chowfun

That is really good news for all of the folks up at Temple Medical School and Temple Hospital. I did my residency there from 1989-1992 and it was an absolute food wasteland. The only thing that could be said for the hospital cafeteria was that is was still better than the VA. There was a little pizza, and sub place that we would make runs to out of the back of the ER and if you were in the mood to risk your life there was a salad bar place on Germantown Ave.

I tried Morimoto for the first time two months ago for lunch. The sushi was unimpressive and lackluster. We did enjoy the kumomoto oysters on the half shell with three different sauces and I got a dish that was like Bibimbop but made with yellow tail that was very delicious.

The menu looks very authentic. The next time we are in South Jersey we will be there!

Dear MikeyTree, Can you be more specific about type of cuisine, price range, ambience, neighborhood?

Dock Street Brew pub at 50th and Baltimore has great beer and very good pizza and salads. It is a fun space. You could also consider a Chinese banquet in Chinatown, or like a friend of mine did a number of years ago, a Burmese banquet at Rangoon in Chinatown.

Here are some thoughts. There are two Jewish deli's very close to the Barnes, Murray's and Hymie's. My mother-in-law thinks Murray's is better. You could go out for a higher end brunch at Jakes in Manayunk, a restaurant that has never disappointed us. If you are willing to travel a little further out to Gulph Mills, Savona does an elegant Sunday brunch. You mentioned going only as far as Bryn Mawr, but if you are willing to go a little further down Lancaster Ave to Wayne, Theresa's Next Door does Sunday Brunch. We have been there for lunch and it is very good and they have a several page beer and wine menu. In Manayunk, Chabaa Thai does lunch starting at 1pm and their food is pretty good. In Wynnewood, Sang Kee Asian Bistro for lunch is a favorite of ours, and close to the Barnes.

Sorry about the double post, but here is one more family friendly Chestnut Hill place. Top of the Hill farmers market opened a cafe in the space that was vacated by Cake on Evergreen off Germantown Ave. They have nice homemade soups sandwiches and entrees and they are open until 7pm. Cake, now in the previous greenhouse of Roberston's flowers, serves breakfast and lunch but alas, no dinner. And of course, delicious dessert.

This place is so good, I cant believe no one has written about it for two years. Their beer selection is excellent. We just had lunch there today after a free at noon XPN concert. They make the best rendition of snapper soup I have ever had. They should get an award for it. It has a thin broth unlike the more traditional versions that has a rich flavor, spicy, meaty. Perfectly cooked diced veggies, carrots onions with a little crunch, perfectly cooked snapper meat chunks, an island of rice in the middle in a little cup of something like phyllo, and a hard boiled quails egg. Perfect for a miserable rainy day. I was actually dreaming of pho, but we didnt feel like traveling to Chinatown, South Philly or NE philly for it. This was a perfect substitution. Also notable was the dessert we shared. Pistachio cheescake with a phyllo crust served with pistachio brittle. Very sophisticated flavors. It was like a middle eastern dessert taken up many notches.

General Lafayette has pretty good food and pretty good beer. Their food is not up to the gastropubs in Center City, Old city... They brew their beer and and it is pretty good. Some better than others. I like their rasberry mead, and they make a good chocolate lager. A big negative is the amount of smoke in the bar area. Good new is that they now offer the same menu in the bar and dining room, so if you want to escape the smoke you are not committed to a fancy expensive dinner. The dining room might be too quiet for a toddler, but not at an early hour, particularly if adults dont mind taking turns wandering around the building with said toddler. There is a lot of roaming room in there. They do a very nice Sunday Brunch. I just dont get Persian Grill. It is so popular. I live in Lafayette Hill very close to this restaurant and I can use this place as a landmark because everyone knows where it is. We have tried it a couple of times and had so-so food. Overpriced, slow service, not too much food for the money and overcooked dry meat. My Iranian friends also go to Shundeez regularly.

The ribs can be tough from the rib crib, but I love their sauce. We had some good barbecue from the Duck Deli in Doylestown a few years ago.

I am a little bit directionally challenged when it comes to where Dresher is, but there is an Iron Hill Brewery in North Wales, and in Spring House there is a Mediterranean place that has come highly recommended to us that we havent been able to get to yet called Arpreggio. We tried to go there once and it looked casual and low key enough to take a kid. It is packed on weekends, and we havent attempted to get there on a week night. In Fort Washington there is Palace of Asia.

I wouldnt write off McNally's, they have things toddlers might enjoy such as soup, turkey sandwiches, grilled cheese, hot dogs. The food is very good and they are welcoming to young children. Bitars in Mt Airy next door to Mcmenamin's has very good pita sandwiches. They make a chicken sandwich with fries and hot peppers, onions and tomato that they put in the fryer that I am addicted to. McMenamins is great and they have an excellent beer selection. It is much better there with the smoking ban in place. I couldnt go there when people smoked inside. You could likely get away with going to Cafette early. They have a few rooms to dine in, so you might be able to get a room to your own early in the evening. In the warm weather they serve outside, perfect for toddlers. Sometimes going somewhere kid friendly trumps fine dining, particularly if your kid is cranky and hungry. At that type of time I would go to Cosimo's pizza, they have a tv at kid level that plays kid videos. The food is passable. From the Boot in Lafayette Hill is pretty good. If you want to get take out, the Rib Crib in Germantown is very good. I have heard really good things about Geechee Girl Rice Cafe, but I have also heard that they are slow to get the food out, which is not a good situation with a toddler. What Northern suburb do your inlaws live in? I know some more places out my way in Conshy, Plymouth Meeting, Norristown, East Norriton.

As good as our meal was last visit, it took us this long to get back. We went to the Hot Tuna concert last night, so we ate dinner early, 5:15. It was nice and quiet and this time, we had a leisurely paced meal, the service was excellent, smooth, friendly, unrushed. The amuse was a delicious little taste of pumpkin soup. Food standouts were the two appetizers we ordered. The meat agnolotti special served in browned butter with toasted sage were delicious. Meaty and rich, a nice dish for a chilly night. The tuna tartar had many flavors and textures that could be tasted separately and did not get in the way of the taste of the tuna. We were boring and ordered the same entreees as last visit, the boullabaise and the roasted striped bass. Both were very good but the appetizers outshined them. The shrimp were slightly overcooked in the boullabaise, the striped bass in the entree was slightly overcooked but not in the boullabaise were it was just perfect. The dessert menu could have more variety. The beignets served with custard sauce and a fruit sauce were great, the chocolate cake was served with a moten center and a nice caramel and tea ice cream. I think they could offer some type of fruit tart or pie or poached fruit, or cobbler, and ice cream and sorbet as dessert choices.

You could order from Russ and Daughters. They make the best whitefish and baked salmon salad, nothing else I have ever had from any where else is as good. Their herring is excellent. I have not tried their chopped herring, but their sliced herring is the best. Fresh cut, packed separately from the sauce and onions, never mushy.

We want to cater a party at work, and the cuisine of choice for the party is Italian. Any suggestions of restaurants that cater? My office manager wants to call Maggiano's and I am sure we can do better than that for food and price.

They sound more like the high end restaurants in Manhatten rather than Philly. You are right, we are not looking to do a dinner of quite that claliber, due to both the price and the fact that we are going to shows and a dinner like that takes time and should be relaxing and not rushed. I was hoping that some of them do lunch, alas!

Wow! That pancake looks good! I wonder if it is worth renting a car just to be able to eat breakfast there! Thank you for your suggestions. We love pizza and we will be sure to try at least one of your suggested places, ditto for Vietnamese food (we do have some good Vietnamese food here in Philly). The Hop Leaf looks great, their beer menu alone makes it worth a stop. During the days I'm a little unclear about what we will be doing but I think we will be walking around a lot, and going to museums. We want to walk through Millenium park, maybe go to the Hancock observatory, Art Institute, see the Buckingham fountain, maybe see the Museum of Science and Industry. As far as what we would like to eat, really anything that is really good. We tend to go out of our way to try something really special ranging from the best pizza, or sandwich of a particular type to ethnic food (any kind) to fancy fine dining as long as it is worth going out of our way for. Sorry to be so vague. Its not the best way to get many replies.

We are coming from Philly to see the Phil Lesh shows at the Riviera Theater. It is the weekend of the Chicago Marathon, so we are staying in Evanston. We are not renting a car, we are planning to use public transportation and taxis. I am looking for suggestions for breakfast, lunch and early dinner. Dinner spots near the theater would be best. During the day we will be taking in as many sights in Chicago that we can fit, as my husband and I have never visited Chicago before. Any and all suggestions are welcome. We like all kinds of food.

Everything at Zwahlen's is great. Bluefin is really good. The fish is very fresh, the sushi rice is good. It is a pain to get in on a weekend. Early or late on a weekday night is a good bet. We havent ordered their cooked food in years, but that is not so good. Aman's in East Norriton is a very good Indian restaurant. They will make it hot if you order your food hot. They have mostly Northern Indian food, but they do have dosa's. The service for dinner is excellent. We are not buffet lovers so we have not gone for their buffet lunch (served 7 days a week for those inclined to check it out) China Inn (Northtowne) in East Norriton is good for a suburban strip mall Chinese restaurant. Their hot and sour soup is good. They do make salt and pepper shrimp, unusual for the burbs (but alas not squid), and if you ask they almost always have Chinese greens (not on the menu). Sometimes you have to ask many different ways to get beyond the Western veggie medley that passes for Chinese food at many restaurants. Sang Kee Asian Bistro in Wynnwood on the other hand is as good if not better than Chinatown, high end panAsian ( a bad word in my book, but they make it work!). So many excellent dishes, why didnt they open in Plymouth Meeting or Lafayette Hill!!!!!! It makes me cry! Very good noodle and dumpling soups, Japanese style eel, tofu skin roll, chicken lettuce wraps, Malaysian baked seafood rice, excellent snow pea greens, bronzino (surprisingly great!), Peking duck, Pacific Oysters. I could go on and on. Not to mention a beautiful room and excellent service, but BIG WARNING: GO AT OFF-HOURS. This place is not just busy, it is overrun every day of the week. It is a good place for a late lunch on a weekend, a very early dinner (do not get there past 5pm). We ate there one New Years Eve and it was empty. They are no longer BYO which is not good news. A new find for us, but not at all a new restaurant is Thai Orchid in Blue Bell. A restaurant hidden in a strip mall at 202 and Township Line road, it is a stunning room full of art and crafts from Thailand, paneled in beautiful wood, great service, and very good Thai food that they are willing to make as hot as you want. If you really like Thai hot then you must go beyond their 3 or 4 star system and ask for 8 stars or 10 stars depending on how hot you like. We ordered a dish 4 star hot as it appeared on the menu and we thought it was more one star hot. The Tom Yum was quite hot, without a special request and it was delicious. The entrees are quite generous in size and served with a side vegetable and rice. A standout was a duck salad special. Somehow my kids had room for dessert and their desserts were just as good as the dinner. My son ordered a caramel tort and it was both unusual and excellent.

Here is my report of our recent trip up to Mt. Desert Island. On the way up we were so curious about the Pemaquid Fisherman's coop that we had to try it. The lobster roll was huge, stuffed with lobster meat. I couldnt finish it. It was very good. I dont know if this is a silly thing to say to all of you afficianados, but I dont like the lobster meat in a lobster roll to be ice cold. Many places serve it this way, including Pemaquid, but I enjoy it so much more when the lobster has been warmed up a bit. As far as a destination for lunch during the big drive from points south, I like five islands more, it is such a beautiful spot. And for the times we dont want to drive out of our way, Young's in Belfast is good. We tried Mache Bistro this trip. This is a very good restaurant. They write the menu on a blackboard, so I assume it changes regularly. We really loved the scallop appetizer, two giant scallops just barely cooked, that melted in the mouth. The entrees were very good, and so was dessert. Service was very good. I was surprised and disappointed with their salads, especially at a for a place called mache. Havana was even better. Cuban or latin inspired dishes, well executed with high quality ingredients. Even more impressive is their wine selection and excellent sommelier. Very professional service, an overall excellent experience. We enjoyed dining in the building in the back where they have the wine cellar. It is a nice space with high ceilings and lots of art on the walls. Cafe This Way is another great dinner spot in Bar Harbor. We have been going there for years and they did not disappoint this year. They make great salads and one salad is enough for two to share. Entrees were delicious. I had butterfish with a crunchy crouton/bread crumb topping. They also do a great breakfast. We ended up going to Seafood Ketch in Bass Harbor this year, and the only thing to recommend about this place is that you can sit outside and watch the sunset as you eat, but it can get a bit cold out there. The food is mediocre. The hostess was either having a terrible day or she needs to find a new profession, because she was unbelievably rude, not to us in particular but to everyone. We ate at Beals and Thurstons. I like the staff at Thurstons better, they are more personable but these are two very good lobster pounds. Beals has the whole sitting and eating in a working harbor thing going for it, and thankfully this year they put the drinks, food, and lobster all together in the same building so that you can order everything at the same time. We went to Ellsworth for dinner one night and tried Cleonice. This is an excellent restaurant. They grow many of their own vegetables, they serve somewhat mediterranean themed tapas, lunch an dinner. Everything we had there was delicious. The restaurant itself is a time capsule, it is in an old soda fountain/pharmacy, and it has all of the original wood booths and bar and panelling. It is a special place and worth a venture from Mt Desert Island. Morning Glory Bakery makes great bread, pastries and is worth a visit when in Bar Harbor. There is a dairy on MDI that sells raw, unhomogenized milk in glass bottles and yogurt. Their products can be found at The Alternative Market in Bar Harbor, Sawyers Market in SW harbor, and Beech Hill farm market. Sawyers is a great source of local cheeses (and imported varieties), local minimally processed poultry and meats and good seafood. They also have nice wines, all kinds of fancy groceries. We also bought great seafood at Parsons on route 233 in Bar Harbor very fresh and great prices. Pectic Seafood in Hall Quarry is also very good, and they also stock cheeses, in house made foods, in house smoked salmon and mussels, local organic vegetables and baked goods. Beech hill farmstand is not to be missed. They are open Tues, Wed, Friday, Saturday from 8-5. They grow wonderful organic vegetables including artichokes, garlic, many kinds of lettuce and greens. Their yellow cherry tomatoes are very sweet as are their beets. The white turnips were great. We tried the Thirsty Whale and we didnt think that the clams were remarkably good. The breading was too thick and they were greasy.

The bicolor corn is sweet juicy and tender. The tenderness of the kernels is the key to its greatness. I will now repeat myself about the donut peaches. They come from a farmer in Bordentown. They taste like nectar, and they have this incredible juicy bite to them. I also like the heirloom tomatoes that are a reddish pink color, they are sweet and not at all acidic. The hot peppers are great, and so is the okra.

Any recommendations for Brattleboro? We will be stopping there on Friday night.

Congratulations Andrew! She is a beautiful baby! Two weekends ago I had the Cinnamon and Chocolate Cherry, I cant remember what it was called but it tasted like chocolate covered marachino cherries. Both flavors were great, but boy do I love cinnamon ice cream. There was an outpost of Steve's ice cream at Penn for a short while in the 80's and they had a cappucino flavor that was mostly cinnamon flavored and it was my favorite. This is my new favorite. My son who is definitely old enough for ice cream and eats as much of if as he can get his hands on had dulce de leche and chocolate banana. That dulce de leche was great. So incredibly rich and creamy, and a very smooth texture. Hubby had yellow cherry and something I cant remember. Their sorbettos are wonderful, especially in summer with all of the different varieties of fresh fruit available.

Time for the yearly bump. The bicolor corn is so sweet you can eat it raw. They pick it fresh daily. The white corn is also great. Home grown eggplants every color and shape, peppers hot or sweet multiple varieties, heirloom tomatoes, beans, tiny brussels sprouts, purple cauliflower, and lovely peaches, plums and berries from other local growers. The white donut peaches are still a knockout. Home grown cantoulope, I havent cut into it yet, but it smells like heaven. And for those of you who like to cut your own flowers in the field....

I was thinking about Silveri's wings when I read the title of this thread. They used to make a great carbonara sauce for pasta, too. We lived at 10th and Clinton when they were still open.