Rossi's

I've never lost a battle to a burger until I ordered the Rossi burger. I was fully unprepared for this massive slab of delicious meat. Hamburger America led me to Rossi's for this famed Rossi burger.

Cheeseburgers are $6 and can be topped with a bunch of different options. I was out with Dan. Mine: Lettuce, Tomato, fried onions and American cheese cooked medium rare. Dan: Raw onion and American, also medium rare. The burger comes out on a large white roll, but the bread still can't contain the meat. As I bit into it, the juices began to flow. It was delicious meat and cooked as I ordered. Half way though my burger, it was a mess that's falling apart, and I had a big smile on my face.
We also ordered steak fries and fried zucchini. The fries were standard, and the fried zucchini was a huge order of a surprisingly tasty app. But we should have skipped these and focused on the burger; it was a lot of food.

Beer is pretty standard and nothing special. There are five or so taps; Stella, Yeungling, Miller Lite, Bud, Heineken were all represented, if I remember correctly. $5 for a pint of Stella isn't bad at all.

Most of the reviews on Yelp for Rossi's are silly. If you read most of them, most of the write-ups are about soda and topping prices. If you don't like that, don't get soda. And even with four or five toppings, the burger prices are still below average.

The bartender was nice and attentive, and even warned us that the kitchen was going to be closing down early so that we had enough time to get our order in. He was a fun guy. This place has a weird, but hometown atmosphere.

Bottom Line: The hours of 5-10pm 6 days a week are a downside. This place is still awesome, and completely worth the drive from Philly to try out this burger, which is surely a challenge to finish. I'm looking forward to my next attempt.

Xochitl

Xochitl was my second pick for restaurant week. I don't know why, but this place has been on my list for well over a year. I met up with my good friend Quinn for a Friday night dinner. The menu was exciting, three course plus house made guacamole.

For starters, the drink menu here is decent. There's a large list of house cocktails, a small wine list (36-42 per bottle) and a small, but decent beer list. Drafts are Negro Modello, Dos Eqius Amber and Lager, and Victory Prima Pils and they're all $5.

Throughout the night, our service was just okay, but not what I'd expect of a restaurant this caliber. The one high point of the night though, is when a drink was spilled on our table, someone (the hostess, I think) came over within a minute to help clean up the small mess.

After we ordered our drinks, someone came over and made our order of guacamole table-side. He used a fresh avocado and then asked what we wanted to be added in. We had him add everything, onions, cilantro, some spices, and a few others that I forget. It was good, but certainly not the best I've had.

We split the two appetizers The "Cazuela de chorizo y papas" (casserole of chorizo, potatoes, and kale" sounded really excited but in reality was pretty bland. There's a lot of potential with these ingredients. The same can be said for our other app, the civiche.

The first main was pork tenderloin with Brussel sprouts and turnups. It was a little overdone for my taste, but Quinn really liked it. This dish was decent. Our other main was head on shrimp, and I liked this, but it still lacked a distinct flavor.

Dessert was my favorite part of the meal. I ordered churros and hot chocolate. The churcos were sweet and had a perfect texture. Dipping them in the chocolate was fantastic. Quinn ordered a coconut and quince pie. She liked it a lot, I thought it was okay, but I don't often go for coconut desserts.

Bottom Line: The whole night was good, but not remarkable. I'd rather go to a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place than a fancy one, and I don't even think Xochitl is doing the best Mexican. Still, if you find yourself here, you won't be disappointed.