Lucky 13 Pub

Put the craft on draft, and they will come.

In Philadelphia these days, great beer really does seem to have such transformative powers, where a changing of the brews at an old-time tappie can open the door to a new world of customers and a new source of energy for neighborhood life.

Take, for example, the case of the Lucky 13 Pub, which after just seven months has become the latest "old-man bar" to change hands, upgrade its beers, and become a full-fledged player in South Philly's rising gastropub revolution.

Out with the Molson and Miller Lite of the former Vincenzo's, where the karaoke and purple awnings drew a vintage neighborhood crowd. In with Golden Monkey and Dirty Bastard Scotch ale of Lucky 13, where a juke box rocking the Ramones to "psychobilly" and a kitchen with surprisingly tasty attitude ("punk-rock grandma cooking," anyone?) have drawn a tattooed surge of hipster youth to establish yet another new beachhead in old South Philly.

It's a repeating phenomenon that has spawned quite the pub circuit below the Washington Avenue equator, from the pioneering South Philly Tap Room to P.O.P.E. (Pub on Passyunk East) to the new Tap Room on 19th (at Ritner), where the serious crab fries (with actual crab) would make Chickie's cry "uncle."

There is an intimacy and quirky personality to Lucky 13, though, that sets this 55-seater apart. That's due in large measure to affable owner Clark Newman, 44, a chatty veteran bartender who invested two decade's worth of saved tips (Grape Street Pub; Le Bus; Magnolia Cafe) to craft his own cockpit for "good conversations." And this slice of 13th Street just north of East Passyunk has been clearly shaped in his own image, from the vintage Philly baseball memorabilia behind the small front bar to favorite record covers on the wall (Nirvana; Led Zeppelin; David Bowie), the retro Ms. Pacman machine chirping hungrily in the back dining room, and even the bawdy schoolboy pinups in the men's room, now known as "Clark's Happy Place." (A ladies'-room theme, apparently, is in the works.)

It is chef Benjamin Johnson, though, Newman's fedora-topped compadre in the kitchen, who puts Lucky 13 on the map of gastropubs that are worth heading to for dinner. Like the pub's smart beer selection (five taps and 20 bottles), his affordable menu is concise but distinctive, with cheeky twists on familiar flavors, from "deconstructed" meatballs to sausage and peppers gone exotic.