#55 Evil Eye Café - Sam's synopsis

Well, we ended up dining at Evil Eye Café on a bit of a whim, since the original plan was to check out Hot Diggity. We arrived at Hot Diggity only to find that it was completely dark, with all the chairs stacked up on the tables. There was no sign on the door/window indicating why they were closed (since their hours indicated they should have been open), nothing on social media about the reason they were closed, etc. It was pretty frustrating, but then a few days later I saw this, which explained everything. The curse continues, as we've now seen at least 4 places close while partaking in our saunter. Although 4 out of 55 is only about 7%, so we could be doing a lot worse.

With our stomachs and hearts empty, we made the executive decision to stop at Evil Eye Café. Ben and Jo were pretty excited to be joining us for Hot Diggity, but due to some poor timing of phone exchanges/driving and Sandya needing to get some work done, we had to scramble and get our food as soon as possible. Sorry Ben and Jo! 

The inside of Evil Eye reminded me very much of coffee shops in Rochester for some reason - I think it was the overall vibe and the brightly colored paintings. The theme of all the paintings was not unsurprisingly, the evil eye charm, which is used to ward off misfortune and bad luck. I am a big fan of this motif - I have one in my car that has kept me safe for years and I definitely purchased a few as gifts while I was in Greece. I never knew the name for theses - nazars - and I just learned the difference between an amulet and a talisman (a talisman provides good fortune or luck in addition to offering protection), so this blog continues to educate me in many ways other than food. There also is an art gallery upstairs, but the café was closing in the next 45 minutes so we didn't get a chance to go check it out.

I went ahead and ordered my food, but turns out the place is cash only, so I had to run across the street to an ATM. It was a chilly night, so I ordered lentil soup and something referred to as a sort of Turkish quesadilla. The lentil soup was served first, with a lemon on the side. I knew this was a good sign, because growing up my uncle would always take us to this Lebanese restaurant outside Boston, and they had the best lentil soup I have ever tasted and it was always served with lemon. The soup was delicious! The lemon adds a nice tanginess that works well with the lentils, and the broth was very savory without being overly salty. Next was the Turkish quesadilla, which was a thin, flat bread with cheese and spices, including dill. I freaking love dill. It's one of my favorite spices, so I had to order this. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite. You can't really mess up bread/cheese/spices, and it was certainly very tasty, but I feel like it could have been a little more flavorful. 

I really wanted dessert, and I was in the mood for chocolate so I went with the chocolate cheesecake. Sandya had also ordered this so the woman running the counter (who was very friendly) tried to get me to order something else, but I was stuck in my ways. Honestly, I would have gone for the tiramisu, but it looked a little too soggy at the end of the day and not very appetizing. The chocolate cheesecake was meh - it was kind of bland and heavy, and not very creamy as I was hoping. I'm hoping the other desserts are better.

All in all, while I was not expecting to be dining at Evil Eye this particular night, I really enjoyed the food and experience. I am a big fan of evil eye decor in general, so I liked the ambiance of the place. I also noticed that there are a large number of outlets by tables here, which makes this a great place to come by, have a good meal and get some work done. I'll also note that they serve ice cream, which still continues to be a slightly rare commodity in Philadelphia for some reason, but I suppose I am spoiled having grown up in a summer vacation locale. 

Evil Eye Café

628 South Street

Philadelphia, PA

(267) 872-7560