Immigration for your culinary pleasure

[mrbigjas]

So, I was in NYC this weekend, and one of the things I do when I'm up there is to try and eat things I can't get here in town. And it kinda got me thinking for a second: we've had Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and north Indian people here for years. The recent opening of Mexican places really can only be seen as a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. But if it were up to you, what nationality do you wish would move to Philadelphia in large enough numbers to open authentic restaurants?

For me, it's definitely south Indian. Sure, New Delhi or that place down on 2nd & Chestnut say they have South Indian dishes (mainly just meaning dosai), and I love all the usual northern foods like tikka and vindaloo and all that kind of stuff. But what I miss is a restaurant that is south Indian vegetarian from beginning to end. We stopped in at Madras Cafe on 2nd Ave yesterday afternoon for a late lunch, and basically gorged ourselves on the stuff--huge masala dosai, those lentil doughnuts, vegetable jalfrazi, sambar, dal, raita, that spicy pickled veggie mixture they make that's so sour and spicy at the same time... man oh man. And you just can't get it in Philly--from all accounts, the closest South Indian community is up in Edison, NJ.

Anyone else? What are you missing?

[sara]

Vietnamese! (In much larger numbers)

We have a major shortage of good, cheap Vietnamese restaurants. None of those in Philly hold a candle to those in the Falls Church/Arlington VA area. I would give (almost) anything for a pho shop here in West Philly. A place near campus w/ pho, grillled meats w. vermicelli, and spring rolls at reasonable prices would make a killing near Penn's campus.

[KatieLoeb]

Sara:

Pho Xe Lua in Chinatown isn't that far off the beaten track for you, is it? Although, I'm sure you're right that another cheap ethnic eatery near campus would clean up.

For me, as I've mentioned before, I want real GREEK food! More and better Thai food, and some Eastern European restaurants would be nice too.

[mrbigjas]

Vietnamese! (In much larger numbers)

We have a major shortage of good, cheap Vietnamese restaurants. None of those in Philly hold a candle to those in the Falls Church/Arlington VA area. I would give (almost) anything for a pho shop here in West Philly. A place near campus w/ pho, grillled meats w. vermicelli, and spring rolls at reasonable prices would make a killing near Penn's campus.

There are several very good Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown, including as Katie said Pho Xe Lua at 9th & Race, Vietnam Palace and Vietnam on 11th between Race and Vince, along with several others down there.

Also, you need to check out Washington Avenue around and below Broad--Pho 75 at 12th & Washington, the grocery/pho place at 16th that I can never remember the name of, Nam Phuong at 11th & Washington, Pho Ha at 6th... there's another new pho place next to Nam Phuong, there's Cyclo at 6th, and several others around. You can get a damn good banh mi all over down there too.

Unfortunately, it's just that you can't get that stuff in U. City.

Of course, if you're saying the ones here suck compared to Falls Church/Arlington... well, I can't imagine that, if you're talking about a pho shop, because I've had pho in lots of places, and I haven't found it to be any better or worse than any of those places (well, worse, occasionally, but mainly just different everywhere). But I haven't been there, so I'll take your word for it.

Katie--I'm interested in "real" Thai restaurants as well, since I've read numerous places that Thai food in the US has become as americanized as Chinese food.

[Andrew Fenton]

More and better Thai food, and some Eastern European restaurants would be nice too.

Word to the Thai food. But aren't there some eastern European places in town already? I know of a few Polish places in the great Northeast- Syrenka's, for one- though I haven't tried them. I'll bet that there are others up there. Oh, there's also the Warsaw Cafe in Center City...

For myself, I'd gladly sacrifice a half-dozen Italian restaurants for just one really good Carolina-style barbecue place...

Edited June 24, 2003 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[SG-]

Japanese, Thai, Scandinavian, South Indian, Cajun, Spanish.

[sara]

Hi!

Couple of things...yes, in general I am saying the Vietnamese places in Philly don't stack up to those I'm accustomed to in VA. (Specifically, I am talking about Vietnam, Vietnam Palace, Pho 75, Nam Phuong, and Pho Ha, all of which I've been to--I will get to Pho Xe Lua soon....(tho no, I don't consider Chinatown all that close to U.City!)) Pho 75 is a chain w/ branches in the DC area, and yet the pho served at the Philly branch doesn't stack up. Pho Ha's is probably the best in the area, but given that the pho served at Vietnam (and don't even get me started on what's served at Vientiane) lacks depth, complexity, and quite often doesn't appear to have been cooked long enough, that's not saying much. Come to VA and try our Pho 75s, or anything at the more than 3 dozen Vietnamese restaurants in the Eden Center, and you'll see what I mean.

I want a place like Cafe Dalat in Arlington--five-spice chicken, caramel pork, shrimp w/ sugar cane, fairy combination, pho several ways, intensely fresh spring rolls--where dinner for 2 with tons of food is still $20 or less. Nearly everything is grilled, simple, incredibly fresh. I like Vietnam on 11th, but I've found most dishes oversauced, occasionally dried out (even their vermecelli is occasionally under or overcooked), etc.

One other mention--I agree w/the call for more Eastern European restaurants, and I wouldn't count Warsaw Cafe in any assessment of what we already have--it's awful, IMO. A cheap Russian joint, like the Pie in NYC, serving borscht, blinis, and stuffed cabbage at reasonable prices, that'd be nice.

In general, we need more of every kind of restaurant (except Ethiopian and pizza) in West Philly...

[herbacidal]

i go to new york for the same reasons, bigjas.

what i would like:

japanese that isn't sushi (soba, ramen, takoyaki, wagashi, etc.)

south indian

georgian & other former USSR cuisines

sara, have you been to the 2 new vietnamese places at 11th and washington?

don't remember their names. haven't been myself, jes wondering.

[sara]

Nope, haven't been to the places at 11th and W, will have to check out.

I second your call for Japanese--I would love a real bowl of ramen like in Tampopo. And good cold soba other than at Morimoto.

[sara]

Hey

I checked out Nam Phuong at 11th and Washington last week on y'alls recommendation. It was pretty good...

I had the shrimp w/ sugar cane--decent, but the shrimp should've been wrapped around the sugar cane, which it wasn't, and there was little sugar cane present. The rice pancakes were nice tho, and the shrimp was done well.

Also had the seafood curry--just ok, not great, mediocre seafood.

Also the fresh spring rolls--these were not good--a little stale (the wrapper had gotten a little hard).

Drinks--fresh coconut juice (from a can, but that's usual) and a bubble tea and appeared to have been sitting for days--it was all congealed. Yick.

The service was awful--it was around 8 on a week night and yes the place was busy, but we were completely ignored for long long spans of time--before ordering, before receiving food, waiting for them to clear, waiting for the check etc.

MOST interesting tho--the restaurant was completely segregated. We entered from one side and saw all Vietnamese...the hostess came over, and walked my friend and I past the pseudo-divider flower thing, and over to the non-Vietnamese side of the restaurant. I do mean complete and total segregation--two separated sides, no overlap whatsoever. It was very odd, and whereas I saw lots of waiters bringing out plenty of food for the equally crowded Vietnamese side, it really seemed like we were being treated very differently. It was certainly an educational experience for my very Anglo friend and I--but not a great dining experience...And quite different from my experiences at places like the Eden Center in Falls Church VA.

Anyone else been and noticed this? Do the two sides have different menus??

[cinghiale]

Could it be a smoking thing? Last time I was there, I was initially seated on the 11th Street (eastern) side of the room. When I asked if I could smoke, they immediately moved me to the other side of the "divider", where an inordinate number of people seemed to be smoking and were, coincidentally, Asian.

[sara]

I don't think so--we were never asked our smoking preference and honestly, I didn't see a single person smoking while we were there.