Philly "Tourist Food"

[NulloModo]

Jamie -

I doubt anyone will argue that Wawa makes the best subs in the city/area (after all, that is Cappriotti's). What Wawa does is offer absolutely incredible food options for a 24 hour convenience store.

Now, I am a huge fan of 7-11 hot dogs, but in the middle of the night when nothing else is open, Wawa is hands down as good as it gets (well, for quick and cheap, I mean, a good diner can do better if you want to sit down... sometimes). They also have great insight into fresh-ish packaged foods in the chill cases, like pepperoni and cheese cubes, veggie sticks that are still vibrant, good salads, etc. No, Wawa is not the place to go if you are only going to be in Philly for a day, but for those of us who live with them all around, they become a part of life, and one that is apparently missed even more than Tastycakes and Herr's Pretzels.

BTW -

I love the computer-based ordering system, generally because I load sandwhiches up with everything, and it saves me the trouble of having to repeat myself three times that yes, I want both sweet and hot peppers on my tuna sub... Then again, I dislike talking with barbers too...

[jamiemaw]

Jamie -

I doubt anyone will argue that Wawa makes the best subs in the city/area (after all, that is Cappriotti's).  What Wawa does is offer absolutely incredible food options for a 24 hour convenience store. 

Now, I am a huge fan of 7-11 hot dogs, but in the middle of the night when nothing else is open, Wawa is hands down as good as it gets (well, for quick and cheap, I mean, a good diner can do better if you want to sit down... sometimes). 

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Ah, much is explained. Up here, 7-11 dawgs are crap--reflux on a foam bun and with those nasty packaged condiments that're impossible to open when you've been drinking. So we open the mustard on the floor--one good stomp will do it and delights the graveyard shift guy. We actually buy our dawgs from the sidewalk vendors; everybody's got a favourite, but they're all a pretty strong salute to pork particle theory/encased meat physics.

I promise to give Wawa another try, at 3 am on my way home from The Guard House, when (as above) I'll definitely be starving.

Edited July 10, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[Mummer]

If you were near The Guard House, your host could have taken you into Conshy for a real hoagie.

You have The Guard House pegged, based on my only visit years ago.

But if I were really, really hungry, I could eat there. That's more than I can say for the NHL!

[herbacidal]

There used to be more Wawas in and around Center City.  I can recall at least six of them that were either closed or sold to other operators over the two decades I've lived in Wash West:

--12th and Walnut (closest to where I live now; this is now an indie, the Pac a Deli)

--Juniper and Spruce (in Center City One; this is now a Convenient Food Mart)

--27th and Lombard (closed and abandoned)

--7th and Fitzwater (approximate location; closed and abandoned)

--16th and Walnut (the "Wawa Express Food Court," which sold no groceries; from what I heard, the building owner jacked up the rent.  A new Cole-Haan shoe store now fills this space)

--Broad and Race (this became an indie; it is now a Quiznos Sub franchise)

The Center City locations still open that I know of are:

--11th and Arch (perhaps ironically given this topic, just down the block from the Reading Terminal Market)

--10th and Walnut (street floor of a Jefferson dorm)

As far as convenience stores in the US, I can't say that any are better than Wawa.

Hmm, I didn't know that all of those were former Wawas, but it makes sense given their closings lately.

I believe the other CC locations for Wawas are at:

20th and Locust

17th and Arch

[mrbigjas]

There used to be more Wawas in and around Center City.  I can recall at least six of them that were either closed or sold to other operators over the two decades I've lived in Wash West:

--12th and Walnut (closest to where I live now; this is now an indie, the Pac a Deli)

--Juniper and Spruce (in Center City One; this is now a Convenient Food Mart)

--27th and Lombard (closed and abandoned)

--7th and Fitzwater (approximate location; closed and abandoned)

actually that one was at 8th & bainbridge, and is now an independent place, not closed.

--16th and Walnut (the "Wawa Express Food Court," which sold no groceries; from what I heard, the building owner jacked up the rent.  A new Cole-Haan shoe store now fills this space)

--Broad and Race (this became an indie; it is now a Quiznos Sub franchise)

The Center City locations still open that I know of are:

--11th and Arch (perhaps ironically given this topic, just down the block from the Reading Terminal Market)

--10th and Walnut (street floor of a Jefferson dorm)

don't forget

--20th & locust

--20th & chestnut

--4th & ... like, queen or so?

--18th & arch

--is there still one down at 2nd & south?

No, my problem with Wawa is simply this: It was a wasted meal, right in the vortex of superior sandwich opportunities. In fact I would offer that Philadelphia is the epicentre of North American sandwich making, many of which are mentioned in this thread and on Holly's excellent web site.

the real realy beauty of wawa comes when you're driving upstate and getting off the northeast extension on to rte. 80 and you're starving, and your options are mcdonalds, burger king, arby's, a pizza place (which i'm not disparaging; i've never been there), or wawa. which also has cheap gas and clean bathrooms. let us give thanks.

maybe wawa discussion should be its own topic.

Edited July 11, 2005 by mrbigjas (log)

[robertruelan]

After all this wonderful advice, I feel obligated to report back...so here goes...

Unfortunately, most of the discussion and advice started pouring in while we were in transit on our way into Philly, so I have some better tips for next time.

We started at the Reading Terminal around 11:30am. I wanted them to try the roast pork sandwich, but my guest said they were not ready for lunch yet so we got a coffee and vowed to return back later. So we wander around the market for a bit and  marveled at the bounty. I did get that chicken-on-a-stick thingy in a sweet and spicy sauce from the Thai place..it is one of my favorites, but alas I do not recall its proper name.

... Thanks again for all the advice.

Percy

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You were so close to having the roast pork! Next time, you gotta try it, remember with cheese and greens

The chicken thingy is the Thai place's chicken satay (I believe). It's a bargain at $2/stick (I think that's the latest price) and you get 3 whole thighs. I recommend it to my poor co-workers on Atkins (I can't believe people are still on this diet).

I hope you had the Olde City Coffee when you mentioned coffee at RTM. If not, tsk tsk, you missed out.

[MarketStEl]

I would love to know what sort of experience you had, jamiemaw, that soured you on Wawa.

It wasn't the Canada Goose that first drew me in to a Wawa (which actually means Canada Goose in a local indigenous dialect and which we cheerfully export to you specifically to befoul your lawns), it was my enthusiastic Pennsylvanian colleaugue offering up 'a local tradition.'

It's a Lenape word. (The Lenape, or Lenni-Lenape, or Delaware [yep--the Brits gave the local Indian tribe the same name that they gave part of the territory, that of (I believe) its first colonial administrator, Lord De La Warr], are the Indian tribe that inhabited what is now eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, most of Delaware and part of upstate New York.) It's also the name of the Delaware County hamlet that housed the dairy that spawned the convenience-store behemoth. (Wawa's corporate headquarters and main dairy plant are still in Wawa, which is no longer served by SEPTA's R3 Elwyn [formerly West Chester] Regional Rail line.)

As for your enthusiastic Pennsylvanian colleague: Yes, Wawa is "a local tradition"--as I implied above, it's intertwined with the soul of the region in a way no other regional convenience store chain I've run across elsewhere is. But as for his notions of excellence in eating, well...as you were saying:

No, my problem with Wawa is simply this: It was a wasted meal, right in the vortex of superior sandwich opportunities. In fact I would offer that Philadelphia is the epicentre of North American sandwich making, many of which are mentioned in this thread and on Holly's excellent web site.

I ordered as instructed--"an Italian"--one of the 35 million hoagies that Wawa sells every year. It was a construct of average, deli-case quality meats. The "homestyle" roast beef did not replicate anything that I would serve in my home. The buns were proforma for a chain--I suppose I expected something more upper crust as we were verging on Grace Kelly territory. I also found the ATM-like computerized ordering process rather off-putting (and I was sober), seeing as the sandwich-maker was two feet away.

So, in short, why Wawa when you can find much better at DiNic, John's, Sarcone's, et al? In fact, as I type this message, I am looking fondly at a picture of us wolfing cheese steaks in South Philly last summer. A character served them to us, another thing I didn't find at the Wawa commisary.

Again, I'd have to agree with your assessment of the place of Wawa in the local sandwich pantheon and add that your local guide did do you a disservice, since you were only here for a short while. Still, I wouldn't knock him too hard for doing so, for, as you have probably gathered from the comments on this topic, many of us who do know where the good sandwiches are nonetheless appreciate Wawa for what it does.

Continuing your misadventure:

My colleague did not redeem himself at dinner. He took us to the Guard House in Gladwyne. Although the martinis were sturdy, the food approached the nadir of Ike and Mamie-era country club menus; my lamb chops had the unmistakeable mealiness of steam.

Sounds like what local writer Jim Quinn lampooned as "the mix-and-match menu" in a hilarious and overly long Philadelphia magazine essay in which he looked back at three decades of dining evolution in the Delaware Valley, published sometime around 1989.

I've had a brush with this creature once, at an earlier incarnation of the now-closed General Wayne Inn. It appears it's still popular among a certain subset of Main Liners.

May I suggest that your native guide consult some of his Bobo* acquaintances and get their recommendations for good eats on the Main Line? You'll probably do much better following their suggestions.

Again, a wasted opportunity--Philadelphia is rife with wonderful restaurants and may just be the most undersung dining city on the continent. Even if business didn't take me there fairly frequently, I'd go just to admire the buildings and the food. Compared to New York, I like its relatively more intimate size and feel. In fact, I'd go so far as to parrot W.C. Fields.

Agreed with your assessment. In fact, for all its frustrations and shortcomings, it is an underappreciated gem on many counts, especially by those born here.

Now, if only you had a hockey team . . .

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We did, back in the 1970s. Does anyone have one now?

*David Brooks, the neoconservative commentator-witticist who penned "Bobos in Paradise" and thus contributed the conjunction for "bourgeois bohemian" to the language, is a native of Wayne.

Edited July 11, 2005 by MarketStEl (log)

[MarketStEl]

Jamie -

I doubt anyone will argue that Wawa makes the best subs in the city/area (after all, that is Cappriotti's).

Which I will now have to make a special trip to visit, as my working days in Wilmington are now at an end. Being a temp, I was very expendable in the wake of the merger.

Now, I am a huge fan of 7-11 hot dogs[...]

Get thee to Mutt's (on Orange Street in downtown Wilmington and on Basin Road in New Castle) posthaste, so you can experience a real hot dog.

Again, 7-11 is to this place as Wawa is to a first-class hoagie shop (be it Capriotti's or Primo's or Salumeria....)

I love the computer-based ordering system, generally because I load sandwhiches up with everything, and it saves me the trouble of having to repeat myself three times that yes, I want both sweet and hot peppers on my tuna sub...  Then again, I dislike talking with barbers too...

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Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

[Sfuffy]

don't forget

--20th & locust

--20th & chestnut

--4th & ... like, queen or so?

--18th & arch

--is there still one down at 2nd & south?

there's no Wawa at 4th and Queen - you're probably thinking of the one at 2nd and Christian

[NulloModo]

Get thee to Mutt's (on Orange Street in downtown Wilmington and on Basin Road in New Castle) posthaste, so you can experience a real hot dog.

Again, 7-11 is to this place as Wawa is to a first-class hoagie shop (be it Capriotti's or Primo's or Salumeria....)

Well, I will clarify. I don't much enjoy the actual hot dog hot dogs from 7-11. Nay, I have to tuck into what is perhaps the most artificial and flavor injected convenience store stuffed meat product I have seen - the 'Bahama Mamma'. Of course, loading it up with nacho cheese sauce, sauerkraut, jalapenos, mustard, raw onions, and sometimes chili turns it into the ultimate acid reflux bomb...

BTW - when you try Cappriotti's, may I recommend The Bobbie, the Capastrami, or the Slaw-B-Joe.

[shacke]

Crab fries at Chickie and Pete's....... secret phillyphile phood.

Evan

[mrbigjas]

don't forget

--20th & locust

--20th & chestnut

--4th & ... like, queen or so?

--18th & arch

--is there still one down at 2nd & south?

there's no Wawa at 4th and Queen - you're probably thinking of the one at 2nd and Christian

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yeah, that's the ticket.

[KatieLoeb]

but they're all a pretty strong salute to pork particle theory/encased meat physics.

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This has to be one of the most hilarious turns of phrase on this board in some time.

[rlibkind]

but they're all a pretty strong salute to pork particle theory/encased meat physics.

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This has to be one of the most hilarious turns of phrase on this board in some time.

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Jamei's a professional. Don't do this at home!