Philadelphia

[momoreg]

I just got back from a whirlwind 24 hour trip to Philly...

First thing we did was visit the Reading Terminal Market. It is a huge 1 block square of indoor stalls. Everything from butchers to produce, to cheesesteaks and hoagies, to Thai food. That was a great time.

We stopped for a drink and some oysters at a place called Philadelphia Fish & Co. Looked trendy and fun. I ordered some Ameripure oysters, and they were rotten!! So I quickly washed down the rest of my vodka, and we left.

I needed a few hours to recover from that one.

For dinner last night, we enjoyed a meal at Le Bar Lyonnais, which is the bistro of Le Bec Fin. Supposedly, it was more casual than the restaurant, but there were guests there in evening gowns, and other guests in shorts, so go figure... Anyway, the room was very formal, and the service was very thorough. Our meals were light and tasty, and not too expensive. The entrees ranged from $18 to $24. I had a lobster and salmon canneloni with a confit of fennel. My husband had sole with capers.. Oh I wish I could remember what else came with his dish, but frankly, mine was better!!

We decided to forego dessert, after seeing the desserts at the neighboring table. It's not that they looked bad, but they weren't tempting.

I had read a review of a bakery not far from there, called the Pink Rose, so we went there instead. BIG MISTAKE!!! Zagat is not on the money at all with this place. Fake custard, and grossly oversized pastries, with no imagination whatsoever. We shoulda stayed at the restaurant.

Today, we spent the afternoon in the museums. It was a fine vacation..even with that bad oyster

.

[cape chef]

What was it Robert Plant said? "good times bad times you'll know we;ll have are share"
cc

[momoreg]

Yup, well, the good times outweighed the bad!

[shroomgirl]

Sounds like you had a great time. Mollie O'Neil gouged Zagat in Food and Wine Sept ...I DO NOT read them before going to a new city....my friend used to be in charge of handling them for this area. The more I'm around eaters the more discriminating I am in taking restaurant advice.

[Jim]

Next time you hit Philly, stop at Susanna Foo's and Engine 46 Steak House... and let me know... I'll be the tour guide. There are some great 'dives' in Philly!!

[momoreg]

Will do. Thanks, Jim.

[monpetitchoux]

Ooooh...Sighh...

I miss Philly. I lived there for several years. I am sad that you didn't have such a good time at Reading Terminal Market. When I worked in Chinatown there, I used to buy wonton noodles to go and brought it to market to eat. I never really bought a meal at the market, though. I hope you had time to try the hand knotted fresh pretzels, there. The Amish bakery stand also had some pretty nice peach or strawberry bread that was great toasted for breakfast. In addition to the nice restaurants you went to, I would have recommended also visiting South Philly near the Italian Market, particularly Shanks and Evelyn, if they are still around. And while in South Philly, some of the Vietnamese Hoagie shops. Still better there than any other city's I've eaten (and I eat a lot of those). And they all get their bread from Sarcone's (always sold out by 7 AM). Just curious, did you eat any cheesesteaks? I think I had about two in all the years I lived in that city. The big rivalry was between Pat's and Geno's.

Philadelphia is where I found my sense of community. It's where I became an adult. Where I bought a bottle wine regularly on my way home from work. Where I got up early on winter mornings to shop at the Italian Market. And I shamelessly smiled at the produce guys to get a little extra. Where I had my first apartment and friends would always drop by to see what I had cooked for dinner. Where I fell in love for real for the first time in my life.

W.C. Fields said it best: On the whole I'd rather be in Philadelphia.

But those days are faraway. But still so alive in my heart. It'll never be the same if I moved back. I hope you have a better time if ever you returned to Philadelphia.

[momoreg]

Monpetitchoux,

I actually loved the Reading Terminal Market. We wanted to get some hoagies there, but they were all sold out by 3 pm, and they closed up the stall. I guess that's a hot item. Instead, we bought a lot of different cheeses and breads, and made a lunch out of that. And it was good. The market was my favorite part of the day.

And we did venture down to South Philly, but it was Sunday, and raining. But we will go back, and all in all, it was wonderful.

[LotusCakeStudio]

momo, I can't believe you heard anything GOOD about the Pink Rose! That's the dive on Bainbridge, right? I've never been inside, but it just *looks* awful. Once my friend and I parked near there and she went in to get change for the meter. She told me the product looked ghetto. My manager went there to get a going away cake for our pastry supervisor's last day (she would have had one of us make it, but it would have been hard to hide and keep it a secret) and she brought back this sorry excuse for a cake. It had multi-colored jimmies on the sides and the message looked like a right-handed person tried to pipe with his left hand which had carpal tunnel. It was supposed to be chocolate cake, but it looked more like dirty vanilla cake. I didn't eat any, but I heard it was "okay".