• Brian Freedman calls what’s coming out of the kitchen at East Passyunk Ave.’s Will BYOB “remarkable,” and chalks up the success of the plates to the “extraordinarily talented” Chef Christopher Kearse’s “deep, abiding respect for the flavors.” Scallops are the “mollusk equivalent of Ecstasy,” and a pork belly appetizer, served with winter bean cassoulet “could be the swine version of the drug.” All told, he says the restaurant brings “verve” back to the city’s BYOB culture. [PW]
• Adam Erace says “go ahead and order another round” of cocktails at Hotel Monaco’s Red Owl Tavern. Just don’t expect the service to be able to explain what they are, or how to pronounce them. As for the food? The linguica “delivered a concerto of fragrant spices (coriander, cumin, fennel, chile) against a Merlot-washed backdrop of house-ground pork,” and the pot pie struck a “homey chord,” in spite of the fact that it didn’t come with a plate underneath to “catch the drippy gravy and flyaway pastry flakes.” [Citypaper]
