THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Octo Waterfront Grille Restaurant Review:

With its prime riverfront location, live music and spacious deck bar, Octo Waterfront Grille is one cool place to take in the view on Philly’s Delaware River. Enjoy appetizers like homemade cheesesteak spring rolls and mini crab cakes, but don’t miss sampling chef Patrick Dwyer’s well-crafted seafood-centric menu. Dwyer, whose résumé includes stints at Smith & Wollensky and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, delivers rich lobster bisque and fresh pasta dishes, like the zesty shrimp and scallop fra diavolo with fresh basil. The salmon is another winner, a large portion of wild Atlantic fish stuffed with Brie, crab meat and shrimp. For dessert? The chef’s chocolate malted crème brûlée, garnished with Whoppers, offers a sweet ending.

After five years in the making, Philadelphia’s newly opened Liberty Point restaurant is officially the city’s newest and largest outdoor restaurant, replacing Hornik’s Craft Hall. The new three-level complex has a seating capacity for up to 1,400 guests and showcases unobstructed, panoramic views of the Delaware River waterfront lined with plants and blooming flowers.

The restaurant’s name was inspired by the history of Philadelphia and its waterfront. Liberty Point is located on an area of land stretching out into the water, symbolizing and allowing for the celebration of freedom and American liberty through socialization in the same way sailors did when their ships docked at port.

Liberty Point Outdoor Seating

With both outdoor and indoor seating available, the three main levels feature five bars for guests to enjoy food and drink, including bites, sandwiches, salads and raw beer selections along the waterfront. In the future, Liberty Point hopes to incorporate a happy hour accompanied by a bar bites menu. A permanent stage at the heart of the restaurant offers live entertainment throughout the week, and the first level of the restaurant is dog friendly.

In addition to elaborate dining experiences, Liberty Point has a list of private and semi-private spaces embracing the outdoor, seasonal environment available for events of anywhere between 10 and 1,400 people. With 25,000 square feet of outdoor space and another 3,000 square feet indoors, Liberty Point is equipped to host nearly any type of event imaginable. 

Read this next: Philadelphia’s Top-Down Focus on DEI Paves the Way Forward for Meetings

MEET THE OWNER

Daniel J. Keating, III
Owner & Developer, Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing

As a leader in the real estate development, construction and environmental management fields for more than forty years, Dan Keating has built a lauded portfolio and reputation that spans far beyond the Philadelphia region. Long involved in the development and growth of the Delaware River Waterfront, Dan set his sights on building the first waterfront hotel in Philadelphia. In 2000 he opened the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing (formerly known as the Hyatt Penn’s Landing) – one of the first hospitality developments along the Delaware River. Today, the Hilton Penn’s Landing stands as a year-round hub for activity along the river and a staple in the Philadelphia hotel community.

As a patriotic man and maritime fan, the hotel took on Dan’s vision to provide visitors and locals alike a glimpse of life along the river. Now, the new waterfront dining experience will take guests one step closer to the waterfront with the nautically inspired Keating’s Rope & Anchor, Bar + Kitchen.

Our menu is a living thing – which means that for it to thrive we have to pay it constant love and attention. We do this by making continuous improvements to invigorate our menu with new and satisfying combinations of flavor. When you pay us a visit, you’ll want to see your favorite on the menu – but there will be plenty of exciting and new creations for you to try as well.

Catering: No event is too large or too small for Waterfront Gourmet’s catering team. Any event deserves a fresh and delicious menu. Whether you need to cater something as lowkey as a victory celebration for a Little League team or you want to impress the guests are your largest annual corporate event, Waterfront Gourmet’s world-class catering will bring you the fresh, healthy options bursting with flavor.

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Developer Avram Hornik watches as crews work on Liberty Point at the Independence Seaport Museum at Penn’s Landing. The Battleship New Jersey is in the background. Read more

One major piece of the long-awaited development of Penn’s Landing is expected to fall into place this spring.

Liberty Point will be a massive, year-round, mainly seafood restaurant on three levels wrapping around most of the Independence Seaport Museum, at the foot of Walnut Street between Columbus Boulevard and the Delaware River. Almost every seat in the house, on four decks shaded by sail-like fabric, will provide a view of the Philadelphia waterfront as well as Camden’s across the river.

Liberty Point, owned by Avram Hornik and his FCM Hospitality, will accommodate 1,400 people over 25,000 square feet, with 150 employees, five bars, and seven private event spaces, making it the largest outdoor restaurant in Philadelphia. In the offseason and during foul weather, Liberty Point will seat about 75 people in the indoor dining room, whose clever setup of vintage mirrors behind the bar will allow patrons to see the river over their shoulders.

FCM, incidentally, also operates the second-largest outdoor restaurant in Philadelphia, the seasonal Morgan’s Pier (500 seats), a half-mile north of Liberty Point near the Ben Franklin Bridge. It also runs the nearby 450-seat Craft Hall and 300-seat Cherry Street Pier as well as Lola’s Garden in Ardmore (250 seats), Harper’s Garden in Center City (180 seats), Rosy’s Tacos in Center City (160 seats), and Juno in Poplar (120 seats).

Liberty Point and Morgan’s Pier are both waterfront dining experiences but will serve different constituencies, Hornik said. Liberty Point will be sit-down dining with live music for families and tourists, while Morgan’s Pier draws a younger adult crowd seeking a backyard barbecue or beer garden. Liberty Point also will host wedding parties. Hornik said a $500 package for up to 20 people would include the services of an officiant and a Champagne toast.

The project, about five years in the works and delayed a year by the pandemic, is part of a deal between FCM and the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. (the quasi-governmental agency that oversees Penn’s Landing on behalf of the city) and the museum, Hornik said during a recent tour, as workers assembled wooden decks and outfitted shipping containers that will house bars and kitchens. The exterior of the museum, built for the 1976 Bicentennial, will be festooned with live plants to offset the expanses of concrete.

The museum had tried at one point to create a beer garden. Hornik said he began talking with the DRWC after FCM catered an event on the USS Olympia, berthed nearby. Hornik said conversation turned to repurposing the outer areas of the museum. “We just want to make an existing space useful,” Hornik said.

The same can be said about the riverfront. Unlike many other East Coast cities, Philadelphia’s has been woefully underutilized.

From the mid-1960s, the area — once a series of warehouses and piers — was largely cut off from the rest of the city by the construction of I-95. The highway ran parallel to Delaware Avenue, the previous name of that stretch of Columbus Boulevard. (Before extensive reconstruction two decades ago, Delaware Avenue was a nightmarish ride. Driving its unmarked lanes involved dodging axle-jarring potholes, stray Belgian blocks, and twisted train rails with sharp edges that slashed tires.)

Some development in the 1970s included the restoration of the Olympia and the introduction of the Moshulu as a floating restaurant (after repairs from a 1989 fire, it was moved farther south to reopen in the mid-1990s).

But dreams to effectively bridge over I-95 and Columbus Boulevard and turn Penn’s Landing into a true public destination failed. In the early 2000s, mall developer Simon Property Group gave up on its idea to create a shopping-and-entertainment complex with a Cheesecake Factory restaurant and a tram to Camden.

» READ MORE: Durst wins the right to develop Penn’s Landing

The DRWC then drafted the Master Plan for the Central Delaware and invested heavily in public plazas, bike trails, and other communal spaces meant to draw private development dollars to the area. In late 2020, the DRWC selected the Durst Organization of New York to handle development. The $2.2 billion plan, now underway, includes 12 new towers of homes, shops, and offices on either side of a park being planned over the highway, between Chestnut and Walnut Streets.

Even though the park that will cover the roads is years away, there is no real challenge to get to Liberty Point. Old City is literally at its doorstep by way of the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge, which starts at Front Street and ends at the museum. “It’s funny, but no one ever thinks of walking over the Walnut Street bridge, but it is here,” Hornik said.

Hornik said coming up with the name was easy. “Philadelphia is the home of ‘Liberty’ and ‘Point’ being where the land meets the water,” Hornik said. “And then also when sailors came ashore, they got liberty. And then it’s a kind of celebration of liberty, like when you go out with your friends and family and you have fun.”

The self-proclaimed largest restaurant in Philadelphia opened this week along the Delaware River in Penn’s Landing.

FCM Hospitality cut the ribbon Tuesday on Liberty Point at 211 S. Columbus Blvd., adjacent to the Independence Seaport Museum.

The sprawling 28,000 square foot restaurant can host around 1,400 people at once over its three levels. FCM claims that head count exceeds that of another one of its eateries, Craft Hall.

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The size is one thing, the location is another. Liberty Point claims to offer “unobstructed, panoramic waterfront views.”

“We are excited to bring this new dining concept to the Waterfront to join the already vibrant destination for recreational, cultural, and commercial activities for the residents and visitors of Philadelphia,” FCM Hospitality owner Avram Hornik said in a news release.

The restaurant is expected to create 200 or more new jobs, FCM said. Executive Chef Qadir Jordan, a West Philadelphia native, is leading the kitchen.

“For food, foodies will find a casual menu with features like a raw bar, sandwiches, salads and seasonal bites,” the restaurant said in its news release.

The eatery features 25,000 square feet of outdoor seating, another 3,000 square feet inside, five bars and a permanent stage where live music and DJs will perform.

The restaurant is open seven days a week from noon to 2 a.m., with food service ending at 10 p.m. It is both family and dog friendly. Some parts of the restaurant are by reservation only through Resy.com, while others are first-come, first-served.

Liberty Point’s opening was five years in the making.

“For 5 years I’ve been working with the management of the Independence Seaport Museum to develop a concept that would utilize the amazing river views from their large outdoor decks,” Hornik said. “The restaurant was scheduled to open in spring of 2021 but was delayed due to covid. We are thrilled to take things to the next level for outdoor, riverfront dining in Philadelphia.”

Waterfront Gourmet is Center City, Philadelphia’s favorite spot for creative and innovative twists on traditional sandwiches, delicious signature salads, gourmet paninis, freshly made healthy smoothies, and specialty coffee by bali espresso™.

Our menu creations are always prepared using locally sourced produce delivered fresh every day. You will love our many plant-based vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free menu offerings. We strive to only carry Non GMO products that are sustainably sourced from local farmers. Our healthy menu is bursting with uniquely inspired fusions of flavor, and our selections are constantly evolving to highlight the incredibly fresh ingredients we receive everyday.

If you’d like to take the Gourmet experience off of the Waterfront, we deliver catering all over center city Philadelphia. Our distinctive catering services are available for both corporate and private events.

Waterfront Gourmet’s mission is to serve organic, locally-sourced farm-fresh, sustainable food – That’s always fresh, always awesome.

Massive Restaurant, Bar and Entertainment Spot Opening on Penn’s Landing

Plus, New Liberty Distillery buys Faber liquors, more Stephen Starr news, and Añejo Philly launches $25 bottomless Taco Tuesday deal.

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Happy Valentine’s Day, buckaroos, and welcome to the Foobooz Monday News Round-Up. I have a whole bunch of fresh, hot news for you today — including a classic restaurant makeover in University City, the local purchase of a historic liquor brand, and the import of a famous burger operation from out west. (No, not that one.) But let’s start off this week with something big.

Really big.

Like the biggest Philadelphia restaurant opening ever.

On the Waterfront

Avram Hornik and FCM Hospitality already had the record for opening the largest restaurant in the city when they debuted Craft Hall, with its seating for 500 (not counting patio tables or the additional dog park that came later). Now, they’re looking to top that in a big way with Liberty Point — a nearly 30,000-square-foot, multi-function bar, restaurant and entertainment venue with three levels, five bars, indoor/outdoor seating, waterfront views and seating for 1,400.

Yeah, you read that right: 1,400 seats. That is a BIG project.

Hornik and FCM have been working on it for five years now. It was supposed to open in 2021, but the pandemic put the brakes on. Now, they’re looking at an April opening — just in time for spring. So let’s check out some details.

First, it’s located at 211 South Columbus Boulevard — that’s right next door to the Independence Seaport Museum. As a matter of fact, Liberty Point is basically hugging the museum, using some of that dock space that’s right there and piggybacking on its waterfront scenery. And while this new project doesn’t really give Hornik a total lock on the waterfront (there are other operators in and around Penn’s Landing), it does give him another really solid anchor. With Craft Hall on one end, Liberty Point on the other, and things like Morgan’s Pier, River Beer Garden and the Cherry Street Pier in between, he has absolutely marked his territory. If you’re in the neighborhood, feeling boozy or looking for a sandwich, odds are pretty good you’re going to be putting money in his pocket.

The space itself is going to be massive. There’ll be a permanent stage set up in the center of it, with plans for live music on the weekends and DJs on Thursdays and Sundays, 25,000 square feet of outdoor seating, landscaped greenery to cover all the concrete, multiple levels, all kinds of seating options and all kinds of views with five different bars to choose from: the main bar, the stage bar, the inside bar, the boat bar (intriguing) and the sky bar — an elevated space on the top level. Inside, there’ll be vintage mirrors, TVs and a completely re-made space. FCM is even looking at partnering with the museum for excursions out onto the water, which, by my calculations, will give him command of the land, sky AND sea. Well, the river anyway.

The menu looks to be casual — sandwiches, salads and snacks at lunch and dinner — with a raw bar and late-night specials. The first level of Liberty Point will be family- and dog-friendly. Right now, they’re looking at being open seven days a week, from noon to 2 a.m., but that might change. Lots of this stuff might change. But I’m just letting you know what I know right now.

But seriously? April is right around the corner. So I guess we’ll all know a lot more about this place soon enough.

What’s next?

 

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Speaking of Liberty …

We’ve got a theme going here, so I’m sticking with it.

You folks know Faber liquors, right? I mean, if you were ever a teenager, ever had a drinky uncle, ever frequented sports bars or dive bars or places that don’t brag about what they keep in their wells, you know Faber. If you ever found yourself in need of a cheap bottle of pomegranate vodka, you know Faber. If you ever had the opportunity to visit the old Foobooz World HQ offices, you probably also know Faber — it was the brand of choice for day-drinking back when Art and I were running the show.

Anyway, Faber was produced by Bucks County distiller Midnight Madness (SUCH an appropriate name). But Midnight Madness has been in the midst of a messy bankruptcy for quite some time, and Philly’s New Liberty Distillery has been eyeing the company hungrily since last summer.

See, Midnight Madness still had some assets — most notably, their actual physical site, two high-speed bottling lines and some distilling equipment (totally not haunted by the ghosts of Faber’s grape-flavored vodka, I’m sure). And Millstone Spirits Group (a.k.a. New Liberty), which is in an expansion kind of mood, wanted those things in order to speed their growth.

So in a recent bankruptcy auction, they got ’em — for a cool $1.4 million. And along with the space and equipment came some intellectual property, including the Faber name and brand. Which is cool because New Liberty says they have plans to re-launch the brand in the future.

Probably without the grape vodka though.

Moving on …

 

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Another Week, Another Starr Update

It seems like every week, I come back to this column with more Stephen Starr news. Which is weird, because for YEARS, his attentions were focused elsewhere — on properties in New York, Florida, the moon, wherever — with hardly any action here in his hometown.

But these days? All Starr, all the time. He’s cutting huge national deals, going big on sports betting, opening his own bookstore (and Mexican restaurant) in Fishtown. And now, he’s remaking one of his most iconic, early restaurants — Pod — into something new.

Pod (now known as Kpod) was always an odd duck. It was a kinda blobby, future-y, fusion-y joint in UCity that always kinda felt like what science fiction creatives in the ’70s thought futuristic dining would look like in 1997. It was cool in that it was entirely unique. There was no real way to describe it. It just … was.

And now, Starr has re-made it — turning the kitchen over to his guy Peter Serpico, who has given the entire place a Korean vibe while maintaining its shiny, bright and curvy aesthetic.

The menu is full of mandu dumplings and hand rolls, banchan and army stew with hot dogs. There’s pork ramyun, kimchi fried rice with egg and soft tofu stew. The drinks list is huge. The small plates menu looks awesome. (Honey butter fries with chili flake? Come on.) And I’m really excited to see what Serpico can do here.

Kpod opened quietly a few days ago and is serving right now. I’ll see y’all there.

 

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The Leftovers

Wanna know how long I’ve been doing this job and how old I feel right now? I was working in Denver when Smashburger opened their first burger restaurant. I went there. I took a tour. I believe I ate one of the first burgers it produced, sitting down with the founder, Tom Ryan. This was in 2007.

Smashburger now has almost 400 locations in 37 states and nine different countries. And the newest one is opening in Montgomery County on Friday, February 18th, at 2023 Welsh Road in Dresher.

It’s a good burger. Or was 15 years ago. I don’t know. I gotta go take a nap.

Up in Northern Liberties, Añejo Philly is doing a $25 bottomless Taco Tuesday deal. There are eight varieties — everything from lamb barbacoa to Gulf shrimp, and crispy cauliflower or wild mushroom for the vegetarians — and you can mix and match. The price includes all the tacos you can handle, rice and beans, and chips and salsa. Discounted margaritas and small plates can be added on. At the preview event, 250 people ate more than a thousand tacos before the kitchen stopped counting, so this is probably going to be a big deal.

This is happening every Tuesday from 5 to 9 p.m. If you’re down, you can find more information right here.

And hey, speaking of margaritas, Tuesday, February 22nd is National Margarita Day. So I’m just saying, if you’re looking for an excuse …

Where to Eat (and Drink!) by the Water Around Philadelphia

Sip cocktails on a ship, dine on a pier, or grab burgers on a 12-story rooftop overlooking the Schuylkill.

For a city surrounded by water, there’s a surprisingly limited number of waterfront dining options in Philadelphia. But the options we do have are pretty nice: the sprawling piers at Penn’s Landing, the intimate dining rooms in New Hope, and even a new grocery store with a sunny, casual patio overlooking the Schuykill. The views are beautiful and the drinks are cold, and that’s really all we need for peak summer dining.

 

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The Landing Kitchen, Bala Cynwyd 
Nick Elmi and Fia Berisha opened what could be brushed away as just another Marriot cafe — but the Landing Kitchen isn’t that at all. The menu is stocked with picture-perfect toasts, hearty salads, and coffee drinks that encourage lingering on the restaurant’s waterfront patio.

 

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Stella of New Hope, New Hope 
While a lot of waterfront options tend towards beer and a burger vibes, Jose Garces’s Stella in New Hope gives off more of a romantic bottle-of-wine-and-house-made-pasta energy, which makes a lovely ending to a day trip to New Hope.

Great Barn Taproom, New Hope 
Great Barn Taproom is technically situated on the canal, not on the river, but it’s waterfront nonetheless. Plus, they have a wide selection of creatively brewed beers, and very cheap pierogis — a match made in heaven.

The Patio at Giant, Logan Square 
You’ve probably heard about the new Giant on the Riverwalk. It’s enormous, and there are many elements to love, but perhaps the best part is that you can enjoy a beer and some Mission Taqueria overlooking the river before or after you shop.

 

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Moshulu, Penn’s Landing 
Is it cheesy to eat on a boat that never moves? Yes. Do we love it anyway? Also yes. It’s an excellent place to wile away a summer afternoon, drink in hand, and pretend you’re somewhere other than the city.

Morgan’s Pier, Penn’s Landing 
Morgan’s Pier will reopen for the 2021 season on April 22nd, with all the summer necessities: beer, cocktails, and classic bar foods like sandwiches, wings, and flatbreads.

The Garden at Cherry Street Pier, Penn’s Landing 
The Garden opened in 2020 with everything we needed at the time: outdoors, tons of greenery, and a full 20,000 square feet of open-air drinking and eating space. It’s now back for 2021, and it turns out we still need each and every one those things.

 

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Water Garden at Spruce Street Harbor Park, Penn’s Landing 
Plans for the 2021 season at Spruce Street Harbor Park have not yet been announced, but if 2020 is any indication, you can bet on crab fries and over-water hammocks.

Manayunk Brewing Company, Manayunk 
If the crowds at the piers in Philly feel like a bit much, head a little out of town to the chill vibes of Manayunk Brewing Company, where you can enjoy a microbrews, soft pretzels, and macaroni and cheese, among other delights. Bonus: it’s easy to bike from Center City on the Schuykill River Trail if you want to make a day of it.

Sunset Social, University City 
While Sunset is not technically waterfront, it does have some of the best views in the city from its perch on top of the Cira Centre Building. From the rooftop of the 12-story building, look out over the city (and yes, the river) and enjoy all the frosé, burgers, and loaded tots your heart desires. During the off-season it’s picnic only, but food from the team behind the downstairs Walnut Street Cafe will return April 19th.