Monday, May 24, 2010

Swift Half - and others...

This past Saturday we started the day at the Swift Half in The Piazza at Schmidt's in Northern Liberties. This is located in the square, right off of 2nd Street, below Germantown Avenue. There is free parking on Germantown Avenue - pretty great and hard to come by in the city....
http://www.atthepiazza.com/
Our goal was to watch the Flyers Game on the Jumbo-tron they have outside. This is a fun thing to do - you can pack food, drinks and chairs, sit outside and watch games on their huge 26 by 16 foot flat screen TV. However, it rained so we opted for the closest pub to the action; hence, The Swift Half. The food is very good here and it is a fun atmosphere. Tons of TVs, unique beer on tap, happy people make it for a good place to call homebase while you meander in and out of the "goings on" on the square.
After the Flyers won (!!!!!) we headed across the way to Bar Ferdinand.
http://www.barferdinand.com
This spot is all tapas..very delicisou tapas, but not for the truly hungry people. My first time there I wound up ordering 85% of the menu and was still hungry! However, they have a great wine list, is beautifully decorated, and it is a great place to go for a drink and a SMALL bite. From there we hopped a cab and headed to Smith and Wollensky.
http://www.smithandwollensky.com
I have to admit - this is not one of my favorites...it is kind of the way I feel about all steak houses. I can make a perfect steak at home, it never feels like a special meal, yet it is priced to be special. Don't get me wrong. The food is well prepared, fresh and delicious. I prefer unique twists on food and this is not what steak houses are know for. However, it is one of Bubba's favorite places. He loves Mike the bartender, and so we go....often. Bubba had the prime rib (he regretted that half way through the night) and I had the asapragus and crab salad. Actually, all of the girls had salads and the men steaks. We ended our night there, cabbed it back to the NL and headed for home. Sorry for only one video - I didn't have it in me for more....

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Devon

Devon Seafood Grill
225 South 18th Street

Devon is a standard haunt for many people - not us, per say, but many all the same. This was a day out with the girls...we were "Bubba Eats Philly" sans "Bubba"! He was missed - as always! I am not a huge fan of Devon (as you will see in the video, Nikki loves it and can't get enough of the Lobster Salad). I think it is a nice place to have lunch or dinner, sit outside and people/dog watch. It's trendy without being over the top. People tend to go to be seen, but no more so than many other places along the square. The baby was welcomed and did well with it all. They have high chairs, but no broccoli!



Parc

Parc
227 South 18th Street

Natalia, Brain and the baby were in from Miami for the week. We met up with them and on our search for broccoli for Noah happened upon Parc in Rittenhouse. Parc serves traditional french-style fare - chicken, steak, pomme frites, etc, but NO broccoli! However, we stayed and ate. It is pretty loud in the place, but the food is good and you can sit outside on the park. The chicken entree was the best chicken any of us had ever had. It really was unbelievable. This is another one in the Stephen Starr dynasty. Like I said in a previous video, "He ain't Stephen Starr for nothin'!" He does what he does well...there's a reason he has so many establishments in the city of Philadelphia!


El Vez

El Vez
www.elvezrestaurant.com

121 South 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA

El Vez is one of the Stephen Starr restaurants. The food is Mexican and the atmosphere is pretty bright and fun. It is a great place to go for casual drinks, food and to be with friends. There is one of those black and white photo strip booths - always fun - and if you like you can post it to this enormous wall for all to see. We always take ours with us! Tom Jackson is the GM there (see video). He is great and always helpful. The food is delicous. I love the nachos and the margaritas - rocks and salt. They also have good entrees if you want more than appetizers, chips and dip kind of stuff. Everyone raves about their guacamole...it is very good. They make it for you table side - yet another cool thing about the place.