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Philadelphia

	Restaurants	Style / Comment / Facts
	The restaurants in Philadelphia are divided into several areas because they are `local' to me, and most visitors will probably only be interested in this part of the list, mainly focussed on those in Center City. Occasional suburban resturants are interesting enough to make this list, though.
	Totaro's	One of the most unusual restaurants anywhere. Each generation of owner (it's been in the family for some time) has raised the quality of the fare so now it is extremely good. It also has a huge and wildly interesting menu. It also is expensive, and yet it looks like a dive bar in a small (largely working-class looking) town. Unusual, good, and fun to me, though some are taken aback by the prices which can easily rise to $60+ per person.
	Spezia	A relatively new addition to the Main Line dining scene. And a very welcome addition. A small quiet place on the busy part of Lancaster Ave. right about at the Bryn Mawr/Haverford line, Spezia offers high line high quality Italian (gourmet) fare. The oddity is that at the preseent time it doesn't have a liquor license, so you are welcome to bring you high-quality wines for a really special dinner. Not cheap, but well worth the price which is generally in the $50 range (remember, without wine/alcohol). It is the only place I know of that serves Oysters with a Mignionette Granita---with stunning success, and indicative of the creative high-class treatment of ingredients and presentations.
	Vetri	A wonderful addition to the Philadelphia Restaurant scene. Located in the site of the original Le Bec-Fin and then later the wonderful Ciboulette, it is a small comfortable room full of happy diners. The basic food theme is high-class Italian, and the Spinach Gnocci are one stunning example of a menu that seems to contain only `winners'. It isn't cheap, but it also isn't as expensive as many other restaurants in its class, so though you spend money, you are left with the feeling that it was well spent.
	Buddakan	Colorful, trendy, good and---for reasons I cannot fathom---almost cheap. It also is the kind of place where you expect `attitude,' but the staff seems almost universally polite and interested. The only real downside for me is the noise level, which is high, but I like it anyway, and usually eat at the bar or upstairs where things are a shade lower volume.
	The Blue Angel	A good French Bistro on lower Chestnut St. A bit noisy perhaps but the food is good and the atmosphere is generally lively.
	Morimoto	Wildly expensive for Philadelphia, but at first eating it seems to be extremely good. Hard to get in, and very trendy.
	The Fountain	The main dining room of The Four Seasons Hotel. Currently it is rated as the best restaurant in the city. It has a wonderful wine list, and serves an expensive, copious and very good brunch on Sundays.
	Le Bec Fin	Georges Perrier's flagship restaurant, currently being `refreshed' as it had gotten a bit long in the tooth of late. My first Perrier experience was in the 60s and was the best $12.50 prix-fixe I ever had. The decimal point has moved a digit to the right since, but Georges' capabilities have remained constant. Unfortunately, my waistline hasn't remained constant, so I only very rarely indulge in the high-calorie, high-cholesterol wonders of this classic form of French cooking.
	Main Line Restaurants	Food on the Main Line used to be easy to describe. It was pretty much summed up by lousy. That has (thankfully) changed, and now there are lots of good places to eat, and a growing range of different kinds of restaurants that seem to be successful. Places range from `College Crowd' places that serve the many universities---Bryn Mawr, Haverford, St. Joseph's, Villanova---that dot the Main Line on up through high-class high quality places described above.
	I live on the Main Line---the first suburbs to the West of Philadelphia---so I am particularly interested in restaurants in this area. These days good Main Line food is no longer an oxymoron, but it is unlikely to be particularly attractive to tourists or visitors from elsewhere. Since Main Line people used to either have their staff cook at home or eat in their clubs, food used to be tastless and bland. No longer.
	Il Positano	A good Italian Restaurant, run and staffed by some very nice people who make dining a generally pleasant experience. Dinner at the Bar might as well be in a `club room' as many of the diners are `regulars' who have gotten to know one another over the years. Calamari is usually wonderful, and both the fish and the meats receive high praise from the regulars who eat them. A concern is that the number of `regulars' seems to be declining, and often the Restaurant is quite empty on Sun-Thu nights.
	Yangming	A high-class Chinese place with excellent food. It is oddly set in what used to be an `Inn' (that had unusually bad food), it now has a slightly offbeat `look' but a high quality menu full of good things.
	Alex Long	More Asian Fusion than Chinese. There's also a bit of Jewish/Chineese fusion going on (an Asian Matzoh-ball soup might be an example). It generally works, and produces a wonderful Lobster and Peking Duck when they're on the menu.
	Khajuraho	A classy Indian restaurant that is a very pleasant place to eat good Indian food. Set in an otherwise undistinguished strip mall just off Lancaster Ave. it is a bit of a surprise, but a couple of other Indian Restaurants in the neighborhood suggest that Main Line food is no longer bland and tasteless.
	Suburban (West) Restaurants	There's no official line that separates the Main Line from the rest of the Western Suburbs. Technically, I suppose, the Main Line is a rather narrow corridor that spans the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks to the West. The restaurants in this section are a bit further afield.
	Coyote Crossing	A nice Mexican menu (the `higher class' not `Tex-Mex' variety) which produces good food at reasonable prices. Some friends also particularly like the Margaritas. The most wonderful things is the garden in the Summer. When it's not overcrowded, this is a very pleasant place to eat. Due to a local law, it might be noted, one must eat a dinner in order to be served outside, it's against local regulations to just drink and eat `bar food' out there.
	Fayette Street Grill	A prix-fixe (last time I was there under $30) with a nice menu and a cheerful ambiance. Food is good, and the menu is nicely varied, containing, in my experience, only things that they can actually deliver on.
	Le Mas Perrier	This is a very nice place that I somehow just can't get into the spirit of. The food is good, and the bar menu is pleasant enough, but perhaps I keep expecting the quality of Gorges' downtown place and this just doesn't make it. To be fair, it doesn't charge the prices of Le Bec Fin either, so I really shouldn't expect the same treatment as downtown. But I guess I can't help it.
	Alberto's Trattoria	A nice place in West Chester, which used to be a hardscrabble little town, but which has gentrified at a great rate as Chester County and `Horse Country' have become increasingly fashionable. It is a pretty place, co-owned by a major Main Line Restauranteur---Alberto is also involved in Villa Strafford, La Collina and The Newtown Squire---and operated by a wonderful crew of friendly people that serve not only good food but a fine ambiance as well.
	Bars	I'm too old to be able to keep up with the `trendy bars' that are an important part of the `Philadelphia Scene'. All I know is that there are lots of them, and that my daughter---who knows something of the scene many places---likes them. I can only speak to some of the more quiet bars where my friends and I meet.
	Cafe San Pietro	A local hangout. Sometimes weekend music, but the variablilty of the schedule seems more designed to aggrevate the customers than to satisfy their loyalty. Food is mostly bar-standard, with occasional items of interest. Bar and waitress staff are almost universally friendly and pleasant. A good spot to gather.
	Bar at the Omni	A good meeting place downtown. Bar is pleasant, and is much too quiet for some, but I like the calm, as there's plenty of activity in the immediate area (Buddakan and the Market St. restaurants are nearboy).
	Hotels	Some limited view
	Since Philadelphia is home for me, I never stay in a hotel anywhere nearby. I don't know prices at all. I will give a very short list by area, but all bets are off on quality / price.
	Hyatt	A new hotel right near the river downtown. Though I haven't---for the reasons given above---ever stayed there, the views ought to be wonderful.
	City Line Hotels	`City Line' Hotels;There are a whole bunch of Hotels on City Line Avenue but I don't find the location particularly attractive, as you need a car to get `anywhere'. I'd rather stay downtown and walk, or stay further out. But that may just be me.
	Mariott Conshohocken	An unusual location, with easy access to the Expressways. The downside is that the Expressways are often clogged. The Mariott appears to be a nice hotel, and is a pleasant 0.5 mile walk across a bridge to Conshohocken where there are several restaurants. Mostly a car would be both useful and needed, though.
	Route 202 Hotels
	Four Seasons
	Wayne Hotel
	Sights	What to See
	Museums	Character
	The PMA	One of the grand museums of the country. Of course it is most famous now as the site of Rocky's training exercises, but that doesn't detract (much) from either the contents (profound) or the site (one of the most beautiful in the US). Situated on the River and at the head of Ben Franklin Parkway---a `grand avenue' in Baron Haussman's tradition---it is the artistic crown of Philadelphia's art scene.
	The Barnes	Generally conceded to be a jewel, at least as far as the impressionists are concerned. Also contains a rather bizzare complement: a collection of door adornments. I believe the story is that Barnes bought these wonderful paintings and was largely laughed at by the high-tone `snobs' that ran the PMA in his time. So he basically said `Screw Em' and built his own little museum.
	The Brandywine
	Shopping	Areas
	Franklin Mills
	Reading
	Food	Areas and Off-Sale
	Manyunk
	South Philadelphia	There are lots of good red-sauce Italian restaurants in South Philadelphia. On 9th Street, both north and south of Washington Avenue, there is an Italian Market that is more mindful of European markets than those of any other American city I know. It take a while to learn which of the stores deliver the quality, but generally it is there to be found.
	Parks	And Various Other Things
	Fairmount Park	I think Fairmount Park is the largest in-city park in the US. It covers a large portion of the site of the 1876 Centennial Exposition on the west bank of the Schuylkill and extends well over the east side of the river as well.
	Longwood Gardens
	Events
	First Friday	Philadelphia has an emerging tradition (of a few years standing) to wander around the `Old City' and Society Hill Galleries on the First Friday evening of each month. This generally results in an amiable crowd and a pleasant evening, though some of the art might better be left on the easel.