The Foodery

[Tim Dolan]

So I walked into this store before and after I had an amazing burger across the street at Standard Tap. This, in my opinion, is the PERFECT corner store, and they need to open one closer to where I live.

I can't speak on any of their sandwiches, but they looked really good and are made with bread from the Metropolitan Bakery. Even better is that the majority of them are either $4.50 or $5.00, so they look like a pretty good deal.

But the real reason I say that The Foodery is the best store ever is because they have a wall of refrigerator cases stocked with every kind of local microbrew around, along with an astounding number of Belgian beers available. Now I am absolutely clueless about Belgian beers, but they have about 4 full refrigerators stocked to the brim with individual bottles. I am a big fan of local microbrews, and I can't think of one that wasn't represented in their fridges.

The coolest part is, you can make your own 6 packs. All of the beers are standing alone in the fridges, so you can just grab one of any beer you want. It's AWESOME. Even cooler is the fact that the "rules" of making your own 6 pack is that you can't have more than two of the same beers in your 6 pack, which promotes you to try different beers. Even cooler STILL is the fact that if you compromise your 6 pack of 6 different beers, you get a 10% discount, which is good because your customized 6 pack (depending on what you get) can get pricey. My customized sixer cost me almost $20, so you could get a full case for slightly more at a beer distributor, but that's not the point.

Now I'm sure that if you really wanted a 6 pack of just one beer they wouldn't have a problem with it, but I think that they have a great concept going to try and make people try different things. I'm crossing my fingers that the owners will expand and open an outpost in the Roxborough/Manayunk area. This place is AWESOME.

p.s. Their website is www.fooderybeer.com.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Tim Dolan (log)

[katbert]

The original is at 10th & Pine and has been there for a long long time.

Yes, it's awesome.

[Andrew Fenton]

Even cooler STILL is the fact that if you compromise your 6 pack of 6 different beers, you get a 10% discount, which is good because your customized 6 pack (depending on what you get) can get pricey.  My customized sixer cost me almost $20, so you could get a full case for slightly more at a beer distributor, but that's not the point.

A case of beer at a distributor is $80? I admit that I haven't bought a case of beer in over a year (gotta change that soon); when I did, it was a case of Yard's, and I think it was around $30. Maybe a case of Belgian beer is $80?

Anyway, I've been shopping at the Pine St. store for years, and it is indeed great. Not cheap, but great.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[Tim Dolan]

The original is at 10th & Pine and has been there for a long long time.

Yes, it's awesome.

←

Damn and here I am thinking I had this great discovery. I am so out of the loop .

[MarketStEl]

A case of beer at a distributor is $80?  I admit that I haven't bought a case of beer in over a year (gotta change that soon); when I did, it was a case of Yard's, and I think it was around $30.  Maybe a case of Belgian beer is $80?

Anyway, I've been shopping at the Pine St. store for years, and it is indeed great.  Not cheap, but great.

←

I think he meant that you could get a case of beer from a distributor for a little more than he paid for that six-pack, which is correct. Bella Vista Beer, the closest good distributor to me, sells most of its good microbrews for $24-$28 a case.

But his point holds: if you want to experiment with new varieties, the Foodery's build-your-own-sixpack option is the way to go.

If Pennsylvania had a more rational system of selling alcoholic beverages, there's a good chance that the Foodery's six-packs wouldn't cost so much. But it doesn't, so we take what we can get. And we can't get better than this.

[Buckethead]

The original is at 10th & Pine and has been there for a long long time.

Yes, it's awesome.

←

Damn and here I am thinking I had this great discovery. I am so out of the loop .

←

At least you know about it now! I tell anyone who even marginally appreciates beer about the Foodery. They claim to have over 400 different single bottles at the original location (Pine St.) That number seems a little high to me, but I've never counted..

Edited August 7, 2006 by Buckethead (log)

[herbacidal]

The original is at 10th & Pine and has been there for a long long time.

Yes, it's awesome.

←

Damn and here I am thinking I had this great discovery. I am so out of the loop .

←

I'm wondering how long the original has been there?

I remember it around 1994 and even then, you could tell it had probably been there for at least a decade.

[mrbigjas]

The original is at 10th & Pine and has been there for a long long time.

Yes, it's awesome.

←

Damn and here I am thinking I had this great discovery. I am so out of the loop .

←

well, you reported on their new location, so in a way you were posting about a new place...

[MarketStEl]

The original is at 10th & Pine and has been there for a long long time.

Yes, it's awesome.

←

Damn and here I am thinking I had this great discovery. I am so out of the loop .

←

I'm wondering how long the original has been there?

I remember it around 1994 and even then, you could tell it had probably been there for at least a decade.

←

Early 1980s, IIRC.

I moved to Philly in 1983 and originally settled in two blocks west of the Foodery, which was already in existence.

[Andrew Fenton]

A case of beer at a distributor is $80?  I admit that I haven't bought a case of beer in over a year (gotta change that soon); when I did, it was a case of Yard's, and I think it was around $30.  Maybe a case of Belgian beer is $80?

Anyway, I've been shopping at the Pine St. store for years, and it is indeed great.  Not cheap, but great.

←

I think he meant that you could get a case of beer from a distributor for a little more than he paid for that six-pack, which is correct. Bella Vista Beer, the closest good distributor to me, sells most of its good microbrews for $24-$28 a case.

But his point holds: if you want to experiment with new varieties, the Foodery's build-your-own-sixpack option is the way to go.

OK, that makes sense. The Wurst House (or whatever it's called now) has-- or at least had, I haven't been there in years-- a similar build-a-six policy. Not as good a selection as the Foodery, but much more convenient for those in University City.