Blue Route Tacos: Love for Tacos and Beer

Recently after exploring the chilly beer room at Cold Point Pub in the Plymouth Meeting Whole Foods I trekked up to the rooftop of  for some south of the boarder grub.  If you're unfamiliar with Whole Foods the roof is home to the Blue Route Taco Truck. Yes a revamped food truck sits on the roof and it's putting out some serious soft shell tacos for the lunch and dinner crowd.

The concept is simple, fill out an order form, pay, wait for your name to be called, pick-up your meal and munch. There's a choice of 5 tacos: Carne Asada w/Quesso Fresco, Tecate Fish (fried) w/Chipotle Mayo, Spiced Chicken w/Pico de Gallo, Grilled Veggie w/Black Beans and Jicama and Pork Carnits w/Tomatillo. A single taco is $2.50 or 3 for $6.00. Out of the three tacos I ordered: pork, carne asada and chicken, the pork was the most flavorful and spicy. Chips and  drinks are also available including a selection of canned beer.  Since I stopped in for lunch I opted for a water but the craft selection fit well with the food offered.

At the time six, beers all in cans, were available: Breckenridge Avalanche, Avery White Rascal, Lancaster Rumspringa, Caldera IPA, Dave's Brewfarm Select and Sly Fox Phoenix Plae Ale. At only $2.99 each not a bad way to counter the spicy ride.  With creative taco options and an affordable menu the Blue Route Taco Truck gives Whole Foods patrons yet another great choice when it comes to finding a quick bite to eat.

Head to the Roof and Have a Beer @ Whole Foods

As part of the day long grand opening celebration for the Rooftop Cafe, Whole Foods Market (Plymouth) is hosting a beer and food tasting. The beer and food festivities run 6-9pm and feature beers from the store's Cold Point Pub.  Reps will be on hand to answer questions and listen to your kind words. Oh yeah, did I mention it's free.  See you there. Cheers!

6 - 9: Beer and food sampling for adults 21+. Now is your chance to try that seasonal brew you've been eyeing in our Cold Point Pub. Make sure to have your ID ready, and pick up a punch card at our Whole Foods Market table so you can keep track of all the beers you have tried. Turn in your card at the end of the evening to receive a souvenir Plymouth Meeting mini beer mug.

Whole New Setting for Beer @Whole Foods Market Plymouth Meeting

This past Sunday I finally made it to the new Whole Foods Market at Plymouth Meeting Mall. My soul purpose for going was to check out the beer which has been receiving a fair amount of coverage from fellow beer aficionados.

If your not from PA then you may not get the hoopla over beer being sold in a super market. Similar to Wegmans and Market District (Giant Eagle) Whole Foods is jumping through the legal loophole of having a store within a store in order to sell alcoholic beverages. The structure is silly and a little awkward, but it's nice having the option to grab a beer when you're buying groceries.

The Whole Foods set up for beer is in The Cold Point Pub located in the front of the store. The pub design is fairly generic with it's own entrance, register for wine and beer sales, a few comfy leather chairs, high stools along the counters and a great view of the check out area. Perfect for spotting your significant other in line when trying to figure out whether or not to order another beer. Separated with sliding glass doors the back of the pub is a cold room filled with sixes and single bottles for take out. The selection isn't huge but does offer a surprisingly good mix of craft brews, macros, Belgians and other imports. The prices for PA seem very fair and in some cases low. This is really noticeable when it comes to growler fills and drafts.

Everything on drafts is local: Yards, Victory, Flying Fish, Troegs, Sly Fox and Lancaster. All 14oz pours were $2.99, small growlers (32oz) $3.99-$5.49 and large growlers (64oz), $7.99-$10.99. Since Whole Foods is big on recycling you can bring your own growler or if you need to purchase one both 64oz and 32oz sizes are only $3.99.

When Kelleigh and I arrived the place was packed. We managed to grab 2 leather chairs which turned out to be the perfect place to observe the swirl of activity. Most people coming in had oooohs and ahhhs for the place and seemed warm on the set up. While in the cooler area I overheard nothing but good words about the beer selection and prices.

Wine fans were having the most fun with the interesting wall-o-wine machine that dispenses various sized pours from a selection of approximately 15 bottles. After getting a wine card from the cashier you place whatever monitary value on it you wish, get a glass, slide the card into the wine machine, select the beverage and the size sample you want and tadda liquid happiness. Slick, clean, perfectly chilled and wonderfully impersonal.

Since everything is so new I'm sure there are a few bugs to work out. The employees seem slightly overwhelmed by all the traffic and since the seating area is fairly small it doesn't take many people walking in to create an overcrowding situation. Hopefully that changes as the newness wears off. I didn't quiz anyone so I'm not sure of their overall beer and wine knowledge. What I do know is the arrangement to get a draft is odd. I had to pay for a beer upfront then take the receipt to one of the employees who got my draft (Lancaster Milk Stout). Not horrible just different.

Even with it's quirks, having another place to get good beer is a huge plus. The system is odd and far from perfect but it seems like Whole Foods is doing well with the parameters they have to work within.

Will I pop in just to have a beer? Probably not. Will I have one before or after shopping for my flax seed cereal, fresh baked multigrain loaf and organic soy milk? Damn right I will.