Philadelphia Restaurant Tips by richiecdisc

Nick's Roast Cafe: Nick's Roast Beef Nick's Cafe Review

My parents have been bringing me here since I was a little kid. We used to come in the 'Ladies Entrance' off to the side. The bar entrance was for 'Men Only' in those days and even the back section had some of the first naked girlie posters I'd ever seen on the wall. Though they've done away with the 'art work' and the the sexist entrance, it's no wonder I still love these sandwiches to this very day. ;=>

Favorite Dish: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really called Nick's Cafe, and they do have roast pork as well as ham, but everyone knows it as a roast beef joint. Try the roast beef combo; it's got a think slice of provolone melting over the juicy, melt in your mouth beef, all squeezed into a fresh kaiser roll. Wash it down with a Birch beer and you're really in Philly now.

Address: 20th & Jackson.

Comparison: about average

Directions: In South Philly. I think Rocky jogged by in I, II, and III.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Other

Hoa Viet: a little taste of Saigon Hoa Viet Review

I've been eating at one incarnation or another of this restaurant for about twenty years now, going back to my college days. It was originally a hole in the wall dive that disappeared and after not being able to find it for a couple of years, the owner still remembered me when I happened upon it. It went through a few years as a Asian market/BBQ place but was happy to see it open again with Vietnamese dishes and that the owner saw me across the street and waved me over to say it was back in business. It's much nicer now though the prices are still very cheap and the food quality is as if time stood still.

Favorite Dish: Pho is the Vietnamese staple and is a huge bowl of soup with rice noodles, garnished with thin raw slices of beef that cook right in the broth. Toss in soy beans, mint leaves, and chilies and it's a complete meal and is generally served as breakfast in Vietnam. Bun Thit Nuong is roasted pork over rice vermicelli, served cold like a salad. There must be 50 different soups and an extensive menu that I've yet to sample anything I've not liked.

Address: 1022 Race Street.

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: In the heart of Chinatown in Philly.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Other

Isgro's: time for a cannoli

After a meal at Ralph's, you may not need desert, you may not be able to fit desert in, but as soon as you are out strutting your stuff in the Philly air, you will be hankering for a cannoli or a sfogliatella. A spheawhat? Yeah, I mispronounced this Italian pastry my whole life and still do. So, what, sue me. To be fair, I was just a kid most of that life and was just repeating what my father called them. At any rate, if you just walked out of Ralph's, you are in a great place to be hankering for such things since there are like a gazillion Italian bakeries in the vicinity and Isgro's is about a good a place to go as any.

Favorite Dish: Hell, they won Best-in-Philly cannoli six times. Their sfogliatella ain't bad either. They ain't cheap but they are pretty filling so you can share one but hell, I didn't know when I was going to be in Philly again so THAT was out of the question. Two of them. Yo. What are they? Extremely light and crisp, this flaky Sicilian delicacy is filled with ricotta, cemollina, condensed milk, orange zest, and citron. Couldn't have said it better myself and believe me, I didn't say it. It's right on their website, dammit. And if you get a cannoli, don't go ordering one filled with chocolate or vanilla. Get the “real” ones, filled with ricotta! Or regoat as my Nana used to say. No one can bastardize the Italian language like an Italian immigrant from Philly. I should know, I'm one of them. Yo.

Address: 1009 Christian St.

Comparison: about average

Directions: Round the corner from Ralph's, in South Philly.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Bakery

Ralph's: the oldest Italian restaurant in America

Ralph's claims to be the oldest continuously running Italian restaurant in the United States. Located in Italian enclave South Philly, it is still run by fourth generation descendants of the Dispigno family who started the business in 1900 after relocating from Italy in 1893. Whether or not its claim is true is no matter, the likes of Sinatra and Rocky Graziano have dined here, and heaps of locals continue to do so. I have to admit, though I grew up on Philly, I had never heard of the place until a few years ago. On my most recent visit to town, I finally ate there at the suggestion of my younger brother who still lives close to the area. Though my expectations were very high, I was quite happy with the food and overall dining experience.

It is unassuming from the outside and much smaller inside than you might expect from its lofty history. They sure do cram them in though and you will be sitting perhaps a bit closer to the local South Philadelphians than you might like. Service is brisk as you might expectations in such a busy place but it is none-the-less friendly and efficient.

Favorite Dish: I brought a good buddy now living in town with us and he was very skeptical himself, having heard it was overrated. My wife, he and I all ordered the much vaulted (by my brother, anyway) Veal Parmigiana. It was ample size even though the lunch portion and a side of spaghetti. The quality was excellent and the “gravy” (I'm still a Philly boy at heart and cannot call it sauce) was quite good. We all very much enjoyed it.
It is very busy at lunch time and for good reason: the very meal that is close to $19 at night is a mere $10.50. I am not sure it is worth the former but is a bargain at the latter price. Cash only, of course. Hey, it's in South Philly. Yo.

It's right next to Sarcone's Bakery so you know the bread's not bad either. Now, people from Philly will swear that Sarcone's makes the best bread in the world. I may have agreed when I was a kid growing up there but I've since traveled extensively and loving my bread as I do, have tried a lot of bread in many places. Sarcone's makes a decent loaf of bread to be sure but there are better loaves to be had for sure.

Address: 760 S. 9th Street

Comparison: about average

Directions: In South Philly, where else?

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 5

Theme: Italian

Grey Lodge Pub: one of the great beer bars in America

The Grey Lodge Pub is a great and interesting success story. The idea of a renowned beer bar in Northeast Philly was a big stretch of the imagination but to its then starting-in-the-business owner, Mike Scoats, it was a dream worth striving for. We can all be thankful for such entrepreneurial spirit for that is exactly what he created, all the while managing to not alienate the local clientele that made up the small bars' mostly Pabst Blue Ribbon drinking crowd. I remember wondering why they had Pabst on tap the first time I visited the bar. It looked a bit out-of-place next to the other eight beers from mostly local microbreweries. Well, a lot has changed since then and thanks to Scoats, even the old vanguard has learned to drink his wisely chosen line-up of beers.

The beauty of The Grey Lodge is it does not have 100 taps. Scoats knows well that many taps is asking for trouble. Spoiled beer and stale beer is no way to convert the masses. Instead, he chooses to have a constantly rotating group of about ten beers. In any given week, there are about 25 different beers on tap at the pub and he generally always has one served cask-conditioned served via hand-pump. Speaking of cask beer, who would have thought that such a bar in a predominately blue collar area of town would become the bastion of what was previously an esoteric style of beer? Enter, “Friday The Firkenteenth.” Scoats' brainchild was to serve 13 different cask beers on Friday the 13th. It must have seemed like a business suicide at the time but it was exactly at one of these early festivals that I came across this otherwise far too out of my way to drop by pub. I came back for many more and got to know Scoats who visited us in Munich for a brush up on Germanic beer.

The pub has just gotten better over the years with not only an entirely new facade but an expanded and much improved interior. No longer do I shutter to bring friends from center city or around the world to his little alcove of beery paradise. Please check out his highly stylized tiled bathrooms with quotes from beery bards like local Philly hero, Ben Franklin.

Favorite Dish: Though The Grey Lodge always had some beery snacks, it now features a full menu of accomplished merit. We had a fantastic cheese steak with salami on our last visit which came with his “Best-in-Philly Award” fries which are double cooked like Belgian frites and every bit as crunchy. For $8, it's a bar bargain and washed down with one of his hand chosen ales, heaven.

I only wish I lived closer. I would stop by more often. Hopefully, Scoats can make it back over to Munich. I'd love to show him around Rauchbier capital, Bamberg. But watch out, Scoats will do his best to get one of those little wooden barrels for his next Friday the Firkenteenth. To my knowledge, it's never come over in this form to the US, but if anyone in the US can do it, Scoats can.

Address: 6235 Frankfort Avenue

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: In Northeast Philly.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 5

Theme: Pub/Brewery

Nodding Head Brewery: don't mind the heads

The Nodding Head Brewery is often overlooked by beery visitors to the City of Brotherly Love. Once the location of a Sam Adams outlet that did in fact brew its own beer, this initial confusion along with a lack of anything but expensive lot parking doomed an otherwise amazing old bar in a historical area of downtown Philly. Enter Nodding Head with its somewhat eery cartoon depiction of their namesake heads, seemingly looking to create of a cult following than go for the masses. I am a very beery guy and even I tended to shy away from the place more due to parking logistics than any qualms with their beer. The fact remains, it is a very old historical location with a great old wooden bar and lots of old world atmosphere. Though it is an eatery, the bar itself is very much just that and always manned by a friendly bartender knowledgeable about their beers. There is generally at last one beer served cask via a hand pump for good measure.

Favorite Dish: Luckily for me, one of my closest friends moved into center city and on our most recent visit, we could just walk to Nodding Head which made it quite enjoyable. It added to the overall historical feeling of the pub but just being able to nip in on foot! Their BPA (Bill's Prayer Ale) was served cask. Though a hoppy beer, this one bucks the trend with heaps of malt, making for a well-balanced and all too easy to drink brew. Their seasonal was a great take on a rare style even in Germany, Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weisse. I've not eaten at the pub but they have a full and fairly interesting menu with prices commensurate with their pricy location.

Address: 1516 Sanson Street

Comparison: about average

Directions: Down by Jewelers Row in center city.

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 5

Theme: Pub/Brewery