Eating and drinking through Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia for ...

The Breakfast Hash from Pub & Kitchen. It was very good, and the Brussels sprouts were cooked to perfection.

Last weekend, Brian and I did a quick overnight trip inPhiladelphia. I bought a Groupon special for the Sonesta Hotel at 18th & Market, and we used it as a chance to unwind, try a few new restaurants, and just get some sleep. It was my first experience at the Sonesta. The location was great, the room was clean and quiet, the bed was very comfortable, and the checkout time was noon ? which makes such a wonderful world of difference from an 11am checkout time. I would have liked a larger bathroom (or at least a larger bathtub), but the room itself was a nice size. I?d stay there again.

One of our goals this year is to hit as many of the Philadelphia Magazine top 50 restaurants in Philadelphia. We figure it will force us to try some new places instead of always going to our favorites. But, as we learned over the weekend, sometimes your favorites are your favorites for a reason. Where did we hit?

• Pub & Kitchen ? #31 on Philadelphia Magazine?s list, I?ve heard lots of great things about Pub & Kitchen. It?s a gastro-pub, meaning it?s a bar with upscale food. It didn?t occur to us that on Saturday at noon we?d be offered a brunch menu (although it should have). Anyway, we were a little disappointed with the limited brunch menu, but the food we did order was very good. I had the Croque Madame ? probably the best dish I had the entire weekend. Brian ordered the hash, which he was very satisfied with until he took a bite of my sandwich. While there was no mention of local foods on the menu, the menu was very seasonally inspired, and I wouldn?t be surprised if Pub & Kitchen sourced some of their foods locally.

  The Croque Madame from Pub & Kitchen ? the best thing I ate during a weekend when I ate a lot of great food.

  We were put in a back room where the sun was shining through the windows. Although we loved the food, we weren?t crazy about the atmosphere in that back room. Maybe if we had been in the main bar area, we would have stuck around after eating, but honestly, the atmosphere just wasn?t one that said, sit, pull out your iPads, and drink the afternoon away. So we left after eating and headed off to find somewhere to continue our culinary adventures. (And we decided we?ll need to give the place a second chance sometime but definitely sit in the bar area.)

• Rittenhouse Tavern ? We ended up at this bar in the Philadelphia Art Alliance building, and we were so glad we did. When we walked in, it was fairly empty, and we were going to take one of the high tops in the bar area. But after chatting with the bartender Lisa (who is a great bartender) for a few minutes we decided we wanted to belly up. We were very impressed with the liquor selection behind the bar, and Lisa made me an excellent gin gimlet using my favorite Bluecoat American gin. We had their version of monkey bread as a little snack, and later, when I realized I probably needed some more food in my stomach, we were brought a cheese plate with three very delicious cheeses. Sorry, I don?t have more details. We were enjoying ourselves, and this wasn?t a working weekend for me, so I didn?t take too many photos of food and I didn?t once whip out my notebook to write down details. In fact, the photos from Pub & Kitchen are the only ones I have from the weekend.We definitely need to get back to Rittenhouse Tavern to have dinner in the dining area some night soon. The restaurant is part of the Restaurant Associates ? a group that?s committed to sustainability by using local foods, sustainable seafood and more.
• Speaking of dinner ? I?m not going to write about where we had dinner. It was on the list, but we were very unimpressed. I?d rather not bash a place, though.
• Dandelion ? #22 on the list, Dandelion is one of our favorite restaurants. We booked brunch, and when we walked in we saw that our favorite spot by the fireplace was open and we were able to sit there. I had the Brioche French Toast with vanilla creme chantilly and Brian had the Eggs Benedict. Both were very good. Our waiter John was attentive and very friendly. He?s waited on us before, and we?d be happy to have him wait on us anytime we?re there. We sat for a while, chatting and drinking coffee, and ended up asking if we could have one of our favorite things on their regular menu ? the house made ricotta and toasted bread. Even though it wasn?t on the brunch menu, we were able to get an order.If you haven?t been to Dandelion, it?s a British pub. We?ve been there probably 10 times in the past year, and we?ve never had a bad experience or a bad dish. They have really good fish & chips, burgers, and they have a Braised Celery Gratin on their dinner menu that?s basically an entire bunch of celery as your main course, and it?s absolutely amazing. I know, you?re thinking ?it?s just celery,? but you have to try it.

As we work our way through the top 50 restaurants, I?ll tell you about them and focus on the ones that source food and drink locally.

(I?m having some problems with the formatting of this post ? sorry for the long paragraphs)

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Source: http://www.southjerseylocavore.com/2013/02/eating-and-drinking-through-rittenhouse-square-in-philadelphia-for-a-weekend.html

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