Lemon Hill

Lemon Hill
745 N. 25th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-232-2270


My brother, visiting for the holiday, had pretty much shot down every idea I could come up with to do in Philadelphia city limits that was fairly quick and easy to get to. At the last minute, I was given info regarding a new spot opening up that day, and with but a few words, cocktails & food, an easy agreement was finally made.

Lemon Hill, situated in the Fairmount/Arts District neighborhood(s), is a new joint venture from The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co and Chef Mitch Prensky of Supper/Global Dish Caterers, which makes it a mix of a cocktail lounge and warm down home southern-comfort food. These are then folded into a wood-paneled, brick-walled, tin-ceiling space with no name and no house numbers outside to carry over the speakeasy feel.

The menu is spaced evenly between small plates, appetizers, and mains which makes it great if you want a lite bite with your cocktails (to stave off that hangover, or allow just one more for the road), or a full dinner.

Heading there opening night with my brother, we looked forward to a menu of the unknown (as of this posting, there's no menu available on line).

The drink menu consists of several signature cocktails, regional and independent brewery beers, and wine. There were three very odd exceptions to the list, however. One was that they have Miller High Life on the menu. It's not known if this is a dare, was due to some thugs at Miller making threats, or if the owner really needs a cheap beer. The other two is that there was no coffee or tea options, which is understandable for a straight cocktail lounge, but not for a restaurant. Not sure why somone couldn't have made a run to a Starbucks and purchased some beans and tea.

The first round of drinks consisted of the Rye Buck and the Clover Club. The Rye Buck consists of rye, lemon, angostura bitters, and a home-made ginger syrup. What makes this drink so good is that no one ingredient overpowers the other, nor is it overly bitter or sweet. The Clover Club consists of gin, lemon juice, raspberry syrup, and egg white. Again, no one ingredient overpowers the others, and if you weren't told it had egg white, you wouldn't be able to tell.

Rye on the left, Clover to the right

Food wise, up first was the Dirty Rice Fritters. While these were not terrible in any way, they were not very exciting. 


Along came the Smoked Tomato Soup and Pastrami Fried Chicken Wings. The tomato soup came with cheese filled popovers, which added a nice creamy texture to the soup. The soup itself didn't taste very smokey, but on a cold winter night, was a good choice overall. One thing that turns me off of most tomato soups is the over reliance on salt and luckily this one does not. The chicken wings were very good; moist, tender, with a crust I've never encountered before. Bro felt the opposite, saying they were overly salty, without any real oomph, though he wasn't able to really explain that. The sauce of the wings was a thousand island dressing  style, which didn't seem to add much.

Wings in the bag, soup up front

The second round of drinks consisted of the Blues Explosion, a tincture of  Tennessee whiskey, fresh grapefruit juice, maple syrup, and angostura bitters. It was good, but not memorable. While you won't go wrong with it, if you are not a whiskey fan, or grapefruit juice fan, there are many other good options available.

For the mains, we ordered the Hearth Baked Cavatappi and the Shrimp n Grits . The cavatappi was a mac-n-cheese dish with gruyere. This was creamy, with a light crunchy top, and unlike many other baked pasta dishes, the pasta was cooked well. The shrimp n grits came with cooked okra, smooth grits, and shrimp that was amazingly not over cooked. Both of these dishes were quite good, though the shrimp n grits did come with one large shrimp on top, for good effect.

The apple and cranberry pie finished up this meal, adding sweet fruit and filling, as well as a well made crust.

Two extra beers finished the meal.

Cocktails average $12, beers $5, wine $11.

3 cocktails, 2 beers, three small plates, two mains, and one dessert came out to $110 before tax and tip.

There is street parking, though you are competing with residents and other diners. SEPTA bus routes 32, 7, and 48 stop just near by.

Parks and Rec

Philadelphia has lots of parks. Some of them are large, stretching from one border to the other (eastish to westish), or straddling rivers; some are mid-size, a community center, and often have a large ego since the neighborhoods are named after the park; some are small, offering a small respite from the street, or a safe place for children to play (until they get eaten by a dragon and the parents sue the city).

It would be rather silly to try to list, describe, codify, or otherwise engage in witty reparte about every park in this city, especially since the city lists them all anyway, with some descriptions, occassionally a photo, and at times info about what to do there.

I think, though, that lots of people in the city (and around it) think that Philadelphia has only one big park (Fairmount), a couple of center city parks (those ego ones) and what ever they know of in their own neighborhood. Now, I can't blame people for this, but for those who ignore the greenery in their own city can forgo realizing that it's not ALL urban jungle.

My goal will be to give any reader out there (anyone? Hello?) a little bit of extra knowledge tinged with a bit of my own observations and editorial content.

So dust off that bike, clean out that picnic basket, buy a bottle of bug-spray, it's time to see some green (or courts, jungle-gyms, and concrete).

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.

This little goose went to market, this one went to the Delaware Canal Tow Path Part 2

Day two of my Memorial Day bike ride found me back in the heat of things, but with the added indignity of humidity. Humidity is good when it comes to keeping science projects, cigars, and wine at optimal levels, not for exercising.

My first attempt was to find one of the breaks between Bristol and Morrisville. Though I found the road next to it, there was a gated electricity transformer area and road construction blocking any signs of a) parking and b) an entrance. So off to Morrisville I went.

Getting there is really easy, and the parking is free along the waterfront. In fact, there is a pathway that runs between the two bridges in town linking PA to NJ, so you can get a good circuit of about a mile in on crushed stone, with a river view (there are also benches). There are also a couple of parking spots at various locations along the route where it intersects with roadways, in case you want to start some where else.

For this route, I made it to about a third of the way between Washington Crossing, PA and New Hope, PA where RT 32 main and RT 32 River Road splits/merges (depending on which direction you go).

At Morrisville (my trail start/end), the entrance to the D&L tow path is conveniently by public toilets (I did not use them so I can't tell you how good they are inside). The path has a short section to the left that leads to a dead-end at a road, so unless you want the little extra workout, turn right. Parking is across the road along the river bern. Note that the parking symbol on the traillink site is NOT accurate.

Looking to the left at Morrisville

Looking to the right. Direction of trail to go.

From the trail head towards parking, all along the other side of the blue water tower

The path is crushed stone with some areas of well packed ground, and a short section of pavement when it oddly becomes a roadway for a handful of houses. On this particular day, it seemed that no matter where I stopped along the canal, be it by houses or in the woods, I was immediately set upon by the humidity and a phlanax of blood sucking insects.

Along the route you encounter several low bridges, so duck. These bridges are often used by cars and pedestrians, but every so often there  is a bridge solely for the use of pedestrians. One in particular seemed to go off into the woods, perhaps to grandma's house.

Typical of most of the bridges

Some are low, some carry cars, some pedestrians

and some go off into the woods....

You also encounter several geese, and since these where with their young, they hissed a lot. One of them was in true form and actually came at me. I guess they could care less that it's a *shared trail*. I let them go since at least one will get a comeuppance on Christmas. Other wildlife I encountered were a family of ducks and several birds.

The path itself is quite flat and straight, which makes sense since it's only slightly raised above the canal water level. Do keep in mind that if you ride after a rain, it gets muddy and may be flooded out. Also, there are two concrete dips along this part of the route; I can only speculate that they are for flood control, but they did surprise me with the quick drop.

You or your ride mates are tired, cranky, hungry, or sore-assed. What to do? You can get off the path into Washington Crossing, which did a nice job of connecting it into the park and the downtown. The other option is to get off into Yardley, where there is a bakery, a Starbucks, and other shops up to a block from the path (head across the bridge). If you opt for the Starbucks, go around to the backside of the store, that's where parking and bike racks are.

The bridge at Yardley

Minus the humidity and the swarm of insects, it's a pretty good ride, and a nice relatively safe connector for the towns along it. (well, at least the part I rode). I can't say the same for the area south of Morrisville. That was just a disaster in planning.

Total miles round trip: 20
Bug bites: probably the same.

This little goose went to market, this one went to the Delaware Canal Tow Path

This past Memorial Day weekend I hitched up my bike to the car rack, and drove out to take on the Delaware Canal Tow Path trail. The game plan was to do as much of the path as possible. The first day was cut short by a massive storm. This was split into two days.

Day One

Though I was aware that the path from Bristol, PA to Morrisville, PA had gaps in the path, I figured that they were like small ones I have seen before where you simply cross a road, usually well marked. Hmmm... NO.

The path in Bristol is right by a park with a HUGE parking lot (at Prospect St. and Jefferson Ave) and  the Bristol Regional Rail SEPTA stop, for those who don't want to drive there. This area is fairly nice, but the trail-head is hard to notice. Look for the crushed gravel path that is on the opposite side of the water from the gazebo. The trail ends at US-13 and a Wawa gas and market station, so good for those that need a snack or liquid. There is also an Amish Market.

The breaks exist in most (though not all) spots since when they hit major roadways, such as US-13 and US-1. Impassable. My favorite is the path that "starts" halfway in the woods next to a motel at US-13.

looking towards that entrance from no-where

So let's leave it at this: Going FROM Bristol to the US-13 end is a fine ride, but if you want to try any of the other sections before Morrisville, be prepared to get back to the car and hunt for entrances and parking. I found one such behind a pizza joint somewhere down the line, which linked up to the aforementioned motel "entrance" and went through entrances to a busy strip mall next to...you guessed it! US-13 (13 being a lucky number since I survived I guess).

It IS a good idea to try to get to this middle section since you can see a full old style canal (with a crap load of graffiti) which doesn't exist a whole lot on the rest of the pathways. So park in that pizza lot and head on out (and hell, if you're hungry and don't want pizza, there's the strip mall with a Sonic).

Full Canal along US-13 around Edgley, PA

Full Canal along US-13 around Edgley, PA. One wonders if the taggers got swept away.

Sonic. I did not attempt to see if they do bicycle-side service. Note the frequently used and non-marked road you have to cross.

If you zoom in, you can see the TWO non-marked, non-signaged for path users, entrances into the Home Depot/Wal-Mart section. Use Caution!

Ssshh! The pizza joint parking lot.

The route gets VERY narrow and hard to climb up due to large red-rock chunks rather than the crushed version on most of the path. It also dead-ends when US-13 gets high-speed. Don't cross unless you wish a dead end.

I didn't include all of the photos of the entrances, but do know that they aren't the easiest to spot.

This ended my first day. Total mileage was a little over 10 since I went to another path to round up the miles (these paths round trip was 8 and change).