Mulherin’s Pizzeria Adds Weekend Brunch and Happy Hour to the Menu

Mulherin’s Pizzeria / Photograph by Gina DeSimone

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. We’ve got new things happening at a big, local pizza operation, a big announcement from a beloved neighborhood favorite, and booze news from… well, pretty much everywhere. It’s summer. It’s ridiculously hot. People don’t want to think about anything except air conditioning and where their next frozen drink is coming from. I get that. Still, let’s kick things off this week with that other great summertime obsession: pizza.

Pizza for Breakfast in Midtown Village

A couple months back, I told y’all about the new sister concept to Wm. Mulherin’s Sons in Fishtown, Mulherin’s Pizzeria. It was basically pitched as a cooler, easier counterpart to the original Mulherin’s, one focused on handmade pastas (like the original), lots of vegetables (kinda like the original), and a pizza-forward menu designed to take full advantage of the kitchen’s big wood-burning oven.

The opening came and went. Mulherin’s Pizza settled into the normal groove of service. But right from the beginning, they were promising that they’d be expanding service once they got their legs under them.

Well, guess what?

As of now, the house is serving every day, with lunch from 11:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. and nightly dinner service from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. (10 p.m. on the weekends). But that’s not all. They also recently launched a weekend brunch service that looks kind of awesome, actually. Imagine if you could get all the best stuff from the normal menu, but then also chocolate-amaro donuts and french toast with banana and crushed hazelnuts. So you could seriously roll up to 12th and Ludlow at 10:30 in the morning and demand ricotta cavatelli, a Spicy Jawn with hot coppa and long hots, and your weight in Sicilian pistachio croissants. That is a helluva way to start your Saturday.

The brunch menu also features salads, burrata with strawberries and white balsamic, aranchini, eggs benny, mushroom omelets and nine different pizzas. They’re pushing the potato, ricotta, pancetta and hollandaise patate as their “breakfast pizza,” but you’re a grown-up, and no one is going to stop you from eating a ramp pizza with fava beans and garlic cream for breakfast. Plus, you’ll be really good at warding off vampires.

Brunch aside, Mulherin’s also now has a Monday-to-Friday, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. happy hour that comes with its own cocktail (a $9 Aperol spritz), $5 drafts, $10 pizzas (the margherita and the pepperoni) and a handful of snacks like chickpea fritters and $3 aranchini to keep you going.

Those pictures are making me hungry.

Now You Can Wait in Line for Dinner at Paffuto, Too

Items on Paffuto’s new dinner menu. / Photograph by Mike Prince

For quite some time now, owners Jake Loffler, Daniel Griffiths, and Sam Kalkut have judged how well things are going at Paffuto by the lines and how fast the entire menu sells out. The maraschino cherry-glazed salted chocolate pistachio donut, the apple crisp bomboloni, the egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches and pepperoni panzerotis and pork belly — they all go fast. Which is as it should be, I suppose. If I could walk there, I’d be lining up every morning for breakfast. And probably coming back for lunch, too.

But breakfast, lunch and brunch service just weren’t enough for the three Paffuto partners. No, they wanted to see if they could fill the place up at night, too. Like a proper restaurant. And starting tomorrow, they’re going to find out because Paffuto is launching Wednesday and Thursday night dinner services.

The place has 22 seats. Just 1,400 square feet. But that was enough for Bibou (which killed it here for years before making way for Paffuto), so they figure it’ll be enough for them, too. They’ll be running it BYO, with a $75 prix-fixe menu plus full à la carte service, offering poached mussels with brioche, cauliflower picatta, spinach and ricotta tortellini, black bass crudo, bone-in monkfish cacciatore and more. And that’s just they’re opening menu, because Loffler, Griffiths and Kalkut are also planning on changing up the board every week.

You won’t really have to wait in line, either. Reservations for dinner service will be available to keep this thing from spiraling completely out of control. And once they get the hang of things, they’re promising to expand to additional nights of service.

But in the meantime, something tells me that those reservations are going to be tough to get, so keep an eye on Resy for when they go live.

Going Al Fresco at Jansen

Jansen’s patio seating. / Photograph by Gab Bonghi

Here’s a place we haven’t talked about in a while. Chef David Jansen’s eponymous Mt. Airy restaurant was one of my favorites back in the day — a place that seemed, in 2016, to exist for the sole purpose of reminding everyone who stepped into its glaringly white-on-white dining room exactly what American food and fine dining was like in 2004. I loved it. I said so loudly. And then, as so often happens when a competent chef does something well and capably without freaking out, firing the staff, putting sparklers in everything, or just lighting the whole kitchen on fire, I pretty much forgot about the place. It was a great restaurant that did one thing remarkably well, but my job is always to find the next thing. So Jansen kinda slipped into the rearview for a really long time.

So imagine how thrilled I am to be able to talk about the place again. Last month, Jansen (the restaurant) debuted its newly re-vamped summer patio — 30 seats in the back garden with additional semi-private seating for eight and a lounge area running around the perimeter. And this reveal was attended by Jansen (the chef) rolling out a brand new summer menu to match.

Tuna bon bon at Jansen. / Photograph by Gab Bonghi

There’s a tableside service of Dover sole for two, a tuna bon bon with plum aioli, avocado and watercress puree, sauteed mahi mahi with lobster fontina pierogi in a spring onion and lobster soubise, and an heirloom tomato panzanella salad with burrata and green goddess dressing. And what kills me is that Jansen (both the chef and the restaurant) hasn’t changed a goddamn thing. There is nothing on this board that wouldn’t have been on any one of a thousand restaurants one step removed from Chez Panisse back in the early aughts. Dude has staked out his New American/California cuisine turf and isn’t giving it up for anybody. And I salute him for it. He is very good at this stuff, and if you’ve got fond memories of dining out in the days before Cryovacs and tweezers and artisinal everything, then you should absolutely make a reservation for a quick trip in Jansen’s culinary time machine.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers: All-Booze Edition

Art in the Age and Franklin Fountain’s “Ferocious Float.” / Photograph by Quaker City Mercantile

Looking for a way to cool off? Of course you are. We have had a brutal run of hot days lately, and the heat just doesn’t seem to be letting go. This week, for just two days — July 20th and 21st — Art in the Age is teaming up with Franklin Fountain to bring a properly boozy root beer float to the masses. Made using Franklin Fountain’s root beer, AITA’s Siege of Wolves spiced rum and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, the float will be available for a limited time at Franklin Fountain for $17.50. They’re calling it “The Ferocious Float.”

If you miss out on Art in the Age and Franklin Fountain collab, you can stop by the BOTLD bottle shop at 119 South 18th Street and check out the three new, extremely boozy, frozen cocktails he’s got on offer.

There’s the Pink Berry with Kyro gin, strawberry, lingonberry, rhubarb, hibiscus and lemon; a Tropical Daiquiri with fresh pineapple, banana, lime and coconut cream spiked with Pa’Lante white rum. Or, if you need a little pick-me-up, how ’bout a frozen espresso martini made with vodka, amaro and Rival Bros. cold brew?

All three are available to drink at the shop or to take home. $12 for 12 oz. and $16 for 16 oz.

Sticking with the theme, how about a shout-out to the PA state legislature, which just approved a bill allowing grocery stores (and other retailers) to sell canned cocktails? Both chambers approved it. There’s bipartisan support (which is rare these days), and Governor Josh Shapiro says he’s going to sign it as soon as it hits his desk, clearing the way for stores to start applying for permits and stocking cocktails in the coming months.

Finally, Dock Street is doing its own thing with $2 buck-a-shuck oysters every Thursday in Fishtown and, if you’re into it, line dancing lessons on Thursday, the 18th, at Dock Street South. You can find the details about both events (plus dog portraits) here, but it’s also worth mentioning that both the South and Fishtown locations are rolling out a new summer cocktail menu that just looks bonkers. We’re talking corn, butter, black pepper and tequila (the “Rey of Reyes”), a strawberry espresso martini called the “Queen Di,” and a mezcal, gin, tomato and citrus concoction called “Lisa’s Garden” that comes with a cherry tomato garnish. All of these (and more) have been created by Mike McCarthy and inspired by the women in his life. They’re on the board at Dock Street South right now and will be available in Fishtown starting next week.

The name sounds pretty appropriate to me.