Philadelphia Nesties
jessica0602
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
restaurant recs
The hubs and I are trying to find something for our anniversary. It's pretty much the only time we head down town because we are suburban losers. Any recs for a moderately priced restaurant, no more than $20-$30 an entree? I tend to avoid asian like the plague.
ETA: a decent beer list would be aces too!
Re: restaurant recs
Parc or D'mitris. Both are fab. Parc is bigger, fancier and right on Rittenhouse Square.
D'mitris is a small neighborhood restaurant on Fitler Square. It's awesome.
Ooh, I just thought of Meritage at 20th and Lombard. Also excellent - google some of the menus and see what appeals!
Have fun! : )
Tria doesn't have entrees. No offense, but if it was an anniversary dinner I wouldnt just want cheese and small plates/sandwiches.. But the beer & wine list is always solid. Id head there for a before-dinner drink or a nightcap.
How about a good byo? The hubs and I did Modo Mio in No Libs for our anni - it's Italian but little out of the box. Peter McAndrews is a pretty acclaimed chef in the city... You can easily get apps, entrees, and dessert for like $50-$60... We ate like pigs and maybe paid $70? And we're always that couple that brings fancy crafts to byos :-)
Matyson is a great byo in Rittenhouse... Same deal, except food is more contemporary American. We did this one for my bday a couple of years ago.
Highly, highly recommended is The Farmers Cabinet. I'd actually suggest this one as the most romantic and would be my #1 choice for you. The atmosphere is great - it has a speakeasy vibe...we went for my hubs bday in Dec. Ahhh just thinking about it make me wanna go back. it would be on the pricier end. And you should look at the menu to see if its too adventurous for you food-wise. But the beers would make you fall over and die. They have rare crafts from around the world in addition to American crafts.
Dandelion is a Starr restaurant and I think you guys would enjoy that too... Upscale pub, romantic... Beer list is good. Both drafts and bottle list.
Im sure I could keep coming up with places for you! But these are my finest suggestions!
Thanks everyone!
Jules the Farmer's Cabinet looks really cool! Do you have any idea how often they update their menu?
I'll second Matyson and veto The Farmers Cabinet. You'll get a better meal for your money at Matyson since you can BYO and focus your money on the food-and the food is delicious! They're on the small side which is nice and intimate for an anniversary. It's my personal opinion that the owners of The Farmers Cabinet are jerks (but that's a different topic). TFC has small portions that are really expensive. The food isn't bad, I just don't think it lives up to the price tag. They do have an amazing drink menu (it's many more pages than their food menu). If you really want to check them out, go before or after dinner for a drink.
Edit: If you do decide to go to Matyson, swing into Food and Friends on the corner of 20th and Spruce first. They have an amazing selection of craft beer that you can mix and match to take with you. It's cold and ready to go!
It's amazing and on my top 5 favorite places I've eaten. That being said, it's on the pricey side. Also, it's getting too cold to sit outside which I think was one of my favorite parts of my meal. The garden is beautiful-go when the weather gets nice again!
Without even waiting for the hubs to confirm, I went ahead and booked Matyson. (I can always cancel, right?) It looks different from anything I normally eat (read: super boring food). We can always do drinks afterwards. I'm excited!
Thanks everyone!
Maybe we'll go for my b-day in April (LOL)...we don't get out often so it'll probably be that long until we can go!
We went there about a month ago for my sisters birthday dinner, and I was so sick from being pregnant all I had was water and some lettuce - what a waste! I couldnt even look at the other's food! I need to go back after I start feeling better.
OOH, I want to know the dirt on the owners! I don't know anything about them, although I know the master brewer used to brew for the Bullfrog brewery in DH's hometown of Williamsport. I totally agree about getting a better meal at Matyson, but for the total package (i'm basing this on atmosphere/originality/cocktail menu/beer list) TFC is pretty great. We had some pretty amazing dishes, albeit smaller portions and a wee pricey... but the execution of the dishes was what stuck out to me. It just has a great vibe and a relatively quiet dining room (we were off to the side or the back). I abhor loud dining, especially for a special occasion! I don't know, I loved it for what it was. It's somewhere that I'd go once a year, but if I'm going anywhere pricier multiple times a year it's gonna be Zahav. Or Amada. Ha.
My little nuggets
I just had dinner at Zahav last night, delicious!
The owners of TFC aren't worth my time to type about but you can read about what happened here and here. In short, they came into East Falls, kicked out a pretty popular bar, albeit a dive bar, stayed for a short time and then packed up and left in the middle of the night. I don't even think they notified their employes, just up and left. The building they occupied still remains vacant which really makes me mad as a resident. Not sure why their response said that they tried to take over Franco's, that location is further down the road and is now InReva (which I just ate at last week and was wonderful. I highly recommend people try them.)
Edit: The comments section on those links are worth reading to get an idea of what happened and how people feel about it.