodes well for Applause, Applause. I'll have to find out for certain on a future visit.

Edited May 30, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[mizducky]

The menu could use a proofreader, though:  I can't say I've ever heard of "Swedish Rolled Salmon Grav-hax" before.

←

Maybe "grav-hax" is badly-spelled Swedish for "fag hag" -- hey, you said this joint was in drag, y'know ...

(sorry, couldn't resist )

[Fresser]

The menu could use a proofreader, though:  I can't say I've ever heard of "Swedish Rolled Salmon Grav-hax" before.

←

Maybe "grav-hax" is badly-spelled Swedish for "fag hag" -- hey, you said this joint was in drag, y'know ...

←

Next time I'm in Philly, perhaps I should stop in dressed as my French maid alter-ego, Heather Duster.

Nu, so how IS the salmon, anyway?

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

Next time I'm in Philly, perhaps I should stop in dressed as my French maid alter-ego, Heather Duster.

Nu, so how IS the salmon, anyway?

←

Ask the sushi chef - Kubiya Hiyorshi

[moosnsqrl]

The menu could use a proofreader, though:  I can't say I've ever heard of "Swedish Rolled Salmon Grav-hax" before.

←

Maybe "grav-hax" is badly-spelled Swedish for "fag hag" -- hey, you said this joint was in drag, y'know ...

(sorry, couldn't resist )

←

You took the words right out of my mouth. Lucky I read on down-thread before I added a direct reply to Sandy's post

[MarketStEl]

...and I thought I was kidding when I called this restaurant "Pelicanfish in drag"...

The sign by the door this evening reads "Show at 12:00!" (That's 12 midnight, needless to say.)

I asked the bartender who was performing.

"Oh, we've got three or four performers...in drag..."

Pity my wallet's moth-eaten right now.

I just hope the kitchen's open at showtime.

Edited June 3, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)