Philadelphia people

[mbcdefg]

I know that Zahav has been mentioned a few times on this board. We'll be going for MH's birthday in a few weeks.

Anyone know what the parking situation is like? Will we be able to find street parking, or should we just count on parking in a lot or even taking a cab? (We'll likely stay overnight but IDK where - MH wants to try Priceline for a hotel.)

He also wants to do lunch at Monk's Cafe. Any ideas of what we can do in between the two meals? We're likely going with some friends and we're all familiar with Philly and have done Reading Terminal Market and the Liberty Bell/Independence Hall before ... any suggestions for something a little off the beaten path, maybe?

[LoveTrains]

I love the Mutter Museum, but its not for everyone.

www.collegeofphysicians.org/mutter-museum/

[rikki]

Jul 24, 2013 10:33:56 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

I love the Mutter Museum, but its not for everyone.

www.collegeofphysicians.org/mutter-museum/

Oh dear.  XH took me there.  I had nightmares for weeks!  

[Deleted]

IME parking in Philly generally sucks. There's a garage maybe three blocks from Zahav that's probably your best bet. Maybe you'll luck out and get street parking, but I've never been successful with that.

[rikki]

When I went to Zahav there was a lot of street parking nearby (near the water), but it was a holiday weekend so I am not sure if that made any difference. There is a Hyatt (that I stayed at on a business trip, nothing special, but very clean and close to the restaurant) nearby.

[Deleted]

I always love the Franklin Institute and the Art Museum, but they aren't off the beaten path.

What about the Rodin Museum or the Barnes Foundation (plan ahead!)?

If you don't want to do art, the Italian Market is cool. Also, I love love love strolling the quaint residential blocks around Rittenhouse Square and Society Hill.

Old City has some cool shopping, and Elfreth's Alley is really worth a quick visit.

[LoveTrains]

Jul 24, 2013 10:39:37 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

Jul 24, 2013 10:37:33 GMT -5 @bonsoirlune said:

IME parking in Philly generally sucks.

So much so that some genius made a reality show about it!

I could go on about my experiences with PPA at length, but why relive the nightmare?

I love to watch Parking Wars, mostly for the classic Philly accents. 

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 10:46:33 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Jul 24, 2013 10:39:37 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

So much so that some genius made a reality show about it!

I could go on about my experiences with PPA at length, but why relive the nightmare?

I love to watch Parking Wars, mostly for the classic Philly accents. 

There is NOTHING BETTER than a Philly accent.  I'm obsessed with them.

[LoveTrains]

Jul 24, 2013 10:51:52 GMT -5 v said:

Jul 24, 2013 10:46:33 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

I love to watch Parking Wars, mostly for the classic Philly accents. 

There is NOTHING BETTER than a Philly accent.  I'm obsessed with them.

I say "water" with a philly accent, but sadly that's all I've got. I think Philly accents are way more awesome than Boston accents, but I don't think a lot of people actually know what a Philly accent is. But you know it when you hear it. 

[mbcdefg]

Jul 24, 2013 10:39:20 GMT -5 @mavjen said:

Did you let Zahav know you will order the lamb, if applicable? They can run out.

Yes, I mentioned that when I made the reservation.


Thanks for the tips, everyone!

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 10:56:29 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Jul 24, 2013 10:53:56 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

I say "water" with a philly accent, but sadly that's all I've got. I think Philly accents are way more awesome than Boston accents, but I don't think a lot of people actually know what a Philly accent is. But you know it when you hear it. 

I don't know if I ever heard one.  Anyone have a link to a proper Philly accent on youtube or something?

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?  Bad Quaker!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKpQRgMRAf4

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 11:04:03 GMT -5 @mavjen said:

For me, I can spot a true (South) Philly accent by one word's pronunciation: Oregon.

Organ?

[doobeedoo]

We're thinking of Zahav in a few weeks for my birthday, too.  Twinsies!

As for other places to eat, I have heard good things about Federal Donuts:  www.federaldonuts.com/.  Fried chicken!

Why not use a car service like Uber and not worry about parking?  I haven't used it yet, but I heard about it first on here and will possibly use it the night we go to Zahav as well.

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 11:05:29 GMT -5 doobeedoo said:

We're thinking of Zahav in a few weeks for my birthday, too.  Twinsies!

As for other places to eat, I have heard good things about Federal Donuts:  www.federaldonuts.com/.  Fried chicken!

Why not use a car service like Uber and not worry about parking?  I haven't used it yet, but I heard about it first on here and will possibly use it the night we go to Zahav as well.

You can also just hail a cab, if you're coming from Center City. 

When I was in Philly in October we were unable to get an Uber car home from the Italian Market on Friday night... no cars were available.  Maybe it has gotten better now, but I wasn't impressed.

[doobeedoo]

Okay, so maybe Uber is not quite as reliable as I expected. Bummer. Coming from the burbs, cabs are not the best transportation either, so we usually drive or train it if we can.

Also, OP, have you been to Amada or Tinto or any of the Jose Garces restaurants? If Zahav is on your radar, then I assume so, but if not, they're definitely worth checking out and they're great for groups.

[mbcdefg]

Jul 24, 2013 11:14:10 GMT -5 doobeedoo said:

Also, OP, have you been to Amada or Tinto or any of the Jose Garces restaurants? If Zahav is on your radar, then I assume so, but if not, they're definitely worth checking out and they're great for groups.

I haven't been to those places - sounds interesting! I like watching Garces on Iron Chef and I hear his restaurants are great.

We live close enough to Philly where it can be a day trip for us, but we don't take advantage of it nearly enough. So I'll bookmark these for a future trip, since MH specifically requested Monk's and Zahav for his birthday and we're only going for one night.

Thanks!

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 11:22:23 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

We live close enough to Philly where it can be a day trip for us, but we don't take advantage of it nearly enough. So I'll bookmark these for a future trip, since MH specifically requested Monk's and Zahav for his birthday and we're only going for one night.

Fact: Philly's more fun when you sleep over

[LoveTrains]

LOLOL I just found a clip of Bradley Cooper doing a philly accent on you tube and it was hilarious.

[mbcdefg]

Jul 24, 2013 11:25:24 GMT -5 v said:

Jul 24, 2013 11:22:23 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

We live close enough to Philly where it can be a day trip for us, but we don't take advantage of it nearly enough. So I'll bookmark these for a future trip, since MH specifically requested Monk's and Zahav for his birthday and we're only going for one night.

Fact: Philly's more fun when you sleep over

I've gotta get on him to pick a hotel.

The last time we stayed over was for our first anniversary ... he got us a good deal at the Lowes Hotel, and we had lunch at Eulogy and dinner at The Continental. And ice cream from Franklin Fountain and one of the Reading Terminal booths, mmm.

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 10:56:29 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Jul 24, 2013 10:53:56 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

I say "water" with a philly accent, but sadly that's all I've got. I think Philly accents are way more awesome than Boston accents, but I don't think a lot of people actually know what a Philly accent is. But you know it when you hear it. 

I don't know if I ever heard one.  Anyone have a link to a proper Philly accent on youtube or something?

It's pronounced "wooder" I still get teased about this.

If you are feeling adventurous, OP, I highly recommend Chifa if you haven't been and change your mind about Zahav.

And Talula's Garden. Omg.

[doobeedoo]

Jul 24, 2013 11:51:39 GMT -5 @tracy1031 said:

Jul 24, 2013 10:56:29 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

I don't know if I ever heard one.  Anyone have a link to a proper Philly accent on youtube or something?

It's pronounced "wooder" I still get teased about this.

If you are feeling adventurous, OP, I highly recommend Chifa if you haven't been and change your mind about Zahav.

And Talula's Garden. Omg.

I've heard Chifa is closing/is closed.  So sad. I only got to eat there once and it was very good, but I still prefer Amada or Tinto. 

[Deleted]

Three words:

Duck fat fries

Village Whiskey (Jose Garces' restaurant)

[dr.girlfriend]

If you're into movies, there are a bunch of great indie movie theatres right in that area.

[dr.girlfriend]

Jul 24, 2013 12:12:51 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

If you're into movies, there are a bunch of great indie movie theatres right in that area.

www.landmarktheatres.com

[msmerymac]

I haven't read all the responses, but I've usually found street parking near Zahav, even at night. It's on this curvy cobblestone road and I guess people don't really like to park there, but I've parked there at least three times, weeknights and weekends. If all else fails, there's a parking garage under the Independence Hall visitor's center, but that's probably a 10 minute walk (it's at 5th and Chestnut and Zahav is like 2nd and... whatever's a block south of Walnut. Lol, I never go south of Walnut.)

You could go to Sugarhouse casino, the Art Museum, Laurel Hill Cemetery (old and cool if you're into that). Elfreth's Alley is motherfucking adorable as someone else mentioned, and there's a firefighter's museum and the Betsy Ross house close by, which are a little more off the beaten path than Independence Hall, etc. You can see if there's a cool event at the convention center that weekend (right next to Reading Terminal Market).

If you want to do more beer, Frankford Hall is a really cool beer garden. Manayunk Brewery is a bit far away, but they're in this old wool mill, which is huge, and they have a HUGE deck overlooking the Schuylkill. I took my dad on a little bar crawl in old city the other day: Eulogy, Khyber Pass and Bierstube. Bonus: you can park and walk to all of those and then walk to Zahav. There's also City Tavern practically next to Zahav and they have the people dressed up in 18th century clothes and the beers by Yards that are inspired by recipes made by the founding fathers.

Oh, I had Federal Donuts FINALLY last week. Not the chicken, just the donuts. The donuts were amazing. My favorite was the cookies and cream (although I know they change the flavors up a lot). I also had banana cream pie and chocolate peanut butter. They had something like watermelon cucumber strawberry, and I'm adventurous, but I was like... pass. I also finally went at 9am this time - they always sell out the fancy donuts by lunch.

*I* can't really tell you what a Philly accent is, and I live here, but I know it when I hear it. Although sometimes if it's subtle I confuse it with a subtle Boston accent.

ETA: I'd try to get Monk's when they open at 11 to get a seat. I actually need to try this trick myself since I tend to try to show up at 9pm when they're mobbed.

[boiler717]

I just went there on Saturday! Are you getting the tasting menu? The lamb is amazing.

We did uber cars so I can't help with parking.

[msmerymac]

Jul 24, 2013 12:02:07 GMT -5 doobeedoo said:

Jul 24, 2013 11:51:39 GMT -5 @tracy1031 said:

It's pronounced "wooder" I still get teased about this.

If you are feeling adventurous, OP, I highly recommend Chifa if you haven't been and change your mind about Zahav.

And Talula's Garden. Omg.

I've heard Chifa is closing/is closed.  So sad. I only got to eat there once and it was very good, but I still prefer Amada or Tinto. 

Have you been to Distrito? I think it's in University City, but I can't recall. Their menu looks good. 

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2013 12:02:07 GMT -5 doobeedoo said:

Jul 24, 2013 11:51:39 GMT -5 @tracy1031 said:

It's pronounced "wooder" I still get teased about this.

If you are feeling adventurous, OP, I highly recommend Chifa if you haven't been and change your mind about Zahav.

And Talula's Garden. Omg.

I've heard Chifa is closing/is closed.  So sad. I only got to eat there once and it was very good, but I still prefer Amada or Tinto. 

Amada is on my wish list. I wasn't a huge fan of Tinto, but I went during restaurant week so I don't think I should judge. But I can't get DH to go back!

And also. @mrsspunky reminded me: cheese curls at Village Whiskey. Yum

[dr.girlfriend]

Jul 24, 2013 12:56:25 GMT -5 swank said:

Swank was here and preparing for her fall conference trip.

Oooh!  I haven't been on Twitter much lately.  gtg?

[doobeedoo]

Jul 24, 2013 12:48:48 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Jul 24, 2013 12:02:07 GMT -5 doobeedoo said:

I've heard Chifa is closing/is closed.  So sad. I only got to eat there once and it was very good, but I still prefer Amada or Tinto. 

Have you been to Distrito? I think it's in University City, but I can't recall. Their menu looks good. 

Yes, I have and it was very good with a funky atmosphere.  It would be really fun with a group of friends! It is in University City--which means I won't go back too often as it is off our beaten path.  Generally, when I have to choose a Garces restaurant, I almost always choose Amada or Tinto.  I have not been to JG Domestic or Village Whiskey yet for that reason.