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Philadelphia Restaurants

KennyRogersRoast

KennyRogersRoast

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I need some ideas from Philly Deacs. I will be there for one night in a few weeks and need a place for dinner and possibly a lunch spot the next day. I have not booked my hotel yet, but I will probably be in the Rittenhouse Square area. Any good places within walking distance? I am willing to walk a few miles if necessary.
 
This is defs Townie's thread, but while Its not really near rittenhouse square, I had an unbelievably fantastic meal at Ela. Closer to Rittenhouse, Fitler Dining Room was also really good.
 
I love Alma de Cuba for some fine latin grub. Dalessandro's for cheesesteaks (need to cab it here).
 
Depends on what you are looking for - is it for you? Or are you taking a client or something? Best spots in Rittenhouse are:

Parc - solid French restaurant on the square, best mussels in town, its an institution
Vernick Food & Drink - my favorite restaurant in Philly, amazing food if you can get in
Village Whiskey - more of a bar atmosphere, but it is a Garces place and has amazing hamburgers
Barclay Prime - classy steakhouse - super pricey, but damn good steaks

Out of Rittenhouse:
Fork - one of the best restaurants in the city, hands down amazing food - I suggest calling 24 hours in advance to reserve their tasting menu or the peking duck
Jamonera - Spanish restaurant, mostly small plates, you will not having anything bad here - cool little place, cozy
Talulas Garden - another solid restaurant, on the other square across town, great fish and well prepared food

That is off the top of my head - Philly has a pretty amazing food scene now. Rittenhouse is usually older restaurants, but has a lot of new up a coming places and you can't throw a rock without hitting a trendy spot.
 
Reading is decent for lunch - also, Lukes Lobster house is good, Cheu Noodle bar is fantastic, Dizengoff is a hummus only place, but is great if you like hummus.

There are lots of others I am forgetting.
 
Without any more details, I'll give my favorite restaurants to recommend. I don't go to Rittenhouse as often as other neighborhoods so I've only been to a dozen or so restaurants there. I live in Fairmount, but I don't typically send travelers up my way, though there's a ton of stuff to do and great places to eat - Sabrina's for brunch, Pizzeria Vetri for the best pizza in town, La Calaca Feliz is the best Mexican, Figs is great, Hickory Lane is great.

Rittenhouse Square
Vernick (agree totally with DaDeacs)
Twenty Manning
Sbraga
Pumpkin
Pub and Kitchen

East Passyunk (cab ride probably, but the hottest food area in town)
Noord
Fond
Will
Stateside

Society Hill/Old City/Washington Square
Ela
Zahav
Talulah's Garden
Amada
Rosa Blanca
Barbuzzo
Zinc
Tinto

If you do go to Reading Terminal for lunch, and you've never had a Philly style roast pork, go to Dinic's, get a roast pork, sharp prov, broccoli rabe. Otherwise if you feel like traveling the next best roast pork is at John's way down in South Philly. Or for a great lunch sandwich selection, go to Jake's Sandwich Board for huge, unhealthy sandwiches. Sonny's for cheesesteak (skip Pat's/Geno's) followed by Jim's.

I'd recommend places like Laurel, Vetri, or Morimoto, but they're prohibitively expensive and hard to get into.

I have a tough time narrowing down this list, but neighborhood agnostic, my top 3 recs are Ela, Vernick, and Sbraga.
 
Unfortunately, there's no Kenny Rogers Roasters :(
 
TownieDeac said:
Without any more details, I'll give my favorite restaurants to recommend. I don't go to Rittenhouse as often as other neighborhoods so I've only been to a dozen or so restaurants there. I live in Fairmount, but I don't typically send travelers up my way, though there's a ton of stuff to do and great places to eat - Sabrina's for brunch, Pizzeria Vetri for the best pizza in town, La Calaca Feliz is the best Mexican, Figs is great, Hickory Lane is great.

Rittenhouse Square
Vernick (agree totally with DaDeacs)
Twenty Manning
Sbraga
Pumpkin
Pub and Kitchen

East Passyunk (cab ride probably, but the hottest food area in town)
Noord
Fond
Will
Stateside

Society Hill/Old City/Washington Square
Ela
Zahav
Talulah's Garden
Amada
Rosa Blanca
Barbuzzo
Zinc
Tinto

If you do go to Reading Terminal for lunch, and you've never had a Philly style roast pork, go to Dinic's, get a roast pork, sharp prov, broccoli rabe. Otherwise if you feel like traveling the next best roast pork is at John's way down in South Philly. Or for a great lunch sandwich selection, go to Jake's Sandwich Board for huge, unhealthy sandwiches. Sonny's for cheesesteak (skip Pat's/Geno's) followed by Jim's.

I'd recommend places like Laurel, Vetri, or Morimoto, but they're prohibitively expensive and hard to get into.

I have a tough time narrowing down this list, but neighborhood agnostic, my top 3 recs are Ela, Vernick, and Sbraga.
Click to expand...

Been to all of the bolded above and agree that all are great. I would add Pesto on South Broad and Giorgio on Pine both have great Italian although they are different styles. We went to Lolita (Mexican) a few months ago and that was very good also. If you're into sweets, check out Max Brenner. I took the (pregnant) wife there last weekend and she loved it.

Oh, and I have to disagree on Jim's for a cheesesteak. I get that Geno's and Pat's are touristy (I prefer Pat's), but Jim's is chopped too finely and the dump a ton of water on it to cook it faster and it ends up tasting like nothing.
 
Oof, good call townie, forgot about Zahav and Ela, which is dumb since both are less than 5 blocks from me.

Ela is really good, I go a couple of times a month - its a cool restaurant with an old prohibition theme inside - great drinks, menu changes a lot, does new style food techniques
Zahav - hands down best middle eastern food you will ever have, it is israeli, and if you go and get their $39 price fix thing, it is more food than you can consume

Color me unimpressed with Stateside (overprice, meh), Amada (its ok, but pricey small plates, and nowhere close to as good as Jamonera), Sbraga (their seasonal menu is just average for the price they charge), Rosa Blanca (its good cuban food, but you can get as good at other places cheaper - Cuba Libre is one) and Morimoto (used to go a lot on the company dime, most of their dishes are average).

There are a good amount of BYOBs, like townie mentioned - Laurel, Pumpkin, Farm & Fisherman - that are all really good too, but they are super small and tough to get in to.
 
Also, everyone has a different cheesesteak they like - I have tried a bunch of them based on recommendations - I agree with wfumike, the wait for Jims is not worth it - I would prefer to wait at Pats or Genos just for the history of it. I like Steve's the best, personally - but really, none of them are bad.
 
Pats and Genos are awesome late night after a night of drinking
 
DaDeacs said:
Color me unimpressed with Stateside (overprice, meh), Amada (its ok, but pricey small plates, and nowhere close to as good as Jamonera), Sbraga (their seasonal menu is just average for the price they charge), Rosa Blanca (its good cuban food, but you can get as good at other places cheaper - Cuba Libre is one) and Morimoto (used to go a lot on the company dime, most of their dishes are average).
Click to expand...

Only ever been to Stateside for oysters and drinks, and it is pricey. Never been to Jamonera, sounds like I should. I did prefer Bar Ferdinand to Amada for the same type thing, but it's way up in NoLibs. Went to Sbraga for a special tasting event and was blown away, sucks to hear about their regular menu. Disagree about Rosa Blanca, it's way better than Cuba Libre. And disagree big time about Morimoto as does just about everybody I think, but it's probably too expensive for most people to go enough times to be disappointed.

Boss went to the Vetri-Morimoto collab dinner and said it was the best meal of his life (and he lived in NY for 20+ years). I think they'll do it once a year from now on. It was like $350 a person though.

To Start: Snacks
Morimoto: Oshinoko (Japanese pickles): nukazuke (rice bran-fermented vegetables), Fukujinzuke (soy-pickled veggies), misozuke
Vetri: Stuzzichini (Italian bites): salumi, herb tart, castagnaccio (chestnut flour cake), anchovies, raw vegetables & whipped balsamico, beignet & mortadella mousse

First: Uni
Morimoto: Uni tofu and crème brûlée
Vetri: West Coast urchin with burrata and franciacorta (wine) sauce

Second: Clear soup
Morimoto: Tai: suimono, kamaboko (cured seafood) noodles
Vetri: Mushroom tortellini in capon brodo

Third: Raw fish with vegetables
Morimoto: Whitefish sashimi: kobujime (wrapped in kelp)
Vetri: “Crudite di mare” raw fish assortment with fine chopped raw vegetables marinated with oil & vinegar

Fourth: Salad
Morimoto: Vegetable salad: shaved root vegetables, mushroom escabeche, seaweed
Vetri: Citrus salad with chicory

Fifth: Octopus & offal
Morimoto: Octopus: aged ponzu, veal tongue, komatsuna (mustard spinach)
Vetri: Whole wheat paccheri (pasta) with slow poached octopus & bone marrow

Sixth: Pork with fermented vegetables
Morimoto: Kurobuta (Berkshire) pork: eggplant, miso, takuan (pickled daikon)
Vetri: Carrot glazed pork belly with natural sauerkraut

Seventh: Mackerel with rice
Morimoto: Saba bousushi (cured mackerel sushi)
Vetri: Squash risotto with smoked mackerel
 
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