Phlashing through Philly

Looking for something along the lines of La Ciccia in SF, Trestle On Tenth in NYC, Blackbird in Chicago, Craigie St. Bistro in Cambridge... small, local, real food.
 
i can guide you better if you know what part of the city you are staying in. it's likely you'll be staying within walking distance of some good places.
 
philly is loaded with byob options. most are small places serving good to very good food. these are some favorites:

matyson- near rittenhouse square. excellent food. sometime offer 3 or 4 courses for $40. highly reccomended.

melograno- italain near rittenhouse sq.

bibou- small, new, excellent french food. highly reccommended but will be atough reservation. call today. in south philadelphia.

dimitris- south philly cornor store turned into small, open kitchen serving simply prepared fish to locals. smaill and a bit loud. but fun. leav eyour name with hostess and go across street to new wave bar and they'll get you when your table is ready.

radiccio, l'angolo, gnocchi,- smaill italian byo's if you want italian. all reasonabley priced.

magnolia cafe- if you find yourself in north philadelphia. local fresh food simply prepared. i have had great food here.

non byo's:

jose garces is currently battling on next iron chef and his restaurants are all highly regarded and tough to get in at times.
amada- tapas mainly. very good an dexpensive.
tinto- same deal but with basque twist
chifa- havent been but i think small plate middle eastern.

mark vetri has two places:
osteria- expensive, casual, italian fare. great pizza, pasta, whole roast pig and goat. truly excellent food, but pricey and kinda dull wine list. still highly reccommend.
vetri- small. pricey italian. excellent but falls in the fine dining category.

wine bars: chicks (havent been) and tria. tria is near rittenhouse sq. small, good food, decent wines & beers.

monks- unique belgian beer bar. probably the best selection of belgian beer in the country. long, long list of belgian beer. these people really know their stuff. if you like belgian beer it would be a shame to miss it. food is average to good. i usually finish my night here at the bar.

gastro pubs:
pub and kitchen
standard tap
royal tavern

all have good beer selection, above average bar food.

all of the above will be jammed on saturday night. but worth getting to with a little planning.

if your pouring your wine somewhere and need a guide i humblely offer my services.

let me know if you want more suggestion. i haven't even touched china town, the vietnamese selections, lotsa good mexican too.

places to stay:
i usually go on orbitz or travelocity and check pricing for the warwick hotel, the latham, and sofitel. all on rittenhouse square.
 
Bill, that is a great list.

I love going to the Reading Terminal market for lunch when in town or walking around the 9th St Italian market and assembling lunch, but this may not be what Steve is looking for.

Is it true that Monks has Cantillon on draught? I heard rumors of this, but not confirmed.
 
originally posted by Marc D:
Bill, that is a great list.

I love going to the Reading Terminal market for lunch when in town or walking around the 9th St Italian market and assembling lunch, but this may not be what Steve is looking for.

Is it true that Monks has Cantillon on draught? I heard rumors of this, but not confirmed.
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tap offerings change at monks. they very well could have cantillon.

reading terminal market (rtm) and italian market are great places to get a real taste of philadelphia. the roast pork sandwich at dinics in rtm should be the famous sandwich of philadelphia. not the cheese steak.
 
Unless Peruvian-Chinese is your thing. Amada and Tinto are solid (though having only a couple of Basque wines is a poor effort for an allegedly Basque-themed wine bar).

Dmitri's is a good BYO choice, Matyson and Melograno as well. I'd add Copper Kitchen in Northern Liberties, Chle in Old City, and Cochon in Queen Village. It seems that about half of the restaurants here are BYO. The other half are owned by Stephen Starr and Jose Garces.

For good Middle Eastern, try Zahav's - not a BYO and not owned by Starr/Garces, mostly Israeli and Lebanese wines.

Barely outside of Center City, I think the Art Museum area is very under-rated as far as restaurants go. There's a great family run Greek place - Zorbas - on Fairmount, by the Eastern State Penitentiary, not as crowded as Dmitri's, but I think the food is better. Jack's Firehouse up the street usually has 30 or so American whiskey selections.

For Belgian, not only Monk's, but Eulogy Tavern, The Belgian Cafe, and ZoT's. All similarly broad selections, all downtown-ish.

As Bill pointed out, there are lots of Vietnamese choices - large local population. Our favorite though is in south Philly, Nam Phuong on Washington and 11th. In Chinatown, Banana Leaf is easily the best Malaysian choice. Both are BYO. Whatever you do, avoid Joseph Poon's place - disaster.

Another local population is Ethiopian, there are several good places near Penn.

For breakfast/brunch, Beau Monde and Sabrina's (in the Italian Market).
 
forgot to mention rangoon. 112 north 9th street. very good burmese food. i mention it because you may not have a burmese place where you live.

iirc, they have burmese beer.
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
forgot to mention rangoon. 112 north 9th street. very good burmese food. i mention it because you may not have a burmese place where you live.

iirc, they have burmese beer.
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Bill; in Berkeley there's a Burmese place across the street from every Starbuck's!
 
originally posted by Steve Edmunds:
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
forgot to mention rangoon. 112 north 9th street. very good burmese food. i mention it because you may not have a burmese place where you live.

iirc, they have burmese beer.
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Bill; in Berkeley there's a Burmese place across the street from every Starbuck's!
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so what do you drink with your burmese food? vente latte's or your own juice?
 
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