Ray's Happy Birthday Bar   

How do you spell shot-and-beer joint? R-A-Y-S. This weathered looking taproom on the corner of Passyunk Avenue and Federal Street might be more authentic than most pub crawlers can handle. Its a block from the Italian Market and from Pats and Ginos, South Phillys rival steak sandwich shops. You can buy a sandwich from one of those places, bring it to Rays and wash it down with a beer. Which is fortunate, because Rays doesnt have a kitchen. It doesnt have any live music either, although there is a jukebox and TV. It does have Pabst Blue Ribbon and a few other American standards on tap and a variety of domestic and imported beers available by the bottle. And it retains the ambience, if thats the right word, that this part of South Philly had before people started rehabbing Ninth Street and the rest of the hood. -- David McKenna