Al Fresco Dining in Philadelphia
Foobooz's 2011 Top 50 Bars
Philly's 20 Best Drinks
2011 Best of Philly in Food
The Very Best Pizza in Philly
50 Best Places to Eat in Philadelphia
And Now, a Word from Sir Mike Naessans of Eulogy
Posted by Foobooz on December 22nd, 2009
Michael Naessens, owner of Eulogy Belgian Tavern sent us the below email this morning that we wanted to share.
Not sure your list really matters anyway BUT
Eulogy just named Top 50 bar in USA, top in Philadelphia yet Foobooz choses to continue to ignore. Get in touch with the people or could this have something to do with an angry little ex employee at Foobooz ? As I said doesn’t matter, I just heard about the list five months later and found it funny and interesting Eulogy was left off deliberately
As per Joe Sixpack:
What about Eulogy? That’s hard to judge. In beer geekdom, there’s been a Monks vs. Eulogy battle going on for years. But I don’t think that’s the case here because other than a handful of beer writers, the poll’s respondents aren’t tuned into that scene. http://foobooz.com/2009/09/following-up-on-our-top-50/
Sante,
SIR Michael Naessens
Belgian Knight of the Beer Guild
To be clear, Foobooz has no employees and Eulogy’s absence from our Top 50 Bars list was not deliberate, but a direct result of a lack of votes from “the people.”
Top 50 Bars [f8b8z]
Eulogy
136 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
hilarious! what a douche. just let it go, mike, let it go…
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
that email does not make me want to visit eulogy. especially during the holiday season! lol.
btw, the only bars on our list that are on opentable are parc, valanni, tinto, chick’s, london grill, and XIX.
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I echo your thoughts, Rory. That email/complaint was poorly constructed and certainly no way to promote your bar.
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Why did your bar not make the list (not that I necessarily agree with the list), but I can imagine that its because of a few reasons. Eulogy is a pain in the ass to drink in! It’s so overly crowded at times you just want to run screaming to Sugarmom’s. And yes the Belgian beer tap selection is good, but it’s not so astoundingly good that you are constantly checking back in to see if they have something you haven’t tried. Monk’s is the only bar that has that going for it (and I HATE Monk’s). As a seasoned beer drinker the tap selection is full of greats, but they have been had before (St Bernardus, Piraat, Duvel, Kwak, etc.) I’d rather go to a friendly bar with a good rotating selection that doesn’t whine.
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
The last time I was at Eulogy, I walked out on the bill. Shameful I know. However, the service was so bad that I felt it just. I will never return. And why should I? Eulogy is a dinosaur.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I ve always liked Eulogys beer selection but the staff is something to be desired. Last time I was there the bartender had the worst attitude. Had one beer and left. Never to return again
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Eulogy and Beneluxx (If that place is even open anymore) are such a joke. The last time I ever went to Eulogy, me and my wife walked in and took the last table downstairs. It still had dishes and glasses on it and a dirty ashtray full of cigars (if that tells you how long ago this was). We expected a waiter to come by shortly and clean it up and then we could be served. We hung around for about 15 minutes and watched the waitress walk by three times and not even look at us. So we left. The service is always crappy, the food is always pedestrian and the staff was completely different every time we went in, which was weekly. Make your place more inviting and stop bitching.
At Beneluxx, we went in there shortly after it opened and our waitress knew nothing about the beer or cheese they had and all the beers we had were skunked. I’ve never thought you could have a Two Hearted or Storm King that was skunked and poured through dirty taps, but boy, did they prove me wrong.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Ha… they were picked as a top 50 on Open Table, a dinner reservation site that a majority of beer bars are not associated with.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I forget what thread it was, but Bob’s point is a peeve I have against a lot of American “beer culture.” This perpetual running after the newest iteration forcing bars to have ever rotating line ups. There’s something to be said, not just with Belgians, for developing a deeper taste and appreciation for certain beers, maybe even associating them with particular places. But no, we have instead a bar industry that much constantly rotate their taps to keep the ever fickle Bobs “one and run onto the next beer” happy.
Eulogy is a far from perfect bar, the space is cramped. On the other hand, I’ve never had a problem with service directly from the bar. Whatever the case, it is the holidays, which apparently means slow news days in the food blog world. Thus I guess taking an embarrassing e-mail from a business owner to a publisher (over a list compiled of the preferences of said publisher and six or seven friends) a news item is to be expected, I guess….
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
i helped make the list. I’ve never met Arthur in real life, FWIW.
I agree with Marty that the need to over-rotate is quite frustrating. That said, there’s an obvious middleground of having 1/3 of your taps for standards that rarely/never change, 1/3 for changing a lot, and 1/3 for changing with the season.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
there is a Sullivan’s Steakhouse and the Paddock in Devon is on this list….as someone else said…its a joke…OpenTable giving honors to the best bars…the best bars in the country don’t use Open Table and the people who are patrons of these bars like it that way…
get a grip Sir Mike…you’re more damaging than you know to you bars public image.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
i used to rave to everyone i knew about eulogy’s fries (which i touted as best in the city) and their beer list. but the last time i was in eulogy i found a band-aid … yes, a nasty band-aid, in my salad. when i brought it to the waiter’s attention, he barely reacted, barely apologized. he said the kitchen would likely give us something like dessert to compensate. but i couldn’t overcome my disgust. i didn’t drink or eat much more, and waited until the five other people with me finished their meals. we never got a comped dessert, and when the bill came, the only thing not on the bill was my meal, which i had barely eaten anyway. i complained to the waiter who told me he could do nothing, then complained to the manager, who took off, like 25 percent of the bill. but the whole thing became such an ordeal and was so demoralizing that there’s no way i could ever go back there. to say their service is terrible is the understatement of the century.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
also, and sorry to make this two comments, but i appreciate finding out which business owners do and do not have a sense of tack. Were it me, I’d have invited the blog writer for a drink not a snide email that accused the blog of a vendetta.
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Am I the “angry ex employee?”
Geez, don’t think I’m “angry.”
I have e v e n sent people over there.
I want my friends that work there to make money.
Why do you waste so much of your energy on negativity?
It’s really sad to hear/read.
Aren’t you just exhausted by now? It’s been three and half years.
I was one of 25 contributors to the “Top 50 bars.” I never made comment when the comments started coming in last summer.
Here are just a few (6) of the 10 (plus 2 honorable mentions)bars I picked in no order and why. There is a constant theme- though.
They all have hands-on owners that are respectable and caring.
They’re not out to one-up anyone they’re just excited about what’s going on inside t h e i r bar because they love beer/food and work hard to bring the best to the people coming through their doors. I wrote the following last August.
Standard Tap
Ron Johnson might be the best bartender in the city. I’ve known him for 3 years and never once saw him grumped up. William Reed and Paul Kimport constantly find ways to improve the building…oh and then
there’ s that squid, and those mussels with chorizo…
Memphis Taproom- Every time I am in here- I discover a new song, a new beer, a new bite to eat- It makes my life better.
Monks-Eddy Marenco
Flying Pig-Malvern. The lawyer sits next to the college student who sits next to the contractor who’s hitting on his friend’s mom. Awesome Craft beer offered for all,vintages too. It is the epitome of a good bar. Food is good. The Cheesy pig may give you indigestion for an hour,but its worth it.
Jose Pistolas
the Casey Parker show + great nachos
Lucky 13-a 2008 new comer to p’yunk ave….great music, interesting bar food, small selection of good craft beers. I think I like the fact that the owner pours all the beers, has great stories, and a great way about him
***
Hope everyone enjoys the holiday with lots of good bites and beers (wine, scotch, what have you)
It is the holidays, right?
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Ass. Hole. (coming from a very self-aware asshole)
I always forget why I stopped going into Eulogy. Now I remember.
And please, winning a best bar award from Open Table is almost as useless as winning a Phoodie.
And what’s with all the vitriol, dude? Alienating your bar from the beer drinking public is not a good idea. Drunk as we may be, we don’t forget. Especially picking on someone that ‘the people’ respect, who doesn’t say a bad word about anyone.
God bless your staff, they probably have one of the hardest jobs in the city.
December 22nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Not a regular, but it’s one of the few tolerable places in Old City. Never met the guy, but I’m just saying an over the top tirade is nothing new, and is actually a pretty tiresome commonplace at all levels of the food industry.
Hell, if you want some truly insane ranting from a likely disgruntled ex-employee just check out what Memphis Taproom’s announcement of vintage bottle’s wrought on Philadelphia Speaks (and yes the accuser’s screen name did cause a “Suziew? nahh…” doubletake among some informed beer readers):
http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/food-drink-philadelphia-restaurants-bars/8121-memphis-taproom-vintage-beer-list-launched.html
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I drink at Eulogy pretty much every Wednesday night (free parking night in center city) and I always have great service at the bar.
But really wanted to comment on the Memphis Taproom thread. That is hysterically awesome. I am so looking forward to the shootout along the border. Gosh darn, bootleggers!
Perhaps someone can alert the authorities that I’ll be crossing the river to Jersey to get some holiday wine at Moore Brothers tomorrow. I’m such a badass rule breaker.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
The bootlegging comment was brought to my attention from Brendan of Resurrection Ale House and many others…I’m not on the site…wasn’t me.
Tried to contact the admin of “Philly speaks” to try to get it removed. Apparently someone has actually registered under “Suzie W” and “beerlass” as well. Hijacked! Both not me. If I only had the time.
Who is this person? people?
I also agree that Eulogy is among one of the few redeemable places in old city. It’s nice to know if you’re in the area you can hit there, triumph, sassafras, brownies, khyber, national mechanics, society hill hotel, race st. (yes a lil north) skinners, sugar moms depending on day and hour. Heck- even Plough and the Stars even has Founders Breakfast Stout on tap right now and an ever-growing big bottle list.
PS: I loved the idea of SBrendan and Leigh celebrating their opening of their 3rd bar with a special keg.AND I love Brewer’s Art (where the keg of resurrection came from). If you ever get a chance to visit Charm City, Baltimore…you should definitely have a pint.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:28 am
Hijacking of local beer pesonalities identity? Wow the under belly of the Philly beer scene. In fact, philly beer scene mag or someone should do an expose.
Suzie W claims she reports all law breaking. Does she report identity theft.
Weird weird world.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:43 am
I think you two should make nice. Is the letter from Mike petty? Yes! Is FooBooz’s posting of the letter petty? Yes!
How about this: Eulogy offers some special promotion to FooBooz readers. In exchange, FooBooz dedicates a decidedly more positive post to Eulogy to advertise the special.
Everybody wins!
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:44 am
that memphis taproom thread:
Ron Burgundy: Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
Champ Kind: It jumped up a notch.
Ron Burgundy: It did, didn’t it?
Brick Tamland: Yeah, I stabbed a man in the heart.
Ron Burgundy: I saw that. Brick killed a guy. Did you throw a trident?
Brick Tamland: Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.
Ron Burgundy: Brick, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. You should find yourself a safehouse or a relative close by. Lay low for a while, because you’re probably wanted for murder.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 am
Sir Mike,
How much did you PAY for your title?
Douchey, way douchey.
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:52 am
i agree with all the douche bag comments.
i stopped going to eulogy because of the TERRIBLE SERVICE AND TERRIBLE FOOD.
IF YOU WANT YOUR BAR ON A LIST. HIRE SOME COMPETENT PEOPLE YOU AHOLE. and hire a real chef. ugh. barf.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:00 am
<>
C R A Z Y, right?! The only thing crazier is that it ISN’T from an disgruntled ex-employee. (Can’t tell you why I know.) The fake Suzie Woods hates us all over the internet. He’s probably reading this right now planning another awesome anonymous forum post that will alert the world to our evil ways. It’d be 100% hilarious, if it weren’t so pathetic and weird. L@MT
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Gotta love the anonymity of the internets. I’m always amused when people take things seriously (a la the Phillyspeaks thread).
Either way, Mike Naessens needs to hire a PR firm ASAP!!
Someone needs to put a muzzle on this idiot. He’s probably cost himself more business than he could have imagined. I mean so what that Foobooz didn’t make you one of their Top 50 bars? Somebody bust out the Waahambulance, because this bitch is crying.
All things being equal, Eulogy has lost its appeal to most people anyway. Everyone else gets better beer than them (because the folks that work in the beer industry can’t stand Sir Douche Naessens), the food is lame, the service is pathetic and the ambience is tired.
The best part of this whole situation?
Mike Naessens doesn’t even drink beer. He fucking drinks wine! Douchebag touts his beer bar and he doesn’t know shit about beer. Just jumping on the bandwagon and riding the coattails of Monks (the preeminent Belgian establishment).
At least instead of running his restaurants into the ground, he has found the time to impersonate Suzy Woods on the internet and bash highly respected local bar owners.
Oh wait, maybe he is running his restaurants into the ground because he is wasting his time shitbagging people who are respected and are doing the good thing for the city and the industry.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
I’m not entirely convince “suziew” is an attempt at stealing Susan Woods’ ID. When she went out of control on the Taproom thread, my “who the hell is this?” instinct checked her activity on the board. She had a relatively pedestrian inquiry into Zot closing, and then this anti-semitic thing. Those were over the course of a couple of days in August, now she launches this Taproom attack.
I wonder if he or she’s the one that claims Local 44 usurped some other would-be bar owners idea in the same neighborhood. Definitely would be funny if it weren’t so creepy.
Maybe it’s “performance art” from the Philadephia Ex-Beer-iment. They haven’t got much love in a while.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
douche douche douche. sir mike makes tommy up look like a good guy. it ain’t easy, being that cheesy. he drinks bad white wine with mail order bride types and tries to hit on underage girls. fact.
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
hey, I’m kind of a Foobooz Employee…but I never worked at Euloguy
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Allow me to begin by saying that I am not the ‘Bryan’ in a comment #7 up above…I will always include a link to The Brew Lounge behind my name whenever I make a comment on someone’s site/blog to ensure transparency.
Arthur, I’d love to know what time the e-mail was stamped! This sounds like one of those postings over at BeerAdvocate that pops up from a ranting drunkard in the middle of the night.
Being one of your contributors to your List, I don’t know where to start with this one.
Maybe with “I’ve been to Eulogy just a handful or so of times. And, in my almost 20 years in the Philadelphia Beer Scene and almost 5 years writing about it, I’ve never met nor talked with Mr. Naessens.” I’ve never written an official, full-blown review of them on The Brew Lounge, because no single visit has ever consituted enough of a visit to string together a coherent story about the place. A half-hour here, a burger there, a couple of beers around the horn. Plus, each visit had me grumbling on the way out about one thing or another (usually service-related) and made me want to tread very carefully before writing something not well thought out enough to be articulate. In that, there’s the first message for Mr. Naessens: ‘think’…’articulate’…’rethink’…’write/speak’.
I’d tell my service stories from hell here too, but they’d sound much like the ones already voiced above. After all of his year’s at Eulogy, it’s shameful to still have these sorts of service stories being told around town. With all of the competition, maybe that’s part of the point of his e-mail to you. Is service hurting? Is this a marketing ploy to drive attention and business? I don’t know. But, every time I walk by on my way to one of the places that Suzie mentioned earlier I wonder, “hm, I wonder how they’ve survived with so much good, if not sometimes better, beer being poured by so many more places than ever around town.”
Oh, and another one: ‘Participate’. Maybe there’s something that still draws full houses enough to keep business going. If so, great for them…that’s all that matter, right. But, even though Eulogy is certainly not the only bar/restaurant with service issues around town (some will point to Eulogy’s competition at Monk’s as another example…I don’t support that argument, but just saying that some do…), I’ve been hard-pressed to figure out how it is exactly that Eulogy is a participant in the Philly Beer Scene.
Events? I haven’t come across one to post on The Brew Lounge’s monthly calendar…save for a couple of Philly Beer Week events. Even, at that, a handful of meet the brewers, okay. A demonstration of how they use outside air to cool the display cases, hm I suppose (no wait, I’m sorry, that should not have qualified as an event on Philly Beer Week’s calendar, let alone as 2 events). And, trying to game PBW by announcing Philly’s first tapping of Duvel Green for the day before the PBW kickoff…once it was learned that there were “competing” events at Monk’s, The Drafting Room, and Stephanie’s? Ha, too funny…and disappointing.
While I don’t consider myself part of the Philadelphia Elite Beer Press, I do consider myself worthy of an e-mail reply. Maybe other beer journalists have an open door policy with Mr. Naessens, I certainly do not. There are events for dozens of brewers and publicans whom I’ve never met in the past that I have no problem putting on The Brew Lounge Calendar of Events. The Brew Lounge is promotional (free, at that) in that way and I’m happy to do it for those that can return the favor of gratitude and participation. I gave up a couple of years ago expecting a reply to any e-mail inquiries to Eulogy.
The participation thing is key. In an industry (non-macro bland beer industry, that is), just opening a door and putting something like the word ‘Belgian’ in your name no longer cuts it in this City. Having a title like ‘sir’ bestowed upon the owner means very little; in fact, there are more than just a few in the U.S. that have been enthroned as such. Having uninviting staff and ambiance is the last straw.
(If you’ve skimmed everything else, this may be my most important paragraph.)—So, what have we learned from all of this? The weighted average of at least a couple of dozen local writers/bloggers/industry insiders/etc. did not land Eulogy on a Top 50 list. But do recall that we were only asked for our Top 10. It means that not enough thought enough of Eulogy to put it in their Top 10. Even for the supporters of Eulogy, is this that much of a stretch? Seriously, let’s put the Top 50 thing aside and ask: Is Eulogy a “TOP 10″ beer bar in the City?
December 23rd, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I’ve never worked for Foobooz, nor Eulogy, but as a big Belgian and Belgian-style beer geek, I’m not especially enamored with Eulogy. The food is inedible to mediocre at best and wildly inconsistent. The service is abysmal. Service has been at time hostile, condescending, or one time invisible. The beer list is awesome, and the reason I’ve given Eulogy more than one chance, but every time I’ve been there, they were out of my first couple of choices. Who cares if the list is awesome if it doesn’t actually represent your inventory. Speaking of Eulogy and Open Table, the few times I tried to book a table at Eulogy on Open Table, the table wasn’t ready when I arrived for the reservation. I still had to wait 30-45 min.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Who cares?
December 25th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Never wanted to go to the bar named after a speech given at a funeral myself, name of place is: unfortunate
December 28th, 2009 at 11:38 am
I’m almost relieved that I’m not the only person who has had terrible service at Eulogy. I have to hope that maybe this note to Foobooz was from some sort of imposter. Otherwise it is laughable. If this guy spent even just as much time cleaning his restaurant and supervising his staff as he did writing that email it would be a substantial improvement. I rarely gripe about bars and restaurants but each time I have given this place another try it has been awful.
December 28th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
The only time I’ve had good service at Eulogy was when I happened to bump into an old friend waiting tables. Every other time has been like plucking nose hairs to get some attention. Painful.
Especially when you can walk across the street and get a pint at Triumph. True, some of their beers leave a little to be desired (especially if you had a few Belgians in mind…), but I’ll take great service and solid beer over crappy service and over-priced imports any day.
January 2nd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
It’s obvious “The Situation†is the wimp Brendan Hartnraff at Memphis Taproom. L@MT is indeed his fat “miss piggy†wife Leigh Maida. Pathetic duo, thank god they found each other since no one else would want either.
I highly doubt Michael Naessens is going to care about the opinions of some unemployed hipster bloggers. Trafficestimate.com shows foobooz getst 51,500 hits a month while Eulogybar.com gets 83,100 and is always packed with guests. The guy is a millionaire already. I was shocked he even knew of foobooz
http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.foobooz.com puts it value at foobooz.com Estimated Worth $6818.2 USD, that’s about 6800 more than I thought
In summary Foobooz and Arthur Etchels = FAIL
January 4th, 2010 at 9:25 am
upping a quiet comments section 5 days late to cast aspersions (while likely a psuedonym or friend of sir mike’s) = epic FAIL.
(btw, alexa ranks eulogy lower. your ranking is for their entire server, server101 or because eulogybar is getting hits in india and australia. not very helpful to business here in philly. tremendous FAIL)
January 4th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
moi?
March 5th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Interesting stuff in light of the PLCB raids yesterday.