Archive for the ‘Olde City’ Category

THE WRAP SHACK

Monday, August 28th, 2006

*** NOW CLOSED ***

wrap shack
The Wrap Shack is literally a shack located on Quarry Street, a little alley street a little bit north of historic Elefreths Alley (in between Race and Arch Streets). The interior of the shack (where all the cooking happens) is decorated with various color printouts of photos from around Philly hung up with donuts of blue tape. A line of Olde Philadelphia Sodas as well as your more widely available sodas adorn the left counter window. Behind the sodas is the large grill where all the goodness is prepared. There are a few tables outside, but the shack is primarily for take-out. The menu indicates that they also deliver and cater. This must be a killer lunch spot for the Olde City crowd, as the wraps are ready in under five minutes.

wrap shackThere are 36 different wrap choices listed on the menu, although we did notice that the printed menu is a little different from menu on the side of the shack (pictured at right). There are eight vegetarian wrap choices listed on the printed menu. One of those is explictly vegan, and the rest are easily vegan-ized. All wraps are available on either white or wheat and cost between $5 and $7, tax included. Aside from wraps, The Wrap Shack has Belgian waffles, salads, appetizers and oven baked potatoes, which come with your choice of three toppings for $3.75. There is an all day breakfast special which looks like a great deal for a hungry person – $6.50 for a Belgian waffle, two eggs and two slices of bacon. They also offer a nice variety of smoothies and milkshakes.

After much deliberation, Messy went with the Honey Mustard Medley ($5) which consists of zucchini, carrots, lettuce, tomato, onions, provolone and honey mustard. Messy expected it to be a cold wrap, but it was warm, wrapped in aluminum foil, and quite delicious. Unfortunately, Messy's lemonade was also warm – but our cheerful server, who was singing along with the radio, was very helpful providing ice, straw and a cup.

Picky had the Freeman ($6.50) which is chicken, bacon, cheddar, BBQ sauce and ranch. The wrap was good — nice and hot. The chicken was nicely chopped up except for one chunk which just happened to be especially hot. Everything was nicely mixed through without huge clumps of one ingredient dominating any part of the wrap. Picky's Olde Philadelphia root beer was flat, but at least it was cold.

All in all, we found The Wrap Shack to be a pretty charming place for a quick dinner on a summer night.

Messy ***
Picky ***

The final word: All the wraps you could ever want. In a shack.

146 N. 2nd St
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 925-1999

Mon-Fri: 9:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Sat: 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Sun: 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

FRANKLIN FOUNTAIN

Monday, August 21st, 2006

franklin fountain
We didn't uncover this gem until well into our stay in Philadelphia, it's now one of our favorites. Franklin Fountain has huge servings of delicious ice cream, an amazing variety of soda flavors and various other tasty homemade treats, but going there is as much about the atmosphere as it is about the food. It seriously feels like a time warp in there, with the tin ceilings, pulley-driven dual ceiling fans, and old timey cash register. Nevermind the cheerful servers, decked out in bowties and at least one handlebar mustache. If you like sweet stuff, this place has it all — including an old school soda fountain where they pull the soda water before adding the colorful syrups.

franklin fountainWe haven't tried any of the sodas yet, as we are always lured away by the ice cream. However, the phosphates — "electric sodas with a dash of citric acid" — seem quite tempting as well. Picky did have some root beer in an awesome root beer float once. [Why are good root beer floats so hard to find?] We have tried various ice cream flavors from the long list of choices, including Hydrox cookie [not Oreo!]; green tea; cherry vanilla; and cookie dough.

One of the greatest treats we ever had at Franklin Fountain was a waffle ice cream sandwich, which is made on a freshly made waffle – pressed right behind the counter – and two heaping scoops of the ice cream flavor of your choice, generously topped with hot fudge and whipped cream. It was absolutely delectible, and one order is definitely more than enough for two.

Another incredible creation is their Mt. Vesuvius, which consists of a "mountain" of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate brownie pieces, hot fudge, whipped cream, and malt powder. Messy found it a little heavy on the malt. This one is definitely not for the feint of heart if you can't take a heaping of chocolate explosion.

On our most recent visit, Messy, being Messy, dropped her cone on the floor on the floor and a friendly server said, "Oh no! Did you drop your cone?" And replaced it, for free, immediately.

We love this place, and it's open till midnight on the weekends. It's really the only post movie, non-alcoholic treat place in Olde City. And Messy finds this mustachioed fellow to be a real treat as well.

franklin fountain
This photo was taken in March of 2006.

Update with some cool info from their August 2007 newsletter:
An 'Earful' of Environmental Effort
Although we recycle everything possibly in house, we've rethought our paper & plastic goods and have come up with corn options we didn't know existed. That is, for those who haven't explored such worlds… companies like Fabri-Kal and other "green" companies use 100% corn to make our take-away 'what look like plastic/polystyrene' cups. It is amazing, exciting and next year-we'll have The Franklin Fountain logo printed on all corn cups (which have a 50-day compost date from the time it is trashed). We're also experimenting with corn-based 'plastic' spoons and straws for the same reasons. As one manufacturer asks, would you rather support an Arab oil sheik or a Mid-western corn farmer? In addition, we're also looking into having our ice cream containers pre-printed by an old Philadelphia oyster box maker.

Messy *****
Picky *****

The final word: A delicious timewarp.

Franklin Fountain
116 Market St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 627-1899
Summer Hours:
Sun – Th: Noon – 11pm
Fri & Sat: Noon – Midnight

KISSO

Monday, April 17th, 2006

kisso

After wandering around Olde City on Easter Sunday when most of the restaurants that were open had hefty price-tags, were were hesitant to try Kisso at first. But we were also really hungry, and Messy was craving Japanese, so we figured we'd give ourselves a treat. To our pleasant surprise, Kisso is not super fancy: the inside is all rusty orange colored walls with no decorations save for one set of shelves displaying fancy sake bottles. (As far as we know, these bottles were for show only, as Kisso is BYOB). Everything is minimalist and clean (except for the carpet, which is kind of dingy). The space is quite intimate, with room for maybe 30 people or so. The sushi bar was manned by two chefs and a host and hostess who cheerfully greeted each new set of patrons.

The service was absolutely excellent. Our server refilled our water as soon as we got down to 3/4 of a cup. He kindly let us know that our sushi was ready and asked if Messy would prefer to finish her salad first. Speaking of Messy's avocado salad – it was awesome. Not only did it include a full sliced avocado, but it also had all kinds of other goodies like cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, carrots, asparagus, lettuce, and a piece of lemon, all topped with a delicous carrot-ginger dressing. Messy also enjoyed the veggie maki, which managed to fit in an inordinate number of fillings: avocado, cucumber, asparagus, tomato, lettuce, and at least two unidentifiable pickled vegetables. It was only five pieces, but they were large and filling. In fact, they were a little too large for Messy to comfortably eat in one bite. Messy also had the inari: tofu skins stuffed with rice, which were sweet enough to eat as dessert.

Picky is slowly branching out in his liking of Japanese fare which is normally relegated to California rolls. After our trip to Morimoto where Picky had his first spicy tuna roll, he's wanted to try another one. He ordered a spicy tuna roll, a California roll and a Philly roll. The Philly roll consists of crab strips, cucumber and cream cheese in an inside out roll, which makes for an odd taste and texture combination. Picky's food was brought out artfully, on a large black stoneware circular plate. The mini kettle holding the soy sauce was an elegant black stoneware piece as well.

Kisso is no Morimoto, but what is? Kisso wins out in it's intimate setting and if you snag a window seat on a nice Spring day as we did, you get a gorgeous view of cherry blossom trees. Neither of us are fans of slabs of raw fish on a hunk of rice so we can't tell you how their nigiri is, but rest assured that the maki we sampled were great.

Messy ****
Picky ***1/2

The final word: Japenese food that looks and tastes good, in a simple, welcoming atmosphere.

Kisso
205 N 4th St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-922-1770
Lunch: Mon – Fri: Noon – 2.30pm, Sat & Sun closed
Dinner: Mon -Thu: 5pm – 10pm, Fri – Sat: 5pm – 11pm, Sun: 5p – 10p

WORLD FUSION

Thursday, August 4th, 2005

* * * * * now closed * * * * *

world fusion
We went here for a prix fixe Valentine's Day dinner with three courses and complimentary bubbly (a great deal at a total of $80/couple). Since we didn't go on a normal night, we can't comment on the regular menu items, but we can tell you what we had!

We started off with a "Kiss Martini"– a heavenly concoction of Godiva white chocolate liqueur, vodka and a Hershey's kiss. (Hey, it was Valentine's day!) Messy had a standard salad that was not especially good, although it was extraordinarily large. [Sidebar: Messy will never understand why restaurants insist on serving huge, uninspired salads. It's not like they make good leftovers.] Messy's main course was vegetable risotto– also very large but unfortunately, tasteless. Picky, on the other hand, started off with a wonderful lobster soup. (Not a bisque, don't call it a bisque! There is no cream added, it's just reduced.) The best part of the soup is the homemade sweet potato crisps lying right in it. Picky's entree was a delectable filet mignon with a Hawaiian coffee glaze. All this was washed down with a complimentary bottle of merlot (Picky has connections!)

We finished it off with a pretty tasty dessert sampler and two glasses of bubbly which neither of us finished – we're not big fans of the bubbly, but that's just us.

Messy **1/2
Picky ***1/2

The final word: A much better bang for your buck if you're a meat eater.

World Fusion
123 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 215-629-1100
Tuesday through Thursday: 5 PM to 10 PM / Bar Menu 5 PM to 11 PM
Friday and Saturday: 5 PM to 12 AM / Bar Menu 5 PM to 1 AM
Sunday: 5 PM to 9 PM / Bar Menu 5 PM to 10 PM Closed on Monday
Lounge Hours – Tuesday through Sunday: 10 PM to 2 AM
Bottle Service Available

PANINI'S TRATTORIA

Thursday, August 4th, 2005

panini's trattoria

A taste of Italy admist the hustle and bustle of Olde City. Any kind of panini you could want at affordable prices, delivered to your table – indoors or out – by a cute Italian. Like many other restaurants seeking to avoid Philly's archaic liquor-license laws, this one is B.Y.O.B.

Messy ****
Picky ***

The final word: Like a higher-class, Italian, hoagie joint.

Panini's Trattoria
317 Market St
Philadelphia, PA
M-S 11-9

NICK'S ROAST BEEF OF PHILLY

Thursday, August 4th, 2005

Nick's is like a piece of South Philly in the middle of bougie Olde City. We enjoyed some fairly-priced pub food while we were entertained by the Eagles game on several TV's, wing-guzzling frat boys at the next table, and an attractive-yet-hardened waitress with no time to be charming.

Picky's cheesesteak was too dry, but that didn't discourage him- he's going back for the famous roast beef. Otherwise the food was pretty good. With all of the options in Olde City, Nick's might not be a top choice. But, then again, if you're short on cash and craving beer and cheesefries, Nick's is the place to be. Especially since there is a "French Fry Gallery" section on the menu, with thirteen choices available. It starts off with the normal golden french fries and golden cheese fries, but then the gallery expands. Maryland crab fries, cajun fries, chili fries, gravy fries, pizza fries, chajun cheese fries, curly fries, curly cheese fries, curly crab fries, curly cajun fries and curly cajun cheese fries.

Nick's kitchen is open until 1am all week and the bar closes at 2am, so if you find yourself craving grease while you're out at a club in Olde City, break out a little early and head on over to Nick's.

Messy **
Picky ***

The final word: We'll be back for the namesake. Well, one of us, at least.

Nick's Roast Beef
16 S. 2nd St.
Philadelphia, PA
215-928-9411

CONTINENTAL RESTAURANT AND MARTINI BAR

Thursday, August 4th, 2005

continental restaurant and martini bar

This super-trendy martini lounge boasts surprisingly yummy and filling food as well as attractive waitresses dressed in black. The menu is an eclectic, tapas-style one with zero consistency in terms of portion sizes.

We started off with a mountain of shoestring fries topped with Chinese mustard sauce. Then Messy went for the oversized-but-boring Continental salad, while Picky chose the yummy, normal-sized shrimp pad thai. For dessert, Picky tackled the huge-and-delicious banana-brownie split while Messy took a chance on the weird, overly mint-y homemade ice-cream.

All in all, this is a great date place (and also, apparently a great bachelorette party place- we saw two the night we were there) but you might want to go on a weekday night to avoid shouting over the din and being jostled by overeager bar patrons.

Messy ****
Picky ***

The final word: Trendy and yummy.

Continental Restaurant and Martini Bar
138 Market St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-923-6069
Mon.-Fri. 11:30AM-2AM, Sat.-Sun. 10:30AM-2AM