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New Restaurants Transform Philadelphia's Neighborhoods
Landscape Of The City's Neighborhoods Is Changing One Restaurant At A Time
Press Release
New Restaurants Transform Philadelphia's Neighborhoods
Landscape Of The City's Neighborhoods Is Changing One Restaurant At A Time
PHILADELPHIA, August 10, 2005 - Philadelphia food is serious business. In the past decade, restaurants have been in the forefront of urban redevelopment, turning ignored intersections into pockets of trendy nightlife and enlivening residential enclaves. Witness the recent transformation of University City and Washington Avenue, both of which have become global dining destinations. Once hubs of industrial activity, Old City and Northern Liberties are now epicenters of eating, bursting with exciting new hotspots. Where there is food in Philadelphia there is sure to be growth, and the following are just a few examples of how restaurants have positively impacted the city:
La Lupe
Photo by R. Kennedy for GPTMC
- Developed in the 1980s as a gallery district, Old City came into its own when Stephen Starr's upscale Continental Restaurant & Martini Bar opened in 1995, triggering a boom in the nearly non-existent restaurant/lounge business along Market and Chestnut Streets. Today, the area includes at least 110 restaurants in a five-block radius, 85 percent of which have opened in the last 10-15 years, demonstrating just how business has benefited from nearby tourist attractions and packs of weekend revelers. Some of the city's best food and cocktails can be found at Buddakan, Fork and the Bring-Your-Own-Bottle (BYOB) establishment Chloe. The growth continues, and the most recent crop of additions includes Red Sky, Karma, Patou and Konak. Vine to Chestnut Streets, Front to 4th Streets
- On the outskirts of the Italian Market on South Philadelphia's Washington Avenue, Italian hoagies now compete with their new cousin, Vietnamese hoagies (the Southeast Asian version consists of French bread stuffed with layers of pate, lunchmeat, pickled vegetables, lemongrass, cilantro and mint). Nam Phuong and soup cafeterias like Pho 75 and Pho Ha have clustered along the Avenue and its side streets. Shopping centers like New World Plaza also house dim sum halls, Hong Kong-style eateries and the pan-Asian International Smokeless Barbecue. In a concurrent trend, four new Mexican restaurants opened on Washington Avenue in the past three years: Taqueria La Veracruzana, Plaza Garibaldi, La Lupe and Rio Bravo. This influx of new businesses on what was once a largely vacant strip has rejuvenated the area while expanding the local palate. Washington Avenue from 6th to Broad Streets
- For years, the Baltimore Avenue and Lancaster Avenue corridors have attracted the students of University City with international eats. But in the last three years, Philadelphia's first suburb has truly become a United Nations of eating with new representatives from Laos (Vientiane Cafe), Greece (Mokas) and the Middle East (Rana), moving in alongside Ethiopia (Dahlak, Abyssinia, Gojjo, Meskerem), Mexico (Zocalo) and Thailand (Lemon Grass). Baltimore Avenue alone has tripled its inventory of restaurants since the early 1990s, encouraging locals to open their own businesses like the Green Line Cafe and the Sugar Hill Bakery, and drawing new permanent residents to the neighborhood. Baltimore Avenue from 42nd to 49th Streets; Lancaster Avenue from 35th to 38th Streets
- The late 1990s brought a boom to Northern Liberties, the artist community north of Old City. BYOBs such as Aden, Il Cantuccio and Las Cazuelas put the neighborhood on the culinary map, paving the way for the tempura bar 269 Fahrenheit, the haute Puerto Rican El Viejo San Juan and, most recently, the tropical-themed Azure. In the meantime, restau-bars N. 3rd and Standard Tap have attracted their own loyal followings, with the latter garnering national rave reviews for its upscale bar fare. Today, Northern Liberties is a hip, desirable neighborhood with rising real estate prices to match. Spring Garden Street to Girard Avenue, Front to 6th Streets
- Immense warehouses have become luxury apartments in the emerging Loft District. Following on the heels of major residential development, the former manufacturing zone unveiled its nascent dining scene in 2003. Between the Thai food at the elegant Siam Lotus and the gourmet goods at Cafe Lift, the Loft District may become Philadelphia's very own SoHo. Arch to Spring Garden Streets, 10th to Broad Streets
- Dubbed B3, short for Blocks Below Broad, the streets east of Broad Street have emerged as the newest hotspot for dining in Philadelphia. In the 1990s, real estate guru Tony Goldman began a major initiative to revive 13th Street, developing scores of new residential and retail properties. Restaurateur Stephen Starr is bolstering the effort with El Vez, the high-profile Mexican restaurant he opened last fall. Other edible additions include Capogiro Gelato, and the Mexican BYOB Lolita. Chestnut to Locust Streets, 11th to Broad Streets
ADDRESS BOOK
Philadelphia's Neighborhood Restaurants
Old City
- Buddakan, 325 Chestnut Street, (215) 574-9440
- Chloe, 232 Arch Street, (215) 629-2337
- Continental Restaurant & Martini Bar, 138 Market Street, (215) 923-6069
- Fork, 306 Market Street, (215) 625-9425, www.forkrestaurant.com
- Karma, 114 Chestnut Street, (215) 925-1444, www.thekarmarestaurant.com
- Konak, 228 Vine Street, (215) 592-1212
- Patou, 312 Market Street, (215) 928-2987
- Red Sky, 224 Market Street, (215) 925-8080, www.redskylounge.com
Washington Avenue
- International Smokeless Barbecue, 600 Washington Avenue, (215) 599-8844
- La Lupe, 1201 S. 9th Street, (215) 551-9920
- Nam Phoung, 1100 Washington Avenue, (215) 468-0410
- Pho 75, 1122 Washington Avenue, (215) 271-5866
- Pho Ha, 6th Street & Washington Avenue, (215) 599-0264
- Plaza Garibaldi, 935 Washington Avenue, (215) 922-2370
- Rio Bravo, 1100 Washington Avenue, (215) 551-7099
- Taqueria La Veracruzana, 908 Washington Avenue, (215) 465-1440
Baltimore Avenue and Lancaster Avenue
- Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant, 229 S. 45th Street, (215) 387-2424
- Dahlak, 4708 Baltimore Avenue, (215) 726-6464
- Gojjo, 4540 Baltimore Avenue, (215) 386-1444
- Green Line Cafe, 4239 Baltimore Avenue, (215) 222-3431, www.greenlinecafe.com
- Lemon Grass, 3626-30 Lancaster Avenue, (215) 222-8042
- Meskerem, 4728 Baltimore Avenue, (215) 729-1714
- Mokas, 3505 Lancaster Avenue, (215) 222-4410
- Rana, 3513 Lancaster Avenue, (215) 222-7136
- Sugar Hill Bakery, 4908 Baltimore Avenue, (215) 730-9210
- Vientiane Cafe, 4728 Baltimore Avenue, (215) 726-1095
- Zocalo, 3600-04 Lancaster Avenue, (215) 895-0139, www.ucnet.com/zocalo/
Northern Liberties
- Aden, 614 N. 2nd Street, (215) 627-9844, www.adenrestaurant.com
- Azure, 931 N. 2nd Street, (215) 629-0500
- El Viejo San Juan, 1176 N. 3rd Street, (215) 922-2376
- Il Cantuccio, 701 N. 3rd Street, (215) 627-6573 269
- Fahrenheit, 604 N. 2nd Street, (215) 413-1606
- Las Cazuelas, 426 W. Girard Avenue, (215) 351-9144
- N. 3rd, 3rd & Brown Streets, (215) 413-3666, www.norththird.com
- Standard Tap, 901 N. 2nd Street, (215) 238-0630
Loft District
B3
- Capogiro Gelateria, 119 S. 13th Street, (215) 351-0900
- El Vez, 13th & Sansom Streets, (215) 928-9800
- Lolita, 106 S. 13th Street, (215) 546-7100
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:
Cara Schneider, GPTMC
(215) 599-0789, cara@gptmc.com
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