Murphs Beef Ale Rehoboth Beach De

January 26, 2018 - Before the Beach past Kim Butler

Jo Ketler: A Taste of Philly At The Beach

Those of the states who are "transplants" from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area (self included) can easily spot our beau "Philladelfyans" by virtue of our speech. Whenever I hear someone ask for a glass of "wudder," or talk nigh shopping  at the "Acka-me", I feel right at habitation. When y'all meet Jo Ketler, owner of Murph's Beef and Ale, enquire for your cheesesteak "wit" and she'll know how to make it!

Built-in in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania just exterior of Philadelphia, Jo and her four siblings were raised by devoted parents. Her father was self-employed equally an auto mechanic and collision specialist, with a shop in Upper Darby and later Yeadon. With 5 kids to look after, Jo's mom specialized in beingness a stay-at-home mom.

All the kids went to parochial school, including high school, which meant Monsignor Bonner for Jo'southward brothers and Archbishop Prendergast for the girls. At a young age, Jo'south dream was to be a police officer—which did not coincide with her father's dream of Jo going to college.

A compromise was reached after Jo graduated from Delaware County Community College, every bit Jo enrolled in the Delaware County Police Academy. Jo'southward first chore was as a police officeholder in 1977 at the University of Pennsylvania, where she stayed for 30 years, until 2007. That's when she met her partner-to-be Pat Cippollone, originally from Swarthmore and Southwest Philadelphia.

Shortly thereafter, Pat and Jo decided to make the move to the beach. Jo wanted to stay in law enforcement, and so she got a job with the Dagsboro Police Department, while also attention the Delaware State Police force University. Pat got a job in the finance department of the Metropolis of Lewes. Equally luck would have it, a full fourth dimension job soon opened up with the Lewes Police Department and Jo became a patrol officer closer to home.

A serious knee injury curtailed Jo's active patrol duty. "Dorsum in Upper Darby, a much larger police department, I would have been able to transition to desk-bound duty. Merely nearly of the law units here at the beach are smaller, strictly patrol, without many desk jobs," says Jo. "So I had to surrender my dream task."

Still determined to stay on the fringes of police enforcement, Jo went to school and became a paralegal, working at an chaser's office for about a year.

One day, Jo and Pat were reminiscing almost "Philly" and Jo said "you know, we tin can't become a adept hot roast beef or roast pork sandwich down here." Then in the same breath, Jo dropped the bomb: "How about we look around for a little place where we could open a Philly-style sandwich shop?"

Pat looked at her and said "Are yous crazy or what?"

Jo said "What's the worst that could happen?" And, thus in 2015, began the creation of Murph's Beefiness and Ale.

Jo and Pat wanted a place just on the outskirts of Rehoboth; most in downtown but simply outside. Then the former Primo's Hoagie shop in Henlopen Square shopping center became available. It was a perfect setup for their dream, where they could have a big open up kitchen framed past a long bar and plenty of room for tables and live entertainment.

Asked about the proper name, Jo says "we named it after Pat's dad. Nosotros're both from Irish-Catholic families. But his name wasn't Murph, it was Joe. Yet, as he aged and adult dementia, he wouldn't reply to Joe. Whenever someone asked him his name, he'd always say Murph. Then Murph'due south it was."

In addition to providing the beach area with fantastic Philly-style food and drink, Jo and Pat are agile in the community, joining with the Rehoboth Bears and Army camp Rehoboth for their annual holiday toy drive, too as donating to Sundance and Womens FEST.

Now that Murph's has been open for almost 3 years, I asked Jo how she feels almost the venture.

"This has been the absolute best thing to happen to united states. We have met so many wonderful people, including many people from the Philly area who are transplants like united states of america. Someone once said to me, 'yous know what Murph's feels like? It's like someone picked upwards the corner bar at 10th and Shunk Streets in South Philly and brought it to the beach.' I consider that a compliment of the highest lodge."

Murph's is open vii days a week, starting with lunch at 11 a.k., and they accept go THE identify to become for authentic Philly-style sandwiches. Their specialty is roast beef and roast pork with abrupt provolone, topped off with broccoli rabe and long hot peppers. Murph's also features one-time-fashioned home-cooked meals and they will gladly cater your special event. Murph's proudly features the best in local entertainment including John Flynn, Viki Dee and The Girlfriends.

Cheers Jo for bringing a gustatory modality of "Philly" to the beach!

When she is not frantically wandering well-nigh the hardware store, Kim can be reached by e-mail.

johnsonuple1944.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.camprehoboth.com/letters/2018/january-26-2018-beach-kim-butler