Craft Concepts Group Announces Opening of Stylish New Bar and Restaurant Blume at 1500 Locust in Rittenhouse

Teddy Sourias and Craft Concepts Group announce the launch of Blume at 1500 Locust Street - coming to Rittenhouse neighborhood this April. The owners of BRU Craft & Wurst, U-Bahn, Tradesman’s, Kontrol, Uptown Beer Garden, Finn McCool’s Ale House and Tinsel present a brand new food and drink concept in the former space occupied by Cinder Copper & Lace. From the heat of the glowing embers will rise up a stylish and colorful bar and restaurant that is designed to be light, fun, casual and yet sophisticated. Blume will open in approximately three to five weeks, and launch with lunch and dinner service seven days a week. Look for boozy brunch, happy hour and late night menus to follow later in spring.

“Craft Concepts Group is excited to announce our newest food and drink concept, Blume, at 1500 Locust Street,” said Sourias. “We are aiming to create a fun, light, energetic and comfortable concept - that also puts the focus on cocktails and natural wine, which is new for us as a company. With each new location we open, our team also aims to learn and evolve. This spring, join us as we take our guest experience to the next level.”

In the kitchen, look for Blume to focus on eclectic appetizers, approachable entrees, wood fired pizzas, light flatbreads, and ample vegetarian and vegan options. Menu items will take inspiration from street food and comfort food favorites. For sourcing, Craft Concepts Group continues with every opening to expand use of locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. The menu will incorporate a few Cinder and Craft Concepts Group signature favorites but most dishes will be new and aim to please. The menu will especially offer expanded selections for local neighbors looking to make Blume their go-to mid-week, after-work hotspot.

The bar program will be cocktail and natural wine forward - a first for Craft Concepts Group. Light, fun and fruity well-crafted cocktails will share draft lines next to a selection of natural wines. The beer program will feature a robust selection of local ales, lagers and ciders - available by draft, can and bottle.

For the interior, Blume partners again with interior designer Anne White - who designed the interior of Tradesman’s and also the most recent design for Tinsel Christmas Pop-up Bar.

White said, "I wanted to borrow inspiration and modernize elements from the Victorian era. I wanted to create a beautifully energetic and memorable space with color, floral motifs, 150+ live plants above, and different spaces and moments in the larger space that didn’t exist before. Our goal is to present a top to bottom brand new restaurant, bar and concept - and we wanted to use the great bones built but offer up something that you wouldn’t recognize in the old Cinder.”

Look for Blume to truly “bloom” from the top down with a lush greenscape from the ceiling, new fixtures, playful character designs, gem-colored mirrors, elegant wallpaper, new seating and banquets, installation of walls for private event space and more. White and Craft Concepts look forward to sharing Blume’s many secrets and surprises  as opening day approaches.

When asked about the idea for Blume and the closing of Cinder, Sourias said, “We are so proud of what we did for Cinder. We achieved everything we set out to do - create one of the only cider and sour bars in the country at the time. As recently as December and January, Cinder celebrated two of our biggest months on record. We went into February aiming to renovate - and use the mid-winter down time to add sound proofing, make some improvements in the dining room, add some more comfortable seating - and some regular maintenance work.”

He continued, “As we started to renovate, we also had several new ideas for our next concepts. Verdickt, part of the U-Bahn trilogy with Kontrol, has already started construction - and Tinsel is finishing some exciting renovations to increase the space size for 2019. We also have other properties and projects on tap - but all are months if not a year away from being turned over to us. Our team was on a creative high from our biggest year ever at Tinsel - and the ideas we were batting around all were a perfect fit for the space and size of the former Cinder. It was a tough decision to make, but as you have seen with Tinsel and Uptown Beer Garden, plus our other pop-up events and bars, the next evolution and future of the restaurant business is not being safe all the time. We want to be creative risk takers - and we decided to pull the trigger. We can’t wait to share this labor of love for our team. Next up, watch for the new season of Uptown Beer Garden - and some other projects up our sleeves.”

For more about Blume, call (267) 761-5582, or visit Blume Philly on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Blume will launch on Open table closer to opening day.

ABOUT CRAFT CONCEPTS GROUP

Craft Concepts Group is presented by Teddy Sourias and partners, and includes BRU Craft & Wurst, U-Bahn, Finn McCool’s Ale House, Uptown Beer Garden, Tradesman’s, Kontrol, Tinsel Christmas pop-up bar, Secret Soirée semi-monthly events, Craft Concepts New Year’s Eve, CCG Catering - and soon to open Blume and Verdickt. The collection of CCG restaurants, bars, beer gardens and pop-up concepts focus on showcasing and being a driver in the elevation of Philadelphia’s thriving craft beer scene. CCG works to also diversify craft beer and cider tastes by exposure to local, regional and national quality craft companies. CCG concepts are proud to pour one of the region’s most diverse craft lists that includes a wide selection of ciders and sours, rare and hard-to-find ales and IPAs, as well as exclusive beers and ciders made exclusively for CCG. Currently, CCG concepts are pouring on 114 taps - with dozens more to come!  Craft Concepts Group concepts are proud members of Philly Loves Beer and collectively host dozens of annual events for Philly Beer Week.