Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Sometimes Foodie goes to the Barcade in Philadelphia!

Barcade - Philadelphia, PA 
I was staying over my boyfriend's place last weekend when he and his roommate were invited to a last minute birthday party at the Barcade in Philadelphia. Both of them are rather fond of this place and, although I am not into "the bar scene", I tagged along.
As if the name wasn't enough of a hint, my little teaser image tells you exactly what this place is.
It's a bar filled with classic arcade cabinets from the 1980's.
My boyfriend and I each played this one.
Since I was born in 1987, I remembered a lot of these games from my NES, but I never got the chance to see them in arcade cabinets. It's pretty neat. This place has everything from Super Mario Bros. to Galaga, so both serious and casual gamers, as well as pop culture lovers, would really get a kick out of the variety of games offered. (See the full arcade cabinet list HERE.)

Why am I mentioning all of this? This is a food blog after all, where's the food?

Here it is!

Pretty impressive for bar-food, huh? At least I think so. The Barcade doesn't have a very extensive menu, after all most of it's patrons are here to drink and game, but the food that's offered is fairly impressive.

Since it was so cold and snowy, I ordered a grilled 3-cheese sandwich with pretzels and a cup of potato leek soup. (Along with an amaretto and seltzer, my drink of choice.)  On the menu the three cheeses listed were Boursin, Gruyรจre and smoked Chihuahua. That's right, Chihuahua cheese. 
Chihuahua is a state in Mexico, which is where this cheese originates, as well as the namesake for the very popular breed of dog. So no worries, this isn't produced from the milk of Chihuahuas or anything crazy like that. It's just a nice melt-able cheese. 

When the sandwich arrived, which was relatively quick considering how packed the bar was, it was well toasted, most likely in a panini press judging by the marks. The bread was nice and fresh, but I found that all of the flavors seemed to blend together into one savory, but creamy, generic cheese taste. It was really satisfying, but nothing to write home about.

On the other hand, my cup of soup was absolutely heavenly, especially after trudging through the ice and snow outside. It was hot, creamy, and well seasoned. It tasted just like one would expect, like a cream-based potato soup with leeks, but I fell in love with it. My favorite way of consuming it was to dip my sandwich in it, but it was really delicious on it's own. (I wish I had more right now.)
As for the pretzels, they were store bought Utz pretzels, so there was nothing special there.

The food was much better than I expected, but it isn't the main attraction, it's the nostalgia. (And beer.)


I don't drink beer and I am a casual gamer at best (I'm currently playing Yoshi's Island DS), but out of all the bars I have been to, this is the best. All of my gaming (and beer drinking) buddies absolutely love it, and I get to play Dig Dug and BurgerBoss BurgerTime while they party. If you like video games, beer, and decent food, this is the bar for you.


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2 comments:

  1. We have a lot of those in Portland, Or. So popular and so much fun! I love classic arcade games and when you can get those and a nice drink, what's not to love? My fiance was so happy when he found out that there was a nickle arcade next to our new place. Now I know where he will be on the weekends haha.

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    1. That sounds so fun (and affordable, which makes it double fun). If I'm ever in the area I should check that place out. (It sounds like my boyfriend would love it.)

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