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Did you know...
Every year Wharton students and partners consume over 3000 pizzas, 2160
liters of soda, and 4500 gallons of beer at our weekly Pub & Salon nights.
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> Dining in Philadelphia > City Attractions > Events > Religious Services
Take something as ordinary as food. In Philadelphia, it’s not ordinary. There are more good restaurants per capita here than anywhere on the planet. The Zagat Survey found 700 worth mentioning. Saveur Magazine voted Philly #1 Food Town in 2003. And if you like hoagies and cheese steaks, watch that waistline. Ours are the best.
Below is but a sampling of the many great eats that Philly has to offer. Come discover for yourself.
Pat's King of Steaks
Price Range: $5
Address: 1237 E Passyunk Ave
Tel: (215) 468-1546
The birthplace of the cheesesteak. One day in 1930, Italian Market hot dog vendor Pat Olivieri got tired of his usual frankfurter lunch. He threw some beef on his grill with onions and put the meat on a bun. A passing cabby sampled this concoction and offered Olivieri the most sound business advice he ever received: "Forget about the hot dogs! Sell these." Philly's most famous food was born.
Price Range: $5
Address: 1219 South 9th Street
Tel: (215) 389-0659
Geno's counter staff can be brusque, so be sure to order correctly. First, state your cheese of preference (provolone, American or Cheez Whiz, the classic option) and then whether you want it with or without griddle-fried onions. Be forewarned: Any pause in delivering your request can get you a stiff reprimand. You'll end up with a meaty tradition that oozes greasy goodness. Add a side of crispy extra-fried fries and experience old-time, fast-food nirvana. This all-night take-out joint shines with fluorescent force at the south end of the Italian market, diagonally across the street from its main competitor, Pat's King of Steaks.
Sarcone’s Deli
Price Range: Under $10
Address: 734 South 9th Street
Tel: (215) 922-1717
Sarcone's bread is famous in Philly. It is soft, dense and chewy--perfect for sopping up flavors exuded from sandwiches doused in vinegar, oil and dried Italian herbs. The menu calls them hoagies, but these local delicacies aren't your typical corner-store subs. Try hefty combinations that go by names like "the Booch," (roast beef, asparagus, sharp provolone) or "the junk yard special," (turkey, prosciutto, spinach, roasted red peppers, sharp provolone, fresh mozzarella). Not so different, but somewhat holy, is the "Ave Maria," tuna salad with roasted red peppers and sharp provolone
Price
Range: Under $10
Address: 12th & Arch Streets
Tel: (215) 922-2317
Mouth-watering aromas. Produce fresh from the field. Amish specialties. Fresh meats, seafood, and poultry. Unique, hand-made pottery, jewelry and crafts from around the world. The hustle and bustle of a multitude of diverse people. It's all here in Philadelphia's historic farmers market, Reading Terminal Market. An exhilarating selection of baked goods, meats, poultry, seafood, produce, flowers, ethnic foods, cookware and eclectic restaurants are peppered throughout the Market. We invite you to explore this unique and extraordinary historic farmers market in Center City Philadelphia.
Address: 9th Street and from Wharton Street to Fitzwater Street
The Italian market, the oldest open-air market in America has side-walks congested with produce stalls, rickety tables of dusty secondhand treasures, butcher stores, and shops selling roast pork and stewed tripe sandwiches. Don’t miss Fante’s Kitchen Wares Shop, founded in 1906; DiBruno Bros., known for its cheeses; Claudio’s, a deli hung with provolone the size of full-length punching bags; D’Angelo Bros., the game meat store; and Sarcone’s Deli, for hoagies.
The Book and the Cook Culinary Festival
Address: Throughout Philadelphia
The basic philosophy of The Book and The Cook is that great chefs + great cookbook authors = great food and great fun. In late March, over 65 restaurants, each hosting a different cookbook author. It’s in the great scents and sounds that permeate the Culinary Market & Showcase, with cooking demonstrations and book signings by Ming Tsai, David Rosengarten, Lidia Bastianich and over 30 cookbook authors plus over 140 exhibit booths housing vendors of specialty foods, cookware, wines and appliances.
Price Range: $50 per person (dinner)
Address: 1623 Walnut Street
Tel: (215) 988-1799
Owned by Douglas Rodriguez (know for Pipa and Chicama in Manhattan), Alma de Cuba turns out a highly eccentric rendition of Central and South American cooking in a fashionable modern setting. Mr. Rodriguez has built a reputation on his liberal interpretation of tropical cuisine, often teasing diners with radical juxtapositions and brazen condiments -- anyone for grilled whole red snapper with green rice, chayote-and-shaved calamari salad in lemon dressing sprinkled with cumin chili praline?
El Vez
Price Range: $50 per person (dinner)
Address: 121 South 13th Street
Tel: (215) 928-9800
The glittery, jumping new Mexican restaurant at the corner of Sansom Street. Slowly revolving above the bar is a glass, chrome and neon-lighted lowrider bicycle, a distinctive Mexican-American art form. Servers wheel avocado-laden lowrider carts to your table, where they prepare fresh guacamole to order. The slow-roasted spiced lamb, wrapped in banana leaves and served with frijoles charros and corn tortillas, is a good bet.
¡Pasión!
Price Range: $50 per person (dinner)
Address: 211 South 15th Street, between Locust and Walnut
Tel: (215) 875-9895
This Caribbean motif'd restaurant specializes in ceviches, with five new ones featured daily. Sample the tender grilled baby octopus over a cucumber-and-black-olive salad; thinly sliced sea bass sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds along with tasty little rice croquettes and pickled seaweed salad; and rare-seared salmon strips with a wonderful cumin-coriander sauce. You can pair them with some delightful South American wines. They also serve killer caipirinhas.
Los Catrines
Price Range: $45 per
person (dinner)
Address: 1602 Locust Street
Tel: (215) 546-0181
One of Philadelphia's longtime Mexican favorites, Los Catrines, recently moved a few doors down from its original home to a baronial downtown mansion with dark mahogany walls, a 20-foot ceiling and a fine old bar. A long rectangular back room is more casual. I had heard that Los Catrines served an excellent mole poblano, and indeed it does: inky and thick, redolent of cloves and almonds, and just hot enough to keep you coming back. I had it ladled around two pieces of chicken breast the size of maracas.
Bleu
Price Range: $30-35 per person (dinner)
Address: 227 South 18th Street
Tel: (215) 545-9318
A cheerful, mural wrapped American bistro that serves dishes like sweet steamed mussels, various composed salads, burgers and the like. Great for people watching on the Square.
Price Range: $50 per person (dinner)
Address: 306 Market Street
Tel: (215) 625-9425
Fork is a renowned American bistro owned by a Wharton alumnus in an old dry goods store in Old City. Must try: a spicy, warming Thai vegetable coconut curry.
Sansom Street Oyster House
Price Range: $30 per person (dinner)
Address: 1516 Sansom Street
Tel: (215) 567-7683
Straightforward seafood, exotic oysters and reasonable prices reel in diners again and again. The oyster stew is divine; so is the smooth and hearty New England clam chowder. Want a Philly classic? Try chicken salad with fried oysters. The same lightly battered mollusks appear in a plain but perfect po' boy. When it comes to fish, (bluefish or brook trout, salmon or halibut), Sansom Street lets unadorned main ingredients stand on their own--except for old-fashioned sides of cole slaw and pickled beets.
Warmdaddy’s
Price Range: $35 per person for dinner. $5-10 music
charge.
Address: Front & Market Streets
Tel: (215) 627-2500
A ''culture of a Southern kind'' -- beef ribs, honey-dipped fried chicken and cornmeal-crusted catfish, served with collard greens and, nearly every night, live jazz and blues.
Rouge
Price Range: $50-60 per person (dinner)
Address: 205 South 18th Street
Tel: (215) 732-6622
Located on the Square. Menu carries everything from foie gras with red grape verjus to (have it with a house Riesling or a moscato d’Asti) to grilled salmon with lobster fried rice.
Lacroix at the Rittenhouse
Price Range: $58, $67
and $75 per person prix fixe dinner
Address: 210 W Rittenhouse Square (Rittenhouse Hotel)
Tel: (215) 790-2533
The chef, Jean-Marie Lacroix, has composed a menu of adventurous French cuisine that, like the restaurant's interior, is modern and unstuffy. Dinners include roasted wild boar loin, skate and rabbit. The veal breast with braised leeks and a salad with shallot vinaigrette is highly recommended.
Price Range: $120-155
per person prix fixe dinner
Address: 1523 Walnut Street
Tel: (215) 567-1000
Suitably
florid setting, served by a crew of ceremonious waiters -- and, if your
tastes run to the opulent, there's still no show like it in town. Our $120
prix fixe menu (or $155 if you want the 11-course marathon) started with a
rich, almost mousselike crab cake, sweet and flavorful, with a crown of
osetra caviar, ringed by caramelized onions. Living up to the restaurant's
name, the desserts promise a memorable finale to your dinner. The
three-tier dessert trolley is so populous that you could repair to the
restroom, make a few phone calls, and return to find the captain still
reciting the selections. ''Most diners like to taste three or four,'' our
waiter pointed out with a smile.
Brasserie Perrier
Price Range: $50-75 per person (dinner)
Address: 1619 Walnut Street
Tel: (215) 568-3000
Opened by the owner of Le Bec Fin, the Art-Deco style Brasserie Perrier serves a moderately priced international French menu. Favorite dishes include the city's best steak frites (a bargain at less than $20); lemony escargots with spinach; duck crepes drizzled with nutty maple syrup; delicate and herby daurade; and rich gnocchi with lobster in red pepper pistou. Not-too-sweet desserts are as flawless as entrees--don't miss the chocolate tart or cappuccino cake.
Vetri
Price Range: $50-60 per person (dinner)
Address: 1312 Spruce Street
Tel: (215) 732-3478
One of the most admired young chefs in Philadelphia is 34-year-old Marc Vetri, whose three-year-old restaurant serves soul-warming rustic Italian cuisine with contemporary fillips -- and at reasonable prices. The snug 35-seat dining room has a countrified feeling with saffron stucco walls, wide-plank wood floors and bucolic faux window murals. The staff could not be more accommodating, and the easygoing Mr. Vetri occasionally appears in the dining room to take an order, clear dishes or refill wine glasses. Hands down, the best dish was Mr. Vetri's roasted goat, which he prepared by simmering the meat in milk to impart a rich flavor, then roasting it until the skin was blistered and almost caramelized.
Lombardi’s
Price Range: Under $20 per person (dinner)
Address: 132 South 18th Street
Tel: (215) 564-5000
Close your eyes. Imagine a perfect pizza shop, replete with red-and-white gingham tablecloths, brick walls, silver pie trays stacked beneath the counter leading to an open kitchen, black-and-white photos and pizza boxes hanging on the walls. Add some Motown to the background and you've got Lombardi's.
Pietro’s Coal Oven Pizzeria
Price Range: Under $20 per person (dinner)
Address: 1714 Walnut St and 121 South St
Tel: (215) 735-8090 and (215) 733-0675
Great pizza and copious amounts of pasta make this a local favorite.
Opus 251
Price Range: $50 per person (dinner)
Address: 251 South 18th Street
Tel: (215) 735-6787
A delightful open-air cafe at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, a converted turn-of-the-century mansion that is now an exhibition space. The backyard brick patio, with marble tables, classical sculptures and a fragrant rose garden, serves a limited summer lunch menu that is light and simple, perfect before an afternoon of urban strolling. Enjoy a glistening skein of soba noodles showered with shredded carrots; daikon and snow-pea shoots, in lively ginger vinaigrette; crisp-skinned red snapper with sautéed bok choy and vegetable spring roll; chicken-breast salad with red onions, olives, tomatoes and arugula, served atop charred flatbread.
Carman’s Country Kitchen
Price Range: $10-20 (breakfast & lunch)
Address: 1301 South 11th Street
Tel: (215) 339-9613
If you are visiting town with children, or simply like to check out the less trodden parts of town, hop into a cab for a five-minute ride into South Philadelphia and Carman's Country Kitchen, a wacky cafe-cum-diner that is famous for its wagon-train breakfasts and the affable antics of the owner and chef, Carman Luntzel. With its eight-stool counter, 20 cramped seats, and bric-a-brac galore, you can't help but be intimate with everybody in the place. Aside from omelets and specialties like cornflake-crusted challah French toast, she offers brunch dishes like seared tilapia in parsley and white wine sauce. The cafe serves from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday to Monday. It's advisable to call ahead. Thing is, Carman loves to travel.
Price Range: $80 per person (dinner)
Address: 723 Chestnut Street
Tel: (215) 413-9070
It's a light show. It's modern art. It's a Japanese restaurant. Most of all, it's totally impressive. Just beyond neon chartreuse glass doors, chef Morimoto's elongated culinary theater welcomes diners to a daring here and now. There are undulating bamboo ceilings, booths that change color, and, best of all, the "Iron Chef" himself presiding over a bustling sushi bar in back. Morimoto utterly transforms even the simplest sushi, serving eel so lightly sweet, salmon so subtly buttery, soft shell crab so perfectly crisped, you'll forever forsake pre-made maki from the supermarket. Food just doesn't get better.
Shiao Lan Kung (Chinese)
Price Range: $20 per person (dinner)
Address: 930 Race St
Tel: (215) 928-0282
Located in the heart of Chinatown, this unassuming restaurant is a hidden gem, set apart by its very fresh ingredients and swift service. The lavender walls add a soothing charm to this tiny place that fills up quickly each night. Go with a big group, sit at a round table, and order a bunch of dishes to share.
Dmitri’s
Price Range: $30 per person (dinner)
Address: 2227 Pine Street
Tel: (215) 985-3680
A plain, 35-seat BYOB joint serving simple Greekish fare like frilled whole fish, marinated octopus, and fried smelts with skordalia.
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