June 21st-23rd Baltimore,DE,Philly Trip!

Max's and Woodberry Kitchen, no arguments there.

 

Will this be graded?

Philly-wise:

I love Jim's. Tasty and nostalgic, as I went to many shows at the TLA. If you want to try something different and kill two birds, the Seitan Cheese"steak" at Monk's is really great. I, sometimes, prefer this over a real cheesesteak. If you're near Monk's, Jose Pistolas isn't too far away and, sometimes, they offer a cheesesteak with scrapple. I need to be on top of that the next time I am at Pistolas.

Look for "Beer HEAVEN" as I've never heard of Beer Haven. Prices are higher, but the selection is good. Be sure to check dates for IPAs as the prices may cause the pales to stay around longer than intended. While in Philly, look for which Foodery location is close to your stops. Good selection, but higher prices (the norm for bottle shops in Philly).

Just a few things to consider. Keep us updated as the date nears.

- Joe

 

For Philly:

Tony Luke's is one of the best cheesesteak spots but John's Roast Pork is a local favorite. They have won a James Beard award but have weird hours.

Han Dynasty is incredible! I've recently discovered it a couple of months ago and have been back several times. Very affordable with very unique dishes. Many of them indicate the spice level on a scale of zero to ten. I highly recommend the Dan Dan Noodles, dumplings in chili oil and the spicy, crispy cucumber. Those are just starters but you can make a chep meal out of just that. Everything else that I've tried has ranged from very good to amazing. Not much of a beer selection though.

Matyson is a great restaurant in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood but is a BYOB. Plenty if shops in the area though(food and friends, corner foodery, foodery on 10th street). I haven't been to Pumpkin but Talula's Garden is another favorite of mine. Lots of seasonal, farm to table dishes. Almost every dish has something locally grown and they have a wide selection of cheese plates, charcuterie boards, appetizers, main courses and deserts. The scallops, duck breast and risotto are all very good. Plenty of vegetarian options as well. Nice wine list but I'm not sure about the beer. Most restaurants in the city have a nice selection of craft.

 

Not many beer destination near the places your visiting except in old city where the liberty bell and independence hall are. Check out eulogy, Irish pol, beirstube, triumph, khyber pass. Monks is a must but all of the following are within walking distance; Jose pistolas, perch pub, Vargas bar, nodding head, tria(2 locations).

Beer heaven is great selection wise but crazy expensive and not in center city. Craft beer outlet is great but in northeast philly(about 40 minutes from downtown). Other shops to hit are food and friends, foodery on 10th(although the 2nd street location is much better), and the corner foodery on Sansom. If you can you should try to make it out to the suburbs for Capone's, TJ's, Teresa's next door, etc. Hopefully this is helpful. Have fun!

 

Just to throw a 4th option onto your Philly anniversary: shop for beer at Whole Foods Plymouth Meeting and Capone's and drink it at Bluefin. (http://www.zagat.com/r/bluefin-plymouth-meeting) But that's the suburbs and maybe that doesn't work for you.

It all looks great! Stateline is worth it, but Total Wine on Naamans Rd is growing on me with the whole no sales tax thing.

 

3) Within the context of the question, and for the sake of tourism, I say Pat's.

5) Talula's Garden is the only one I've been to, but I highly recommend it!

6) Total Wine of Claymont has a huge selection but it is basically a seen-one-seen'em-all big box store. However, Jspriest is right, there is no sales tax in DE.

I recommended State Line before, and I will again, I really enjoy shopping there, and there is great selection of domestic and imported craft beers. They have strong discounts if you "become a member" (give them your email address). You are correct that it is a few minutes out of your way, though.

*Extra Credit: If you need some refreshment while you are in Old City, you could drop by Eulogy for a quick belgian brew.

 

If you're getting into Philly at 4pm I don't know if you'll have the room for a cheesesteak AND dinner at Han Dynasty. But maybe you will? If you wanted to go to the Art Museum steps you might want to go Sunday as you'll have daylight on your side as opposed to Saturday night.

I'm more of a Northeast Cheeseteak guy so I have no dog in the fight between Pats, Tony Luke's or Jim's.

The National Constitution Center is right across the street from the Liberty Bell and the special exhibit right now is about Prohibition so that may be worth your time.

 

I assume you are planning on taking the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (I think it is a pretty cool experience). You will probably be OK in the morning, but on summer Saturdays there can be significant traffic in the Eastbound direction. If you get held up on the bridge, you could always get your Maryland Blue Crab fix for lunch at Harris Crab House on Kent Narrows.

 

3) Tony Luke's. Pat's isn't really that good and Jim's will be an absolute cluster on the weekend (all of them can be but South Street in the summer is a whole different animal).

4) Han Dynasty is awesome - if you're still hungry hit this up for dan dan noodles, spicy dumplings and other legit Szechuan dishes (the chef prides himself in not adjusting or dumbing down his flavors for "stupid American palates," which is part of what makes it great). This is also right by Eulogy, Khyber Pass, Triumph and other Philly beer spots.

5) I haven't eaten at these places but Talula’s Garden and Pumpkin have been on my list for a while now for a special occasion. Definitely make sure you're making reservations in advance, and Pumpkin is BYO.

6) Corby covered the bottleshops pretty well, but if you have any consideration for what's "the cheapest," you unfortunately won't find that at any shop in the city. Perhaps stopping at Stateline might be better, unless you want a case of something from the distributor (Bella Vista, Society Hill Beverage, etc), or are willing to pay a premium for something you really want and don't have access to.

 

Talula's Garden and Pumpkin are both excellent. If you go to TG, be sure to get the cheese plate...

 

Just a couple Philly notes as others have covered you well. Jim's on South can have a line 50-75 deep on the weekends around meal times so you could wait a while depending on when you arrive. And Pumpkin or Matyson get my vote over Talula's as they are both BYOBs. With all the bottle shops you plan to hit, you'll probably find something you'd enjoy more with dinner than the $8 Victory Pils you'd get at Talula's (just an example, but they have a fairly limited bottle selection from what I remember).

Edit: Yep, didn's see xnicknj's post. He's on point about South St. on weekends in June.

 

Just a quick point about cheesesteaks: Most of the big name places (Pat's, Jim's, Geno's) are cash only. Just something you need to factor in. Tony Luke's takes cards. My vote would be for Steve's Prince of Steaks, but I don't know if the Center City location will be open by that point.

Basically everything has been said about Philly bottle shops. I might recommend stopping at Total Wine to get the more common stuff. Then go to Beer Heaven or the Foodery to get some stuff that isn't distributed to Delaware.

 

State Line and Total Wine both have big selections of domestic craft with a bit of a lead for State Line. Total wine is a hair cheaper and State Line has a much bigger import section if you're looking for something Belgian/German/Danish/Italian/etc.

The Rocky steps are near Eastern State Penitentiary (and sort of near the Love sign), so maybe you'd want to do those three together and the historical stuff together.

Also, the Reading Terminal Market is right next to Dim Sum Garden; if you've never had dim sum you should try some soup dumplings (#1 or #2 on the menu) - they're dumplings with soup on the inside.

I've only been to Pumpkin on your list but it was fantastic. It's BYOB, but you're stopping at a bottle shop on the way, right? Can't beat that for selection.

 

Faidley's has a great crabcake, but is only open during the day, closes at 5 or 6. Parking will be tight and expensive during the day on Friday. Dudas and John Steven's have decent crab cakes and they are only a few blocks from Max's.

 

3) As a tourist, you may want to just do the the classic Pat's/Geno's faceoff. Like I said in the other thread, LOTS of neon, and it's a whole big thing. Best food of the given options would probably be Tony Luke's. It's pretty close to the sports complex, so you might get some interesting local color if there's a Phillies game that night.

4) Han Dynasty is AMAZING. It's already been said, but it bears repeating: dan dan noodles. Han himself is a kooky guy who likes talking shit, too, if you can catch him.

5) Haven't eaten at any of the three restaurants you mentioned, but Pumpkin ranked the highest on Philadelphia Magazine's top 50 list: http://www.phillymag.com/articles/galleries/50-restaurants-philadelphia-2012/. Interestingly enough, Han Dynasty outranks all three...

6) State Line is absolutely worth a short detour. Selection is nearly as good at the Philly shops, without the Philly prices. I'd also try to hit one of the downtown-ish bottle shops in Philly for the stuff you can't find there.

 

I think your Saturday is a bit on the ambitious side. Given that Saturday is a "turnover" day in Rehoboth, you can expect to add an hour to your drive from B-more to Rehoboth. Also getting from Nassau to Rehoboth, though short on distance will be about 30-45 minutes, Rt. 1 can get VERY slow on a Saturday. Then heading north in the afternoon, you are dealing with the people leaving town heading back up north (probably not as bad as going there though.) Might be a lot less stress and more fun to just head to Philly and do more there then trying to over extend yourself.

 

Just a heads up that, in my experience, the line for Dinic's on the weekend can get unbearably long.