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Coffee, Cocktails, Bottle Shop and Fine Food. That's what you can expect when you walk inside the door of Enswell, located at 1528 Spruce Street, the ground floor of the Touraine apartment building.
The concept was thought up by Jonathan Adams and Damien Pilgeggi of the coffee company Rival Bros. The two created Enswell in partnerhship with New Liberty Distillery, which provides the spirits for the bar. They then got with Vince Stipo of Superfolie to create the cocktail menu. Sneak peak below:
Earlier this month, I met Andrew Farley. Andrew was interested in my rental listing at 1021 Addison St (still available for $2,650 per month). I met Andrew and his girlfriend Ashley at the house and we got to talkin. He informed me that he was the head chef at Enswell. I told him that I been seeing a lot of my female friends posting pictures and stories of that place on IG. From what I saw on IG, the place looked great. I told him that I would eventually make my way over and check it out.
Fast foward to last night and I met a friend named Dave for a couple of drinks at Enswell. Upon walking in, you catch an immediate vibe of a very relaxed and polished atmosphere. The five seat bar catches your eye because of the dark greeen paint with the gold plated wall cut outs to display the booze. We made our way over to the bar and settled in.
We each ordered Old Fashioned No. One on draft. Delicious.
Next, we each ordered Old Fashioned No. Two on draft. This was made with a brown butter washed scotch instead of bourbon. It was described to us as "it's a little sweet, it's a little savory, it's a little fuck you." I for sure caught the f u. It was a one and done for me.
After we ordered our second drink from the bar, Jared, the assistant to the general manager was kind enough to provide Dave and I with some beautiful oysters. All for just sitting at the bar and being "cool dudes" according to Jared. He is a gentleman and a scholar for sending those our way.
Jared comes to check on us again. This time I tell him that I had met Andrew a couple of weeks ago. Next thing you know, they bring out another dish for us to try. This time it was the Crispy Eggplant with black garlic tahini, togarashi, lime and herbs. This dish is an Andrew Farley creation and he absolutely crushed it. The texture of the eggplant along with a little bit of heat at the end was supurb. Sadly, I failed at getting my phone out and taking a picture of the dish, but I highly recommend you try it.
At Jared's recommendation, next we each order the Paper Plane cocktail, named after the famous song by MIA. The presentation was on point with the little paper plane. It was a pretty delicious cocktail, but the bitterness got me.
After that we switched to beer. Jared was listing the beers they had. He said they had one called Super Villian. I didn't care what kind of beer that was. On name alone, I was in. Turns out it is a Hazy IPA done by local brewery Urban Village Brewing Co (1001 N 2nd St). Turns out, all of the booze that Enwell has in house is sourced locally. That is another feather in their cap for supporting all of these folks distilling booze locally here in our fine city of Philadelphia.
My friend Dave and I cannot say enough about this place. The staff was great, the ambiance was great, the cocktails were great and the food was great. Dave and I will be bringing our significant others there for a date night sometime in the near future.
Vinny Fracassi aka South Philly Vinny
215-360-3434 (cell)