Philly in the summer

For good beer/food at the same time, my last accounting was Strangelove's/Resurrection/Kraftwork in any order, albeit a little dated. Beyond that there are innumerable restaurants.

For outside stuff, my picks are the PHS Beer Garden if they do it again (nothing special in plastic cups, but dumpy good environment) and Memphis for cans/hot dogs/marginally combative Phils (haven't been to Morgan's Pier and Frankford is a good space, but if you're going for beer, I'd go Brahaus too).

 

...Good morning...
In Old City, the note worthy ones are Eulogy Belgian Cafe, Khyber Pass, National Mechanics. Revolution House is cool upstairs. Try to get seats outside. As much as that area can be crowded with Jersey Shore type, it isn't really that bad. You're not going to have to fight them for craft beers as they tend to go to other places. I do enjoy crowd watching there though. As mentioned, Han Dynasty is a great Chinese restaurant that isn't your typical average Chinese Restaurant. Not too far away is Zahav, a modern Israeli place that everyone raves about.

South Street area, Brauhaus Schmidtz is a must (already mentioned by someone else). I enjoyed the English pub setting of Dark Horse Pub, but I think it's closed now and I'm not sure what was opened in its place. Bainbridge Barrel House is a place with a huge tap list. The owner's family owns one of the largest retail distributors in Philly/PA so he gets a lot of good stuff. For food, Tamarind (Thai, BYOB) and Alyan's (Middle East, BYOB).

In the Art Museum/Fairmount area Bishop's Collar, Bridgid's, London Grill are 3 places you can hit in the same general vicinity. The Belgian Cafe isn't too far away, but not in the close proximity of those 3 places.

Other bars I can think of that I'd recommend at random and throughout the city: Memphis Taproom, Pub on Passyunk East (POPE), Devil's Den, The Industry (check out Federal Donuts nearby), Prohibition Taproom, Kite & Key, Resurrection Ale House...

For brunch, Green Egg Cafe (several locations, BYOB) is my favorite. Bar Ferdinand is fantastic for brunch. Jerry's Bar has the best pancake, great food in general, and decent beer selection. Upscale places that are worthy for brunch are Tinto and Garces Trading Company.

OK, enough yapping for me...Cheers!

 

No, asshole. I meant Sancho Pistolas. Located in Fishtown, around the corner from Johnny Brendas, Barcade, Frankford Hall and Fette Sau

http://www.sanchopistolas.com/

 

Bro, chill. I was kidding (that's what the "Hahahaha..." was for).

 

I'm assuming from your post that you'll be in the area for a few days only. If so I agree with HRamz3 that you want to stay in the city.

However if you were here a bit longer one thing that might work for you on a Sunday, after a night out, is a bar crawl using the train. With an Indepdence Pass (day pass) for about $12 you get about an hour's worth of R&R on a train from Center City out to Downingtown. Time your arrival to be there in time for the 11 am bruch and a beer at The Station Tap Room. After that you take the train back in to Malvern for a stop at the Flying Pig and something on tap there. The next two train stops on the way back to the City would be TJs in Paoli and after that Teresa's Next Door in Wayne. Again both have excellent tap lists and you might just feel in the mood for some appetizers at one of those two places. You could then finish off the day with dinner and beers at Tired Hands in Ardmore before heading back into the city and your hotel.

 

You will need to buy a tired hands growler but you can get more than one beer filled. But you are only allowed one growler of each beer they have per person, per day

 

I would recommend staying in the Rittenhouse area around 15th to 18th. There is the highest concentration of good bars there. You don't want to be walking around for miles in the July heat if you're only here a few days. Stay at the Sonesta, for example, and you'll only be 2 or 3 blocks from Monk's, Good Dog, Tria, et al.

 

Both are in nice areas. I'd opt for Palomar, it's close to Rittenhouse. The Monaco is near the reall big historical tourist area. Also check out the Sofitel.

 

Here's a list that just came out yesterday. The writer is a Philly guy and long-time food writer (in otherwords, he's probably been to most every beer bar in the city). I think his list is totally solid (oh, I'm not him).

http://www.foodrepublic.com/2014/03/25/10-great-places-drink-craft-beer-philadelphia

 

TH will fill other growlers as long as its not from another brewery......Had 6 filled on New Years Eve......all from WF and there were many other folks filling stainless growlers as well.

EDIT.....just looked at TH site.....New growler policy is posted ...Only TH growlers and only one growler per beer.

I would check out Forest and Main as well if you have time. Great beer and really nice bartenders

If you like Baseball check out a Phillies game. Not a great team this year but great stadium with great beer choices and you can stop at P.O.P.E. on the way there. Not sure if its half price beers till 6 anymore or not but I used to stop there before games a lot.

Enjoy

 

P.O.P.E. is all drafts 1/2 price from 4-6, Monday-Friday. Sat/Sun it's 11-1.

 

I think that's Chris Christie posting...