Staff Blog
WE’RE HERE TO HELP: A Philadelphia ethnic eating short list for an upstate New York food dude
posted by Drew Lazor
Earlier this week, I received an e-mail from B.A. Nilsson, restaurant critic for the Metroland alt-weekly in Albany, New York:
[I] am making my first visit in many years to Philadelphia this weekend. Here’s what I’m facing.
My eleven-year-old daughter is celebrating puberty’s onset with obsessive worship of the group Panic at the Disco, who will be playing at the Wachovia Center on Saturday night. My wife, blinded by motherly love, will accompany the kid to the concert. I’ll drop them off — and then I’d like to find a restaurant or two to sample, preferably smaller, more unusual venues. Albany has a dearth of ethnic variety; I can see from your City Paper listings that your city is hipper.
So I’m hoping you might be able to recommend a restaurant or two. Sunday I’ll be touring historic sites and museums with the family, so I suspect I’ll have less latitude in dining.
I took this same exact approach — tapping the local food types for suggestions — when I took a trip to Portland this August, with remarkable results. So I know I have to pay it forward this time around.
Culinary co-conspirator Felicia D’Ambrosio and I collab’d on a list of some of our favorite ethnic dining destinations in Philly — you can check it out after the jump. But what about YOU, Meal Ticketers? Is there somewhere we overlooked? A cuisine we totally glossed over? If so, let us have it in the comments. Let’s all pitch in to make Nilsson’s Philly trip one to remember.
Since the Panic show is all the way in deep South Philly, I didn’t want
to send our friend to some far-flung corners of the city that’ll require you
to drive forever. That’s why our sort-of-short list consists of places that are in the
general South Philly/Center City vicinity.
- Kind of in the middle of nowhere South Philly is popular
Indonesian hole-in-the-wall type place Hardena (1754 Hicks St.,
215-271-9442). The aptly named Indonesia (1725 Snyder Ave.,
215-829-1400) is a bit more centrally located for the same type of
cuisine. Lots of satay skewers and good soups and whatnot.
- Dmitri’s (795 S. Third St., 215-625-0556) is a
Greek/Mediterranean institution in Queen Village. Very
simple and affordable plates; they’re famous for their grilled octopus,
which we highly recommend. It’s a BYOB so grab a bottle of wine if you
can … it’s not very big, though, so it can get crowded sometimes.
- If you go to the corner of 11th Street and Washington Avenue in
South Philly, there is a huge shopping center called Wing Phat
Plaza that features multiple Vietnamese bakeries/restaurants and one
relatively new Chinese restaurant called Wokano. A lot of the same
options at these places, but we’ve found the quickest, easiest and most
consistent for solid noodle soup is Pho Hoa (1111 S. 11th St.,
215-755-4000). Directly next to this place is a really well regarded
Thai/Laotian spot called Cafe de Laos (1117 S. 11th St., 215-467-1546).
In fact, if you drive east on Washington Avenue (that’s going down the
numbers), you’ll run into a million and one ethnic options, from dim
sum and classic red sauce Italian places to some pretty good Mexican
taquerias.
- Sang Kee (238 N. Ninth St., 215-925-7532) is another
super-institution in Chinatown. Famous for their roast duck but they
have a lot of atypical items for the more adventurous. If you want to
go REALLY off the wall, try Potluck Cafe (220 N. 10th St.,
215-627-5898). A gigantic
menu of some of the weirdest stuff we’ve ever seen.
- Also in the general Chinatown-ish area is an African/Nigerian restaurant called Wazobia (616 N. 11th St.,
215-769-3800). Definitely try the “stews,” basically just very
thick and spicy meaty sauces over rice.
- Philly has some really great Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurants,
but a majority of them are in West Philly, kind of a haul from where
you’ll be. One place that is much closer
(and in my opinion, just as good, if not better) is Almaz Cafe in the heart of Rittenhouse (140 S. 20th St., 215-557-0108). It looks like any other coffee shop
from the outside, but if you pop in and flip over the menu, there are
some great Ethiopian options. We really love the kitfo, the beef tartare
dish.
- One of our new favorite Indian restaurants is Ekta (250 E. Girard Ave.,
215-426-2277), where chef Raju Bhattari has built a big following despite
only being open for a couple months. The only thing is it’s not all
that close and it’s mainly a takeout place. A more centrally located
Indian option is Minar Palace (1304 Walnut St., 215-546-9443). Favorite dishes: the goat and lamb vindaloos and the shrimp
nirgisi.
- Finally: Capogiro
Gelato for dessert. They have two locations: 20th and Sansom (117 S.
20th St, 215-636-9250) and 13th and Sansom (119 S. 13th St.,
215-351-0900). They make all sorts of crazy flavors from scratch daily,
and they’re always changing.
Based on the guy’s email, I understand he didn’t want to go to ethnic restaurants because his hometown has a “dearth” of them. He wanted to try something “hipper” that our oh so hip city has to offer. With this in mind (and not a great deal of thought), I recommend Ansill or Southwark.
While not exactly cheap, you cannot go wrong with Jose Garces – Amada, Tinto, and Distrito are all gems. I’m impressed by Zahav in Old City as well, but expect to spend. Game knows game.
Chad:
I understood it differently — doesn’t “dearth” mean lack? Not to say Ansill and Southwark aren’t awesome suggestions. The pig trotters plate at Ansill is one of my favorite snacks.
Kelly is dead on — you can never, ever go wrong with Garces. Of his three places, I would say the most memorable in terms of overall experience is Distrito, but of course we all know how gangsta Amada and Tinto are. (Perhaps “gangsta” is not the best word choice here, but give me a break, it’s parade day.) Zahav is another great idea for dining alone at the bar.
Drew, you are right. I feel stupid. Thank you.
Chad:
Please don’t! It’s one of those words; I had to Google it. Let’s get some pig trotters, man.
I suspect your home city is like your mom, and stands no chance in your eyes ever of being hip. On the other hand, I write about restaurants in Albany, NY, which, like your mom trying to get down to Woodfish, isn’t even pretend hip. “So you’re going to look through these suggestions,” my wife said, “and pick a place where you’ll eat while we’re at the concert?”
She does not share my obsession with food. “I’m going to look through the suggestions,” I answered, “and hit as many places as I can.”
I’ll keep you posted.
[...] Drew, it turned out, also has turned to a far-flung counterpart. He and Felicia D’Ambrosio put together a list that looked inspiring. And challenging. It promised to keep me close to South Philadelphia and the [...]
[...] St., 215-271-9442). The teeny deep-South-Philly Indonesian eatery which Meal Ticket recommended to Albany-based food crit B.A. Nilsson when he visited our city in October, has long been a Philly food nerd fave thanks to its cafeteria-style momma’s-house service and [...]