3 days in philly

despite being a northeastern native through and through, i had never spent any time in philadelphia beyond eating a cheesesteak at a bennigan's when i was 13 and my family was considering a move to cherry hill, new jersey (no offense to jersey folk, but i am very glad that move did not occur). so, with four days off of work for the fourth of july and everyone starting to slowly venture back out into the world, i figured it was the perfect time to check it off the list!

DAY 1:

i took the acela, which was actually pretty painless except for having to wake up at the crack of dawn to catch it. i got to philly in just about five hours and grabbed a lyft to my airbnb near rittenhouse square. 

i stayed in what's known as a "trinity" house, or a rowhouse that essentially has one room on each floor; it was actually featured on the show tiny house hunting a couple years ago. it was brimming with charm and character (my kryptonite!) but i will admit it would probably drive me insane to actually live there because even during my few-day stay, i kept forgetting shit upstairs or downstairs and had to go up and down the narrow spiral stairs and it was annoying af. but honestly...worth it for the ~aesthetic~.

once I dropped my stuff off, my first order of business was obviously to get a cheesesteak, so i made a beeline for jim's on south street, which i had been assured by several friends was the superior steak slinger (and in fact, the recommendation was prefaced every time with strong warnings to avoid pat's and geno's at all costs). 

the line was surprisingly short for it being 1:30pm on a friday, and even though i had been mentally rehearsing "whiz wit" for hours on the train ride, i was legit sweating—both from anxiety and the sizzling grill—as i approached the counter, especially as i heard each person in front of me in line, one by one, order incorrectly (aka completely normally). no matter...i remained fully committed and when the dude prompted me with a slightly gruff "whatchu want?" i cheerfully chirped "one whiz wit!" and i guess it worked because minutes later i was holding a beautiful steak sandwich with cheez whiz. still dreaming about it.

also, i ended up putting my mask on in line because people were all up in my space breathing on me, and when i was walking upstairs to the dining area, an employee goes, "miss, i just have to tell you that i do love your face mask [sidenote: it has musical notes on it]. i find it very...resonant. it really resonates with me." lolol.

because my phone is at the age where it is on the verge of death within like, two hours, i wandered down to function coffee labs, an adorable little spot, to charge it for a bit while sipping on a deeee-licious orange creamsicle latte. seriously, it tasted like childhood! amazing.  

lol @ the letterboard sign

i took a quick lil' stroll through the italian market....

and it was onto philadelphia's magic gardens. not much to say about them except they are so dope and totally worth the visit. it's basically a massive, living mosaic, created by artist isaiah zagar, that you can walk through. there's all these little tchotchkes, found objects, and cool little elements everywhere you look, and the fact that one guy created all of this is pretty insane.

then, i saw a sign for something called raxx vintage emporium, so naaaaturally i had to pop on in. as a woman with a major weakness for both weird knicknacks and t-shirts that say dumb things on them, i was in heaven. the knickknacks were the weirdest. the t-shirts were the dumbest. UNFORTUNATELY, the prices were also the highest. like, these tees are fantastic, but should be $10, $15 max! 

i also inserted myself into a conversation between staff members when one of them asked the other “do you remember the nickelodeon show the secret world of alex mack? and she replied “i’ve heard the name…” and i unintentionally made some pained noise aloud and they looked at me and i was like “man, you are making me feel old. i’m 35 and it hurts my heart that you don’t know alex mack! it’s a classic.” thankfully, the guy posing the question, who was 30, agreed with me. love 2 be an elder millennial!

my favorite thing to do when exploring a new city (y’know, aside from walking around) is to visit lowbrow and highbrow places in quick succession. i mean, i also love doing that at home, but it’s extra fun on vacation. for example: multiple philly friends told me i simply had to make a visit to the amazingly named and wildly decorated dive bar tattooed mom, not too far from the magic gardens on south street. 

between the punk soundtrack, the amazing leopard-print couch, and graffiti and stickers and art covering every square centimeter of the walls and ceilings, it made all of my dreams come true, for real. i reunited with a long-lost emerson friend, emily, and it was so good to catch up with her! she got a beer, but i decided to go all out and order the “pop rocket” cocktail, which had stoli raspberry, raspberry liquer, lemon soda, and POP ROCKS. incredible.

a visual representation of the inside of my brain

two of my favorite things in the entire world are whiskey sours and crab cakes, so when researching places to eat, you can bet i had my eye on the olde bar, this newish spot that's housed in the old original bookbinder's, a legendary seafood restaurant that opened in 1898 and closed in 2009. the olde bar's menu is a nod to the bookbinder's classics, and from the tin ceiling to the little ashtrays in the bathroom stalls (!), many of the cool, vintage architectural and interior touches remain.

truly, the most important thing i've learned as an adult is to ALWAYS MAKE A RESERVATION. it takes literally two minutes, it's free, you can always cancel if your plans change, and you. have. a. guaranteed. table. it took me way too long to actually get this through my head, but i finally had enough a few years ago after far too many friday and saturday nights with friends where we rolled up at like 6 or 7pm to a popular spot being like "it'll be fine!" and it was never, ever, ever fine. 

anywho...long story short, once i'd decided prior to the trip that the olde bar would probably be my friday night restaurant of choice, i made a reservation for two people and figured i'd see if emily wanted to join me, and just show up solo and claim that she ditched me if not. thankfully, she was all in and we had a fabulous old-school evening complete with whiskey sours and buffalo cauliflower and crab cakes and tuna frites and the chillest waiter of all time (like, he would literally do multiple drive-bys and be like "hope you're enjoying your drinks, see ya!" when we were trying to get his attention to order, hahaha). i also developed a crush on a bartender after we shared what emily referred to as a "tender moment" of smily eye contact that never happened again. standard.

we ended the night by taking in the absolutely insane stormy sunset and checking out an artisan market at cherry street pier.

DAY 2:

i continued on my quest to visit all of the coffee shops in philly (and the world, really) at elixr, where i had a yogurt parfait and another revelation of a drink: something called a "tahini shakerato," which was described as "a shaken combination of espresso, oat milk, soom tahini, super floral honey, and cinnamon over ice." the texture was almost milkshakey but not toooo rich and omgitwassogood, shit. i want one again now!

shakerato in hand, i strolled through rittenhouse square, which was lush and charming and even more adorable because there was a farmers market happening, where this little boy in a cute hat was selling flowers and *sigh* it was perfect. 

then i hoofed it over to the old city for my walking tour. as i’ve mentioned before, i’m a huge fan of walking tours in new-to-me cities for a few different reasons. 1. it helps you knock out all of the sightseeing stuff you’d want to visit anyway 2. the guides are super informative and can tell you cool stories/give you context you wouldn’t have otherwise and 3. you have the potential to meet new people! in particular, i’m a fan of free tours by foot, whom i’ve done tours with in new orleans and charleston. it’s a pay-what-you-want model, and i’ve just always had good experiences with them. the philly tour included elfreth’s alley, the betsy ross house, christ’s church, the liberty bell (well, through a window, because there’s a LINE to see the dumb bell?), ben franklin’s grave, and a few other places. 

while the cheesesteak is king around these parts, i had heard almost as much about the roast pork sandwich with sharp provolone and broccoli raab at tommy dinic’s in reading terminal market (a massive food hall), so once i found it amongst the million vendors, i hopped in line to try one.

for some stupid reason, i didn't want to sit at their counter because it was right next to the line of people and i needed my *space*, so i walked around for 20 minutes looking for a seat, gave up and got annoyed, got lost trying to find the counter again, and took my sandwich to love park where i watched people wait in line to take pics with the love sign and made awkward food moans. it was so damn good, yo.

right across the street is dilworth park, where there was a super cute roller skating rink. i'm telling y'all, it's the summer of skating!

SHOCKINGLY, my phone was dying again, so i figured it was a good excuse to pop into philly's famous la colombe coffee roasters for an oatmilk draft latte. i had impeccable timing because right then, the sky totally opened up and it started pouring for two solid hours.

but i could not leave the city without eating a soft pretzel, and so i walked back in the rain to the market and got a cinnamon-sugar pretzel from miller's twist and ate it outside in a "stall" that smelled like lots of not nice things but i just concentrated on the yummy pretzel and it was fine.

just prior to my trip, i had the bright idea to check and see if bourdain ever did a philadelphia episode of one of his shows, and indeed he did! on season 2 of the layover, he dedicated a show to philly, and knocked a few back at dirty frank's, so i immediately added it to my list. cash-only, no-frills. loved it and ordered a PBR because getting anything else felt wrong. can you spot bourdain in this photo??

for the second day in a row, i chased my dirty dive experience with an upscale eatery one. i feel like the older i get, the more i want to always be in very beautiful and chill places with lots of plants and lots of twinkly lights. i had seen harp & crown on instagram and was all "PLAAAANTS. TWIIINKLE!" and when my childhood friend tori wanted to grab dinner on saturday night i was like "mmm yes, i know just the place!" 

i had a glass of sauv blanc and she got a vodka/strawberry/champagne cocktail and we shared spicy soppressata pizza with shishito peppers/honey/provolone, tuna carpaccio, and garlic shrimp with white wine/paprika/lemon.

tori and i then tried to walk to this park, spruce street, but once again it started pouring, so we ducked into craftsman row saloon to get out of the rain. it was fine but it reminded me of a bar that would be in boston in a bad way. something in faneuil hall that's trying to be cool, but is really just a dark, generic gastropub? even the name sounds that way, right? i don't mean to disparage it! the staff was very sweet and my cocktail (the "worth a shot" with whiskey, honey, lemon, and white peppercorn) was good! but the vibes were just...strange. idk. they're apparently known for their insane milkshakes, so i probably should have tried one of those, but i was too full.

DAY 3:

coffee this morning was from OCF, a little spot around the corner from my airbnb. i strolled down the picturesque and always-illuminated addison street...

then i walked along the schuykill (pronounced "skoo-kull," i think?) river trail to the philadelphia museum of art, where admission was pay-what-you-want for the fourth of july. score! oh, i obviously had to run up the rocky steps, too.

and because all of the plants and twinkly lights were simply not enough to satiate me the previous evening, i met up with my friend jenny for brunch at talula's garden, an absolute fairytale dreamland where we had french toast sticks, beet-cured salmon gravlax, and avocado toast while talking about the hills and watching dutiful instagram boyfriends take photos of their ladies posing with mimosas. beautiful.

of course, #1 on my philly to-do list was to make a pilgrimage to the kurt vile mural that serves as the cover for my favorite KV album, wakin on a pretty daze. it's all the way up in fishtown, which i guess is the williamsburg of philadelphia? anyway, i got my photo before realizing there was a woman hunched over doing...something...in the parking lot behind me (puking? drugs? peeing? didn't stick around to find out). the whole area felt very apocalyptic and industrial and weird, so that was enough fishtown for me.

back in the center city area, i really, really wanted to grab a drink at this place called writer's block rehab, but they were closed for the holiday, so i just snapped a quick photo of the amazing lil' nas x mural on the side of the building:

i'd heard good things about the happy hour at double knot, a sushi bar, so i stopped in to order white wine and a spicy tuna roll. it was fine...but i was literally the only person at the bar—they apparently have a downstairs which sounded much more fun, but i was kind of intimidated because they had a separate host and i was unsure if they had a bar down there or just tables or what, so i sat with my sad wine and spicy tuna upstairs and made a break for it when the rain cleared. :(

for dinner, i sidled up to the bar at bud & marilyn's, an upscale comfort food spot with a '70s retro flair. i ordered a marilyn's old-fashioned (brandy, sprite, orange, cherry) and the seared "brick" chicken (a half-chicken with pickled heirloom tomato and roasted peppers, garlic-lemon drippings, paprika butter, herbs, and toasted sourdough). both amazing; the best cocktail and meal i had in philadelphia.

i sipped my drink and chowed down while the rowdy patrons down the bar ordered seven lemon drop shots, and then a dude plopped down a couple seats away from me, rudely talking on his phone in a foreign language, and immediately tried to buy me a beer while still on the phone. "i have my own drink, thanks!" i said dismissively. he continued trying to chat me up and i soon discovered he was a fencing coach from belarus who lives in georgia and was in town to recruit high school students. this is why i love eating at the bar, guys. 

we actually had a pretty interesting/fun/playful conversation that mostly revolved around his absolute incredulity that i, a woman, could be on a trip by myself for fun, and that i could eat that much chicken. he asked for my number and i gave it to him, both because i'm an idiot and because he did the thing where he had me put my number in his phone and he called it right then and there, so i couldn't get away with giving a fake. does anyone have any good advice for what to do in these situations? 

dear reader, i'd love to tell you that we fell madly in love, but i actually ended up having to block him when he started texting and calling me incessantly after i left (including, i shit you not, a text with nothing but the name of his hotel. yes, sure thing, with shakespearean sweet talk like that, i'll be right over, bro!) but alas. five stars for the old fashioned and the chicken!

post-dinner, after a brief, small crisis in which i turned my ankle on a cute cobblestoned street in front of unsuspecting residents having a barbecue and scraped my foot and had to go buy band-aids, i was craving a plain ol' ice cream cone and for the life of me, i. could. not. find. one. i ended up walking 20 minutes to sweet charlie's, a chain i'd never heard of nor been to. well, folks, they specialize in "rolled ice cream," which apparently takes like 45 fucking minutes to "make," and i was sweating and the weird belarusian guy was blowing up my phone and i was having a moment. but then i ate my festive little rolled ice cream and it was okay and i walked back to my airbnb to the sound of fireworks, then watched the fireworks on tv in the luxurious, air-conditioned comfort of my cute lil' trinity because i was tired and my feet hurt.

on my first afternoon, i walked by this insanely cute coffee shop, good karma cafe, and made a mental note to come back before i left. i had a few hours to kill before my train the following day and it wasn't too far of a walk from my airbnb, so i ordered a croissant and their "brown bear" latte with oat milk, caramel, and dominican mocha and sat at a little table outside to enjoy them. 

and then a kind of weird/funny thing happened that only i really care about, but this is my blog so you can deal. like a month ago when i was in the berkshires, i went into this store that was playing a song that caught my ear; i could tell from the voice it was by bad suns, a band i tend to dig whenever i hear their tunes but don't really seek out, but it ended before i could shazam it. i planned to look it up later but just totally forgot about it. so i'm sitting at this cafe and a guy who had been sitting nearby gets up to ride away on his electric scooter, and music starts blasting from it? slight rudeness aside, i'm into it! i shazam it, and what do you know? "daft pretty boys" by bad suns! almost positive it's the same song which is even stranger because it's like four years old. the universe comin' in hot! 

i also share this story to illustrate one of the things i love most about life that people don't talk about very much. like, if i hadn't been sitting there right then, i wouldn't have heard my current favorite song until who knows when. and scooter guy has NO IDEA that he helped me discover it; hell, he might have just been listening to a random playlist and not even know the song either! do you love it? because i love it. we're all connected in this crazy cosmic world, babyyy.

so, yeah, anyway. i still have like at least 15 places on my list that i didn't get a chance to visit, so i suppose a return philly trip is in order! 

here are some other assorted favorite photos: