This past weekend, I had the pleasure of watching my little brother graduate medical school in Philadelphia. It was a fabulous weekend made even more fabulous by the pounds of food I consumed while in the city.
I don’t know about you, but I love a good food crawl. I very much prefer to taste a lot of different things rather than eat one large meal {this also explains my mini-food obsession}. In order to get in as much food as possible, we decided to hit up the Reading Terminal Market as our first stop.
When I first entered, I was completely overwhelmed. I had a plan of action but was distracted by neon signs, delicious smells and the sight of the freshest meats and seafood I ever saw {the crabs were still moving!!!}. I wanted to buy everything and bring it all home with me but I knew the fresh seafood wouldn’t survive the 12 hour drive.
My group split up in order to cover the market in record time, planning to meet at a table to devour our findings. I sent my mom to stand in line at DiNics for the new “It” Philadelphia sandwich -- the Italian Pork Sandwich. This really is one heck of a sandwich -- juicy, roasted pork with salty, strong provolone cheese on an italian roll topped with chopped broccoli rabe. Delish! The juice from the pork soaks into the bread creating a magnificent “drip down your chin” sandwich moment. This sandwich was stacked with flavor and it’s easy to see why Philadelphians’ and tourists alike are lining up for the Italian Pork Sandwich as often as they are a Philly Cheesesteak.
I headed over to the Dutch Eating Place. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this particular eatery -- people rave about their apple pancakes. I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast but I placed my order for a hot apple dumpling with heavy cream and waited patiently as they baked my goody. It was glorious. The pastry wrapped apple really hit the spot as far as comfort food goes -- I’d take this over apple pie any day! What I liked most about it is that it wasn’t overly sweetened -- they really let the apple shine in this dumpling. It’s a must-taste!
A friend of mine was dying to try a gyro so she headed over to Olympic Gyro for a lamb gyro wrapped in soft pita bread topped with a tzatziki sauce to die for. I can’t say that it was the best gyro that I’ve ever eaten but it was pretty on par {Also, I’ve eaten a lot of gyros after a few cocktails so it’s hard to gauge my authority...}. Their sauce was really the shining moment as it had thinly shredded and crunchy cucumber stirred right in.
The last eating stop was Pearl’s Oyster Bar for some oysters on the half shell. I really can’t get enough of oysters these days. I was looking forward to trying their raw clams but they were unfortunately sold out. The oysters were fresh and briny -- the perfect finish to the eating!
The weekend was so great and it really inspired me to dig deep into where I live to find the food pearls here.
No comments:
Post a Comment