#32 Sawatdee - Sam's synopsis

I figured that Sawatdee was likely a word or place related to Thai, so I looked it up - it is basically a word that can be used as a greeting or a farewell, not unlike namaste, which I think is a bit more ubiquitous to us Americans thanks to the popularity of yoga. I'm sure my Thai friends know a lot more about the origins of the greeting than my 5-minute search on wikipedia, so let's get to the review. This is a blog about food after all, and not one about religious and/or spiritual interpretations of restaurant names and how they relate to the dining experience.

This is the second Thai restaurant we've been to (My Thai being the first), so now I can make a comparison for all you people who think we should be rating places, etc. I definitely enjoyed Sawatdee more than My Thai. I thought the food and the ambiance were both better, although the service at both were about the same - friendly but nothing over-the-top. The inside was well-lit with lots of blues and greens, which happen to be among my favorite colors, so it felt very peaceful and soothing inside. The windows are large and provide a nice view of the street, which is especially convenient for people like Sandya who bolted faster than I have ever seen most people bolt to catch the 40 bus while it was stopped at a red light outside.

Overall, I found the food very flavorful. Each bite evoked a variety of enjoyable tastes and because of the weakass white person that I am, had very little heat to them. Sawatdee is a BYOB, so we again brought beer from Tangier to help further our drink 91 beers in 91 days cause, so no comments on beverages. I do always enjoy Thai tea though, and I think the next time (if there is another one) we visit a Thai restaurant I should get one, although I won't be able to compare it to any drinks from a South Street establishment.

We started with some crunchy spring rolls, which were nothing novel but still tasty.

For the main dish, I ordered massaman curry, which is made with potatoes, carrots, onions and coconut milk. I ordered mine with tofu, because I am a pseudo-vegetarian like that. Actually, I just really enjoy tofu because it can take up just about any flavor - it's the vegetarian's chicken, and chicken happens to be my favorite kind of meat. I have to say though, I much prefer fried tofu to non-fried, and this dish had the non-fried variety. Nevertheless, the curry flavor was delicious - just on the sweet side thanks to the coconut milk but with savory flavors of vegetables and spices. Again, for me, the lack of spiciness is good, and I enjoyed how strong and well-balanced the flavors were in my dish. I would go back if I were craving food from a Thai restaurant, and probably order a Thai iced tea.

And of course, prior to dinner, we started our evening with the Philly Special - PBR and a shot of whiskey, because you know, it's Bob and Barbara's.

Sawatdee
534 South 15th Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 790-1299

#32 Sawatdee - Sandy's synopsis

Sawatdee is a small BYO specializing in Thai food. It has a very inviting exterior with a soft neon green hue that spills through the window. I do admit, irrational as it is, I have wanted to eat here purely based on how happy it looks and makes me feel as I walk by.

However Sam and I staved off the urge to enter this green haven in order to perform a couple of side-quests.

The first one involved going to Tangier and picking up a 6 pack of beer for dinner.

Our second objective was to obtain and ingest what is commonly known as - "the Citywide Special".

So we stopped once more at Bob & Barbera's to have a shot of Jim Bean with a can of PBR.

After bravely completing this task we continued onto Sawatdee. Since Stephanie, the gluten-intolerant of our group was joining us, I asked our waiter if their menu could accommodate her. There was definitely some confusion about what gluten was and even after explaining what we meant it took a little while before it was cleared up. Apparently someone backstage was under the impression that celiac's disease was a rice allergy.  Final verdict? - The curries on the menu can be done gluten free, which is pretty standard for a Thai place.

With that sorted we ordered the spring rolls as an appetizer for Sam and I.

They looked pretty and were very satisfying.

For the entree, I ordered the pad-see-ewe-moo or more commonly called "drunken noodles" with shrimp. I'm not sure why it is called drunken noodles.

Anyhow, the second I put it in my mouth I realized something was missing. It then dawned on me that I hadn't stressed (like I usually do) that I like my Thai food spicy. Rookie mistake. So, the noodles were good, but I cannot give you a true verdict for Sawatdee having not experienced how hot they are willing to make their food. However, it was still very flavourful, despite the lack of heat.

We toyed around with ordering dessert, but decided not too. I recommend trying them if you do go here - their poached banana with coconut ice cream sounds delicious. 

And with that we forge onward on our main quest to conquer South Street. I expect a mini boss battle on Broad street - our self imposed half way point.  I imagine anthropomorphic versions of all the restaurants we gave bad reviews for assembling into one big robot... or something.

Either way, I am going to miss this section of South Street. We have had some wonderful food, some Bob & Barbera's and some very good times.  I wonder if we will hit another food haven like it on our quest. 

Sawatdee

534 S 15th street

Philadelphia

PA 19147

215-790-1299

#31 So Crepe - Sandy's synopsis

This is the first crepe place we have encountered on South Street so far and it did not disappoint. The interiors reminded me of Entree with the brick walls, which lend an elegance to most rooms. Like Entree the atmosphere was very welcoming and cozy with shout outs to France on all the walls.

So Crepe has their regular menu as well as specials for the month and boy was I glad when I saw that a mushroom and ham crepe was one of the specials. I don't think I have told you about my love of mushrooms yet - I assure you, it is undying. Before I focus specifically on the mushrooms, let me say that their menu had a lot of creative variety from the junk food-esque hot dog crepe to one with Brie and pears.

So back to the mushroom crepe, this is what it looked like:

The ham and mushrooms were cooked in a creamy Bechamel sauce and my selfish criticism about it is that the ham was a distraction from the mushrooms. I love mushrooms THAT much. The crepe was light and perfect. What stole the limelight however was the mushroom creamon the side. It was the fluffiest, melt in your mouth, mushroom flavoured dollop of heaven you will ever taste. My ideal crepe would be mushrooms cooked in a creamy white sauce with this mushroom cream generously inserted into the crepe.

They had a few dessert crepes on the menu with the popular fruit + nutella offering. The one that caught our eye however was the very simple crepe + homemade caramel. It is a pairing I had never tried before and the menu claimed it was a very traditional dessert crepe.

It was very satisfying -  not too heavy, not too sweet - the perfect end to a heavy main course. Their homemade caramel is very delicious.

If you're hankering for some crepe, this place is a fantastic choice for the center city area. Hell, this whole block is a fantastic choice for the center city area. So buy yourself a six pack at Tangier around the corner and have yourself a great evening at this awesome BYO.

So Crepe

1506 South Street

Phladelphia PA 19146

267-761-9310

#31 So Crêpe - Sam's synopsis

Nothing beats authentic food. The owner of So Crêpe hails from Lyon, France - a city well known for its many earthly delights. I actually spent a week in Lyon living with a host family during a high school exchange program, and while the specifics might be vague, I have many fond memories of my week there and I did get to partake in several homemade Lyonnaise dishes. My palate was not quite as refined as it is now, so I cannot divulge any delicious details (a.k.a. I have a terrible memory), but trust that it was all phenomenal.

The inside décor is cozy - it's well lit with bright colors, and some obviously French-inspired wall art. I also like that they have two clocks - one for Philly time and one for Lyon time. It doesn't quite feel like a charming french café, but I think it's pretty evident that this restaurant takes it cuisine very seriously and wants to make the food as close to the real thing as possible without actually being in Lyon.

So Crêpe is BYOB, which works conveniently for those of us participating in the Headless Camel Club at Tangier (basically, drink 91 beers in 91 days - I am now half way done with two months left

oh brie, why are you so delicious?

to go, so basically, I've been drinking heavily for a month now). We chose an assortment of beers to bring along so we could both enjoy delicious food and make progress on our lists. For a meal, I went with the So Brie: brie, arugula, pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes. Wow - So Delicious! Having been a brie eater for quite some time now, I've noticed that there is a very obvious difference between high quality and low quality brie. Low quality brie tends to leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth and is less creamy overall. This brie was most definitely high quality, and on par with what they use at Café Lutecia (one of my favorite little cafés in the city, which also has French owners). The combination of ingredients was perfect, but my only complaint was that the sun dried tomato was more of a garnish than an ingredient - there was a small dollop on top of the crêpe, but nothing mixed in. This, however, did not detract from the dining experience.

For dessert, we decided to split a caramel crêpe - a nice blend of salty and sweet. I think I would have preferred a but more caramel inside, but I like a lot of sugar and sweetness - this is perfect for someone who has a hankering for some dessert but doesn't want anything over the top. I definitely want to return again the next time I'm craving any type of crêpe, and I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a very thin pancake stuffed with sweet and/or savory food items.

P.S. I googled "so crepe doge" and I'm glad to know the internet and I are on the same wavelength.

So Crêpe
1506 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(267) 761-9310

#30 The Cambridge - Sam's synopsis

While there are several bars in the same vein as the Cambridge throughout Philly, it's a welcome site on this stretch of South Street. They have a fantastic beer list and I would label their collection of cocktails as "classy," take that as positively or negatively as you will, but I enjoy them. And even though the price to taste ratio is not quite as high as I'd like it to be, the Cambridge is always a solid place to go for a drink or a bite to eat.

I want to point out that the people who own the Cambridge also own the fantastic Hawthornes, which recently fell into some hard luck due to an apartment fire above their shop. So even if the food may have been a bit pricey, knowing that it can maybe help contribute to the rebuilding of one of the best places to grab beer on draft and in bottle brought me some solace.

appetizers galore!

We had quite the large contingent that evening, and happened to arrive at a time where there was room to fit our party of 6-7 people. And while only a few of us were there at the start, the hostess sat us right away and they didn't seem too annoyed that it took some time for our complete party to arrive. I only comment on this because I've worked in several restaurants for a total of 5+ years, so I am super hyper sensitive to all the annoying things patrons of restaurants can do. Not to say that our party arriving at different times was an issue, but just glad that the waitstaff was happy to accommodate us despite not everyone being there right away. And before I somehow manage to turn this into a long rant about the pros and cons of seating parties right away even if everyone isn't present, I will get onto my actual review.

ginger beer + rum = :)

To start, I perused their extensive beer list to try and decide what I was in the mood for - I settled on Bell's Cherry Stout, which was an excellent choice. Deep in flavor and something good to sip on while waiting for food to arrive. For appetizers, we went with brussel sprouts, pork belly crostini and charred octopus. I have recently become a huge fan of brussel sprouts, and these did not disappoint - nicely roasted with lots of flavor (they were served in a cider reduction with pancetta, parmesan cheese and chili flakes). But, I have to say that the pork belly crostini were the winners of the night for appetizers. Delicious, creamy pork belly fat balanced with some sweet (fig) and bite (lemon). I, unlike Sandya, am not a sucker (haha, good one Sandya) for octopus, so I did not venture a try, mostly because there was a lot of food being ordered and I wanted to save room for my meal. Somewhere in there I ordered one of my favorite cocktails, a Dark and Stormy, as a follow-up to my cherry stout. It did not disappoint.

the main (f/d)ish

Speaking of which, I ordered the salmon, which was served with crispy skin, puréed celery root, more brussel sprouts, carrots and parsnips and chive coulis. I think this is where my complaint about price to quality ratio arises - the dish was $17 but I didn't find the salmon particularly stunning in the taste category, and the side veggies and fancy edible accoutrements were not as flavorful as I would have liked. The meal wasn't bad in any way, it just wasn't memorable. The appetizers, on the other hand, were better constructed, which is why I would suggest this place more for a bite to eat than a full meal.

The Cambridge
1508 South Street
Philadelphia, PA 
(267) 455-0647