Philly food praised in New York

[Mummer]

Michael Klein notes that New York Magazine listed the two Starr spots among the top new places and Tony Luke's pork Italiano in the dushes under $10 category.

Table Talk 1/25/07

[Vadouvan]

With all due respects, those places dont represent Philly food, it's great that they are praised but the menu's arent even the same as the philly restaurants.

NY mag is easily swooned by the imposing interiors of 10 million dollar restaurants.

It has nothing to do with the food.

Edited to add : I am referring to Morimoto, buddakan.

I think we have good restaurants and we should not give a sheet what Ny mag says.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Vadouvan (log)

[Mummer]

A fancy-schmancy Starr joint not about the food, V?

Say it ain't so...

[Vadouvan]

You know I love you Charlie.....

Seriously I just think it's incredibly pointless to leave Philly for New York, be able to afford Morimoto and not eat at Yasuda.

[Always Hungry in America]

Michael Klein notes that New York Magazine listed the two Starr spots among the top new places and Tony Luke's pork Italiano in the dushes under $10 category.

Table Talk 1/25/07

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Picking up on this topic, I'm wondering if those from Philadelphia can tell me why they think (and if they think) Philly is a great food town worthy of food praise. And what are your absolute favorite places? Thanks!

[Vadouvan]

Who are you working for, Saveur, Gourmet, Fand W, Tand L or Bon Apetit ?

[MarketStEl]

Picking up on this topic, I'm wondering if those from Philadelphia can tell me why they think (and if they think) Philly is a great food town worthy of food praise. And what are your absolute favorite places? Thanks!

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Absolutely on the "if" question!

For some of the reasons why, I refer you to my foodblogs. To save time, however, I'll summarize them here too: We are surrounded by some of the country's best food-producing regions, and we have a talented pool of chefs(1) who are working with this bounty to produce interesting and often outstanding dishes for diners who appreciate what they're doing. The breadth of restaurant offerings has also grown over the past few years to the point where our dining scene is probably as diverse as one can find in any large American city(2).

As for favorite places: I'm not a frequent diner--yet; for one thing, I enjoy cooking, and for another, I don't have the scratch like that. But here are some places I've been that I thoroughly enjoyed:

--Szechuan Tasty House

--Vietnam and Vietnam Palace (they're across the street from each other)

--The Astral Plane (the last survivor of the "Restaurant Renaissance" and a reliable standby)

--Caribou Cafe

--Moriarty's (for the wings, of course!)

--Pho 75 (talk about good, cheap and filling!)

--Taqueria La Puebla (see Pho 75, above; this is the Mexican variant on that equation)

And now for something completely different:

--Ikea serves a surprisingly good hot dog for only 50 cents.

Edited to add the footnotes I left out:

(1) some of whom, including some participants here on eG, are graduates of the School of Hospitality Management at my employer.

(2) New York, of course, being in a class by itself, this statement does not encompass that city. But our dining scene holds its own with New York's nonetheless, as this thread suggests.

Edited January 25, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[JohnL]

With all due respects, those places dont represent Philly food, it's great that they are praised but the menu's arent even the same as the philly restaurants.

NY mag is easily swooned by the imposing interiors of 10 million dollar restaurants.

It has nothing to do with the food.

Edited to add :  I am referring to Morimoto, buddakan.

I think we have good restaurants and we should not give a sheet what NY mag says.

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You guys oughtta see the interior of the Manhattan Tony Luke's--what a dump!

Seriously though--

I have to say, I have never seen a town more obsessed with its own food image.

Why?

For a long time, Philadelphia has had some very fine restaurants of many types. It currently has a vibrant and interesting restaurant and food scene.

If one is going to compare it to other cities then one needs to look at the factors that impact the restaurant business.

Size, per capita income, tourism, business climate, history etc etc etc.

I believe that Philadelphia has gotten its share of national recognition. Philadelphians should stop agonizing over comparisons to other cities (New York , San Francisco and Chicago for starters) and enjoy what they have.

[MarketStEl]

World-class municipal inferiority complex, John...

And I know from municipal inferiority complexes. I grew up in Kansas City, which has a fairly healthy one too, though it's been largely cured of late.

[Mummer]

Seriously though--

I have to say, I have never seen a town more obsessed with its own food image.

Why?

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That's why I chose self-deprecation as a subtitle. It's Penn's fault, and it's not just about food image.

Many grads stay here because this is a great city. Everybody knows that folks went to Penn because they didn't get into any other Ivy school.

I'm kidding, folks! I didn't even apply to an Ivy school.

Really, I am! I got drool on my SATs.

Some of my best friends went to Penn! Well, not anymore...

[herbacidal]

I believe that Philadelphia has gotten its share of national recognition. Philadelphians should stop agonizing over comparisons to other cities (New York , San Francisco and Chicago for starters) and enjoy what they have.

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Yea, as a hometown boy, I agree wholeheartedly.

Folks need to stop worrying about what Philly has compared to other cities.

Just work on building Philly up and making it great, period.

Not that me saying it will make it stop.

[KatieLoeb]

Everybody knows that folks went to Penn because they didn't get into any other Ivy school.

Actually I got in early decision. So I may never know the answer to that question...

And yeah. I stayed.

[MarketStEl]

Everybody knows that folks went to Penn because they didn't get into any other Ivy school.

Actually I got in early decision. So I may never know the answer to that question...

And yeah. I stayed.

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I got into Penn because I successfully interviewed for a job there. Turned out to be a pretty good career move in the long run.

As for where I went to college...well, it is in the Ivies....

[JohnL]

Everybody knows that folks went to Penn because they didn't get into any other Ivy school.

Actually I got in early decision. So I may never know the answer to that question...

And yeah. I stayed.

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I got into Penn because I successfully interviewed for a job there. Turned out to be a pretty good career move in the long run.

As for where I went to college...well, it is in the Ivies....

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You folks are too Penncentric!

NYC has one Ivy League school and it ain't Harvard, Yale or Princeton.

Too much grass is greener syndrome if you ask me.

[Rich Pawlak]

I went to Penn too, but I HAD been accepted at Harvard, Yale and Cornell (but not Princeton!). Penn was the most genuine of the Ivies that I visited in high school, by far. And the best food service on the East Coast, also a big deciding factor. yes, I was a foodie already in high school.

And Adam Platt's feature on New York eats in last that recent New York magazine is about as good as it gets for a comprehensive take on eating in the Big Apple.

[MarketStEl]

I went to Penn too, but I HAD been accepted at Harvard, Yale and Cornell (but not Princeton!).  Penn was the most genuine of the Ivies that I visited in high school, by far.  And the best food service on the East Coast, also a big deciding factor.  yes, I was a foodie already in high school.

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I got in to Harvard, Yale, Brown and Chicago (the only four schools I applied to), and occasionally regret turning down Chicago.

Having dined at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Penn, I'll second your assessment of Penn's campus dining. What Harvard's dining services did to poor innocent tofu scared me away from the stuff unnecessarily for decades.

But in the YMMV department:

I was having a conversation last night with another PGMC member who asked me about my college experience. Said Chorus member attended Penn.

I told him that at Harvard, I got an education from the smartest people in the world: my classmates.

He seconded my assessment of how Harvard undergrads relate to one another and lamented what he saw as an everyone-for-themselves ethos at Penn.

But yeah, as Ivies go, Penn's not snooty at all. Princeton has the market in that cornered.

Edited to add: Confidential to JohnL: Careful about making assumptions. Check out the bio on my profile.

Edited January 25, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[dagordon]

Having dined at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Penn, I'll second your assessment of Penn's campus dining.  What Harvard's dining services did to poor innocent tofu scared me away from the stuff unnecessarily for decades.

Adams house food has improved since then

[Vadouvan]

Not to be a scrooge but what does all this Ivy League chat have to do with Philadelphia food

[mrbigjas]

Not to be a scrooge but what does all this Ivy League chat have to do with Philadelphia food 

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at penn there was a food truck outside of hup, and it had a champ cherry umbrella. and it was run by this really nice pakistani couple. and an egg & cheese sandwich was a dollar. and they'd give you a pretzel with anything you ordered. so on those mornings when you're heading home after being up all night partying (not that i would know anything about that of course, i was up early for... uh, church! yeah that's the ticket!), for $1.75 you could get a cup of coffee, an egg & cheese, and a pretzel.

and if there's a better deal than that i'd like to know it.

p.s. it's been a couple of years but to my knowledge the truck is still in existence, in that parking lot between hup and the penn museum.

Edited January 25, 2007 by mrbigjas (log)

[philadining]

Not to be a scrooge but what does all this Ivy League chat have to do with Philadelphia food 

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It's just that Penn suffers from that same Philly syndrome: proud, yet convinced that they don't measure-up to options in other cities. Penn students/alum do the same thing as Philadelphians in general: in one breath fiercely insisting that what we've got is every bit as good as anywhere else, maybe better, in the next breath complaining that things here suck compared to X.

Maybe it's the water. Or the Cheese Whiz.

[Andrew Fenton]

at penn there was a food truck outside of hup, and it had a champ cherry umbrella.  and it was run by this really nice pakistani couple.  and an egg & cheese sandwich was a dollar.  and they'd give you a pretzel with anything you ordered.  so on those mornings when you're heading home after being up all night partying (not that i would know anything about that of course, i was up early for... uh, church!  yeah that's the ticket!), for $1.75 you could get a cup of coffee, an egg & cheese, and a pretzel.

Not to mention that we're coming close to the ten-year anniversary of the University City Food Truck Massacre of 1998. As much as the Philadelphia dining scene has improved over the last decade or so, the cheap food scene near Penn has gone downhill since then...

[R Washburn]

I do miss Sarcone's deli, Brasserie Perrier and Le Bec-Fin, but I can't say that I am willing to make a special trip from New York to eat anywhere in Philadelphia. Maybe I would if Le Bec-Fin slashed its prices by 30%.

Why should we be concerned if America's fourth largest city doesn't have as good a dining scene as a city five times larger?

[Andrew Fenton]

Why should we be concerned if America's fourth largest city doesn't have as good a dining scene as a city five times larger?

Hey now, I won't stand for anybody ripping on Houston like that...

[MarketStEl]

Not to mention that we're coming close to the ten-year anniversary of the University City Food Truck Massacre of 1998.  As much as the Philadelphia dining scene has improved over the last decade or so, the cheap food scene near Penn has gone downhill since then...

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Anyone for staging a candlelight vigil for Jow's Lunch Truck in front of the main entrance to the Penn Bookstore?