TBAR

Tbar
117 S. 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

 I've had my eyes set on Tbar for sometime, after a search of coffee shops and tea shops in Philly. I just never found the time to go, since I was in the area always on errands leading me to other places, other food adventures. So, on a Friday, I texted Caligirl "hey do you want to go to Tbar after work" which she responded to with a very enthusiastic yes. After a moment or two, I knew she didn't recall this place and was thinking solely about the word "bar".

Tbar serves teas. A hundred and something teas, all neatly described in binders available at...the bar. However, there are plenty of seats, mainly in sets of two, and if you are lucky, you can score one of the few couches they have. The atmosphere is a mix between  modern-somewhat utilitarian and comforting lounge-like. All of the tables in the front half of the store look like they can belong anywhere. The character comes out better at the back of the store and the bar, where there are couches and some odd seat/cart thing, and inlaid whole-leaf teas under plexiglass, respectively.

You can easily spend a few hours here lounging back with friends, reading, or doing work, without being a bother to anyone. It's the largest space of the few study-friendly coffee shops I've been to in the area that aren't franchise or chain. Wi-Fi is available, but I believe you have to ask for a code.

The back

The bar

Sample of items for sale.

The base teas are white, green, rooibos, oolong, black, and herbal. From this, you move on to the flavor profile. They also have pearl tea and can add what they call "fizz". You can get regular teas like you see in the supermarkets, or mixed up versions, such as Peach and Ginger Black Tea. And you can get them hot or cold. Caligirl ordered a taro ball tea and was asked which kind of milk she wanted in it, a question that she has never been asked before, even in hippie filled San Francisco valley. She was quite happy with her brew, and it came out in her favorite shade of purple-blue. This is why she named her car Taro. I ordered mine hot, and it comes as whole leaf with pieces of the infusion flavor added in. They use new tea sachets for every tea, so your cup is made fresh.

They serve pastries, cookies, and when available, sandwiches. I had a chocolate pastry, which was pretty good, though could always have used more chocolate.

There is also an abundance of tea related books and objects for sale.

A large black tea, a cold pearl tea, and a pastry, plus tax: $11

Market-Frankford subway to 11th or 13th Street, walk south to Sansom.
Broad Street subway to Walnut and walk east to 12th street, and north to Sansom.
PATCO to 12/13th Street, walk north to Sansom.
23 Bus southbound.

12th Street Cantina

12th Street Cantina
Reading Terminal Market
Philadelphia, PA

After a good walk fullfilling a to-do list in the AM, I found myself just outside of Chinatown, thinking about my next move as the little voice inside my head said "lunch". A quick glance at my watch confirmed my internal clock, and since I was by the market, didn't want to walk around aimlessly, and plan on finishing it one day, I ventured in ready to fight the crowds. Note to self: mid week lunch is actually fairly empty!

I didn't walk to far in before I came across 12th Street, billing itself as Mexican fare. I haven't had any in a long time, there were open tables, and it was cheap. All signs of something good. There is a limited menu, based on the Mexican American Dietary Rules: Food ends in OS or AS.  Tacos, Nachos, Burritos, Quesedillas, Ensaladas (salads), Fajitas. Nothing is more than ten dollars, and they even have a lemon-lime-aide that was good enough for me to get seconds.

Hungry for a salad, I was looking at the pork abodabo and the taco beef. The guy taking my order said "go for the beef, you get your money's worth". Now the beef is the cheaper of the two, so I was inclined to take him up on that. And yea, he did not lie. Sliced iceberg, dumped with taco flavored beef, with tomato salsa, cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips. There was enough beef to feed two people happily. It was actually too much. Nothing here will assail your senses, the beef is well seasoned to be tasty. If you want spicy, there are condiments available.

The lemon-lime aide was supposed to be hand made. I'm not so sure, but it was not sweet like you get out of a mix, so they get bonus points for that, and a free refill (though they may usually charge 50 cents if it's more crowded).

A taco salad and a small fountain drink, plus tax: $8.56

Reading Terminal Market is open until 6 PM on the weekdays, earlier on the weekends. No it doesn't make sense at all.

Philly Cupcake

Philly Cupcake

1132 Chestunt Street (at 12th)
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-625-4888

Philadelphia, eager to shed it's image as the backwards Italian-American anger-filled crime hole it's thought of by anyone in, around, or far away from Philly, has upped it's culinary cred beyond "steak wit". Part of this culinary up trend is the humble cupcake.  In the last several years the cupcake has moved beyond the case mixed with other sweet confections and cakes to it's own stores and it's own trucks. When it becomes the official food of some city or state, then we know it's hard work will have paid off.

Philly Cupcake is one such shop. The kitsch behind Philly Cupcake is that it's a kids Victorian-era dollhouse writ large, and filled with all of the sweets the kid was denied. The color scheme is pink pink pink, and blue (but a bright sky blue, so don't worry). Cupcakes are behind a series of cabinets that look as if they have seen a good century of wear (yet remain pink). These are then offset by a series of ropes, either to treat the cupcakes as celebrity, or to keep grubby germ-infested hands off of them. With an open kitchen (and hence they don't allow dogs in, but who, really, wants dog hair in their frosting) and the entire size of a small storage shed, it feels like a mix of high class, walk-in closet, and revolving door.

All of the cupcakes are lined up along one wall, evenly spaced, waiting to be chosen by brave carb-loving folks. The cupcakes range from your baseline Vanilla to muffin flavors (ex: Sweet Potato,) to specialties for holidays. There are also other confections which are basically adding sweet fatty insult to sweet fatty injury, such as the chocolate covered Twizzlers or the chocolate covered Oreos (both copyrighted by their respective companies, so keep back lawyers). You can generally find something here for your sweet tooth, and if you eat enough of these, one tooth is probably all you will wind up with.

I went twice, once this past March, and again in June. From the cupboards were chosen five cupcakes, and one confection. The sugar rush, crash, and diabetes come free. There were the following: Vanilla  Vanilla, Chocolate Vanilla,  Red Velvet, an apple cobbler turned cupcake (the Jewish Apple Streusel Cupcake) , and a specialty Bailey's Irish Cream that was available around St. Patrick's day. When they pack them, they want to keep them safe, so they put them in a plastic cup. Cute, but major waste.

First, the baselines; after all, if you can't get the basics right, how can you get the others right, right? Vanilla Vanilla means vanilla flavored cake with vanilla flavored buttercream frosting.  Wow,  disappointing. The frosting was the best part, and it wasn't all that good. The cake was thick and not moist, which is a no-no for cupcakes. There was also no vanilla taste, but there was butter, which came as an after-taste. The frosting was smooth as silk and buttery, but again, the vanilla came as an after-taste.

The cake of the red velvet was not bad: moist, chewy, held together, red. The cream cheese frosting, however, was incredibly sweet and slightly dry. Not the best, not the worst, but due to sugar content, I wouldn't order another without dental insurance.

The chocolate cupcake cake half was by far the best. Super moist to slightly sticking to the fingers level, definite taste of cocoa, and airy enough to not be heavy. The buttercream frosting was the same as on the vanilla cake.

With those turning me into more buttercream than man, I bravely dived into the apple crumb-cake impostor. Dry, simply put. The apples didn't add moisture and even seemed to have had their flavor sucked out. It just was not as good as it looked, which is disappointing when you have high hopes.

Lastly, the Irish cream. Now because this cupcake is a special, normally reviewing it isn't too helpful, but it speaks to the bakery's abilities, so here goes: The frosting was good: Light, fluffy, not sweet. The cake, however, was dense to the point of almost being too much, as it fell apart and stuck to the foil too easily.

So out of 5 cupcakes, there were really two with decent to good cake, but none of them had good frosting.

The chocolate covered Oreo was ok. The specific tastes of oreo overpowered the chocolate (I had milk, but you can get dark and white chocolate versions). The chocolate held the cookie together, so there were fewer crumbs than normally.

No eating in the store, there just isn't room. Recently they added a handful of tables on the side, They also serve other baked goodies and coffee, and now have an ice cream window on 12th street.

Classic cupcakes are $3, Fancy are $4, other items start at $2.

Two classic, one fancy: $10.
Two classic, one confection: $8.