a name change

Um, hi. It's been about five years since my last blogpost (well, maybe not five years, but prob not too far from that) so I'm thinking about one other person will actually read this. For that person, THANK YOU for being a reader and I hope you join me at my new blog: www.phillyHOME.wordpress.com. I'll be talking about the same things (design, food, fashion, Philly) with the addition of my new experiences as a small business owner! Yep, you heard that right! My husband, Eric, and I will be opening a home furnishings store this Saturday! Please visit the new blog for more info or stop on in. We'd love to meet you:)

drinking outdoors

One major complaint I've always had about Philly is the lack of outdoor seating at bars and restaurants. I remember visiting Montreal and seeing tons of places for al fresco dining and drinking - and we certaintly have a longer stretch of warm weather than they do! But as I was putting this list together of places where you can enjoy a cocktail AND an outdoor seat, the list ended up being fairly lengthy. I think the problem is the number of seats available. If you can't grab a seat by 5 or 530 during the week, you're out of luck. Luckily, I have an advantage since I don't currently have a job (or unluckily, depends on how you look at it).

As I was doing some research, I found this list that Uwishunu posted. It's a pretty good list of restaurants/bars that offer outdoor seating, but I have a few additions:

University City

1. Biba Wine Bar

I have yet to try this place out but if it's anything like Tria, I'm sure I'll love it. The deck is under construction as we speak and should be done any day now...and will seat 12 lucky people.

Rittenhouse Square

2. Vango

They have a cool rooftop bar (one thing we are DEFINITELY lacking here) and there's a DJ on the weekends and gets pretty dance-y...which I like. And as you can see, there are pretty awesome views.

1. Twenty Manning

I love this place - the food is good, it's well designed and has that cool, neighborhood-y feel to it. Plus, under the awnings are spritzers that will spray you lightly with water to keep you feeling cool on those hot Philly summer days.

1. Tequila's

This photo doesn't show it, but when it's nice out, they put tables and chairs along the front of the building. There isn't room for many, but it's a nice spot to sit. The food here is also delicious and the margaritas are even better! They have a pretty good happy hour too.

Midtown Village/Gayborhood

1. Graffiti Bar at Sampan

I've been to Sampan a few times but haven't yet tried out their backyard bar. It looks cool - and at least I know the food and drinks are good.

1. Raw

I almost forgot about this place until Eric reminded me! I've only eaten here once but I remember the tuna tartare was really good. The courtyard is really nice also - and pretty spacious. I definitely need to hang out here more often this summer.

Bella Vista

1. Creperie Beau Monde

I had to to include this place - the crepes here are delicious and the bar upstairs (L'etage) used to be my favorite dance place in the city. The music is still pretty good, but it's been feeling really young lately. Or maybe I"m just getting old...

1. Bistro La Minette

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Philly. The food is incredible and in the summertime they play French movies in their courtyard. I think there are some outdoor seats in the front of the restaurant as well.

Northern Liberties/Fishtown

1. Silk City Beer Garden

Haven't been yet, but sounds good to me! It's the only beer garden in Philly right?

Anybody have any other suggestions??

colorful flatware

There are so many options for beautiful flatware but I think my favorites are the ones with some color. I tend to love plain white plates - they're simple and modern and goes with any sort of table setting - but I love the idea of using bright flatware to add a little fun. Here are three options that I love:

1. Sabre Frosted Acrylic Flatware

Aren't these gorgeous? The colors are so beautiful and I love their shape. The style of them remind me of the ghost chair - a simplified and modern version of something ornate (and you know how much I love ghost chairs!). The only downside is that you can't get a full set of flatware - no knives available :(

2. Pandora Design Deluxe Plastic Flatware

These come with knives, so you can set a full table with them. They come in a variety of translucent colors - I really like the purple but I also love the clear (I know, not a color but aren't they nice?). They would be great for a fancy picnic...but at $120 for a set of four, they definitely are NOT disposable.

3. Ladies and Gentlemen Superior Servers

I love these. I first saw them in either Martha Stewart Living or the Oprah magazine (yes, I read those and am not ashamed) and my first reaction was "I can make these!". And I still think I can, but haven't been able to find the right flatware to paint. I've searched vintage stores, thrift stores and thought I hit the jackpot at Fishs Eddy where they had a whole table of 99 cent spoons, forks and knives. But none were exactly right - what I like about the Ladies and Gentlemen flatware is how thin and flat the handles are and they have just the right amount of frilliness. So my search continues. I was also thinking I could spray paint the handles, but does spray paint come in fun colors like that?

momofuku fried chicken dinner

So, when we were in NYC this past weekend, we went to Momofuku for their fried chicken dinner. And it was amazing. AMAZING. This was my second time having this meal and it was even better than I remembered. Good thing this isn't in Philly because I could seriously have this once a week. Which would not be good for my health or my figure. Remember when I raved about the Korean fried chicken at Meritage? Well, this is even better than that. This is what you get: two whole fried chickens, one southern style and one korean style, mu shu pancakes, long spicy peppers, baby carrots, red ball radishes, shiso leaves, bibb lettuce, four sauces and an herb basket. And all of that for $100. It's enough food for 8 people - we had 8 in our party and had leftovers! - so that's less than $13/person! What a bargain!! However, you always get the same amount of food whether you're a party of 8 (which is the max number of people you can have) or a party of 2. Though, I wouldn't complain about having to take chicken home because it's just as good leftover - even for breakfast:) If you guys are bigger eaters than us (I was a bit disappointed we couldn't finish the chicken - I expected more from our group!), there are plenty of other dishes you can order off the menu. Good thing we only ordered a pork belly bun for each of us...although at the time I wanted about 5 of them. Don't they look good:



I love pork belly. Some people complain that it's too fatty...but that's what makes it so good!! The star of this meal, though, was the chicken:



The Korean style chicken was on the left side of the plate and the southern style chicken was on the right. What makes it Korean or southern? The Korean chicken is coated with this delicious sweet and spicy Korean sauce and the southern chicken is seasoned with Old Bay. Both kinds are delicous but I couldn't get enough of that Korean sauce! I wish there was a bottle of it I could buy.

If you find yourself planning a trip to NYC, you really need to try this. The only thing is that you have to plan ahead. It is REALLY difficult to get reservations. Although you don't need reservations for Momofuku (by the way they only serve this at the Noodle Bar), you do need one if you want to do the fried chicken dinner. The first time we went, we could only get an 11:30 PM reservation. This time around, there were three of us that tried to get reservations and the earliest dinner timeslot we could get was at 10PM. Oh, and you need to make the reservation exactly a month in advance (all done online - you can do so here) and if you don't log onto the site at exactly 10AM to do so, you most likely won't get anything. Except for maybe a lunch reservation - they're less popular. Sounds crazy? A little. But totally worth it!

tampopo

When I lived in Rittenhouse, I probably ate at Tampopo at least once a week. Man do I miss those days. The food there is SOOO good and really affordable. I know they've raised their prices over the years (I think its been about 8 years since I lived in that area) but you can still get a meal there for less than $10. That's pretty rare these days. The food is a mix of Japanese and Korean and my favorite thing to get is their hot and spicy beef bento box. It comes with either white or brown rice (I love white rice so that's what I always get), edamame, and your choice of either broccoli, gyoza or egg cake. I've gotten the gyoza everytime but I just read a description of the egg cake and it sounds pretty delicious: a layered Japanese omelet seasoned with soy sauce and fish sauce. YUM. I know I've gotten some of their other dishes there - like the fresh tuna bi-bim-bob which is tasty - but almost every single time I've gone I've gotten the hot and spicy beef. When something is that good, it's hard for me to try something new! I do have to say that their steamed dumplings aren't that great (although the deep fried gyoza is very yummy) and I really didn't like their sushi that much - although I don't see the sushi anymore on their menu. But overall, I highly recommend this restaurant. Definitely worth a try!


hot and spicy beef bento box


hot and spicy tofu bento box - this is what Eric always gets since he doesn't eat beef and doesn't like their chicken as much

daily candy deal

All week this week, Daily Candy is highlighting businesses along Passyunk Ave and up first is 1600 Below Vintage. In case you forgot, it's my favorite vintage store in Philly! And I'm so excited it's getting some recognition. I can't go in without finding something I want, whether its clothing, a purse, jewelry or something for my house. And the deal Daily Candy is running this week is awesome - get $100 worth of merchandise at 1600 Below for $50! Pretty sweet, huh? They're also having a prosecco party on April 9th at 6pm - hope to see you guys there! Check out the Daily Candy deal here.

photo: daily candy

heaven...

...also known as ABC Carpet and Home. Eric's band played a show in NYC this Friday so we decided to make a weekend out of it. And ABC Carpet was at the top of my list of places to check out (besides Momofuku for the fried chicken dinner, but we'll talk about that another time). You can easily spend a couple hours at ABC Carpet - its HUGE. It actually takes up 2 buildings, but one was just rugs which we didn't go into. The building that we did visit had six stories of home accessories, furniture, lighting, rugs, etc. There's something for everyone - whether your style is contemporary, traditional or vintage. It really is a one stop shop for all things home...as long as you can afford the prices. Although I did notice that some of the glassware and tableware on the first floor was pretty reasonably priced. I think it was my favorite floor - everything was beautifully displayed and it felt so pretty and romantic. Here are a few of my favorite vignettes:











I loved these pieces. The legs look like carved wood, but they are made completely of metal. They're gorgeous.



How cute is this lamp? Although I feel like I could make something similar out of some vintage materials...