Sean has been going up to Philly almost weekly for the last 4 months. His company has a big client up there and I’ve seen him go from ho-hum about the city to really enjoying his time there during this time period. Around Christmastime, he started mentioning that I should come up sometime and we could stay for a weekend together. When he had to be up there for a week AND weekend for work, we made plans for me to join him Friday-Sunday. Read on to see what we did but I’ll start by saying the city truly exceeded my expectations!

I arrived Friday night and took the train from the airport to Center City to meet Sean. Beware that the trains don’t come that often – I just missed one and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one! 

Sean planned a “progressive” dinner for us so after dropping my stuff at the hotel, we went to 2 nearby restaurants for one dish as each before heading over to Chinatown. Our first stop was El Vez, where we had their queso dip that’s made with Manchego cheese. YUM. The we went to Jamonera, a tapas restaurant, and had a salad with fried goat cheese, fennel, hazelnuts and a pear compote. So good.

The rain was holding off so our walk to Chinatown was cool but dry. We stopped in Red Kings 2 Restaurant to share stir fry of pork and long hot peppers, jasmine rice and hot tea. Chinatown was vibrant and fun with tons of eateries, bakeries, cafes and shops.

Saturday morning I was on my own so after a nice breakfast at the hotel, I walked about 15 minutes to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

With the inauguration the day before and all the Women’s Marches happening that day, it seemed beyond fitting to spend my morning at these historic sites. 

I met Sean for lunch and we walked over to Reading Terminal Market to have lunch at Dinic’s. The market is similar in look and feel to Sweet Auburn Curb Market in Atlanta, although MUCH larger. Aisles lined with food stalls, grocers of produce, meats and seafoods, and stands selling specialty food and gift items. It was loud, bustling and a lot of fun. The roast pork sandwich from Dinic’s with sharp provolone, broccoli rabe and a hot pepper did not disappoint.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and Sean and I split off so I could go into a few shops and try to find a new scarf since I’d lost mine the night before. I had success at Lou Lou’s where I got this beautiful on scarf on clearance at 70% off!

We took a short rest then ventured back out into the cloudy (but still rain-free) day to get a tea (for me) and a coffee (for Sean). He took me to this fav spot Elixir Coffee – a very cool place. I got a soothing Ooling tea and we walked to a nearby park to sip our brews and people-watch.

City Hall and the “Love” art installation were next on our places to see.

For dinner, we headed over to Zahav – an Israeli restaurant that Sean had been to before and loved. We hadn’t been able to get a reservation so we got there early to get our names on the list for seats at the bar. Then a reservation never showed up and we got their table – win! Since we were so comfortable, we decided to have the four-course dinner and even broke our “dry January” to have wine pairings. The highlight of the dinner was definitely the salad course which came with 6 mini “salads” – things like roasted eggplant, pickled Napa cabbage with dill, roasted and shaved beets, fennel with dill and lemon, etc. This course also came with their hummus which was the creamiest, smoothest yet lightest hummus I’ve ever had. The laffa (bread) was also amazing. 

Our course of small plates were also yummy with the fried cauliflower and the grilled halloumi cheese with a candied butternut squash being the highlights. Then came dessert and my order of Apple sorbet was absolutely to-die-for. The apple flavor was perfection and so unexpected in a sorbet. Served over iced pomegranate, this was a bold choice for wintertime but absolutely superb in every way.

We hit up the awesome beer selection at the bodega across from the hotel and then watched some TV to end our amazing day.

On Sunday Sean was able to leave work in the morning and so we headed to Federal Donuts for breakfast and I had THE best donut of my life. They make their hot and fresh donuts with a flavored sugar coating and I chose Strawberry-Lavender. OMG. Heaven. An off-the-clock employee of the joint sat next to us and we all started chatting. He was so nice and brought us out three more donuts for free. We were for sure on a sugar high but it was worth it for such a special treat.

We wandered around South Street area before having a cheesesteak at Jim’s Steaks.

I gotta say, I had pretty low expectations for cheesesteaks but this one FAR exceeded my expectations. The cheese whiz on it was awesome, the bread was soft and the onions and peppers had so much flavor over the tender meat. I’ve been dreaming of it ever since!

And that was it for my first trip to Philadelphia. I know there’s so much more to see and I hope I can go back soon. A really great start to travel in 2017!