Aaron's Guide to Philly Restaurants 

Where I like to eat in Philadelphia

*** last updated April 2010 ***

Chinatown (Chinese, Malaysian, Burmese)

We go to Chinatown at least once per week. These are my current favorites: 

Nanzhou Handdrawn Noodle House (927 Race Sreet). Amazing hand-drawn noodle soup (with beef, lamb, or seafood). Best I've had other than in Lanzhou, China. You can watch the chef making the noodles from scratch. 

Sang Kee Peking Duck House (238 N. 9th Street). Best Peking duck in Chinatown. Almost as good as Quan Ju De in Beijing. Fast service. Great for late night eats.

Dim Sum Garden (59 N. 11th Street). Incredible juicy dumplings (xiao long bao). Doesn't look like a great restaurant from the outside (next to bus terminal, neon signs, etc.) but the best xiao long bao in the city. Almost as good as Ding Tai Feng in Shanghai!

Banana Leaf (1009 Arch Street). Really interesting new Malaysian restaurant. Have had some great meals there recently.

Rangoon (112 N. 9th Street). We go to this Burmese restaurant often. Thousand layer bread is a must.

Shiao Lan Kung (930 Race Street). Solid Chinese restaurant offering great soups and entrees. We have been going there for ~10 years and the dishes have been uniformly good. Open late so perfect for late night eats. Try the seafood pan fried noodles. 

Japanese

I eat a lot of sushi. Vic's is my favorite but there are some other good choices:

Vic Sushi (2035 Sansom Street). BYOB. Great local sushi place. Everything is very fresh and very good. Creative rolls as well as all of the standard sushi and sashimi. Very small (only ~6 seats) but worth the wait. Also good for takeout. Prices are very reasonable. Easily my favorite sushi in the city. In my opinion, even better than Pod or Morimoto and much cheaper. Vic, the owner, is super friendly and so is his helper, Jim. *** Update: Try the Mango Tango roll, which is new on the menu, because it's great and also because I came up with the name for it. Vic is always trying out new sushi roll creations and one day he gave me one that he just made but didn't have a name. It had fresh mango slices and also a sweet mango sauce. After a couple weeks of brainstorming, I came up with 'Mango Tango'. ***

Pod (3636 Sansom Street). Trendy Stephen Starr asian fusion restaurant on Penn's campus. Decent sushi. A bit pricey. Nice place to take seminar speakers or postdoc candidates. 

Morimoto (723 Chestnut Street). Very expensive sushi restaurant, named after the Iron Chef. I only go here when someone else is paying. Sushi is very good but I actually like Vic's better!

Genji (1720 Sansom Street). We use this as an alternative to Vic's if we have a large group (i.e. > 6 people). Decent sushi.

Tapas

Same owner, 4 restaurants. Each are different and worth trying. Can't go wrong with the Chef's

tasting menu.

Tinto (116 S. 20th Street). Basque. Dessert is included in tasting menu.

Amada (217 Chestnut Street). Spanish. Great sangria. Dessert not included in tasting menu.

Distrito (3945 Chestnut Street). Mexican. Dessert not included in tasting menu.  Spanish. Great.

Chifa (707 Chestnut Street). Combination of Chinese and Peruvian small plates style. On my list to try.

Miscellaneous

All of these are safe bets for a nice dinner.

Ansill (627 S. 3rd Street). Creative dishes here (e.g. bone marrow, pig trotters, etc.). The poached egg with porcini mushrooms is phenomenal. Bainbridge is the new South Street. 

Jones (700 Chestnut Street). Stephen Starr restaurant with a comfort food theme. For example: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, waffles, and Duncan Hynes cake (from mix) with glass of cold milk for dessert. 

Alma de Cuba (1623 Walnut). Cuban inspired cuisine. My favorites are the bacon wrapped bananas and chocolate cigar.

Buddakan (325 Chestnut Street). Asian fusion. Decent place to take a seminar speaker. Lots to try but I usually end up getting the edamame ravioli, Angry Lobster IV, and Asian Mojito.

James on 8th (824 S. 8th Street (a few blocks south of South)). Fantastic modern Italian restaurant. Now on my list of current favorites. Owner/Chef used to be at Vetri. Amazing house-made pasta and super creative dishes such as: stinging nettle tortelli (won't cause the stinging rash because the nettles are cooked); hand cut tagliatelle, duck ragu, shaved chocolate & orange; line caught black cod; dover sole; sunchoke soup. Desserts are great too, especially the roasted local apples brown sugar cake, with maple ice cream and candied bacon!

Parc (225 S. 18th Street). Stephen Starr restaurant with French Bistro theme. Sit outside and watch people in Rittenhouse Square. Great location but food is nothing special.

Barclay Prime (237 S. 18th Street). Stephen Starr steak house. Ultra expensive but quite simply the best steak I have ever had. Kobe sliders for appetizers and truffle mashed potatoes as a side. You can also get a $100 cheesesteak (served with a small bottle of champagne, made of sliced Kobe beef, melted Taleggio cheese, shaved truffles, sauteed foie gras, caramelized onions and heirloom shaved tomatoes on a homemade brioche roll brushed with truffle butter and squirted with homemade mustard).

Food trucks around PENN

These are my favorite lunch spots on campus.

King's Wok (34th and Spruce Street). My favorite chinese food truck. I call ahead because he usually gets busy during lunchtime. King is also around for dinner when I work late. My favorite dishes are Ma Po Dou Fu (hot spicy bean curd) and Niu Nan Mian (beef tendon noodle soup).

Yue Kee Mobile Kitchen (38th and Walnut). Just as good as King's Wok but a bit farther away than King's Wok. At Yue Kee, I always get either Crispy Spare Rib Tips or Scallion Chicken.

MexiCali (38th and Walnut). Incredible burritos. Everything is made from scratch and all ingredients are very fresh. My favorite is the sweet potato burrito. Also try the new MexiCali restaurant on the corner of 40th and Sansom.

Outside Center City Philadelphia

We usually eat in Center City but occasionally wander outside.

Han Dynasty (260 North Pottstown Pike, Exton, PA). The best Sichuan cuisine I've had other than in Chengdu, China or maybe New York City. It's a long drive (~45 min) from the city but well worth it. Nothing in Chinatown comes close (including Chung King Garden or Four Rivers). *** The owner just opened another restaurant downtown (2nd and Chestnut). Just as good as the one in Exton. ***

Cooper's Brick Oven Wine Bar (4367 Main Street, Philadelphia, PA). We recently moved to Manayunk and discovered this new restaurant next to Jake's. Great brick oven pizza and tapas (nice combination). For dessert, the profiteroles are a must. Brunch at Cooper's is also good (eggs, pancakes, etc.).

Chabaa Thai Bistro (4371 Main Street, Philadelphia, PA). Best Thai restaurant in Philadelphia. On Main Street in Manayunk. Outside dining is great. The panang curry w/ tofu is terrific. 

Mango Moon (4161 Main Street, Philadelphia, PA). From the same owner as Chabaa and just down the block. On Main Street in Manayunk. Whereas Chabaa has more traditional Thai dishes, Mango Moon specializes in Bangkok street food. Tues, Wed, Thurs they have a cool Skewer Menu upstairs at the bar (e.g. grilled chicken, beef, octopus, taro, chicken livers, you name it, grilled on a stick for $1-$2 each). 

Andonio's Diner (9244 Krewstown Road, Philadelphia, PA). I take my grandparents to this Northeast Philly diner almost every weekend. Good food. Plenty of it. Breakfast anytime. Mean age of the diners is probably ~70.