#27 Jet Wine Bar - Sam's synopsis

Jet Wine Bar is a delightful little nook on South Street. I call it a nook because it's fairly small inside, with maybe 10-12 seats at the bar and another 3-4 at the window, plus a few ledges for standing room. I've been here once or twice before, and always enjoyed my experience. 

This time, I opted for the flight of wine, which we all opted for - so we had 9 glasses of wine at the window; always a plus in my mind. For $10, you get a red, white and rosé. You guys, we are really terrible at actually taking notes on what we have, so I don't remember the types of wine we had to drink. I also don't know much about wine beyond the basics - aerate the wine to release the flavors, use different shaped glasses to enhance the tasting experience, etc. Whenever I taste wine, I just want to claim that it has an oaky afterbirth and see if anyone notices my subtle Office reference (fun fact! that quote comes from the episode "Dinner Party," which might actually be the most painfully awkward 22 minutes of television to ever air. I still have trouble getting through that entire episode). I used to be a big fan of white wine, but I am coming to enjoy red more and more, especially malbecs (see, wine words! I know things!). With my newly refined tastebuds, I would put the red at the top of the list, with the white wine a close second, and the rosé at the bottom of the list as an emphatic meh. It wasn't that great, but the white had a nice dryness to it, and the red was fruity but not too sweet. 

We decided to get some appetizers to share, but since I was starving I also ordered a sandwich for myself. They had an avocado BLT that you could add a friend egg to, so I was sold immediately. We also ordered mac n' cheese and brussels sprouts. Erin ordered a dish with mushrooms and some bruschetta, but I don't like mushrooms and the bruschetta had gorgonzola on it, which I am also not a fan of - so I can't comment on how tasty those were. I really enjoyed my sandwich and would say it was definitely on par with the one I had at Miles Table (go revisit that review for a description!). The mac and cheese was definitely hearty, but I felt like it didn't have enough flavor to it - it could have used a little more seasoning/spice to it - I actually think dill would work very well. The brussels sprouts were delicious - thoroughly cooked and not too bitter, with a light sauce. While I didn't have any of the mushroom dish, the pesto that accompanied it was to die for - a perfect blend of ingredients. 

I want to point out that we were originally going to go on a Thursday night, where they host a movie with free popcorn. Their calendar also boasts of Tuesday tastings, Wednesday DJs, etc. It was also was pretty evident that Jet is a local neighborhood hangout, but even as a non-regular the service and food/drinks were spot-on. I think I would go here more often, but it seems every time we try and come by, the place is full of regulars - which of course I can't fault Jet for - if you deliver great wine, food and service, you should have that many regulars.

the bike parking is a corkscrew!

Jet Wine Bar
1525 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 735-1116

#27 Jet Wine Bar - Sandy's synopsis

Ah, wine. I don't drink enough of it. Part of the reason for this is because I do not go to places like Jet Wine Bar unless it is part of the highly ordered prolonged bar/restaurant crawl for this blog. That, fellow south street fans, is a grave mistake on my part. For even though I have been to Tria at its many outlets, and I love Tria -  I believe Jet does a much better job of making wine accessible. It also does a better job of creating an atmosphere of casual elegance.

So what is it particularly that Jet does so correctly to facilitate a great place to drink wine. They have a fun happy hour almost every day of the week. My personal favourite is their Thursday night movie night from 9pm onwards. What really steals the cake for me are their $10 wine flights which are available every day (I believe). This is a great way to taste different kinds of wine without burning a hole in your wallet and makes it accessible to so many more people by not restricting to just a special on one day of the week (like Tria does. Now I love Tria's Sunday School and it accomplishes a similar thing, but being only on Sunday is very restrictive)

As you might've gleaned from the above photo of my wine flight for the night, the lighting is pretty dim in there. It's problematic for blogging purposes but not otherwise. You could still see people's faces very clearly so conversation didn't involve awkward squinting. Sam and Erin who were with me can maybe vouch for that. Infact, I think their lighting is very pretty, evidenced by this next, probably also horrible photo.

Another aspect of Jet Wine Bar is that their food is very good. We ordered some mushroom bruschetta, mac and cheese and brussels sprouts. Sam also ordered a sandwich for dinner. Everything was very tasty. I have a minor issue with the mac and cheese in it not being cheesy enough - but that is also because I like my mac and cheese to be creamy and cheesy enough to threaten instant blood clotting. Jet clearly wants their customers to leave in the same state of physical health that they came in and perhaps a slightly happier mental state.

So, yes, please go to Jet Wine Bar when you have those wine cravings. 

Jet Wine Bar

1525 South Street

Philadelphia, PA 19146

215-735-1116

#26 DELIcious Bites - Sam's synopsis

Normally I am a fan of silly puns, but the MEHness of this deli/mini-market completely overruled any delight I could have possibly obtained from their attempt at cleverness. 

just looking at it makes me feel ill

Yes, the signs advertised hot soup, but there was no hot soup to be found. It was really fucking cold, so hot soup would have been amazing. So, I settled on a prosciutto panini instead, since it's a nice, thinly sliced deliciously salty piece of meat. I emphasize the fact that it's salty and thin, because you generally don't need a lot of it to enjoy the flavor. So imagine my surprise when I get the behemoth of a panini you see to the right. Jesus christ no one ever needs that much prosciutto on a sandwich, and this is coming from someone who loves all things salt-flavored. I literally felt like I was going to die of a heart attack/dehydration after eating half the

sandwich [1) I hope everyone reads this sentence in Chris Traeger's voice from Parks and Rec and 2) I'm not sure why I decided it was a good idea to even eat half of this sandwich in one sitting]. There was also balsamic vinaigrette, mozzarella, roasted red peppers and spinach on the sandwich, but could you really taste it? Absolutely not. In addition, the sandwich was pricey ($12.99! Why did I think a $12.99 panini from a place called DELIcious Bites was worth it?), the service was somewhat slow given how empty it was, and there is no indoor seating. The only thing this place has to offer is that it has a pretty decent selection of eclectic food goodies from around the world, but like my panini, they seemed rather overpriced. I don't forsee myself ever stopping here again unless I am desperate.

some healthier options...

We made our way to Tangier for our usual Monday night quizzo fun times, and it was there that I finally obtained some hot soup of the french onion variety. Why I thought it was a good idea to continue loading my body with salt I'm not sure, but I needed to get the overwhelming taste of meat out of my mouth (LOLZ she said meat in her mouth, okay guys, that one was too easy so you don't get any points for making a dirty joke about it). Since I was running on the very dregs of my paycheck that was issued before Christmas (damn you grad school for only paying us monthly and before the holidays), I ate the second half of the panini the following day for lunch. Let's just say I literally felt ten times worse than when I ate the first half of the sandwich.

DELIcious Bites

1603 South Street

Philadelphia, PA

(215) 546-1860

#26 DELIcious Bites - Sandy's synopsis

DELIcious Bites is a grocery store with a deli on the corner of 16th and South. I was excited for their advertised hot soup. It was very, very cold outside and soup would've been very, very nice.

I was however very, very disappointed because that brightly coloured inviting soup sign was a lie. There was no soup. Instead we found overpriced panini's. Their panini's sounded good and Samantha can tell you what she thinks of them. I got a plain and simple grilled cheese. In order to minimize the plainness and simpleness, I asked whether I could have some prosciutto on there and was told that it would cost me $5 more. Man - $5 extra. How much prosciutto were they planning on putting on there? Well I declined their offer but Samantha will address any curiosity you have as far as how much prosciutto they meant.

The grilled cheese was fine, nothing really to write home about - two slices of white bread with 6 slices of american cheese toasted in a panini press. If panini's are not your thing, they have salads and sushi.

All in all, DELIcious bites was overpriced for mediocre fare. I will never be returning here for the food.

#25 Entrée - McKenzie's synopsis

We've got a lovely guest review from the one and only McKenzie! Check it out below:

Entrée

Hi all, I am guest reviewing for Sam and Sandy!

For my guest review we went to the restaurant Entrée located at 1608 South Street. The restaurant was small but had a lovely atmosphere and beautiful wood work. The art was interesting and varied. From a painting of cardinals to an octopus. There weren’t that many tables and the menu was small but so many things we wanted to try. This restaurant is also BYOB so we had brought along a couple of bottles of wine (a red and a white) We decided to get a couple of appetizers to share and we pretty much each ordered one of the 5 or 6 listed entrees to try.

Appetizers

Calamari was excellent! The balsamic vinegar that was cooked into the batter was super yummy and made the rings a pretty color. I do wish they had included some of the tentacles, and not just rings, but that is a personal preference.

We also got the wedge salad. The salad dressing was excellent!

Entrées

Of the four entrees that we split, I ordered the steak with blue potatoes and asparagus. I asked for medium rare but it was a bit more on the medium side. It was also a bit salty for my taste. It was quite a large piece of steak and the blue potatoes were a nice compliment.

The chicken portabella was also delicious, especially with all the elements together the goat cheese was especially pleasing.

The broccoli rabe ravioli was very creamy.

The duck with butternut squash hash was delectable. I think the butternut squash hash was my absolute fave part of the meal. It was a little spicy and very nice!

Dessert

Since we couldn’t decide, we decided to get all 3 of the listed desserts. The mascarpone cake was very lemony, but since I don’t really like citrus fruits, was not my favorite. The fried oreos with pecan ice cream and caramel sauce was delicious even though I don’t even like oreos! The fry batter it what made it so good! I do have to say that my favorite was the Cannoli with ricotta and Nutella filling. I could totally have eaten the whole plate of them!

Not related to dinner, but I loved the bathroom. It had really fun sketches of statues and loved the mint green walls.

All and all we had a great time. Definitely would love to go back! Hopefully I will be back to guest review again!

~McKenzie

Entrée
1608 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 790-0330

#25 Entree BYOB - Sandy's synopsis

This block has really showed us some gems for good quality food. Magpie Pies, Miles Table and now Entree, have made this block the most delightful so far. So, prior warning, this review contains words like, scrumptios, delicious and some made-up words like fantabulous.

Entree is a BYOB with a very classic menu or in their own words "creative, balanced & simple". They tweak the classics in a fantastic way and every single item we ordered was delicious.

Here is a link to their menu: http://entreebyob.com/?page_id=264

While we perused the menu, our wine was openend and poured. Good start to, well, anything really. We were given bread (nothing special) with this amazing, scrumptious balsamic vinegar. I don't know whether it was just fantastic quality balsamic or they added something to it, but either way - it worked.

We decided the best way to go about things was for each to order what we want most and then share.

This is what ensued.

To start - the fried calamari and the wedge salad. I unfortunately do not have photos of these as they were devoured quickly and with much pomp. The calamari batter was very interesting, tasting more like a lentil batter used in "bajjis" from India. The wedge, was also good - although I generally find the mechanics of trying to eat a large wedge of lettuce to be very clunky.

It was hard choosing our dishes for the restaurants namesake course. They all sounded very good but here is what we settled on:

The grilled Angus NY strip with goat cheese mashed potatoes, caramelized red onion and grilled asparagus with a cabernet demi.

The chicken portobella with artichoke hearts, goat cheese and balsamic marsala pan gravy.

The seared duck breast with roasted purple potato and sunchoke and a sun dried cherry port demi.

Last but not least - A brocolli rabe ravioli special with roasted garlic marsala cream sauce and grilled asparagus. 

All the entree tasted great but there was a clear favourite - the chicken portobella was deemed the best of the group. If one HAD to choose. Which you wont have to if you go in a big enough group. 

After a very enjoyable meal with hilarious conversation involving the swiss cheese man, it was time for dessert. They had fried oreos with salted caramel and vanilla ice cream. Since I hadn't had a deep fried candy/cookie before, this was as good a time as any to try it. We also got the other two desserts on the menu - the lemoncello marscapone cake and the nutella ricotta canolli.

Fantabulous. Just amazalicious. They should deep fry everything. 

I'd like to end with letting everyone know that Restaurant Week is still going on next week and Entree is on their list. All the above dishes are on their 3-course menu so - if you are having difficulty deciding on a place to go - I would absobloominutely recommend Entree BYOB. 

Entree BYOB

1608 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

215-790-0330

#24 Pure Fare - Sandy's synopsis

Pure Fare caters to two specific populations very very well: 

1) People on a gluten-free diet

2) People who like smoothies

The first - I was unaware off until getting there. The latter was why I was mildly excited about this place - to have my first "green" smoothie. 

Let me address each of these in order. Pure fare has a list of sandwiches, which all sound pretty delectable. Everyone I had spoken to who had eaten there however never spoke highly of them. How bad can a sandwich be right? Well, what I hadn't heard was that all their sandwiches use gluten-free bread. Now people on a gluten-free diet would call Pure Fare's bread the best you can get. If you're used to eating bread with flour-filled deliciousness - gluten free bread will not cut it. My partner, who has celiac's disease, had their turkey honey mustard sandwiches and called it "Very good. A little expensive". So there you have it folks. 

The smoothie thing - I've heard everybody talk about it and the thought of kale and spinach liquefied with fruits sounds both repulsive and appetizing. I needed to know which it was.

Here is their menu:

I tried to go with the greenest of the green - the Leafy Green.

Sorry, that was a very boring photo. Proof that was indeed green? Well, it was definitely appetizing. It was not overwhelmingly any flavour with light hints of mint, green leafy vegetables and apple. I enjoyed it very much and definitely want to go back to try some other smoothies on their menu.

Pure Fare isn't for everybody. It is a mostly take away place, so the decor, though good, is irrelevant. The cashier/smoothies maker seemed extremely bored to be there - but it was a cold Monday with nary a customer in sight. i was bored to be there. The smoothie was really good however and I feel a smoothie obsession beginning with me. So I will be back to be bored with the cashier at Pure Fare as I drink my smoothie (that banana cashew one sounds delicious!).

Conclusion - if you want a smoothie or a slightly expensive gluten-free sandwich, Pure Fare is your place.

Pure Fare

1609 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

267-687-2292