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Phoebe and Christian Out at Farmers’ Cabinet

Posted by Foobooz on March 8th, 2012

We just received word that cocktail couple Phoebe Esmon and Christian Gaal have left Farmers’ Cabinet and will be moving on to other joint projects.

Below is a quote from the email we received from Esmon this afternoon.

After a year’s labor helming the Farmer’s Cabinet cocktail bar, Phoebe Esmon will be moving on to other projects.  Christian Gaal, her work partner and fiancee, is also putting heel to pavement.  The couple has a desire to work jointly, in full collaboration, on a beverage program; a desire that their present position did not fulfill.

We’ll have more information after we speak with Esmon later this evening.

Farmers’ Cabinet [Official Site]

 


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    This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2012 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Drink, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

    • David G

      Well, there goes the only reason to get a cocktail from Farmer’s Cabinet…

    • b

      a beverage program

    • cwdonald

      Skip the cocktails… drink Terry Hawbaker’s amazing saison’s,

    • b

      maybe they can work for hop sing

    • Marcia

      To David, I didn’t realize that Phoebe was the only person who knew how to make a drink in the city,,,,probably shouldn’t get a drink any where in the city if she doesn’t make it

    • GrowlerKing

      game.set.match!

    • angie

      I can’t wait to see what fresh new talent the Farmers’ Cabinet will bring in next! Maybe, they’ll manage to smile.

    • maf

      just read your Tale of the Tape: Farmers’ Cabinet and didn’t see either one of them listed as part of the crew that opened that place, so how can it be ‘after a years labor’?

    • Ryan H.

      What’s the big deal? I was in there tonight and had an amazing time. My Old Fashioned was perfect and the bartender used an ice ball the he was chipping by hand as I discussed what I’d like to drink.

    • Steve

      No surprise there. The owners/management have a terrible reputation and I’ll be shocked if Farmer’s Cabinet remains open come 2013

    • blrb

      so…they quit their jobs…again.

    • terrible

      the most unbearable woman!!

    • terrible

      thats where they will be heading jon. haha

    • 3rd party

      I like how the email is written in the third person……….anyways thanks Damon Dyer you did a great job on the bar 11-6= 5

    • Tim

      This place goes through employees like we change our daily socks!!!

      The history that trails the owners of this place explains why they have employee problems.

      This place gets more press for emplyees leaving than they deserve for grossly overpriced cocktails.

    • LeavingShip

      “Ships in distress shall use the following signal: · · · — — — · · · repeated at brief intervals”

    • brian

      I heard they’re headed to the new Tiki-distillery on Spring Garden.

    • Shhhhhh

      Hey foobooz you should look into the fact that the 6th and spring garden thing is done for fcab folks heard someone out bid them on the space.

    • JTA

      All posts about these dudes go platinum and there are more plants in there than at Longwood Gardens.

      Foobooz constantly gives the people what they want

    • Ex F-Cab

      Phoebe is a terrible person to work with. Condescending, rude, and demeaning to her coworkers. Her accolades involve more press then accomplishment. Anyone who takes liquor that seriously must be terribly depressed. There are plenty of places in this city with better drinks and friendlier attitudes. Her and her “prohibition era troll” of a fiance did not invent cocktails and they certainly aren’t the catalyst to the modern cocktail renaissance. Someone will eventually be dumb enough to hire her… and eventually there will be another bridge on fire.

    • MattNot

      Why do the Matt’s keep saying it’s their place when Robert Liccio is listed as owner for the liquor license? That’s really fishy, but not surprising….

      http://www.lcbapps.lcb.state.pa.us/webapp/Agency/SearchCenter/PublicLicenseeSearchDisplay.asp?P1=X&P2=&P3=&P4=&P5=&P6=&P7=0064653&P8=&P9=&P10=&P11=&P12=&P13=&P14=&P15=

    • Pablo

      I don’t think the LCB allows you to hold multiple licenses under one name. Schwartz might have other licenses under his name

    • rory

      the license is owned by “the grainery restaurant group.” Robert Liccio is the “president” of the grainery group and the owner of the space in which Farmer’s Cabinet operates. Farmer’s Cabinet may be the Matt’s, but the liquor license is owned by the owner of the space. This isn’t uncommon, i believe.

    • IT GUY

      It seems as if the wife’s is named on the license, since she is the actual owner there is no issue there, it is the same at my brothers bar, it:s tough to find and own a license so it is easier for a start up this way and honestly better if you can get a deal, but if you have capital and time wait, that is the issue with so many places that its boring for something to open why wait, so i see nothing wrong on that front

    • MSN

      I like Phoebe and Christian when they are nice and relaxed, their cocktails and liqueur knowledge is great compared to a an average consumer they can be fun and can make balanced drinks, I have sat across from them many times, and listened and gained great insight from Christian….…if she takes anything from this it is to lighten up relax be a bartender or don’t you can’t have it both ways, there is a great article in the Sept/Nov magazine Imbibe about how and what a bartender is it’s called “Characters Bartending icon Ray Foley is a most charming curmudgeon.” A great read but there is no link, read a paper back ssue, but another applicable bartender profile article that relates is in the same issue http://www.imbibemagazine.com/A-True-Dive-Bartender..Hopefully
      Hopefully she take heed maybe get off the bar..Their dinks are good but the same as ten places and twenty people I know can make , no big deal good luck moving on into design that is where she belongs

    • Van

      Since when did Foobooz start deleting comments? Get over yourselves

    • George

      Matt is a convicted felon, he can’t get a license

    • BB

      All I know of Christian is sitting at the bar a few nights when he was at Noble… He was awesome- one of the most memorable bartenders I’ve ever met. Best of luck to them!

    • Current F-Cabber

      I’ve never seen a person take more advantage of a situation. She is a user, unbearable, and unprofessional. She is unable to work with another woman behind the bar. She and her boyfriend barely worked and took liberties that most people would be embarrassed to take. Most of her staff left because she and Christian while salaried, refused to give up premiere shifts. She is a horror to work with or for. You can already feel the positive energy now that she is gone. Good fucking riddance.

    • SumsItUp
    • cocktail sucker

      If Phoebe and Christian were ever nice to you, it was because they could smell the money in your pocket. When you buy a drink you shouldn’t have to endure a history lesson from an armchair intellectual. I’ve sat at Christians bar and gotten my ears chewed off about the cultural significance and origins of a sazarac. A cocktail which I’ve had much better versions of elsewhere (sans rehearsed monologue). The most charming bartenders can gauge when to interject and when to politely keep to themselves. Tending a bar is inherently a service job- not a romantic lifestyle, a metaphysical gift, or prime seat at the cool kid table. It is a job that requires making drinks, so people can get drunk in public legally. I prefer interesting people while inebriated, not pretentious historical caricatures.

      P.s. Tom Waits was the antithesis of the Farmers Cabinet… especially when he still drank alcohol.

    • misssss

      Come to think of it I never had a good time around her she is not a bartender at all a lucky soul….god damn miserable the reason i would not come back now that i think of it

    • http://philadelphia.foobooz.com Foobooz

      @Van, comments are removed as stated in our comments policy. In this case someone was posting multiple comments under different names. Those comments were removed.

    • Richard

      You were jealous of the Pulitzer Prize quality prose

    • Fcab patron

      Regardless of the dramatic exit of two futile, money grubbing,egomaniacal employees and obsessions with the owners past.. When did going out, having a drink, a bit of food and a escape from ones mundane daily life become a platform for critisim. It’s only a bar, it’s only a night out for you but, it is a vessel for someone to express their ideas and dreams through food, drink and atmosphere. I appreciate their vision and the guts they had to share it with us. I’ll be there Friday… Again. Any bartender will do.

    • Bee

      Don’t walk from FC just yet! Michael, behind the bar, is an excellent bartender. My first experience at FC, when they opened, was not a good one. However, I went back last week for happy hour drinks and snacks and had an excellent time! I was hosting friends from NYC (in food media) and they loved it as well. Michael took good care of us, food was tasty, learned a lot about different liqueurs and beers. Planning on spending my husband’s birthday there tomorrow.

    • Trufe

      Don’t walk away, RUN, sounds like a mess there

    • tinking

      Come to think about it phoebe is not a good person and so far up her own arsss that she did not qit she choked on her own BS

    • Curious

      Does Robert Liccio know that he is listed on the license as the president/director of the Grainery Restaurant Group? Last I heard, he had moved to Florida and was selling condos; I don’t think he has any connection to the Grainery LLC besides owning the building that FC is in. Seems weird that he’d go into a company with these guys considering their track record of everything they touching turning to shit.

    • Cant u see

      All of the cocktails are just expensive remakes of simple drinks… Such as this drink… Flames of Troy
      Bourbon, Roi Rene Rouge, Zucca Amaro, Peach/white wine shrub, Cinnamon dram, Demerara sugar, ginger beer

      Congrats u made a Dark and Stormy with bourbon. Also it gonna be the same flavor profile, but its gonn cost $15.

      Next this one is the best..The Arms of York
      Vodka, Orange Curacao, Meyer Lemon Curd, Narcissus bitters, Vanilla tincture, Lemon, sugar

      ITS A CREAMSICLE, Really no one else saw this?

    • BareNaked

      I knew you before the west was won
      And I heard you say the past
      was much more fun
      You go your way, I go mine
      But I’ll see you next time

      It’s all been done
      It’s all been done
      It’s all been done before

    • Girth Brooks, Esq.

      Phoebe was a twat. Her face would shatter into a million little pieces if she ever attempted to smile. Good riddance. The new cocktail manager is even worse. Some pretentious prohibition dweeb from NYC who treats his staff like dog shit, and customers like they are an interruption of his day. The ‘new and improved’ summer drink menu is all fluff and rehash. The Franklin Mortgage Company does it better. And with smiles on their faces. (And nope, I don’t work for FMC)

    • Homer

      I wish we could get a super bar with Christian, Phoebe, and Lee!

      Call it the Hop, Sing, and Leave room.

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