Birra opening Saturday
The pizza-and-beer bar on East Passyunk finally gets its LCB blessing.
Only five months behind schedule, the brick oven pizza and craft beer joint Birra -- which I told you about back in March -- will open Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1700 E. Passyunk Ave., the crossroads of Passyunk Avenue, 12th Street and Morris Street.
Owner Gordon Dinerman, previously at City Tap House in University City after four years with Stephen Starr at Buddakan and Barclay Prime, has 50 seats in a rich atmosphere of earth tones and wood, a bar and a display pizza kitchen; there will be outdoor dining, too.
For now, Birra will be evenings only, Tuesdays through Sundays. Lunch and seven-day operation will begin shortly.
Consulting chef Shola Olunloyo is behind the menu. Apps are priced from $6 to $10, 12-inch thin-crust pizzas sell for $10 to $20 apiece, and "plates" (all roasted in the pizza oven) will sell for $6 to $20. Everything on the menu is available as a pizza topping, and the signature dish will be the Birra Bowl, which is described as an open-faced calzone baked in a bowl and flipped upside down.
Six craft beers on draft, artinsal wines and cocktails.