Cellar Dog, the Unexpected Successor to Howl at the Moon, Opens This Week

Cellar Dog is an 8,000-square-foot live jazz bar with shuffleboard, pool tables, and a vintage arcade. / Photograph courtesy of Cellar Dog

Howdy, buckaroos! And welcome back to the weekly Foobooz food news round-up. We’ve just got a few quick things to get to this week, including (but not limited to) a caviar kiosk, news from Fishtown Seafood, opening details from Cellar Dog, some holiday updates, whiskey made for Citywides, and a dance party for old people (or at least the old at heart). So let’s kick things off with …

Cellar Dog Brings Live Jazz, Ping Pong, and Sloppy Joes to Rittenhouse

Okay, I’m going to try to get through this with a straight face.

You guys remember back in early July when I told you about the sudden closure of Philly’s favorite(ish) dueling piano bar, Howl at the Moon? It was a weird, bittersweet announcement, but there were two surprising things about it.

The first was that Howl at the Moon was still actually open. That, I think, came as an honest shock to a lot of people. The fact that, in this year of our Lord, two thousand and twenty-four, there was still a real, live dueling piano bar (and attached nightclub) alive and operating just steps from Estia, Good Dog, Monk’s, Vetri, Bud & Marilyn’s, and a dozen other notable spots was curious, to say the very least. And truly, I am not entirely sure that the whole thing wasn’t just an elaborate front for some kind of illegal, underground time portal back to 1977.

Second surprise: Almost as soon as the announcement was made that Howl had gone dark, new liquor license paperwork went up in the windows announcing that the entire space had been bought by a West Village-based operation called Cellar Dog, which was rushing ahead with a fast opening scheduled for fall.

Well, now here we are, in fall, and I just got the news that Cellar Dog is scheduled to open to the public on Thursday, November 21st. Which is good news, I guess. Except that the concept seems bonkers — which is really saying something, considering it is replacing a dueling fucking piano bar.

Sorry. Serious face. I can do this.

Exterior of the now-closed Howl at the Moon located at 258 South 15th Street. / Photograph by Laura Swartz

Cellar Dog is the brainchild of Arthur Backal of Backal Hospitality Group (which operates some pretty serious spots on some pretty tony real estate in NYC). It is, in his words, “[S]omething truly unique — a fun and spirited space where people can come together to enjoy great music, connect over games, and unwind with drinks and Philly-inspired bar food,” which, first, is not unique at all. And second, kinda undersells the truly messed up Venn diagram of entertainment options that all overlap inside Cellar Dog.

For starters, it is an 8,000-square-foot live jazz bar. And that’s fine. Philly doesn’t exactly have a glut of dedicated jazz bars, so one more is a net good. Especially considering they’re taking the music seriously, hiring an accomplished musician (Ehud Asherie) to curate the lineup and book performances five nights a week, plus late-night sets on the weekend. To keep the musicians happy, Cellar Dog has a collection of rare instruments on hand, including a 1945 Steinway piano and a ’70s-vintage A-100 organ.

So, again, they’re taking their jazz seriously. Which is nice. Not my usual brand of vodka, but I like it when folks take their passions seriously.

Cellar Dog also has a vintage arcade. Pool tables. Shuffleboard. Ping-pong tables. Chess boards. Because, as any fan of live jazz will tell you, nothing accompanies a soulful, heartfelt performance by respected professionals like the Tetris soundtrack playing in the background. Or the air horn track from NBA Jam. Or someone’s drunk boyfriend getting smoked at ping-pong and reacting with a Philadelphian’s customary grace and good sportsmanship.

And that “Philly-inspired bar food”? Wings, burgers, something referred to only as a “hot Italian sandwich,” short rib sloppy joes, and, of course, a cheesesteak. Because there is NOTHING a New York City restaurateur enjoys more than pretending they know something about Philadelphia’s culinary scene by slapping some sorry-ass excuse for a cheesesteak on the menu and calling it a day.

And maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this is going to be the best cheesesteak ever. Maybe BHG spent months researching the best cheesesteaks in the city, deconstructing them, and figuring out a way to produce one that would be the envy of all other cheesesteaks ever made. But I think you and I both know that’s not going to be the case.

Anyway, this truly is one of those Frankensteined-up, nostalgia-dripping, something-for-everyone “eatertainment” concepts that seem to fail with comforting regularity in this city. A Philly-bred operator can sometimes make them work (see: pretty much everything on the waterfront), but let’s all take a moment to remember what happened with Mad Rex, shall we? No amount of virtual reality, AK-47 wall art, or IV cocktails could save that place.

But maybe the problem was that it didn’t have ping pong.

Cellar Dog will be open Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from 4 p.m. to midnight and from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on the weekends.

Biederman’s Opens a Caviar Kiosk

Lauren Biederman, owner of Biederman’s Specialty Foods / Photograph courtesy of Lauren Biederman

Perrystead has a cheese vending machine. Flakely has a gluten-free pastry ATM. And now, in an excellent example of street-corner hustle, Biederman’s has opened their very own caviar kiosk, just in time for the holiday season, right outside the Four Seasons on the corner of 19th and Arch.

There’s actually nothing about this I don’t love. I mean, Biederman’s already has their fine foods storefront in the Italian Market, where they sell smoked salmon, gravlax, sable, whitefish, pickled herring, bagels, black Russian rye bread (still something of a rarity in these parts), deli pickles, various cheeses, and other fancy-pants delicacies. And now, they’ve got this little, brightly lit house set right out on the street where they’re offering crazy amounts of caviar and all the accoutrements to anyone passing by.

Seriously, we’re talking everything from $135-an-ounce sturgeon Osetra to French trout roe and the blini to eat it on. And it’s staffed by experts, Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

And okay, yes. It’s more than a little bougie. But I kinda just don’t care because there’s something inarguably cool about setting up on the street and just slinging one of the most overpriced, swooned-over culinary delicacies in the world to all comers without any of the elitist trappings or nonsense. No tuxedoes. No white tablecloths. Just a little kiosk full of fancy fish eggs for the people who love them.

Plus, Biederman’s is promising a “caviar bump menu” sometime later this week, and so help me, if they mean that the way I think they mean that — if they’re just gonna spoon it out onto the back of your hand for a fistful of sweaty dollars while you’re walking past — then I am sold.

Fishtown Seafood Is Expanding (Again)

Fishtown Seafood owner Bryan Szeliga / Photograph courtesy of Fishtown Seafood

In the beginning, there was the original Fishtown Seafood — a small, ethically curated, transparently sourced seafood supplier opened in 2022 by industry vet Bryan Szeliga in an old corner deli on Belgrade Street in Fishtown. A “new-school fish shop,” according to Szeliga, that struck a chord not just with neighbors looking for some good fish to bring home for dinner but among chefs doing their own shopping, too. We liked the place so much we gave it an award.

Recently — very recently, actually — Szeliga expanded. He found a spot at 22nd and Pine in Fitler Square that was about twice the size of his original shop and opened in June of this year with a cool, Wonka-style “Golden Oyster” promotion and the same kind of product he was pushing on Belgrade Street: chemical-free, super-frozen tuna, East Coast oysters, tinned sardines, whole octopus, calamari meatballs, scallops from Maine, sashimi-quality tuna, and a bunch of other things. But he also added sushi and chirashi bowls at the new location, which was something he just didn’t have the space for in Fishtown. I wrote about all of that, too. 

And now, guess what? Just five months and change after opening in Fitler Square, the increasingly inaptly named Fishtown Seafood is adding on a third location — this one just over the bridge in Haddonfield. And it’s opening this Saturday, offering the first 100 customers through the door a half-dozen free oysters just for showing up. Which is pretty cool.

The official opening is Saturday, November 23rd, at 11 a.m. The new spot is at 114 Kings Highway East in Haddonfield, and it will be bringing that same good for you/good for the planet energy that has marked the opening of the first two stores. There’ll be deals, specials, shrimp burgers, LOTS of oysters, and a whole new parade of neighbors able to get their hands on seafood products sourced from around the globe and down the block.

Not only that, but three openings in two years for a small, indie fish business? That’s a big deal. But Szeliga had more than 10 years in the seafood business working for other people before he struck out on his own. He knows this game. And he knows that being good to people, being good to other local businesses and suppliers, and being good for the environment go a long way. Also, having your own sushi robot doesn’t hurt, and he’s got one of those, too — at the Fitler Square store, which is providing high-quality, fresh, convenient grab-and-go sushi for the two Philly locations. Not sure yet whether or not they’re going to have their robot rolls in the case at the Haddonfield shop, but you can be sure that I’m going to find out.

Now who has room for some leftovers?

The Leftovers

Townie Rye Whiskey / Photograph by Andrew J. Bonacci

In case you missed it, we did a big happy hour package in the November issue of Philly mag. And as part of that, the editors let me prattle on for a little bit about one of my favorite subjects: the Citywide.

It is, hands-down, the best signature drink that any city has ever had, made even better by the fact that everyone who lives in Philly knows about it, and precious few people who don’t live here ever have. It is blue collar, simple, gruff, and effective. Anti-precious in the best possible way. And in a little bit of extra good news for the week, one of our excellent local distillers has just released a whiskey that’s made specifically for keeping the Citywide local.

Chef Jacob Trinh of Little Fish has a fun side project called the Philly Sake Club, a roving culinary series where folks gather to learn about sake and the many ways it can be enjoyed. He’s teaming up with chef Ian Moroney and Sharon Thompson-Schill of Calliope to host an event that’s part sake class, part dinner party. Tickets are $160 per person, and there are only eight spots available, so if you’re interested in unique sake pairings, you better hop on this one fast. You can grab tickets here.

This week, Bluebird Distilling released Townie, “Whiskey for the townspeople.” Available in three expressions — regular, fine, and first-class — it is unpretentious, approachable, affordable, and made for sitting beside a tall, cold lager. The tasting notes kinda say it all, suggesting that the regular (84 proof, $34.99) be paired with “light beer, jukeboxes, and vinyl bar stools.” The fine (86 proof, $34.99) is made for tall boys or for mixing up into a sazerac. And the first-class (100 proof, $36.99) is “aged for at least six years and has a palate of sweet corn, brown sugar, tobacco, and cinnamon. Enjoy with vinyl records, leather jackets, and bar nuts.”

The cats from Bluebird are so proud of their new whiskey they even made a short film about it. And trust me, this thing has everything: sleeveless Led Zeppelin tee shirts, an El Camino, tattooed bartenders, “Slow Ride” by Foghat, SO MANY cigarettes. It’s a work of art. And the whiskey seems like a pretty good idea, too. So check it out wherever fine spirits are sold or poured.

Levain’s dark chocolate peppermint cookies / Photograph courtesy of Levain

In less drinky news, Levain Bakery (which I wrote about a few weeks back) is dropping their first holiday menu on Philly starting November 29th. There’ll be dark chocolate peppermint cookies, peppermint hot chocolate, and peppermint mochas in the cafe, cookie ornaments, and holiday gift tins for those looking for presents, and they’re also starting to offer holiday and event catering. All the information you need is right here.

Speaking of sweet stuff, Cake and Joe — the local gourmet cake, coffee, and sandwich shop opened in 2020 by childhood friends Sarah Qi and Trista Tang — is adding a third location. The original cafe is in Fishtown. They’ve got another up and running in Pennsport. And Qi and Tang just signed a lease in Center City for a ground-floor space at 1735 Market Street for their newest. Cake and Joe specializes in mousse cakes. The Fishtown shop has 14 varieties listed on the menu — everything from Oreo to Càphê Roasters coffee-flavored. But they also serve sandwiches, avocado toast, yogurt calpis, chai, and a full spread of coffee drinks.

There’s no proposed opening date yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

Finally this week, maybe I’m just finally starting to grow up a little, but this hit my desk yesterday, and I just had to tell y’all about it. On Saturday, December 7th, Vinyl (on 15th between Walnut and Locust) is throwing a dance party for the 30+ crowd. And the best thing about it? It’s a matinee dance party — meaning it kicks off before the sun goes down and finishes in time for you to be home and in bed by 11 p.m.

Yeah, laugh all you want, you sweet, summer children. But someday you, too, will grow old and want nothing more than to be home, on the couch, wearing your sweatpants and chewing an edible before the 11 o’clock news theme starts playing.

Anyway, Vinyl is rolling with a curated, throwback mix of disco, ’80s pop, and ’90s club music. There’ll be dancing, bubbly, and confetti showers, ABBA, Madonna, and J.Lo. Yes, there’s a Spotify playlist if you’re interested. And seriously, check out this schedule that Viny has laid out:

• 6 p.m.: Doors open
• 8 p.m.: Peak like it’s midnight and pizza for all
• 10 p.m.: Music ends
• 11 p.m.: You’re home in bed

Honestly, the last few weeks have been a lot for everybody. We’re all exhausted, depressed, and messed up in a hundred different ways. And while one night of Donna Summer, Laura Branigan, Bananarama, Prince, pizza, and champagne won’t solve anything, neither will not spending a Saturday night out dancing while still getting a decent night’s sleep. So I guess we might as well dance.

Tickets are available now. Get yours here. And we’ll see you all at the club.