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We Come to Eat Fire: DanDan Reviewed
Photo courtesy of DanDan DanDan on a Friday night is a mess in the best possible way—a riot of people and bags and plates, with servers squeezing through the spaces between while the bartenders do...
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Southern Comfort: South Reviewed
Carolina Shrimp and Anson Mills lobster grits | Photo by Emily Teel The first time I had chef Paul Martin’s food, I was standing in the street. Or a parking lot, maybe. Under a tent and the night sky....
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The Lost World: Papaya Vietnamese Contemporary Tapas Reviewed
Vietnamese Paella at Papaya | Photo via Papaya Vietnamese Contemporary Tapas On a Sunday night in late November, we weren’t the only table at Papaya Vietnamese Contemporary Tapas, but it was close. My...
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The Gravy Train: Coeur Reviewed
The bar at Coeur | Photo by Emily Teel The first time I went to Coeur, there was no poutine on the menu, and I was pissed. I mean, this place—opened in September by Brendan Hartranft and Leigh Maida,...
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Taco Time: Heffe Reviewed
Bellicimo Burrito at Heffe They were taking the Christmas lights down at Heffe on the day I showed up. Everyone was wearing gloves and hats; collars turned up against some of the first serious cold of...
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Red Meat Economics: LP Steak Reviewed
LP Steak at the Valley Forge Casino | Photo by Nick Valinote The steakhouse is the dullest kind of restaurant. There’s no surprise in a steakhouse. No shock, no awe. The best things you can hope to...
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Let Me Go Wild: Revolution Taco Reviewed
Duck Tacos at Revolution Taco | Photo by Claudia Gavin The first time I walked into Revolution Taco, they were playing “Blister in the Sun,” and all the people in the neighborhood were still getting...
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The Heart and the Head: Buckminster’s Reviewed
Buckminster’s at 22st and Federal | Photo via Buckminster’s It was the bologna that threw me. I mean, really, it was everything. But it was the bologna most of all, because I loved the bologna at...
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Smooth Jazz and Skate Wing: 26 North Reviewed
Skate wing at 26 North | Photos courtesy of Mike Stollenwerk The 1990s were a bad time for the American restaurant scene. We were, as an emerging culinary entity, in our first youth—like awful (if...
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The Stupid Joy of Simple Things: Clarkville Reviewed
Photo by Emily Teel The thing that matters most about Clarkville is where it lives. It’s a pizza restaurant with good beer, a single solid pasta, and a short, tight menu of things that aren’t...
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An American In Paris: La Peg Revisited
Photo courtesy Peggy Baud-Woolsey When the server told me the special for the night was a plate of snails packed with herb butter, I didn’t get them, because snails wouldn’t really have gone with...
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Seeds and Stems: Hungry Pigeon Reviewed
The breakfast sandwich at Hungry Pigeon KOs the Egg McMuffin | Photo by Neal Santos The first time I went to Scott Schroeder’s new restaurant, Hungry Pigeon, I showed up for breakfast and liked it so...
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Learning Curve: Sate Kampar Reviewed
Photo via Sate Kampar This is what you do. You go to Sate Kampar on a first date. You save it for someone special—for when Tinder, the phone psychic, your matching Deadpool tattoos or shared fear of...
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The Revisit: Opa
Fig Dakos at Opa | Photo via Opa When Opa first opened, it was loud, brash, crowded and dull. The kitchen seemed incapable of dependably executing the most basic dishes. The cooks were occasionally...
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The Mathematics of Sandwiches: Stove & Tap Reviewed
Stove & Tap | Photo by Craig Slotkin On a Sunday night, Stove & Tap is busy. Not full, but I’m not really sure there would ever be enough people dining out in Lansdale on any given night to...
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The Time Machine: Jansen Reviewed
A soaring plate at Jansen in Mount Airy | Photo by Emily Teel My wife, Laura, hated Jansen as soon as she walked through the door. To be fair, she actually hated it before she walked through the door....
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Breakfast of Champions: The Dutch Reviewed
The Dutch | Photo by Emily Teel Breakfast is the last great, untouched frontier. Of all the meals available to us (lunch, dinner, supper, elevenses, fourthmeal, midnight snacks, etc.), breakfast is...
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The Three-Umbrella Problem: Bop Reviewed
Bop’s bar with kitchen in the background | Photo by Laurie Satran I ate the mandoo at Bop and they were fine. Tasted like a thousand other dumplings at a hundred other American-Asian restaurants in a...
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The Authenticity Trap: Harp & Crown Reviewed
Photo courtesy Will Figg On a cold night in December, we threaded our way through the crowds on Sansom Street and found the unobtrusive door. We pushed through the heavy curtains hung to keep the...
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Aiming For The Middle: Cinder Reviewed
I go to Cinder on a gray afternoon, looking for comfort and distraction, and find it at the bar—two giant TVs showing football on one side, talking heads silently shouting about sports on the other....
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