I've been here a few more times since, and they've cleaned up the service a lot. The food is still a bit on the salty side, but everything I've ordered - including some nicely prepared fish cakes and the newly added Rabbit Stew - has been very tasty and freshly made, not prefab frozen/canned. I'm impressed. I found out yesterday that they are owned by the same people who own the Drake, which I really didn't like, so I'm (pleasantly) surprised.

I've only been to Schmooze once (for dinner), but I'll definitely be going back. I had a fish entree with a tomatoey "provencal" sauce, and while not authentically anything, it was a really tasty fish dish. The borscht a companion had was also very tasty. The food seems unusually fresh (for a deli) and was well prepared, and the owner went out of her way to be friendly. My only complaint was that service was a little slow, but I chalked that up to newly opened restaurant snafus.

I agree, it's no Pumpernick's, but it's much better than most other places near Jenkintown. I live in Glenside, and it's so nice to have someplace other than Pho and Beyond to go to when I want to eat out close to home.

I received a mailer announcing this new pub and was kind of interested. I know lots of folks like the Drake, but I've been a few times and it wasn't for me: uninspired, mediocre food at best served in a loud and slightly unpleasant setting.

I visited King's Corner on Sunday and found it to be visually a little kitschy, but cute - somebody there is clearly an anglophile. It's also a bit loud - no soft furnishings or rugs to absorb the noise, but the dining room is at least physically separated from the bar so the noise was not unbearable. There are TV's everywhere - I can imagine that if you went during A Big Game it'd be pretty deafening, but our visit wasn't unbearably loud.

The menu seemed promising - your standard British pub food with a few creative/unusual dishes thrown in to mix things up. I ordered the "Chicken in a Pot" (chicken pot pie) with a side order of mushy peas; one of us had the Lamb Stew and one of us had meatloaf and a cup of clam chowder. I have to say I was extremely pleased with the quality of the food - maybe a hair on the salty side, but everything seemed freshly made and not canned. Presentation was interesting too - the stews came out in cast iron pots and everything was served on top of wooden "trenchers" (OK, wooden cutting boards but they get an A for effort :) )

Service still seemed a bit spotty but I chalk that up to the newness of the place.

Overall I found it to be a very pleasant "neighborhoody" sort of place with above average food and friendly staff. They also do brunch on both Saturday and Sunday, so I'm looking forward to trying that out. I can see myself becoming a regular here :)

http://www.kingscornerpub.com/

(edited to add link)

Help me choose. I haven't been to either yet, but have been interested in both. It'll be in late September on some weekday night. How is the $40 tasting menu at Bar Ferdinand? I hear they do flamenco some days? Is the show worth it, or is it cheesy? What's the inside of Koo Zee Doo like? (I've seen the inside of Bar Ferdinand). Any advice appreciated :)

I've been to this place a few times now and I've been really quite impressed with it!

It's a small plate type of place, vaguely Mediterranean. We ordered two dishes per person, but order three if you're hungry. Here's what we had last night:

Beef tongue agrodolce: small slice of tongue, charred on the outside, served with a raisiny agrodolce sauce and dressed arugula. Kind of an unusual preparation for tongue, but very flavorful. I just wish it were a tiny bit larger.

Pappardelle with chicken livers: This was easily the best thing I've eaten here. The pasta was cooked perfectly and served in a cream based sauce with braised kale and chicken livers. Really terrific.

Roasted cauliflower: Can't really go wrong here. I adore roasted cauliflower. It was served on the plain side, but it was well roasted.

Moussaka: This was only OK. Ground lamb, well seasoned, served with eggplant and bechamel.

Grilled octopus and potatoes with olive tapenade: This was again, on the small side, but really very flavorful. The octopus had a nice char and the tapenade was a nice counterpoint to the octopus and crispy potatoes.

Mussels with chorizo: This was a nicely sized portion of perfectly cooked mussels with a lovely broth nicely flavored with chorizo. Not greasy at all, as can happen sometimes with chorizo. I just wish there'd been more bread to sop up that broth!

Grilled shrimp with serrano and manchego: Three ginormous shrimp topped with serrano ham and manchego. Again the shrimp were perfectly cooked, but I wish they had gotten a little more charring. They tasted terrific though - the shrimp and ham and cheese made a really lovely bite.

Flatbread with prosciutto, wild boar soppresata and caramelized onions: There was a cheese on here too but I can't recall which one. This was also a nice size (10"). The caramelized onions took over from the pork a bit, but even so I would definitely order this one again.

For dessert we had the cookie plate (4 kinds of homemade cookies), an ice cream sampler from Franklin Fountain (Hydrox and Peach flavors) and the mini doughnuts (peach) - very fresh and fried to order.

We also had a pitcher of sangria base (we brought our own wine - they have pineapple punch base as well).

Four four people the cost was just over $110.

This place definitely has a few rough edges but it's definitely worth checking out.

I'm a Philly 'hound visiting PR for the first time in a few weeks. We're planning a trip to Restaurante Raices...do they take reservations? Their website didn't seem like they did. Also we were trying to get a feel for pricing - the website doesn't list the prices either. Thanks in advance! Very much looking forward to going!

Well thanks to you two I ended up trying El Jarocho anyway yesterday, and I'm glad I did. I've eaten at Los Taquitos de la Puebla before and enjoyed it, and I have to say this was at least as good. I had bbq lamb, tripe and chorizo tacos, and you're right, the chorizo tacos are terrific. The other tacos were just good. One of my companions had the surf and turf (beef, bacon, some other meats, and shrimp) which was also outstanding. The horchata tasted homemade, and pretty terrific on a hot day. I'd definitely go back, and it's a lot closer for me than the other places we were talking about. I'd like to go back on the weekends. I also need another trip to Los Taquitos de la Puebla :)

Thanks for the input guys! I'm glad I went.

Thanks buckethead! Found what I was after. I'm wondering now if Plaza Garibaldi would be better. It's not as close, but the reviews of El Jarocho didn't exactly sing its praises...

I could have sworn I read a review of El Jarocho on 13th and Ellsworth on this board, but now I can't find it :(

Anybody have any feedback on this? I was thinking of trying it out...

JG Domestic, in Cira Centre (the big office building attached to 30th St. Station) had some terrific veggie options the last time I was there. It's not specifically a veggie restaurant, but it may fit the bill.

Also, if you're looking for something cheaper, Mama's Vegetarian is always good, but it's very popular so there may be a short line.

http://www.jgdomestic.com/
http://mamasvegetarian.com/

"Real" for me means actual pieces of fruit, nothing neon and nothing that turns your tongue a color. When I was growing up my water ice had chunks of lemon peel or watermelon in it. Today you find root beer flavor or caramel corn or cotton candy water ice. NOT what I mean :)

Coincidentally my pretzels were hot, crusty and salty, not too long out of the oven, and ridiculously delicious.

I used to go to Pop's when I was a kid, but I went again a few years ago and it wasn't as good as I remembered. Could be I just had different tastebuds as a kid, but I had heard Pop's had been sold to someone else and I chalked it up to that. Seems like water ice (and pretzels for that matter) is going away and being replaced by cheap imitations. Or maybe that's just nostalgia talking?

I don't get why Rita's is so stupid popular. It's kind of gross. I'm definitely going to try John's, I've heard people talk about it but never knew where it was. Mancuso's is on the list too, but if they're not open at night that'll be a little harder to do.

Where can I find really good water ice? I really don't like Rita's :(

I attended last night's Taste of the Nation event and had a really outstanding (what I think was) vaca frita (what they called unappetizingly a "beef brownie" due to its appearance) from a restaurant I'd never heard of before named Square 1682, located at 17th and Sansom. It was a meltingly tender, slow cooked on the inside, caramelized on the outside piece of beef, very flavorful, served over a remoulade with a touch of chimichurri on top. It was easily the best bite I had all night.

Curious, I did some googling and see that Square 1682 sneakily crept in to last year's Philadelphia magazine "50 Best Places to Eat Right Now", at #50.

Has anybody been there? Any feedback?

They don't seem to have a website (I think I ran into this before), but their menupages menu will give you an idea of what they have: http://philadelphia.menupages.com/restaurants/tierra-colombiana/menu. I am not sure it's as large as the real menu (which ran for quite a few pages the last time I was there), but it'll give you a good idea of the prices and most of the menu:

http://philadelphia.menupages.com/res...

I'm not sure about the neighborhood, but I don't recall there being many "hang out" type places around there. They do have a bar area, though it may not be open if you go for lunch. Good luck and let us know what you think!

I've parked there many times and never had any problem. But like another poster said, street parking shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm usually there on the weekends when there seem to be more cars around, and I'm a bit lazy about the looking-for-parking thing, so I usually just make a bee-line for the parking lot ;)

+1 for Tierra Colombiana. The neighborhood really isn't that bad (it looks way more sketchy than it really is). As for parking, there's on street parking and you can park in the parking lot of the pharmacy across the street. As for the restaurant, it's fairly nice inside, not sketchy at all, and the food is terrific - very authentic (or so I'm told). And the prices \ portion sizes can't be beat.

I remember liking the American place (Jonathan's?) pretty well but thinking it was maybe a tad overpriced for what you got. Never made it to Mio Pomodoro, but I had heard it was decent. The inside of the station is huge, and when it was Jonathan's or whatever it was called, it was very pretty too. Kind of a shame it's empty now.

I agree barryg (and OP). I grew up literally around the corner from Federal Street Pretzels, and remember buying them hot in the morning from The Pretzel Guy who sold them from a shopping cart. He'd walk around the streets yelling "Frr-esh, Prrr-et-zels!" at the top of his lungs and you'd run out of the house and buy 5 for $1 and eat 2 of them, crunchy and steamy, on the way back.

I also remember getting decent pretzels at school for snacktime: a pretzel and chocolate milk or orange drink (never orange juice) :)

What they pass off now for pretzels is pretty terrible. Even at a lot of street vendors.

Thanks everyone! It looks like Osteria it is. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I love that they have half orders of the pasta. I'll be sure to report back :)

So I've been wanting to eat at a Vetri restaurant for a long time, and I'm just about to break down and make reservations, but I'm not sure which one to choose. Although I love all kinds of great food, I don't like anything overly formal or stuffy. I'd like to keep the cost to around $50 pp, sans alcohol, but I'm willing to bend on that to get a true idea of what people like so much about him. Can anyone comment on the differences between the three restaurants? I had heard that Osteria was more informal?

Wow AmblerGirl, I would never in a hundred years have gone into that place (it's right near my house and it's a little scary looking)....but you've never steered me wrong with a rec. I might have to rethink them now!

I drove by yesterday and the windows are all newspapered up. Either they are renovating (thank god) or they're closed (which would be sad).

Anybody know? I really liked their food. Service was slow as molasses, but the food was awesome and cheap.

It's not on their online menu, so that makes me a little scared ;) But I've heard alot about them, and I'm a Garces fan (I hear the chef there's an alum) and I was hoping to try them out this weekend.

I liked Trevi fine, but the crust at Jules is (oddly enough) even thinner and more cracker-like than the crust at Trevi. I found it to be on the bland side, too. The toppings are good though. I know it's a chain but I actually much prefer the pizza at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in Horsham. Not as many choices and not as large a choice as the other places, but better pizza IMHO.

Based on this post, I ate at Pure Fare today for lunch - I had the gazpacho and the beet\feta\arugula salad. The soup was just OK, but the salad was pretty good. I work down the street in Commerce Square and there's not a lot of healthy options nearby, so it's nice to have them around. I intend to try breakfast there next week.

I was glad to see that the new Le Pain Quotidien location on Walnut St (between Broad and 15th) *finally* looks to be opening! They were doing training when I passed by today at lunch. Very excited for this!

You definitely need fennel seed and garlic. For me, it's not a Philly roast pork without them. My mom (an Italian cook who learned from her off-the-boat grandmother) uses it, and also uses soy sauce(! definitely not traditional) on her pork, along with it's juices, after it's been shredded. She spices hers up and roasts it, covered in foil until it falls apart.

Holy cow, now I want roast pork.

So I've heard people mention here on the board that Horizons is pretty good, but I don't hear much else about it. What are people's thoughts? Is it good "for a vegan restaurant", or is it just good? What's good about it?