On Thursday, Steph and I had lunch at Zabb City, literally 66 steps from our apartment. They've got a $6.95 lunch special which is an awesome deal. AND they're right next door to Momo Milk Bar...that is awfully convenient.
Over our bowls of Thai chicken soup...
...and pad kee mow, Steph said, "why don't we ever travel together?" And so, the following morning, we packed our bags and made off to Philly for the weekend. It was as easy as that.
The main reason I don't travel to nearby cities more frequently is because I have short patience for bus rides. It's silly but true, and a mindset I must work on fixing. The ride to Philly (my first trip!) was two hours - not too shoddy. We arrived in the late afternoon and dashed down to gelato on 20th Street with our weekend bags and a sweet tooth.
In my dream world, the gelato boy and I would have fallen in love and we would escape to to Italy and master the art of gelato making. Post gelato-apprenticeship, we'd move back to NYC, purchase a West Village townhouse and open a gelateria across the street.
But alas, real life presented a different (though no less wonderful) story. Steph and I ordered the biggest gelato cup on the menu, complete with four flavours and a side of whipped cream. Pistachio, Bacio, Cassatta Siciliana, and Turkish Coffee Gelato made up the quartet. My favourite was a tie between the Bacio, complete with toasty hazelnut bits, and the Cassatta Siciliana, a ricotta number with candied orange zest. As for the Pistachio, I think L'arte del Gelato is significantly better, in terms of flavour, though not necessarily texture.
Whipped cream makes my heart go pitter patter, pitter patter :D
We ate quick, hoping to make it over to Reading Terminal Market for warm buttered pretzels before the market closed. Unfortunately we were too slow, and the market had just closed. Not to be let down, we wiped our tears and walked further down south to Jim's Steaks for a pre-dinner snack of Philly cheesesteaks.
Cheesesteak with Provolone, Mushrooms and Peppers. Just a nice little appetizer, hehee.
Post-cheesesteak, John picked Steph and I up for dinner at the Continental. Here we had what must be the city's largest tower of...
...shoestring fries. Chinese mustard sauce on the side. We also shared a few plates, including...
...French Onion Soup Dumplings...
...Scallops Au Gratin, Potato, Bacon, Mornay...
...BBQ Chicken Quesadilla and Avocado Sour Cream...
...and Pan Seared Hanger Steak with Blue Cheese and Red Wine Sauce.
After dinner, another gelato craving came about. And when I have a gelato craving, I HAVE A GELATO CRAVING. So we went back to Capogiro, only to the 13th Street location instead of the 20th Street location.
Why not go to both if you can, right? :)
This time around I had the medium cup instead of the large, which was probably a good idea, considering we just had our first cup no more than three hours ago. Toasted Almond, Dark Chocolate, and Thai Coconut Gelato. A fine flavour combination.
And because the night was still young...
...we headed to the nearby Tria right after to finish off the very lovely and low-key evening with wine and beer.
And that was our first Friday in Philly :)
Zabb City
244 E 13th St
New York, NY 10079
(212) 529-8770
Capogiro Gelateria
117 S 20th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 636-9250
Jim's Steaks
400 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 928-1911
Continental Midtown
1801 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 567-1800
Tria
123 S. 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 972-8742
Capogiro Gelateria
119 S 13th St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 351-0900
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