Press Release

PHILADELPHIA'S DINING SCENE: WHAT'S NEW AND NOTABLE
Fall 2005 And Beyond

Lunchtime Bargains At Luxe Restaurants
Fine dining doesn't have to break the bank-especially when it comes to daytime dining. A once-in-a-lifetime lunch awaits at Le Bec-Fin, chef Georges Perrier's famed Mobil Five-Star restaurant, for $54 per person, $70 with wine, while the luxurious Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia offers three courses plus coffee for $42.50. Midday bargains come buffet-style at Lacroix at The Rittenhouse, where chef Jean-Marie Lacroix offers composed salads and a hot soup for $14. At Rittenhouse Square's Barclay Prime, a midweek nosh of Kobe burger or wedge salad with lobster comes for just $28. Across town at Buddakan, the city's hottest spot for Asian fusion cuisine, a bento lunchbox costs a mere $18.

Scoop DeVille

Photo by K. Ciappa for GPTMC

BYOB Boom
Bring-your-own inexpensive table wine or fine champagne to the newest batch of excellent liquor license-free bistros. Former chef de cuisine at Fork and the White Dog Cafe, Michael O'Halloran excels with his minimalist Old City Bistro 7, serving American cuisine. Down the street at Mandoline, chef Todd Lean offers delectable versions of pistachio-encrusted goat cheese and roast chicken dinners. Pastry-wrapped Camembert and garlic-rubbed rib eyes are on chef John Wolferth's menu at Bryn Mawr's American bistro Sola. Vetri-trained Michael Solomonov has taken over preparation operations at West Philly's much-ballyhooed Marigold Kitchen, a beautiful brownstone bistro with deliciously edgy cuisine. A recent makeover makes Greek-influenced Italian Market neighbor Meze a must-visit.

Finger-lickin' Good Barbecue - In Philly?
The past year has witnessed a lip-smackin' upsurge in barbecue eateries, giving old reliable joints like Germantown Avenue's RibCrib and South Street's Phoebe'sBar-BQ and Ron's Ribs some healthy competition. Northeast Philadelphia's Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse grew from a modest lunch truck into a bonafide destination restaurant. Owners Brooke and Jim Higgins smoke their beef brisket, chicken wings and pulled pork over hickory and serve them up with a choice of hearty side dishes. Home to two locations, Tommy Gunns dishes out a wicked set of Philly-style BBQ spare ribs, super beefy brisket and cake-like corn bread, while The Smoked Joint offers a barroom atmosphere with slow-smoked Carolina-style pulled pork, Memphis ribs, smoked pastrami sandwiches and homemade pickles.

Ice Cream To Scream About
Center City's Capogiro Gelato Artisans makes classic Italian and locally exotic sorbets and gelatos that keep the masses coming back for more. Pineapple-mint sorbet, classic nocciola and off-the-wall honey cumin gelato are served on location and in dozens of Philly restaurants. Blocks away in Old City, the tradition-minded Berley Brothers sling splits and concoct old-fashioned fruit phosphates, peach melba parfaits and root beer floats at TheFranklin Fountain, a self-proclaimed "ice cream saloon." In other ice cream news, Rittenhouse Square's Scoop DeVille continues to offer create-your-own concoctions, now in a new, very parlour-esque location on Chestnut Street. More ice cream magic happens at Newtown's Zebra-Striped Whale, an award-winning ice cream shop where flavors are combined on granite slabs and served in homemade waffle bowls and cones.

Fish In The Raw
Although Philadelphians and world travelers alike agree that Masaharu Morimoto's eponymous gallery of Japanese fare remains the gold standard in just-caught toro, eel and yellowfin, they're now taking a second look at the first out-of-New York outpost of Haru, known for its sleekly Zen style and uber-fresh sushi and sashimi. The city's other raw fish gold standard is chef Guillermo Pernot's sculptural, ephemeral, neuvo-Latino ceviche, prepared in the open kitchen of Pasion Still, that hasn't stopped Old City chef Pippo Lamberti of the resort-style Positano Coast from getting crazy with seafood, creating irresistible, Italian seaside-inspired mini salads of raw mahi mahi, scallops, tuna and other fresh fish.

New On The Scene
2005 saw many welcome surprises, including the addition of two high-end take-out eateries. DiBruno Brothers' House of Cheese opened a new, state-of-the-art, two-floor location. Born in the Italian Market, the cheese shop is complete with smoked salmon specialists, 500 varieties of cheese and a top-of-the-line cappuccino bar. Old City restaurant Fork added a next-door storefront and an "Etc" to its name, offering quick-grab gourmet meals and a communal chef's dinner on Wednesday evenings. Decades-old Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen got a new owner and a menu makeover, a change that draws crowds for its massive portions of down-home sandwiches, kugel, matzoh pancakes, borscht and chocolate chip cookies.

Now THAT's Italian!
While chain restaurants attempt to replicate Italian comfort food, South Philadelphia's red gravy emporiums are the real deal. Dig into a plate of lasagna and meatballs at iconic Italian restaurants like Ralph's, Villa di Roma and Dante & Luigi's for a taste of the old country that isn't mass-produced. For a more modern take on regional Italian fare, try Tre Scalini. It may look mom and pop, but the kitchen consistently delivers a refined menu of specialties, including some of the best homemade gnocchi in town. At Kristian's, a Sinatra soundtrack is paired with inspired contemporary Italian dishes.

Courtyard Cache
In a city known for its architectu re, it's no surprise that some restaurants shelter their guests in hidden courtyards, patios and gardens. Effie's serves home-style Greek cuisine in a 19 th-century brownstone that includes a small courtyard, while Le Jardin offers classic French bistro fare in the 1906 Philadelphia Art Alliance building, complete with a secret garden. In Philadelphia's countryside, The Gablesat Chadds Ford, located on an original 138-acre land grant from William Penn, includes a landscaped side terrace for outside dining. At the historic Dilworthtown Inn in West Chester, a respite for hungry travelers since 1758, a former stable is transformed into an intimate courtyard.

Say Cheese!
Americans bought $905 million worth of gourmet cheese in 2004, according to the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. Always a big cheese town, Philadelphia is downright curd crazy, a passion fueled by burgeoning cheese emporiums and tasting cafes. At the new DiBruno Brothers' House of Cheese, 500 cheese varieties reside, some ripening in a temperate cheese cave. At Claudio's King of Cheese, the air is fragrant with wheels of imported provolone. The trendy cafe Tria offers cheesehounds the chance to customize cheese plates from a menu with designations from stinky to luscious.

• Le Bec-Fin, 1523 Walnut Street, (215) 567-1000, www.lebecfin.com
• Fountain Restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia, One Logan Square, (215) 963-1500, www.fourseasons.com
• Lacroix at The Rittenhouse, 210 W. Rittenhouse Square, (215) 790-2533, www.rittenhousehotel.com
• Barclay Prime, 237 S. 18th Street, (215) 732-7560
• Buddakan, 325 Chestnut Street, (215) 574-9440, www.buddakan.com

• Bistro 7, 7 N. 3rd Street, (215) 931-1560
• Mandoline, 213 Chestnut Street, (215) 238-9402, www.mandolineoldcity.com
• Sola, 614 W. Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, (610) 526-0123
• Marigold Kitchen, 501 S. 45th Street, (215) 222-3699
• Meze, 767 S. 9th Street, (215) 922-1997, www.mezephilly.com

• Rib Crib, 6333 Germantown Avenue, (215) 438-6793
• Phoebe’s Bar-BQ, 2214 South Street, (215) 546-4811
• Ron’s Ribs, 1627 South Street, (215) 732-3561
• Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse, 7500 State Road, (215) 331-3112, www.sweetlucys.com
• Tommy Gunns, 4901 Ridge Avenue, (215) 508-1030; 630 South Street, (215) 627-6160
• The Smoked Joint, 1420 Locust Street, (215) 732-7500, www.smokedjoint.com

• Capogiro Gelato Artisans, 119 S. 13th Street, (215) 351-0900, www.capogirogelato.com
• The Franklin Fountain, 116 Market Street, (215) 627-1899, www.franklinfountain.com
• Scoop DeVille, 1734 Chestnut Street, (215) 988-9992, www.maronchocolates.com
• Zebra-Striped Whale, 12 S. State Street, Newtown, (215) 860-4122

• Morimoto, 723 Chestnut Street, (215) 413-9070, www.morimotorestaurant.com
• Haru, 241-243 Chestnut Street, (215) 861-8990, www.harusushi.com
• ¡Pasion!, 211 S. 15th Street, (215) 875-9895, www.pasionrestaurant.com
• Positano Coast, 212 Walnut Street, 2nd floor, (215) 238-0499, www.lambertis.com

• DiBruno Brothers’ House of Cheese, 1730 Chestnut Street, (215) 665-9220, www.dibruno.com
• Fork, 308 Market Street, (215) 625-9425, www.forkrestaurant.com
• Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen, 4th & Bainbridge Streets, (215) 922-3274

• Ralph’s, 760 S. 9th Street, (215) 627-6011, www.ralphsrestaurant.com
• Villa di Roma, 936 S. 9th Street, (215) 592-1295
• Dante & Luigi’s, 762 S. 10th Street, (215) 922-9501
• Tre Scalini, 1533 S. 11th Street, (215) 551-3870
• Kristian's, 1100 Federal Street, (215) 468-0104, www.kristiansrestaurant.com
  
• Courtyard Cache Effie’s, 1127 Pine Street, (215) 592-8333
• Le Jardin, 251 S. 18th Street, (215) 545-0821
• The Gables, 423 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford, (610) 388-7700, www.thegablesatchaddsford.com
• Dilworthtown Inn, 1390 Old Wilmington Pike, West Chester, (610) 399-1390, www.dilworthtown.com

• DiBruno Brothers’ House of Cheese, 1730 Chestnut Street, (215) 665-9220, www.dibruno.com
• Claudio’s King of Cheese, 926 S. 9th Street, (215) 627-1873
• Tria, 123 S. 18th Street (215) 972-TRIA, www.triacafe.com

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) builds the region's economy and image through destination marketing to increase the number of visitors, the number of nights they stay and the number of things they do in the five-county region. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.

CONTACT:

Donna Schorr, GPTMC
(215) 599-0782, donna@gptmc.com