Philadelphia has much to offer any kind of tourist, but as I recently discovered, it’s a foodie’s paradise.
I’ve visited the city maybe a dozen times and never had a bad meal there, but when you visit with the sole purpose of chowing down, ingesting the best and most interesting food and drink the city has to offer, pretty quickly you realize your trip won’t be long enough to make much of a dent. And you won’t have to eat a single cheesesteak to feel you’ve sampled Philly’s best.
If you only have a few days, as we did, a great place to start is Reading Terminal Market in Center City. Imagine a more upscale, and less eccentric, version of Lexington Market. Grab an Italian hoagie at Salumeria or a pulled pork sandwich at Di Nic’s. You can wash it down with a Yuengling in the beer garden, where 16-ounce drafts are $4.
Start any outing with a kick at Spruce Street Espresso. For fun, learning and tasting, take one of the food tours offered by City Food Tours and Events. Ours took us to DiBruno Brothers’ cheese cave, Naked Chocolate and Tea Bar.
For nightlife, there’s a lot of action on South Street for the younger crowd. If you’re more interested in an intriguing wine list, try Tria or Vintage, both of which offer a sophisticated setting and interesting food. Two of the hot bars for cocktails are Chick’s Cafe, a cozy den with innovative drinks like Front Stoop Lemonade — made with locally produced Bluecoat Gin and Thai basil syrup — and Southwark, where serious bartenders in ties and aprons expertly craft classic libations like Sazeracs and Manhattans.
For fine dining, the choices are endless. We were excited to snag a reservation at the tiny, hallowed Vetri, but our dinner failed to live up to the hype. A much better experience and more of a surprise was the $19 prix-fixe lunch at XIX Restaurant, in the Park Hyatt hotel.
Philly is also a mecca for beer lovers. We visited two Belgian taverns, the legendary Monk’s and the lesser known Eulogy. Both have expansive beer lists and tasty mussels, but we preferred the atmosphere and service at Eulogy.
It’s worth noting that after parking near our B&B, just off South Street, we did not use our car, or any transportation other than our own two feet, the entire weekend.
IF YOU GO
Philadelphia
Distance: 100 miles from Baltimore, 135 miles from D.C.
Info: chickscafe.com; eulogybar.com; monkscafe.com; readingterminalmarket.org; southwarkrestaurant.com; sprucestespresso.wordpress.com; triacafe.com; vetriristorante.com; vintage-philadelphia.com; hyatt.com/gallery/nineteen/xix.html.
