honey

[aliwaks]

Just returned from Breakfast at Honey is a southern /Jewish cafe of sorts.

My first impression was that Honey was just so very cute and homey and I had immediate flash backs to my childhood of being reared by (mostly) Jewish hippies in the commune that was our home in East Hampton. Maybe its me but I can pick up that hippie communal vibe immediately, in fact would not be surprised if everyone who worked there lived in the same house. It has also been my experience that communal hippie restaurants are, contrary to popular belief, scrupulously clean and more often than not have great food.

(ok there was a moment when a slight wafting of patchouli flavored body odor overcame our table but that was from the guy sitting at the counter)

Honey is way way cute with great ceilings all sort of distressed-y & Fannie Flagg-ish, airy and pleasant and the waitstaff incredibly friendly and smiley. ( maybe a little too smiley who knows what's in their kool-aid, no really they were just happy to be there I guess. The place just had a really happy vibe). the entire time I was their I felt as though I might have been transported to that center of uber hipness that is Dumbo, Brklyn NY ( this was compounded by the fact that the cab we took back has NYC TLC info which was weird and somewhat disarming making me forget what city I was in) .

The menu was full of exactly the kind of stuff you would wish to find, stuffed pancakes, chicken fried steak & eggs, bagels with nova or whitefish salad, eggs with choice of latkes , grits or potatoes, pastrami, brisket corned beef, tofu scramble, vegetarian chicken fried steak ( an interesting idea, I guess for vegetarians)

We had whitefish platter, Chicken Fried steak with mac & cheese & coleslaw sides, and a single stuffed pancake with bananas & pecans. I have to say I love love love the single pancake option since I am never able to commit to a full plate of pancakes but always want to try one.

Ok everything looked great, the chicken fried steak was crunchy the sides looked good, my perfectly toasted everything bagel was atop a pile of greens, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and onions with a hefty crock of whitefish and a small triangle of cream cheeese, the one pancake was enormous!!

I've never had chicken fried steak before this seemed to need lots more salt & pepper than it had in the coating, My fried chicken standard is from my babysitter's mother whose second husband was from the south and his mother had taught her how to make fried chicken, the crust was always very pepper-y and with a good amount of salt. So this did not have it but after a liberal salting & peppering it was quite good.

The whitefish salad on the other hand was a bit too salt-y, but that is often the nature of the beast --umm fish, had I been more ambitious I would have asked for some lemon to go with.

The mac & cheese side was cheese-y enough not overwhelmingly good, but not bad at all, would eat it again happily, the cole slaw tasted like somewhat like my Bubbe Bella's, she used lemon juice in place of vinegar and it was the best cole slaw ever, I suspect they did the same though this was not the best cole slaw ever it was pretty good, nice spicy kick too.

The giant stuffed pancake (only $2.50!!) was huge and fresh and yummy and we put lots of butter and syrup on it and there was a smattering of toasted pecan and banana slices all over.

They served ice Coffee in great big glasses which I loved, it was decent Iced coffee, not as good as Bucks county in 30th street, which i think is the best iced coffee in the world, which is why I am often way way caffinated when I get on the train and therfore perhaps very annoying to my fellow riders.

So yeah I liked Honey, I liked it alot, in fact may be going back there for my breakfast meeting on Saturday. I figure if I walk there and walk back I can make up for the calories, then I can have poached eggs and latkes with a side of hollandaise and some crunchy bacon.

If I lived in the nieghborhood I would go there all the time, I would sit at the counter and have pie, I believe that they may have extremely good pie, it seems like a great pie kind of place. I wish there was a place like Honey over here in Rittenhouse but I doubt it could manage to be as laid back and happy since thier rent would be like a million dollars a month.

(There was this little place on west fourth street that I lived above and their version of eggs benedict was poached eggs , ripe red tomatoes, crispy bacon over potato pancakes with chive hollandaise..it was wonderful in the late summer when the tomatoes were perfect it remains one of my favorite out to breakfast choices if I can find all the elements)

Oh its on 4th & Brown and its just so cute and nice & all

[TarteTatin]

Careful of Saturday/Sunday's! Honey's can get very packed, but its usually a nice crowd waiting!

I ordered the half Pastrami special last time. The half was overwhelming! Huge, thick, tooooo much! It came with red cabbage slaw, which is unusual, but good. It also didn't have nearly enough Thousand Island or whatever the sauce is they use. I had a Mac n Cheese side, which was trying to copy really bad fake cheese topping or something? Couldn't quite figure it out.

Other times we've had breakfast stuff, the Burrito is good and huge, I like their homemade Biscuits and gravy, which is white gravy, and very different from Standard Tap's Biscuit and gravy, which I also love...Oh, their homemade cornbread is to die for! Ask for it hot and buttered!

I didn't really love their latkes! Greasy, which is par for the course, maybe its a taste I grew out of from my Bubby! Hubby didn't love the Huevos Rancheros, too many chips and not enough other stuff. He did like the breakfast special Quescadilla (sp?)...

Anyway, we love it there, they take some adventurous chances/experiments, and I like that! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but its still good!

We saw someone with a bottle of champagne there for Sunday brunch, so I guess its okay to be a sort of BYOB. Cool.

[Holly Moore]

Gave Honey's a try today for lunch. Service was wierd but food was very good.

Started with an outstanding heritage tomato and cucumber gazpacho. Cool, crisp and and bursting with summer flavor.

Onto half a barbecue brisket sandwich with a side of fresh cut french fries. Herein my server becomes part of my experience. I asked, "Are the fresh cut fries twice cooked?" Server answered, "No we just cook them once." He couldn't get away from my table fast enough. I think he suspected I was asking some sort of trick adolescent question like, "Do you have pig's feet?"

Brisket was sloppy joeish, not that there is anything wrong with sloppy joeish.

The potatoes were 90 percent there. I was pretty sure they had been twice cooked, but they lacked the black and white distinction between paper thin crisp outside and airy mealy inside that marks at proper fritte.

Time to order desert but I was talking on my cell phone. I know - no cell phones at the table. But I was on my own and the place was mostly empty. Besides that I'm a very important person with very important phone calls. Alas the server didn't realize that and tried to interupt my phone call to see if I wanted anything else. I stuck up my hand as in "wait till I get off the phone." Oblivious, he waved back and asked again.

Anyway, for dessert, blueberry pie. Homemade with fresh whipped cream. Also very good. As he brought the pie I tried again, "What I was trying to ask before... Does the chef blanche the fries and let them set before finishing them off?" With a look that screamed "you doddering old fool" he replied, "No, we only cook them once."

As I left a couple of the kitchen staff were outside chatting. I asked again about the fries. "Yes, twice cooked. We fry them at 275, let them cook and finish them in hot oil." I suggested they share that secret with my waiter.

I can see Honey becoming a regular at least once a week stop. They're only open between 8 AM and 4 PM or I'd throw in a dinner visit or two on top of that.

BTW, yes Aliwaks, chicken fried steak gravy and breading should be peppery spicy. I'll likely be trying Honey's version my next time there.

[TarteTatin]

That's so funny that both of you were there today, on the same day, and missed each other!

[Holly Moore]

That's so funny that both of you were there today, on the same day, and missed each other!

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Nope. The power of eGullet. I read Aliwaks' write-up and, come lunch time, hopped on my trusty scooter and headed there.

[aliwaks]

That's so funny that both of you were there today, on the same day, and missed each other!

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Nope. The power of eGullet. I read Aliwaks' write-up and, come lunch time, hopped on my trusty scooter and headed there.

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aw shucks!!

[TarteTatin]

Service issues at Honey's.

We just did our third or fourth meal at Honey's and although the food is good (mostly), we're just not happy with the service on the weekends.

Sunday AM around 11:30ish and the place is packed, we wait for a table and finally get seated. We spot another neighborhood couple who tell us that they've been there an hour and haven't gotten anything but water, OJ and coffee. This does not bode well, but we decide to tough it out. There are three servers on the floor plus two bus people - one of them is almost always there and is very good (attentive, clears and resets quickly, is cheerful and handles the line at the door). One of the servers is quite obviously new - new to the extent that this might well be the first time he has ever worked in food service possibly even this morning and flying solo. Five minutes to get coffee, fifteen minutes to order (and we had to ask to do so), and we watch as the food for our friends finally arrives - after she gets up and says something to one of the servers. Whoops, her eggs are cold and greasy (so she tells us) and they get sent back and eventually taken off the bill. The five top next to us order but their food comes out in two stages, ten minutes apart. In the meantime we continue to wait for our breakfast. Another 15 minutes before the eggs, grits, sausage, and a pancake are delivered with a barely murmured apology. Have to ask for a coffee refill as no one stops by the table, or asks when the food is delivered.

While this is going on we watch as one of the servers gets her back pack from behind the counter and disappears. We also hear the call bell in the kitchen ringing and no one in the front heading for the kitchen. The owner/chef eventually comes out of the kitchen and starts delivering food as well as going back in to cook.

And on another note - when did over easy eggs become hard fried? The yolk is supposed to be runny so one can dip the bread into them, right?

We like Honey's, well, the food at least, but the service has got to pick up or they're just going to lose clientele like crazy. I did mention my concerns to the good bus person, and had a quick word with the harried owner - who understood, but was definitely not able to devote much attention to my complaints at that moment.

Mr. Tarte Tatin

[katbert]

Technically, it's Honey's Sit 'n Eat and note that they don't take reservations and will sometimes start up a waitlist a la Morning Glory. We continued the trend of messed up service last weekend (~1pm, all tables were full when we were seated); our waitress brought out four plates and gave two to our table and two to another set of four. In fact, all the plates belonged to one set of diners. By the time they figured out the swappage, everyone with food had started on their plates, and both our pair of missing plates and the other table's missing plates took another solid 15min to get out of the kitchen. Our waitress was pretty annoyed/frustrated/uninformative when figuring out what happened, and later during the meal somewhat apolegetic for the mixup. They did take comp us something, which we appreciated.

Foodwise, the challah french toast was done well and I hope they start adding some interesting toppings/fillers. The biscuits were fresh out of the oven (HOT) and great with the mystery pinkish preserves on the table. I was disappointed with the latke because it wasn't a freshly fried pancake, instead a wedge of shredded potato cut out of a pan that was baked/broiled til crunchy on top, although everyone else at the table liked them. The omelette w/ lox looked good, the sausage patties were thick hamburger like and very good, the ?buttermilk pancakes are indeed giant and I liked being able to order 1/2/3 pancakes. I would definitely go back, although if I saw/heard the amped up violinist playing covers again, I might go to Standard Tap that morning instead.

[Lazrowp]

Stopped by the other day for a small snack.

I only had a small cup of Matzo ball soup and a potato latke. I didn’t love their matzo ball as I prefer the lighter fluffier kind, but it was good. I loved their potato latke though! It was much thicker than I am used to and had a decent amount of grease which always makes the potato latkes better. They also had really good ice coffee.

I can’t wait to go back! Very affordable prices with a nice atmosphere.

Paul

[Holly Moore]

I really want to like Honey, but they are making it hard. Was back today for a 1 PM breakfast - one of those days.

Decided to try the chicken fried steak with two eggs over easy, milk gravy, grits and a biscuit.

One the good side - the eggs were cooked perfectly, as were the grits. The portion of chicken fried steak was huge - double what I would expect.

Way over on the other side - what aliwaks said about the flavor of the chicken fried steak. No flavor in either the gravy or the steak. And the crust on the steak was way too thick. Also the biscuit was dried out - crumbled as I broke it apart.

Service again was quirky. Super friendly, but unprofessional. He spent way too much time talking to friends and a couple of delivery guys. I had to wait 10 minutes to place my order and get a cup of coffee (waiting for my first cup of coffee, especially when it is coming at 1 PM, makes me particularly grumpy). Beyond that - no coffee refill offered - I only got a refill when I requested it as the server cleared my plate.

I still remember that first meal I had at Honey. Especially the soup. It was wonderful. So they can cook. And the ambience is perfect. They just need to get a lot more consistant and supervise the front of the house more. A lot more.

[Holly Moore]

Honey, why do you treat me so bad? I keep coming back, hoping to reignite that initial spark. But every time you do me wrong.

Today, eggs benedict. Only problem the kitchen forgot to add the canadian bacon.

Honey, I'm beginning to think we weren't meant to be.

[TarteTatin]

I also went yesterday, Saturday, 3rd.

I, too, keep trying, and not sure why I go back...

The service just doesn't do it. They keep trying, and are ALWAYS in the weeds.

Carbs needed. Ordered one pancake with banana and a side of homemade buttermilk bisquit.

Waited forever again.

Got two pancakes, with maybe a piece or two of banana. They said it was okay that I only ordered one, they would only charge me for one.

Buttermilk bisquit was okay, dry...I needed jam and she couldn't find any (I was at the counter), and she told me to take it off the table behind me. I think it was some sort of berry jam, good.

Such potential, I keep trying. Hubby refuses to go back.

People were waiting 10-15 minutes for their check, I was watching the register, and there was a stack of about 15 checks and money stacked up, hadn't been rung in, they were too busy...

I thing they need another couple of servers!

[philadining]

In weird coincidence, a friend suggested heading down to Honey's for brunch today, so I threw caution to the wind and figure I'd give it a whirl.

We must have done something right, because they remembered to put the canadian bacon on the Eggs Bennie:

I don't think I've ever seen this made with huge pieces of Challah toast, but it was a nice twist. The hollandaise was bright and lemony, overall a nice version of this classic.

I'm not so sure about the "latke", as described in an earlier post, it's a wedge carved out of a huge mondo-latke (the triangle at the right of the photo.) It's pretty thick and dense and not quite as crispy as I think latkes ought to be, but it's not bad... maybe I'd like it better if they called it something else.

They had run out of plums for the french toast special posted on the blackboard, but offered cherries as a substitution:

This was really quite delicious and about three times as big as I could eat. The cherries and "vanilla whip" were such good toppings that I barely touched the syrup. The french toast itself was nice and light, and well-prepared. I got some of their home-made sausage, which was very good. It reminds me of the sausage at the Morning Glory, but more spicy and less herby.

OK, anybody want to guess about the service?

Actually it wasn't bad. We went later in the day, maybe about 2:30 or 3, and it was pretty empty, so there was none of that overcrowded chaos, but it was still pretty S.....L......O......W....... No problems other than that, everyone was very nice, and we got everything we asked for, it just took a while to order, to get coffee refills, etc.

So we actually had a pretty nice meal. I suspect the trick is to go to Honey's when it's not busy, and when you're not in a hurry!

I think I still slightly prefer the food at the Morning Glory, but I can't always deal with the lines down there on a sunday. But I'd go back to Honey's, just maybe not if it's crowded...

[Greg Salisbury]

Apologies if there is a pre-existing thread on this, but I couldn't find it.

After meeting the owners at a farmer-restaurant confab at the terminal a few months back, I resolved to make it down to Honey's. The fact that they are not open on Mondays meant I had to wait a few months, but I am soooo glad I made it there. The Southern-Jewish angle may strike some as odd, but as an MOT who spent many formative years in Texas and North Carolina, all I can say is "huzzah." The space is amazing, rough-hewn floors, I-beams, small tables (I think it was around 40 seats), French windows, a counter(!), a gigantic kitchen (and a prep kitchen upstairs!) in a corner property. The staff was friendly and smiling, not an easy thing at 8:30 on a Sunday morn, knowing that they had probably 6 turns ahead of them. The menu was a little doppelganger-esque at first - it's always weird to see "my" farmers listed at other places - but I was quickly won over by the selections: pancakes, grits, matzo ball soup and chicken-fried steak. Oh, yes, they have chicken-fried steak, with the right gravy, a wedge of hash browns and two eggs any style to go with a good biscuit (you really need to use lard to make a great biscuit, but no one does up here). The best version I have had since I was fortunate enough to eat at Threadgill's in Austin lo these 10 years ago. It is worth going just for that item alone, but I can also recommend the La Colombe coffee and the gigantic pancakes (think Royal Canadian Pancake House gigantic).

As for the service: my second time there, my mom and I took my toddlers (Maje, the 3-year-old, already asks "Daddy can we go to the Honey's today?) on a Saturday. We ordered a lot, including the pancakes. We waited, and waited some more, which you never want to do with kids. After 20 minutes, a server comes over to apologize and explain that they needed to make new batter - could they get us something on the house? I should mention that the place was packed, people waiting outside. It would have been very easy to ignore us until the food was ready, but they didn't. That level of caring is so hard to find now. And I should mention that no one knew I was in the biz until I went up to the manager to compliment him on the staff. Anyway, if you're not gonna have brunch at Rx, this is the only place to go.

And did I mention that they have chicken-fried steak?

[Buckethead]

Anyway, if you're not gonna have brunch at Rx, this is the only place to go.

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Whoa whoa whoa, no one told me that Sabrina's closed!!!

[KatieLoeb]

Anyway, if you're not gonna have brunch at Rx, this is the only place to go.

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Whoa whoa whoa, no one told me that Sabrina's closed!!!

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Sabrina's hasn't closed, but Greg was making a shameless pitch for brunch at his restaurant Rx. He can do that with full disclosure in his signature and because I think we all realized he was saying it somewhat tongue in cheek.

This thread is for/about Honey's so let's stay on topic. Buckethead, if you want to start a "favorite places to have brunch" thread in the PA forum, have at it. I'm sure there are plenty of places to debate.

[Buckethead]

Sabrina's hasn't closed, but Greg was making a shameless pitch for brunch at his restaurant Rx.  He can do that with full disclosure in his signature and because I think we all realized he was saying it somewhat tongue in cheek.

My mistake, I wasn't aware of the rules pertaining to shameless pitching. Usually a smiley face or emoticon of some kind helps the reader know when the poster is saying things in jest. I suppose I should also have put one at the end of my post, so that no one would actually think that Sabrina's has closed.

This thread is for/about Honey's

OK then:

I went there a few months ago looking for good biscuits, something most breakfast places don't even serve for whatever reason. I suppose it's because toast is a lot easier and most diners don't hold biscuits in as high regard as I do. The place is definitely really cute inside, I love being surrounded by dark wood. We took a table by the windows, which looked like they open upwards to make the place an open-air restaurant in the warmer months.

Coffee was good, served in big giant IKEA mugs. I mention the mug because though it was very big, I was still able to empty it and wait around a good 7-8 minutes for a refill. The place wasn't more than half-full, I presume from reading other posts in this thread that they were understaffed. I ordered my eggs over-easy, and like at a lot of places in the city, they came out with watery, undercooked whites. I know from experience that getting an egg perfectly over-easy is not easy, but it's not impossible either. I sent them back and they came back quickly, with just a little of the yolk cooked.

As for the biscuits, by my definition they weren't biscuits at all, but fluffy bread in the shape of biscuit. They didn't have the flaky texture you get from cutting butter into the dough. They weren't bad, but not what I was looking to dip in my egg yolks. The potato latke may not have been a traditional latke, I have no idea. It was really tasty though. I only wish I would have started in on it sooner, so that maybe I would have had a chance to finish it. It was huge.

Anyway, if I lived in the neighborhood, I would definitely be eating breakfast there on a semi-regular basis. But I don't, and based on my first visit I probably won't bother making a special trip to go there, though I'd go back if I were in the area. The potato latke may be better than Famous 4th Street's potato pancake (no small feat), but as for the rest of the breakfast, it falls short of the Pink Rose (best biscuits!), Sabrina's, and (to a lesser extent) Morning Glory.

[srhcb]

My first impression was that Honey was just so very cute and homey and I had immediate flash backs to my childhood of being reared by (mostly) Jewish hippies in the commune that was our home in East Hampton. Maybe its me but I can pick up that hippie communal vibe immediately, in fact would not be surprised if everyone who worked there lived in the same house.(

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Did we ever have a thread on Hippie Food? I don't mean hash brownies, tubs of ice cream or cold pizza, but the normal everyday fare of a distinct nature served up in communal settings

Having visited many such places in my work as a financier of marijuana smuggling and distribution operations, I can recall:

Hippies In General:

Brown Rice

Granola

Dahl

At a Specific Locale:

Homemade Ravioli

Homemade Ice Cream

SB (Peace)

[aaronwcpa]

We don't venture into Phila that often but last Friday we visited the Weyth exhibition at the PMA and driving down from Yardley we stopped for lunch at Honey's Sit n Eat at Brown & Fourth, our first in that neighborhood. I had read about the place months ago and had it on my mind.

It is in an area, I guess, that is undergoing some kind of transformaton. This place is a quirky old fashion luncheonette and what I had was very good.

I think of myself as somewhat of an authority on matzho ball soup and the bowl was very good.

The half pastrami was lean and as good as a pastrami as I have had in a long time, including places in Manhattan.

The place is open until four and closed Mondays, I think.