first friday suggestions needed

[chowfun]

I have two friends coming to visit from out of town. They are on a budget, so I need to find an inexpensive or moderately priced place to take them for dinner. I was thinking that Chinatown would be a good back-up if I cant come up with something more exciting. I am going to take them to first Friday in Old City and I will likely have them meet me at my office at 7th and Walnut. I think we are going to get drenched. Aside from dinner suggestions, any suggestions for drinks, dessert, coffee, anything else? So far I dont have reservations anywhere. I was thinking that if we get an early start that likely wont be an issue.

[zeffer81]

i would check out radicchio at 4th and wood for dinner. it's a byo, so you can grab a bottle of wine during your gallery tour at the liquor store in old city (2nd or 3rd st--forget which one) that should definitely cut costs. good, straightforward italian food. they don't take reservations, however, so you might want to swing by for an early dinner before first friday. my choice for drinks would be nexus gallery--grab some cheap wine or beer there and bring it with you as you peruse the other galleries. 222 market (another gallery) has mixed drinks sometimes and the gallery itself is pretty funky.

continental is good for reasonably priced food too--it's the drinks that start adding up. if you go there, definitely get the lobster mashed--probably my favorite food. yum!

good luck and have fun! hope you don't get rained on.

[Capaneus]

I have two friends coming to visit from out of town.  They are on a budget, so I need to find an inexpensive or moderately priced place to take them for dinner.  I was thinking that Chinatown would be a good back-up if I cant come up with something more exciting.  I am going to take them to first Friday in Old City and I will likely have them meet me at my office at 7th and Walnut.  I think we are going to get drenched.  Aside from dinner suggestions, any suggestions for drinks, dessert, coffee, anything else?  So far I dont have reservations anywhere.  I was thinking that if we get an early start that likely wont be an issue.

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Raddichio is a good thought for dinner. It's not hard to eat inexpensively there. If you decide on Chinatown, Rangoon is a bit more unusual alternative to Chinese, as is Penang.

For dessert, I really like Petit4.

[KatieLoeb]

Hmmm...It seems many of the places right in Old City would be prohibitive price-wise. A bit further up the road there's always the Standard Tap in Northern Liberties. Good food that's reasonably priced and a great selection of beverages from interesting local draughts to decent wines by the glass. Pizza Rustica next door to there is downright cheap as dirt for the quality of pizza they're dishing up. No bar, but I don't know if they're averse to BYObeer or not. Might be worth investigating.

[robertruelan]

I agree with Katie that most of the Old City places would be 'over budget'.

Are you having dinner before or after First Friday? If afterwards, then most of the places around the area might be busy, so Chinatown is a good bet (along with the Northern Liberties option of Standard Tap). There are numerous posts on places to go but I would second the previous Rangoon recommendation and I would add Chinese Lakeside Deli (open till 8pm I believe) and Sang Kee. I believe most of the Chinatown restaurants metioned are NOT BYOB's (except Lakeside Deli), just FYI.

As far as bars, I just stopped by this new place on 3rd St. between Market and Chestnut, called 'A Bar Named Sue'. They have beer specials, like $2 Genesee Cream Ale, but no food, except free shell peanuts. But, there's numerous bars that have 'specials', just check CityPaper.

Enjoy and stay dry!

Edited October 7, 2005 by robertruelan (log)

[deprofundis]

As far as bars, I just stopped by this new place on 3rd St. between Market and Chesnut, called 'A Bar Named Sue'.  They have beer specials, like $2 Genesee Cream Ale, but no food, except free shell peanuts.  But, there's numerous bars that have 'specials', just check CityPaper. 

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That's a pretty good special. I always have to laugh when I see these CC bar "specials" that are like $3 for a Miller Lite, as if that's supposed to be some kind of bargain. Anyway, you can't go wrong with Chinatown. Every place I've eaten at down there is pretty good and cheap to boot. If you can make it down to South St, plenty of cheap eats there too. My favorite cheap dinner: slice at Lorenzo's + soda for $3. For coffee and dessert, Beau Monde at 6th & Bainbridge is excellent, but I wouldn't say it's really cheap. Coffee and a dessert crepe will probably run you $10+ each.

[KatieLoeb]

Probably too late for tonight, but Mandoline is a very nice BYOB in Old City that's not as pricey as many neighboring places. There's a State store right on 2nd Street too, so a bottle of wine is quite convenient.

[shill & shameless self-promotion]

By November's First Friday, Amada will be open. We're opening next weekend (Friday 10/14). You can stop in for tapas, $2 cañas (tapas sized glasses) of any of the draught beers, glasses of sangria and wines by the glass starting at $6.

I am very proud of how the wine list has finally turned out, and now that the staff has tried everything over the last two days, I can say that they're behind it too. I can hardly wait to have some paying customers come in to check it out!

[/shill & shameless self-promotion]

BTW - if any of you are planning to stop by at Amada, please PM me so I'll know if I'm in or not. I don't really have a schedule yet after training is over next week, but I'd love to see you all there whenever you have the chance to stop in.

[chowfun]

I want to thank everyone for their advice. It really is true that there is very little inexpensive dining in Old City. We ended up getting a much later start than I wanted to so we decided against Radiccio and walked from Old City to Northern Liberties to the Standard Tap. On the way we had some beers at Sugarmoms. It has a decent beer selection and is a pretty cool place to hang out for a while. We saw some art, music, dance, architecture and finally ended up at the Standard Tap at about 9 and it was a mob scene. We jumped in a cab and went to Chinatown. Its great to have a backup!

Saturday my husband and I returned to the Standard Tap at about 7 in a pouring rainstorm and there were many tables to be had in the upstairs dining room. The food and beer there is very good. My husband had boar loin in a mustard sauce with haricots vert, pan fried potatoes and butternut squash. It was tender, rich, and delicious. I had a whole black bass cooked so that the skin was crispy and lightly coated with a salt rub, and the meat was moist and perfectly cooked, topped with lump crab meat and served with greens and red and yellow pear tomatoes. Their food rivals many of the higher end places in town in quality and execution. The service is friendly and fast. I noticed that they have numerous wines by the glass. We never get past the beers on tap to order wine, but maybe next time...