Over all, a very fun tapas restaurant in the piazza. During the summer, they have outdoor seating and make their paella right there for you to see and smell. They have some spectacular desserts like homemade churros with dark chocolate dipping sauce or caramel apple pie.

Unfortunately, we found the portions to be small and pricy, even for tapas. I recommend stopping by here for a mid-day snack or for an after dinner dessert and sangria.

Rating:
Location: 1030 North 2nd Street | Philadelphia
Price: $5 – $15 per plate (8+ plates for 4 people)
http://www.barferdinand.com/

Our sweet 'n savory brunch!

Admittedly this was our second choice venue for brunch on Saturday, but it was surely meant to be. We had previously walked past National Mechanics on a walking tour we took & although we were very intrigued, I wasn’t sure if we would ever make it there for a meal. Instantly we were pleasantly surprised with the availability of tables, the interesting decor, and the expansive bloody mary bar (Brett even tried their bacon vodka in his!). To help wash down our bloody’s, we decided to order both a savory & a sweet dish, to split them. Our Eggs Maryland (Eggs Benedict with crab cake instead of ham, side of potatoes) were awesome, & rich enough that half was enough (well, alright, if I had to eat the whole thing myself, I guess I could manage). For the sweet side of things, we had the French Baguette Toast, topped with bananas & berries…our thoughts? Baguettes were made for french toast – so simple but so delicious! Nothing else on the menu stood out too much, but we may return for trivia night

Rating:
Location: 22 S 3rd St
Price: (brunch/lunch) $7-$12

Pho Ga

We kept our promise and crossed our first Philly Cheap Eat spot off of our list at Pho 75 last Friday for lunch. For anyone who doesn’t know, “Pho” is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup, of which there is little variety besides the cut of meat (tendon anyone?) But don’t let the simplicity fool you – this soup is delicious! Brett decided on #8(skirt flank) & luckily there was an option for chicken, Pho Ga, which I eagerly ordered. After sipping on some complimentary green tea & the freshest lemonade we’ve had in years, our gigantic (“Regular” according to the menu) bowls arrived piping hot & fragrant. The noodles were cooked perfectly, the meat was extremely fresh, & the cilantro gave it a nice little something extra. Our only complaint?…It was so hot we couldn’t eat it as fast as we wanted to!

Rating:

Location: 1022 Race St

Price: $5.50/bowl

We got this magazine yesterday and are pretty much using it to determine everything we do for the next few months. Stay tuned to hear about some of our new-found eateries…first up is some Pho from Chinatown, slated for Friday’s lunch!

Getting ready to eat our way through Philly,
Brett and Kate

Saturday night, our quest to visit each neighborhood in the city took us to Manayunk and our day of hiking around Valley Forge sent us in search of a good patio to sit back, relax, and enjoy the nice evening with some new beers. A semi-quick but painful Metromix search pointed us to Manayunk Brewery, where we were both almost turned away for our IDs. After winding through an unnecessary maze to approach the “outdoor hostess” we got a table on the gigantic patio nestled right on the bank of the Schuylkill. Once our waitress finally came to give us a beer menu, we were excited about the selection of hometown brews to try. All-in-all we had: Thai Chicken Bites(good basic bar snack) & White Pizza(nice ‘n lite) and drank: Manayunk Lager(good standard crisp ale), Krook’s Mill(not-so-smooth pale ale), Yunkers’ Gold(lager with a bite), and Peach Wheat(a little sweet but not too sissy). The whole evening was decent enough, but I don’t see us rushing back there anytime soon…I was hoping for MB to be the awesome local brewery we can’t get enough of but we’ll have to keep looking(and drinking)!

Rating: 3.5 forks
Location: 4120 Main St
Price: food $5-$20, beer $5

Unfortunately, it wasn’t rave reviews that brought us to Hikari (though it should have been). Once we decided we wanted to check out the Northern Liberties area and that we were hungry for sushi, Hikari was our only choice. Luckily for us, there were plenty of seats(we were even able to get a table outside on such a gorgeous night), and our waitress promptly greeted us and took care of our bottle of wine. The menu was pretty standard, although quite extensive including a section of Korean entrees and a long list of specialty rolls. We decided to go with the Polar Bear Maki(salmon & avocado topped w/ white tuna), Palm Spring Maki(tuna, salmon, mango wrapped in cucumber), and a Spicy Yellowtail Maki. When the rolls came out they were not only beautiful but plentiful – and they certainly tasted as good as they looked! So good, in fact, that we ordered a second plate of the Polar Bear & Spicy Yellowtail (left of photo). This place has already beat out some of our Chicago favorites so needless to say, we’ll be making the drive back to Hikari for the mouth-watering Miso and scrumptious sushi, not to mention the wonderful hospitality.

Rating: 5 forks
Location: 1040 N American St
Price: $7-$15

As the home of our favorite slogan thus far, “Coffee in the A.M. Sushi in the P.M.”, this little spot was a great neighborhood find on our first day here. We’ve been twice for coffee and were finally able to try the sushi last night. Without a terribly extensive menu, they certainly cover all of the basics and their specials menu has some pretty unique rolls (Shaggy Dog, anyone?) We only wanted a little bite, so we decided to go with the Tiger Eye Roll (special) and a simple Spicy Tuna, for easy comparison’s sake. In the 15 minutes it took to wait for our order to be ready, we were able to run down the street & pick up some wine, getting back just in time to pick up the sushi and head home. After trying each of the rolls, we were oddly enough more impressed by the Spicy Tuna. Though nothing was extra-ordinary about it, the generous portions of fish made it more than worth the $6 and oh-so-yummy! As for the Tiger Eye, it was quite frankly one of the best rolls we’ve had, but $12 for 6 pieces is a bit on the excessive side. We will most definitely be returning (for both the coffee and the sushi), but are looking forward to seeing how this new corner shop matures over the coming months.

Rating: 3.5 forks

Location: 735 N 26th St

Price: $5-$15

If you love or at least enjoy chocolate and don’t mind spending a premium on some one-of-a-kind menu items, Max Brenner is the place for you. We found ourselves wanting to see what the crazy chocolate fuss was about when we saw Max Brenner’s restaurant on the list of participating Center City Sips venues. It definitely gave us a good glimpse of downtown, was just a touch on the touristy side, but let’s face it – it was fun. After a round of some local Phil. Brewing Co. Kenzinger beers, we stepped it up a notch and tried both CCS cocktails. The Psychedelic Punch was your typical summer rum mix (albeit not overly sweet, which was nice) and the Mocha Madness martini was quite luxurious, however, I’m pretty sure we never would have ordered them at their regular price of $11.95 a piece. Similarly, our app of Spinach Dip was pretty tasty with its chili-dusted tortilla chips, but also not worth it’s full price. We had a great time and will most likely be visiting again when we have out-of-town guests to sample some good old Hot Chocolate, which at $5-7 is a price I can live with!

Rating: 3 forks

Location: 1500 Walnut St

Price: food – $10-18, drinks – $5-15

We found this little spot in our Not For Tourists Guide to Philadelphia, when we arrived in Philly on Monday and realized our movers wouldn’t be here until Tuesday and thus we would not be able to cook, not that we would have anyway It was easy to get to with a little help from the GPS and while there were plenty of other diners, we had no problem getting seated right away. I had the Pad Khee Mao and was pleasantly surprised with the large amount of vegetables in the dish, although overall would have liked (and was expecting) a bit more heat behind the flavor. Brett ordered the Pad Thai and aside from the too-large pieces of tofu that incidentally showed up in the dish next to the chicken, it was a great plate. The portions were pretty in-line with the prices, both a bit more than was necessary, and if we lived closer we would consider going back, but will opt for trying other places instead.

Rating: 3 forks

Location: 123 S 23rd St

Price: $10-15 per plate