Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Philadelphia excursion, Part 3, Oddfellows

We were in Philadelphia for two days, and on both days we found ourselves at an old favorite Oddfellows. Housed in the first floor of a building that was once home to the Philadelphia branch of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, this is the second venture from the owners of the now under renovation Spruce Street Espresso.

Our first visit was just a quick stop for a cool pick-us-up after the museum and a parking ordeal involving our little Zipcar mini cooper. I drank a Fentiman's dandelion and burdock soda, and my lovely companion ordered the special: an iced honey vanilla latte. The vanilla had just kicked, and the resulting honey-only version was actually better than the intended special (which we ordered in its full glory again the next day, and learned to skip the vanilla.) Our friends met us there and it was a short walk to dinner.
Oddfellows from the outside.
Iced Honey Latte, and a Fentimans. 
Rather than post twice about Oddfellows, I'll speak about the second day's visit too. Oddfellows is a cafe as well as a casual Latin restaurant. The Counter Culture coffee based offerings really can't be beat anywhere, but they also offer a short but complete menu of dishes for lunch and dinner. (Brunch too, on weekends.) There's also plenty of outdoor seating and some excellent people watching to be had here.

On our second day, we had enjoyed a huge lunch and were eating light for dinner before another concert. We split the house guacamole with homemade tortilla chips, and the fried tilapia fish tacos.

The guac wasn't made table side or anything, but was full of chunky tomatoes and sweet with plenty of red onions and cilantro. Chips were thick and crunchy, and faintly salted. There's usually a problem of not enough guac to finish all the chips when you order this appetizer, but we encountered the opposite. Those delicious chips were gone and there was avocado to spare.

The tacos came in an order of three and I'm never good at remembering to take a photo until there's at least a bite out of something, so forgive me, but they we're good. A hot red salsa came on the side of three large soft corn tortillas with crispy-outside flaky white fish, a ginger slaw, tomatoes, and a boring looking but very flavorful aioli. And our extra guacamole had found a home.

Lastly we saved room (always save room here,) for the Tres Leches with berry coulis and toasted candied walnuts. This is the perfect rendition of this classic. My favorite dessert, and the portions had gotten bigger since the last time we'd visited. Dense but spongey, wet with condensed milk, but not oozing everywhere on the plate, you have to order it. And for $6, you'd be a ridiculous human being not to.

-SdJ


Chips and Guac. Rotated.
Fish tacos, half eaten. Also, pardon the washed out look.
We were outside and the sun was going down and everything was golden.

Tres Leches with Berry Coulis and some flash.

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