Yesterday’s Zagat Quote of the Day was an insult to say the least:
Is Former Philadelphia Inquirer food columnist Rick Nichols right? Not Hardly.
Variety
Rick Nichols is claiming that Philly has a greater variety of foods. It’s an interesting claim, but I haven’t seen anything backing up it up. I must have missed little Ethiopa the last time I was there. Washington is a happening enough place that as of today DC has an Eater.com website, an organization that still hasn’t deemed Philly worthy of their own page, unlike food cities such as San Francisco, New York, Las Angeles, and oh yes, Washington D.C. Perhaps in a few years Philadelphia will have enough happening for that nod.
Aptitude
Was Philly ranked in Esquire’s Top 10 Restaurant Cities? Nope. Philadelphia was beat out by both DC at #8 and Boston #9 and just to pour salt in the would Seattle at #10. That makes seven cities that have a bona fide claim to being superior to the DC food scene, but other than New York, most food critics haven’t been putting up much of a fuss about it.
Not to mention was Philly asked to host Top Chef? Oh, it wasn’t. Sure the DC season was horribly boring, but it was still ranked higher than Philly on the go to list of food cities. Surely the producers realized that after one cheese steak challenge, and a day of pork and broccoli rabe makeovers, they’d be out of material. DC cake shops have boasted more television series than Philadelphia cheese steaks have. The general consensus: Philadelphia food is too dull for television.
Execution
Philadelphia boast none of the worlds top restaurants, not even any of the US top grossing restaurants, unlike DC who at least can boast of Old Ebbitt Grill Ebbit Grill as the fifth largest grossing restaurant in America. Can Pat’s or Geno’s say that? Philadelphia doesn’t even have one restaurant in the top fifty! Old Ebbitt Grill Ebbit grosses more than Philadelphia’s top two grossing restaurants combined. That fact alone speaks for itself.
It seems Rick Nichols didn’t do his homework. It’s not his fault he loves his city. Franklin Fountain serves some mighty fine peanut butter ice cream, and there are many excellent delis for bagels and schmear, but claiming to be above DC or Boston is just flat out absurd.
Jana Erwin is the primary chef and writer of CherryTeaCakes.com, a non-profit venture combining the love of fine desserts and feeding the impoverished in Washington, DC. You can follow her post on twitter: @cherryteacakes.
