Informal Restaurants with Great Food

[jm chen]

We'll be in Philly over the weekend and are looking for great food experiences but not formal meals. Got a reservation for Amada on Sunday night but that will probably be our only big-R Restaurant visit. Looks like I need to hit Capogiro (with pleasure!) and Reading Terminal Market (ditto). We have already been directed to a specific cheesesteak spot, no flexibility there.

Other suggestions? Cheese shops? Bakeries? I read some great things on eGullet about the tacos al pastor at Taqueria de la Puebla on Ninth, anybody been?

No car, so places we can get to by public transportation are preferred. University-area recs would also be great.

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The following posts have been split into separate threads:

[Criniti (RaisaB)]

[DonRocks]

I realize this is a bit late (considering it hadn't even been invented yet when you asked your queestion), but you might want to give Pizzeria Vetri a try. This is more of a downscale, neighborhood pizzeria than Osteria, obviously. With these types of joints with aspirations for national expansion, it's always best to hit them early on, in their home cities (Shake Shack, for example, used to be good when there were only a couple of them - so did Five Guys).