ISO - Places to go/eat /shop in downtown Philadelphia

[Gracie]

I'm going to Philadelphia at the end of this month for business. I'll only be there for the exact time of the conference (i.e. flying in and out with as little extra time as possible) but I will be on my own for lunch and dinner the first day.

We're staying at the Doubletree across from the theaters (yum cookies!!!). Last time I was there I found an awesome gourmet pizza place a few blocks away. They had about 6 kinds of really differently-topped pizzas and you could buy slices from each. I may go there again for lunch.

Any better ideas for lunch? Anyplace with a great, famous Philly cheese steak (or is that a myth?) Even more importantly, good ideas for reasonably priced dinner within walking distance?

There seemed to be some shops across the street and up a block or two. Are these the only nearby shops? Anything else to do to use up a couple of hours?

Thanks!

Loren

[m4star]

You won't be too far from South Street. There are all sorts of shops there- and cheese steaks. As for good restaurants:

Morimoto -yes, it's the Iron Chef's place. But it's good.

Buddakan -another restaurant by the same creator

Fork - my personal favorite in Philadelphia

They all have great websites. Enjoy Philly!

[linsleyd]

I would definetly grab a cab and go down to South Street www.south-street.com. I believe I gave you that site already. South street is a bunch of neat stores and Jim's Steaks is there which I think are the best Cheesesteaks. South Street ends at Penns Landing which looks out onto the Delaware River. Have fun, it's a beautiful city!

[Gracie]

Linsleyd - I remember when we were talking about that before. Thanks for chiming in here again! I thought if I gave this its own thread I would get more responses.

I really need to see more of Philly than I did the last time (March). We are going again in December, too. This conference is always a 36-hour trip and I was dragged kicking and screaming the last time and I'm not so happy about going again, just because business travel requires an awful lot of arrangements to be made at home for DD while I'm gone. Last time I got a cell phone call from the girl that drove DD home from school that she'd been in a minor accident and couldn't drive DD home from school til her car got fixed. So there I was in Philly making carpooling arrangements for north of Boston at 8:00 at night! I thought I might get out of this July trip, but no such luck and I already knew that December is a definite.

How much of a cab ride do you think South Street is from the Doubletree?

Loren

[linsleyd]

It's not too far but I can't figure out exactly. I know I've walked it so it can't too terrible!
Hopefully KristinK will chime in since she lives in the city or will be soon!

Also check out www.gophila.com it will give you some more ideas.

And hopefully your trip will be smoother this time around!:)

[KristinK]

Here I am! I'm not sure about cab costs, but I can offer my suggestions:

For lunch, you should check out the Reading Terminal Market (http://readingterminalmarket.org/) - you can take your pick and grab a quick lunch. There's a place with cheesesteaks in there, but the big names for cheesesteaks are Pat's and Geno's.

For dinner I'd recommend the White Dog Cafe (http://www.whitedog.com/) or Astral Plane (http://www.theastralplane.com/). If you do go down to South Street, you could try The Latest Dish (http://www.latestdish.com/).

I'll keep thinking!

[SusanL]

If you love Cuban food, it was wonderful. Type their website.com. We were wowed!
We plan to go to Morimoto's for my birthday in August.
Reading Terminal Market is also lots of fun.
What about Dante and Luigi's? Ralph's is more expensive but very good, close to Dante and Luigi's.
There is also a Restaurant School where you pay ?$13.00 a meal for food that the students have spent a lot of time organizing. Linsleyd's recommendation for the website is excellent.
If you can get away, South Street is too much fun and exemplifies the Philadelphia experience.
We want to try the White Dog Cafe soon!!

[funnybone]

We were at the White Dog Cafe in Feb and we loved it. It's near (or on?)the U of Penn campus. We enjoyed it very much! :D

[cas]

We ate at Friday, Saturday, Sunday restaurant which was near Rittenhouse Square, I believe. They have a website you can check out the menu on. The food was delicious and reasonably priced too.

[kabs]

Here's a review I wrote about my meal at Morimoto's. We went in February. It's definitely a splurge kind of meal...


http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?threadid=37506

Have fun!

Kim

[Kristine]

I second Kristin's recommendation for the Reading Terminal Market for lunch (or dinner!). I was in Philadelphia a couple of summers ago, and I loved that place - there is a huge variety of choices in there.

Have fun Loren! I really enjoyed my time in Philly.

[Gracie]

Thanks everyone! I really feel like I have a lot of choices now. When I was there in March, the conference organizers didn't tell us anything about the city or the location of the Doubletree in relation to anything fun to do. I went on the trip at the last minute back then when my coworker blew out her knee so I didn't have time to research anything.

I think I'll enjoy it a lot more this time! Whatever I don't get to this month, I'll try to get to for our last meeting in December.

Loren

[Jodi]

Loren,
Another vote for Reading Terminal Market -- the "Term" as my husband and his Philly colleagues call it. Sometimes I meet DH at his office and we walk there for lunch; it's wonderful. So many choices!

I also really like Fork, and I think Jim's on South Street has the best cheesesteaks around. I actually like them better than Pat's and Geno's, to tell you the truth.

Enjoy!
Jodi

[pbutterfly]

I agree about Jim's being better than Pat's or Geno's. :)

When I lived in Philly, my favorite place to go for pretty healthy, really tasty food was Caribou Cafe which was on (I'm pretty sure) Walnut Street somewhere between 9th and Broad (16th) on the South side of the street. Anyone know if it's still there? For inexpensive lunch, I liked The Pour House, which is also in that general area, though South of Walnut on one of the tree-named streets. (I could tell you how to walk there, but not the names of the streets anymore! LOL)

South Street would be a fast cab ride from the Doubletree, or a nice walk, if you're a walker.

I've been wanting to go back and re-explore old haunts, so I hope you have a wonderful time!! :)

lynne

[JaneStarr]

There's this great, inexpensive restaurant called "Vietnam" walking distance from the convention center (if that's where you are staying). I've was only in Phil. for one night, so I don't really know where anything is. This restaurant was recommended by a local and was really good!
Here's a link:
http://www.eatatvietnam.com/
Jane

[allweatherheath]

Hi there,

I am delurking to say.... I live in Philly and there are a lot of great places to eat.

Your hotel is in a great location: short walk from South street, as someone said, which is an entertaining place to visit. You should definately check out Chinatown, which is also less than a mile away (that's where Vietnam, the restaurant is--there's also a fabulous vegetarian Chinese Place called Singapore).

For nice salads, sandwiches, and other "light" fare, check our More Than Just Ice cream 2 blocks away from your hotel on Locust St. between 11th and 12th. They also have, you guessed it, ice cream and other exciting desserts.

If you like a nice beer with a nice meal, Nodding Head
at 15th and Sansom, and Monk's Cafe at 16th and Spruce have semi-fancy food(think steamed mussels, great salads, baked brie, upscale burgers, salmon, etc.) and exciting beer: Monk's has hundreds of kinds of Belgian beer, and Nodding head brews its own seasonal varieties.

The White Dog Cafe is very nice for fancy organic food, as someone else mentioned, and they have a cute gift shop that is interesting to nose around. That's at 34th and Sansom (a block north of Walnut). You could take a cab or the 21 bus from Broad and Walnut (1 block north of your hotel) to 34th and Walnut. The bus fare is $2 a person.

If you need a quick lunch, there's a food court in the Bellevue Hotel basement at the SE corner of Broad and walnut. There's an interesting Mexican place there called "12th St. Cantina" that has exciting salad (and other stuff).

As for other stuff to do, you are within walking distance of the historical sites and parks around 6th St, including the newly opened Constitution Center at 5th and Market. There are 2 free events papers (the city paper and the Philly Weekly) easily found all along Broad street. There are 3 excellent independent movie houses within walking distance (check out www.ritzfilmbill.com for their schedule). There are a Borders and a Tower very close at Broad and Chestnut.

that's probably more than you ever wanted to know. It just sort of came out!

Hope you have a good trip.

-heather in philly

[gertdog]

Another vote for Nodding Head- DH and I love that place! We had a fantastic salad there- I can't remember what it was called- maybe a southwestern caesar of some sort. And the fries, if you choose to indulge, are fabulous.

Beau Monde Creperie, just off South Street, is nice for a change of pace.

Reading Terminal Market is a must-visit for a foodie! Enjoy!