So I recently spent a week in Philadelphia. Now I’ve traveled a fair bit in my time, but not extensively in the US. I mostly only know the West Coast. Philly is like a whole different country.
Here are some random thoughts:
1. Styrofoam what??? Isn’t it illegal? I thought only barbarians were still using it, but we were served by perfectly nice people who seemed to think it was okay. It’s not okay, Philly. Not okay.
2. Coffee WHA???? People people people. Folgers is not coffee. Dunkin’ Donuts is not only grammatically egregious, (do they mean dunking doughnuts? Why name a business a gerund?) but their coffee, um, sucks. Good coffee is hard to find in this city of brotherly love. Maybe they feel caffeine would ruin things, but I find it hard to love my fellow man without some decent brew sloshing about inside me. And bad coffee served in Styrofoam? Ouch. It was hard not to take it personally, like they were telling me to take my European coffee and snort it up my nose.
3. Ok, all the old brick buildings are super cool. And the murals? Yes. The murals are super super cool.
4. LOVE the old stone churches, although seriously, you’ve got a LOT. I feel like every time they gathered 3 or more people together, they decided they needed to put up another large stone ediface. Literally ever other block seemed to have one.
5. Speaking of people, Philadelphians in general live up to their city’s name. They are friendly and full of advice. Another thing, everybody has a favorite deli, and if you are wondering what it is, just ask. One man explained that the deli where we were all waiting for our sandwiches was where he came for his deli sandwiches, but, he muttered behind his hand, there was another deli where you should go for your cheesesteaks. He was a large black man who barely fit in the deli’s one chair, where he was waiting. He told us about the best Philly cheesesteak sandwich in the city. “Now you are your wife should share one,” he told Donn. “I can eat a whole one, but that’s not a skill you want to acquire.” The train conductor had a completely different place he recommended for cheesesteaks. We did our best, but there is a limited number of large sandwiches one couple can eat. Perhaps if we’d split up?
6. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it seemed perhaps a lot of people had acquired the skills necessary to eat the entire cheesesteak sandwich.
7. All the old rowhomes are pretty cool too. The neighbourhoods have a lot of character.
8. There is a palace downtown. I never did figure out what it was being used for. Do we have royalty here? Maybe it’s where visiting royalty stay? They were doing some sort of renovation. I did look for signs.
9. Of course the historical part is fascinating, although since we were in meetings all day, the best we could do was go downtown via subway once we got out and wander round looking at the outsides of things, since places were closed. I didn’t mind. We did visit once before, years ago, and got to go inside places.
10. Ethnic restaurants. I thought Portland was pretty good, but no, we are a cultural wasteland. We ate Punjabi food and Moroccan food and, best of all, Senegalese food. I was excited and kept texting the kids, who requested that I bring them some in my suitcase. Um, no. The Yassa Poulet (pictured below) was super-oily, just like it should be. They also had great bissop (a sort of tea made from steeping dried hibiscus flowers) AND really yummy spicy ginger juice, just like Howa used to make it.
I haven’t had Senegalese food since we left Mauritania in 2007. That’s a long time without good Yassa. We even met a Mauritanian man in the restaurant! (Aside: for newer readers, we lived in Mauritania which is just north of Senegal, and they share a lot of the same cuisine, and we vacationed in Senegal where we would buy Yassa from women cooking in on the beach in the evenings.) But, of course, mostly we ate hoagies. They get their own post, coming soon.
(Insert usual whining about lack of actual camera and limitations of iPhone, which really I am super thankful for. I love my smart phone)
I’m pretty sure I have more thoughts, but that’s all I can remember right now. Have you ever been to Philly? What did you think? Where was your favorite deli? Did you have a different favorite deli for hoagies and for cheesesteaks? Can you eat an entire sandwich? Don’t worry; we won’t judge.
Planet Nomad 
7 comments
May 17, 2013 at 11:31 pm
Kelli
De-lurking because I just had to… You visited my adopted hometown, and I’m in the middle of my first trip to the Pacific Northwest! So first, I have to say, that your observations on the coffee are spot-on. The entire Northeast is afflicted with the same malaise, so much so that while visiting Seattle, my husband and I have remarked daily on the conspicuous absence of the water that passes for coffee at places like Dunkin (mercifully, there are no DD’s in sight). Even regular restaurants in this area have good, strong coffee! It exists in Philly, but you have to go to the more out of the way spots. Second, you’re right about the ethnic food – Pakistani, Ethiopian, West African, Vietnamese… Philadelphians do not lack for tasty, inexpensive variety! And yet, the cheesesteaks… Hope you had as good a time in my old neck of the woods as I am having in yours! (I know Seattle is not Portland, but it’s the closest I’ve ever been!).
May 18, 2013 at 8:55 am
suburbancorrespondent
I beg to differ on the subject of Dunkin’ Donuts. My husband’s favorite coffee (and he has traveled extensively in the US and Europe) is Dunkin’ Dark (made at home, though, so maybe it is stronger?). He drinks it black, of course – none of those frou-frou lattes for him!
In New England, you can barely walk a block without encountering a Dunkin’ Donuts. It is a venerated institution there.
As for the Liberty Bell, the last time we saw it (a number of years ago), I was greatly disappointed. It has been encased in brick and glass, essentially, and required us to run the security gamut just to see it; whereas, a quarter of a century ago, one walked across a grassy lawn to where it was displayed in an open-sided brick pavilion (if memory serves me correctly).
May 18, 2013 at 9:47 am
Rachel
Another de-lurker here, brought out into the light by the mention of poulet yassa! Would you mind sharing the name of that restaurant? And even though I’ve never commented before, I enjoy reading your posts!
May 19, 2013 at 12:12 am
Annie Wald
#8–that would be city hall with a statue of William Penn on top.
And as an east-coaster, i feel my toes stepped on just a bit ; ) Sam was born in Philly. J and C lived there for a few years. It has the best thrift stores. And those murals…how can you complain about styrofoam when they have those murals?? And the Renoir museum, and Rocky, and LOVE. As for Dunkin Donuts…well, you need drive out into the hinterlands of New England, desperate for coffee and then you will be thankful for DD [not that it’s my favorite coffee….]
What I love most of all about Philly is that it is a real place with real people who aren’t shy about showing their flaws. No white-washed tombs here like other cities [not to mention any names.]. No pretensions.
Well, I probably would have responded differently if #1 and # 2 had been # 9 and 10 🙂 And maybe you are suffering from flu resentment? Has living in the NW perhaps made you less resistant to the hardy germs of Philly? Just asking…
Seriously, it’s fascinating to think of Portland meets Philly. Have you ever watched “It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia”? Someone could write a PhD dissertation comparing that show to “Portlandia”…
May 20, 2013 at 9:26 am
Louise
Never been to Philly, but I’m eager fo eat some of that Poulet Yassa! I wonder if there is a Gabonese restaurant–I’d like some manioc leaves–or an Ivoirian place for the manioc version of grits!?
May 23, 2013 at 9:06 am
eileen smith
I love it that you show that even looking at your “own” place can yield some great observations. I’ve been to Philly, but I was in search of a good cannoli, (well, technically, cannolo), since I don’t eat meat. I loved alot about it, but I was staying at someone’s apartment, so the coffee issue didn’t affect me that much.
Glad you found some great Senegalese food. How surprised were the staff at the restaurant to find you so enthusiastic and comfort-food-blissful with the menu options?
May 26, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Sylvester Q. Kelley
Just northwest of the Gallery is the Reading Terminal Market, an very successful indoor public market that opened in 1893 at the site of the Reading Railroad’s headhouse terminal, now part of the Philadelphia Convention Center, after open-air sidewalk markets were closed down in the 1850’s due to health and safety concerns. Some of the vendors have been in business for over a century, and sell produce, meats, chocolates, and a variety of other usually handmade foodstuffs and items. There are a lot of small restaurants as well as a section for Pennsylvania Dutch (or Amish) vendors.