Philly restaurant suggestions...
 

Hi! My mom and I will be in town next week for a conference, which is being held at the Marriott on 1201 Market Street. The conference is going on from Wednesday to Saturday, and we expect to have lunch on our own everyday, accompanied by my two aunts and a cousin.

I was hoping other forum members could suggest some places nearby for a good, casual lunch? We're probably going to check out Penang in Chinatown, but I wanted to know if there were any good sandwich/salad-type places in the area, preferably sit-down. We're also open to other cuisines, as long as it's casual and not too far from the hotel.

We're also going to have one night free for dinner, and while I was considering making a reservation at Fork (the menu on the website looks great), I was wondering if there were any other places worth trying? There may be one other night when I'll be having dinner alone with my cousin (we're in our 20's), so restaurants with a cool bar scene would also be appreciated.

Thanks for you help!

I would also post your message on the Pennsylvania board at www.chowhound.com.

Also check out www.philly.com

I would recommend the Reading Terminal for lunch on any given day. It's located at 12th and Arch, so it's very close to your hotel. Here's the website: http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/

Well, you can always walk over to Reading Terminal Market. It's not far at all and you will get to choose from many good lunch spots there. Also, try Lolita's on the 100 block of South 13th Street (but it might only be open for dinner -check first.) This restaurant has the advantage of being near Capogiro's, a gelato/sorbet place that might be the best gelato you can get outside of Italy.

One of the hottest places in Philadelphia right now is Amada, a Spanish tapas bar & restaurant around 2nd & Chestnut Street. It's casual, but get reservations now.

Definitely walk down Market Street. From the river to 4th or 5th Street, there are many restuarants and bars. I think the Continental is a good place to go for a cocktail. Have fun.

I was just in Philly for a week long conference and I LOVED going to the Reading Terminal for lunch everyday. Very casual but very good food and there are so many different types of food. There's also champs (sports bar & restaurant) and others nearby.

The one place I loved and which was really unique in Philly that we went to for dinner was Di Nardos famous crab place. The place is a mom and pop kind of a place and the crabs were excellent. We got down and dirty with bibs and all - excellent crabs! Their soupd were ok though... We also liked Passage to India for Indian buffet lunc. At $10/person, it's hard to beat. I was a little hesitant to go there what with mixed reviews in TA but service and food were great when we went. Good selections, hot items. We have to check out indian restaurants wherever we go. My honey is an Engishman who loves his curry and it's usually quite hard to please him but he liked the food here. It's not far from the convention center. Just walk down 12 street toward Walnut, make a right and it's across the street in a corner. Enjoy it. Philly is a great little town - and you can't beat the shopping!

Oh, and here's a link to DiNardos.

http://www.dinardos.com/

maria, I wondered how your trip went after your BF arrived. Did you get to the Wyeth exhibit?

Hey Suki. Sorry, I've been bad about writing my trip report - I will by the week is over.

The Wyeth exhibit was WONDERFUL! To be honest, I wasn't that familiar with his work to begin with and I'm very into art being an artist (part time) myself. I have to say that the Wyeth exhibit was the best curated exhibit I have been to. It was better than the Van Gogh exihit I saw in DC where I had to stand for hours in the freezing cold to see. Thanks for cluing me in on it.

I'll tell you all we did and the funny thing that happened when we were looking for the covered bridges of lancaster county (pennsylvania dutch country).

Sorry deli116, didn't mean to hijack your thread.