Continental Midtown

Continental has a great brunch, who knew?  I visited a few days ago, and I was impressed with the amount of tempting options on the menu.  The atmosphere is trying to be cool, but the open area seating area and large windows make for a pleasant brunch environment.


Despite the fact that our server was completely overworked, she took good care of us and was patient and attentive.  There are a lot of good drink cocktails and other brunch drinks.  The prices are actually reasonable, which I didn't expect.

For my brunch, I ordered an omelet with cheddar, monterrey jack, poblano, and corn.  The ingredients were fresh and made for a delicious omelet.   My omelet can with toast and below average breakfast potatoes.  I was dining with my friends Lacey and Megan.  Lacey ordered the bagel with lox; Megan went with crab, dill, Havarti and leek omelet with egg whites.  All of our dishes were well made and came out quickly.  Portion sizes were decent.

Bottom Line: I feel like a broken record when writing about Starr joints.  There's simply not much to say about the Continental.  He focuses on atmosphere, and the food is just okay.  But with Continental, the food and prices were better than I anticipated.  There are a lot of good food options on the menu, and I'd visit from brunch again if I was in the area.

Frankford Hall

Stephen Starr ventured into two new worlds with his latest venture: Fishtown and a beer focused location.  Last week I had my birthday party at Frankford Hall, this open air German-style beer garden.

For starters, this is a great place to have a gathering.  People can come and go as they please.  There is a lot of space.  If people want to hang out without buying anything, it's not awkward.  It's pay as you go, so at the end of the night there isn't come huge combined bill to fight with.  Friends can order food as they're hungry.  With a group of friends that is hard to co-ordinate (or simply fickle), it's perfect.

Sure, there are a few things that I could complain about.  With post-season baseball around the corner, it's hard not to remark about the lack of TVs.  The prices are a bit high, and the inclusion of valet parking in my neighborhood is laughable.  I suppose it's off set by the decently sized bike rack.

Still, once inside, there's a large indoor and outdoor area filled with large picnic tables.  There's ping pong and trees planted in the courtyard.  Overall, it's a beautiful rehab of the space.

The menu consists mainly of sausages and wursts.  I don't remember my exact choice, but I was happy with it.  Sides of delicious red cabbage or sauerkraut come with the sausages, although bread is $1 per roll.  In the middle of the space is a large condiment stand with several mustard options, which is great.

Another food option is the $5 soft pretzel imported from Germany.  After a few bites, I wished they bought it locally and lowered the price, because the taste couldn't justify the ridiculous shipping distance.

The beer comes in half and full liters.  Aside from the fact that everything is about $1 more than it is most other places, the heavy German influence on the beer list is impressive nonetheless.  When the beers are domestic, they're German influenced.  There is no price discount for buying the liter; they're all simply twice as much as the half.  Stick with the half for the choice of variety and the convenience of your beer still being cool for the last five sips.

Bottom Line: This is an awesome space, and it's good to get a whole bunch of people together.  If crowded, it could be a bit annoying, and the prices certainly deter me from being a regular customer.  But I will definitely visit again.

Buddakan

Buddakan is the quintessential Steven Starr restaurant. The food is goodish, and the atmosphere is great. The price is more than it should be, especially for drinks, but the majority of your money is going to decor and ambiance.

Nonetheless, I have been looking forward to dining here for a while. I was treating myself, and really wanted to enjoy the whole experience. I made my way to the bar and ordered a cocktail, awakening. It was made with Jose Cuervo, a thai chili, and pineapple juice, and was well made. Still, cocktails here are 10-13, plus tax and tip, which seems to be a bit much. There are some decent beer options available, I remember 60 IPA being $6. I was out with my friend Lena, and once I got to the table I split a pitcher of sangria, which was good an lasted the whole meal. Our server was attentive about filling up our glasses through out the night.

The service over all is good here. All of the dishes come out with good timing and are set in the middle for sharing. For starters we ordered the Kobe beef skewers and dumplings. Both of these were fine, nothing amazing, didn't have incredible flavor. My favorite part of the whole meal was my entree. I ordered the sea bass; it had great flavor, and was served with butternut squash. Lena ordered the Asian Pork BBQ, which was served medium rare and was good. The BBQ flavor was light but tasty. The weird thing about this dish was it was served with huge onion rings, and they seemed out of place.

For dessert we both went with a dish called Crying Chocolate. It was a small lava cake served with a dollop of Vietnamese coffee ice cream. We both really liked the dessert, Lena said the ice cream had a really authentic flavor; it was strong. I liked the cake a lot and it was a great way to finish out dinner.

Bottom Line: Service is decent, and atmosphere is great. The food isn't going to amaze you, but like all Starr restaurants, it's a nice experience.

Rumor: Stephen Starr's Bier garden

I want to stress that this post is based on no info other than my speculation. You may know that a beer garden from Philly's Stephen Starr is underway. While on my run last week, I went past the space. Work is underway, the outdoor space looks quite big, probably seating at least 75. I'm at least excited to see how this all turns out. If nothing else, hopefully it will convince Johny Brenda's to charge reasonable prices for their beer.

Square Burger

I've been meaning to go to Square Burger basically since the day it opened. It's not in a convenient location, which may be one of the reasons I haven't made it. But yesterday, in the perfect weather, I rode my bike down here for lunch.

Square Burger is nothing more than a shack. Sure, it's owned and operated by Philadelphia's (arguably) most well known restauranteur, Stephen Starr, but that doesn't make it fancy. The atmosphere here is great though. You're in a nice, Philadelphia park with a Merry-Go-Round pumping out music and a mini-golf course nearby. There is a fountain in the middle and tables scattered around the park. On a nice day, it's a great place to eat.

The menu here is small. Cheeseburgers,hot dogs, fries and shakes are the mainstays. I believe there was also a salad, maybe a few other options. We both ordered cheese burgers and fries. The fries are fine, but nothing special. The burgers are small, but not too small. They're a great representation of outback, BBQ grilling. The buns are grilled, and the burgers are cooked on high heat to get a crunch outside, but are still well cooked throughout. The toppings here need some work, as our cheeseburger only came with diced onions and pickles. Tomatoes and lettuce go a long way.

I didn't have a milkshake, but I saw one being made. It looked fantastic. It had two butter cream TastyKake crumpet mashed in. It was the shake of the month, and next month they'll put peanut butter cupcakes in the shake.

There are two slight downsides: The line moves more slowly. Also, the prices are higher than they should be.

Bottom Line: It's nice to spend some time in the park. If you're like me, you could have a better burger at a fraction of the cost in your own backyard. The milkshakes are the biggest draw here. If you're sneaky, a trip to the Foodery at 10th and Pine can bring the whole experience up a notch.

Bottom Line:

Franklin Square (6th and Race)

Burgers: 4-5, Fries 2, Shakes 3.75

Hours: Varies according to weather, at least 10am-7pm daily, later during summer.

Cash Only: No

Pizzeria Stella

Pizzeria Stella has been calling to me since it opened. I love a good pie, and my friend Quinn lives around the block. I was (an still am) thrown off by Starr's comments that good pizza isn't available in Philly. Tacconelli's has always been a special treat for me, and it's widely considered some of the best pizza in the country, not just Philadelphia. Is Starr just pimping up his new place? Or does he really believe that if it's not under his watch, it's not that good? I may never know.

For an appetizer, Quinn and I split arancini. It's a creamy, buttery, mushroom risotto rolled into a ball, lightly breaded and deep fried. The outside has the texture of hushpuppy. The contrast of the fried outside and the delicious pasta inside truly makes a great dish. I don't remember having arancini before, so I don't have anything else to compare it to, but this was a great way to start our meal.

Stella is likely the fanciest pizza you will find in Philadelphia, and truth be told, it is some of the best. My mouth is watering a bit just thinking about it. They are small, at 12 inches in diameter. Much has been made of the pistachio pizza, and I was quite happy with our decision to split it. It is a white pizza topped with chopped pistachios, red onion, fontina, and olive oil. The combination and ratio of these toppings was great, and having nuts on a pizza tasted completely natural.

Our second pie was the Piccante: capicola (prosciutto-like spied and cured ham), provolone, crushed red pepper, and tomato sauce. The sauce is great; sweet and tangy, but still only a compliment to the other toppings. This pie was good, but the capicola was much too salty, and seemed to dominate the whole pie. Quinn disagreed with me though. The Piccante was her favorite, while I preferred the pistachio.

Sadly, the beer list here is weak. The beers are either not very good, overpriced, and in some cases, both. I'm interested in how Starr's beer garden shapes up. The rest of the menu is rounded out with twelve pies in total, and there should be one that would please any palate. Menu can be seen here. The service and atmosphere are right in line with Starr's other locations. The open kitchen where the pies are made and the prominent oven are gimmicky. But they're cool gimmicks nonetheless.

Bottom Line: Pizzas are small and expensive, but delicious. The outdoor seating here makes this a great summer or spring dinner. You'll drop around $50 for two without drinks, but it is worth it. The pies are really great, and the medley of toppings is a real treat.

Essentials:

420 S 2nd St (2nd and Lombard)

215-320-8000

Hours: M-T 11:30-10, F 11:30-11, Sat 11-11, Sun 11-10

Pies: 10-17

Cash Only: No

Reservations: Not accepted. They take a cell phone number when you show up and let you walk around until your table is ready

Continental

Dear Stephen:

I really like your restaurants. I generally tell people that you're a great restauranteer, and with the number of new places that you open up seems that the general public seems to agree. But I have a few questions.

First, why don't you think beer is important? I mean, when the best thing at the Continental is Anchor Steam, it's kind of a bummer. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but it was slightly overpriced and really the only decent option. You definitely focus more on the food, but I think you could stand to do both. Is your next venture a beer bar? I wouldn't be surprised. But you might be too busy trying to out do (or ignore) Tochonelli's.

Second, what's up with the Continental. Maybe the question should be what's up with me, becuase I don't seem to like this place as much as everyone else seems to. The food seems overpriced, the portions are small, and the food is decent, but nothing more.

I'll admit, you've cultivated a really cool swanky diner feel where the point is for

everyone to share a bunch of dishes and enjoy themselves. Your servers are great, and overall, this isn't a terrible place. I just don't see any reason why I'd ever come back. There is definitely one shining menu item, the shoestring fries. It's pretty sweet that you can get a heaping pile of decent fries for under $4, with crazy hot mustard in toe. Honestly, if there was some decent beer, I'd stop by for a drink and some fries all the time.

Bottom Line: You're doing a great job. I just think that this place isn't your strongest effort. I'm guessing it's a lot better with a larger group, six to eight seems ideal. This also seems like an ideal people watching spot. As for food and and service, you continue to operate under the "Starr Standard" (I just coined that, how about some kickback?).

Love,

Walter G

Essentials:

2nd and Market, 18th and Chestnut

Avg Ent: 8-15 (but one won't fill you up)

Cash Only: No

Reservations: Recommended

Pod

I've been on a Steven Starr kick recently, so when my Mom came into town, wanting to take me out, I decided to pick A restaurant that has easy enough parking, was expensive, but not too expensive, and a place that I've never been to. Pod, here we come.

Upon entering, I was instantly impressed with the decor. All of the Starr restaurants that I've been to have a cool feeling, with Pod opting for neon lights, smooth flowing curves on all surfaces (chairs and ceiling included). Anime was playing on a screen in the background.

There were three crowds: preppy college studs enjoying happy hour, small parties sitting around the long table with a built in conveyor belt on which small sushi dishes circulate, and small parties at tables.

The service wasn't great, but I'm convinced that had mostly to do with our particular server, and was not representative of the restaurant as a whole. The menu has a not so varied far of Japanese, Chinese, and Thia dishes, sort of all combined. They use wasibi often and liberally, steer clear if you don't like it. I had the shrimp and scallop stiryfry. I liked my dish bestout of the rest at our table (Wasibi crusted filet mingnon, seseme crusted tuna, and veggie pad thia).

Dessert was the best part, the sweet 18, which had 9 different bite sized desserts; coconut macaroon, chocolate covered banana, candied apricot, tofu donut, brownie bite, ect. Two of each, and perfect for a party of four.

In the end, dinner was good, the place was kind of cool, but I just can't recommend it. If you're going to spend that kind of money, they're are many other places.

The Essentials:
Pod
3636 Sansom St.
215-387-1803
Avg Ent: 15-23
3/5

*Please comment. I'm trying this out. Let me know if it's too long, I don't focus on the right things, criticism, ect.*