Looking for great food with craft beer in Philadelphia or nearby!!!

My Personal Favorites, Monk's in Center City, Good Food and the best Beer list in the area http://www.monkscafe.com/ In the suburbs Tired Hands has really good beer, I prefer the Old location for casual lunch, http://www.tiredhands.com/cafe and in the further suburbs you can't go wrong with the beer list at Capone's in East Norriton http://thebottleshop.biz/home.htm

 

Teresa's Next Door in Wayne. Belgian oriented menu and great tap list. Loud acoustically when crowded but otherwise outstanding for food and beer.

 

Beer Bars: Monks Cafe, Bru, Eulogy, Varga, Brainbridge Barrel House, Tria Taproom, Khyber Pass, Cambridge
Brewery: Tired Hand (both brew cafe and Fermentatria)
Food: Zahav (Israeli), Fat ham, Vedge (all vegetarian), Vernick, Sampan, Kanela, Barbuzo...
Best Tacos: South Philly Barbacoa (only on Saturday and Sunday)
Beer + Mexican seafood: Jose Pistola, Sancho Pistola (both have fantastic Spicy tuna Guacamole)
Cocktail/Speakeasy: Ranstead Room
Pizza: Pizza Brain, Zavino

I lived in Philly for 4 years and moved out of it in last fall. Some of these spots are hard to find. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Also, if you can get a reservation try "Laurel"

 

My 2 cents.

If you go to Tired Hands and don't have a lot of time just to the Fermentaria as they have a larger menu. As the brew pub doesn't serve hot food as its kind of a small old store. They will take another company's growlers and give you one of theirs. Be prepared to spend as their beer/growler prices are very expensive. I would suggest trying to do a IP trade for some of their cans as they can be substantially cheaper then growlers.

You should definitely go to DiNic's in the Reading Terminal Market. Best roast pork sandwich. Also there's tons of other things to eat in the market.

Also try out Federal Doughnuts for some awesome fried chicken. The doughnuts are not great in my opinion but they sell Korean Fried Chicken which is extra crispy.

Don't waste your time/money at Geno's or Pat's cheese steaks. Instead take a ride to Dalessandro's Steaks. Arguably the best cheese steaks in town. It's a shoe-box joint but if it's dry they have a few tables out side.

I'll second Monks (also a shoe-box), Jose Pistola's (around the corner from Monks), and Eulogy. Not a fan of Bru.

Lastly buy some cholesterol medicine and a 1lb of Habbersett scrapple on the way out of town.

 

Guess I was thinking more like an anniversary dinner thing with good food and good taplist, not Tired Hands sandwiches and street food or, eat something here and get some beer there. Maybe the OP can be more specific.

 

Haven't been to the Trias but heard good things about them. For seafood, the Oyster House on Sansom is very good. Small but rotating and diverse taplist. We usually go to bars with good food and good beer, not restaurants per se. Anniversaries with a "5" or "0" on the end should be a little bit more upscale.

 

If you are looking for Churchville like vibe then go to Cambridge or Tria Taphouse or Varga or Brainbridge or AllaSpina or Strangelove or sidecar . These are mix of decent food but good draftline. If you really want to sitdown for good food go to Zahav or vernick. If you want to have unforgettable dining experience get a reservation at Laurel.

 

If it does not have to be fancy and you like BBQ, try Khyber Pass in Old City. They usually have a nice array of big dark beers on too. If you want some more varied but very good food options with great tap list, I would second The Cambridge. And if you are looking for a brewpub vibe, then 2nd Story Brewing in Old City does both beer and food very well.

Monks obviously has a great beer selection and incredible mussels, but I think the rest of the food menu is pretty average. Tria is good in both departments but the food is smaller (flatbreads and the like) and can get pricey.

 

Another not-fancy option and not far from New Hope is Vault Brewing in Yardley. Cool place, good beer (only in-house brews) and a smallish but tasty menu.

 

I'll toss in nods to Alla Spina and Tria Taproom.

 

This a million times.

And they sell bottles of beer.

 

If you live by New Hope you can go to The Vault in Yardley. I think the food and beer there is fantastic.

 

See Responses #11 and #13.