dinner in Philly

[phil packer]

im not a fan of Philadelphia (probably has to do w/ their asshole sports fans). i worked there briefly and wasn't impressed with much of the food i tried (tho i did find an amazing middle eastern street cart that had the best falafel). I think the cheesesteaks are nothing to brag about. I've had an equally good one, if not better in NYC. Unfortunately my chick lives/works just outside of Philly and i want to take her out to eat somewhere nice this weekend but her neighborhood only has a bunch of "McDonalds with table service" (applebees, chilis, red lobster, outback, etc). Any suggestions for a good/nice place to eat in Philly? We like French, Cuban, Middle Eastern, Indian.

[ANC]

Not that I know Philly or have eaten there first hand, but my brother-in-law raves about Jose Garces' restaurants :

http://www.grg-mgmt.com/

[phil packer]

thanks. we're gonna do the tasting menu at Chifa.

[ANC]

thanks. we're gonna do the tasting menu at Chifa.

Cool, glad I could help. Let me know how it is.

[phil packer]

thanks for the suggestion. Chifa was amazing. we did the $65 tasting menu.

marscapone biscuits with guava-chile butter.
a edamame, tomato, cucumber salad with a creamy garlic dressing
2 kinds of ceviche (yellowtail with pineapple juice and tuna in a creamy soy sauce)
in-house made lemon pepper sausage with nutmeg sticky rice
mussels in a light white sauce with a few pieces of grilled bread
fois-gras with sriracha mayo on a bellini
chile rubbed lamb chops
roast chicken with sriracha and miso dipping sauces
Jalapeno Fried rice with scallops
i dont know the name of the final dish but it was along the lines of a smoked tamale


we got the Lima Bean Fizz to drink which is the most refreshing thing ive ever tasted, its cucumber infused vodka with thai basil. apparently there was lima beans in it but did not taste or see any


the chicken was the best roast chicken ive ever had. it was perfectly cooked. the flavors were amazing. definitely on the spicy side but i have a high tolerance for spice. I loved the ceviche.

the only thing i didn't like was the last 4 dishes came out within a few minutes of each other or some at the same time. everything else was timed well but the restuarant was starting to get crowded and im sure they wanted to just get the food out.

[Tenbatsuzen]

Not that I know Philly or have eaten there first hand, but my brother-in-law raves about Jose Garces' restaurants :

http://www.grg-mgmt.com/

You are such a fuckstick. I looked, and now I want to go to Distrito really bad. What makes it worse is that Garces is the new Iron Chef, which will make his places IMPOSSIBLE to get into.

Fortunately, I'm going to be doing a lot of business in Philly soon, so I'll have a chance to go on an off day.

[JohnGacysCrawlSpace]

I'm going to Le Bec-Fin tomorrow night.