Le Virtu
Pastry chef Angela Ranalli's seasonal, Italian-leaning desserts are both rustic (blueberry olive oil cake) and polished (topped with mascarpone thyme cream) but never cloying or expected. 1927 East Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19148, levirtu.com.
Fountain Porter
Salt, pepper, a juicy beef patty for $5. It's a fast-food price for a legit burger. Wash it down with a beer from one of the smartest lists in the city. 1601 South 10th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148, fountainporter.com.
Mole Poblano
The South Philly storefront might look like your average taqueria, but Mole Poblano's game is a step above. Order the al pastor, which is stuffed with flavorful pork and tangy pineapple. 1144 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, molepoblanophiladelphia.com.
The Good King Tavern
The kitchen at this Bella Vista bar is open until 1 a.m. every single night. That, coupled with elevated tavern fare get the chickpea pancakes, well-priced steak frites or, if available, steak tartare makes it the place for grown-ups to go post-tipple. 614 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, thegoodkingtavern.com.
Sip-N-Glo
One Love an elixir of cucumber and spinach made sweet and spicy with apple, pineapple and ginger picked up the most votes in our 2014 Taste Test. 932 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, sipnglo.com.
Bonnie's Capistrano
The kind of bar where when you put down five bucks and say, "Lager, please," you won't have some squirrelly hipster asking, "The Sly Fox, the Sixpoint, or the new one made with goat sweat and sriracha?" Plus: You'll get $2 in change when your Yuengling is delivered. 1503 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, .
Pub & Kitchen
When P&K first opened, its Churchill burger introduced us to custom-blended meats and burgers with titles. Six years later, the restaurant has gone back to (high-quality) basics: two thin patties, lettuce, onions, excellent cheese and vibrant pickles. With all the foie and bone marrow and pork on beef out there today, a bite into this is a delicious relief, because sometimes a burger should just be a burger. 1946 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146, thepubandkitchen.com.
Firehouse Bicycles
You'll find a huge selection of secondhand mountain bikes, tandem bikes, road bikes you name it. It's the biggest selection of used rides in the city, for way less than you'd pay for the factory-fresh versions. 701 South 50th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19143, firehousebicycles.com.
Curran's Irish Inn
A great sports bar needs four things: plenty of TVs, killer Buffalo wings, cheap ice-cold beers, and a fiercely sports-hungry clientele. This friendly haunt just off I-95 has all of that, but it also has shuffleboard. Trust us; it just works. 6900 State Road, Philadelphia, PA 19135, curransirishinnbensalem.com.
Fashion Forward Designer Resale
Ayana Hamilton's boutique is the Ritz of resale. Color-organized racks brim with pristine picks from fashion's heavy hitters. There are major investment pieces (a barely used camel-colored Celine Phantom bag for $2,500) and pinch-yourself deals, like a $90 Herms scarf that, cough, may or may not still be there. 7906 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118, .
McGillin's Olde Ale House
Whether we pop by this classic at 11:30 in the morning or 2:30 in the afternoon, there always seem to be convivial, intelligent people getting their drink on, and in a perfectly respectable way. We'll drink to that. 1310 Drury Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, mcgillins.com.
Xi'an Sizzling Woks
The "Chinese hamburger" is subtly spiced pulled pork, tucked into crisp-edged pita bread with a still-steaming center, for $3.50: Now, that's Chinese er, American um, Shaanxi food! 902 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, xiansizzlingwoksphilly.com.
Petruce et al.
Whether it's lamb ribs, an exquisitely grilled porgy or a master class on carrots, Jonathan and Justin Petruce's wood-fired cookery represents American food at its best: rustic, finely wrought and familiar but never predictable. Sommelier Tim Kweeder has also made this one of Philly's best places to discover new wine especially by the glass. 1121 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, petrucephilly.com.
Ting Wong
It's cool if you buy into the whole "Oh, there aren't any good restaurants in Chinatown, so why would I go there?" mentality. That means there are more seats open for us at this fantastic hole-in-the-wall (and more wonton soup and roast duck, too). 138 North 10th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, phillychinatown.com/tingwong.htm.
Neighborhood Bike Works
If you're going to be logging real miles, you'd do well to invest in the $80 basic class at West Philly's Neighborhood Bike Works, which offers a great four-week session covering all the fundamentals of maintenance and repair, so you can look like a badass (or at least less like a bumbling neophyte) next time you bust a tire. 3916 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, neighborhoodbikeworks.org.