I mostly agree. Especially about the ice cream/gelato. But I wish they had expanded to the Northeast for the Vietnamese . . . it was even mentioned in Laban’s chat in today’s Inquirer that the Northeast has a wealth of good Vietnamese.
Maybe I don’t get out enough, but I was unaware we had a shot and a beer culture. Well, maybe I was aware in my 20s, but those days are a bit hazy.
I’d add one big one they missed…BYOB places. Philly has to be the world center of this.
RE Shot and a Beer places. Yup big stuff in the city. Thank God it wasn’t quite as institutionalized when I was a young hoodlum. No telling the damage I could’ve wrought.
Agree on the BYOB. As much as we in PA complain about the liquor laws/state stores/no booze in supermarkets, etc. etc., having BYOB restaurants that offer amazing food really cuts down on the cost of dining — with the added benefit of being able to bring your favorite wine.
I’m with the general consensus, pretty accurate list. I agree the part about pho seems to be a bit of a stretch. IF your coming from an area that does not have a Vietnamese population, then sure, it’s going to seem like pho-heaven. But if you coming from Houston, I suspect a much more blaise reaction.
One thing the absolutely got wrong is the “Citywide Special” details. There is no debate where it came from, or who created it; Rick D (RIP). And he hated hearing people call it a “Citywide”. It was, and always will be to those of us who were there, just “The Special”.
I’m at best a modest fan of BYOB. Yes its cheaper. But that’s it.
It is a pain to have to buy wines in advance of a meal…esp when I have no idea what I’ll be eating.
I don’t think that BYO uniquely facilitates great restaurants…it is just a work-around to deal with a bad LCB. An LCB that wasn’t hostile to the industry would allow a restaurant to make more money with a wine list.
Yeah, BYOB really only works if you have decent selection of wine at home. Going out to dinner on a Sunday night? SOL, unless you have some wine at home.
I certainly don’t have a selection of wines to match whatever I might order. And I’m not clairvoyant enough to know what I’m going to order from the menu. So I just bring a pinot and figure its close enough? Feh.
Yes, the question of is there any wine at home is never a problem. But, like sal-acid said, my stock pile is pretty narrow. I too just go pinot, close enough.
I like BYOs well enough and I’m glad we have them in Philly but it gets complicated when you go out to dinner with two people and have a multi-course meal with which you’d like to have 2 or 3 or 4 different wines. Do you stick the cork back in the leftovers and take them home? Bibou is a good example of this. It used to be a great BYO with a relatively simple menu. I didn’t have a big problem taking a bottle of white and a bottle of red to dinner. But now it’s a place where the only dinner offering is a 7-course tasting menu, and you don’t necessarily know every dish on the menu before you go. I’m not going to take 7 (or even 4 or 5) different bottles with me for two people. A place like that needs a liquor license IMHO (not to mention that Bibou is now $100 per person and cash-only).