How is it possible to run out of chicken and dumplings on “chicken and dumplings night” at 7:30?

This little “mishap” had me wondering about MidAtlantic Restaurant and Tap Room for days, and deepened my thoughts on Daniel Stern’s reasoning behind his choices for the menu and décor. His new restaurant strives to be urban-chic and to pay homage to hearty Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. And with simple steel chairs, tables, a steel bar and dark wood paneled walls it certainly is minimalistic, while slightly confusing. On the tables sit small flickering candles with tiny vases of fresh flowers that slightly soften the austerity.

Aside from the space, the location is a whole other conundrum. What exactly was he thinking in creating an upscale, up-priced tap room in the middle of a dead area surrounded by Penn Medical office buildings and broke college students?

Stern opened this new creation in the fall of ’09 after closing nationally acclaimed Gayle and deciding to resurrect Rae in Two Liberty Place, by re-naming it, R2L. Both Gayle and Rae were hugely successful in their own right and both received many deserved praises. Located on south 3rd street, Gayle closed after five years of service so Stern could focus more on creating his then new baby, MidAtlantic.

The menu at MidAtlantic is known for a variety of homemade scrapples that are nothing like the traditional scrapple, something for which I don’t know, or want to know, the ingredients (does anyone?).

I ordered the crab scrapple and raved for days about the patty’s flavor and texture. Somewhat like conventional Philadelphia scrapple, thin, crispy and soft in the middle, but the flavor was comparable to a crab cake, just with much more crab and barley as the “glue.” It was accompanied by a yummy, toasted mustard sauce.

The veggie scrapple, to my delighted surprise, surpassed its crab counterpart. The vegetable version was made with various vegetables also held together with barley, then fried and served with the same toasted mustard sauce. MidAtlantic also features chicken and pig scrapple.

MidAtlantic features quite a few finger foods – very conducive to drinking. We tried the homemade pretzel with Welsh Rarebit fondue. The pretzel was executed well, not too salty, with a hard exterior and soft middle, the way a pretzel should be made (and since we’re in the pretzel making capital of the world, chefs better not mess up a soft pretzel). It was served lying across a shallow dish of thick “fondue,” a look that could have been a little more appetizing.

We also tried the Fried Oysters and Salsify, a root vegetable also known as oyster plant because of its hint of oyster-like flavor. Both the oysters and the salsify were crisp and superb, but again, not served in any special way, just thrown in a bucket. For $16, they could have arranged the finger foods to be a little more appealing to the eye. I understand that MidAtlantic wants to exude a rustic theme, but rustic presentation? It comes across more as sloppy.

What would dinner be without a little, or a lot of, alcohol? A further homage to its Pennsylvania theme, MidAtlantic offers various kinds of “rustic feeling” cocktails that feature things like Root (a liquor made from sugarcane, birch bark, sassafras, citrus and spices that tastes like your favorite root beer) and unfiltered apple. I ordered the Schuylkill Fish House Punch, a drink that has been around since the late 18th century and was first concocted here in Philadelphia. It featured brandy, peach schnapps, Jamaican rum and a hint of lemon. It was quite delicious and not grossly strong – I could’ve probably slurped up a fish bowl full. One of my friends got the Root Tea Julep, which had Root, light and dark rum, mint, sugar, and soda. This drink, I had no interest in, but she enjoyed it thoroughly. And lastly, my other friend chose the Rumspringa, which featured rye whiskey, unfiltered apple, bitters, and honey. While not my style, it was certainly his - he ordered a second. All of these complex cocktails were $10. The beer list was sufficiently large and kept it local by featuring Pennsylvania brews. MidAtlantic also featured quite a few hard ciders, but designated drivers will be in luck, too - root beer, ginger beer, and dandelion and burdock soda are offered.

But there’s one more thing that deepened my bewildered state of this restaurant and its ambitions: “Quizzo Night,” which Stern’s restaurant hosts. When I saw this on their website, I reread the line several times to make sure I was comprehending properly - Quizzo is generally a college drinking game held weekly in slummy college bars. This completely changed my thoughts about his reasoning for this restaurant and its target audience. How can a high priced tap room possibly also be a college bar? I guess we’ll see.

Article photograph from azgalarneau, via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Eat Drink Philly" photograph from suvodeb, via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Philly" photograph from camardella, via Flickr (Creative Commons).