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Philadelphia's Dining Scene: What's New and Notable?
Spring 2006 And Beyond
Press Release
PHILADELPHIA’S DINING SCENE: WHAT’S NEW AND NOTABLE?
Spring 2006 And Beyond
PHILADELPHIA, February 1, 2006
New On The Scene
When a Philadelphia chef sets out to open a place of his own, he does it right. At Old City’s Amada, chef Jose Garces has created the city’s grandest tapas restaurant, complete with a wall of wooden sangria casks, cured hams and cheeses hanging over the main bar and a menu that ranges from traditional — tortilla espanola, Spanish olives, warm fava bean salad — to edgy — foie gras flatbreads and artichoke and spinach empanadas. Former Le Bec-Fin chef Daniel Stern recently opened Gayle, a jewel-box restaurant with weekend prix-fixe options that include chicken “purple and green,” and elegant “breakfast” for dessert. Evan Turney takes charge of the gleaming open kitchen at Mercato, a Washington West bring-your-own bottle (BYOB) hotspot, where modern Italian cuisine meets upscale neighborhood atmosphere.
DiBruno Bros. House of Cheese
Photo by R. Kennedy for GPTMC
Greek To You
The new addition of elegant seafoodery Estia, an open-kitchen restaurant with warm octopus salad, whole fish and an impressive Greek-oriented wine list, has drawn attention to the area’s reliably excellent Greek restaurants. Longtime favorites include Queen Village’s Dmitri’s, a crowded corner BYOB known for its first-come, first-served reservations policy and devoted clientele who wouldn’t go anywhere else for grilled octopus. Another BYOB, Effie’s offers the ultimate in cozy eats, with simple gyros, big Greek salads and delicious baklava. Main Line gem Lourdas offers traditional preparations of lamb souvlaki and light-as-air taramasalta, while Glenside’s Athena is famed for moussaka and a breezy outdoor deck.
BYOB Boom — At Bistros
It’s a little known fact that Philadelphia is the only city to have a BYOB category in its Zagat Survey. The region’s prodigious count of bring-your-own-bottle restaurants is at 175-plus — and counting. In fact, the trend has become so popular that restaurants with liquor licenses are now offering special nights when diners can bring their own libations. On Sunday night at Restaurant Row’s contemporary French Brasserie Perrier, diners can BYOB with no corkage fee. Old City’s sleek, slow-food emporium Farmicia has a BYOB policy every night of the week with no corkage fee. In Northern Liberties, at the pretty Napa-inspired Italian bistro Sovalo, diners may BYOB for free on Monday nights. For a list of wine and spirit stores in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, visit http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/app/Retail/storeloc.asp?plcbNav=|32369|.
Taprooms With Taste
Once home to the Western Hemisphere’s largest number of breweries, Philadelphia continues to sate drinkers’ desires with bars that serve not-so-typical pub grub. One not to miss is Standard Tap, a multi-room Northern Liberties restaubar that pairs local microbrews with chicken pies, fried smelts and double burgers. Just up the street is newcomer Deuce, a crimson-hued and hip spot for humble meatloaf sandwiches and decadent Kobe burgers with truffle mayonnaise. Queen Village favorite New Wave Café recently welcomed back original chef Ben McNamara, famous for his rabbit stew over pasta, pine nut-encrusted goat cheese salad and lamb tacos. Old City’s handsomely renovated Society Hill Hotel Bar is a bona fide American brasserie, complete with locally brewed Yards beer and tempting sweet potato fries.
Tea Trend Heats Up In Philly
The spread of teahouses across the region reflects the country’s growing obsession with healing, leaf-based beverages. In Center City, Remedy Tea Bar is a sleek café with two adorable sister-owners and an exotic menu that includes tea lattes and blended “remedies.” Nearby Premium Steap offers an urban retreat for sharing a pot of Earl Grey or purchasing all of the essentials for making the perfect cup at home. University City’s funky Bubble House Tea House and Restaurant is as fun as the creamy, chilly tapioca-ball-filled concoctions it mixes up. In Devon, A Taste of Britain esteems traditions from across the pond by offering proper afternoon tea — complete with freshly baked scones served with Devon cream, lemon curd and tea sandwiches. In Chester County, Serenitea is a cozy — almost secret — nook with just a few tables, a basic tea menu and an invitation to sit and stay a while.
Chinatown’s Edge
Dim sum, homemade noodles, edgy fusion fare and custom-made meals are all found in Center City’s bustling Chinatown. Unofficial neighborhood ambassador Joseph Poon now serves custom meals in the Joseph Poon Chef Kitchen, an upstairs venture with stainless steel walls and tables and a partially exposed classroom kitchen that cranks out fresh Asian fusion fare. Longtime favorite for hot pots and ginger scallion sea bass Lee How Fook has recently been handed down from parents to daughter, who transformed the eatery from modest to handsome. Lan Zhou Noodle House is a one-room spot where the chef makes noodles for hearty soups by hand, and two-year-old Ly Michael’s continues to impress diners with sophisticated renditions of Thai, Chinese and Japanese food — all with a French flair.
Dining Bargains At Luxe Restaurants
Fine dining doesn’t have to break the bank. A grab-it-if-you-can dinner awaits at the mezzanine “Garden” room of Le Bec-Fin, chef Georges Perrier’s famed Mobil Five-Star restaurant. Three courses go for $39 per person (week-of reservations only). The luxurious Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia offers three lunch courses plus coffee for $42.50. During the summer months, 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 lunch of chicken, fish or beef, plus an appetizer and dessert comes for just $25. Across town at Buddakan, the city’s hottest spot for Asian fusion cuisine, a bento lunchbox costs a mere $18.
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 Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese, 500 cheese varieties reside, some ripening in a temperate cheese cave. At Claudio’s Specialty Food, the air is fragrant with wheels of imported provolone. The trendy café Tria offers cheesehounds the chance to customize cheese plates from a menu with designations from stinky to luscious.
ADDRESS BOOK
New On The Scene:
Greek To You:
BYOB Boom — At Bistros:
Taprooms With Taste:
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Deuce, Liberties Walk, 1022 N. 2nd Street, (215) 413-3822
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Society Hill Hotel Bar, 301 Chestnut Street, (215) 923-3711
Tea Trend Heats Up In Philly:
Chinatown’s Edge:
Dining Bargains At Luxe Restaurants:
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Fountain Restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia, One Logan Square, (215) 963-1500, www.fourseasons.com
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Say Cheese!:
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Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese, 1730 Chestnut Street, (215) 665-9220, www.dibruno.com
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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.
Note to Editors: For photos of Greater Philadelphia, visit our Photo Gallery.
CONTACT:
Donna Schorr, GPTMC
(215) 599-0782, donna@gptmc.com
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