Philly -- Friday, July 21

This is kind of last minute, but I’m going to be in Philly this week for work and likely unable to fly out until Sat morning – meaning I’ll have Friday night free. Anyone interested in getting dinner and/or opening some wine? I likely free up at ~6pm. I likely can’t bring any wine from Houston–I don’t want to check a bag–but could easily get myself to a wine store and buy something in Philly (or obviously buy off list).

(There’s still a 10% chance this won’t happen–I’ll know for sure in the next 24-48 hrs–but wanted to put the feelers out now to see if anyone is interested.)

Philly must be on vacation. [scratch.gif]

If you want to try a remarkable place solo, check out Vedge, which is probably the best vegan restaurant in the US. Vegan? I know! But I’d give up meat to eat there every day. And the wine list is interesting and affordable.

Or head to East Passyunk Ave in S. Philly, their hottest restaurant street and check out Noord. Northern European cuisine, BYOB (goes particularly well with beer and there is a bottle shop on the same street). Chef Joncarl is the nicest guy in the Philly food scene and the food is fantastic. Tell him Kevin sent you and he’ll treat you well.

Ryan,

If I were you, I’d line up for a bar seat at Zahav. It’s an amazing meal and the bar and chef’s counter is walk in only. That said it could be a serious wait to get a seat at the bar, but oh so worth it. My wife and I drove down from Northern NJ for dinner on Sunday and loved it.

Thanks for the responses. I actually was able to set something up on Friday–an old friend from NY is coming into town.

In the interim, I’ve been eating well in Philly–solo at the bar while working. First night I went to Zahav. Last night to Serpico. I will post a report when I get back home next week. Preview thus far: Zahav >>> Serpico.

Interesting, I’d say Serpico >>> Zahav (I’ve never understood why Zahav is such a standard bearer for Philly nationally, to me it isn’t even in my top 20 in Philly). YMMV

Mike, is the chef’s counter no longer ticketed at Zahav? It was when I did the tasting several years ago.

I’m not sure what you mean by ticketed. We drove down and walked in around 4pm (they open at 5pm) and they said to come back around 4:30 when the line for walk ins starts forming. About 4:45pm the hostess came out with a sheet of paper that had the numbers 1-16 and 1-6 on it and was taking names. 1-16 was for the 16 seats at the bar and 1-6 was for the 6 seats at the Chef’s counter. We were very close to the front of the line so we indicated that we would like to sit at the Chef’s counter. That said, the next time we go, I’d like to sit at the bar. I love sitting at the pass in a restaurant because you really get to interact with the chef/staff, but Zahav has glass in between where we sat and the chefs so it wasn’t really interactive.

As an aside, in NYC, eating at the pass at Hearth, Le Coq Rico, and Olmsted are great experiences. Especially if you’re willing to ask questions and interact.

Glad you got to enjoy Zahav. Looking forward to hearing about the meal.

We had an absolutely fantastic meal at Zavah recently. Best meal we have had there. The off the menu tasting menu with the lamb shoulder. Lamb was incredible. Service, minus one long wait for a drink, was spotless. Easily in my top five in Philly.

Tickets, as in paying a set price in advance.

Back when Zahav’s Chef’s Counter opened in 2012, you could only get reservations through a mad email scramble on a certain date and time each month (actually, originally, it was invitation-only like the Kitchen Table at Talula’s) and there were only 32 seats/month (4 each at 7:30PM on Fri and Sat). When we went in Jan 2014, the process was at 12 Noon on the first of each month you could make a reservation via the website and they would sell out almost immediately. In 2014 they changed it to Wednesdays only and 16 seats/month. It was $80/pp for ~11 courses plus a $50 beverage pairing, but the menu was different each week and had nothing in common with the regular menu. It was certainly the best food I’ve had at Zahav and Mike would serve you personally (yes, that glass partition is a bit annoying!). For a while it was the hardest reservation to get in Philly. I guess none of this is true any longer.

Oh…that’s interesting. That wasn’t our experience.