davidbdesilva

Yes, Judy and I will be attending for sure. If I am thinking of the right place, I believe this restaurant used to be called Luigi's and is right on Rte 611 next to a car dealership (Holmans?) and a stone's throw from the quarry across the road (har har). It will be good to mangia bene, bibita bene, e vedere buono amici! Ciao mio paisan Italiano!

Rich, even though this is literally right in the backyard of where I work, I have never been there nor heard anything from anyone who has, sorry! The DDC menu looks great though.

Good to hear from you Dr. Fentonstein! I would have gladly taken rude and disdainful over what we got anytime!!! And yes, the drinks at the hotel bar are quite steep ($12 for a cocktail!). Are you back from your Italian stay good doctor?

Thanks Katie. Amada is our favorite place to dine in Philadelphia but we wanted to try something different. I thought about Chez Colette but for some reason I am always hesitant about hotel restaurants (not sure why). We wanted to stay casual (jeans) so we shied away from restaurant row places. I think Caribou Cafe would have been much better (then again, anything would have been). I was surprised to see the Sept Grains on their wine list and for a fairly decent price ($39). It really did not put a damper our damp but very pleasant night out. We ended with drinks and cigars in the nice hotel bar (The Bourse). Stay at the Sofitel, see Cirque many times, but stay away from Patou, oui?

My wife and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary this weekend with an overnight stay in the city. We decided on staying at Sofitel and enjoyed the hotel very much. Modern, well appointed, and chic without being pretentious. When booking online I mentioned that it was our anniversary and when we got to our room a complimentary bottle of champagne along with a little vase of baby roses were awaiting, a very nice touch. Well, at the last minute we also decided to get tickets to Cirque (Quidam) and the show was amazing (as usual) and my wife enjoyed it immensely. Given that we were staying at a French hotel and seeing a French circus, we decided to stay with the theme and have a French meal. Our first choice, Pif, was closed due to vacation. Le Bar Lyonnaise was booked and we wanted to stay casual. Given that, I decided to give Patou a try (over Caribou Cafe), hearing some good things from people. Well I am sorry to say that it was one of the worst meals I've ever had in Philadelphia and will never return. We found the atmosphere cheap and IKEA-ish and the service amateurish. Now onto the food: started with a lobster Mille Feuille in which the lobster was overdone and tough, moved onto horrible entrees of mushy skate wing that had quite an odd taste and flavorless halibut. The combinations that they put together in there entrees we found quite odd as well. For example, a ginger red snapper with feta cheese and the tomato, sweet potatoes, and eggplant accompanients to my wife's halibut. We ended with profiterols that were made in a thick, clumsy pastry. None of the food was good at all. I questioned whether it could actually be Patrice Rames cooking, but on a Saturday night perhaps it was. Even if it wasn't, any sous chef should be able to cook better than that! The only saving graces were that a really good jazz quartet showed up and we had a great bottle of Sept Grains Riesling (remember how good it was when shared with Philiadining and Katie at a restaurant in Chinatown). I guess in baseball 2 outta 3 is pretty good, but on your anniversary it isn't. Luckily I have a very forgiving and beautiful wife who didn't seem to mind.

Sounds good to me Rich and I'll always supply the stogies! Even my lovely little wife is becoming more of a beer drinker, enjoying Belgian Hefleweizen's and loving Framboise Lambic's (AND smoking my cigars! Well remember, she IS half Cuban afterall).

Perhaps these restaurants are realizing that, in a city full of BYOB's, people are not willing to pay the 400% mark-up that they place on their wines? (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, at least some of the time?). I think the end result will be some people (like me) trying some of these restaurants that they would normally avoid because the alcohol tab runs up the total bill to an astronomical amount. This is the case with Jakes, which we will now have to give a try (on a BYOB night). Thanks Katie!

I realized that it probably wouldn't apply to the 'burbs after I posted Rich, but thanks for the clarification. I'm sure it will spread to the 'burbs and then perhaps statewide after a while. I just think that extremes, in whatever format, are usually just that, extreme, and not the way to go. I'm sure one could take such a ban to an even more extreme conclusion in which my neighbor could have me banned from smoking cigars on my front porch or backyard because they are inhaling my second-hand smoke - not implausible. I wonder if "private" little places like The Vault at the Ritz or The Library Lounge at the Bellevue (or whatever it is now) will be spared or have to close down? I just hope there are SOME options available for me to enjoy a fine cigar and scotch after all is said and done.

I am on both sides of this issue, very literally. When I go out to eat I don't want to dine with smoke whatsoever so I'm glad about that. But being a cigar smoker, which is ten times as restrictive as cigarette smoking to begin with, there will literally be no where to smoke them (except perhaps places like Mahogony on Walnut where one pays exorbidant prices for drinks). Alas, gone will be my (and my wife's) favorite place to smoke a cigar and have a drink: sitting in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton at a candle-lit table while Miles and Sinatra plays and while my smoke wafts straight up to the 80-foot ceilings and bothers no one (sigh ). Also caught in the middle will be places like The Drafting Room, which has one side which is a restaurant and serves food in a smoke-free environmet and the other side which is a bar and allows smoking (including cigars). Being well over the 10% food limit (on both sides) they will obviously have to ban smoking on both sides, not giving people a choice. As with all mandates such as this, there are always pro's and con's.

Wife and I were in town late last night and hungry, so I says to myself, "self, who serves late dinner on a Sunday evening? Why Amada of course silly." So we place a quick call as we are traveling from South Philly to Olde City and they say they can seat us when we get there. Well at 9:30 it was still hopping! We were seated in a remote section that I did not know existed but was cozy and romantic. Being hungry and as is our usual plan, we went 3 small plates and 2 large plates. Went with one of our favs, the crab stuffed peppers and then tried 2 new plates, the Montaditos (three large crostini, one with foie gras and pineapple which was like eating sweet butter, one with tuna, tomato and cilantro, and one with white anchovie, red pepper and olive spread, all delish) and the lobster (which was tender and delish but a little on the small side). For our large plates we went with our favs: the filet and the goat cheese stuffed lamb chops, both amazing in their own right. All this was accompanied by an excellent Ribera del Duoro (Tiberio, $43) that was out of this world good. We actually ordered desserts, and two of them. The banana ice cream sandwiches and the lemon tart, both fantastic. With this I ordered a glass of Ximenez reserve sherry (Lustau?) which was like syrupy liquid sweetness, incredible. Another incredible meal from start to finish. And to top it all off we were served again by Brett, one of the friendliest, most knowledgeable and professional servers I've had the pleasure to dine with. Can you tell I like this place?

I have a broad definition of "Philly" I guess. Besides, I thought everyone knew that from Trenton south IS Philly and north of it is New York.

Great suggestions from all previous posts. My favorite place for a casual, yet good, dining experience as you watch the city go by is The Bishops Collar on Fairmount. Snag a table outside on a warm summer evening, order the warm proscuitto, cheese and red pepper sammy (or other tasty comforting dish) along with a great beer on tap and just relax and enjoy. The Collar is a great neighborhood pub and the owners and staff are super friendly. It's an ecclectic mix of young professionals and older locals and is always a lively crowd. I believe they still have live music on their miniscule "stage" area at the back of the bar, which gets quite loud and is best enjoyed from outside. The tables are large and line both sides of this corner bar. Can you tell I like it? It's a favorite place to meet my brother, have good food and drink, and enjoy a cigar (or two). I would also recommend Figs up the street as well. A lively place to have good food and bring your own liquid refreshment on a nice evening. Fork has numerous tables outside bt can get a bit crowded on weekends. Manayunk Brewery's large deck overlooking the river is quite nice on a nice evening, often with live music. Food is so-so but I think they could do a decent burger to go with their brews. Finally, though a little more upscale but one of the nicest outdoor dining spots in the area (IMHO), is the Hamilton Grill Room in Lambertville NJ. Dine outdoors next to the canal (it's BYOB) and then stroll across the tree-lit and romantic courtyard ("Porkyard") and sit at a candle-lit table at the Boathouse Bar for a nightcap, an enchanted evening for sure. Rich, remind you of an article I wrote for you a little while back?

Thanks Philadining for the excellent photo's, saves me the trouble of trying to post mine myself (you did see my face while you were explaining it didn't you?). I concur that the encore dinner was excellent from start to finish. Our intimate party of 15 had a great time conversing and I was able to meet many new people. Those mussels are amazing and I thought my wife's goat cheese app was excellent as well. Having had my first experience with Venison last night (yes odd I know, especially living up here in the northern 'burbs where the beginning of dear season is like a national holiday), I must say it was delicious. Incredibly tender and flavorful and went well with the Pinot Noir we were drinking. Snagged a taste of Philadining's Pork tenderloin and I thought it was very tender and delish as well. Thanks to Jeff Natale and his excellent assistant chef Jessica for a seamless meal. Thank you to the servers (I'm sorry I forget their names) who have the prefect combination of professionalism and friendliness, their service was excellent. Thanks to Chef Todd for opening up his restaurant and to Jeff L for organizing. Mandoline is a true winner! And then running into Katie and Herb for after dinner drinks at the Bleu Martini topped it all off!

I too have never liked Bucks County Coffee but I know a lot of people do. I am a big La Colombe fan, I love their Corsica and have recently begun drinking their delish decaf (Monte Carlo) in the evenings. Only decaf that doesn't taste like decaf, IMHO. For daily "on the way to work" consumption I really like WaWa coffee personally. I am surprised only one person mentioned Ray's in Chinatown, the only place where I've paid $8-10 for a cup of coffee and it was definitely worth it.

I think the DDC would be extremely impressed with the regular menu, a special menu created just for us would be incredible. As I said, I counted about 38 seats. We have had a number of dinners that had to be capped at 40. I think this is a great idea and would love to see a dinner at Mandoline and soon!

Jeff, for a party of six they push a 2 top together with a 4 top and it works just fine (as they did when we were there with tables by the window). I think your idea is a great one because as you can see from the menu Katie posted, we did have a difficult time choosing what to eat!

Jeff, the halibut was not basted/roasted but (I believe) pan seared. And, as LeBan stated, was extremely moist and tender, cooked to perfection. Completely different place than Amada but very very good. I would recommend it highly!

After 2 excellent meals at Amada, the wife and I decided to try the itty bitty BYOB bistro just a few doors down that is Mandoline. I counted about 38 seats so it is cozy and quaint, with nice art work on the walls and Miles playing on the sound system. The open kitchen is small and does not intrude into the small space at all. We were hungry so wound up having apps, entrees and desserts, all of which were excellent. Portions are very large (probably a bit too large). For apps we had a heaping bowl of mussels done in a coconut curry gravy that was as good as I've had at any Thai restaurant. The mussels were cooked to perfection and we sopped up the gravy with the nice bread we had. We also had corriander crusted seared tuna with a tomato chutney. Very high grade tuna (I'm no expert though) that was excellent as well. For entrees we both ordered the special (atypical that we order the same thing) which was a perfectly cooked piece of moist and tender halibut resting atop a bed of pancetta ristotto with a pureed aspargus sauce, excellent. For desserts we had a deish hazelnut torte and refreshing grapefruit and campari sorbet served with la colombe coffee. From start to finish an excellent meal that we enjoyed a lot (can you tell?). From soup to nuts with tax and tip it was $110, well worth it we thought. As I said, it really was too much food for us and my wife brought half of her entree home with her. Service was relaxed and excellent. I would recommend Mandoline very highly and we will definitely return!

I agree that there does not seem to a distinctive Philly Style pizza. I will also say that I do not understand what all the hubbub is all about regarding NY style pizza. I have had some examples of it and found it completely lacking, though I have never had the best. Being out here in the burbs myself, we order from Guiseppie's in Lansdale (where we live) and feel that it is good. Not too thin not too thick chewy crust, good sauce and enough of it, good toppings. When we feel like a change we will order from New Station down the block, deep dish pizza made by Greek people rather than Italians, and being a nice change of pace. If your in lovely hip Lansdale (not that's an oxymoron) give them a try.

Well we finally made it to Aman's in what is considered Norristown and we were glad we found it. Took the family again and we had an excellent meal. The owner is very friendly and has a great sense of humor. For apps we all shared veggy pakora and meat samosa's, both spicy but not overly so and excellent. For entrees my younger two kids always have chicken tikka masala and Aman's was very good. Older daughter had a chicken mango curry dish which was very good and wife and I both ordered malai tikka from the tandoor. While used to pieces of drier chicken in this dish, Aman's was very tender and moist, with a delicious ginger-garlic flavor. Each dish was excellent and we had much to take home for lunch the next day. The garlic nan and roti was very good as well. All the way around an excellent meal and when a family of 5 can have quality food like that and that much for about $71 (before tip) I think you're doing damn good. Aman's is fairly close to us so we will definitely be back and hopefully soon (I'm getting hungry just talking about it).

Glad you enjoyed Castello's Mano and found the food to be as good as we found it. Castello's is a great additon to the area and we will be eating there as often as possible. One major drawback so far though, is that they need to hire more help and the owner (Habib) knows this. Our last visit on a Saturday night was horrible. We waited 20 minutes till the waiter acknowledged us and 40 minutes till we got bread. I just recommended Castello's to a work colleague who said that the food was excellent but that their party of 5 had to wait an hour till they saw their waiter!!! After asking the waiter to comp. them something, he asked the owner and he refused! This is truly a shame because it's a great restaurant but they are going to start losing business if they don't remedy the situation and quick. So, go here but not on a Saturday night!

I trust your palate Philadining so we will have to give it another try. It was kinda busy, with a number of large tables, so perhaps they were a bit off (and their specials a bit higher than usual because of NYE?). I would also like to try Jaipura which I believe is near there? We were going to try Amon, which has been mentioned in this thread and which is close to us but information had no phone number so I wonder if it's still open? As I said, we love Indian so we like exploring different places. I would like to try a place that specializes in South Indian food but it seems that is hard to find.

As is our tradition on New Year's Eve we took the family out for dinner. We usually choose something Asian, such as Thai, Vietnamese or Indian since the kids love all of them. Decided to try a new Indian restaurant and after reading the hype about Desi Village decided to give them a try. I was pleased that they were serving their regular menu and not one with jacked up prices. Well I must admit that we were all underwhelmed quite a bit and shocked at their prices. For apps we had decent veggy somosa's and a coconut chicken malabar, both fairly good bt nothing fantastic. For entrees we decided to slurge since it was New Year's and the wife had a shrimp special (at $24.95!) and daughter had mango chicken special (at $18.95!). Younger kids split a Tikka Masala and I had the ginger and garlic chicken tikka. The specials were OK but wildly overpriced, the tikka masala was on the bland side, and the chicken tikka was pretty good. Decent garlic naan. Kids had mango lassi's and I was shocked when I got the bill that they were $4.95 a pop! ($15 on drinks?). We usually eat at Sultan in Lansdale and found ourselves saying that we would still be eating there over Desi. We found the food at Desi to not be that bright and to be totally lacking in heat. I ordered my dish "medium Indian" and there was literally no heat. Others ordered theirs "medium american" and they were not hot at all. Not sure if we ordered the wrong things but specials at $19-25 ought to be outstanding and they just weren't. Khajuraho is still our all time favorite, with Sultan after that. BTW, we tried "Indian Delight" in the K of P mall recently and found that food to be rather good, especially for Indian fast food!

I live in Lansdale and have eaten at mostly all of the BYOB's in the Montgomeryville area. I would recommend the following: Ristorante Castello, a new Italian place in the Montgomery Common shopping center off of Rte. 63 serving very good food in an upscale setting. Right next door is Sultan, a causual Indian place serving very good food. Ravenna on Rte. 73 near Skippack, serving very good Northern Italian food in a nice atmosphere. Nearly next door to that is Fuzion, serving very good Asian fusion food in a nice setting. In Amber is Traxx Cafe, located in the old train station, quaint and cozy along with good food. Alison's at Blue Bell, very good seafood and other fare in an upscale setting. You'll probably get more suggestions that I'm not thinking of but I hope these help.

We recently tried Lolita and loved it, incredible lamb and beef tenderloin dishes. Not in the city but Tamarindo's in Blue Bell is very good.