Restaurants long gone...

[Holly Moore]

It's a common discussion across the dinner table. Philadelphia restaurants long gone and greatly missed.

My top-of-mind most-missed five:

1. The Commissary - in its orginal configuration. Steve Poses's gourmet cafeteria. Especially for breakfast. Fresh baked croissants and brioche. Custom made omelets whipped up at a special bar in the dining area. Fresh squeezed orange, grapefruit and other juices. Assertive coffee - a blend of Columbian and french roast. And the carrot cake, still available from Frog Commissary caterers.

2. Levis' - an old time hot dog emporium on 6th, just off of South. Featured the oldest working soda fountain. Along with hot dogs, famous for its Champ Cherry soda and fish cakes smashed on top of hot dogs. Bought by a corporation who didn't understand what made Levis' special.

3. Charlie's Waterwheel - seven or eight steps down, on the 1600 block of Sansom. Hoagies and cheesesteaks. Charlie, always smiling and knowing most every customer by name. Packing the orders and throwing in some extra baby hershey bars if he liked you. Heaping plates of free meatballs on the counter. Usually left the place full of meatballs and ate my hoagie later. Charlie had dreams of turning the floor above him into a Romanian restaurant but could never make it happen. It was here I encountered one of the strangest restaurant sights ever. Charlie invited me back into the kitchen to meet his father. His father was in the corner of the kitchen, separated by a folding screen, in a hospital bed connected to Oxygen. No other options for Charlie. Business had severely died off with the opening of the food court at Libery Place and he couldn't afford home care.

4. Taylor's Country Store - three funky stories of hodge podge ruled over by gruff but loveable Charlie Taylor - akin to the soup Nazi when you were ordering, but a solid friend once you hacked your way through his grouchy exterior. His wife, Anita, with a personality the opposite of Charlie's, making the sandwiches. A piano in the window, at the keys an attorney playing for his lunch. Home baked bread. Chicken salad with grapes.

5. Hog Island Hoagies - only lasted a year or so, but took a historical approah to hoagies. Hollowed out round loaves of Italian bread and filled them with a chopped up and tossed together antipasto of haogie fixin's. Supposedly how the wives of the Hog's Island shipbuilders made them for their husbands (called Hoggies) to haul to work. One history of the Hoagie attributies the name to the evolution of the term "Hoggie."

[Chuckles52]

I remember wassisname.

Italian, nearly in South Philly. I remember the air conditioner over the door that was wrapped in barbed wire, even had Xmas bulbs hanging from it. One was seated at long communal tables and given some of the best red gravy I can remember. Courted my exwife there a few times... wait maybe the placer was telling me something by closing. Does anyone remember its name?

[Holly Moore]

Strolli's, perhaps? Dine like a king for $5.95. Chianti in cafeteria glasses.

[rlibkind]

Soon after I moved to Phila. in 1979 I began frequenting Steak City, a steak and hoagie and breakfast luncheonette on 17th, roughly where the entrance to the Westin now stands at Liberty Place. The owner, George, had just bought the building when Rouse announced plans to top Billy Penn's chapeau. George held out for the bucks and went into the real estate business; at last report, he had retired to his native Greece.

What astounded me was not the quality of the steaks and hoagies (they were okay, nothing special but competent). Rather, it was breakfast: there would be a line 20 people long, but you never had to give your order if you were a regular. By the time you reached the head of the line at the cash register, your order would be ready.

One of his former employees carries on the tradition from a food cart at 20th & Market outside Sovereign Bank.

Note to Holly: I know you're a hot dog maven, but I never understood the attractions of Levis. Admittedly, I didn't try it until I moved to town and by that time they were in economic decline. It's probably on the order of: the best hamburger you ever had was the hamburger of your youth; same thing for hot dogs.

[mrbigjas]

I miss Levis too.

Also Magnolia Cafe. Not because it was that great--although if I remember right it was pretty damn good--but because I went to eat there a lot at a time in my life when a lot of things were going on and I didn't have much money, so they were all memorable to me.

Also Phillippe. I know it was only there for a very short while, but we went there once and I had an absolutely stunningly good meal. I wish it had survived; it was so nice in an old-school kinda way.

[sara]

Not terribly long gone, but greatly missed on my part--

Orfeo on Walnut St--lovely, reasonably-priced Asian cuisine

Guru on South St--$10 duck confit!

New Joe Shanghai--see the soup dumpling thread

[Rich Pawlak]

Old Original Levis was a revelation to me in college, in the mid-70s, when a bunch of us from Penn would venture down to then-still-funky South St. and hit Levis and eat like kings for a couple of bucks. Still the best hot dogs I've ever had,and I grew up on good dogs in and around Scranton (Yankee Lunch, Coney Island, Abe's in Wilkes-Barre, and the great dogs from Gutheinz butcher shop). Levis dogs were spicy, popped when you bit into them, and when I finally had the hot dog-fish cake combo sandwich, great mother of God, it was pure heaven.

[Rich Pawlak]

Place I miss around Philly:

Nicolosi's Roast Beef and Pork on 7th St in South Philly: tiny, little place, stand up only, and great spoleto rolls that made the sandwiches look that much better.

DiNic's on 10th and Oregon: in college, it was open 24 Hours,and man, did the roast beef and pork taste great at 2 or 3 AM......

Strolli's: food like my nonna made, and so cheap and nostalgically romantic, it was actually a cool date restaurant!

The Commisary: because it opened our eyes to creative food and let us watch most of it being made to order for us, a clever idea

Frog: because it went the next logical step from Commisary and made simple American food grand.

[cinghiale]

I second Frög. Really enjoyed it. But where the hell was it? I can't figure out which building it was in. On Locust, right?

Strolli's was cheap, but not particularly good. Still made for voracious dining, though.

Also:

Fratelli (Rago), 19/Spruce: Good, fairly creative (for the time) Italian.

Bistro Bix, 12/Sansom: Site of the old London. Peter Dunmire's first exec Chef job, I think.

Saigon, 9/Washington: The first Vietnamese restaurant in Philly, I believe (ca. anno 1980).

Palumbo's, 9/Catharine: Decent gravy joint, but the ambience was sooo 1950s. Great photos on the wall.

And for post-dining fun, I miss:

East Side Club

Kennel Club

Love Club/Love Hall

CEC Center

Edited April 14, 2004 by cinghiale (log)

[Holly Moore]

The Commisary: because it opened our eyes to creative food and let us watch most of it being made to order for us, a clever idea

Frog: because it went the next logical step from Commisary and made simple American food grand.

Didn't Frög precede the Commissary by a couple of years. The old Frög, that is. The one in the building that is now Monk's.

A few years later Steven Poses upscaled the new Frög and moved it to the 1600 block of Locust in what is now a law firm. I prefered the old Frög.

Poses did this with the Commissary too. Expanded it, doubling/tripling its size. Adding a market. Like the old Frög, the old Commissary was best. Wasn't broke. Didn't need no fixin'. Then again, I wasn't paying the staffing (labor) costs.

[Holly Moore]

Soon after I moved to Phila. in 1979 I began frequenting Steak City, a steak and hoagie and breakfast luncheonette on 17th, roughly where the entrance to the Westin now stands at Liberty Place.

Was that the place where the prep people were walled off with just a small pass through at waist level. You placed your order and then moved down the line to the register?

Same block, the original Onasis. Good basic greek food and totally authentic including the dancing and broken plates.

[clothier]

OK, so this is a little outside Philly, but you get what you pay for.

I miss Zinn's Diner. And Ol' Amos standing out front.

And Joe's in Reading.

[Tom]

I miss Holly's . . . especially the chili (but I keep hoping for the recipe).

[herbacidal]

Not terribly long gone, but greatly missed on my part--

Orfeo on Walnut St--lovely, reasonably-priced Asian cuisine

Guru on South St--$10 duck confit!

New Joe Shanghai--see the soup dumpling thread

Ah, yes someone with missed places that I can respond to.

(READ: someone within my age bracket. )

I never really thought of Orfeo as Asian cuisine, but I imagine that's because I'm Chinese.

Was it a subtle Asian fusion type place? I do remember going there, vaguely.

I remember someone liking something about Guru, but other than the large circular opening reminiscent of old-style Chinese restaurants, I can't recall what.

Didn't Frög precede the Commissary by a couple of years. The old Frög, that is. The one in the building that is now Monk's.

A few years later Steven Poses upscaled the new Frög and moved it to the 1600 block of Locust in what is now a law firm. I prefered the old Frög. 

Oh, Frog was there before 16th St. Grill? Good to know.

What building on Locust? I'm trying to think of what's there now.

You would mean the one between the the old Locust Club

and the current Cancer Society?

[mrbigjas]

Bistro Bix, 12/Sansom: Site of the old London. Peter Dunmire's first exec Chef job, I think.

What was the place that was there right before that? Lawyer hangout after work, good food, where I first learned to drink martinis lo these many years ago. Damn, I can't think of it now. They had a bartender named Pat or Patrick, who was also a painter, who made a great martini, in fact the way I still drink them--Bombay with a decent amount of vermouth. Hm, damn, I.... ODEON. That's it.

[herbacidal]

Bistro Bix, 12/Sansom: Site of the old London. Peter Dunmire's first exec Chef job, I think.

What was the place that was there right before that? Lawyer hangout after work, good food, where I first learned to drink martinis lo these many years ago. Damn, I can't think of it now. They had a bartender named Pat or Patrick, who was also a painter, who made a great martini, in fact the way I still drink them--Bombay with a decent amount of vermouth. Hm, damn, I.... ODEON. That's it.

Wow, forgot about those places.

They both opened and closed in the blink of an eye.

I don't believe the current place, TPDS Club, is doing well in its area

(nightclub), but it's got a little more staying power.

[rlibkind]

Soon after I moved to Phila. in 1979 I began frequenting Steak City, a steak and hoagie and breakfast luncheonette on 17th, roughly where the entrance to the Westin now stands at Liberty Place.

Was that the place where the prep people were walled off with just a small pass through at waist level. You placed your order and then moved down the line to the register?

Same block, the original Onasis. Good basic greek food and totally authentic including the dancing and broken plates.

The staff wasn't walled off at Steak City -- just a long counter separating customers and cooks. Another remembrance: George would simmer his only whole turkey on the stovetop for turkey breast sandwiches and turkey salad.

Don't know about Onasis, but On Chestnut around the corner from Steak City was another Greek restaurant (perhaps it was called Parthenon?) I frequented for lunch. It was there I learned to enjoy grilled, marinated octopus. The owner of the restaurant leased the building, but he held out for a settlement from Rouse for early termination of his lease so Liberty Place could be built. He later operated a Greek restaurant at South & Second (where Mako is now located) and later bought New City Tavern on 20th and Ranstead; he was shot down by the neighbors when he tried to add sidewalk seating.

[Holly Moore]

Oh, Frog was there before 16th St. Grill? Good to know.

What building on Locust? I'm trying to think of what's there now.

You would mean the one between the the old Locust Club

and the current Cancer Society?

The original Frög was one of the keystones in Philadelphia's Restaurant Renaissance - Steven Poses's first restaurant.

Wrong block. I meant to say the 1500. Just next to the Versaille Apartment building and, incidently, Can Do! Copies and Signs It's a law firm - I think the state's boxing commissioner is the principal there. Steven made a tremendous investment renovating the place and stood no real chance of recouping. Lasted just a few years at that location.

[Holly Moore]

I miss Holly's . . . especially the chili (but I keep hoping for the recipe).

Finally a new member who understands the proper content for one's first post. Kissing up to one of the forum hosts. Welcome Tom. I didn't start the thread for that reason, but actually I too miss the place.

I'll dig up the recipe for "Holly Moore's World Famous Chili Con Queso" and post it to recipe gullet.

[menton1]

Not a destination place, but I remember SaladAlley-- one of the first "fill your own plate" places with a wonderful salad bar full of fresh and unusual veggies. I seem to remember a soup bar there as well, but I could be wrong. I remember the one in the Bourse building before that became like a mall "food court". (and quite forgettable!)

[Holly Moore]

When you said Salad Alley, my first though was of their soups and breads. The two are remember were on the 1700 block of Sansom, perhaps where the crepe place now is, and within the old Urban Outfitters location in University City - on Locust between 40th and 41st

[KatieLoeb]

Welcome Tom! And pucker up...

[mrbigjas]

Yeah, SaladAlley in the warehouse space at 41st & Locust with Bocce pizza and Urban Outfitters and Video Library. Bocce was probably the first place I had wood-oven pizza. They were certainly a destination for us--but then again we lived across the street.

[marinade]

This sounds like Déjà Vu all over again! I was talking about the restaurant on 16th and Pine. Lot of crazy stories about Sal Montezino (sp?) both real and imagined. I was going to Temple (mid 70’s) at the time and there had been a coffee house at that location. Unbeknownst to my girlfriend and I, overnight the place had morphed into Louis XIV decoring-white-tablecloth-burre-blanc-sloshing-high-end-fancy-ass–restaurant that we walked blindly into. Sal handled it pretty well and actually served us some coffee along with some Amuse Bouche. Mentioned he was getting a few folks walking through the doors with banjos and guitars. While we’re at it. Who remembers Jim Quinn’s rants in the Collegiate Guide(s) to Philadelphia? They took no restaurant advertising or prisoners as well. This was pre-restaurant-renaissance stuff that championed the idea that to open a restaurant all you needed was talent and a storefront. Dem were the daze.

[davidbdesilva]

I fondly remember two restaurants that introduced me (and I think to a lesser extent Philly) to Latino fusion food. Who can forget Vega Grill in Manayunk where I was fortunate enough to experience Guillermo Pernot's cooking long before moving on to Pasion? It was a lovely little corner restaurant with a neon sign outside. Went there about three times before Pernot left and got too big for his own britches, boy was that a nice intro to his cooking.

I also fondly remember Pompano Grill and it's "SoBeUban" fusion (South Beach Urban). In the lovely old corner bank building at 4th and Passyunk, they served excellent grilled whole fish, great Sangria, and had a beautiful hip bar (where, during the craze, I was also introduced to the fine nuances of the cigar). They eventually added rooftop dining and were going strong when seemingly suddenly went kapoop. Restaurants have come and gone at that location and I'm not sure anything is there now.

I also miss the original Zanzibar Blue on S. 13th Street. The small but lovely front room with hanging curtains and the small and intimate back room where, after dinner, you could hear great jazz such as the likes of the Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble, practically sittiing in your lap. Can't say I've been to the new place, it sounds a little too out of touch with what the original seemed to have and did so well.

And finally I miss a place called Ristorante Alla (or Aua?) Letitizia somewhere on Passyunk in South Philly. My cousin was once the Maitre'D there and I remember a little old Sicilian woman doing all the cooking in this lovely converted townhouse. Incredibly delicious home cooking reminiscent of my own grandmother. All of these long gone but surely not forgotten.