Talula's Garden
210 W. Washington Square
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Neighborhoods: Washington Square West, Market East

The temperature made for a perfect summer's day. The sun was out. The sky was cloudless and blue as the sea. It was a sharp contrast to the leaden clouds and rain that greeted me upon returning to the US the previous day. It was a lazy Sunday, and lazy Sundays call for lazy brunches. 

With Washington Square at its footsteps, Talula's Garden offers both outside and inside seating. We were unable to get a table outside, so in we went. Inside, the three interior sections have their own distinct decor - just take a look at the ceilings and seen for yourself.

Serpico
604 S St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Neighborhoods: South St., Society Hill
(215) 925-3001

It's exterior is nondescript, perhaps to the point of almost being boring. Inside, however, is an intimate space whose walls are lined with chalkboards listing out the menu, drinks, desserts, and childlike doodles. To the left is a small bar fronted by a long rectangular coffee table. To the right is a beautiful open kitchen surrounded by stools for those lucky enough to get a seat watching the action. We were in Serpico, Stephen Starr's new restaurant headed up by James Beard Award winning chef Peter Serpico.

Luke's Lobster
130 S 17th St

Philadelphia, PA 19103
Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Square, Penn Center

First opened in East Village in 2009, Luke's Lobster has been transplanted to center city Philadelphia. It's a small establishment whose decor, I think, is meant to take diners away from the busy streets of the city and onto the modern rustic feel of a lobster boat.

Honey's Sit 'N Eat
2101 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Sq, Fitler Sq

After having been out of the country for two months and with only three hours of sleep and a very empty stomach, I headed into Honey's Sit n' Eat on South Street for some good old fashion American brunch. Unlike the Honey's in Northern Liberties, this Honey's had no wait. It was 9AM on a Saturday and we got seated immediately. Also unlike its counterpart in Northern Liberties is the spacious feeling of the establishment. Sunlight permeated the dining area, morning chatter filled up the room, and the smell of coffee aroused my senses.

The summer weather hasn't been kind to the northeast corridor this year.  Rain seems to be the new norm, with a couple days of sunshine in between as the exceptions.  It was thus on Thursday when I came back to Philly.  The rain had just stopped and a light breeze rolled into the city, blowing away what was a very humid evening.  The respite didn't last for long, as the weather dropped twenty degrees on Friday, with strong wind gusts forcing droplets of rain to the ground. But, that was Friday.  Back to Thursday night at Pumpkin.

Pumpkin, a local establishment located in the heart of South Street, uses locally sourced ingredients to craft beautifully plated dishes.

The bread came with roasted garlic olive oil, which was a nice twist.  We started off with the barenegat light scallops with chorizo and squid ink ragout, as well as the cured king salmon with sweet potato, corn, and habanero.  The scallops were tenderly cooked and paired with what tasted and looked like jello!  That was a total surprise.

The cured king salmon was delicious - in a mouthful there were the salmon, popcorn, and sweet potato in a sorbet format.  I was expecting the sweet potato to be warm and mushy, but the second the bite hit my taste buds, the cold and sweetness of the sorbet lit me up and I didn't want to share the rest.

It was festival weekend in Philly - from Fairmount to Rittenhouse to the Italian Market, there were festivities going all around.  I was otherwise preoccupied with a bottle of permethrin (another post, another time), so I missed out on the Saturday festivals, but made it to the Italian festival last Sunday.

Not surprisingly, the weather was doom and gloom.  Nimbostratus clouds hovered over Philly with the threat of enough rain and humidity to ruin any outside festival.  Luckily for us, it drizzled a little bit here and there and then petered out.

Miles Table
1620 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square

It's that time of year again when thousands of family members fly into Philadelphia, throw hugs around their grown up children, and cry their eyes out over what marvelous people their little ones are now.  Unfortunately, all the Penn graduation ceremonies mean that the area around University City becomes crowded and walking along Locust Walk becomes traffic-jammed so people can take pictures of the Ben Franklin statue that is rumored to be urinated on every year.  Why oh why.

So, when it came to brunch on Saturday, there was no way I was going to suggest anywhere near the university.  So, we headed to South Street and stopped at Miles Table.

The set up is this - you walk through the door, hop to the counter in the back of the establishment, shout your order, take a number, and sit down.  It's like a fancier version of a fast food joint.  I admit, it was a little awkward for us to stand there waiting for someone to seat us until we realized - doh!

I had the eggs benedict, which was overall not bad.  Only complaint is that it was a bit too salty, but I assume that was the meat.  Nothing I would write home about...at least not yet.  The quiche I heard wasn't too bad either...However, with only a short amount of time left in the city of brotherly love, I don't think I'll be giving any more love to Miles Table.

Now, back to waiting for my ever so delayed plane...

Meritage
500 S 20th St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square

As my taxi driver muttered expletives at the pedestrians and cars in his way, I was starting to wonder if I should have walked instead.  Then, he made a sharp turn off of the busier South Street and dropped me off at Lombard.  The street was quiet, with a couple folks sitting outside having a drink or just wrapping up their dinners.  I was about to begin mine.

As promised in my last review of Meritage, I went back for the Thursday Korean fried chicken.  We arrived around 8:30 and got seated right away as there was only one other table seated and a couple folks at the bar.

We started off with the deviled verbena farm eggs with bacon infused trout roe and the Hudson Valley foie gras raviolis with black truffle butter.  The deviled eggs had a nice kick to it - from what I assume was mustard.  The raviolis were okay - but I'm a bit biased as it tasted like they had goat cheese (not a big fan) or something with very similar flavors.

Earlier in the year, Yelp issued a challenge to write 100 reviews in the year 2013.  While it's quite uncertain if I'll be able to hit that mark before leaving Philly, I think I've made a big dent so far.  This is review number 73 72 (because apparently updates don't count)!  See the full list here.

Matyson
37 S 19th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Square, Penn Center

It was another beautiful day in Philly on Sunday...or so I was misled to believe by the morning sun.  The rays of the sun woke me up a bit earlier than I would had liked for a Sunday morning, but the day was too beautiful to sleep through.  After skipping down (of course not, I took the trolley) to a Starbucks in Center City to wrap up a couple work related items and plan the last portion of my trip (which I failed to do), I stopped by Rittenhouse Square to people watch and to make use of my Kindle that had been collecting dust.  I haven't read anything in a while, and figured it's never too late to become more literate, learned, educated, whatever.  It was then that I discovered, while I was wrapping up work at the Starbucks, the weather had taken a turn for the downer.  The clouds had overtaken the city, hovering over us like dark ominous overlords.  I sat there for a while, but eventually it got a bit chilly so I took cover inside the nearby B&N.  Nothing like using B&N to subsidize my Kindle reading.  Go Nook.

Rittenhouse is conveniently located within a few minutes walk to Matyson, which recently installed a $35 prix fixe  menu for Sunday nights.  For this week, the theme was sea bass.  I'm more of a salmon kind of guy, but what the heck, why not?

We started off with two triangle shaped pieces of crispy polenta with mancheo and tomato fondue.  I thought this was alright.  The real highlight came second, with a bowl of steamed mussels bathed in an aromatic broth infused with coconut curry and sprinkled with cashew, sweet potato, and basil.  I took a deep breath to inhale the beautiful aroma that this concoction brought out.  My olfactory senses were happy...and so were my taste buds.

Then came the striped bass, which was served with black rice, asparagus, and saffron aioli (a fancy name for mayo).  As I said, I'm a salmon guy, and found eating the striped bass equivalent to eating solid water.  The skin was crispy and crunchy, but the fish itself was no salmon.  However, the accompanying black rice and asparagus were great supporting acts and saved the dish.

We wrapped it up with a chocolate kahlua mousse cake with hazelnuts and créme anglaise (a fancy French name for English cream).  Unlike the striped bass, the cake left no doubt that it was chocolate.  Rich and flavorful it was - luckily, the portion size was small so there was no risk of overindulging.

Meritage
500 S 20th St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square

We came to Meritage as an impromtu birthday dinner.  Luckily, they had a table outside for us, even when we arrived 15-20 minutes later than expected (crazy Penn Relays traffic).  It was wonderful and refreshing to sit outside, the weather was perfect, not too warm, and definitely not cold at all.

For starters, we had the pan-fried pork dumplings.  The taste was authentic, but there wasn't anything unique to the flavors that would make me say "I would come back to Meritage just for those dumplings" - especially when I can go to Chinatown and get twice as many dumplings for the same price.

Passersby definitely had a look of envy as they walked by, the look that says "Dumplings!! Me want some!"

I had the large plate special, which consisted of housemade fries, Asian slaw and cod cakes.  The flavors were subtle, and not what I was expecting, but still good.  The consistency of the cod cakes could be thicker, because as soon as I put my knife through them, they got all mushy gushy.  Kind of like...baby food.

We also had the duo of lamb with artichokes, asparagus, fingerlings, and baby carrots.  The lamb had a huge layer of fat on top, so yes, it was delicious.  All it needed was a little bit more crunch to the skin to give it contrast next to the fat.

To wrap it up, we had the dessert sampler - mini peanut butter bombe, chocolate cake, and banana pudding.  The bombe was light - the trick to sharing this is to flip it upside down and break it in half that way.  Otherwise, the outer layer of chocolate on the top is too hard to cut through with a spoon.  The chocolate cake was my least favorite, but the banana pudding made up for the chocolate cake's lack of star power.

I'll definitely be back one of these days for the Thursday Korean Fried Chicken special!

This is the first post I've written using the Blogger app, so it's rather short and looks slightly different from my usual restaurant reviews. Nevertheless, you should still keep reading. Here's my two latest restaurant ventures...

Thai Spice
216 W Ridge Pike
Royersford, PA 19468
(610) 454-9333

We were out near the area, so stopped by Thai Spice. While the food is generally ok to good, it's not a place that I would purposely go out of my way to reach. The green thunder fried rice was a bit salty, and the vegetable spring rolls were a little bland.

Food aside, the service was good, but the joint's over air conditioned, so bring a light parka :)

Pho Ha
610 Washington Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 599-0264

We got seated right away when we came into Pho Ha. The waitress came quickly to take our orders, and the Pho came out a few minutes later. My grilled chicken rice dish came out 15 minutes later. I was starving and was getting impatient when my plate finally arrived. I was a little disappointed though that my grilled chicken looked like it definitely spent some time in the deep fryer. Some would say that's false advertisement...

FYI - cash only. Ugh :/

Penn recently finished its capital campaign and raised a silly large amount of money.  I guess I didn't donate enough money, because I didn't get an invite to the celebration at Penn Park.  By accident, I learned of the event through Facebook, and got myself registered.  Train, John Legend, and a bunch of other Penn student groups were scheduled to perform.

We were a bit less ecstatic about the student groups, so we decided to go to dinner first.  Since Fitler Dining Room was just around the corner, we headed there.  I had high hopes for FDR.  We dropped in to see if they had any tables for us since we didn't have a reservation.  The host did not give us a good impression - he sat us at the counter in front of the kitchen (great view of all the action), but he didn't make eye contact and sounded annoyed that we dared show up without a reservation. Hmp!  It's obvious that the staff is still in the early phase of training - or at least I hope so - as our waitress was rambling on having too many dishes on the counter or something.  We were totally baffled.

Cafe Lift
428 N 13th St
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Neighborhoods: Spring Garden, Callowhill, Avenue of the Arts North

Cafe Lift is easily a five star establishment.  I've walked by this joint dozens of times on my way to tango, but have honestly never noticed it.  I thought it was a coffee shop more so than a restaurant.

The decor is almost industrial like, with cool paintings along the walls.  The restaurant is pretty large as well, which makes sense since rent is probably much cheaper here than in Center City proper.

Service at Cafe Lift was excellent - the waitresses were incredibly helpful, friendly, and happy in general.  Food at Cafe Lift was equally great - we had the eggs florentine (poached eggs with spinach, crab meat, potatoes, truffled hollandaise all served with two slices of Italian bread), sausage frittata (spicy Italian fennel sausage, spinach, and mozzarella cheese), and the cannoli french toast (challah bread, cinnamon vanilla custard, bananas, chocolate, pistachios, ricotta cannoli filling).

Each dish was seasoned perfectly, with little room for improvement.  The cannoli french toast is a must try. I'm hungry again just writing this review.

I normally would ding a restaurant one star for being cash only, but the food and service here was good enough that I won't this time!

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Aksum
4630 Baltimore Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Neighborhood: Cedar Park

Aksum, another neighborhood joint, is a small ~12 table establishment located a couple blocks from Clark Park.  Its name is derived from the Aksumite Empire that covered Eritrea, Yemen, Saudia Arabia, and other present day countries...or at least that's what the "About Aksum" says on the menu.

I'm not a big fan of Mediterranean food as I find it rather bland compared to the more powerful spices that are infused into other cuisines like those found in Latin America and Southeast Asia.  And I don't like olives!  But, I thought I'd give this a shot as it's in the neighborhood.

The decor and atmosphere at Aksum is not "high end" but certainly much higher end than most of the other restaurants in the Cedar Park area (the only comparable restaurant in this regard is Vietnam Cafe, which is a 60 second walk away).  The prices are also adjusted accordingly.  The question I had was - are the flavors and the service worth the higher price tag? Maybe.

The rosemary grilled chicken was plated beautifully, and the chicken breast marinated in the house's rosemary sauce was super tender.  The olive pine nut tapenade that was layered on top of the chicken had a strong, bold flavor.  The garlic mashed potatoes, however, was bland and blah.  I wouldn't have known they were garlic mashed potatoes had I not been told there was garlic in them.  The grilled asparagus were grilled asparagus.

For the entire restaurant, there was only one waitress.  This seemed about right when I first walked in as the place was only at 20% capacity.  But, when it started reaching 80% capacity, the waitress definitely had more on her plate than she could handle in a timely manner.  It took 15 minutes from asking for my check to actually receiving it...and then another 5 minutes to get my credit card back. A third of an hour gone.

Aksum uses Square for credit card payments, and I was surprised when they brought out an iPad.  I thought I had won something, but they just wanted my autograph.

If you haven't already, become a fan to get updates on my Yelp reviews!

Supper
926 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Neighborhood: Washington Square West

I've heard good things about Supper and was excited to drop by for brunch.  I was let down.  The food was mostly good, but the service was sub-par.

The initial greetings from the hostess was nonexistent, her attitude was far from friendly.  Our waiter acted like it was his first day on the job (maybe it was?) - we encountered several awkward moments with him while ordering and in between each dish.   Oh well, we're all awkward in one way or the other I guess.

I had the hoboken benny with two fried eggs, taylor ham, smoked mozz, garlic pizza knots, oregano hollandaise and tomato jam.  This was quite good. Although I could have done without the tomato jam, which stuck out - flavor wise - like a sore thumb.  I had a bite of the supper dog - pork shoulder wrapped in bacon, deep fried and served with onions, beer mustard and fried pickles.  I'm not a big fan of mustard, but I thought it went well on the supper dog.  Certainly not the choice to make if you're looking for something healthy! Luckily, both of us were in the mood to indulge.

For dessert, we wrapped it up with the housemade piña colada doughnuts with toasted coconut and the chocolate mud pie with chocolate chip ice cream.  The doughnuts were super light yet tasty.  The mud pie was super heavy and yet tasty.  The scoop of chocolate chip ice cream was tiny in comparison to the slice of pie, so make sure you get your share of the ice cream before your brunch mate takes it all!

Tip - if you're coming around the afternoon, make sure you don't sit in the front corner of the restaurant.  The sun will hit you in the eyes like there's no tomorrow.  Alternatively, bring a pair of shades.

If you haven't already, become a fan to get updates on my Yelp reviews!

P.S. The special glow in my pictures is not because it was super sunny outside - just a defect in my iphone's camera. 

Ants Pants Cafe
2212 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Neighborhood: Graduate Hospital

I've been here twice.  The first time it was only for chai - this was okay.  The second time was for brunch because Cafe Lutecia on 23rd/Lombard was closed.

It was fairly crowded, but this could be a matter of optics since the establishment is quite small.  In fact, my elbows must had gotten bumped quite a few times just sitting there.

We both had the Brekkie Platter - 3 eggs (mine was sunny, the other was scrambled), with bacon and brioche.  Overall, the dish was okay, nothing spectacular and nothing that I couldn't make myself in the kitchen, if I had a functional kitchen anyway. I was fairly hungry, and although it looked like there was a lot of food on the plate, I was left still feeling quite hungry.  The waiter never asked us if we wanted anything more, he just walked by and dropped off the check.  Oh well.  So we went to Capogiro instead.

Also, be warned that this joint is cash only.  Urgh, come one, get Square.

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Minado
2917 Swede Rd
East Norriton, PA 19401

I would have never thought I would be writing a review for a buffet.  It's not that I'm too good for buffets, because I love them when I'm starving, but there's usually never a doubt what the quality would be.  Minado is a little different. 

Our party of five came here early in the evening, and although it wasn't jam packed, it was still fairly full - and mostly filled with Asians.  The establishment itself is quite large, so although it wasn't completely full, there was a lot of people here.  So far so good.  

Minado has pretty much everything you'll need - over 40 (yes 40!) different types of sushi and sashimi to devour, hibachi grill for those looking for cooked meat, a variety of Cantonese dishes, and two or three dim sum plates.  The sushi looked - and tasted - fresh, the avocado was still green!  For a buffet, the quality of the sushi and sashimi surpassed my expectations and is on par with some of the non-buffet establishments in Philly.  You won't be disappointed.  

The dim sum was so-so, I guess that's why there was only two or three dim sum dishes.  Not Minado's strong suit.  The Canto dishes were better, with a variety of seafood, meats, and tofu options from which to fill up your growling stomach.  There was also crab legs for those looking to crunch out some frustration.

The desserts were also better than I expected.  There were the traditional fruit options, and also a selection of other small bites - amuse bouche for the more refined :) just kidding.  The oreo cheesecake and the green tea cheesecake were delicious, and the green tea custard (full fat, as someone kept reminding us) was a great way to wrap up a very, very filling meal - all for roughly $30 bucks a pop.

Honey's Sit-N-Eat
800 N 4th St
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Neighborhood: Northern Liberties

I know a lot of Yelpers rave about this place, but my experience was only so-so.  Because of its glowing reviews, we were fine with waiting half an hour.

I had the Breakfast Bomb - a huge dish with a giant buttermilk pancake folded in half, between which were eggs with homemade turkey sausage.  You get to choose your own breakfast meat, as well as a side.  I had the grits.  I thought both were good, but not a "wow, this is soooo goood" kinda good.

I also had some of the gravy and biscuit - on my first bite, I thought this was delicious.  There was a strong pepper flavor to it - and I am a big fan of pepper so this was great.  But then I ate an entire biscuit, and thought the gravy was too overpowering to eat as an entire dish.

Despite the so-so experience, I look forward to re-visiting, because I must be missing something if everyone is jumping and down for a seat at this joint.  I was also too full to try the deep fried banana split, so I'll have to check that off my list next time!

Rex 1516
1516 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square

Another great Philly find.  Rex 1516 is a gem amongst all the other establishments of South Street.  We dropped by here for brunch, and surprisingly, it wasn't packed (perhaps it was the weather driving everyone to stay indoors).

I started off with the Huevos Rancheros, which was brunch heaven in every bite and by far the best rendition of a Huevos Rancheros I've had anywhere in Philly.   On top of two corn tortilla were a fried egg, crawfish etouffee, avocado, and pico de gallo.  The crawfish etouffee added a bold cajun/creole flavor to the mix.

Huevos Rancheros

I also had a bite of the Monte Cristo - the equivalent of the French's Croque Monsieur with house baked ham, pepperjack, and fig-bourbon preserves layered in between two slices of brioche.  Unlike the Croque Monsieur we had at La Petite Dauphine, the Monte Cristo was worthy of its name.  The portions were large and it tasted much better than the Croque Monsieur.

Monte Cristo

To wrap things up, we split the fried carrot cake - yeah, this can't go wrong.   I enjoyed this, but I'd admit that it tasted very much like a doughnut, with a hint of carrot cake.

Fried Carrot Cake

Overall, great spot.  If food is consistently this good in future visits and the desserts get a little bit more refined, I'll bump it up to a full five stars on Yelp.  Speaking of which, if you haven't already, become a fan to get updates on my Yelp reviews!