Philadelphia Weekend -- Saturday Brunch/Lunch

[frogville]

We are coming from Baltimore to Philly for a short weekend for our anniversary. Currently, the plan on Friday is to go to lunch at Chifa and dinner at Lacroix.

We have dinner plans at someone's house on Saturday night. So, we are trying to figure out where to go for Saturday brunch / early lunch. We have to be at the Barnes at 12:30 on Saturday, and we are staying in center city. It has been suggested that we try the Reading Terminal Market. Does that make sense, or is there somewhere else we should try that is convenient and where we can get something besides breakfast food or diner food on Saturday? Basically, Farmicia sounds fine, but we are happy to do something a little less brunchy. Would Cuba Libre be a good option?

Also, we are happy to entertain other suggestions for the Friday meals, particularly Friday lunch. We would have tried Zahav, but as they don't do lunch, that was out.

Thanks in advance.

F

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Reading Terminal Market
51 N 12th St # 2, Philadelphia, PA

Chifa
707 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Zahav
237 St James Place, Philadelphia, PA 19106

[coookie]

kanella is an excellent choice.

i don't want to beat a dead horse, but i just posted a negative comment about lacroix, which i feel compelled to share:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6679...

consider any of the following instead: bibou, osteria, zahav (if it's not too redundant with kanella), or fish (the new place from the owners of little fish)

[frogville]

Thanks. I had seen your post on the topic. As it turns out, bibou, vetri, osteria and zahav did not have tables, and we wanted the option of having some meat.

We decided to take the gamble with Lacroix. We'll post the outcome.

F

[joluvscards]

For lunch on Friday perhaps Matyson would work for you. We had a wonderful brunch at Parc. No visit to Philly is complete without a trip to the Reading Terminal. However most places are closed on Sunday. Why not try the terminal for lunch on Friday? There are gobs of options from the traditional Philly roast pork sandwich to middle eastern foods.

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Matyson Restaurant
37 South 19th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Parc
227 South 18th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

[frogville]

Thanks all for the recommendations so far. Kanella, in particular sounds like a great option. We rarely get to have shaksouka for brunch.

joluvscards, I was unclear whether you were saying that places at Reading Terminal were closed on Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks.

F

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Kanella
266 S 10th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

[invinotheresverde]

Many of the booths in RTM are closed Sunday, as the Amish don't work on Sundays.

I couldn't imagine visiting Philly and not going to RTM! There's so much variety and the quality is high, while the prices are low. For a brunchy item, I love the egg and cheese filles pretzels, but there's a metric ton of other great stuff!

[barryg]

Zahav does do lunch during the week. I think their website is out of date; give them a call to make sure.

You can't go wrong with Reading Terminal and there are many options if you want lunch food. As is always recommended on this board, DiNic's Roast Pork with greens is one of the best sandwiches in Philly (better than 90% of the cheesesteaks) and definitely worth trying.

If you want a sit down brunch with service, consider Kanella; it is Cypriot (basically Greek) food and they do an awesome brunch that is not typical brunch stuff. If you like crepes, Beau Monde is a good choice though it is a little bit in the wrong direction.

Another option is Paesano's in Northern Liberties for awesome gourmet Philly-style sandwiches. It is a bit out of the way, but you can shoot down Gerard Ave to I-76 so it is not too bad.

There have been quite a few posts recently about people traveling to Philly to celebrate an occasion and eat at our great locally owned restaurants. Thank you all for visiting and pumping money into the local economy! And enjoy the Barnes, it is amazing. I recommend doing the tour to really "get" it.

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Kanella
266 S 10th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Beau Monde
624 S 6th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147

Paesano's
1 E Main St, New Freedom, PA 17349

Zahav
237 St James Place, Philadelphia, PA 19106

[urbanfabric]

I am also going to recommend Kanella (10th and Spruce) for brunch/lunch on Saturday. we had a great brunch there this past Sunday, great french press coffee, good selection of light and hearty dishes (including their "weekend roast"), and good service.

Skip Farmicia and Cuba Libre. If you need something in that neighborhood, you're probably better off at Fork.

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Kanella
266 S 10th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107

[frogville]

Thanks. I did check with Zahav, and they are now closed for lunch. F

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Zahav
237 St James Place, Philadelphia, PA 19106

[barryg]

That is a shame, because I never made it over there. They had some great looking sandwiches on their homemade laffa. It really isn't a good location to draw a lunch crowd, though, so I am not surprised.

[PhillyA]

I had lunch there once and it was awesome. The merquez sandwich was perfect - I liked it better than the skewer.

It wasn't terribly full - maybe 1/2 full - but it was the very end of lunch service so I chalked it up to that. I'm sorry to see the lunch service go.