Where to Eat This Weekend: All Around the World
The Phogie at Middle Child | Photo by Alex Jones
No one can agree on anything around here. When I asked everyone where they were eating this weekend, the responses I got back bounced around the globe like Phileas Fogg. Falafel and carrot salad, Taco Angeleno (again, because it may or may not be closing up shop for the season), American diner food in Wash West, Italian pork chops from the Navy Yard and dumplings from Queen Village.
It was crazy, but it’s also a measure of just how broad our food scene is here in Philly. And that’s not even counting the Vietnamese and Cambodian pop-ups or Guy Fieri in Chester.
Anyway, here’s where everyone is eating this weekend. Maybe we’ll see you there.
New-Old Fashioned Diner Food
Middle Child is scheduled to open this weekend in Wash West. It’s a tribute to the diners and low-rent neighborhood breakfast and lunch spots that owner Matthew Cahn sees as disappearing from our rapidly upscaling and fast-casualizing restaurant scene. And you know what? I don’t disagree with him. I’m excited to see what this place can do. And if you’re looking for a specific recommendation, go for the Reuben, which is more or less a grilled cheese sandwich with corned beef, saurkraut and Russian dressing–which is just what makes it so awesome.
Comfort Food in the Navy Yard
Bar Amis is not a place that a lot of people think about when they’re making their weekend plans. It has a strange location, has already gone through one re-concepting, and can be a little hard to explain to people. But it also serves a big, fat pork chop parmesan, and if you haven’t already, you should really go check it out.
Middle Eastern, Option 1
Green Olives Cafe is a hole-in-the-wall take-out shop on the tail-end of East Passyunk (across from Pistolas del Sur). The winners here? The aforementioned falafel, super-garlicky carrot salad and couscous tagines — either braised lamb with prunes or chicken with olives.
Middle Eastern, Option 2
Saad’s has a big, all-Halal menu (most of it hilariously spelled), and serves everything from burgers, onion rings and cheesesteaks to excellent shawarma, killer falafel and addictive baklava. So, if you happen to be in the neighborhood of 45th and Walnut this weekend…
Everybody Loves Dumplings
In particular, I’m jonesing for some Humpty’s Dumplings. The Asian pork and buffalo chicken varieties in particular. The Humpty’s crew started as a food truck, now have two brick-and-mortar locations (in Glenside and Queen Village), and they do take-out, so you can bring them home and eat on your couch while watching cartoons in the middle of the night (like me) so that you don’t have to share.
And Finally…
If you’ve got some coin to spend, Kensington Quarters is serving a handful of crazy-pants 100-day dry-aged ribeyes tonight. They’re meant for two people, but will run you $100 a pop for a 20oz steak, plus some sides. Still, you’re not going to find something like served anywhere else, so if you’re down for a once-in-a-lifetime extreme steak experience, read this and see how this whole experiment in dry-aging came to be.
