Need restaurant recommendations for our trip in a few weeks (Philadelphia: spring break, universities)

[tcualum]

My son and I are visiting the Philadelphia area to visit colleges during Spring Break. I've always wanted to visit the city so I'm excited. Unfortunately, we will only be in Philadelphia itself for sightseeing Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. We will be staying near Rittenhouse Square. My son and I like going out to eat and are pretty adventurous. Does anyone have recommendations for great restaurants to go to? If any of them take reservations I need to do that now. Everyone says we need to have a Philly cheesesteak sandwich during the trip. Where should we go for that?

We live in a very different part of the country and enjoy visiting area chains and fast food places we can't go to at home. Most of the trip will involve driving to universities north of the city. Are there any places we should keep our eyes out for during that part of the trip?

Thanks for the advice. I've found that's better to ask here than look on places like Trip Advisor for recommendations.

[Gerania]

For food in general, you should go to Reading Terminal Market. Geno's and Pat's steaks is a great photo photo opportunity. Conveyor belt sushi?

[MarketStEl]

Pat's and Geno's are the places all the tourists flock to, and they're certainly two of the best-known cheesesteak shops. Pat's has the added distinction of being the birthplace of the cheesesteak.

But if you're staying near Rittenhouse Square, I would recommend that you get your cheesesteak at Cleavers (108 South 18th Street) instead. Both the steak and the rolls are of higher quality than either of the two Cheesesteak Corner places use.

In the RTM, the sandwiches to try are the roast pork Italian at Tommy DiNic's and the "Train Wreck" at Beck's Cajun Cafe. There are those hereabouts who argue that the roast pork Italian (with broccoli rabe and sharp Provolone) should be the city's signature sandwich instead of the cheesesteak, and the Train Wreck is a cheesesteak with a decided Louisiana accent (in addition to chopped steak, it contains diced salami and crumbled andouille sausage).

I'm not that familiar with restaurants in the northern 'burbs. I hope someone up that way will chime in.

As for good restaurants, this city is lousy with them. Tell me what cuisine you like or would like to try and I could probably find a restaurant that serves it. One place I could recommend right off the top of my head that you'd want to book a reservation for now is Suraya, a Lebanese restaurant on Frankford Avenue in Fishtown.

[tcualum]

We live in a major metro area and so we have access to almost everything. We like to travel and when we go we like to try restaurants the locals love. For example, why go to NYC and eat at TGI Fridays in Times Square? We love trying new ethnic cuisines. For example, we don't have any great Eastern European restaurants where we live so we went to one when we went to Washington DC.

I will definitely check out that Lebanese restaurant. While we have some great Middle Eastern restaurants none are specifically Lebanese. Do you have any specific dish recommendations? Those sandwich places sound delicious. I love trying out an area's specialties.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by tcualum

We live in a major metro area and so we have access to almost everything. We like to travel and when we go we like to try restaurants the locals love. For example, why go to NYC and eat at TGI Fridays in Times Square? We love trying new ethnic cuisines. For example, we don't have any great Eastern European restaurants where we live so we went to one when we went to Washington DC.

I will definitely check out that Lebanese restaurant. While we have some great Middle Eastern restaurants none are specifically Lebanese. Do you have any specific dish recommendations? Those sandwich places sound delicious. I love trying out an area's specialties.

I've only eaten there once, at lunch, so I'm not sure I would be the best person to recommend dishes there, but I can tell you that they make excellent hummus (and it comes with add-ins if you want) and that their brisket shwarma is quite good. (Shwarma is the Levantine version of Greek gyros. However, this one is made with chunks of meat rather than slices of a lamb mixture cut off a huge meat cone turning on a vertical broiler called a doner.)

You can also find various Eastern European, Central and South American, East and South Asian, and African cuisines represented here. If you've never eaten at an Ethiopian (or Eritrean) restaurant, I recommend you do so — and that you do so with friends. Ethiopian cuisine consists of stews and vegetables that you scoop up by tearing off pieces of a spongy bread called injera, with no utensils involved at all; the dishes are served atop the bread you will use to eat them.

One such restaurant I'd recommend in West Philadelphia is Dahlak, in the 4700 block of Baltimore Avenue. It was founded by an Eritrean immigrant who was working in Penn's Dining Services at the time (I interviewed him right around the time he opened Dahlak for the staff newspaper there); his widow carries on the tradition now.