The latest darling of Philly food is Walnut Street Cafe and I am fully on board. Situated, basically on the Walnut Street bridge, this cafe opened in June and serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, happy hour and dinner. The space is absolutely gorgeous. From the couches to the maticulous bar area, I really loved every piece of furniture in there. Most exciting to me, though, are the baked goods. Baker Melissa Weller is doing things that make me real happy. The biggest happy maker is that she makes khachapuri, a Georgian, calzone-like treat previously only found in Philadelphia at a very odd and far away Georgian restaurant called My Uncle's Backyard. The dough with handlebars is stuffed with che
This Sunday I got to take my parents for an amazing brunch at an urban farm in North Philly. As last top of #migrationweek in Philly, Goose Island coordinated the perfect morning at Life Do Grow Farm. The brewery brought plenty of their Sofie saison to mix with OJ for Sofie-mosas plus some samples of a few aged beers. We toured the farm and learned how Urban Creators revitalized an abandoned lot into a charming farm, event space, and site for youth programming in North Philly. They have monthly Farmer’s Markets every First Friday from April-November 5:00-8:00pm. Bang Bang Pie Shop from Chicago used produce grown on the farm to create a delicious brunch; warm biscuits with candied bacon, cre
One of the first "pieces of writing" I remember being proud of was a short story I wrote in 4th grade about trying soup dumplings for the first time. I remember being taught to eat them (by biting a small whole in the side) by a waiter I thought was very cute. Soup dumplings/ xiao long bao/ Shanghai juicy buns have been a love of mine ever since. I even made a video about how to eat them a few years ago. Getting to try these years later in Shanghai was an experience I will never forget- and now I can confidently say they are as good here as in China! My Chinatown Food Tours usually include an order of soup dumplings for the group. And they are usually from my top spot, Sakura Mandarin. I'll
