We had a wedding down in Philly this weekend and it was not too bad. It is always fun to visit a new city as an adult and see the sights. We flew in direct Friday mid day and it was an easy trip. I noticed that there is very little traffic for a major city. Especially to and from the airport which is a very quick jaunt. I also noticed that while the streets feel very tight and right on top of you the buildings are not very tall. It is just a tight well laid out grid of brick town houses w/ an occasional taller office building or hotel. The city was relatively clean and seemed safe. It was not a particularly good looking city like New York. It seemed more blue collar/ Midwestern? The airport is a real piece of shit and they have some real assholes working there. It is dirty and gross but the planes we were on were on time so that is something.
While there we wandered around and ate some pretty good food. My special lady and I stayed at the Palomar which is a Kimpton hotel very much in their corporate image. It was clean, modern, kind of hip. The bed was very comfortable and they had nice bath products. Oh yeah, and zebra and leopard print bathrobes.
We wandered out the first day and ate at some random tapas place that I cannot remember the name of. What I do remember is that lunch really stayed w/ me. That and we tried a bottle of "authentic Basque apple cider" called Stasteg. It was described as funky and it sure as shit was. The first sip tasted vaguely of urine. It got better and more interesting but I will never order it again. It was an adventure in a bottle, that I will say.
We had a drink at Alam de Cuba a very cool Cuban restaurant. It was garnished w/ sugar cane and was a real treat. We then moved onto dinner at Amada a sick tapas joint near the old part of the city. It was delicious. The Wagyu was great, the octopus was amazing, the scallops were divine as was the spinach and chickpea dish. It was all very excellent and the setting was cool as well. Bring your checkbook though, it is expensive. 1 3/4 thumbs up. After that we met some friends and that is were it all went awry... let's just say we had a fun time... too fun and spots like Grace's and the Good Dog Bar. It was a long and painful evening.
Next morning we got up late and wandered to Pietro's coal fired pizza place. It was good not great and the servings were huge. The crust was good and it was a relaxed scene which was nice. After that we wandered around taking in the sights and checking out the neighborhoods. Then on to the wedding at the Philadelphia Raquet Club. It was an old school raquet club and pool w/ several very good size and reasonably priced rooms. The ceremony was in the grand entrance and was quite nice. We had a casual buffet dinner and drinks were in a couple lounges complete w/ crazy old school art and pimp red leather club chairs. It was a cool scene and a very nice wedding. We managed to pull the ripcord before the after after party and that was huge.
Our last bite was at the Parc Diner which is a very large and bustling french bistro style place on the park (as you might imagine). It was quite professional. The food was good, not outstanding. I had poached eggs and asparagus, my wife had an omelet. The coffee was good, and the service was pretty much on top of things. I would like to try it again for a casual late lunch as opposed to hung over breakfast.
And then it was back to the dirty airport for our flight out. All I will say about that is that it all ended ok but US Air, you are not ok. Train your people not to be assholes. And stop ripping people's faces off. Jerks.
Good trip, I am a Phan of the City of Brotherly Love...
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