Reactionary

Yesterday, the Garces group opened the Garces Trading Company on the outskirts of the gayborhood. Today, I went. It’s smaller than I thought it would be with a cafe with waiter service in the middle and the food purchase areas around the perimeter in a sort of racetrack around the eating area. Cheeses and charcuterie are next to each other with bread over in the corner. The serve-it-yourself oil and vinegar section is facing it in the little alleyway. Croutons and crackers are beneath and sweet spreads and marmelades are at one end and savory canned goods on the other. Pastries and the coffee bar are in the back with a single bar table in which to sit. There’s a refrigerated section for canned and bottled drinks. The other side of the area is a temperature controlled section devoted to the new wine shop. It’s owned and operated by the PCLB but the wines are actually stored right, the employee knows how to help you, and there are a good deal of wines not seen anywhere else in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s all-European with the Italian section being the largest. Beyond, in a corner is the cashier for the wine and alcohol.

The place is lovely with a bit of the rustic feel of Amada. Employees are neatly uniformed and a few were very helpful (I try to be realistic about service, we are in Philadelphia after all). The cheese section has nothing DiBruno’s wouldn’t but it’s well-curated and they’re generous with the samples. The charcuterie is geared towards the Iberians and I bought my beloved sobrasada not found anywhere else in the this city (to my knowledge). There’s a small yet immaculate collection of olives. It is not self-serve, thankfully, something that has always bothered me about the olive bar at DiBruno’s. While it has fewer varieties than the Italian shop across town, the varieties are hand-picked. I got some arbequinas, not always available unlike their French and Italian relations. Since I have bread at home right now, I didn’t take a look at that section but many other people were and I can only imagine it’s as perfect as the bread served at the restaurants in the group.

There are some interesting oils, once again a carefully curated collection with even one California one in there for balance. It’s self-serve, though. Patrons fill their own bottles which are then sealed at the cashier. This could be a disaster in the making, especially with liquid gold like white truffle oil. Hopefully, the cheese and charcuterie section will always be heavily staffed to avoid catastrophes from happening. I wonder if children should be banned at the door.

Among the preserves from France and Italy is a small collection of Garces’ own cheese accompaniments including roasted garlic dulce de leche, truffled lavender honey, sangria honey, and the cherry fig preserve I bought. They’re a steal at $5 a piece. The savory canned section has piquillo peppers and real navajas. I bought a tin of conchas and can hardly wait to eat them when I’m done writing this. Condiments other than vinegars and oils were few.

The pastry section has great deals on the little cookies like financiers, macarons, and madeleines. The chocolate ones were calling my name with a perfect sugar crust, but they will only sell them in dozens. Knowing I’d eat them all if I got the dozen, I didn’t.

Overall, the place has great food but the layout is a bit tight and it’s smaller than I thought it would be. I was there are the end of an ordinary work day on Ash Wednesday so it was steadily busy but not exploding with people. I can’t imagine the chaos that would ensue on a Saturday when larger crowds descend on anything of Garces in this town. It also seemed to be fairly dark in there. I don’t know if it was on purpose mood lighting, but I didn’t know there were signs with the menu above our heads until I had been there about half an hour. There also seemed to be a lot of employees, a lot. And with the space being as limited as it is, it made for a tight squeeze. Though there’s a coffee bar with a full barista, I couldn’t imagine wanting to hang out there. All food purchases must be made at the one cashier by the coffee bar. Forget about relaxing reading your paper whilst being jostled by those waiting to pay and those looking at the dessert case.

The wine boutique has some real gems, though, and given Pennsylvania’s ridiculous liquor laws, it’s the first of its kind. There is knowledgeable, genial help in there and that, my friends, is priceless. Also, there are great deals. You don’t have to pay even $20 to get a good bottle. Plenty has been selected at the more everyday end of the scale. You have to pay separately than the food, but then that’s the world we live in. The cafe looks nice and you might actually have more breathing room sitting in there eating and drinking while people do their grocery shopping on the perimeters.

I can’t help thinking they need more space for all they’re trying to do. I wonder what they could have done with a space like DiBruno’s Chestnut Street location, but it is what it is. The food’s of great quality, there are Iberian specialties not found anywhere else in this city of Italians, and we can buy wine now from people who actually drink it.

Thanks, Jose.

February 17th, 2010 | Category: Food, Life, News |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL