Philadelphia

Party People: Hotel Palomar’s Square 1682 is Renovated and Relaunched with a Fancy, Fun Party & delicious treats

May 6, 2013 by HughE Dillon

You may recall last year I wrote that the Kimpton Hotel Palomar‘s restaurant Square 1682
was to undergo a renovation to spruce things up a bit in the restaurant. I’m here to tell you that the newly renovated place is banging, it’s a hot spot, on a hot corner, gone is the staircase, the bar has been moved to the side of the room, their are comfortable high tops, (and as a big guy that doesn’t love high tops, these are not your Ruby Tuesday high tops, they’re from Restoration Hardware and they are comfy), still consistent is the delicious food you liked before, and a lot more to choose from.  Since they’ve opened they finished their renovation late last month, I’ve been by twice. The food is delicious, I had the burger twice cause I love burgers, but friends, who I had dinner with last Monday night had the lettuce cups, Lamb Short Ribs, the steak, the Pork Tenderloin. We all shared several servings of the Bacon Wrapped Dates, Calamari, Dipping Trio and of course the truffled popcorn. They have a late night bar menu too, which I appreciate since I work late at night.
Lunch is great and they have a two lunch specials: The $16.82 choice and the $20.13 
Here’s a Vine of my lunch with my buddy David Pershica, owner of Tapography, about two weeks ago. 
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Last Thursday PhillyChitChat’s photographer Mike Hirata headed out to the re-launch party for the restaurant as I was shooting another fun event across town. Here’s his report:  It was an A+ list event when
Square 1682 hosted a re-launch event last Thursday night. Big names from TV, Radio, Public
Relations, Print, and the Internet were all spotted at this Red Carpet event.

 Jacklin Rhoads of Cashman Associates and Carie Brescia, the Resident Makeup Artist for NBC 10 and a beauty expert on tv and radio
 Chef Guillermo Tellez, Marissa Yosen Manager at Hotel
Palomar, Dave Kelleher Director of Operation Kimpton Hotels, and Eric Travers
Restaurant Director of Kimpton Hotels.
Dr. Keith Leaphart, (who just hosted a fantastic cocktail party last month for the Power Shift organization) Angela Cunningham, Hassan Moore,
Roman McDonald, and Lamont Brown
 Chef de Cuisine Caitlin Mateo and DJ Suga Shay (
Shaina Robinson).
 Punch Media’s James Zeleniak (Square 1682 is his client),
Kristina Jenkins of Uwishunu, and Becky Dublin of Punch Media.
 Jessica Daly, Roberta Pipito, Homemade Delish, and Jennifer Schloder. Can Philly do with one more food blog? Hell yes if it’s by Jen Schloder and Tony Luke, Jr Married To Food
Jamie Juliano, Sarah Raiken, and Sara Brunner
Allison Baldwin and Charles Wiedenmann of Drink Philly
Nick Saphos, Account Manager at PHD Virtual Technologies and Ray Mills, Sales and Marketing at Clemens Food Group
Caitlin Mateo with Laurie and Stu Goldenberg
 Nicole Brewer, Charles Kincaid, and Erika Von Tiehl
Jason Simkins 
and Casey Hartfield
 Lead Bartender Chauncey Scates and Chef de Cuisine
Caitlin Mateo
 Comcast SportsNet’s Marshall Harris and Laura Krebs
from Cashman Associates
 Good Day Philadelphia host Mike Jerrick and
contributor Dr. Jennifer Caudle
 Brad Hemler of Comcast, Matthew Ray Co-founder of
Chatter Blast Media, and former Daily News columnist Dan Gross. Dan tells PCC
he is in the process of starting a boutique communications firm. (PS I love how photographer Mike Hirata got this tidbit, I actually ran into Dan last week at Taste of Nation and haven’t had a chance to write up that entry yet, I will I promise. Thanks Mike!!)
 CBS Philly’s Nicole Brewer and Philadelphia Art
Alliance member Randyl Case look like sisters, with Tony Piazza
 Gary DeVito and Stacey Kracher from Law Firm ZarwinBaum, Art Alliance member Randyl Case, and State Senator Larry Farnese
Caroline Russock from City Paper and Marisa Magnatta
from WMMR