Philadelphia record stores.

[Dmitry]

We will be spending next weekend in Philadelphia, watching the English Premier League matches.  Which record stores do you recommend? I don't crate-dig any more, so if you could recommend well laid-out stores with neatly inventoried, clean records that would be very appreciated. I'll probably stop by the Princeton Record Exchange on the way...it's been 20 years.

[Teasing the Korean]

My brother lives there, and I will ask for an update.  When I was last there, pre-pandemic, the best stores were in Fishtown, easily accessible from the El (Market-Frankfurt line).

@felser can help too.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Teasing the Korean]

The Passayunk store is Beautiful World Syndicate.

The Fishtown stores are Phila Record Exchange and Milkcrate Cafe (also a coffee shop).

Also Brewerytown Beats in Brewerytown, especially if you are into soul and R&B.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Dmitry]

4 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

The Passayunk store is Beautiful World Syndicate.

The Syndicate lists over 100,000 titles in their Discogs store. That's pretty crazy. They are selling a number of Mosaic sets.
I wonder which of the stores you wrote up isn't the most voluminous, but has the best selection of original pressings.  My tastes are pretty much jazz, some classical, some "world music". For some reason I never got into buying rock records. 

The restaurant we like in Philly is called Amada. It's a traditional Spanish fare. We had the roast suckling pig, cochinillo asado there on two occasions. You have to reserve it several days in advance, and pay a $100 deposit, because they have to brine it for one or 2 days prior to roasting. The chef dismembers the piglet in front of you, on a special cart, while other restaurant patrons are watching from their tables in silent awe. I caution that it's big enough for parties of no fewer than four experienced diners and will easily fill 6 average people. Pig comes with three very large traditional Spanish peasant side-dishes: garbanzos and spinach, fingerling potatoes and delicious Spanish white beans with a touch of rosemary.  Don't be tempted to have literally anything else, other than the wine, if you've ordered the pig. No tapas, nothing. It's a huge meal.  

Can you ask your brother which restaurant is a must-go Philadelphia institution that actually serves excellent and memorable food and isn't a tourist trap? 

 

 

[Teasing the Korean]

34 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

Can you ask your brother which restaurant is a must-go Philadelphia institution that actually serves excellent and memorable food and isn't a tourist trap? 

Bro is a foody, so he is your man.  Hang tight.

If you are in Fishtown, both of those record stores are worth going to.  I found LPs and CDs at both in recentish years.

[Dmitry]

I was hoping for catching a jazz gig, but there is surprisingly very little of value in town...unless I searched the wrong places.

[Teasing the Korean]

22 hours ago, Dmitry said:

I was hoping for catching a jazz gig, but there is surprisingly very little of value in town...unless I searched the wrong places.

Bob & Barbara's on South Street is a neighborhood bar that time forgot. The often have an organ trio.  Worth going for a combination of the atmosphere and music.

https://www.bobandbarbaras.com/menu

Edited July 18, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[Aggie87]

On 7/16/2023 at 1:24 PM, Dmitry said:

 

Can you ask your brother which restaurant is a must-go Philadelphia institution that actually serves excellent and memorable food and isn't a tourist trap? 

 

 

A couple of recommendations I have for decent food in Philadelphia - I just moved away from there 3 months ago.  

We like some of the Stephen Starr restaurants:

* LMNO - Baja style Mexican restaurant in Fishtown

* El Vez - traditional Mexican on 13th near Center City

* Buddakan - Asian/Fusion - in the Old City area on Chestnut

 

Others:

Friday Saturday Sunday - amazing food, just won the James Beard 2023 award for best restaurant in the U.S.  Located Rittenhouse Square

Alpen Rose - steakhouse across from El Vez.  There's no advertising on the restaurant other than a single rose next to the door.  Felt like a cold-ward era place where spies would've shared stories.

Zahav - Israeli food, hard to get into.  Was the 2019 Beard Award winner for best restaurant in the country.

Parc - decent-ish French cuisine on Rittenouse Square

Famous 4th Street Deli - ok maybe a little touristy, but very good pastrami sandwiches

[Rooster_Ties]

3 hours ago, Aggie87 said:

Zahav - Israeli food, hard to get into.  Was the 2019 Beard Award winner for best restaurant in the country.

Several years ago while visiting Philly, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed dining at Abe Fisher (by the same executive chef as Zahav) — which appears to have closed permanently since the pandemic. 
 

It was one of THE very best meals either of us has ever had dining out while traveling, in over 25 years.  And the decor (again, of Abe Fisher, now closed) was fantastic too — a wonderful melding of mid century modern and “modern” modern.

[felser]

The club I liked is Chris's Jazz Cafe, though I haven't been there in years.  Can't speak to the musicians appearing there when you are in town.

https://www.chrisjazzcafe.com/

I'm not a restaurant guy - give me a good cheese steak or a good meal in Chinatown and I'm happy as can be for under $20.

I'm in the suburbs, and don't do vinyl, so buy everything online at this point, never get to the stores.

[Niko]

in early 2018, I spent some time in Philly for work and visited most of the (four or five?) record stores within walking distance of the city center... The one I'd visit again is Long in the Tooth... Going by memory, it's a bit on the crate digging side, but not that much, i.e., you will find all the jazz records in one place and in alphabetical order at decent prices - but it did not seem highly curated (you can walk through the shop on google maps and judge for yourself). I bought the Don Patterson album with Fathead Newman there and I guess that's a good example of the type of record they might have

[Dmitry]

A quick report.

I did not go to any record stores, just couldn't wing it. All of your wonderful recommendations are here for our next trip. I will take Philly for a weekend arts and gastronomy trip over NYC every time. There is just so much more real essence to this city in comparison to New York these days. And that includes the people.

Went to two of the recommended restaurants - 

Wm. Mulherin’s Sons. TtK, thank your brother for me, please! Very good and not overbearingly-complex designer pizza. The crust alone is worth ordering.  Kids wolfed down the Spicy Jawn, we had the heirloom tomato pizza. Curiosity was peaked by one of the ingredients, nepitella. Turned out to be an herb with a taste of basil, oregano and a little fennel. Rather interesting. Have you ever heard of the nepitella? Advice - skip the burrata, the serving is just one blob of it, not worth the $19, order the char-grilled calamari instead, it wasn't the crusty, bread-crumbed frozen kind, but fresh, juicy and flavorful. We also had the crispy octopus, excellent, but again, a smallish serving, not worth the $22. Again, their pizza is wonderful, a meal in itself.

4th Street Deli. @Aggie87 THANK YOU!!! This is so great, the pastrami was dripping with fat, matzo ball soup good, pickles very good. The "regular" pastrami on rye is just under a pound, the zaftig is a couple of bucks more and over a pound of meat. To imagine that just about all major and even regional cities in the US had dozens of kosher delis 50 years ago, and now they are as so rare...especially the good ones. We went back again the next day!!! 

On one of the photos a young lady is about to have the regular-sized pastrami sandwich. The woman on the right, in pink, is obviously a tourist from somewhere in the Midwest... She is seated at the table with a plaque that President Obama once had a meal there. I don't know what he had, but I'm pretty sure it was not eggs!

More to come!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Gould]

Reminds me of many moons ago at the Carnegie in Manhattan. I took two non-native people there they wanted to order fries I was like, this sandwich alone will keep you full the rest of the day. They had no clue.

[Aggie87]

Glad you enjoyed the 4th St Deli so much, Dmitry!  It's been there forever, my first visit was back in 2008, and many times since then.  There are still good delis like that in the suburbs - the one we went to most frequently was the Kibitz Room in Cherry Hill, due to proximity to our town.  But 4th St is maybe my favorite, and I miss it.

I need to find a good deli out here in Phx/Scottsdale.

 

[JSngry]

Why is it called Fishtown? 

[Dmitry]

Never mind Fishtown, have a look at the names of other Philadelphia neighborhoods. I think it rivals London for the most colorful neighborhoods’ names.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Dmitry

[Teasing the Korean]

On 7/25/2023 at 5:08 PM, Dmitry said:

...Wm. Mulherin’s Sons. TtK, thank your brother for me, please! Very good and not overbearingly-complex designer pizza. The crust alone is worth ordering.  Kids wolfed down the Spicy Jawn, we had the heirloom tomato pizza. Curiosity was peaked by one of the ingredients, nepitella. Turned out to be an herb with a taste of basil, oregano and a little fennel. Rather interesting. Have you ever heard of the nepitella? Advice - skip the burrata, the serving is just one blob of it, not worth the $19, order the char-grilled calamari instead, it wasn't the crusty, bread-crumbed frozen kind, but fresh, juicy and flavorful. We also had the crispy octopus, excellent, but again, a smallish serving, not worth the $22. Again, their pizza is wonderful, a meal in itself.

Glad it was good, and I will let him know.  I don't think I've been there, so I'll add that to my list!

[JSngry]

So...why is it called Fishtown? Did it used to be underwater or something? 

[Teasing the Korean]

50 minutes ago, JSngry said:

So...why is it called Fishtown? Did it used to be underwater or something? 

From the InterWebz: The name Fishtown derives from one of the original occupations of its residents. Early settlers were fishermen, and over time they controlled the fishing rights to both sides of the Delaware River, from Cape May to the falls at Trenton.