Midtown Lunch

Philadelphia Weekly’s 4th annual Taste of Philly event was last night. If you went, I hope you had a good time. I know I did. If you didn’t get to go, I hope this recap convinces you to get tickets next year. The organizers of this event do a great job, despite the crowds of people, most lines weren’t too long to wait on and there was enough food and drink to go around.

Probably my favorite bite of the evening was from a place I have never heard of- Rembrandt’s. It was a skewer of baby octopus and pork belly. Two things I love very much, both expertly prepared.

A close second was this super fresh piece of seared tuna and delicious lobster bisque. But shame on me, I can’t remember what restaurant brought it. Can anyone help me out there??

It was good to see Slice participating; they brought a whole array of fancy pizzas and some nice salad.

Representing Manayunk, Mango Moon served wings and ribs, but I much prefered their sausage and their gin infusions they brought to the event last year. Their sister restaurant Chaaba Thai served curry over rice. There was also some Chinese restaurant, Beijing Homestyle that served bland egg rolls and dumplings with no soy sauce.

At Tir Na Nog I had a nice little piece of steak and potatoes. They brought back the ice luge for Irish Appletinis.

World Cafe Live was very prepared serving chorizo sliders, an easy thing to bring a ton of and serve quickly so there was never a line.

The line for Chima was worth the wait, we were privied to a few samples of their churrascaria selections: steak, sausage, and bacon wrapped chicken.

Mac’s Tavern has some surprisingly good Mac n Cheese, I didn’t know the dive bar had it in ‘um.

Rum Bar served up a serious mojito and guava rum ribs from their new chef.

Delicatessen could have done more, the small samples of their corned beef special wasn’t as impressive as I have heard they can be.

Lets see, what else…

Kitchen Daily brought pumpernickel canapes and they passed out chocolate dipped pretzels. Valanni didn’t bring any food, just apple spiced sangria. Fin McCool’s has bangers with carrot and a pastrami sandwich. From Mangiano’s I had a bit of mushroom pasta and some killer chocolate truffles.  There was also a chocolate fondu fountain for dessert. One place that I did sadly not get to in time was Veronica’s Kitchen. There  definitely were more restaurants represented, but you get the idea- a lot of food.

And it can’t hurt to mention the supply of Shock Top, Leffe, Stella, Jack’s Pumpkin Ale, Pinnacle Vodka, and Bacardi.

I’ll see you there next year!