a. kitchen and a. bar sit on the corner of 18th and Walnut. Rittenhouse Square is just 2 crosses of the street away. I was invited to try the lunch at a.bar and I was eager for the opportunity to pretend to be classy for an hour while people watching and possibly day drinking.
Posted at 3:07 pm, October 6th, 2015 under American, Rittenhouse Square, sandwiches, seafood, sit-down.
Photo via Cuban Food USA
Tierra Colombiana, the less frou-frou and more distant sister to the Gayhorhood’s Mixto, serves Colombian, Ecuatorian, and Cuban food in North Philly. It also doubles at a night club. But there was no way I was dancing after all the food I put away. There are a lot of big plates on the menu, but my group focused on the appetizers so we had more to sample.
Posted at 10:55 pm, March 26th, 2015 under Colombian, Cuban, North Philly, pork, sit-down.
I remember watching the sign go up for Hippot this fall, not particularly excited for another Shabu Shabu place in Chinatown. But the sub $9 lunch special advertised outside the restaurant was too good to not at least try once.
A pre New Year round up of my favorites bites is a fun excuse to look back on each year of dining. It is also incentive to get down and hold the plank position until the ball drops. Here are my 2014 eating highlights:
During my first overseas trip of the year, I ate my way through Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai!
Soon after, I started giving Chinatown Food Tours! (if you still owe someone a belated Holiday gift, its not a bad idea!)
I wrote a few fun articles for Zagat, including one on shopping at “ethnic” markets.
On an outing to Graffiti Pier in Port Richmond, I put together a Polish picnic that you can replicate.
For my birthday, we celebrated with beer and a Puerto Rican Pork feast.
I coordinated a food truck festival for 15,000 people in Mt. Airy.
On a solo vacation in Mexico City, I ate a ton of street meat.
I was really proud of my Federal Donuts costume this Halloween.
Way more, after the jump…
Posted at 12:19 pm, December 29th, 2014 under African, Center City, Chinatown, Chinese, Fairmount, food truck, Greek, Indian, Korean, Mexican, North East, North Philly, Polish, pork, Port Richmond, Puerto Rican, Russian, sit-down, snacks, soup, tacos, West Philly.
While looking for lunch somewhere near the Barne’s Museum, I remembered wanting to try Zorba’s, a sort of casual Greek restaurant that is unfortunately uncommon in Philadelphia (the other ones that comes to mind are Sandy’s and South Street Souvlaki, which I liked and owe revisits to).
Philly is lacking in Izakayas; the Japanese, tapas-style, non-sushi, drinking encouraged type of place. CoZara, in University City, is helping to fill that gap. Open since late April, lunch service has finally started and I was lucky enough to receive an invite to try the lunch menu items.
Posted at 10:15 am, June 24th, 2014 under Japanese, ramen, seafood, sit-down, University City.
Last summer, Indeblue opened on the 13th street previously occupied by the Korean restaurant, Pastoral, I wanted to love but didn’t. Lunch service soon followed; it consists of a slew of familiar and modernized small Indian bites and a few larger entrees. In a city where there are several under $10 Indian buffets, how should we feel about a place where one small plate costs as much as all the Indian food you can eat? I had been curious about the menu and had to take Indeblue up on their offer to have me in to try their lunch.
