Fun, Food, Philly
I am a die-hard New Yorker and when I travel I rarely think, “I could live here”, with the exception of Seattle and Philadelphia. I just love Philly. It’s a lot like Brooklyn, but (dare I say), better…
Everyone knows when you go to Philly you eat cheesesteaks… but Philly has so much more to offer. My first night there my husband and I had an Amazing meal at Tinto… A pintxos bar and restaurant, meaning small Basque dishes served family style. We had the Chef’s Tasting Menu ($70 per person).
Our first course was assorted Basque cheeses, delicious house-made rosemary crackers, arbequina olives, and the highlight, a plate of incredible Iberico ham. Our second course was a Berkshire pork belly canape, with green apples, honey, and celery root puree. Third course was cold asparagus spears standing in a tomato compote, topped with whipped mahon cheese…and lamb brochettes wrapped in bacon, with an eggplant cream. Fourth course was a game changer…A New York strip steak that I could eat every single day..fork tender thin slices of beef with roasted porcini mushrooms, a porcini-wine reduction, and truffled goat cheese….the fish special of the evening, a snapper fillet over potato confit with a parsley pesto garnish….and house-made pappardelle with artichokes, the one savory dish we felt was mediocre. Dessert was also not thrilling, a traditional Basque white cake (much too dense) with cherries and pastry cream, and chocolate mousse with caramelized bananas, pretty bland and boring. But the rest of the meal was fantastic and my husband and I have been daydreaming about it ever since. Absolutely worth the two hour drive to Philly for our next reservation.
Our second dinner was at the contemporary French restaurant Lacroix, consistently voted one of the best restaurants in Philadelphia since its opening in 2003. Dessert was the highlight (for me) but I’ll start at the beginning. We wanted to taste as many dishes as possible so we started gently, with the simple Lacroix Salad (with kumquats and candied orange peels, and a really delicious Champagne vinaigrette). Second course was an English pea puree soup, garnished with little squares of jellied lavender and a cardamom cream…and the seasonal soft shell crab appetizer which was breaded and fried. Both were good, but after the previous night’s dinner at Tinto, I was a little harder to please than usual. Our third course was Lobster ($49) with a garlic-butter and thin sliced pancetta (which was an unnecessary addition), Rib-Eye steak ($43) topped with crisp sauteed shiitake mushrooms (fantastic!), and a side of smoked baby bok choy with a mango hot sauce (really fantastic! I could have eaten a mountain of that). Then came dessert. Our waiter, Jean-Paul, steered us in the right direction with the house-made ice cream. We went for the sampler which had a couple scoops of each flavor. The Chocolate Caramel was great, the “Milk” was pretty much how it sounds and not so exciting, the Vanilla was awesome, but the “Pie Crust”….Let me just say that I never want to eat ice cream again that does not have crumbled up pieces of pie crust in it. Why didn’t I think of that?? It was AMAZING! Delicious homemade vanilla ice cream with pieces of pie crust in it. Can’t stop thinking about it! While there were parts of the meal that were not thrilling for me, service was impeccable and for the most part the food was creative, seasonal, and well done. And that pie crust ice cream elevated the whole experience!
Our final meal was Brunch at Distrito, owned by the same people as Tinto (Garces Restaurant Group). It was great and fun and I loved the decor (and my husband was happy that he could watch Ghana beat Serbia while we ate). The food was perfect Mexican brunch food…We shared three dishes, Chilaquiles (two over-easy eggs over crisp tortilla chips, with green chile salsa, crema, and sauteed red onions,$9), Torta de Huevos (a sandwich made with fresh soft bread, fried eggs, avocado, crisp bacon, tomato, oaxaca cheese, refried beans, and crema, $8), and the Breakfast Burrito (scrambled eggs with chorizo, salsa, cilantro puree, crema, sauteed poblanos, and queso fresco, $8). I can’t wait to go back there for dinner next time we’re in Philly.
Unfortunately our trip was short and sweet. There are many places on our restaurant list that we will have to go back for. Looking forward to it!!
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Jessica, GREAT post, thanks for sharing. I’m headed for Philadelphia later this month, and I’m taking notes!
Thanks so much!
Enjoy your trip! If you have time, try to make it to Susanna Foo just outside of the city – Its one of the best Chinese restaurants in the country, I just couldn’t make it there this time..
Philly has some great restaurants, no doubt about it. One of my favorites is a place called Zahav…you should definitely try it.