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Best Dining Bets
Best Spot for a Romantic Dinner: Friday Saturday Sunday, 261 S. 21st St. (tel. 215/546-4232), has long been a top spot for couples. The bistro's modest decor, menu, and prices (especially for wine) keep distractions to a minimum.
Best Spot for a Business Lunch: Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Hotel, 210 W. Rittenhouse Sq. (tel. 215/546-9000), offers a stunningly good three-course, $26 prix-fixe lunch in its ethereal yet unstuffy dining room. Your dining partners will be the city's power brokers, and the menu of the day might include ragout of lobster and white asparagus.
Best Spot for a Celebration: If you want to celebrate a special occasion in a lavish setting, opulent Le Bec-Fin, 1523 Walnut St. (tel. 215/567-1000), is the way to go. Georges Perrier's prix-fixe menu has an international reputation, and the dessert cart is unforgettable.
Best Decor: The spaceship-like decor at Morimoto at 723 Chestnut St. (tel. 215/413-9070) will take your breath away, but order a meal here and you'll see that interior design is just the beginning: Masahuru Morimoto's delicious fare is downright sculptural.
Best View: Sitting on the deck of the Moshulu, 411 S. Columbus Blvd. (tel. 215/923-2500), a 1904 "tall ship" that's been converted into a roomy, luxe French-Asian restaurant, might sound touristy, but in reality, it's delightful. Even in the winter, the ship's indoor dining rooms offer lovely Delaware River and Society Hill views. And in summer, the breeze is as cooling as one of its 20 wines by the glass.
Best Wine List: Two restaurants owned by the Sena family offer impressive wine selections: La Famiglia, 8 S. Front St. (tel. 215/922-2803), has one of the finest cellars in the world according to Wine Spectator magazine. One block north, the Ristorante Panorama, in the Penn's View Hotel at Front and Market streets (tel. 215/922-7800), is a charming Italian trattoria that has 120 different bottles available by the glass, or as a 3-ounce "taste." Order a "flight" -- five glasses grouped around a theme. Flights fall in the $14-to-$50 range.
Best Value: Dining at the mod-Deco bar at Brasserie Perrier, 1619 Walnut St. (tel. 215/568-3000), with its $16 steak frites or incomparable roasted chicken (also $16), means savoring cuisine overseen by the city's most famous chef, Georges Perrier of Le Bec-Fin. The restaurant behind this colorful lounge offers haute-bistro food at higher prices, with entrees in the $35 range.
Best Value on a Fixed-Price Meal: There's nothing like Le Bec-Fin's $45 lunch, at 1523 Walnut St. (tel. 215/567-1000), for classic French.
Best for Kids: Kids love the burgers, grilled cheeses, soups, and other classic American fare at the upscale Marathon Grill, 1839 Spruce St. (tel. 215/731-0800), a former diner turned into a stylish modern space that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner (plus snacks all afternoon). Parents also love the casual, romping-permitted vibe, plus the full bar and upscale side of the menu, with its grilled fish and savory pastas.
Best Date Restaurant: For a classy bistro with contemporary fare in Old City, reserve a deuce at Fork, 306 Market St. (tel. 215/625-9425). Friday Saturday Sunday, 261 S. 21st St. (tel. 215/546-4232), has been a classic, intimate date spot since the 1970s, and boasts consistent fare, glowing lighting, and great value.
Best American Cuisine: Using local ingredients from Amish and Bucks County boutique farmers, and incorporating the worthier elements of new American cuisine without the annoying flourishes, Fork, at 306 Market St. (tel. 215/625-9425), is as popular for brunch as it is for a late-night snack. In this warm, sophisticated dining room, you can dine on pan-seared salmon or spicy hanger steak.
Best Chinese Cuisine: Sure, there are fancier places in town, but none are as straightforward and note-perfect as Chinatown's Lee How Fook, 219 N. 11th St. (tel. 215/925-7266). The simple, handsome space -- one of the city's hundreds of BYOBs -- does a beautiful job with everything they touch: hot pots, noodle soups, salt-baked seafood, and more.
Best Continental Cuisine: The Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, 1 Logan Sq., between 18th Street and Franklin Parkway (tel. 215/963-1500), is consistently rated best in town for understated, complex versions of classic Continental dishes. Because the food is so uniformly excellent, my advice is to go with the chef's choices on the fixed-price menu.
Best French Cuisine: Right now, it's the serene Lacroix in the Rittenhouse Hotel, 210 W. Rittenhouse Sq. (tel. 215/546-9000), where the exquisite menu is rooted in classical French cooking, but benefits from Chef Jean-Marie Lacroix's modern technique.
Best Steakhouse: With a half-dozen great choices, including the Capital Grille and the Palm, the top choice is The Prime Rib, 1701 Locust St. (tel. 215/772-1701), offering tender porterhouse served with fresh shredded horseradish. The ambience is a timeless 1940s-style place -- jazz combos and formally clad waiters included.
Best Burgers and Beer: Discerning Philadelphia Inquirer restaurant critic Craig La Ban recently wrote a laudatory haiku about the blue cheese-stuffed burger at Good Dog Bar and Restaurant, 224 S. 15th St. (tel. 215/985-9600), a youthful Center City gastro-pub. There's a trick to it, though: You have to order it medium or rarer; otherwise, the cheese bakes out.
Best Pizza: Marra's, 1734 E. Passyunk Ave., between Morris and Moore streets (tel. 215/463-9249), in South Philadelphia, has pies with thin crusts and delicious, spicy toppings, baked in brick ovens; enjoy them in old wooden booths.
Best Cheesesteak: There's no going wrong at the big guys (Pat's, Geno's, and Jim's), but there's something just a bit better about the composition of the steak at South Philly's tiny John's Roast Pork.
Best Hoagies: Using seeded Italian bread made a couple doors down, Sarcone's Deli, 9th and Fitzwater streets (tel. 215/922-1717), comes up with the best Italian sandwiches in the city. (A bold statement, I know.) Choose from classic cold cuts, or specialty sandwiches that combine roasted red peppers, sharp Provolone, long hots, and whole cloves of garlic.
Best Desserts: Weekends, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 10 Avenue of the Arts (tel. 215/523-8000), offers a dessert buffet in its grand lobby, and this wonderfully excessive spread of 40 desserts, priced at $19 per person, has become a popular way to end a Friday or Saturday evening downtown. You may even want to skip dinner altogether and save room for tarte Tatin and chocolate gâteau.
Best Breakfast: At Sam's Morning Glory, 10th and Fitzwater streets (tel. 215/413-3999), the coffee comes in big, steely mugs; doughy biscuits are cut square; and the pancakes are the best you'll eat, anywhere, ever.
Best Brunch: Nearly every restaurant offers Sunday brunch, ranging from standard bagels with spreads to a full breakfast menu. The White Dog Café, 3420 Sansom St. (tel. 215/386-9224), in West Philadelphia, swings both ways, serving everything from simple breakfast dishes to elaborate late-morning feasts in a completely comfortable, unpretentious setting.
Best People-Watching: Rouge, 205 S. 18th St. (tel. 215/732-6622), a bistro with alfresco cafe tables, has become the city's most sought-after real estate from May through September. If you want to spot a celebrity (J. Lo, Cameron Diaz, and Justin Timberlake have all dined here), your favorite NBA player, or an aging rocker, head to the Swann Lounge at the Four Seasons, 1 Logan Square (on 18th St.; tel. 215/963-1500) where you can pretend not to stare while perching on a plush couch.
Best Afternoon Tea: The advent of true luxury hotels in Philadelphia has also brought exquisite afternoon teas served all over town. The Cassatt Lounge at the Rittenhouse Hotel, 210 W. Rittenhouse Sq. (tel. 215/546-9000), has muted, lovely decor, a garden, and Mary Cassatt's drawings commemorating her brother's house, which once stood on the site.
Best for Pre-Theater Dinner: At sleek Bliss, 220 S. Broad St. (tel. 215/731-1100), the eclectic menu features pastas, Asian-inspired dishes, and grilled fare. Ernesto's 1521 Café, 1521 Spruce St. (tel. 215/546-1521), is an affordable, modern Italian trattoria with handmade pasta.
Best Outdoor Dining: Just off the park that bears its name, stylish Washington Square, 210 S. Washington Sq. (tel. 215/592-7787), offers a prime, Palm Beach-y setting for noshing interesting international fare while sipping cocktails. For the best outdoor dining with a view, however, head over to the Water Works Restaurant and Lounge, located behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art, off Kelly Drive (tel. 215/236-9000). Ask for a table by the river, and watch the sun set over the Schuylkill River as the lights on Boathouse Row come up.
Best Late-Night Dining: Follow the post-bar crowd to Pat's and Geno's, the dueling cheesesteak vendors of South Philly, and you'll experience a culinary phenomenon: A greasy steak sandwich tastes much, much better at 3am.
Best Ice Cream: For the old-fashioned: Although Franklin Fountain, 116 Market St. (tel. 215/627-1899), is a relatively new addition to Old City, it feels as though it's been here for about 50 years. Come here for sloppy sundaes, egg creams, ice-cream sodas, and other back-in-the-day treats.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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