Meanwhile, At St. Stephen’s Green…

Art Museum neighborhood standby St. Stephen’s Green existed in a prior incarnation as “Tavern on Green,” a popular local spot for beer and brunches. Craig LaBan stoped by the new, 2008-vintage St. Stephen’s Green and found the following things:


Still in need of much help are the dining room staff (friendly but unpolished) and the beer list (good craft selections, but with all the wrong glasses and lame advice from the servers).

But such rough edges can be overlooked when the food is this good. Longtime McNamara-lytes will recognize all of the chef’s old favorites, reflecting a blend of his classic European style with some of his bar-food updates.

There are his delicate risotto crabcakes, with sweet lumps of crustacean molded into pillows of rice, set over basil butter sauce. Toothsome homemade gnocchi come in porcini cream. And then, there is the chicken cheesesteak, an open-faced baguette toasted with brie, then piled high with tenderly braised poultry, oyster mushrooms and shallots.

Damn it’s hard to please Craig LaBan. Interestingly, he’s skedded to review a Kosher restaurant in Montgomery County. Will the pork- and seafood-loving LaBan manage to find love in a kitchen where they don’t even serve cheeseburgers? Only time will tell.

St. Stephen’s Green [Inquirer]

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Meanwhile, At St. Stephen’s Green…