Category Archives: Restaurant

Restaurant

The Seven Best Philadelphia Restaurants

The following is the list of my favorite restaurants in Philadelphia. Some are there because of amazing ambiance; others make their mark for the quality of food.

Dante & Luigi’s
One of the oldest and most successful of Philadelphia restaurants, it was established in 1899. The Italian immigrants used to dine at Dante & Luigi’s a hundred years ago. With its sepia-tinted photos highlighted with sunlight that streams make the place come alive, eating here is a fascinating experience. You will hear most food enthusiast in Philadelphia talk excitedly about Dante & Luigi’s because it is simply the best place as far as ambiance is concerned, and its food and service are second to none.

Butcher and Singer
Easily one of the best steakhouses in the whole country. Stephen Starr’s dream, it has luxurious surroundings and the service is equal to, or better than, any. The staff doesn’t just serve; they set the tone of the dinner and spread merriment and joy. The food is simply delicious and top-quality, while the menu does justice to both modern gourmet elements and traditional American fare.

Le Bec-Fin
This might seem slightly garish and feel a bit high-brow, but it’s very welcoming and caters to a wide range of clientele. Its 20-foot high ceiling support large crystal chandeliers, and give this place has a rather bright, but grand ambiance. The waiters, dressed in black, show how perfection can be improved upon. Its classic French menu offers the best French cuisine you can imagine; it’s the best place as far as food is concerned.

Morimoto
Ultra-modern interior and ingenious lighting make this place perfect for families as well as couples. Chef Masaharu Morimoto creates high-end Japanese cuisine that fits perfectly with the ethereal atmosphere generated by the unusual surroundings. Easily one of the best Philadelphia restaurants serving non-American cuisine.

Ristorante Panorama
You cannot hope for better service than this; it’s flawless. It has a formal dining area and this is the right place for big occasions or important business meetings. Chef Rosario Romano creates fascinating classic Italian cuisine. The bar is well-furnished and has more than 800 wines; you can the rarest of all premium wines, or you could sample something good that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket.

Sarcone’s
Compared to other established Philadelphia restaurants, Sarcone’s is a relatively new joint. It opened in 1997 and is now counted among the top restaurants in Philadelphia. It gives a great dining experience, but is not as pricey as the other top-notch restaurants, and it serves the freshest and most delicious food.

Union Trust Steakhouse
This is how you spell GRAND. One of the oldest and most traditional of all Philadelphia buildings, it has plush dining are with stunning decor that highlights the building’s earlier role as a bank. Not the place for dieting enthusiasts, everything comes big out here. The menu gives contemporary touch the tradition menu of steakhouses and will leave you licking our fingers.

Restaurant

The Concept of Concept Restaurants

Most restaurants aim to please by offering a variety of foods that will appeal to a large customer base. They strive for a pleasant appearance and efficient service. Concept restaurants stray from these goals. In a concept restaurant, customers get an out of the ordinary dining experience, according to the restaurant theme. The twist can be almost anything that is different than “normal restaurants”: the menu, decoration of the interior and tableware, location, experience, or a combination of these factors. Opening a themed restaurant has high risks. Sometimes the concept is interesting enough to draw customer at first, but too far-fetched to convince diners to return. Below is a list of 10 interesting restaurant themes. They range from beautiful scenery, to rashly daring.

10. Famous Service- Some restaurants are note-worthy for their fine service and attention to customers. However, top customer service is not the only way for a restaurant’s service to gain attention. Dick’s Last Resort (Boston, USA) has notoriously rude waiters. The Hooters chain restaurants promise a family dining experience, delivered by beautiful waitresses in revealing attire.

9. Themed Menu- Conflict Kitchen (Pittsburgh, USA) based its menu off of politics. The dishes offered are all ethnic dishes, originating in countries the USA is in conflict with.

8. One Main Menu Item- another way to spice up (or spice down) a menu is to offer a selection made up of only one main ingredient. OatMeals (NYC, USA) offers everything made from oatmeal; from savory and sweet oatmeal, to oatmeal cookies, the menu seeks to draw oatmeal lovers and adventurous diners to explore the versatility of the ingredient. Posibly the most popular main menu item is chocolate, but there are also business that incorporate blueberries, apples, potatoes, and even garlic into every dish!

7. Molecular Gastronomy- Alinea (Chicago, USA) is probably the most famous restaurant that build dishes using the science of molecular gastronomy. The idea behind this fad is to use science of flavors and chemicals, often mixed extremely well with a blender, and sometimes left overnight to better mix them, to make food that will taste like the original ingredient, but will have a manipulated texture and appearance.

6. Incredible Interiors- Snow (Finland) and IceBar (Norway) are two of many venues that boast ice interiors. Businesses with unique interiors will draw customers whom are curious to see how the concept was executed and want to enjoy and interesting environment.

5. Experiencing a Lifestyle- there has been a recent increase in the number of theme restaurants that seeks to give the customer an experience that mimics the life-style of others. Pitch-Black (Beijing), Blackout (Tel Aviv), and Opaque (various USA locations) allow diners to experience what it feels like to dine out for the vision-impaired.

4. All-round Concept- some concept restaurants design every aspect of their restaurant and dining experience around the central theme. Rosengrals Medieval Restaurant (Riga, Latvia) boasts a medieval menu, candle-lit medieval décor, and servers dressed in medieval attire.

3. Location- a great location can make a business thrive and be the concept itself. Just a few of these concepts are underwater restaurants, dining in the air while hanging from a construction crane, restaurants in the middle of the ocean, and tree-house cafés.

2. Unusual Payments- many restaurants around the world promise customers a free meal if their order is finished in a certain amount of time. For example, Kooky Canuck (Memphis, USA) will not charge a diner if he/she finishes a 7.5 pound steak in under one hour. Other restaurants challenge themselves, and their servers, to provide the best service possible, by allowing customers to pay what they want, based on their perceived value of the meal.

1. Wild Experiences- The best example of a wild dining experience is the Cannibalistic Sushi bar (Japan), where customers are brought a “cadaver” made of dough skin and sauce blood, and are instructed to “dissect” the cadaver and eat the “edible organs,” or sushi, inside.