Diners Without Borders

Yup, we got a brand new CityPaper food issue. This time around the format is “culinary tour[s] through some of the city’s most appetizing neighborhoods.” Fishtown, Fairmount, Graduate Hospital, Northeast Philly, South Philly, Washington Square (is that even a neighborhood?) and West Philly all make the cut. Below, our succinct guide to the finds.

Fishtown: The old guard of Sulimay’s and Byrne’s Tavern gets props, while Johnny Brenda’s and the M Room are the places to go if you “don’t want to become retarded from lack of vitamins.” Their words, not ours.

Fairmount: The coffee at Mugshots is damn good, L’Oca is popular for northern Italian and hey, there’s even an Ethiopian restaurant!

Graduate Hospital: G-Ho’s got the Israeli coffeeshop La Va Cafe, longtime favorite Bob & Barbaras and gastropubs. A whole lot of gastropubs.

Northeast Philly: The diners are slipping downhill and portions are much smaller at the Country Club, but immigrants are bringing in good ethnic restaurants like Paloma and Manila Bay to break up the pizza & Chinese monotony.

South Philly: God bless the CP, they send a vegetarian to cover South Philly, where cheesesteaks and chicken parm both make up their own food groups. Everyone loves the pretzel factory and the Penrose Diner. Meanwhile, Marra’s really does have killer pasta.

Washington Square: Welcome to Stephen Starr country. Morimoto? Washington Square? Yup. The big news is recent Indian opening Palace At The Ben.

West Philly: West Philly is the “home of the cheap.” There’s $1.50 Trinidadian doubles from the Brown Sugar Bakery, Ethiopian classics at Abyssinia and the Laotian cuisine of Vientiane Cafe.

Summer Restaurant Guide ‘07 [CityPaper]

Diners Without Borders