Starting tomorrow, Friday June 19, 48 Record Bar is running the 48 Record Bar Papi Store Pop-Up — a limited-run cocktail menu that runs through July 5 and replaces the listening bar’s standard program entirely. The concept comes from Beverage Director Siri and is built around a specific Philadelphia institution: the corner store, specifically the Latino-owned neighborhood stores that Philadelphians have long called Papi Stores.

The Vibes of the 48 Record Bar Papi Store Pop-Up

The Latino community is Philadelphia’s fastest-growing demographic. The Papi Store — a term of endearment borrowed from the often Latino owners behind the counter — is as embedded in Philadelphia neighborhood life as the corner store itself: the place you get your bacon egg and cheese, your Little Hugs, your Dippin’ Dots, your hot chips. It’s a geography as much as a category, and it carries real weight in communities across the city.

What 48 Record Bar has done with the Papi Store Pop-Up is turn that geography into a beverage program with a point of view. Six cocktails, each rooted in a corner store staple, each using techniques that would be at home in any serious cocktail bar — bacon washing, lacto-fermentation, olive oil washing, oleo saccharum powder. The Semiquincentennial framing is explicit in the concept: this is a toast to the country’s 250th that, as the bar puts it, actually has something to say. The menu runs as 48 Record Bar’s exclusive cocktail list through July 5.

48 Record Bar Papi Store Pop-Up: The Menu

The Bacon, Egg, and Cheese is the most technically demanding entry: bacon-washed Woodford Reserve, nutritional yeast, and a sparkling egg yolk foam. It is exactly what it sounds like and it works. The Little Hug takes the beloved childhood juice barrel drink and rebuilds it for a 21+ crowd on a base of Pa’lante Botanical rum — a Philadelphia-made spirit — with pineapple, passion fruit, coconut cream, coconut milk, and bright citrus. The Strawberry Shortcake leans on lacto-fermented strawberry, Scarlet Ibis rum, almond orgeat, malt, and lemon for a boozy replica that earns the comparison.

1. The Strawberry Shortcake
2. The Salt & Vinegar
3. The Little Hug
4. The Hot Chip
5. The Dippin’ Dots
6. The Bacon, Egg, and Cheese

The Salt & Vinegar is the quietest drink on the menu and arguably the most interesting: olive oil-washed Stateside vodka, aromatized wine, and a potato shrub delivering savory depth with a crisp salty-vinegar finish. The Hot Chip runs the opposite direction — Nixta Mexican corn liquor, El Jimador reposado, nutritional yeast, habanero, lime, and a hot chip rim, with the corn liquor and reposado combination providing the base that makes the heat land rather than just burn. The Dippin’ Dots closes the menu as the showpiece: Nolet’s Silver, Luxardo Bitter Bianco, Jacquin’s White Crème de Cacao, vanilla, and lemon, with a side of Fruit Punch Oleo Powder served separately to stir in tableside. The interactive element is the point.

48 Record Bar sits above Sassafras at 48 S. Second Street in Old City, and the 48 Record Bar Papi Store Pop-Up runs through Sunday, July 5. It is a short menu built from a long argument about where Philadelphia’s flavor actually comes from — and the immigrant-owned neighborhood institutions that put it there. Come thirsty, and come ready to think about what corner store you grew up near.

About Post Author

Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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