Around the airport quick suggestion

[Daniel]

My girlfriends mother and father have a 6 hour layover in philly.. I understand this gives them enough time to drive to new york and back.. But they want a place near the airport.. A really good place they could eat.. Thanks so much

[mrbigjas]

what do they like? i always recommend tony luke's--a very quick drive into south philly.

[wkl]

Lunch or dinner? A drive into South Philadelphia at lunch time wouldn't take long at all. At Dinner time, parking could take up more time than it's worth.It really depends on the time of day.

[mrbigjas]

what do they like? i mean, do they want a full on dining experience, or 'authentic' philly experience?

for the latter i always recommend tony luke's--a very quick drive into south philly.

[Daniel]

Hmm.. What do they like.. The father is adventurous.. He would eat anything from bbq to tony lukes and beyond.. But they have friends in philly and have been there many times.. I am looking for a place specifically close to the airport via taxi.. Also, the place should be sit down, middle of the road priced, exceptional food..

[mrbigjas]

ok that narrows it down some--now, another question: what time of day? are you talking dinner, a sit down lunch, brunch, late-night?

[Daniel]

there plane landed like 20 minutes ago.. They are at the airport right at this moment.. flying out at 9 pm tonight

[philadining]

Pif? French Bistro, I've never been, but heard good things.

It's a BYOB, which is a pain in this circumstance.

1009 S. Eighth St. (near Christian St.)

Philadelphia, PA 19147

215-625-2923

probably doesn't open until 5 at the earliest.

Edited May 6, 2005 by philadining (log)

[mrbigjas]

anywhere in center city is good, then, as far as cabs go. places in south philly would also be good.

how about an early dinner at matyson? interesting contemporary american. take a cab to 19th & chestnut. stop in the liquor store there and buy a bottle of wine. matyson is on 19th between chestnut and market.

another place i went to recently that i really enjoyed is the new-ish southwark--very good food, also contemporary american, and they have a bar. 4th & bainbridge. (i posted about this last week)

fork is always reliably good, food-wise, at 3rd & market. they also have a bar.

[philadining]

Actually, Jas is right, it's not significantly further into Center City by cab than into South Philly, you have a pretty big window to get into town. The trick if finding anything "nice" that's serving before 5.

But if you do just walk in right at opening time, you could get into Melograno, a nice Italian BYOB. As recommended, Matyson and Fork are both good, and remove the problem of looking for wine, if that was desired.

They don't have LOTs of time give that they need to get back to the airport by, what, 8-ish? (security lines can be unpredictable) But Brasserie Perrier does nice bar food that's probably fairly quick. I guess they do have almost 2 hours, if they get someplace right at opening, they could get a good meal at Striped Bass, Passion, The main dining room at Brasserie Perrier, all of which are a bit pricey and elegant, but nice.

Places like Southwark, or Fork, etc, are pretty typical of Philly, good solid stuff with a bar.

The BYOB scene is the most exciting right now, but might be a pain for a quick stop.

Southwark 701 s. 4th St. (at bainbridge) (215) 238-1888

Fork, 306 Market St., 215-625-9425.

Brasserie Perrier, 1619 Walnut St., 215-568-3000.

BYOBs:

Melograno, 2201 Spruce St. (215) 875-8116

Matyson, 37s 19th St. 215-564-2925

Pif, 1009 S. Eighth St. (near Christian St.) 215-625-2923

Good luck to them!

[mrbigjas]

just to clarify: matyson is BYOB, southwark and fork have bars. but there's a liquor store right around the corner from matyson.

brasserie perrier is a great suggestion--i knew i was forgetting somewhere obvious. rouge is right along there as well, and has always been solid.

i would recommend sansom street oyster house like i do for everyone, but i have a feeling 'old school philly seafood' might not be what they're looking for.

[Daniel]

Hey thanks everyone. What a wierd thing.. They flew out of new york and have a huge layover in Philly.. Something must have happened, havent gotten the full story yet.

[philadining]

just to clarify: matyson is BYOB, southwark and fork have bars.

←

Right, sorry, I was typing too fast, you'd need to bring your own wine to Matyson, although, it's not so terrible to eat at these places without wine.

And yes, of course, Sansom Street Oyster House would be an excellent choice, a very Philly place to go, given that they're in Philadelphia and all... Happy hour oyster deals, nice place, fine management! Heck, go there for a drink and some shellfish even if they've decided to go somewhere else, they've got time to kill.

SSOH, 1516 Sansom Street, 215-567-7683

[KatieLoeb]

Gee - thanks for the props y'all!