We only stayed one night, so didn’t get to hit that many places.  Here are the highlights:

Tamarind Thai is on South Street (near the river).  It was nearly empty when we say down, but other couples soon arrived at the small restaurant.  I chose the restaurant based on the amount of creativity and energy they put into the menu (with dishes like Angry Salmon, Crispy Angel, Masaya Taking a Shower, Snapper Falling in Love, and Dressed-Up Tofu).  The restaurant has nice decor as well. We had the crab dumplings, a tofu and vegetable dish, and chicken Penang curry, and all the dishes were well-prepared and flavorful.

We found John’s Water Ice by asking someone working in a cafe for an ice cream recommendation.  It is open late, very good (with creamy flavorful ice cream), very affordable, and only a few blocks of of South Street.  Four scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone only cost $2.50.

Sabrina’s & Spencer’s Too on Callowhill was recommended by our hotel’s concierge for breakfast.  There was a long wait on a Sunday morning, but they also have a policy that is not helping the restaurant.  If someone calls in saying they are coming down, they don’t have to wait on line.  So, we could wait for 45 minutes (we did, actually) and if someone called in ahead, they would skip us on line.  That is a horrible policy.  It isn’t even a reservation.  It is just someone calling saying they are coming in.  If someone had just walked in and jumped ahead of us after than long a wait, we would have been upset.  The tables were not distributed well, with a gap in between tables where waiter’s couldn’t have passed through anyway, and no gap in places where they wanted to pass through.  As such, I was bumped by various employees every 2.5 minutes as they tried to squeeze through.

Icecream at John's Water Ice. Good deal for $2.50. Yeah, the pic is fuzzy.

The food was good at Sabrina’s, with the pancakes somehow being both fluffy and chewy.  When “S” was indecisive about which pancakes to choose, the waitress (Gillian) said she would surprise us and brought one pancake with strawberries, one with banana, and one mixed; this was a great touch.  You can eat at Sabrina’s just go early in the morning and avoid the huge line.

We also took the Free Tours By Foot – Philly.  The guide (Jen) was great and knowledgeable but the tour is not free because she very strongly expects people to tip her and is clear about it (on the tour).  But, the place to be clear about tipping being expected is in the tour advertisements so that people know that it isn’t really free and that they should bring cash.  “Tips appreciated” (even though they are actually expected) should be added to their advertisements.  The company has DC and NYC tours as well.  I’ll probably try the DC tour, but I’ll bring cash to tip the guide,

-JAY

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