Please critique my itinerary

[axachef]

Serious Food Itinerary:

9 Days: lunch and dinner
Not concerned about cost as much as quality

Already committed to:

Vetri
Zahav
Talula's Table (in the kitchen)

Need help choosing a couple of Asian places:

Tai Lake
Mai Lai Wah
Joy Tsin Lau
Dim Sum Garden
Fuji (Haddonfield)
Sagami (Collingswood)

Considering:
bibou
pumpkin
amis
a. kitchen
fork
supper
kanella
koo zee doo
tashan
modo mio
matyson
fond
osteria
the dandelion

(i know it's a lot but Philly has a lot of restaurants!)

need recommendations for:
best brunch and
best mexican

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[axachef]

OK, here's what I've got it down to (unless some of you kind people talk me out of it)...

Lunches:

RTM
Distrito (mainly b/c I will be boarding a train at 30th St Station during my trip)
Kanella
John's Roast Pork
Federal Donuts (early for chicken) & Oyster House (later for happy hour-i need oysters badly!)
Osteria
Han Dynasty
Blackfish (a friend is organizing a lunch)

Dinners:
2X for Sagami (sentimental attachment and I dream about the agedashi dofu)
Zahav
Fuji
Koo Zee Doo
Bibou
Vedge
Fond
Vetri

Lacroix for Brunch

I'm also going to try to duck into Sakura Mandarin for soup dumplings and if I'm near Dandelion, maybe some fish & chips.

One last thing, how are the burgers at Squareburger in Franklin Square? Any casual place near there that is better?

[DaisyM]

Great list! At Koo Zee Doo I suggest the duck and rice and the salad with corriander red wine dressing. Two of my favorite dishes in Philly.

[cwdonald]

Distrito is a great restaurant but still a bit of a ways from the station. If you want something IN 30th street station the JG DOmestic is right there and is a garces restaurant. Everything looks great. I would comment that Blackfish for lunch is not the same as the dinner experience. It is good but not superlative.

[Buckethead]

Your list is good. Enjoy (and let us know what you think afterwards!)

[samichluvr]

Give Barbuzzo a try. At least for dessert, the budino is really good!!

[Bigley9]

I really like Square Burger - The burgers are small - they are on a regular sized hamburger roll but I like that! The meat is good and they are "dressed" well for their size. Also, while I don't do sweets, their cake shakes made with tastykakes get lots of raves.

[axachef]

Thanks everyone for all your contributions. Keep 'em comin'! The only problem is now I'm adding more places instead of reducing the number.

Think I almost have it figured out...

Any opinions on Federal Donuts Chicken? Also, I really want to try soup dumplings...Dim Sum Garden for those?

How about John's Roast Pork? better cheesesteak than Pat's?

I haven't been to Philly to eat in about a decade and there are a lot more options now. I'll post my actual itinerary when I get it all nailed down.

Thanks again!

[cwdonald]

Soup dumplings your two best choices are dim sum garden or sakura mandarin. The latter has nicer atmosphere.

[dfishhead]

John's is bar far better than Pat's. They cook the steak when you order, no piles of meat sitting around the grill.

[cwdonald]

Been so long (and I usually order Pork anyway.. ) Does Tony Lukes steam or cook their steak?

[bluehensfan]

You're planning on dining at Talulah's Table (in Kennett) not Talulah's Garden (in Washington Square) right?
Zahav and Vetri are great choices and as mentioned before La Croix has a great brunch.

You should stop for a meal or two at Reading Terminal Market, especially Wednesday through Saturday when the Amish merchants are there.

Amis and Dandelion are both decent...

[axachef]

Yes, the one in Kennett Square.

I have the RTM worked in now for lunch.

[bluehensfan]

OK good. The other Talulah is not as good. And you may want to think about pancakes at the Dutch Eating Place at the Market.

[sylviag]

Fuji is great. Sagami and MIkado in NJ are good, but Fuji is outstanding.

We don't currently favor any of the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. If you're driving around near Bryn Mawr, we go regularly to Yang Ming. Always good.

We have so many good places in Philly! We have not been to Fond but it's high on our list; several foodie friends have told us they love it.

Brunch at Lacroix is wonderful.

Recent disappointment at Amis - good food, but we were in and out in 45 minutes. Rushed service, high noise level - we'll stay away for awhile.

[Beulah]

Fuji is far and away the best Japanese restaurant in the Delaware valley. We only go to Amis when we can eat outside because it's so loud! We like Dim Sum Garden -- Han Dynasty is too spicy for our elderly digestive systems. Bibou, Vetri and Osteria are our faves -- we concentrate on pizza, appetizers and pasta at Osteria -- forget the entrees and desserts!

[FrancisdeR]

Sylvia, I'm with you on Amis. Love the food, but you do feel rushed. We often go pre-theatre. We get there relatively early, and tell the waitperson when we need to leave. But we always get the food all at once. We have taken to ordering one thing at a time, but they still rush you, even when the place is less than half full.

[JanR]

Sylvia, we had the same experience of rushed service. My husband refuses to go back.

[Buckethead]

For 6 more dinners, I'd go to Bibou (by far the best place on your list), Osteria, Vedge (not on your list), Kanella, Koo Zee Doo, and Fond. Fork and Modo Mio are very good too. I'd drop the rest from consideration, not that they're bad or anything but they're not on the same level as the other places. Amis is definitely my least favorite Vetri restaurant, and if you're already going to Vetri and Osteria it would really be pointless.

[urbanfabric]

for Asian:
Han Dynasty
Dim Sum Garden

my favs from your consider list:
bibou
amis
kanella
osteria
fond

I'd also consider:
Little Fish
Fish
Cochon
Russet

Philly Ray is right, best brunch is Lacroix, but I also like Kanella, Cafe Estelle, and Supper.

What kind of Mexican do you want? There are some great Taquerias around 9th and Washington. I hit Los Taquitos de Puebla most often.

[caganer]

Cochon does a pretty great brunch as well. There's a dish with slow-cooked pork and egg with mornay sauce over biscuits (no one in Philly cooks pork better), a crazy monte cristo and lots of good looking sweet stuff that I've never tried becuase I can't get past the pork.

[Philly Ray]

Best brunch is at Lacroix in the Rittenhouse Hotel.

[cwdonald]

Fuji over Sagami hands down.

Sakura Mandarin is an alternative to Dim Sum Garden

Han Dynasty in Old City if you like Sichuan.

Mexican, you can go high end.. Distrito. Or you could go to one of a number of places in the Italian Market.