Llama Tooth

I hope this place survives. It's quirky, but I like it. There is a beautiful outdoor space where you can eat if it's nice.

The menu doesn't have much of an identity, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot of good options. I guess it would fall under the broad and unhelpful classification of "New American."

The owner really worked on getting a good beer list going, which I appreciate. I do take a few issues, however, like Kenzinger and a 10% imperial stout from Duck Rabbit are both $6. The beer list isn't up to date either, so in our first round of drinks, two of our choices weren't available. These aren't huge issues though.

The food is reasonably priced and quite tasty. I have a hard time ignoring a Cuban sandwich on a menu, so I opted for that. While this is unlike a traditional Cuban, I still enjoyed it. My baguette came out topped with pork, thick slabs of bacon, cheese, and a pickle. The flavors really combined for a great sandwich.

My friends John and Allie both ordered burgers, hers lamb, his beef with bacon, and blue cheese. John's burger had the same thick slabs of bacon as mine and was cooked as ordered, medium rare. His burger also had "blackening spice." Neither of us knew what this was, and he commented that it may have been a bit too strong for a few bites. Allie remarked that her lamb burger was made of flavorful meat.

All our dishes came with fries, John and I went for the sweet potato variety and these thick cut fries were well made and hit the spot.

We were dining inside, and the atmosphere is a little bare. The music played is also a bit weird, but none of this distracted us from our dinner. The service was quick throughout the night, and the owner and chef came over and checked to see how we were enjoying the meal.

It's on Spring Garden between 10th and 11th.

Cafe Lift

Previously, I'd only been to Cafe Lift for lunch. In addition to the great paninis and sandwhiches they offer, Life has a solid breakfast lineup. I wasn't the first to figure this out; at 10am on a Sunday there were quite a few people waiting to get a table.

The menu, which offers a lot of good choices, is supplemented by a chalkboard boasting about 6 different daily specials. It took me a while to narrow down the choices. I love the open kitchen, because you can get a preview of nearly every dish as it is served up and delivered.

I was out with Carly, and I ordered the panchetta frittata. It was made with sweet onions, kale, gruyere. It was perfectly cooked, the saltiness of the panchetta and cheese complimented the eggs. It was served with multi-grain toast and breakfast potatoes.

Carly also ordered from the specials, granola pancakes. I don't usually enjoy sweet breakfast, but even I had to admit that this dish was delicious. The granola cakes were topped with bananas and raspberries. Local honey and house made whipped cream were served alongside and made for perfect toppings.


The service here is pretty good, not amazing. The coffee is decent and has free refills. The portions at lift are generous, and the ingredients are high qaulity.

Bottom Line: Philly has a lot of good brunch places, and this is certainly in the upper echelon. Lift won't blow you away, but the ever rotating specials and overall cool atmosphere will make Lift an ever popular brunch option.

Kelliann's Bar & Grill

I've ridden my bike past Kelliann's at least a hundred times. And while that's no exaggeration, I didn't know the name of this place until I visited last week. If you're unclear of the spot I'm referring to, you may know it as I did: "Crappy Irish place on the corner of 16th and Spring Garden." But my previous title and judgement were way off the mark.

This place is pretty small; a long bar greats you at the door and runs almost the entire length of the skinny space. Some outdoor seating surely helps this place from seeming too crowded. Upon entering, I looked towards the taps to judge the place. Some regular locals, plus Sam Adams, a few Irish brews, and the real star of the day, Spaten Octoberfest. This is a tasty beer, and at $5 for a 20 oz mug (in proper glassware, if that's your thing) it was a great deal. Overall, the beer list is nothing special, but you should be able to find something that will pacify if not satisfy.

The place doesn't have much atmosphere for itself, but it surely has an interesting collection of patrons. Off duty nurses, construction workers, staff and students from nearby CCP, and folks like myself are elbow to elbow at the bar. To help me feel more at home, our bartender was friendly welcoming, and attentive.

Looking at the menu, I received the biggest shock. Almost everything on the menu was between 5 and 7 dollars, and included items such as a cheeseburger, turkey club, 10 piece chicken wings, steak sandwich, and the likes. Not incredible food, but decent food at a good price. I had a few wings, which were solidly average, but enjoyable. The turkey club was also good, and included a ridiculous amount of sliced turkey, and was topped with cheese. I'd eat here again.

Bottom Line: Kelliann's isn't amazing. But the good deals on food and beer, coupled with good service and real people make this an enjoyable joint. Everyone should at least give it a chance.

Essentials:

1549 Spring Garden (Spring Garden and 16th)

215-563-6990

Avg Ent: 5-7

Cash Only: No

Reservation: No

Sazon

A faded blue sign hangs over an exterior that needs a lot of TLC. From the outside, Sazon does not look impressive. I didn't know what to expect as I walked into this Venezuelan BYOB. The inside looks much better than the outside, and as we were walking through the dining room to our table, I stole a couple of looks at other people's dishes. I was instantly hooked.

I was out with my fried Sean; we split a bottle of Pinot Noir from Chile. The wine was okay. Our server was nice and attentive. While we were eating, the jovial owner stepped out of the kitchen to check in the with tables. He's passionate about the food and this was a really nice touch. The menu here is pretty extensive. They offer a good mix of appetizers, sandwiches, and entrees, making this a great place for lunch or dinner. The prices are a little bit higher than I expected, but it's offset by the fact that you can bring your own alcohol.

Our appetizer dish came with an empanada stuffed with black beans and cheese. It was basic, but not bad. The corn pastry stuffed with shredded pork was a step up. The meat was well seasoned and cooked, making for a nice little treat. To finish this dish, there were three cheese sticks, but they had puff pastry dough instead of a deep fried shell. The result was the best mozzarella stick I've ever had.

For dinner, we split the huge surf and turf special. The shrimp was decent.The chorizo was excellent, it was well cooked and had a perfectly spicy flavor. The serlion tips were my favorite part of this dish. They were well cooked and incredibly tender. There was a huge flavor to them, but the texture was so good that I didn't care. The dish came with a side salad, avocado, and fried yucca, all which went fantastically with the meat and seafood. It was a great thing to share, because it was a lot of food.

At this point, I was happy with my dining experience at Sazon. But it wasn't quite over. We were staring at a menu with several different hot chocolates that were too enticing to pass up. I can't put into works how good this was. It was a perfect dessert, depite being the middle of summer. I can't imagine how much better it would be on a wintry night. The classic hot chocolate, which is a "must taste", is a thick blend from five different kinds of chocolate. It's reason enough on its own to visit Sazon. We also ordered the orgasmo, which was a blend of peanut butter and Kahlua. It was good, but nothing compared to the classic.
Bottom Line: Sazon is a unique spot that is definitely worth visiting. The food, service, and atmosphere are all good, but not amazing. The hot chocolate, however, is fantastic.

Essentials:

9th and Spring Garden

T&W 5:30-9, TH 5:30-10, F 5:30-11, S 11:30-10, S 11:30-9

Accepts Cards

BYOB

Prohibition Taproom revisited

Yesterday I took a late lunch with Dan as we headed over to Prohibition Taproom. We work in an void in the city; it's nearly impossible to find a place with good beer and food that is A)Close and B)Open before 4pm. Fortunately, this spot started serving lunch in the recent months. Check out my last visit here.

The lunch menu is tiny, but sufficient. It includes a soup, grilled cheese and quiche of the day; two salads, burgers, and pulled pork. It also offers a few appetizers, including their famous and delicious deep fried green beans. I almost forgot how good they are, and they're honestly almost reason enough to visit.

I didn't love the burger my first time around, but I had a more pleasant experience this time. The special was still on the board from last night, and I asked them if they would make it, even though it wasn't on the lunch menu. They gladly did, and it arrived after a short wait. It was a well prepared medium rare burger topped with jack cheese, bacon, and jalapenos. There was a lot of heat to this burger. It was meaty and juicy, but not overdone on either account, and served on a nice focaccia role. It came with a pickle and a side of fries, definitely enough food to fill me up and only $10.

I still like the atmosphere here a lot, especially when it's not overcrowded. They have two HD TVs, and could be a nice place to watch some sports. The service is good, and it was nearly empty while we ate lunch, which is why you should check it out. (In addition to the reasons above).

For beer, this bar keeps a good list rotating somewhat regularly. They offer pints and half pints (nice if you want to try a few different things) and will soon fill growlers. I had the Corinado Hoppy Daze, which was the brewery's excellent take on a Belgian IPA. Dead Reckoning, Arcadia Jaw-Jacker, Sierra Nevada Belgian Trippel, Cask Conditioned Hop Devil, Steamworks Colorado Kolsch, Dock Street Hop Garden and two more rounded out the list. Prohibition also has an impressive bottle list.

Bottom Line: This place is good. It won't blwo your socks off, but it's an espeically good option for weekday lunches for me. Check the beer list before you go and find a time when they have a few interesting brews on. And don't forget, Green Beans!

Essentials:

501 N 13th St (13th and Spring Garden)

(215) 238-1818

Avg Lunch Ent: 8-10

Cash only: No

Reservations: No

Silk City Beer Garden

Friday night the weather seemed perfect, so Rachel and I headed out to check out the new Silk City beer garden before watching a most supreme victory. I had been past this new spot a few times, and it looked cool. At the risk of being redundant, this place is essentially a better version of Standard Tap (which I reviewed a few weeks ago.) I am finally getting it together and taking pictures, too:

For atmosphere, this place is great. It has a lot of seating, with a separate smoking area. It's a big open area with seats for at least sixty, and it's great because there's a lot of room; they didn't cram as many tables in as possible. The decorations are brightly colored, kind of weird and beach themed, but I think it works really well. Another nice factor is that you could easily get a table for a larger group; there was a table of ten seated when we arrived. There's a nice little faux tiki bar that is as cool as it is cheesy.

When the weather is perfect, it aligns with an awesome happy hour M-F 5-8pm. It includes $2 pints of Lager and Kenzinger and $2 High Life bottles, as well as specials on cocktails. Other beers on tap include Stella, Hoegarden, Philly Pale Ale, and one of my current personal favorites Bell's Two Hearted Ale. All pints are $5 or less, and the bar is going to start serving up pitchers "soon." The beer list is weak, but the availability of Bell's makes everything alright.

The menu has a good choice of options, with a few daily specials to mix things up.

I think the prices are about $2 more than everything should be for food. I ordered the crab BLT. It was good, not excellent. The crab was breaded and the ratio was off. The portions are generous. Rachel ordered a salad with tuna and enjoyed it, but hers looked a bit small, like I could have eaten three of them. The food is pretty standard, it seems like there is an overabundance of average to good traditional sandwich and burger bar food. All said, the food is no reason to come here.

The service wasn't great, but I didn't mind too much, either. It didn't really affect me until I was out of beer.

Bottom Line: I will probably be here more than a few times this summer. The beer garden is that cool. I wish they had more beer on tap, and the food was a bit different and/or cheaper. Overall, it's an excellent spot to hit for a drink or two, especially during happy hour, before continuing on your evening.

More pictures on my flickr.

Essentials:

435 Spring Garden (5th and Spring Garden)

(215) 726-2337

Avg Ent: 9-17

Cash only: No

Reservations: No?

Cafe Lift

I just got from lunch from Cafe Lift, and this little cafe is sweet. It's half a block from Prohibition Taproom and has been on my list of places to go for some time. It's only open for brunch and lunch, and the menu is quite limited. It's a bummer that I forgot to take pictures.

Lift markets itself as a "Euro style cafe" but basically only serves up salads and paninis. Is that euro-style? Despite this, there were a few really good options for the sandwiches, from salmon to prosciutto along with the one token veggie option. I had the Cubano sandwich with grilled pork, smoked ham and pefectly caramelized onions. Top that with fontina cheese and aioli, and you have one delicious sandwich. I had to conciously make myself slow down because it tasted so good.

My sandwich was served with mixed greens on the side with a drop of salad dressing. Overall, it was a weak side dish. Our server was mostly attentive, with the only slip up being a few minutes in between the sandwiches being delivered. That can always be awkward for a second.

Cafe Life has a pretty nice modern atmosphere, and sets a few tables outside with umbrellas when it's nice outside, which I love. This place also serves up brunch, but from the limited lunch menu, I'm guessing that brunch doesn't feature anything outstanding.

Bottom Line: The prices are great here, the food is really good, and it's relatively close to where I work. It's a great little spot, but it's not about to become your new favorite cafe. Still, the paninis are well crafted and it's a great light lunch on a beautiful day.

Essentials:

428 N 13th St (13th and Buttonwood)

(215) 922-3031

Ave Ent: 7-9

Cash only: Yes (ATM on site)

Reservations: No

Cafe Estelle

Because Cafe Estelle is already one of the highest regarded brunch spots in the city, I went there skeptical. It couldn't be that good, right? Even with my skepticism and high standards in tow, I left impressed.

I hit up Estelle with my friend Holly. We rode our bikes down to this spot, which is weirdly tucked under the 444 lofts on north 4th st. Estelle packs a good amount of tables into an open room with some cool wall decorations and modern loft type construction. Even on a Sunday around noon, it didn't have an unreasonable wait. Under twenty minutes, and once we were seated we had great service for our whole meal. Despite the fact that there was steady business, the servers didn't seem to be frazzled or rushing anyone.

The coffee was probably my favorite part of the experience. When you order, the server brings a mug and you're allowed to hit up the coffee bar, which has four different blends from around the globe. All fair trade and organic; you can try them all until you leave. Also, iced coffee is bottomless as well. I can't remember if I've ever had a brunch place offer that. To top it off, they offered us to-go cups for the rest of our drinks as we were leaving. These facts alone are enough to make me like, but not love, Cafe Estelle.

The food was excellent. The menu had a good mix of sweet and savory brunch dishes. I had shirred eggs, soft cooked eggs with truffle oil, mushrooms and spinach while Holly had a great looking omelet. The portions seem to be just right for a nice brunch. All of the food that I saw coming out around me looked really good, especially the french toast. There were easily a few things that I wanted to try when I was looking over the menu. $12 steak and eggs surely tempted me.

Bottom line: I can't exactly place while I liked this place so much. It was a beautiful day out, and the coffee was great, and our server was super cute (call me), but really, Estelle has a good grasp on every single aspect of breakfast making. And when you combine all of them together, Estelle manages to be a excellent spot. I will definitely be making regular stops here, and expect is to have wait times approaching Sabrina's in the near future. Estelle also has a great to-go menu and a buy 10 get one free coffee punch card.

Essentials:
444 N 4th St (4th between Spring Garden and Callowhill)
(215) 925-5080
Avg Ent: 8-12
Cash Only: No
Reservations: No
BOYB: Yes

Jose's Mexican Food

I like Mexican food a lot, so I'm naturally going to gravitate toward a place that is rumored to have the best burritos in town. Because of Jose's weird location and hours, I hadn't made it out there until recently. To be fair, the advertised hours are reasonable, but I went around 1pm on a Saturday before and found the place closed up tight.

Jose's is a tiny place with a great deal of character. Four small tables fill the space not occupied by the kitchen. Meanwhile, a TV in the corner of the room blares Telemundo (or another Spanish TV station. I'll admit I'm quite ignorant in this department). The service was a bit weird with some confusion whether we should order at the counter or wait for someone to come over. Jose's doesn't really focus on service or decor, so I won't either.

Really, the reason to come here is the food. Jose's also serves up Mexican Coke and Pepsi, which is made with real cane sugar. I couldn't taste much of a difference though. I ordered a chicken burrito, and it was well made and stuffed with fresh ingredients. On the downside, the meat was a bit dry. Also, the burrito came served alone, and I wished I had a bit of rice or a small salad to spruce my meal. I was with Ethan and Jonny and they both seemed to enjoy their meals.

Normally I would have been very happy with Jose's, but Que Chula has raised my standards for great, cheap Mexican food. Full disclosure: Jonny R prefers Jose's. Overall, it was a good meal, especially for under $10. Ethan and I rounded out our meals with homemade chocolate chip cookies ($.60) and that brought the whole experience up a notch.

Bottom Line: Jose's is good and has some exceptional lunch specials at $5 and $6. You might like Jose's a lot and I believe it's worth a least one try. I think tacos may be the best choice here. If nothing else, this place serves up authenticity in many ways.

Essentials:

469 N 10th St (10th and Buttonwood)

215-765-2369

Avg Ent: 6-8

Cash only: Yes

Reservations: No

BYOB: I'm not sure, but I think no.

Prohibition Taproom

My first experience with the Prohibition Taproom was my housemate Jonny telling me that messed up his drink order and that he was not impressed. Despite that, I wanted to try out this new place.

Before I even walked in, I was greeted by an awesome sign pointing out the business. It's a simple neon red sign that tersely states "BAR." I like it a lot. Once inside, I was loving the atmosphere. The bar is really great, as you can kind of see in this picture. It runs the length of the room, but also has a few peninsulas. The result is that you can sit at the bar and be across from whoever you are with, which is a great feature.

As far as beer goes, PT does not disappoint. There are about ten beers on draft. Further, the choices represent a well thought out variety of brews. PT also supplies a nice bottle list as a supplement. I had the Dogfish Head Aprihop and Brooklyn Brewery Blunderbuss and enjoyed both beers.

I can seriously recommend to anyone to go to Prohibition Taproom for one reason: deep-fried green beans. This phenomenal appetizer is a great way to start your meal and comes with a nice aioli. The rest of the food was average. Between Lana, J.Mal, and myself, we ordered two burgers and a grilled cheese, and these three dishes were fine, nothing more. I was happy to be full, but the main dishes are the lowest point of the experience.

Friday night this place got a little crazy, with a crowd from art museum area and plenty of "bros." Don't make this your Friday or Saturday night hangout spot.

Bottom Line: I like this new place. It has good atmosphere, beer, and one excellent appetizer. Prohibition Taproom has made it onto my list of bars to regularly visit. The biggest downside are the hours. No lunch, no brunch, and the bar opens at 4pm.

Essentials:

501 N 13th St (13th and Spring Garden)

215-238-1818

Avg Ent: 8-13

Cash only: No

Reservations: No

BYOB: No