Fall Getaway: Distrito

On our way home from Cape Cod, we stopped in Philly for another night. Topher was dying to try Chef Jose Garces' "modern Mexican" restaurant Distrito, so we met our friends Grant & Laura there for dinner. The interior design was so fun - bright pink lights and lots of white - and the food was delicious. I almost needed a Spanish-English dictionary, though, to translate some of the ingredients listed on the menu.

What I Ate:

• Atun ceviche: big eye tuna, serrano-coconut sauce, lime sorbet, tomatillo, tostadita
• Chilango huaraches: carnitas, chorizo, Serrano ham, potato, queso Oaxaca, cotija
• Mexico City Style quesadilla: huauzontle, black beans, queso Oaxaca, epazote, salsa ranchera
• Churros: vanilla ice cream, spicy chocolate sauce, cajeta

The Scoop:
Distrito is located at 3945 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Reservations are available by calling 215-222-1657. Their dinner hours are Sun-R 5-10pm, F-Sat 5-11pm. They are also open for lunch M-F 11:30am-2:30pm, and brunch Sat-Sun 11:30am-2:30pm.

Distrito is one of seven Garces restaurants in Philly (check out the Garces Restaurant Group on Facebook). The newest addition, JG Domestic, just opened in October, and we can't wait to try it!

Fall Getaway: Monk's Cafe

Last November (basically this week last year), my husband Topher surprised me with a weekend getaway. I didn't know the destination before I left, only that I needed to pack warm clothes and one semi-dressy outfit.

We left work at noon on a Thursday and started driving north over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (one of my favorite drives - 20 miles of highway over open water). As I had suspected, we ended up in Philadelphia (my old stomping ground) for the evening.

During the drive, I figured out that Topher's cryptic clue "Joan of Arc" meant that we were headed to Orleans, MA - Cape Cod! Shortly after our arrival in Philly, my friend Rebecca, who was graciously letting us crash at her house that evening, let slip the rest of the surprise: my dear friend Anne was coming to Cape Cod with us!

Anne had a meeting at church or something that evening, so Topher & I were on our own for dinner. My first choice was a place I thought Topher would like: Monk's Cafe, a popular Belgian pub famous for its "Beer Bible," a dozen-page booklet listing its extensive beer offerings.

What I Ate:

• Thai Curry mussels: Monk's Flemish Sour, fum, Thai red curry, bais, garlic, & coconut milk - the bowls of mussels are huge, and they offer them in several different sauces, all delicious!
• Lapin a la Gueuze: Rabbit & root vegetables braised in gueuze lambic - a traditional Brussels dish - a great dish for a cool November evening
• I'm embarrassed to admit this: I had two glasses of beer with dinner - one blonde ale and one brown ale - and I can't remember what either of them was :(

The Scoop:

Monk's Cafe is located at 264 S. 16th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102. Their hours are M-Sun, 11:30am-1:00am. You can reach them by calling (215)545-7005, but if I remember correctly, they don't take reservations.

As I said, it's a popular (and not very big) place, so it fills up quickly after work, during the dinner hour, and on weekends. But it's worth the wait. Another of my favorites from their menu: the Ghent burger - topped with sautéed broccoli rabe, garlic, and cheddar cheese.

**This past summer, I was horrified to learn that an out-of-control SEPTA bus crashed into the front of Monk's; but thankfully no one was hurt badly, and the restaurant reopened later the same month.

Headed to Market

While I was in DC last week, my husband Topher went to Columbus, OH for work, and he brought back pictures from North Market near Goodale Park and the Greater Columbus Convention Center. He went there for lunch one day and got a crepe with Balsamic, tons of fresh spinach, red peppers and goat cheese from Taste of Belgium - they make crepes to order, both savory and sweet. Sounds yummy to me!

He was also impressed with their poultry & game menu: whole fryer rabbits, and duck confit & foie gras! (I wish he'd had a cooler to bring some home, but I doubt it would have traveled well on the plane.)

Topher said it reminded him of Reading Terminal Market in downtown Philadelphia, a place I loved to visit when I lived in Philly. I would often meet friends there for lunch during the week, and we'd split two crepes from Profi's Creperie - one with chicken, spinach & tomato, and one with bananas, stawberries & nutella. For lunch they also offer mediterranean & Middle Eastern (at Mezze and Kamal's), Southern (at Delilah's and the Down Home Diner), Pennsylvania Dutch (at the Dutch Eating Place and the Grill at Smucker's), and of course hoagies & cheesesteaks.

Reading Terminal Market is also a great place to buy fresh flowers, produce, meats, seafood, and Italian breads & pastries. It can get a little crowded and crazy, but it's such a fun place to walk around, especially on weekends when farmers from Amish country come into the city to sell their stuff (especially cheese!). And if you want to learn even more, check out the Taste of Philly Food Tour.

North Market also reminded us of West Side Market in Cleveland, Oh - a place we visited while we were dating. (I lived and worked in downtown Cleveland for three months, and Topher came to visit me a couple of times.) One weekend we did a tour & tasting at Great Lakes Brewery, then stopped by West Side Market to get groceries for dinner (veal piccata!) at my studio apartment. While we were there, I got sidetracked at a candy shop: they were selling chocolate-covered jalapeno peppers!

The Scoop:

Reading Terminal Market (Philadelphia, PA) is on Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter.

North Market (Columbus, OH) is on Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter.

West Side Market (Cleveland, OH) is on Yelp.