"Thank you for reminding me why I love this city so much..."

This past weekend, my brother and I decided it was time to get out of Connecticut for a few days and go visit our cousin Aaron in Philadelphia or "Bro-Love" as I affectionately like to refer to it.  I have somewhat of a long-illustrious history with the city having spent 4 years at St. Joe's which lays on the outskirts of town and now have had the opportunity to enjoy it as a sophisticated (most of the time) adult on the many occasions that we have gone to see Aaron who is the person I literally share a brain with.  The thing that is so great about Philly is that it is truly a food city that has so many great restaurants and food establishments and the nice part about it is that it still has that urban appeal of a large city but also gives you a little bit of that close neighborhood vibe that you would never find in say New York.  It's also a beautiful thing when your host to the city, being in my case Aaron enjoys going out to eat as much as I do and loves a good life-changing culinary experience so I have been beyond spoiled with how we eat whenever I come down. 

Throughout the weekend, one of the big topics of conversation was about Craig Laban's (Philadelphia restaurant critic) new ranking of Philadelphia restaurants that ran in the Inquirer the previous weekend.  Instead of stars, restaurants received bells and the last time restaurants were ranked in such a big way it was 5 years ago so obviously this was a huge deal.  To make matters even more interesting, the story had somewhat of a scandal behind it being as Craig took old favorites and perennial powerhouses such as Le Bec Fin from 4 to 2 bells and basically rewrote the sought after restaurant list in the city.  Out of the 5 restaurants that received 4 bells, I've been to 2 of them: Zahav and Bibou which were both amazing and I have Zahav to thank for reinventing the way I consume hummus (hello, warm Israeli version).   So that now leaves 3 more to put on the foodie bucket list and considering one is a one table restaurant that allows you to have an intimate dinner party with a year waiting list I might have to steal the concept and make it my own.  But in honor of Craig Laban's "Guide to Philadelphia Dining" and in trying to come up with the best way to describe our weekend, here is the rundown of where we ate and what we did in Philly:

Friday Night:
-After a quick cocktail at home we headed out to Kanela, a Greek-Cypriot BYOB Bistro.  One of the amazing things about restaurants in Philly is that many of them are BYOB so it gives you the opportunity to pair up some great wines you have at home and it keeps the cost of the meal down because isn't that what always brings the bill up?  We split 3 appetizers of lamb sausage, fried calamari and filled flat bread before I enjoyed a flattened baby roast chicken that had great flavors.  Loved all of the spiced Greek Yogurt condiments and can not wait to start experimenting with at home versions of the sauces.
-Dessert at Capogiro Gelato.  Phenomenal gelato and they always have the most creative flavors.  This time it was my favorite of fior de latte (aka: latte foam) and candied chestnuts.  They don't advertise it but the hidden secret to perfection here is a shot of fresh whipped cream on top and it just takes it to another level.  I'm not afraid to admit that I once frequented Capogiro twice in one day which just shows how good it is and by no means am I one of those people that is obsessed with ice cream.
-Ended the night with the "alcoholic version of Hansel and Gretel" stopping at 3 bars on the way back to Aaron's house before we called it a night.  Key to success was a steady diet of red wine and that nice base of food that we laid earlier.

Saturday:
-We can refer to this as the European themed day of the trip.  Slept in, consumed coffee and then headed off to a nice little French luncheonette in Aaron's neighborhood.  Enjoyed bowls of tomato bisque and quiche as we got the day started.
-Saw the "Van Gogh Up Close" exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I love Van Gogh paintings to begin with but it was really impactful to see so many of them in one place at a given time grouped together by themes.  I thought the museum did a good job in pushing the audio headsets on you before you entered into the exhibit and I was glad they did.  It was a great way to follow along, actually stop and look at a painting for a given amount of time and learn the background of the artist as he was producing a given work of art.  Exhibit runs through May and can't wait to have the opportunity to one day hang a print of the almond blossoms somewhere.
-Started happy hour off at Twenty Manning.  We actually had my "day after graduation/Mother's Day brunch" there and ever since I have always loved the collection of restaurants that the group owns being the sucker for nostalgia that I am.  Their place across the street, Audrey Claire is truly what I would want to model a restaurant off of if I ever owned one because it's simple, small, warm and served great food.  They have now opened another space called "COOK" which is a cooking studio where they offer classes by all of these Philadelphia famous chefs.  Once the right class comes along I can't wait to go back down and enjoy an evening there.
-Since we had late dinner reservations, we headed over to Monk's Cafe which is a Belgian beer bar or basically what we can constitute as my brother Andrew's adult version of Disney World.  Andrew was in heaven pouring over their beer bible/menu and set us up with some great varieties.  Don't ask me what I drank but it was good and gives you a new appreciation for beer.  Paired with baskets of Pomme Frites it was a great bridge to the rest of the evening's activities.
-After a quick power nap, we had dinner at Melegrano, an Italian Trattoria.  Another BYOB place where we drank bottles of Nebbiolo and a "Super Tuscan" and the food was so good I'm still thinking about everything we ate two days later and how I can replicate the appetizers at home.   We started off with mozzarella in carrozza (cheese fried between 2 slices of bread) that was accompanied with an artichoke mostarda (like a sweet mustardy relish) that tasted as if it had a fried dough crust from the St. Mary's festival.  There were also small meatballs in a light Gorgonzola fondue and a wild mushroom bread pudding that I'm not going to stop obsessing over until I get the recipe.  Like I don't think I can tell you how badly I now want to have an Italian Tapas party with all small plates like this so now that I've put it out there, it has to happen! I enjoyed a bowl of pumpkin ravioli as my main course, Andrew had a bowl of wild boar bolognese that after one bite informed me that "we need to eat more wild boar in our lives" and Aaron had a chicken cutlet dish that was layered with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto that would have only been made better if the cutlet was from Mattei's because then it would have been mind blowing.  

Sunday Morning:
-If Saturday could have been themed as "European" then Sunday followed through with an "All-American" vibe.  Stop 1 at 8am (which was way too early for any of us to be fully functioning) was to Federal Donut for what has become the new rage in Philly dining.   There is actually going to be a whole post on Federal tomorrow so I just need to let the anticipation build inside of you for a little longer before you can find out about the phenomenal experience that it was for me and what I would almost say is worth a 3 hour drive or a weekend in Philly for. 
-Went back to the house, fell back into bed for another 2 hours and decided eventually that it was time to get up.  Knew that no weekend in Philly is complete without consuming a cheese steak so we headed over to Jim's on South Street for the "Breakfast of Champions".  If you've been to Philly before and ordered cheese steaks you know that there's somewhat of an art to ordering but Andrew and Aaron's went the cheese whiz (people swear by it because it melts the best), pepper and onion route while I had mine with the classic standby of American cheese "with".
-A quick stop at the Bella Vista Beer Distributor so Andrew could bring home some treasures that they don't import into Connecticut.  The best way to describe this place is that it basically is like a costco of beer because all they sell is cases.  We let Andrew roam the aisles with all his joy and glory as I discovered a treasure of my own: Mexican imported orange fanta soda that will be saved for a special occasion.
-Stop 2 at Federal Donuts.  More to come but I can say is that it reaffirmed my faith and pleasure in this place even more.

Overall it was a fabulous, jam packed, stomach filled weekend that I will be working out for a week to recover from but worth every ounce that I might have gained from it.  We all really needed this weekend to relax, to break away from the routine that you tend to get stuck in during the winter months and as we leaving Aaron professed to us the words "Thank you for reminding my why I love this city so much" which summed up the weekend so perfectly.  I can't wait to have for my next jaunt down in a few months which I have a feeling will be sooner rather then later now that I'm probably going to have to run food tours to the Philadelphia for all of my Connecticut friends.  Stay tuned and stay hungry for the Federal Donut recap which is coming up soon...