I figure I should start with the food first as it will be either the first or last thing I forget. Of all the food I've had in various cities, I will admit to Philadelphia having very good eats. The flavors are perfect although sometimes salty and the locales are pretty chill as far as places to eat go. You don't get the usual staring of Chinatown, the rushing you out the door if you are a single diner, and the weird looks if you walk in like how I'm usually dressed (jeans and a t-shirt). The food ranges from really dirt cheap to really pricey, the pricey being excellent quality and taste, and the dirt cheap to only okay and manageable for the amount of money you pay. Its not too hard to eat healthy here and not too bad either. I'm listing the restaurants that I've tried below with price range from dirt cheap to expensive.
Any and every food cart - greasy as to be expected, but the people are nice and the ingredients (if you get a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, onion) are decently fresh. There are many carts that have designated spots so its not too hard to keep going to the same place over and over.
Wawa - for those of you who don't live on the east coast, wawa is a convenience store that also offers fresh sandwiches and side dishes for pretty cheap (soda, sandwich, and chips for $7). The service varies because it is a chain, but the sandwiches are decently consistent. In the summer they have the "hoagiefest" in which they have certain sandwiches for 2.99. Its pretty sweet and pretty cheap.
Subway, Quiznos, Au Bon Pain, Jimmy Johns - The usual suspects of fast food chains that are slightly healthier than BK and Mickey D's. I will admit to eating a lot of this stuff, but I will also say that the quality here is much worse than in Michigan with the exception of Jimmy Johns. Subway is pretty much the same, meaning its still kinda weird, but quiznos was much much worse. AuBon Pain was also pretty bad and filled with extra preservatives that made my stomach grumble in pain. (read: much different than the ones in Boston which may or may not be fresh when you wander by to get a sandwich.)
Slightly More Upscale - These places are a bit more expensive ranging at 10 - 15 per meal, but the price and locations are usually well worth it. Some notables include Pizzacato (4th and Market in Olde Town), Jones (Chestnut and 8th), Miga (16th and Sansom), Vietnam Restaurant (12th and Vine), and El Fuego (7th and Chestnut). Good food, good price, and decent locale if you want to sit and eat by yourself. (Bring a newspaper or something to read though. People watching gets old when the crazies actually stare straight back at you.)
Very Pricey - These places would include Table 31, Morimoto, Fogo de Chao, Chima, and Continental. The food is AMAZING and quite tasty. Fogo and Chima are both Argentinian steakhouses with all you can eat limit of their salad bar and their cuts of meat. Give it a try, it's quite good. Table 31 and Continental are both nice trendy sit-down places where the music could use some turning down, but the overall ambiance is pretty chill. Morimoto was definitely the most expensive, but good food for the price. Sushi is only sushi when you've had it at Morimoto. (yum.)
All in all I was surprised by the quality of the food and not so much by the genre's available. The home of the hoagie is always a good choice but I do enjoy more variety in food. The service is also pretty consistent so what are you waiting for? Go eat!
Friday, August 28, 2009
A few things...
1. Food poisoning makes you skinny. Mad skinny. Especially if it lasts more than two days.
2. I hate food poisoning.
3. Poor fridge. I am throwing everything out.
4. Moving is more annoying with furniture.
5. My parents have a master plan for me and I have no clue what it is.
up next? A complete review of Philadelphia. In several parts. (maybe by area? maybe by scenes? (like available produce, farmers markets, people, different areas, fun places, not so fun places, smells, and good places to kick back and relax.)) I think I'd do the food one first anyhow.
2. I hate food poisoning.
3. Poor fridge. I am throwing everything out.
4. Moving is more annoying with furniture.
5. My parents have a master plan for me and I have no clue what it is.
up next? A complete review of Philadelphia. In several parts. (maybe by area? maybe by scenes? (like available produce, farmers markets, people, different areas, fun places, not so fun places, smells, and good places to kick back and relax.)) I think I'd do the food one first anyhow.
Monday, August 10, 2009
blah
I should really stop playing around on the internet and do what I'm supposed to do, take practice sections until my eyes bleed and my pencil lead coats my hands in an effort to solve all the problems in the physics world on scratch paper.
Despite my knowledge that I should and need to bring up my mcat score by two points, I continually dick around by playing facebook games and reading news articles. The articles might help my ability to score better on the verbal section, but the games definitely don't help ^ ^;;
We'll see how it all goes down. I still have until Wednesday night/Thursday morning to practice and get all the information in my head organized... we shall seeeeeee... in the meantime? not cooking at all. just buying food and eating it. it's a terrible waste of money. but whatever. I figure if I try to cook something at this point I'll probably burn it in my distraction.
Despite my knowledge that I should and need to bring up my mcat score by two points, I continually dick around by playing facebook games and reading news articles. The articles might help my ability to score better on the verbal section, but the games definitely don't help ^ ^;;
We'll see how it all goes down. I still have until Wednesday night/Thursday morning to practice and get all the information in my head organized... we shall seeeeeee... in the meantime? not cooking at all. just buying food and eating it. it's a terrible waste of money. but whatever. I figure if I try to cook something at this point I'll probably burn it in my distraction.