I am new to Wine Beserkers, but not new to wine or to Delaware Valley BYOBS. Glad you started this as I was surprised that the Philly area, home of great BYOBs due to arcane PA licensing rules, was not represented as a topic. Went to Modo Mio last week and several times before with my wine group. Loud is an understatement, but very good food. Pre-fix is the way to go. Loved my braised rabbit last time there. Too many BYOBs that I like to discuss now, but will add some from time to time. Thanks for starting this. For those not familiar with Philly, in addition to many restaurants that have no liquor license and are solely BYOB with no or nominal corkage, to compete, many fine restaurants with liquor licenses have special nights of the week where no or nominal corkage is charged. One of my favorites is Paradiso in South Philly where on Sunday evening there is no corkage charge.
Lafayette is a city in Tunsia and 1 of the owners is from there.
They suggested we do takeout, even though they don’t offer the service, when I called to cancel a reservation only moments before we were to arrive b/c the babysitter cancelled.
And we have been back twice.
Good food, a little on the pricey side but I would recommend this place.
Let me add another in John’s Northern Liberties area
SONATA
1030 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA http://www.sonatarestaurant.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Chef/owner Mark Tropea does a great job at this trendy BYOB.
I have a review of Sonata and scores of other BYOB’s in the Philly/South Jersey area on my website:
SOUTH JERSEY WINE & DINE http://www.ballymote.wordpress.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Another great restaurant in John’s neck of the woods. BTW, thanks for opening the thread, John. IMO, the only benefit to living in the land of the PLCB is the fact that so many talented chefs don’t want to be bothered with the BS involved in getting a liquor license, so we have all kinds of places to eat & drink.
Shifting gears briefly, I was out last night in the far southwestern Burbs and had a wine dinner at Twelves Grill in West Grove. I always admire chef/owners who take the risk of opening a fine-dining establishment in some remote suburban outpost (two of my favorites that immediately come to mind are Sovana Bistro in Unionville and the Birchrunville Store Cafe in Chester Springs), and while I wouldn’t necessarily rank this place with those restaurants just yet, I did have a very enjoyable meal.
personal favorite… i have had a lot of meals there with some friends, and it is always good.
if chip roman (the chef) is still doing it, on tuesdays he does a 3 course tasting menu based on a single
ingredient that is always great (i’ve had foie gras, rabbit, wild boar, and many others).
Three other suburban outposts, all featuring excellent food and with more than acceptable stemware. Alba & Sovana also now have bars/wine lists as well, but still allow BYOB as their customer bases were so used to it before they go their liquor licenses.
I think the Fayette Street Grill is a nice place - the only problem I can see with it is location - it’s only two blocks from Blackfish, and if I’m going to drive to Conshohocken, 9 times out of ten I’ll go there instead of Fayette.
If you are heading out to the Western Burbs, my neck of the woods, you might like the following BYOBs: a la Maison Bistro (Ardmore), decent French bistro fare, Gemelli (Narberth), very good Italian and particularly the pastas, and Sola (Bryn Mawr) very good contemporary American. All have detailed web-sites and first and last can be reserved on Open Table. Not the greatest meals you will ever eat, but reliable and up to snuff with other BYOBs listed in this topic so far, all of which I have tried, and some (e.g., Blackfish, Bibou, Sonata, Kozeedo, Alba), many times. EDIT dated 5/2/2011 understand that Clark Gilbert, chef and owner of Gemelli, has sold Narberth loacation to John Wohlferth, a prior owner of Sola, and is relocating to Manayunk. No details as to both locations yet.
Although perhaps persona-non-grata here, Mark Squires did a respectable summary of downtown Philly BYO options and is quite plugged in to that scene. Good reasonable fare to be had at Nan and Bistro 7
It seems like more and more licensed places are willing to negotiate or even wave corkage. Super off-liner D. Kaplan seems most adept in this area.
Forgotten yet still respectable is the Spring Mill Cafe near Conshohocken.
I keep looking for options in the boonies: Doylestown, Lansdale, Quakertown, Skippack, etc., but the quality can’t compete with Gilmores, Blackfish, etc. I was able to negotiate inexpensive corkage at the Mainland Inn, but it’s fallen out of favor after a case of goodies (being transferred at an off-line) was somehow “lost”. The food’s still decent.
Another good place (closer to Rich, although not quite at the Northern end of the world ) is Sushi Bluefin in Plymouth Meeting, right past the mall in a strip shopping center on Germantown Pike. Excellent sushi, and quite a nice match for riesling, or the every once in a while Austrian pinot blanc. I’d link their website but last time I checked it was not up & running.
My cousin now lives out by the hospital somewhere around 34th-40th St & Chestnut. Any good reccos in that area? It seems to be only about 10min to Center City on the bus, so no big deal if there aren’t any.
To Brent: 2 good BYOBs on that side of the river that I am familiar with (I am sure there are more). 1) Nan at 4000 Chestnut Street (mentioned above) / Thai and French-Thai fusion. 2) Marigold Kitchen at 501 South 45th Street/ contemporary American. Marigold was a hot BYOB a few years ago, and I liked it. There was a change in chefs (perhaps owner too) and then I didn’t like it. Heard the chef changed again, and I returned recently with my wine group (8 persons) for a multi-course pre-fixe dinner, and it was GREAT! Looking forward to going back. Web-site is kept current . Check out the menus.