Philadelphia Weekly

Beautifying neighborhoods is dirty work. Town watch programs, community meetings, street cleaners in teal jumpsuits. Please. I'm putting my stock in a simpler solution: bars.

The ongoing revitalization of Newbold sprung from South Philly Tap Room. In Fishtown, Johnny Brenda's showed us life north of Girard. All located in former neighborhood nuisances, Station, 1601 and Watkins Drinkery prove divine providence is on the beer drinker's side. When God closes a coke bar, he opens a gastropub.

Such is the case at Tap Room on 19th. A sassy bartender reports: "We've only had to call the cops once for someone doing drugs in the bathroom."

Don't misunderstand. This area is quite picturesque: a leafy latticework of slim one-way streets and wider avenues lined with 100-year-old trees, well-kept rowhomes and double-parked Cadillacs. But I grew up in this elbow of South Philly and can tell you no one's flocked to 2400 S. 19th St. the way locals are now, enticed by unpretentious, affordable pub fare; beer specials; and a Dynamo pool table.

Quiet, you gentrification doomsayers. Witness the good a bar can do.

Over the summer, owners Kahlil Mir and Jeff Papa (who also own the Green Room in Fairmount) did a 35-day renovation, tricking out the Tap Room with picture windows, handsome woodwork and five 50-inch plasmas. Cherry tables line one wall, a godsend since sitting comfortably at the bar (whose granite counter comes flush against its base) involves Basic Instinct moves.

Contractors in company tees and Leah Remini types mingle with hipsters and curious Fairmounties. An SPTR waiter sits nearby. A bag lady blows in with a Hefty full of knockoff Gucci.

She's not the only one making deals. That night tacos and empanadas were on special for $1 each; Coronas and margaritas for $3 and $4, respectively. "Fiesta Monday!" proclaimed the slate sandwich board outside. Corny as tortilla, but hello, deal.

On a recent Thursday, Lager and Yards were $2.50 and $3.50, respectively. Roast pork sandwiches and cheesesteak spring rolls oozing shaved rib-eye, provolone and fried onions cost $5. Chef Ross Essner, of the dearly departed Django, has peppered the week with bargains, luring in locals hungry for red-gravy alternatives.

Italy is well-represented (among others, a crisp but underseasoned chicken cutlet sandwich topped with garlicky spinach and provolone), but Essner impressed more with simple, satisfying stuff like fork-tender brisket ($5 on Beef & Beer Tuesdays); crispy shrimp tempura with seaweed salad; and piping-hot chicken potpie, a wintry pea-jeweled veloute topped with flaky puff-pastry "biscuits."

Under a landslide of mushrooms and onion rings, the filet mignon sandwich boasted tender medallions tucked into a horseradish-smeared Cacia's Kaiser roll. Its rich meatiness welcomed a crisp Spaten lager or Pikeland Pils, but unlike South Philly Tap Room, 19th pours nothing of the sort. Fortunately, their underwhelming, roster (10 draughts and 25 bottles) just got an upgrade from Legacy, Dogfish Head, Rogue and Victory. Or you could always go native and order a Dewars and water.

Not all the food was great. The grilled shrimp tostada hit a ho-hum note, and the earthy roasted red-skinned peanuts needed salt, lime and chili to really make them Mexican. Beneath the brisket, the "roasted garlic potato puree" tasted like instant mashed.

Save your carb allowance for Tap Room's hand-cut, skin-on Idaho frites, which come three ways: plain; gravy, a Stateside poutine topped with brisket scraps, button mushrooms, caramelized onions, brown gravy and American cheese; and Vermont cheddar-streaked, scallion-speckled, Old Bay-dusted Chesapeake, pummeled with a hailstorm of lump crabmeat. Far as I'm concerned, these are the only crab fries in town.

There's no dessert, but an Italian bakery waits across the street. Beer and biscotti? It's a poetic analogy for where this part of town is going--and where it's been. South Philly's always defined itself by food, and no matter how the neighborhoods change, that fact never will.