IETF-71: Philadelphia - 2008

Smoking Note:
By law, smoking in restaurants and bars is not permitted.

Quick Lunch Near the Meeting Venue:
1 - Reading Terminal Market: The venue is directly adjacent to the Reading Terminal Market. This is a great place to grab a quick lunch! Get your food to go, or find a table in one of the seating areas. Some of the lunch stands also have seating at their counters, and there is a very wide variety of affordable foods to choose from. More info at Wikipedia and check out the SoundAbout Philly MP3 audio tour of the market too. Reading Terminal is the country’s longest continuously-running farmer’s market, and many Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch (aka Pennsylvania Deutsch / German) from Berks and Lancaster Counties. Over 30 merchants serving lunch.
2 - Maggiano’s Little Italy (across street) - Good Italian food, affordable, chain restaurant
3 - Chili’s (across street) - Tex-Mex, affordable, chain restaurant
4 - Hard Rock Cafe (across street) -
5 - Marathon Grill (5 - 10 mins walk) - Local sit-down sandwich lunch spot, 2 nearby locations (10th & Walnut, 1339 Chestnut)
6 - Shiroi Hana (10 mins walk) - Great quality sushi, affordable lunch prices
Good Neighborhoods / Areas to Dine - Walking Distance from Venue:
1 - Old City
2 - Rittenhouse Square / Walnut Street
3 - Avenue of the Arts
4 - Chinatown
5 - Center City East / Center City West (meaning east or west of City Hall, 2 blocks from venue)

Vegetarian Recommendations:
In addition to searching the food guides below for vegetarian, check out Gridskipper’s recommendations.

Good Online Restaurant Guides (in no particular order):
1 - City Paper
2 - Philadelphia Magazine
3 - GoPhila
4 - Zagat Guide
5 - City Search
6 - Yelp

Food-Related Posts on This Site: Best Cheese Steaks

Selected Personal Dining Recommendations (in no particular order):

Old City:
1 - Amada - Excellent Spanish tapas
2 - Buddakan - Asian Fusion, dishes presented family-style for sharing, cool interior
3 - Cafe Spice - Great Indian, stylish interior
4 - Continental Martini Bar - Classic vintage martini bar, with affordable food
5 - Cuba Libre - Cuban, stylish
6 - Fork - Very nice upscale American bistro, with excellent wines
7 - Morimoto - Japanese, chef is Morimoto of the Iron Chef, pricey
8 - Positano Coast - Nice Italian / Amalfi-coast cuisine

Rittenhouse Square and Walnut Street:
1 - Alma de Cuba - Cuban
2 - Barclay Prime - Steaks, including excellent dry aged cuts, in a chic and modern interior off the Square
3 - Brasserie Perrier (see Le Bec Fin below)
4 - Lacroix at The Rittenhouse - French, pricey, recently voted best new restaurant in a decade
5- Le Bec Fin OUTSTANDING of course — make a reservation NOW (and note it is somewhat dressy). Top rated (MOBIL 5 STAR, AAA 5 DIAMOND), with legendary chef Georges Perrier. I rate this as one of the best dining experiences of my entire life, it is that good. There is also a downstairs bar called Le Bar Lyonnais with a handful of small tables that also serves a fine meal, with lower prices and no reservations backlog. Also, next door is the less formal, less expensive, and hipper sister restaurant, Brasserie Perrier
6 - Susana Foo - Pricey, but highly renowned, excellent gourmet Chinese
7- Tinto Wine Bar and Restaurant (wine obviously, and excellent food, Basque-style)

Avenue of the Arts:
1 - Fogo De Chao - Reasonably priced Brazilian steakhouse, chain restaurant, offers unique fixed-price and all-you-can-eat
2 - Osteria - Sister to Vetri, more affordable, nice rustic Italian
3 - Varalli’s - Two restaurants in same building, Upstairs at Varalli’s is particularly nice, both reasonably priced

Center City East and West:
1 - Dmitri’s - Affordable Greek tapas, informal, particularly good seafood dishes
2 - El Vez - Fun Mexican, try the table-side prepared guacamole (even one option with raw tuna!)
3 - Jones - Stylishly-70’s spot, with traditional American comfort food
4 - Los Catrines / Tequila’s - Excellent quality Mexican
5 - Ludwig’s Garden - Excellent and exceedingly authentic German cuisine and over 100 types of beer, affordable
6 - Maggiano’s Little Italy (next to meeting venue) - Good Italian food, affordable, chain restaurant
7 - Monk’s Cafe - Belgian cafe, affordable, excellent selection of beer and great mussels
8 - Raw Lounge - Stylish sushi and raw bar
9 - Vetri Ristorante - Pricey, but amazing small Italian ristorante, a favorite, consistently rated a top Italian restaurant in the country
10 - Lolita - Very near venue, Mexican (no liquor license - “BYOB”)
11 - Bindi - Very near venue, Indian (no liquor license - “BYOB”)
12 - Vintage Wine Bar and Bistro - Very near venue, great wines, good French bistro menu

University City:
1 - Pod - Japanese / Asian fusion, interior looks like 2001 Space Odyssey, hip and stylish, featured in Wired magazine
2 - White Dog Cafe - Local and farm-raised food, a restaurant with a social conscience

Chinatown:
1 - Vietnam - Best Vietnamese in the city, affordable
2 - Yakitori Boy - Very affordable Japanese yakitori and sushi

South Street:
1 - Ansill - European-inspired tapas, great wine selection
2 - South Street Souvlaki - Very affordable neighborhood Greek restaurant, informal

Washington Square:
1 - Zinc - French bistro, affordable, great food and wine