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Friday and Saturday night will both probably be unusually busy because of Valentine's Day, but you can probably do the bar at Osteria on the early side, or go somewhere non-reservationy like Mercato, or go casual with Yakitori Boy near 11th & Arch. Most of their food is on skewers, including chicken hearts, chicken gizzards, and quail eggs wrapped in bacon. It's fun.

The newest of the new is Chifa, I think it's at 7th & Chestnut, from the Garces (Amada/Tinto/Distrito) empire. Peruvian/Chinese. Opens today.

The Tinto-Capogiro one-two is always a good bet. Variations: Tinto does brunch now, so you could do it midday Sunday; and Melograno moved to that same corner (Sansom near 20th) so if you're in the mood for Italian BYOB instead of Basque tapas that could work. But Capogiro's hours are shorter in the winter, so don't linger too late over dinner or you'll miss the window.

DiNic's roast pork with provolone is still superior in every way to a cheesesteak. Tria is still good for grazing of the wine/beer/cheese variety. Tria has a small half-price program on Sundays (one wine, one beer, and one cheese for half off) but probably you will be headed back to DC by then. Both locations open at 3 on Sunday.

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I was in Philadelphia Wednesday to Saturday on business, which didn't actually require very much of my time. I had a reservation at Tinto for Wednesday evening, and was looking forward to a very good meal there. Unfortunately, I didn't get to dine there. I had taken my beautiful young dog with me, and she turned out to be significantly needier than I had expected, so I wasn't able to leave her alone in my hotel room. So that evening I ordered a pizza from Pietro's Coal Oven Pizzeria around the corner (I was staying in Rittenhouse Square). Knowing that a coal fired oven is the ne plus ultra among some pizza fanatics, I figured this would be good. It wasn't, very, although it wasn't bad. Crust so-so, tomato sauce too sweet, anchovies too sparsely applied, but not bad.

On Thursday evening, I discovered diningin.com, a terrific online system for ordering delivery from restaurants which is unfortunately not available in Washington (currently it covers Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and Denver, and has the further drawback that the site can be painfully slow), and found that I could actually get delivery from Tinto. I decided, though, that that was not a particularly auspicious way to experience a good restaurant, so I decided to order Chinese. I checked on the eGullet Pennsylvania forum, and found that Lee How Fook was thought pretty well of, so I ordered from there. Diningin.com lets you select a restaurant, pick dishes from their menu, specify a delivery time, enter credit card info, and specify a tip, either by percentage or fixed amount. Then you go clickety-clack, and the food shows up at your door. So I chose a spring roll, a shredded turnip and pork soup, and a hot-pot of oysters, scallion, and ginger. The food arrived earlier than promised, the spring roll was still crisp and hot, the soup was dull if inoffensive, and the oyster dish wasn't nearly as good as the similar dish at Full Kee, but was pretty good. Perhaps diningin.com will come to Washington some day; it would be a nice complement to OpenTable.

Friday I was able to leave Kiko for a little while, and I made my way to the newish Rittenhouse Square instance of DiBruno Brothers, where I bought a Cuban sandwich, which they popped into the sandwich press for me, and some young Monte Veronese cheese and some soppressata. I went back to my hotel and ate the sandwich, which surprised me by being one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten in my life. I made a dinner that evening from the cheese and soppressata, along with some olives and oranges. Saturday I expected to be done with business by 10:30 or so, and was planning to stop by Tony Luke's for a roast pork sandwich on my way to I-95, but I was detained far past when I expected, so I abandoned that idea, and was driving down Broad Street toward the interstate when I spotted a welcome sight--Popeye's. So I had some fried chicken and red beans and rice, and it tasted even better than usual, because I was starving.

Not the Philadelphia gastronomic adventure I had anticipated, but I ate pretty well, and I enjoyed Philadelphia, which I hadn't visited since the early 80s.

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If it didnt have such a darkly nice bar and dining room, I would be tempted to scratch fork off my list. A round brown roll glazed in sesame seed was nearly hard as a stone. I could have probably bent my tines on it, but tearing it open found tender and flavorful bread within. I derived a surprising amount of pleasure from picking it apart over the next half an hour or so it took a half portion of fettuccine to arrive, feeding it to myself the way I would have fed it to the pigeons prowling around nearby independence hall. The pasta when it finally did come, perfectly cooked and supple, was good but unexciting, dressed in olive oil, a judicious amount of garlic and slivered basil and relying perhaps too heavily on "heirloom tomatoes" to set things off. They turned out to be a half dozen peeled cherry tomatoes, one or two of which were transcendent and the remainder rather ordinary, proving the unpredictability of crops even when they come from the finest pedigree. A grating of parmesan might have helped and I can only assume was withheld because it would have clouded the purity of the simple flavors and textures that were the aim of this ambitious exercise, a mild failure. Less successful was the thick hunk of halibut that also took its time in coming to the table. Reminiscent of the restaurants bread basket, it was hard, almost armored outside, but thick enough to contain some moist and clean-tasting flesh within, though disagreeably fishy on the surface. A stew of baby squid, sliced beans, roasted pepper and preserved lemon would have done better on its own. The sea scallops served to my wife had cooled down in their wait for the over-roasted halibut and were otherwise good despite being brutally seared. Tucked underneath, surviving a bath of wan broth, a large summer vegetable raviolo with mascarpone and basil nage deserved the starring role, and my wife said if she had just been able to order a few of these she would have left raving about the place. Fork's wine list gathers a number of inexpensive but nice wines, including the Canaletto rose we ordered for $32. I would have had to lean too far back in my chair to see what was going on in the open kitchen, but I left with the impression that the cooks had fallen behind and had a hard time catching up.

It's old news by now, but erin o'shea is leaving marigold kitchen to open a texas barbecue restaurant on south street in the fall and the restaurant is temporarily closing at the end of this month to give a new chef time to get established. In hindsight, we should have eaten dinner here and brunch at fork. I allowed one hour to walk to this university city destination from around 11th and market, and had underestimated the distance by a good 10 minutes and probably not taken the most direct route since my map ran out only blocks beyond the Schuylkill River so that we were arriving late, breathless and sweaty for our 10:00 reservation (which, as it turns out, we didn't need). By the time we reached the 500 block of south 45th street, we were walking so fast, in such a hurry, that we passed right by the place and stopped two blocks beyond, where my wife insisted we were lost and tried to hail a cab and I decided to ask the first person on the street if she knew the whereabouts of larchwood avenue, the cross street we were looking for. Not only did she know, but she was also heading to the same place, and she turned out to be our server. Along the short distance back from where we had come, to the restaurant, which is hidden away in a house that she said even some of the neighbors don't know about, we got to talking about fork, and she said that she had been there a few times and always ended up feeling disappointed. The small meal that followed was bliss, just the pick-me-up I needed when I was starting to feel I had become entirely jaded and unable to recognize good cooking. I had been blaming myself for the experience the night before. we shouldn't have eaten so close before dinner, which was a wallop of a breakfast at the dutch eating place in the reading terminal market of the eggiest apple and cinnamon French toast imaginable, sopping in butter, sitting by thick slices of turkey bacon. If I had come to fork famished, I would have loved it. I would have licked its plates. (and there is some truth to this: one of the most gratifying meals I have had in my entire life was at a gloppy Eskimo Chinese restaurant beyond Whitehorse after subsisting for a week along the dempster highway on pudding pops, apple sauce and caribou jerky.) it doesn't sound like much, but marigold kitchen's maple glazed hot smoked salmon with poached egg and potato roti was well worth the hike, simply perfect any way you look at it. silken in texture, anointed with egg and rounded out with the potato cake, this was some of the best fish ever, so plain and so easy it seemed, yet quietly exalted, accompanied by a small mound of lightly dressed arugula, beet greens, baby lettuce and lemony purslane. I've been running into a lot of places these days that want to cook this way, but few have the ability to carry it off. Here, at least for several more days, they do it assuredly and with a whisper.

Osteria shouldn't be just an afterthought. A well-seasoned plate of fennel, beets, potatoes, beans and other roasted vegetables served at room temperature, ethereal mushroom ravioli with beef marrow, a plate of different roasted parts of baby pig, some licorice-scented, and a polenta budino, or pudding, made for a satisfying meal. Veal Milanese, in my opinion but not in the opinion of my wife, who ate most of it, was a bit dry. Otherwise, the cooking was just about faultless. Considering the rusticity of the food, I had not expected to find the well-oiled machine that keeps this place humming at full throttle. Its on the expensive side (Hendricks martinis are $15), and located in a half-way abandoned neighborhood, about one mile from city hall, down broad street heading out.

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Just wanted to add my Philly report from this past weekend:

Morimoto- I really loved the basic omakase ($40) menu. All the fish was very fresh, the opening Toro Tartare with with Caviar, Tempura, Scallions, Ponzu and Fresh Wasabi, and finished with a Japanese fruit was a highlight. We had an assortment of sushi with toro, red snapper and others. We also had a whitefish caparcio with microgreens, with a very tasty vinaigrette with hot oil, we had black cod with miso served with a mustard sauce and pickled peppers that was cooked perfectly. Everything had very good balanced flavors and we were happy with each course. We ended with a chocolate cake with blueberry sauce that was very good. It was just enough food for lunch without being heavy. I wish I lived nearby so I could eat here more often all of the lunch specials coming out looked great.

Reading Terminal- I ate some Amish doughnuts which were ok, I grew up with an Amish Nanny in Western Maryland and I prefer the ones there as I think they are better (lighter not as dense), but they were still good. I love Amish baked goods, but so many I get at home when I go home I didn't really bother with any but a doughnut. Miller's soft pretzels were wonderful. They were buttery, soft, yet a tad bit crunchy at parts, just the right amount of salt, really good. DiNic's roast pork was ok. I ate mine a few minutes after ordering and the bun didn't hold up to the au jus, but the pork with the greens was very good, but perhaps just a bit too soupy. The Reading Terminal was a lot of fun, they has cantaloupes the size of watermelon, and all the produce, meats and cheese looked so good I wished that I had brought a cooler.

Distrito- This place was so much fun. I want to go back and eat in the bug. I loved the eccentric decorating. The drinks were good, I was impressed with the Tequila selection. We ordered way too much food, they say to order 3-4 dishes per person, but at 2-3 each we were stuffed. I had the short rib flatbread which was very good, the meat was tender and savory and melded well with the BBQ sauce, the carnitas tacos were one of the best dishes of the evening, the pork was so tender and flavorful, they had bits that were a little bit more well done mixed in for a great ratio of pork texture. The Amarillo (rabbit mole) was excellent, as well, the rabbit was tender and very flavorful it wasn't overwhelmed by the sauce and was served on rice in a small hot pot. The whole dish came together really well. The duck fundido was another big hit, spicy and cheesy with tender as can be duck it would be the perfect after bar food, as well. The guacamole was also good, the salsa was decent- very fresh red tomatoes just rather normal. I also had a bit of the tres leches cake which was quite good, much like a very small smith island cake. This was one of my favorite meals. I also had some of the salads which were a big portion, but a tad bit bitter (which may have been the cilantro which I don't really care for)

Fork- While I read above that someone had a recently disappointing meal there, our meal there was excellent. I am not sure what bottle of wine FIL ordered. It was a Soellner, Wogerain, Grí¼ner Veltliner, 2007, Austria that was lovely after a hot day, it was crisp and fruity, but not too oaky or sweet and paired very well with my food. We started out with a choice of multigrain, french or other bread, I had the french which had a great taste to it, crusty on the outside, tender within. They had a nice cow butter which was soft and had good flavor. I started with the baby lettuce salad with croquette and balsamic. It was very fresh, nicely dressed and the croquette was was warm and crisp on the outside while almost, but not quite gooey on the inside. Hubby had the fish provencale soup with crouton and that was very good, it had a lovely fish broth thickened with cream that was very light I really enjoyed the couple bites I got. For entree I had the citrus cured salmon that was then seared on carmelized shallots, potatoes and a lovely spinach sauce. The citrus with the shallots and spinach sauce balanced very nicely. The fish was cooked with a nice sear and had great flavor. It was seasoned just right. The potatoes were a nice bit size, but in a rustic style that blended nicely with the bold flavor of the fish. Hubby had a duck dish that was very good as well. The duck itself was incredibly juicy, again not overcooked at all, a perfect medium rare. We split the chevre cheesecake with oatmeal crisp and champagne pear. The pear was a bit hard to cut you had to use both fork and spoon but was very juicy and had a nice texture, almost like a plum in texture. The chevre cheesecake was rich and tangy and the crisp was sweet and crunchy so the flavors and the textures were nicely varied. All in all another nice meal.

Pat's King of Steaks- I think I am just not a huge cheesesteak person- I would rather have a prime rib sandwich in all honesty. This was ok, the highlight were fries with cheez-whiz for me. But I had mine. Hubby likes these more than me he probably really liked his. We both got with provolone. If I ordered again, I would get it without onions, peppers and just mushrooms as the peppers had no flavor and the hot peppers on the condiment stand were better, I think it would be better if the cheese was on top instead of the bottom (it is with the whiz, but not provolone as it just kind of melded into the bread which I find rather mediocre).

Franklin Fountain- a fun stop. I got the ladies choice which is a float of raspberry soda with peach ice cream. It was fruity refreshing, but still nice and creamy.

So all in all good eats. Definitely would like to go back and eat more.

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Going to Philly the weekend of 2/20 - Vetri, 10 Arts, Le Bec Fin, and Bibou have no availability. Osteria is only available at 5 p.m. I made a reservation for Chifa but the menu doesn't really seem very appetizing - actually very little in terms of Peruvian or Chinese food. What else should I investigate, especially things that I can't find in DC?

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Going to Philly the weekend of 2/20 - Vetri, 10 Arts, Le Bec Fin, and Bibou have no availability. Osteria is only available at 5 p.m. I made a reservation for Chifa but the menu doesn't really seem very appetizing - actually very little in terms of Peruvian or Chinese food. What else should I investigate, especially things that I can't find in DC?

Though I haven't been in a few years, Alma de Cuba is a lot of fun and at least used to have terrific Cuban food. If you can't make dinner, stop by the lounge for mojitos and appetizers. If you can make dinner, the roast pork was out of this world. As far as Le Bec Fin goes, didn't there used to be a more casual sister restaurant called Brasserie Perrier next door? The web site to that place doesn't seem to work anymore. We had a wonderful meal there once, but again this was a few years ago. You could also try one of new Iron Chef Jose Garces' places, which get good press. I've been to his Tinto a few times when I got a hankering for Basque food and Txakolina, and enjoyed my time there a lot.

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Instead of Chifa, I'd recommend going over to Amada (another of Garces' restaurants, and I believe that was his first in Philly) and get the tasting menu (we got the $65 one). I had it back in November, so the details may be a little fuzzy. The highlights were:

Oyster shooter - Kumomoto Oyster with some sort of roe. I can't find it on their regular menu, but I remember it was very fresh.

Cheese plate - GARROTXA w/ Garlic Dulce de Leche was the highlight here. The garlic dulce de leche was not spicy, but more like carmelized garlic.

ALBÓNDIGAS - Lamb Meatballs & Shaved Manchego - Very light meatballs with a truffled cream sauce, and fresh peas.

PULPO A LA GALLEGA - Spanish Octopus - I remember these were like little thin disks of octopus with a good amount of smoked paprika. Tasted like octopus bacon.

PERNIL ASADO - Roasted Pork, White Beans, Arugula & Orange - highlight of the night. Was a very rich and tender roasted pork with crispy skin, sitting on a bed of creamy beans.

I second hitting up some BYOBs as well, highlights being:

Matyson - I went there for an early New Years Eve dinner a couple of years ago, but I remember excellent, simple food.

L'Angelo - a very small Italian restaurant in South Philly. Their gnocchi was light, and the grilled octopus tender. This is a VERY neighborhood restaurant way down Broad street close to the stadium, but it's worth it. One of my favorite restaurants in Philadelphia.

Marigold's Kitchen - Never been, but it's on my list. Heard lots of good things about their "modern" cooking - doing the whole molecular gastronomy thing.

Also, Philadelphia has a great beer scene, the highlights being:

Monk's

The Irish Pol - I think 30 or 40 beers on tap, many local ones.

Euology - Belgian beer

If you get a chance, head down to the Italian Market and go to Di Bruno Brothers. Lots of cheeses and meats, get whatever is to your liking, and some bread, and sit in the parking lot in front of the huge Frank Rizzo and Di Bruno Brothers murals. Now THAT is a VERY Philadelphia thing to do.

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Amada only had a 5:30 table when I looked and it's now all booked. Unfortunately my wife has to work on Sat morning so I scrapped brunch plans on Sunday at El Vez in favor of visiting the Reading Terminal (after all, our hotel is only 2 blocks away). As it stands, we'll do Chifa on Sat. night (and I'm ready to hate it because I don't think anyone can do a "research" trip to a foreign country and presume to cook its cuisine, and I don't think the restaurant offers much in the way of Peruvian cuisine), taste as many things as possible in Reading on Sunday morning - Dinic's, Herschel's deli (pastrami and bialy?), and then try Chink's and Steve's Prince of Steaks in the afternoon while my wife visits her friend. I don't eat scrapple and couldn't care less about sweets, so what else must I try in Reading?

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Amada only had a 5:30 table when I looked and it's now all booked. Unfortunately my wife has to work on Sat morning so I scrapped brunch plans on Sunday at El Vez in favor of visiting the Reading Terminal (after all, our hotel is only 2 blocks away). As it stands, we'll do Chifa on Sat. night (and I'm ready to hate it because I don't think anyone can do a "research" trip to a foreign country and presume to cook its cuisine, and I don't think the restaurant offers much in the way of Peruvian cuisine), taste as many things as possible in Reading on Sunday morning - Dinic's, Herschel's deli (pastrami and bialy?), and then try Chink's and Steve's Prince of Steaks in the afternoon while my wife visits her friend. I don't eat scrapple and couldn't care less about sweets, so what else must I try in Reading?

So you're there on Sunday? Well, the Amish stalls will be closed, but, mostly everyone else is open!

Iffffffff you were into sweets, I'd say head over to Termini Bros. and get a freshly-piped canoli. Otherwise, you've got the 411 on the highlights. Definitely get a roast pork with rabe and prov from DiNic's. Hershel's deli-I have not eaten there yet (if only I had 2 stomachs!), but their sandwiches etc look SERIOUSLY good.

Check out Delilah's for soul food. Collards, fried chicken, and mac and cheese hailed by Pope-rah to be the the best in America, and that beat Bobby Flay in a Throwdown.

Also check out Metropolitan Bakery and Le Bus.....love Le Bus. I remember when they had a place in University City. Cafeteria-style food was reinvented by Le Bus.

Where are you dining Sat. night?

I still suggest that you bring up a couple bottles of wine and treat yourself to a BYOB. Koo Zee Doo for Portuguese that you can not find around here, and Modo Mio for Italian.

Modo Mio-check out the tourista option, for $35, a 4-course meal. It's easy to get to and there's plenty of street parking. When you walk in, there is an old buffet standing in the window-front, with a loaf of bread the size of Texas ( from which you will get slices of with your meal) and a large jar of Grappa, gratis at the end of your meal.

I can't wait to hear about what you've discovered.

ps....cudos on doing Steve's vs. the Gino's/Pat's thing

pps.....if it's a nice day, walk a few blocks from RTM to Rittenhouse Square and check out DiBruno Bros. Watch out for the dripping cheeses! hanging from the ceiling, and enjoy the tons of samples that they put out.

Staying at the Lowes?

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Where are you dining Sat. night?

Going to Chifa, Jose Garces' Chinese Peruvian restaurant in City Center. We love Peruvian food but we've been spoiled by eating 5 meals at Gaston Acurio's restaurants in the last 2 years. And we were on a cruise where every meal was personally prepared by Pedro Schiaffino (lucky for us that he happened to be on the ship that week).

ps....cudos on doing Steve's vs. the Gino's/Pat's thing

Did the Gino's vs. Pat's - we think it's a tie there, but we prefer Jim's over those two. Out in the 'burbs we've been to Chubby's and it's good. This time I'll be in Steve's/Chink's hood so I might as well try them out.

Staying at the Lowes?

We roadtrip with our dogs when possible and we've stayed at Lowes before but this time we're staying at the Residence Inn (cheaper than Lowes).

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It has been well over a year since I have posted on this board. I have been lurking here and there, generally just to get the scuttlebutt on a restaurant that I was about to go to, but it sure has been a long time! I think that my absence can be attributed to the fact that 1) they now expect me to do work at work and 2) I would put a lot of time into reviews and felt like I was doing another job (going back to number one). So, from now on, my reviews are going to be short and sweet, but I felt that I couldn't not say something about my trip to Philly over New Years.

The bad - Jones. We literally ended up there one night because it was freezing and we saw it and we had heard of it, so we walked in and ate. It sucked.

The amazing - Amada. I tend to side with Public Enemy on the whole concept of believing the hype, so I was highly critical during my meal at Amada. And, after a three hour meal there on New Years Eve, my ONLY complaint was that they could have brought the bottle to me when they were presenting me with the wines that they paired with my meal. That is pretty impressive that this was my only complaint after a three hours meal with a party of four, it was that good. I don't remember everything, or even anything, that we ate, but it was all simply perfect. Especially on New Years Eve, when you would expect a waitstaff that is ready to high-tail it out of there, the service was superb. In fact, it is one of the rare times that my expectations were exceeded at a restaurant, tough to do for a place where the expectations were so high. Simply amazing.

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Went up to Philly for the Wilco show last weekend.

Went to Capogiro Gelato for a delicious butterscotch & dark chocolate gelato. The last time I went here over the summer, we saw Michelle Obama with Sacha and Malia come through with a squad of secret service guys.

For dinner, we went to Garces Trading Company. It's a small market with a center area for walkup seating (no reservations).

For appetizers, we started with housemade cheese and charcuterie. I loved the housemade mozzarella- It looked like a white placenta (sorry) drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper. So good.

We also had the chicken liver mousse with shallot confit and the fennel sausage.

For entrees, we had the margherita pizza. It was nice, but next time I need to try the deep dish pizza which looked amazing.

We also had the parpadelle with lamb ragu tha was tasty.

My favorite dessert was the Spring Verrine, a buttermilk panna cotta with grapefruit curd, topped with pistachio-hazelnut crunch.

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I've been to Philly a few times the last couple weeks for lunches.

I went to Morimoto's to try his Shoyu ramen with pork belly and soft boiled egg- good, but I would venture to say Ren's Ramen is just a scratch better.

pics

I also finally tried the roast pork at Tommy DiNic's in the Reading Market Terminal. It was delicious, but I do think Tony Luke's has an edge with their bread. Still worth a trip.

pics

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And "red gravy", a term I refuse to use (mostly to bug my in-laws), for those folks not from the Philly area is tomato (pasta) sauce.

Looking for great restaurants in Philadelphia near City Center. Preferably places that focus on fish. The restaurant in the Palomar Hotel looks promising (we will be staying there). Any recommendations?

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That's where I stayed - barbuzzo is close and open for lunch.

Unfortunately not on weekends according to their website. Any other thoughts?

Let me recount my cheesesteaks - Pat's, Geno's, Jim's, Chink's, Chubby's, Steve's Prince of Steaks, and Tony Luke's. Where else can I go?

Roast pork - Dinic's and Tony Luke's. John's is closed on weekends.

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I think if your first Tacconelli's experience is takeout, you won't go back again so quickly, and that would be a mistake.

Totally agree, Daniel. Tacconelli must be experienced having the pizza in the restaurant, hot from the oven. Also, from memory, don't you have to "reserve oven space" in advance? It's been a few years but this wasn't an easy restaurant to get into.

I'd use New Haven as an analogy for this: I've got carryout from both Sally's and Pepe's/The Spot a number of times over the years, half baked, and finished them six hours later here. They are good. But they are not as good as there. Also, there is a great deal of character just sitting in those restaurants, as there is in Tacconelli's (and DeLorenzo's on Hudson street in Trenton).

Eric, Osteria (which won the Beard award for the Mid Atlantic last year) has a GREAT pizza that I believe is the best in Philly and challenges L. A.'s Pizzaria Mozza as America's best. BUT I AM ONLY TALKING ABOUT THE THREE PIZZAS THEY HAVE (out of 20 or so) THAT HAVE A THREE DAY DOUGH RISE. You must ask which of all of their pizzas have a three day dough rise. I've had two of the three and the crust is fantastic. Fantastic! I've also had three or four other pizzas at Osteria that had a single day's dough rise and they are not as good. Frankly, the difference is remarkable. But you must ask. I put a post on here a year or so ago about this but just don't remember which ones. I also do not know if they are consistent in using the three day dough rise for the same toppings or if they change what they top it with. But this is phenominal crust. I think superior, perhaps far superior to Two Amy's. Osteria also had a particularly good bolognese sauce.

jiveturk21, I love Amada: I've driven from Reston there just for dinner and felt it was worth it. Interesting to sit at the food bar at the back of it in front of the kitchen and watch everything come out. On our last trip we had 15 or 16 different dishes. GREAT restaurant. I would take it over Vetri (who also own Osteria) which we went to for our anniversary this year. Of course I still haven't forgiven Beard giving Vetri the award over Maestro which I thought was in a totally different league.

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Unfortunately not on weekends according to their website. Any other thoughts?

Let me recount my cheesesteaks - Pat's, Geno's, Jim's, Chink's, Chubby's, Steve's Prince of Steaks, and Tony Luke's. Where else can I go?

Roast pork - Dinic's and Tony Luke's. John's is closed on weekends.

Sorry, didn't notice that. I found Dinic's to basically be on par with Taylor. If you are thinking about pizza - I'd search for Philadelphia on http://slice.seriouseats.com/. Most that looked good to me were down in South Philly and I didn't have time to get to them.

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Going to Philly for the first time next weekend. Have always heard the city is full of good neighborhood spots where you can BYOB. Can someone please recommend some that are convenient to City Hall or otherwise?

Also, is there a consensus spot on the top one or two cheesesteaks?

TYVM!

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Thanks for all the tips for my first trip to Philly. Overall, a very successful visit.

Cochon was the winner for BYOB. They take reservations, have a pork heavy menu, and succeeded on all fronts. Melograno was less successful. Above average pasta, but nothing exciting. They do take reservations on Sunday when many of the BYOBs are closed. Loved BYOing though and really wished we had more options to do so sans significant corkage fees in DC.

Tinto (basque tapas from Jose Garces) was outstanding. Some lovely wines by the glass, although their txakolina was a surprise in that it was no effervescent in the least. Apparently, there's a subregion in Txakolina where that's typical that we don't see often here. We let our great bartender order for us and were well-rewarded with DIVER SCALLOPS cider demi-glace, benton's bacon, shaved apple, DUCK CANAPES duck confit, serrano ham, black cherry, la peral spread, and PULPO spanish octopus, confit, potatoes,lemon powder. Am already looking forward to a return visit.

In the sandwich competition, John's Roast Pork's cheesesteak (wit onions, sharp provolone) was a revelation, while the roast pork italian (sharp provolone, broccoli rabe) at Tony Luke's was a big disappointment, failing to keep up with Taylor Gourmet's spin on the classic in every way -- particularly with lousy bread, dry underseasoned meat, and badly overcooked broccoli rabe. Sarcone's Bakery had great bread, but seemed to just have Dietz & Watson cold cuts available. Good bread is a key ingredient in a good sandwich, but next time I'll just buy rolls to take home.

Brunch at Sabrina's (2 locations) was lovely. Huge servings, creative, interesting spins on the classics. Call ahead to put your name on the list to reduce wait times or get up and go early, as they open at 8.

Was slightly underwhelmed at both the Reading Terminal and 9th St Italian markets. Maybe I needed a better guide to find the gems. Highlight was the spice place at 9th St Italian where we loaded up on Szechuan peppercorns, white peppercorns, and very inexpensive vanilla beans. Looking forward to finding ways to use the Szechuan peppercorns soon.

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Trip to PHL last week. Was able to hit a couple of spots celebrated on this thread (which I hadn't read prior) and a couple of others that don't seem to have been written about much or at all here.

Fish

Went here with friends from the area with whom we'd enjoyed a few excellent meals at Little Fish some years ago. In a word: mixed bag.

Food:

- Started out with a dozen oysters split between west and east coast varieties. Excellent quality. Reasonably priced.

- round of apps were good but felt seriously over-priced relative to quality and portion size (forgetting what we ordered here; too many restaurants ago!)

- halibut main was good but, at $32 again overpriced given it wasn't anything special

- a friend thought the skate very good and it looked very good

- a salmon special was like the halibut: fine, fresh, but ordinary and expensive

Service:

Friendly and incompetent. Our waitress was nice when she appeared but seemed to lack any ability to anticipate needs and disappeared for long stretches of time that had us getting up to chase someone down for necessities like sliverware, napkins, water and our orders.

Paesanos

This is a 2 or 3 location sandwich spot that we thought was worlds ahead of more over-hyped options like Pats, Genos, Tony Lukes. They don't do "cheese steaks" per se though the "paesano" is a beef brisket sandwich that looked amazingly delicious. I got a roasted pork special and it was outstanding. Liscio's bread (a close match for Sarcones), "long hot" peppers, generous and delicious pork, broccoli rabe. A truly great sandwich. We went to the location on Girard Avenue. Not so great neighborhood but everything a Philly sandwich shop should be with just 6 or so stools at a counter in a shoebox of a space and cases of local sodas for the dorm-sized fridge being passed up to the cook through street-sized windows as I left. This is the kind of place I imagine the local Taylor guys had in mind when they marketed themselves as recreating what they loved from home but never came close to actually doing.

La Colombe

By Rittenhouse Square. A long-time, much-loved coffee house with product, environmental and social responsibility emphases. These guys are really serious about coffee. No menu. No lunch or savory food of any kind. No wifi. Plenty of tables. Great location. Excellent joe. Perfect spot to enjoy whatever coffee beverage you favor, made properly and talk or read.

Cochon

We had a great experience here I won't detail too much since already well covered on the thread. Escargot, pork rib app, pan fried gnocchi and the signature whole roast suckling pig atop lentils and crispy brussel sprouts were all standouts. Quirky but efficient waiter. Reasonably priced given the quality and portion sizes. Strongly recommend unless you don't eat pork. This place is a homage to the pig. We also ordered a rabbit dish at our table but it was really about the pork.

Cafe Lutecia

Heard about this neighborhood french cafe as a good choice for breakfast and it was. On Lombard at 23rd. Almond croissants, coffee, salads and quiches all good. The soups (a chicken egg drop spinach soup and a tomato bisque) were outstanding. We most enjoyed the feel of the place. Nothing fancy but really would fit in fine if it was in one of Paris' more bohemian neighborhoods.

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I spent Wednesday-Sunday hanging out in Philly and attending the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) conference. Here are the meals I enjoyed during my stay.

Wednesday Dinner- Took my coworker out to Good Dog Bar, a place I've tried to share with as many out-of-towners as I can. She got the Duck Pot Pie and I bit the Roast Chicken. The duck PP was outrageously hot, had very tasty crust and nice depth of flavor. The roast chicken was a simple but satisfying dish. The skin was crispy and the interior was moist. Maybe I've been away from Philly too long but the beer list was impressive too--The Lost Abbey Carnevale Saison (a style easily that's half-assed) was interesting and quaffable. The Dark Horse Stout had fantastic roasty/coffee notes and a body that wasn't too thick. FYI Wednesdays are half price can night and they have a great collection of Sly Fox cans.

Thursday Lunch- Ran across the street to the Reading Terminal Market (RTM) and got a Lamb shawarma sandwich from Kamal's. The fries were fine but the sandwich was poor. The tomatoes were tasteless and the lamb was dry and chewy. The librarians sitting to my right and discussing the current line-up on SyFy were entertaining though.

Thursday Dinner- My buddy Ant and I used his manager discount at Barbuzzo. This was my second time and I was far more impressed this go around. The sheep's milk ricotta was sublime--texture was perfectly creamy and the vin cotto had just enough bite (mouth is currently salivating). The cheese and charcuterie was interesting and varied--the homemade apricot mustard was a great touch. Salame Toscano and the young honey goat's cheese were definite standouts. Next up was wood roasted Portugese sardines and pacherra pasta. These were slightly better as read on the menu, but pleasing items nonetheless. The sardines were touch too crispy but the classic combo of preserved lemon, fennel and olives worked well. The pacherra was light on the pork ragout but as good a homemade pasta I've had in a long time. And finally the flight of victory beers I had--braumeister pils, headwaters pale ale, scarlet fire rauchbier, and st. boisterous hellerbock--were fantastic. Hellerbock=carbonated campfire in mouth.

Friday Lunch- Another bite from the RTM, this time a chicken korma platter from Nanee's Indian/Pakistani kitchen. Butter chicken was rich and the garlic spinach was a great side.

Saturday Brunch- After visiting a couple friends moving into the area we went to Pub and Kitchen, a former haunt in the graduate hospital area that occupies the small niche of gastropubs that actually bring the thunder with more than decor. The Welsh Rarebit was a strange starter, it confused my taste buds into thinking I was eating peanut butter at times. The girl's burger with mushroom duxelle was very tasty and cooked exactly to temperature, if served slightly cool. My smoked trout omelette was very fluffy (see recent DR thread treating the difficulty of making the perfect omelette at home). I wish the fried scallop potatoes came with something other than a bottle of Heinz for dressing though. I also could have used a screen on the straw of my wrangler drink (fancy bloody mary with tons of shaved horseradish). The honey whiskey wings here are awesome, the wine list is thoughtful, but the beer list is disappointing. Done.

Saturday Dinner- Grabbed a sandwich from Souvlaki on South Street between the Phils game and meeting up with friends. This is a great choice for a take-out gyro sandwich. My favorite is the kefta kabob, I believe they make it with lamb and beef and as always it's packed with spices (the dried mint was particularly powerful). They gave me two by accident so one of those went to my favorite bartender in olde city (aka the only person I like in olde city).

Sunday Brunch- New Wave Cafe in Queen Village. Not an ambitious place but a solid neighborhood joint. Their menu is inconsistent in hell--in presentation and in taste--but my chicken italiano sandwich really hit the spot. After some coffee at the Java Company we hit the road.

I left off our Friday night dinner at Bibou BYOB because they deserve their own write-up..

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What a great rundown, C&F!! Will make note of all those places......I am hosting a fairly big dinner tomorrow night at JG Domestic (one of Garces's places).......after having trying, and failing, to make it happen at Supper, Barbuzzo, Noble, Amada and Vetri...............have seen mixed things about JG but hoping the food decently passes muster for my party and atmosphere is nice and festive.

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I'm going to the Keswick Theatre in Glenside (just north of Philly) this weekend and was wondering about any recommendations for dining near there.

I see that the Keswick's website has a listing of nearby places, so, could anyone offer any opinions on:

211 York

Plush

I'm fond of Italian but being Italian myself, I'm fairly picky about it.

Not really particular regarding price, but do expect the result to justify the $$$ spent.

Any help would be appreciated on the above, or, other suggestions, or should I just plunge into Philly and hit Osteria?

Thanks very much.

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Mr. MV and I stayed in Philly for a few days over Christmas. We were at the Loew's across from Reading Terminal Market, so we got to visit a lot. Food highlights were:


Di Nic's roast pork, yes, again smile.png Once again, the roll was different and was from Carangi Baking Company and it was excellent. Perfect, really. I do have to gripe about there not being enough sharp provolone. I like more and I like it in shards. I think we'll try John's next visit.


Termini Bros- Sfoggliatelle with impossible many layers of crunchy pastry and light candied citrus-studded ricotta inside. We also split a small red velvet cake, also terrific.


I was delighted to make a PA food discovery at the market- Unique Splits pretzels made in Reading, PA. Perfect taste, crunch and just the right amount of salt on the regular pretzels. I think Weggies carries it, at least I hope so.


Osteria was delightful as usual. We were really torn about ordering a pizza or starting with small plates, but we went with the latter. A Salumi plate had house-made speck, porchetta, salami and head cheese served with an artichoke mostarda. A patty of cotechino was served over polenta and topped with an egg.


For my main, I had leg of venison served over braised cabbage and accompanied by a cranberry chutney. Mr. MV had a whole fish (breem?) but was served whole, which had him a bit flummoxed as to how to get the filets off and avoid the small bones, but he enjoyed it. The service is multi-tiered and excellent- truly a well-oiled machine.


Port Richmond for many types of kielbasa. My favorite is called Leshna, which is triple smoked and so deeply-flavored.

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Paesanos

This is a 2 or 3 location sandwich spot that we thought was worlds ahead of more over-hyped options like Pats, Genos, Tony Lukes. They don't do "cheese steaks" per se though the "paesano" is a beef brisket sandwich that looked amazingly delicious. I got a roasted pork special and it was outstanding. Liscio's bread (a close match for Sarcones), "long hot" peppers, generous and delicious pork, broccoli rabe. A truly great sandwich. We went to the location on Girard Avenue. Not so great neighborhood but everything a Philly sandwich shop should be with just 6 or so stools at a counter in a shoebox of a space and cases of local sodas for the dorm-sized fridge being passed up to the cook through street-sized windows as I left. This is the kind of place I imagine the local Taylor guys had in mind when they marketed themselves as recreating what they loved from home but never came close to actually doing.

broccoli rabe and sharp provolone) and the Gustaio (House-made lamb sausage, sun-dried cherry mustarda, gorgonzola spread, roasted fennel, and arugula) and both were outstanding, including the "philly-style" service. As an aside, the Italian style roast pork with rabe and provolone from DeNic's at the RTM is still a damn good sandwich.

Dinner one night was at Talula's Garden and that was an excellent meal. Highlights included the Lobster “Pie” (Pan Sauté of Lobster, Parsnips, Fingerlings, Cabbage, Brussels, and Lobster-Anisette Sauce) and the Mushroom Pâté en Croûte (Speck, Chicken Wing, Sunny Quail Egg, and Condiments). For those so inclined the cheese selection is top notch and the Bring on the Funk - Six that’ll Tear the Roof Off made for an indulgent and wonderful dessert.

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Had three great meals at 10Arts, Morimoto and Distrito. Also had some other good stuff at the Reading Market and a nice brunch at Serafina, which had really good freshly squeezed juices. Will do a more lengthy post later. I wanted to go to some different places, but we were going with friends who drooled over my blog from my last trip to Philly so we did a good amount of repeating, but at least they were still good choices!

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was in Philly this past weekend. We had lunch at Reading Market and had a pretty terrific grilled cheese sandwich at Molly Malloys called "not your mama's grilled cheese" with brioche bread, whipped tart goat cheese, black pepper fennel and onion jam, sauteed leaf spinach. There are also some wonderful cookies to be had in the market.


We had dinner at Zahav- a modern Israeli restaurant- which was stellar. Lots of very strong and unique Middle Eastern flavors. Definitely worth checking out. Chef Michael Solomonov is the winner of the James Beard Award for Best Mid-Atlantic Chef, 2011. He had some stiff competition from some of our talented chefs in DC, (Johhny Monis, Peter Pastan, Cathal Armstrong) so you know he has to be good!

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We'll be in the Philly area this Friday-Sunday. Can anyone familiar with Philly restaurants give help out two (almost) complete Philly newbies?

We're thinking of spending Friday in the city and touring Liberty Hall and the Barnes Collection (maybe another musuem if time allows). Then Saturday and Sunday in the Brandywine Valley (Longwood, Winterthur, maybe Nemour/Chanticleer).


This is a spur of the moment trip, so we can't afford to splurge too much. Budget is around $30-60 total per lunch and $100-150 total per dinner (we don't drink, so I think this is probably sufficient barring the fanciest places). Just looking for good food, particularly local specialties or farm-to-table establishments.

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Some re-arranging of priorities has this as our current planned eating, influenced in part by the fact that Bibou and Barbuzzo have no availability showing on OpenTable:

Friday lunch: Osteria -- We're most interested in the pizza and pasta; any reason to strongly prefer dinner to lunch?

Friday dinner: Not quite settled. Deciding between Cochon/Matyson/Fond -- Anything else we should be strongly considering in the BYOB category for this spot? Is there a clear standout amongst the three named candidates?

Saturday dinners: Amada followed by a walk over to Zahav (link to PDF menu -- beware music playing on the main site if you don't have Flashblock or something similar enabled)

---


EDIT: Looking around some more, I see this list http://www.phillymag...g_50/index.html with Blackfish listed as the #1 Philly restaurant. Anyone been? It's in the suburbs, so it'd be a slight detour on the way to/from Brandywine, but it could be a Friday night contender as well.

Philly Mag also has Fond listed about 20 spots higher than Cochon and Matyson, which might lead us to favor Fond from the city restaurants -- in addition to the fact that Fond seems to have the highest proportion of Yelp/TripAdvisor 5-star ratings (for whatever that's worth). But I don't see much talk of Fond here.

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Friday dinner: Not quite settled. Deciding between Cochon/Matyson/Fond -- Anything else we should be strongly considering in the BYOB category for this spot? Is there a clear standout amongst the three named candidates?

I've had a great meal at Matyson maybe 3 years ago on New Years Eve, but I've also wanted to go to Cochon for a while. From my limited knowledge, I'd say if you want something lighter, I'd go with Matyson. For something heavier, so with Cochon.

Saturday dinners: Amada followed by a walk over to Zahav (link to PDF menu -- beware music playing on the main site if you don't have Flashblock or something similar enabled)

My wife and I love Amada, and we usually get their tasting menu. It's always plenty of food, that's well executive, has a good cross section of their menu, and we leave satisfied. That being said, I had a buddy of mine do the tasting menu at Zahav and said it was his favorite meal in Philly. It's been on my list for a while now, but if you can fit in both, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

EDIT: Looking around some more, I see this list http://www.phillymag...g_50/index.html with Blackfish listed as the #1 Philly restaurant. Anyone been? It's in the suburbs, so it'd be a slight detour on the way to/from Brandywine, but it could be a Friday night contender as well.

Another restaurant on my list (have you noticed a trend - I need to go to Philly more), but I've heard nothing but good things about Blackfish. It's BYOB, and I have had many people tell me that this is THE BYOB to hit in Philadelphia. I've actually been to the space to get a gift card for my parents, and I know it's a nice little restaurant space right in downtown Conshohocken, which is about 20-30 minutes outside of Center City. It's actually on the way to Longwood/Winterthur if you take the Blue Route via I-76.

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Back from a quick weekend in Philly.

Morimoto for lunch. Very nice sushi but I didn't find it to be much better than the better Sushi restaurants in DC.

Bibou for Dinner - Superb french food BYOB. The Philly critics says it is one of the top places in town and I tend to agree. Had some delightful, tender escargot with wild mushrooms and a very nice poached short rib which was extremely tender and full of flavor. My wife had a a nice perfectly cooked brill filet and a starter of foie mousse and seared foie. Both excellent. Execution and taste of the food was nearly perfect. Highly recommended.

- Brunch/Lunch - Kanella - This is one of our favorites and we keep coming back. I would kill for a restaurant like this in DC. Amazing, fresh, delicious Cretian, jewish-influenced food. I had a wonderful house made merguez with eggs and yogurt. Wonderfully flavored and spicy. My wife had shakshouka which was great. We also had a soup called trahana which I had never had before. It was truly outstanding, one of the better things I have eaten this year. The soup is basically wheat, veges and yogurt that is mixed, fermented and dried. It was then reconstituted with a bit of milk and other stuff. Great, delicious soup.

- Dinner at Zahav. It was restaurant week in Philly but Zahava was great. A nice mezze came out with pickled vegetables, baba ganouj, hummus and other delights. The fresh cooked lavash was very good. We had too many items to list, but the kibbe naya and hosue smoked sable were particularly good.

Overall a wonderful trip to Philly.

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A delayed visit to Philly yielded much gluttony (see below) and a little (horti)culture. Overall, I'm really impressed by Philly and I'm glad we made the trip.

Osteria - okay, I'm a believer now. As much as I love the some of the pizzas in the DC area, Osteria's crusts and toppings are just at another level. The Pizze Tradizionali (overnight) crust is cracker thin and crisp, a perfect delivery device for the octopus and smoked mozzarella toppings. The Pizze Napoletane (48 hour) crust has the crustiness and deep flavor of a good pain a l'ancienne bread. The pastas were also excellent but the pizzas - WOW!

Blackfish - we had a selection of the appetizers. Everything we tried was very good, especially the oysters with meyer lemon foam.

Kanella - a wonderful neighborhood place. Everything in our order was cooked and seasoned perfectly. Nice cozy space with interesting specials.

Zahav - ordered the roasted lamb prix fixe. Overall the food was quite good but a touch oversalted. I was actually most impressed by the laffa bread and hummus. The lamb shoulder must have been 2 pounds of tender flavorful meat and I'm shocked that we finished it all (with +1 doing most of the work). As good as the lamb was, I think we will probably order mezzes a la carte in a future visit.

LaCroix's ridiculous buffet brunch - now at $65 and probably still worth it. The food were delicious and most were nicely portioned for two or three gentle bites. Tips for future visits - don't fall for the "discounted" $25 valet parking deal. We found a $5 (all day weekend and after 5 PM) garage about 10 minutes away and found the walk back to be very helpful for digestion. They also keep a lot of tables off of OpenTable, so call to book if no tables are available on OpenTable.

Barnes Foundation - you should schedule weekend tickets a month in advance if possible. The new space is lovely and the collection is very well curated.

Chanticleer - I found this garden to be enchanting even in November (we were there for the last day of their 2012 season) and much more pleasant than the formality of Longwood. The garden feels very very English to me. I intend to make a revisit next spring, when their "rivers" of daffodils are in bloom.

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Thanks to this community, ate like kings this weekend in Philly.

Dinner at Amada was very nice. Nothing mindblowing - more than a few of the dishes are better at Jaleo - but everything was very tasty and service was great. Highlights included the octopus, lamb meatballs, shrimp flatbread, pernil, and sangria.

Lunch at Osteria was outstanding. OMG, those pizzas. And a very nice pear and walnut pesto ravioli. But the highlight of the meal was actually candele with wild boar bolognese.

We had lunch one day at Jones - one of Stephen Starr's places. Fresh ingredients, nothing unique, but well presented, tasty, and monstrous portions at decent prices. Meatloaf and fried chicken were both very tasty though a bit salty. Brunch another day at another Starr joint, Route 6, was equally successful - very good eggs (including a perfectly prepared french style omelette) and pancakes, but seafood was the way to go here. Perfectly fried whole bellied clams, a delightful fried fish sandwich, and some lovely oysters and clams from the raw bar.

Philly's Chinatown always has some gems, and we found a new one: Sakura Mandarin. Ignore the name - I'm sure the sushi is fine, but all of the Chinese people there were ordering off the (not Mandarin) Shanghainese menu. We had the best scallion pancakes I've ever had, some perfectly cooked soup dumplings (xiou long bao), very good lion's head meatballs (alas, not as good as the ones from the short-lived Bob's 88 in Rockville), and some excellent pan fried rice cakes with pork, among some other very good dishes.

Dinner at Zahav, however, was worth the drive alone. Dollar-for-dollar, the tasting menu at $48 was the best meal I've had all year, and that includes stops this year at Inn at Little Washington, Fiola, Proof, etc.

First, you start with one of the best hummus' I've ever had, and outstanding house-made laffa bread. This is quickly followed by "salatim" - a daily collection of salads that included carrot ginger, spicy green beans, beets, pickles, and a few others I can't remember, all of which were outstanding. My kids rolled right through the salads even though they featured ingredients they usually resist. There was enough of each salad for each person to have a few spoonfuls.

Then comes the progression of mezze - I think there were at least 8, and again, enough on each plate for each person to have at least a few bites. From the online menu, I can spot at least 6: crispy haloumi with dates walnuts apples, marinated brussels sprouts with whipped feta, fried cauliflower, house cured salmon with potato latkes, grilled duck hearts, house smoked sable with challah french toast and poached egg. Not a miss in the bunch.

Then, of course, the signature "whole-roasted lamb shoulder, grilled over coals, then braised with pomegranates & served over chickpeas with crispy Persian rice." Descriptions cannot give this dish justice. Tony Bourdain couldn't do this dish justice, though he strongly praised it on The Layover. We were all getting close to full when this monster shows up at the table, and though we stuffed ourselves silly, there was still a TON left on the plate which they happily packed up for us. My only minor complaint for the evening - they deboned the shoulder when they packed it to go, and I would have liked to take the bones home.

If you weren't already stuffed like a goose, then a progression of desserts shows up. I vaguely remember a pumpkin cake with vanilla custard, chocolate mousse with sour cherries, rugelach, and "konafi" - shredded phyllo with ricotta and apples.

Highly recommend all of these places, but ZAHAV is a don't miss.

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We plan to spend four nights in Philly in early May. What are some great places for pre-concert dinners near the Kimmel Center and the Academy of Music? We don't eat meat but we love fish.

I'll echo others in this thread who previously recommended Kanella. While I've only been there for the Sunday meze dinner (it was very meat-focused the night I was there), their regular menu offers vegetarian and seafood options that seem similar to some of the dishes I had during the incredible parade of meze. It's just a few blocks east of those concert venues.

For pre-concert I'm looking at Estia and Oyster House. For the other two dinners Tinto and Parc look interesting. Would these be good choices?

And you can still do the "Tayim - Taste of Zahav" tasting menu, because there are veggie/fish choices for every course.

Any thoughts about Oyster House, Tinto, Estia, and Parc? All are close to our hotel.

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Any thoughts about Oyster House, Tinto, Estia, and Parc? All are close to our hotel.

I only want to speak to what I did in my last visit (posted slightly uptopic), because it had been years since I dined at good restaurants in Philly. Last few trips were limited to Chinatown, pizza, and cheesesteaks.

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Still digesting a weekend escape to Philly. Overall, fantastic time, if chilly. Stayed at The Westin downtown, located between City Hall and Rittenhouse Square. Excellent location, lots of stuff within walking distance, and everything else you might want to see is less than a $10 cab ride away.

Osteria – I had mixed feeling about Osteria. The food was good to very good. The star of the night was a bowl of tripe in tomato sauce topped with a sunny-side up egg. Exactly want you want on a chilly February evening. The bad was the actual restaurant. The tables are jammed together, we had about 8 inches between tables, and it felt like I was sitting closer to the person on the left and right of me than my dining companion across from me. On one side was a couple in the middle of some sort of relationship disagreement (the guy actually got up and left before paying the bill, leaving it for his date to deal with!), on the other side was a four-top who had clearly had more than several glasses of wine in a shrill sort of way. Perhaps we can chalk it up as being seated at an unfortunate table, but the main dinning room (with the open kitchen) was not relaxing at all. I’m glad we went, the food was good, but I’m not in a hurry to return.


Zahav – Another Philly restaurant, another set of two-tops jammed together. But what can perhaps be called a tale of two tables, the environment at Zahav was a lot more pleasant than Osteria. Turned out it was restaurant week in Philly, so we were forced into the RW menu…which wasn’t a bad thing. They basically offer the Taste of Zahav menu for $35 (normally $39). Dinner started with the Salatim (a selection of 6 salads, inducing tabouleh, spiced carrots, chopped roasted beets, Israeli-style chopped cucumber, pureed eggplant, green beans), a plate of excellent house pickles, hummus (surprisingly weak), and excellent laffa. Next each person orders two mezze, we went with an excellent crispy haloumi, an ok sea bass crudo, solid fried salt cod, and awesome smoke sable. Next each person gets one selection off the Al Ha’esh (grilled kabob) section, the kofte was very good, the grilled spiced eggplant decent. Finally you each choose a dessert - peanut baklava and a phyllo-based dish called konafi…plus a bonus dish of rugelach. I would definitely put Zahav on the short list of places to return.


A.Kitchen – A modern diner/café on 18th Street just off Rittenhouse Square. Had an enjoyable breakfast, not great, but enjoyable. Menu ranges from two eggs any style, to pancakes, to a riff on a Spanish-style chorizo and scrambled eggs. Good pastries and coffee. Certainly a place to consider if you are staying in the Rittenhouse area, but maybe not worth a drive across town.


Tria – Also on 18th in the Rittenhouse area and a good spot to know about for an hour or so respite. This snug wine bar has an interesting wine and beer list and you can’t beat $4 brushettas (2 pieces) and the $10 Italian meat plate is a steal. We got there at 5pm on a Friday and it was slammed, by 6:30 there were spots open at the bar and several free tables.


Parc – Part of the Starr Restaurant Group, we stopped in for a late-afternoon drink. Classic brasserie feel over looking Rittenhouse Square, handsome bar, mediocre beers-on-tap list, and a look at the dinner menu revealed it to be expensive ($13 beet salad, $27 hanger steak frites). But after a day out at the museums, a couple beers and a cone of frites ($6.50) at the bar…life could have been worse.


Steap – If loose tea is your thing, hit Steap (also on 18th Street) for an excellent selection.

Reading Terminal Market/DiNics – Late Sunday morning is a good time to hit up Reading Terminal Market, not crowded at all. The Pennsylvania Dutch places maybe closed
but the line at DiNic’s was only 6 people long. And after a DiNic’s roast pork for lunch you won’t need to eat again until dinner time back in DC.

Barnes Collection – Fabulous. If you plan on hitting up the Barnes, purchase timed-entry tickets at least a month in advance. Also plan to spend 4-5 hours there. We arrived at 12:30pm and left around 5pm.



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Going up in a month - have reservations for Fork and Marigold Kitchen. Anyone been to either?

Fork has gotten a lot of buzz in the last few weeks, receiving write ups in stories about Philly in both WaPo and NYT. They recently poached a chef from Torrisi Italian Specialties in NY, and with that came a revamped menu. The meal didn't start great, with a pretty standard kale salad and a 'burnt grains' pasta that did everything it could to avoid letting the ragu cling to it. The saving grace was the bread service, which was two mini homemade bialys with fresh cream cheese. I could have taken down a half dozen if I didn't know what was coming... Our main entree was duck feast for two - which started with the completed roast bird presented on a slab to the table. It was then whisked away and about 10 minutes later we were presented with 4 plates. The breasts on the roast bird were sliced and served with a celeriac puree underneath and a duck liver/fig sauce to go on top. It was... perfectly roast duck. The other plates were all duck but not part of the just roasted item (unless they are magicians back there). Plate 2 had two baseball sized duck meatballs smothered in a duck liver marinara. These were rich, crazy meaty (I think I've been having too many ricotta meatballs), and I was scraping the sauce off the plate. Plate 3 was duck confit with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone. Yes, the sandwich filling on a plate. It worked. Plate 4 was a salad of bitter greens, duck prosciutto, and duck heart. This was the only real miss of the feast, primarily from lack of seasoning on the duck components of the dish. Still, I'd order that feast again in a heartbeat. Or maybe the short rib feast the table next to us had.

Hop Sing Laundromat is ridiculous by design. It's a faux speakeasy that makes you wait outside for long periods of time, is cash only, is decorated like a gaudy library out of a Muppet movie, and the manager presents you with a monologue of do's and don'ts before you are even allowed to set foot inside. The drinks are awesome though, and a relative bargain (all are $12) given the quality of spirits they are using. El Dorado 15 rum is life changing. I'd be annoyed as all hell if this was what I had to do to get a decent drink night in and night out, but as a tourist on a weekend? Yeah, it might be worth it.

Federal Donuts is likely who to credit/blame for the rash of fried chicken and donut shops that are about to infect DC this spring. I'll be pretty damn surprised if any of them are able to do it as well as FD is pulling it off. I tried two different glazed varieties (honey ginger and chile garlic) and the chicken itself had a shatteringly crisp outer crust. Like halfway to Bon Chon crisp. Meat was juicy and not too salty. One glaze seemed like straight siracha but the spicy honey was more interesting. Both were great. Half a chicken is $9 and got me 6 pieces (interesting anatomy there) and you also get a fried to order honey donut. Chicken and donuts pulled directly from the fryer are a good idea. Go figure.

Resurrection Ale House once served my fiance what she remembers as the best fried chicken she's ever had. That was 3 years ago. Be careful when you try and chase your memories folks. My schnitzel wasn't great either. Absolutely killer draft beer list though.

Sarcone's Deli makes a killer cold sub. Sometimes I think the bread at Taylor is close enough to the real thing. That's usually when it's been longer than a few months since I've been to Sarcone's.

I co-sign on the poster above who suggested hitting Reading Market on Sunday morning. Much easier to traverse. But we grabbed Tony Luke's on the way out of town and I still don't see how anyone can pick DiNic's roast pork over Tony Luke's. Better bread, and a proper ingredient ratio on a sandwich where that is essential. Both of my DiNic's experiences were all out of whack with too much broccoli rabe, not enough pork.

I'm going to eat salads for a few more nights in a row now.

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I was in Philly for less than 24 hours this weekend, but you can do a lot of damage in that amount of time (especially to the wallet).

Lunch at Parc was nice. It was JAMMED at 1:00 PM on Friday and it is a big space, so they must be printing money there. Wine by the glass list was uninspiring, but I had several good cocktails. Lamb sandwich with fries tasted great and was a good value. As is the case with many restaurants trying to replicate the Parisian bistro experience, it was loud as hell and the tables were packed in there. Since most of our lunch was eaten outside of the crazy time, it was OK, but the first few minutes were tough to have a real conversation in the chaos.

Drinks at The Dandelion were fantastic. Great choices behind the bar and the bartender knew her stuff.

We had one drink at the Hyatt at the Bellevue. The drink was fine, but the space is truly incredible. It was on the 19th floor (I think) and you got a panoramic view of the city as you walked from window to window (easy to do at 4:00 PM). Cool space, I would tell people to go just for that.

Dinner at Stateside was solid across the board, but I think that I expected more (it was impossibly hyped up by my friend). Since we ate so early (5:00 PM), they had some good deals on oysters, but the prices are pretty cheap across the board, so you get a good value without a happy hour deal. My rabbit risotto was the best thing that I had, I would say it was a superb dish, but the bites that I had off others plates were merely good. Dessert tasted good, but the portions were small for the price (which seemed strange because the rest of the meal were all good values).

We were stuffed, and tipsy, by the time we got to the baseball game, but I did have room for a donut from Federal Donuts that my friend brought to me. It was only one donut (cinnamon sugar) and I have no idea how much it cost, but it was damn good and incredible for something served at a stadium.

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^Say Hi next time B)

So after watching too much Boston Marathon Manhunt TV friday morning we got a later than anticipated start up to Philly. We decided to grab a quick lunch at the cafe at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The mozz/tomato/pesto panini was everything you would expect from a panini purchased at an art museum.

The rest of the weekend was spent drinking and attending wedding events. So call this the Drinking and Dining in Philly When Attending the GF's Mother's Husband's Son's Wedding Edition.

The Plough and The Stars (2nd Street) - Post wedding rehersal dinner meetup. Complete shit show. Ideal for the drunk in Adams Morgan set. Several pints of Guinness. That's it, not even going to provide a link...

Khyber Pass Pub (2nd Street) - Saturday morning and not much open for brunch in the Society Hill neighborhood. We stumbled across Khyber Pass Pub...open...brunch...bloody mary's. Done. If grungy basement pubs with killer beer lists are your thing, this place is a must. Food wasn't bad either. Despite the name (it was formerly a Pakistani joint) Khyber serves New Orleans inspired food - po-boys, gumbos etc. etc. Beignets were fine. Boudin with eggs, hashbrowns, and toast was exactly what I was looking for to help cure a hangover. Don't expect high cuisine here, but the next time I'm hungover in Philly and within stumbling distance of the Khyber, I'm there. Veg/Vegan friendly. Brunch starts at 11am Sat & Sun.

Amada (Chestnut Street) - Post wedding, pre reception drink spot. So apparently this is a Jose Garces tapas joint. They weren't serving food at 3:30pm on a Saturday, which seemed rather lame. We sat at the bar and had a couple glasses of sangria which were all solidly good. Menu looked on the expensive side for a tapas place...you could do some serious damage here quickly. But the place looked, shall we say, handsome for a bar/restaurant. I would be interested in stopping in for a couple bites next time they are serving food. They do a $14.50 lunch deal which seemed like a good place to start.

Toast (Spruce Street) - Again not much open at 10am on a Sunday. Toast is a hipster-ish cafe brunch lunch spot. Open early (8am sat & sun!). Menu is primarily different variations on toasted bread products with eggs and salads. If you are nearby, need an early morning spot or something on the lighter side, not a bad spot to know about. Toasted english muffin, two poached eggs, smoked salmon, asparagus, with a side salad for $10.50. Good bacon. Service was sloooooow.

Tourist stuff

Rodin Museum - Lovely. Not a very large building so good place for some great art when on a limited schedule. The Balzac room is fabulous. The "suggested" $8 admission price is optional.

Independence Hall - The tour is all of 30 minutes and if you pre-order tickets (suggested) they require you pick them up 45 minutes before your tour time and then you need to go thru security 15 minutes before your tour, and then you have to wait in line. But you can't go wrong with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Plus the line to see the Liberty Bell was probably 500 people deep.

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I am a HUGE fam of Armada having driven from Reston to Philly specifically to eat there. Twice. Both times we sat at the food bar in the rear, both times we had something like 10-12 or more courses. Basically you see every plate that comes out of the kitchen and with each one we decided we had to have our own bite. Armada justly deserved its Beard Award for Garces.

I must tell you that I am also a HUGE fan of Estadio's food bar here having done exactly the same three times now. In fact we liked it so much that we began to drive from Reston to 14th street rather than a third trek to Philadelphia.

I am not as big of a fan of the Jose Andres' places where our experience have been uneven over the 15 or so years we've been going. Several have been on par with Armada; several have been huge disappointments to the point I haven't returned in five years or so. In fact our uneven experiences have led me to a genuine reluctance to spend the $800-900 that the "new" MiniBar seems to require for dinner for two. We've now done Roberto's Four twice and the total cost-for two trips- has been less than a single MiniBar visit. I would suggest Roberto's Four is the single best dining experience in the D. C. area right now. Certainly, Tom Sietsema said this, too.

Somebody on this thread-besides me-is going to write about the Birchrunville Store Cafe 30-35 miles west of Philly in the storybook 18th Century like rural countryside. I am guessing that the reason that there are no other posts about it is because you can't get in without a couple of months lead for a weekend reservation.

It is also damn near impossible to find. This is not a place that one accidentally stumbles upon. Saddleback on a good, headstrong horse might be a more efficient way of finding it rather than a satellite based navigation system.

For my wife and I it is a big enough deal that we deadheaded from Reston for our anniversary there last year; a reservation I made two months in advance. This year we're going to do Birchrunville on one night and Chef Vola's in A. C. on the next.

Coming full circle, there is an outpost of Armada in A. C. but it is not the same. There is also an outpost of Citronelle in the same hotel but it is not the same either. For Armada go to the original in Philly; in Atlantic City go to the legendary Chef Vola's. And have the patience to start calling weeks, even months in advance to get in.

The Birchrunville Store Cafe is not dissimilar.

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