I decided almost at the last minute to take a quick two day trip to Philadelphia to get to most of the places that were featured on the show. I decided on the day and as it came closer, the hottest weather of 2013 (up to that point) hit the East Coast. Undaunted I left work and headed to Philly. The drive went quickly, from Dulles to the hotel I booked at around the Philadelphia International Airport took just over 2 hours. After checking in and taking a lukewarm shower (more about what would become my first hotel later) I headed out to my first place. My first stop was in the Center City area of Philadelphia and the drive took me up Broad Street, which is a main street into the city. Driving up Broad I passed the sports area of the city, complex where the Wells Fargo Center (home of the NBA Sixer's and NHL Flyer's), Citizen's Bank Park (home of the Phillie's) and Lincoln Financial Field (home of the Eagles). As I drove into the city saw some things that I have never seen before. People park their cars in the center of the street!
My first stop was at a place pretty unique to Philly and to the DDD show. I entered a small and colorful cafe called the "Jamaican Jerk Hut". The place holds about 20 people and does a big carryout business. As I entered the staff was surprised a bit that I was eating in and gave me a very friendly greeting. The carryout counter is adorned in Tiki Hut motif, giving you the feel of being on the beaches of Ocho Rios.
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| Jamaican Jerk Hut in Philadelphia |
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| Colorful Menu Wallboard |
As I looked over the menu I knew that due to the extremely hot temperatures and also wanting to try another place later tat I would choose an appetizer. One of my favorite bites when I am in the Caribbean on cruises are Conch Fritters. One of the appetizers listed was Salt Fish fritters and I knew what I wanted. The menu also featured a lot of fruit sodas. Now I do like Ginger Beer and that was listed, but I prefer the Bermuda Style Ginger Beer as it is not as spicy as the Jamaican Style which is very spicy, so I chose a Pine Apple Soda. The soda was imported from Jamaica and was really good and not too sweet. I was served 4 good sized fritters and there was a spicy dipping sauce on the side. I really liked the fritters and even though they were very spicy, they were tasty, too.
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| My Salt Fish Fritter appetizer at Jamaican Jerk Hut |
After finishing up I was able to talk to the staff and have the chef sign my book, but they were very confused about what I was doing, oh well, that is not a very uncommon thing!
I headed into the center of Philadelphia to try m y next place. I arrived in the area of my next location just before 6pm and it is located in the small Theatre District of Philadelphia so parking was a big headache! The public lots fees were a minimum of 5 bucks for 15 minutes and all of the street parking was either full or was unavailable until 630p. I ended up driving around and around the area until 630p (not really my choice, but it became necessary). I walked about a block from where I parked to my next place, "The Good Dog Bar".
The place was packed and I was given a seat at the bar. The place is dark and is mostly a very long bar with some booths in the areas adjacent to the bar. I asked the bartender to remind me of what was featured on the show and he told me not only what was featured but what they were famous for. I chose the Truffled Cheessteak Empanadas. The plate came out very quickly and they were delicious. Four Empanadas accompanied with a sauce that featured a Chocolate Stout Ale sauce.
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| Truffled Cheesesteak Empanadas |
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| The delicious filling |
Unfortunately this is the only positive things I can write about the place. It was crowded and noisy, which is not a bad thing. I could not get a word in with the bartender who was also my server. He was servicing the entire bar and as I was on one end of the bar, he rarely made it to my end. I was getting more and more frustrated as after finishing my food I had to wait for over 15 minutes just to get my bill and the root of my frustration was that the meter was running on my parking spot and after seeing "Parking Wars" on TV (which is filmed in Philly) I know that they are all business with parking in Center City! I finally got the bill barely made it back to the car. I was really upset and wasn't even able to get the book signed. The Good Dog is an OK place but I don't see me going back there.
I headed back to the hotel but I knew that there was a place that I had been to in the past but wanted to go back to and it was sort of on the way back to the hotel. I headed to the famous intersection of South 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. This is the area that might be the Capital of Cheesesteaks! The daily 24 hour a day monumental battle between "Pat's King of Steaks" and "Geno's Steaks" has been waged for almost 50 years.
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| Geno's Steaks |
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| Geno's Ordering area - Always busy! |
I chose to get a Cheesesteak "wit Provolone" at Geno's. The places are almost identicle in their business. You order and pay for you sandwich at one window and then if you want a drink and/or fries that is done at another window. You can order them "wit" or "witout" which means that you want fried onions on them and your cheese choices are American, Provolone, or Cheez Wiz. I prefer Geno's because they are not only friendlier but I like the cut of the steak. Both places have great Italian bread and I decided to take mine back to the hotel.
I arrived back to the hotel and a very long night was about to begin. Hotels in the Philly area are pretty expensive so I chose a budget place. When I got back on this very hot night my greatest nightmare was found, very poor air conditioning! The AC was on full and it was pumping out some cool air but it was not doing very well. My room could have been used as a prime example of the fact that heat rises. I had to position a chair next to the unit to keep cool and when I stood up the air at my head level (about 6 feet) was about 25 degrees warmer than at the bed and chair level. Right then I decided to call the front and tell them I would be checking out and find another place. I decided to use some points and get a nearby more luxury hotel, all I needed to do was make it through the night. I fell asleep for about an hour and was awoken by silence! The AC stopped and would not start back up and the room was getting hotter by the minute! I called the front desk and was old that they would call back to help out. After about an hour and no call I walked down to the office and after some discussions I was given another room and as I entered that the bed looked very made, but the AC worked and that was good! The room was a real prize, too. The AC came on then off then on, what a nightmare, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. Using my points was one of the best decisions I had made.
Morning and more heat arrived and I checked out and headed to my next few places. I headed into the city again and made my way to place that features breakfast and lunch only. North of the Center City area is a cool little cafe called "Honey's Sit'n Eat". I entered the place and was seated at a table toward the back of the cafe and noticed a lot of old style signs and knick-nacks on the walls. I am not the biggest fan of breakfast foods so I decided to try a lunch appetizer called Vegetable Latkes.
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| Honey's Sit'n Eat's Vegetable Latkes |
From Honey's I headed back down Broad Street into South Philly to my next stop, "The South Philadelphia Tap Room". As I entered I thought that even tough Philadelphia is known as the "City of Brotherly Love" it should also be known as the "City of Brew Pubs". The city is filled with restaurant-bars that either brew their own beer or feature locally brewed beers on tap.
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| South Philadelphia Tap Room |
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| South Philadelphia's Raspberry Cider |
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| Main bar with 10 Taps out front |
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| My Mac and Cheese |
South Philadelphia Tap Room is a place that I would go back to. The menu looked really good and I was there shortly after they opened but I can imagine that it really gets hopping as the days goes on.
Most of the places that Guy went to for DDD in Philly were spots only open in the evening so I was able to go and check in at my new hotel and rest for a few hours. I can ell you that I was really enjoying the cool temps in the hotel and even was even to doze for an hour or two.
I headed back into the city, but more on the south side of the city. It was in a neighborhood and I guess I would call the place a "neighborhood bar". The "Sidecar Bar and Grille" is a unique place as it looks as it's in a row house. The main area as the place opens in the afternoon is the bar area on the first floor with a big bar and adjacent tables. They also have an upstairs room that opens later in the evening.
I ordered an appetizer that was Chicken Nuggets that had a Pretzel batter. They were served with a Honey Dijon and Horseradish sauce that was very thick and tasty and the sauce was a real nasal cleanser. They also feature a large selection of local beers on tap.
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| My Sidecar Appetizer |
This is another place that I would like to try again. On a side note, I have noticed that many of the food service people that I meet on my travels love to have body art and I have often wondered why that is, not sure but just wanted to throw that out! I headed to what would be my last place on this trip and headed into the area of Philly known as "Little Italy" I parked almost in outdoor Italian Market area, near where my last place should have been located (according to my Garmin GPS). I had some time to kill so I thought that I could look around the market as the place I was going to wasn't going to open for about 30 minutes. The market was pretty much closing down as it's main operating times are in the morning and early afternoon hours. I could not find the place and had to stop into one of the few open stores. The store was very much an Italian souvenir store. The told me that I was about 5 blocks from my destination, I looked around and ducked in and out stores to check them out and get cool from the almost 100 degree heat.
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| South Philly's Outdoor Italian Market |
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| Cool Bike Shop in the Market Area...Took this for my friend Ann |
I headed up the 5 blocks and made it to South Street to go to the curiously named "Percy Street BBQ". Not sure why it's named as it is since there is no Percy Street anywhere around. The place had just opened and I was seated right away. I could smell the great BBQ cooking . One thing that I love is when a place has a Whiskey Bottle water service, which they do at Percy Street.
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| Percy Street BBQ |
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| Very Cool Water Service and a VERY HOT Day |
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| Percy Street's BBQ Sauces (Red-Hot/Blue-Medium/White-House) |
