Friends and colleagues have been telling us about this NoLibs spot forever and we finally got our Center City butts up there, thanks to a thank you gift from our dear fried Cheri of Not My Mother's Kitchen. We trekked through a heavy December snowfall to make it up there (and we have some serious snow on the ground now too so it's like this review was written in a timely manner!) and entered what seemed like an oasis in the desert of white fluffy snow. The immediate vibe we got was awesome. Our eyes lit up as he saw the cozy interior — it just felt so homey. Their two-sided menu [.pdf] boasts tons of choices, but we were just there for lunch.
Messy started off with a big mug of delicious hot chocolate which had some subtle undertones that were reminiscent of pumpkin pie spices. It came out with some freshly whipped cream (a real hearty plop, not that watery stuff that dissolves right away!) and a slice of strawberry. Honey's touts itself as a big supporter of the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign and we found it odd that they had these superfluous slices of out-of-season strawberry (there were more later).
Everything in the place looked cozy and fun. Here, a table to our left which had yet to be cleared.
Picky especially liked the little condiment caddy. Cream, ketchup, salt and pepper, hot sauces including a big bottle of Siracha. Dovetailed ends and several compartments so things didn't slide around too much. Everything fit perfectly.
Messy had a vegetarian chicken fried steak (Honey's has lots and lots of vegetarian choices) which came with a buttermilk biscuit and two sides of Messy's choice. She went with mac n cheese and slaw [$8]. It was all quite tasty and the portion was huge. The chicken fried steak tasted wasn't what Messy was expecting — the best way to describe it is to say it tasted like the insides of a samosa heavily fried in a pancake — but it was good. The only off note was the sauce, which tasted like a bland nutritional yeast concoction. In addition to all of this delicious carbs and cheese, Messy ordered a broccoli casserole appetizer which was fabulous — is there a better way to eat broccoli than smothered in delicious, gooey cheese and topped with French fried onions?
Picky had Bubby's Brisket Sandwich on brioche with Swiss, sauteed spinach, mushroom gravy and a side of horsey mayo [$10]. He had heard good things about it and it's supposed to be one of their stellar dishes. The brioche was thick, toasted and sesame seeded. It seemed like too much thick, dry bread for such dry brisket. Sadly, the brisket was dry. Why is meat ever dry? The horsey mayo didn't make up for the dry brisket, it was also pretty dry, not creamy at all. (The consistency was somewhere around very cold, hard cream cheese.) Picky tried a hunk of brisket by itself — it was under salted, too. Enough to make all of the Jewish mothers and grandmothers in Picky's hometown back in NY would cry. A stronger cheese would probably have helped. The side of hand cut fries [$2] were tasty – on the undercooked side, but nice and salty. If you need more salt, they have nice mini Ball mason jars of salt and pepper at the ready in those lovely dovetailed condiment trays at each table.
For desert, Picky was able to scarf down a blueberry cobbler [$5] a la mode [$2.50] with Bassett's vanilla ice cream. Messy helped, but she was really too full to make a solid dent. Spoonfuls of custard and pear dipping sauces circled the ramekin of cobbler along with more slices of strawberries and a big spearmint garnish. White-centered strawberries in December? We like to wait until the summer for deep red hearted local berries. The cobbler top wasn't rich enough for Picky's tastes, but it was pretty. Given the cakey cobbler top, you definitely want to go for the ice cream on this one.
After all the complaining from Picky — Messy enjoyed every part of her meal — he'd go back. He doesn't say this often, as there are just too many great spots in town to go back to a place that didn't sing the first time, but what can we say? Something about Honey's just felt so right.
Messy ****
Picky **
The final word: The food was a mixed bag, but the cozy, cool vibe invites us back for more.
Honey's Sit-N-Eat
800 North Fourth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215.925.1150
M – Sa: 8am – 10pm
Su: 8am – 4.30pm
