And now...The 100 Best Things to Eat in Philadelphia

11. A Philadelphia tradition - TASTY KAKES

Robyn

12. A Pork Roll sandwich!

13. scrapple at the diner in Reading Terminal
14. pretzel doughnuts and moon pies from the Amish bakery also in Reading terminal

Shoo-fly Pie from the Amish stand at Reading Terminal Market

Peanut Butter Tandy Kakes from Tasty Kake.

Calamari paired with an ice-cold martini at Rouge on Rittenhouse Square.

Olive bread from Le Bus

Cheese omelette and scrapple from Little Pete's.

Thin

Chinese BBQ pork ("char siu") from Sang Kee in Chinatown, 238 N 9th St

Chinese Egg tart from KC's Pastries in Chinatown, 109 North 10th Street

ditto on Capogiro gelato

crab fries @ chickie and petes

The fried asparagus and shrimp scampi appetisers at Villa di Roma--oh, so good!!

Authentic soft pretzels from a street vendor.

25. Delilah's macaroni and cheese...and collard greens
26. German Butter cake from one of the authentic old bakeries (like Holmesburg, Stock's, Haegele's...)
27. Sticky buns (NOT cinnamon rolls!) ditto
28. Walnut shrimp from Imperial Inn
29. Italian sausage sandwich from a cart
30. Chicken salad with grapes at More Than Just Ice Cream on Locust Street

(Goodness, it's no wonder we were the Fattest City in America. All that walking, and you just go from one great place to eat to another.)

I love love love the different types of mussels and wonderful belgian beer at Monk's Belgian Cafe!

http://www.monkscafe.com/

Oh, sticky buns with raisins!!!! I haven't had one in years. They sold them at the Acme and my mother would give them to us as a snack with butter smeared all over the sides. So good!

Thin

I haven't had 'em for a long time either, Thin. Back in the day when I was young and lithe and could eat anything, I worked up the street from an Austrian bakery; the beautiful sad-eyed baker was an incredibly talented artist with a pastry bag who only got better the more he drank. The sticky buns, the real buttercream doughnuts, the Yule logs at Christmas, the butter cakes, the jelly sticks...mmmmmmmmmm. And his cakes were absolute works of art.

Probably a good thing the bakery's not there anymore, but it's a happy memory.

And Maria_so, my late brother LIVED at Monks! How could I have forgotten them.

32. Real fruit water ices
33. An everything pizza (all fresh veggies) from New Sunrise Pizza (a Greek place right across from the Irish deli in my Spanish neighborhood. Love)
34. I'm gonna take the Jersey shore as a Philadelphia annex (we all know it is, right?) and go for a slice of Mack and Manco's...but only on the boardwalk with the ocean in front of it
35. Pretty much any red-gravy joint in South Philly
36. The dessert cart at Le Bec Fin
37. Roast peppers at Ralph's
38. Ribs from the Rib Crib on Germantown Avenue
38.

Are ya goin' down the shore for some Grotto Pizza?

Thin

Ah, downnashore for me (I do speak Philadelphian well, don't I?) is Ocean Ciddy, NJ. I've dabbled in Cape May, but Mack and Manco's in Ocean City is my place. (Grotto's in Rehoboth, right?)

Oh Monks!!! I used to live around the corner from Monks! The only problem is that we'd have to be there at 5-6pm or else it would be a long wait. Everytime my parents came visit, they demanded a meal at Monks as they LOVE mussels!

Where's Grotto's pizza?

ohh, da shore. Ok then:

39. snapper soup at Henny's in Stone Harbor (but not after this past season)
40. ice cream at Springers's in Stone Harbor
41. caramel corn from that place in Ocean City (I can't remember the name)
42. the clambake plate eaten on the boat dock at the Lobster House in Cape May

Good morning!!!

There are several Grotto Pizza places in Delaware--Rehoboth, Lewes, Bethany Beach.

I think there was one in Cape May, NJ years ago but it closed.

Love Rehoboth, especially Poodle Beach and the Blue Moon.

Growing up, my family always went to Point Pleasant, NJ for a day at the beach.

Thin

Hmmm, now I have to check out Grotto's someday.

I think it's the 300 years of Quaker/Methodist/Salvation Army that made my family Ocean City folk, Thin. That and the...

Johnson's Popcorn! (that's the one, Birdie, for caramel popcorn.)

And while we're on the foods,

43. Famous 4th St Deli chocolate chip cookies
44. Cannolis from Isgro's (so it's not Termini's)
45. Birch beer...but you gotta get a time machine and go back and get a frosted mug of it at Max's, just above Burholme Park

Hi Amy....do you still have those green depression glass coasters I sent you? (That was you, wasn't it?)

Philadelphia is on my list of cities to visit in the next several years. I'm going to save this thread!

BuffaloGirl!

Yes, indeed...I've got the little green glass furniture thingummies (I forget their real name again!) holding my bed right now.

Come on down to Philadelphia sometime soon...It's a lot of fun to eat your way around the city! (And you notice, I didn't include any buffalo wings, even though there are some that I think are pretty good--but a Buffalo-born chef buddy says we just don't do 'em right.)

Tacconelli's Pizzeria (where you order your dough ahead of time)- white pizza with sausage (yum!)

Santucci Bros. Square Pizza

Stock's Bakery (Lehigh Ave) - awesome pound cake

Czerw's Kielbasy (Tilton St.) - great fresh and smoked kielbasi

Loved everyone's mention of Boardwalk food. Everything always tasted so good down the shore: the pizza, the Twin Kiss, Salt water taffy... We always did Wildwood (back in the 60s!) where it was quite a treat to get Zaberized. We thought we were living the high life!

There is only one place for a cheesesteak: Jim's Steaks.

And I very much agree with Naked Chocolate and Capogiro.

My favorite ice cream at the shore is at Mrs. Walkers. They have several locations around Toms River, Lavalette and Seaside Heights. Yes, I know no Philadelphians to go that area of the shore. Except us. We really like Island Beach State Park.

Freshly made mozzarella cheese at Claudio's in the Italian Market, then go across the st. to one of the vendors and get fresh tomatoes (in season) and then to Sarcone's bakery for bread....and then sit somewhere and put it all together....this might be my favorite food thing in all of Philly.

The cheesesteak AND the roast pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe MUST be had at John's Roast Pork! Far superior to the others

And unrelated John's is John's Water Ice, at 6th and Christian. Only four flavors usually available at a time, my favorite combo is the chocolate and cherry, and I do not like cherry water ice anywhere else! They have ice cream too but it's sacrilege...get the water ice!

For vegetarians, either the veggie cheese"steak" at Gianna's or for a gourmet meal, any dish at Horizon's.

While once upon a time I loved the soft pretzels from street vendors, I sadly must admit that I now prefer the ones from Phila. Pretzel Factory or Pretzel Boy (I prefer the former). And I agree with the suggestions of Capogiro's, olive bread at LeBus, and Naked Chocolate.

Oops, John's Water Ice is 7th and Christian.

And dh reminds me to add fresh roasted peanuts in the shell hot out of the roaster at Nuts to You (your options will be light, medium, dark, or extra dark.)

Mmmmm, wonderful suggestions. Checking out "Nuts to You", it says that it's Philadelphia's longest-established nut house! (All references to City Hall aside...)

And another suggestion, but only available a part of the year:

58. Zitner's Butter Krak <--more obvious jokes begging to be made here! Easter eggs (or the buttercream ones if you don't like coconut) Pure creamy heaven in your mouth, and a Philadelphia tradition
They're usually in their little individual packages at just about any convenience store, and you can also get entire boxes of them (they freeze very well, by the way...ahem, uh, not that I'd stock up on them in order to have them until Thanksgiving or anything...)

I just did a search for Philadelphia in preparation for a trip with our son for accepted student day at UPenn and came up with this great list. Thanks everyone

vttraveler - there are some great places to eat in University City. DS and I had dinner at Distrito a couple of weeks ago. It was fantastic. The menu consists of Mexican small plates.

Also good are New Deck Tavern for burgers, salads, and sandwiches, Marigold Kitchen, a byob, Pod, and Penne. And, best of all, there is now a Naked Chocolate Cafe in UCity.
www.ucityphila.org can give you more info.

Amy, it sounds like you know where to get those boxes of Zitner egg; now that you've introduced both dh and me to this dangerous thing, pray tell! We'd like to bring a box up to his side of the family in CT, for Easter.

Vttraveler, University City is not one of the parts of Philly I know best, but so I can't compare one food or place to another, but we did very much enjoy a meal we had at Vientiane (sp?) Cafe at 48th and Baltimore. It was Thai/Laotian, there were four of us, we ordered appetizers and entrees, and we were all happy campers from start to finish.

Go_laura, my only Butter Krak egg of this year (and I didn't have ANY last year...the horror!) came from Wawa (also a great local institution, for a convenience store; wonderful coffee and dairy) but I know you can get them at CVS and in some supermarkets. Here's a great little article about them: http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-03-24/food.shtml Here's hoping your in-laws love'em...Don't forget to get a box for the freezer, too!

Vttraveler, happy eating!

Thanks, Amy! Wawa was where we found the individual eggs, but alas, no boxes, there or CVS. But now we are supermarket bound.

And now that I briefly hijacked this thread for more on Zitner eggs, I feel I should contribute a little more to the thread's original purpose, so:

59. coconut ice cream at More Than Just Ice Cream
60. Coffee at La Colombe

Thanks Birdie and go_laura for the recommendations in University City, especially the Naked Chocolate Cafe. We are happy both our kids have chosen schools in cities where we have lots of options for good food (the older one went to McGill)
My husband grew up in Pa so our son is familiar with Tasty Kakes, cheese steak, pretzels, sticky buns and Lebanon bologna. The last would not make my list of 100 best things to eat...

Some good things on this list. Would add a phosphate from Franklin Fountain , plus something from Rangoon in Chinatown (maybe the let thoke or thousand layer bread) as well as the plaki at Estia. Plus I'd get my scrapple from the Dutch Eating Place instead of the Down Home Diner. And I'd have DiNic's pork sandwich with sharp provolone and greens there somewhere (did not get to try this at John's or Tony Luke's).

And now that Chinatown has been mentioned a few times, I have to add:

65. Any of the baked goods at Zhong Gang, 10th St. near Cherry. I tried quite a few of the Chinatown bakeries, and this was my favorite. I used to go in and just look to see what they'd already sold a lot of to their regulars, and get it too....or ask the friendly woman behind the counter what she liked best. Never went wrong that I recall.

For Birdie (and others)

Henny's in Stone Harbor has closed. As the season arrives, it is going to morph into Black Fish which was in Avalon for the 2008 season.

Springer's is still there and has been great for years.

The caramel corn place in OC is Johnson's - also going strong.

oh - this is just making me ill...

We'll be in Philly (well, Levittown) over the July 4 weekend....but we'll be there for a family get-together for a 50th wedding anniversary.... so I'm envisioning lots of rigatoni, meatballs, layered jello dessert, and other basic "church gathering" food!

DH was nixing the idea....but we may have to go into the big city to make DS#1 visit Drexel and to get some decent food.

Grcxx3, let me know if you have any questions about Drexel. DS spent the last two years there.

Thanks Birdie.

DH isn't sold on Drexel, but I like the internship programs they have and it is one of the schools with the degree program he wants. Besides, most of the schools he has/will see are more "college town" settings (OK, Penn State, Purdue, etc), so I would like him to see what a campus in a city setting is like.

You can tell I'm from out of town because I miss Bookbinder's!!

BC

rita's water ice
anything from Bistro La Viola, a great BYOB
szechuan fries from the continental (along with fancy martinis)
chicken fingers at the irish pub
pizza from vince's in the northeast

i need to go home for the weekend, hungry!

This is a good thread. Things have changed a lot in Philadelphia in terms of food since I was a student. Ate in several good restaurants last month. Can recommend Le Bec Fin, Morimoto, Alma de Cuba and Vetri. Daughter is starting college at Bryn Mawr in the fall so we shall be trying some of your suggestions.

topping, bookmarking and drooling!
I don't think 4 days is gonna be 'nuff!!

After just having taken a tour of the Italian Market area in Philly (9th street area) for the first time - I can say that we do have great food here. My first trip to Isgro's (yum!) and Slice pizzeria (even yummier) along with other greats such as Anthony's chocolate where I had the best blood orange gelato ever. If you are traveling to the Philadelphia are - you must take the culinary tour hosted by Chef Jacquie at Taste for Travel. The most authentic and fun trip to the Italian Market you will find. Love her! The tours run only on Thursday and you have to contact Jacquie directly. Tours are scheduled every Thursday at 9:30, space is limited, for into contact Chefjacquie@gmail.com to reserve a spot - tell her Alicia sent you! Enjoy!

We went to Monk's last weekend based mostly on recommendations in this thread. The food (mussels and duck ragout) and beer was great. It was VERY crowded and we had a fairly long wait even though we arrived at 5:40. Probably mostly due to people eating early for the Phillies game.

We also went to Naked Chocolate in University City for cupcakes for our son's birthday.

We plan on working our way through other recommendations on the list on other visits.

Hi Vttraveler! Were you in UCity for UPenn parents' weekend? We were at Penne and noticed a lot of parents with students and were wondering if it were parents' weekend.

Lots of great stuff on this thread. I'll add a couple of my favorites:

Kobe beef sliders at Varga Bar (10th and Spruce)
Pho at Pho Xe Lua in Chinatown (10th and Race)
Diablo Mussels at the Devil's Den (11th and Ellsworth)
Wasabi Mashed Potatoes at many of Steven Starr's restaurants (I've gotten them at Buddakan, Continental, and Pod)

Birdie--yes we were there for Penn Family Weekend. Our son is a sophomore this year. WE'd planned to go last year but then he had to be away so we missed it. I am not sure it was necessary from his point of view but we had a nice time visiting with him.
We tried flying from Manchester NH instead of driving the whole way RT which was a little more expensive and a little shorter and quite a lot less stressful.
We had great views of Manhattan from the plane on the way back.
It was fun to see everyone excited about the Phillies.