La Viet

3 Feb

I finally made it into La Viet (11th and Washington Ave) yesterday. While their catchy t-shirts originally caught my attention,

it was their five dollar lunch special that got me in the door. Howard and I walked in the doors at 1:45, surprised to see a bona fide lunch crowd leaning over their pho bowls. Service was slow, but the food was tasty– and the price was right. The entire menu was priced reasonably, no different than it’s neighbor’s Nam Phuong. This was surprising, since La Viet’s ambience definitely outpaces it’s Vietnamese neighbors’. This is a fun date spot. It feels special, but doesn’t break the bank.

Howard got a BBQ pork chop and rice; it came with soup

I got the Pho

A Note for my Faithful Readers,

28 Jan

My most sincere apologies, South Philly. I haven’t posted since January 11th. I have some pretty good excuses lined up, though.

#1 I got an internship! I am now blogging for Mealticket, Citypaper’s food and drink blog. My editor, Drew Lazor, has kept me busy eating Nutella muffins and drinking, drinking, drinking. Since I don’t want to recycle all the work that I am doing for Mealticket, I haven’t posted much of my work for them on southphillysilly. You should check out the work I am doing for Mealticket. It’s fun stuff! And a great resource for eating and drinking in Philadelphia.

#2 I got engaged! And you happen to know my fiancée, that hunk of burning love that’s been sprinkled throughout my posts since last August… Howard! He proposed last Friday the 20th on our to dinner, and then surprised me with an engagement party afterwards. I’d say 50% of my time since then (the other 50% spent sleeping, eating, and celebrating) has been spent on Pinterest gathering wedding ideas. Pinterest may or may not be the end of productivity in America.

Pure, unadulterated joy

So, my sincerest apologies for my absence, but now… I am back. Happy to be here.

Cheers, y’all.

2nd Street Brewhouse

11 Jan

2nd Street Brew house has been opened a year. It occupies the unassuming corner of 2nd and Morris and gets more traffic from cars on their way to Target than pedestrians hunting food and drink.

I came across the Brew House one day when I was trolling Twitter. (You do it, too. Right? Right?!) Their happy hour occupies the inconvenient hours of 4-6 PM, but determined to try a new happy hour, I managed to get down to 2nd and Morris by 4:30 last Wednesday. My friends and I settled into a table in the back, close to the Ms. Pac Man machine. When I realized that I couldn’t beat my friends at that, I suggested we play darts. We essentially had the back part of the bar to ourselves, besides a few loners who were curling up with their Kindles and a beer.

Curling up is easy at the Brew House since they have upholstered chairs placed throughout the bar. These and the low-lamp lighting contribute to the overall warmth of the place. Logan, the bartender, said that the bar reminded her of a cabin in the Poconos; I couldn’t agree more.

Logan was awesome. She worked with my friend for ten minutes, trying to help her find a beer that she liked on draft. My friend finally got the Southern Tier Crème Brulee, which tastes more like dessert than beer. I drank the Founders Dirty Bastard, which I had never tried before and loved. I wish that they had had more beers on special; there were only five half-price draft options.

That’s my only criticism though, and I hear that the number of beers on special has fluctuated as the brand-new Brew House finds their happy hour stride. Altogether, the ambience, the staff, the food, and the price are spot on. As of last Wednesday, their specials were as follows: half-price select drafts, half off the entire food menu, and $2 domestic cans and bottles… and get this y’all—seven days a week! I only know of one other bar that has a happy hour all week: Watkins Drinkery. You know of any more?

If I lived closer to 2nd and Morris this bar would definitely be my go to. As it is, it will become a regular fixture on my happy hour circuit. And when I say regular, I mean that I went back there on Friday.

Cheers, y’all.

Clove Cigarettes without the Cancer

5 Jan

Hold the phone!

That dream you have of locking lips with someone after smoking clove cigarettes?

(What? Just me?)

You can realize that dream now– cancer-free!

Tokyo-milk puts out a silky smooth lip balm called, “Clove Cigarette.” Sara and I happened upon it at Verde last week and I have been using the balm for a week. Not only does it relieve chapped lips but it tastes exactly like that delectable residue left after smoking a clove. Too bad the price is pretty steep at $8 a pop.

But the 24/7 taste of Zanzibar on your lips without the adverse health effects?

Priceless.

M is for Mummers and Mayhem

2 Jan

The Mummers came.

But I did not. I went to the grocery store. Drank coffee with cream and bought brussel sprouts. I ate chicken noodle soup and drank nothing but hot tea. The only Mummer I saw was on my way to church. He was lost and I showed him the way.

But even as I speak the Mummers roam 2 street in Philadelphia, bouncing umbrellas.

Road Trip Round-up

27 Dec

My Christmas travels this year included 27 hours of highway. Even though Howard and I woke up at 5 AM to “beat the traffic,” there was no way in hell that we could make it down the east coast two days before Christmas without encountering some backed-up byways. Determined not to let our arteries be similarly clogged, I packed our cooler full of the healthiest, tastiest road food Trader Joe’s could offer. Any suggestions to improve my cooler for next year?

Falafel, hummus, whole wheat pita, tomatoes, carrots, yogurt and oranges. Beat that.

The only food we bought on the road was some coca-cola and peanuts; I needed to introduce Howard to one of many Southern delights of which he is unfamiliar. Have you ever poured salted peanuts into a Coca-Cola before? Best road food ever. A snack and a drink in one! Jimmy Carter would be proud.

yum yum

Filter fizzles out

21 Dec IMG_3241-560x420

Maybe the corner of 10th and Carpenter is cursed. Infusion Coffee and Tea couldn’t make it. Mazag kicked the bucket, too. And now the corner’s most recent occupant, Filter Cafe, is in its final days after a pathetic three month run of it.

Although I don’t know the official reasons that Filter is closing, I could take a couple of educated guesses. Though offering free Wifi, computers, and a prime location, Filter is consistently occupied by the old men of Bardascino Park; men who spend most of their day sipping on one cup of coffee and leering at passerby. Filter might also have had  a hard time finding help, since both baristas I see behind the counter are– I hate to say it– distractable and sloppy.  Ultimately, Filter might just be closing because they spent way too much money on Christmas decorations (picture coming soon). Who knows? (Seriously, though. Does anyone know?)

Weigh in on the curse at 10th and Carpenter. Who do you think should give it a go once Filter hits the road?

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