#35 Sweet Freedom - Sam's synopsis

Ah Sweet Freedom, what to say about you? Last time, my gluten-free friends were less than pleased with my review of Pure Fare, arguing that their bread choices are some of the best out there for those who can't tolerate the real thing. I think we will run into the same issue with my review for Sweet Freedom. While we got an assortment of treats to try, I would only rate one of them on par with a non-gluten/non-vegan baked good. Luckily for my (2?) gluten-free readers, our other review is a guest post from someone who shares your ailment, so you'll get a better assessment from that viewpoint. As for the whole vegan vs. not argument, that's not something I want to get into, but my general feeling is that if you're buying something from a local bakery, it's likely made with higher quality ingredients, so I'm not concerned with the whole "processed food is bad!1!!" issue. I'll admit, I think my baked goods are pretty tasty (although not local bakery-quality, but maybe a tier below that), so knowing what goes into your food is always a plus - I personally don't put a restriction on the types of food I eat... it's all about balance. But before this turns into a rant about food science (which I don't know a whole lot about), let's get onto the actual review.

We made a quick stop at Sweet Freedom on the Sunday of the Broad Street Run. They were apparently giving away free cookies to runners who finished, but since we decided not to partake this year (I've done the race twice, very slowly, while Sandya sold her bib and Steph may never have had the intention to run the full race) no free cookies for us. Oh well. The inside of the shop is quaint and cute, not unlike the now-defunct Philly Cupcake back at 20th and South, where if you remember ended in a non-food related trip to the emergency room. Except a lot less pink and a lot more pastels, which is a-ok in my book. Pink is fun, but in moderation. There were, of course, cutesy pictures of baked goods throughout the small shop.

Since there were three of us, we decided it would be acceptable to get several different treats to try. We went with the s'mores donut, the salted caramel cupcake, the fauxstess cupcake, two cake balls (one raspberry-flavored and one Samoa girl scout cookie-flavored), and a form of tiramisu. The clear winner for me was the s'mores donut, which I would put on the same playing field as non-gluten/vegan baked goods. All of the flavors melded well together, and it had a smooth taste to it - I often find the gluten-free substitutes to have a grainy texture, which is one of the reasons I don't particularly like them. 

it's always time for ice cream!

As for the other goodies, the salted caramel cupcake was very good - it definitely tasted like chocolate and caramel, but again it's that slight difference in texture that takes away from the flavor and makes the overall composition less smooth and fluffy. I've had the fauxstess cupcake (which is supposed to be like a hostess cupcake) before, and it was alright. I used to love eating hostess cupcakes as a kid - I had a very particular way I ate them: peel the chocolate frosting off on each side and eat that, then eat the curlicue frosting bit after peeling that off, split the cupcake in two and eat the filling, then either eat the cake or dispose of it. The fact that you can disassemble a cupcake that methodically probably means it is made up of terrible things for you, so I will give Sweet Freedom the one up on having a better quality cupcake. Also, I haven't had a hostess cupcake in years but I would probably think it's disgusting. 

The cakeballs weren't really up my alley, but they both had shredded coconut in them, which is one of my least favorite things out there besides mushrooms and olives, so that's biasing my thoughts on them. Fact: I don't even have Samoas in my top 3 favorite Girl Scout cookies. Obviously Peanut Butter Patties are #1. To be honest, I don't remember much about the tiramisu, which means it was probably pretty neutral (not terrible, not s'mores donut level).

I probably won't go out of my way to stop at Sweet Freedom - not because their baked goods are bad (in fact, they are probably on the higher end of gluten-free + vegan goodies) - but because unlike Cylons, they just don't go a good enough job of hiding their true nature.

Sweet Freedom
1424 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 545-1899

#34 New Tower Pizza - Sandy's synopsis

Tower Pizza is a little place close to broad street with good pizza. There are two things that a pizza place should have 1) pizza 2) milkshakes. There is nothing better, in my opinion, than eating a small cheese pizza with a vanilla milkshake. Tower did not have milkshakes. However, what they DO have is two very nice men behind the counter who told us that they would be getting a milkshake machine in the summer. I hope they weren't lying.

We ended up ordering a large cheese pizza to split amongst three people. 

The pizza was fine and we sat there under their fans and enjoyed our evening. Also - I love places that have fans. Especially in summer. I hate air conditioning - keeps one from appreciating the heat. 

Fans. Win.

So, if you like friendly service, fans, pizza and possible milkshakes - Tower Pizza is for you. They also deliver if you just like pizza. 

New Tower Pizza

1410 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

215-772-2777

#34 New Tower Pizza - Erin's synopsis

Hello there, this is Erin chiming in, a frequent companion on this saunter and roommate of Sam! I tagged along for the blog visit to New Tower Pizza and am here to tell you why this place is great.

First of all I should mention that I have ordered delivery from New Tower many times in the past. I tend to judge pizza places on their plain cheese slices and I think New Tower makes a pretty decent cheese pizza. They usually have the right amount of grease and cheese without the bells and whistles. I’ve also ordered their wings in the past and do not recommend those unless you like your wings deep fried.

My first in-person visit to this place was a few months ago with Sam while we were drunk and craving a slice of pizza after getting off the Broad Street Line around the corner. Not only did New Tower stay open late for us, they gave us an entire pizza for the price of a couple slices. Sure we proceeded to drop some of the pizza on the sidewalk while stumbling home, but it was good enough that Sam insisted on eating it off the sidewalk (much to the amusement of the smokers in front of the Cambridge). That’s right folks; this pizza is so good when you’re drunk you will risk all the diseases that come with eating food off the ground in Philadelphia in order to not waste a single slice! 

This visit was much less eventful. We stopped in for dinner on a week night and were the only customers for much of our meal. The guy serving us (I think he might have been the owner) seemed excited that were staying to eat and in really tried to go out of his way to make our pizza fast. We ordered a large pizza with mozzarella and ricotta but they were out of ricotta unfortunately so we settled on just the mozzarella as extra cheese. The pizza came out hot and melty as any decent pizza should. My only issue was the crust didn’t seemed cooked all the way but I blame that on the server rushing our order out to us as the crust has been fine every other time I’ve ordered from here. In general the toppings offered didn’t seem that special so I’ll probably stick to my usual plain cheese slice.

The restaurant itself is clean but plain. Most of their business seems to be from deliveries as I noticed the delivery guy coming and going the whole time we were there. I’ll continue to order in from New Tower but probably will only stop into the store if I’m on my way home from the subway and need a quick bite. 

New Tower Pizza

1410 South Street

Philadelphia, PA

(215) 772-2777

#33 Jamaican Jerk Hut - Sandy's synopsis

You can plan something for months and months and just when it seems your plan will work - it is cold and 50 degrees outside. Sigh. We hadn't really cared what time of the year we'd end up at what restaurant - except for the Jamaican Jerk Hut. We really wanted to come here when it was warm. We really wanted to drink beers while sitting outside enjoying the warm weather and the live band while the food warmed us further with its spices.

This springter (I know it sounds like sphincter) made sure that did not happen. Even though we had gorgeous weather earlier that week - on the day we were free to go - it was freezing. Well, c'est la vie sometimes - we still got some beer from Tangier and decided to make the most of it, despite our disappointment.

It isn't a very big place without the outdoor seating and so we booked ahead just in case. If your party is small though you don't have to. You will notice pretty immediately that Jamaican Jerk Hut gets a large number of people who do take out instead of sit in - which is a great option for the neighbourhood. They have a great selection of Jamaican food and I definitely had the "I WANT TO EAT EVERYTHING ON THIS MENU".... feeling.

We started with a deep fried shrimp with pina colada dipping sauce. It was a little strange because the sauce was not kidding around with how much like a pina colada it tasted. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so sweet. It wasn't bad, just a strange taste sensation. I do not have pictures of this - we ate them too quickly.

As for my entree I decided to not go fancy and try some good 'ol Jerk Chicken.

The platter comes with fried plantains, beans and rice and a very very interesting vinegar flavoured lettuce mixture. I cannot tell you how satisfying this was to eat. It is not for the mild at spice at heart(?) -  as this dish packs a nice punch. I loved how spicy it was and the rice, lettuce and plantains complimented this very much.

The chicken was succulent and very very flavourful. As a plus, there was enough food that I had a good chunk leftover for another meal.

Now here is my dilemma and I haven't decided how I feel yet. The day after I ate the jerk chicken, I had a tummy upset. I thought that maybe there weren't connected and I really was hoping they weren't. After I ate the leftovers, I had a tummy upset again.

My tummy upset could be a lack of spice tolerance on my part. I LOVED the food. So. It could just be me and personally for me, I don't know if it was worth it. While eating it I repeatedly asserted how absolutely worth it it was. However, the next day, I distinctly remember admitting that maybe it wasn't. 

Now that it has been a couple of weeks since the incident - it was totally worth it. 

Jamaican Jerk Hut

1436 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

215-5458644

#33 Jamaican Jerk Hut - Sam's synopsis

so tropical

Jamaican Jerk Hut might be the most famous restaurant we've been to so far - it's been featured in a Hollywood movie AND on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Despite such publicity, it remains a humble restaurant bent on serving authentic food. The interior is painted to resemble an isolated beach - I definitely wished I were sunbathing on the shores with nothing but palm trees and blue ocean, but that might be partly because it was chillier than it had been all week, meaning sitting outside wasn't an option. One of the biggest perks of the restaurant is their outdoor space, which is very large and consists of several bright pastel (that's probably a bit of any oxymoron but I can't come up with a better description) picnic tables. In the summer, there is live music on Fridays and Saturdays and I even saw a bunch of live music there during Blocktoberfest. I seem to remember reading/hearing that the lot where their live music/outdoor space is has been bought, and they are relocating the outdoor area to an adjacent lot, but I can't seem to find evidence for that anywhere.

that's a lot of food

Another BYOB, another 6-pack from Tangier (as of writing this, I only have 9 beers left! woot!). We started the meal with coconut shrimp, but I'm not a huge shrimp fan so I didn't try any - you can ask Sandya about that one. I did eat a lot of the lettuce on the plate though, and that was good, but I was also very hungry. For my meal, I went with the brown stew chicken dish. I suppose being at a Jamaican Jerk Hut I should have probably ordered the jerk chicken, but if you read this blog on a semi-regular basis (Hi Kate??) you should know by now that I don't really do the whole spice thing. Also, anything with gravy in the description is usually a sign of something delicious - and that assumption was spot on. Most of the platter dishes come with rice, cabbage, an assortment of vegetables and a fried plantain. Mine, of course, was also slathered in brown gravy and whatever that gravy was made of was pure heaven. Thick, salty and flavorful (LOLZ), it really made the dish in my opinion. The chicken itself was moist to begin with though, and it tore apart really easily, which in my mind means it was cooked to perfection. The rice and cabbage were equally good - cooked to just the right level of softness and were good vehicles for extra gravy/flavor. I only wish my dish had come with some corn on the cob, but I got to try my neighbor's and it made me happy. One of our party was adventurous and had the oxtail dish - it sounded like it was pretty good but I didn't get a chance to taste it. I also didn't end up eating my plantains (blasphemous, I know) but I imagine they were pretty spot on.

it wasn't until the end of our meal that
I realized drawing on the table was
an option.

Jamaican Jerk Hut is a staple of Philly and featured in the media for a reason - it is tasty, affordable food with a home-cooked vibe served by friendly staff. It's got great outdoor space, and helps maintain a sense of community within the neighborhood. My only complaint is how quickly I needed to find a bathroom, although I guess that's to be expected when you order gravy...

Jamaican Jerk Hut
1436 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 545-8644