What to Know Before You Go: Credit cards accepted, outside seating available.
Buy a Bottle At: 32 S. 2nd St., Philadelphia.
Just to clarify: I'm not an idiot. I write this not because I have deep-seeded self-confidence issues, but because the proprietors of Radicchio appear to be working under the assumption that their customers, taken as a whole, are. For example, most of us know that garlic is supposed to be cooked, or at the very least sliced, or manipulated in some way other than carelessly quartered and tossed into a sauce raw, thereby guaranteeing it will make a return appearance as Chernobyl-strength heartburn an hour later (I feel it right now, as I write this an hour later). Fortunately, my esophageal pain could have been worse since I only ate a few bites of the dish. When pasta is as overcooked as this one was, it's pretty much doomed to mediocrity (or worse) from the get-go. At the end of the day, mushy bland pasta is mushy bland pasta, and it's just no fun to eat. The sauce cradling this $16 abomination was a soupy pool of under-seasoned broth masquerading as white wine sauce. At least the few pieces of crab meat floating around in it didn't make me sick, so I suppose things could have been worse. The roasted pepper and provolone appetizer was decent, but at $8 for a pile of peppers and a few chunks of cheese, it should have been great. And the pasta special, a squid-ink linguini with seafood, was fine, discounting the overcooked shrimp and thin-sliced and mealy scallops. Actually, there was so little pasta in that special that I only think it was fine. Fewer than 10 bites into that culinary odyssey into the bowels of Italy, I was shocked to discover that the pasta had run out. On second thought, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all.
What to Know Before You Go: Credit cards accepted.
Buy a Bottle At: 5 N. 12th St., Philadelphia.
I'd like to post a sign in the kitchen of Cherry Street Chinese Vegetarian Restaurant that says the following: "Cornstarch and other thickening agents do not enhance flavor!" I don't know if it would do any good, but I'm willing to take the chance. Because I think that somewhere, hiding deep down beneath the gummy texture of the hot and sour soup, and the only-slightly-less-gooey sauce of the Buddha's Delight pan-fried noodles, lie some reasonably appealing-if standard-flavors. But that soup, an ordinary assemblage of mushrooms, tofu and the other usual Americanized-Chinese food suspects, was so thick that it resembled a stew more closely than it did a soup. And the pan-fried noodles, while perfectly okay on their own, were drowned in a flavorless beige sauce. It reminded me of the kind of pasta dishes that cheap Italian restaurants serve: A gallon of sauce for every few bites of mushy noodles, and none of it particularly appealing. Some of the veggies (the Buddha part of this otherwise not-too-delightful dish) weren't overcooked, and I found myself rooting through the sauce to find them. The food here is also certified Kosher, and as a nod in the direction of the Jewish culinary tradition, they offer a dish called Golden Feather Knishes. These deep-fried oilbombs find the perfect unhappy medium between Chinese egg rolls and Jewish knishes. Next time I want a knish, I'll go to Famous 4th Street Deli. And when I crave an egg roll, I'll go to Charles Plaza for vegetarian Chinese food that actually tastes like something.
1010 Cherry St., Philadelphia, 215.923.3663.
Zorba's Taverna
What to Know Before You Go: Credit cards accepted.
Buy a Bottle At: 1935 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia.
What Zorba's Taverna lacks in originality it makes up for in quality. The menu features the usual Greek suspects, but the preparations themselves, and the reliance on fresh ingredients and judicious seasoning, make dining here a rather pleasant experience. The appetizers are all tasty, so instead of choosing one or two and missing out on the rest, the combination of cold appetizers is a great option. The cumin-spiked hummus was particularly nice, as was the roasted eggplant melitzana. The tarama, or caviar, olive oil, potato, and lemon appetizer, was a bit fishy for my taste, but everything else on the plate more than made up for it. The dinner menu is a bit more upscale than many Greek restaurants in the city. It features such dishes as Fourno, a roasted leg of lamb with garlic and lemon, and pork kebab cooked on a charcoal grill. But the Saturday and Sunday lunch at Zorba's is where you'll find the best deals. The Yeeros (or Gyros, as most of us call it) was stuffed to the point of overflowing with lamb, lettuce, tomato and onion. The wonderfully spongy pita and pungent tzatziki sauce, however, are what made it stand out. The baklava was a disappointment. It was a bit soggy and way too sweet for my taste. But the deliciously strong Greek coffee made up for it. It was sweet enough to be a perfectly pleasant dessert on its own, and ended the meal beautifully.
2230 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia, 215.978.5990.
Kisso
What to Know Before You Go: Credit cards accepted.
Buy a Bottle At: 32 S. 2nd St., Philadelphia.
Brave the throngs of tourists, play Frogger with the fanny-packs and risk your life dodging the big burgundy tour-busses filled with gape-jawed Midwesterners: It's worth it. Located at the corner of Fourth and Race streets, Kisso is a jewel box-sized sushi house with solid interpretations of the classics and an atmosphere skewed more towards the hip than the quasi-authentic Far East-type vibe so common at most of the city's other Japanese establishments. It never seems to be terribly crowded, which means that there's sure to be a seat or two open at the sushi bar when you arrive. The inexplicably named hot dog maki is tasty; it's a simple roll of broiled yellow tail, scallion and asparagus. And the chef's dup bap lunch special is a steal. The bathtub-sized bowl is filled with rice and studded with spicy tuna, salmon, eel, flying fish row, salmon roe, pickled cucumber, avocado and shredded lettuce. Pour the smaller bowl of sweet-ish sauce atop it all, mix it up and revel in the fact that you're not fighting the crowds for a glimpse of the nearby Liberty Bell.
205 N. 4th St., 215.922.1770
Ong's
What to Know Before You Go: Credit cards accepted.
Buy a Bottle At: 29 S. 11th St., Philadelphia.
Most people get into a rut when it comes to dining in Chinatown. With all those restaurants in such a compact area, we tend to keep eating at the same one, no matter how good, bad or inconsistent it is. Which is exactly why I'm so glad I recently stumbled upon Ong's. My meal there constituted a Chinatown revelation the likes of which I haven't had in years. The menu is huge and the portions are almost comically large, which means that it's the perfect place to visit with a group of friends. Yin yang soup fu-kien style arrived at the table in a steaming bowl big enough to bathe in. The clear broth, delicious on its own, was filled to the point of overflowing with both rice and egg noodles (the yin and the yang), shrimp, wonderfully salty fish balls, a few pieces of unremarkable squid, ground pork, sliced pork, scallions and assorted other goodies. I had to tear myself away from it to make room for the sautéed beef satay over ho fun. I'm glad I did - the wide, flat rice noodles were studded with tender strips of beef and tossed in a slightly spicy, deliciously rich satay sauce. The whole thing was livened up with crunchy pieces of scallion, and solidified the decision that I had come to after the first few spoonfuls of soup: This will be my new Chinatown hangout.
*Disclaimer
At AroundPhilly.com, we only post reviews of the restaurants at which I have a positive experience. I visit many of them, and the sub-par ones don't make the cut. This way, you don't waste your time reading about not-so-good restaurants when you visit the site. Unless it's truly terrible. Then we'll let you know.
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