La Colombe, Di Bruno's, Village Whiskey, Dogfish beer, and Rittenhouse Square

Sorry for a food post on Philadelphia but I have just returned from attending my son's graduation so you get what I get I guess.

Anyway, if you do find yourself in the City of Brotherly Love's Center City area let me make these suggestions.

Coffee: the best cup of coffee, espresso, or cappucchino in town, or on the eastern seaboard is La Colombe. I say this for many reasons, the first being, of course, an honest cup of hot coffee. But equally, it's a real place, real baristas, real wood chairs on a hardwood floor.

La Colombe keep things simple because they try to do one thing well: coffee, and they haven't turned the store into a retail gift shop that also sells coffee (Yes, that's you Starbucks), and they sell croissants from a local baker who cares about doing croissants well. As a friend of mine said, "at La Colombe, the coffee comes first, the customer second."

There's no menu, no chalkboard, just get in line and order your standard coffee drink of choice and all God's chillen' are happy. Cash only.

http://www.lacolombe.com/

La Colombe

Di Bruno's
I love this place. They have some of the best sandwiches in town. And cheese, and fish, and desserts.
http://www.dibruno.com/

Di Bruno's

Reading Terminal Market
Want the best pulled pork sandwich in Philadelphia? DiNic's.
http://readingterminalmarket.org/

Village Whiskey
Maybe the best 8 oz. hamburger money can buy. Made from grass fed beef. The bun is perfect and the Duck fat french fries aren't bad either.
http://villagewhiskey.com/

And while I'm at it a little love for the Rittenhouse Plaza-Warwick hotel. Old-fashioned hotel service. Great newly-renovated rooms, friendly staff, and reasonable rates for the location. Rittenhouse Square is the only place to stay if you the love the hum of the city.
http://www.radisson.com/philadelphia-hotel-pa-19103-6179/paphily

The Wall Street Journal agrees, by the way: Rittenhouse

View of Curtis Institute of Music from my favorite bench in Rittenhouse Square

Last thing. If you get to the beach: Don't forget Dolle's Salt Water Taffy and and DogFish Beer from the original pub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Late Spring at the Beach

Houston Street Bar. Great for a Party.

Brinton and I went to Houston Street Bar and Patio after our evening at Zambrano's and found a great place to hang out, watch a game, or meet up with friends.

Houston Street Bar is tucked between Zambrano's and Bar 9, across the street from Bent. It offers a beautiful rooftop patio, an abundance of flat screen televisions showing any game imaginable, and the owners said they would be happy to change the channel if there was a particular game we wanted to watch. Upstairs, there are two projectors showing games on the side of the building -- very cool. (Editors note:Can you say Final Four?)

One thing sets Houston Street Bar apart from the other bar/pubs -- they do not serve food -- but they let you bring food in or have it delivered. I love this idea. Order a pizza or appetizers from Cef next door, or have Pizza Hut deliver wings, while you sit on the patio and enjoy your beer, game, and friends in a cool urban setting. We asked them about having parties on the rooftop and they were very accommodating -- you provide the food and order the alcohol from them.

We really liked this place and will definitely go back.

Houston Street Bar & Patio
902 Houston Street
Fort Worth, TX
(817) 877-4727

Pop's Safari

More than a few years ago, my boys, their friends and I would spend an occasional evening in a local pub discussing all sorts of things; theology, philosophy, literature, politics and anything else good and unrelated to everyday usefulness.

As the evening passed the pub's music would increase in volume and we would be forced to take our pitchers of beer and conversation elsewhere. We all liked music as much as the next guy but some evenings we were there for the discussion. In that light, this report just in from the eldest son, after a trip to Pop's Safari with 10 other guys on a Monday night:

"Dad, a few notes you can perhaps expand."

Pop's Safari: Exotic decor a little odd, but very comfortable setting. 10 guys sat comfortably together in an arrangement that allowed everyone to talk to everyone else. No music on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday -- a big plus. A few good beers on tap and quite a few in bottles. Huge cigar selection. Good ventilation so that it's not smoky. Overall very pleasant. And I went thinking I would hate it.

Pop's Safari is in the Cultural District near Casa Manana.

Live music: Wednesday -- Saturday, enjoy conversation without music Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

Pop's Safari Room
2929 Morton St.
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Pop's Safari -- Ya Gotta Love it.

(guest post by food enthusiast RJS)

Pops Safari is a hole-in-the-wall wine bar located down the street from Fred’s, in the Cultural District. I predict this to be the next cool place to hang out for all the TCU overage drinkers. Pops has inherited the old J&J’s Hideaway crowd and is perfect for anyone who wants a cool place to drink wine and listen to live music. The atmosphere is eclectic, with lots of comfortable seating areas comprised of couches, chairs and coffee tables.

They have an extensive menu with appetizers and entrees for dinner – I tried the hummus and it was really great. You can get a good bottle of wine for around $20 and for the cigar aficionado – they have a large selection of good cigars.

Pops has free wine tastings on Tuesday night and you can join them on Wednesday nights for their wildflower Wednesdays where you can try a Australia’s wildflower Merlot or Chardonnay for only $2.25 per glass, 6.99 per bottle or 69.99 per case!

Check out their website – and go visit them soon. I liked it.

http://www.popssafari.com/index.html

Pop's Safari Room
2929 Morton St.
Fort Worth, TX 76107

An Afternoon Beer

Americans don’t drink much beer in the afternoon. Sure, there is your local Billy down the street who drinks morning, noon, and night. But on the whole, Americans only permit themselves to drink certain times of the week. One of the main reasons for this, I think, is the lack of good pubs. England is full of afternoon drinkers and it is most certainly because there are an abundance of good, comfortable pubs there. If a man in England has a free afternoon and wants to spend it drinking beer, hanging out, and maybe reading the paper or a book, he can just hop down to his local pub, order a pint, find his favorite spot and thence enjoy his whole afternoon. An American has no such luck. There is no local pub for him to hop down to and none of the bars here are conducive to just hanging out, reading, or relaxing. American bars are designed for maximum stimulation. There are TV’s everywhere and the music is always 10 decibels too high. A man cannot read or relax in this surrounding. That is why I was so happy to discover the Ginger Man Pub located at the intersection of Montgomery and Camp Bowie.

The Ginger Man has plenty of local and international brews (alas! No Abbot Ale on draught!) and what seemed to be a decent selection of wines. What makes the Ginger Man different, though, is the ambiance and décor that make it perfectly suited to an afternoon of drinking. There are plenty of comfortable places to sit, no loud TVs, no cocktail waitresses constantly asking “are ya’ll okay?”, and no blaring music. It is, as I said, the perfect place for a good afternoon beer. They also have a dedicated area for darts and they actually give you decent darts with which to play. So if ever you are looking for a place to have a good afternoon beer, a game of darts, and some conversation: let me suggest to you the Ginger Man Pub.

Gingerman Pub
3716 Camp Bowie Blvd
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 886-2327

http://ftworth.gingermanpub.com/

Saturday in Big D

I admit it, I was in Dallas on business Friday and for a visit Saturday. I had to be around the American Airlines Center for a while and had not been there since they have completed or nearly completed the work on the neighboring Tom Hicks development. Very impressive in a new, flashy Dallas kind of way. A couple of new restaurants like Nove Italian look good. Saturday night I took a turn back in time and spent an hour or so at St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral (Wycliffe and Oaklawn) for evening vespers. I was a guest of my daughter and a few friends of hers. Beautiful church with beautiful iconography and an orthodox liturgy. I enjoyed it very much. Most encouraging to me were the number of young people. There is a growing interest among younger church goers for traditional liturgy and away from the extemporaneous. I visit Catholic churches around the country and instead of fewer young people I see more. The contemplation of the good is attractive.
Afterwards we went to the Old Monk for beers (or in my case Diet Coke) and burgers. I was asked if an Old Monk burger was as good as our best in Fort Worth. It's good but not as good as Kinkaids. The Fritas or little fries were great. Sunday, it is off to my daughters for chicken enchiladas and appropriate side dishes and a surprise (she says) desert from one of Whole Foods' pastry chefs. My daughter serves 30 or so of family and friends almost every Sunday night and gets high marks from everyone.

Addendum: Desert was Snickers cake with Snickers flavored cake and frosting, topped with slices of Snickers. It wasn't good it was fantastic. The cake had perfext texture and the frosting was creamy and just sweet enough. Made by Angela (sorry Angela I did not get your last name) and sous chef Ryan. She works at the Whole Foods on Forest and Preston in Dallas. Stop by and say hi.
My daughter's chicken enchiladas, beans and rice were delicious as usual. Nothing new there. 30 - 35 present and a good time was had by all.