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| A selection of pizzas at Birra on East Passyunk Avenue in Philadelphia |
This past Tuesday Philly food fans participated in Dishcrawl, a mobile feast that takes place in cities across the country with patrons meeting at a pre-determined location, then visiting restaurants that are kept secret until the last minute. The sold-out Philly Dishcrawl was hosted by Ali Waks, and took us to four eateries on trendy East Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia: Sophia’s, Birra, Noir and Ms. Goody Cupcake.
Our Dishcrawl began at Chef Christopher Lee’s new restaurant, Sophia’s (1623 E. Passyunk Ave, 215.238.1920), where we warmed up with salad (the dressing was perfect - not too oily, not too acidic), meatballs, and tasty Parmesan fries.
We then took a short walk to Gordon Dinerman’s Birra (1700 E. Passyunk Ave, 267.324.3127), an upscale, open-kitchen pizzeria with an impressive list of craft beers (birra means beer in Italian). They put out a spread of artisanal pies; the Alla Carbonara with house-cured pancetta, peas, mozzarella, pecorino and fried egg was a pizza slice of heaven. We were thrilled to learn that Birra is now delivering in the South Philly area.
Next the party headed over to Noir (1909 E. Passyunk Ave, 215.319.1678), a 50-seat restaurant with Montreal-influenced Italian cuisine by Chef Marco DeCotiis. We settled in and kicked back with Canadian comfort food: poutine, rice balls, and exceptional pot pies with a buttery, flaky crust filled with tender chunks of chicken and roasted vegetables.
The icing on the evening was a visit to Ms. Goody Cupcake (1838 E. Passyunk Ave, 215. 334-2253), a bakery helmed by Gigi Andrew. We enjoyed a sampling of sweets - for our favorite it was a tie between the coconut-topped, lemon cream cupcake and the chocolate covered strawberry cupcake.
If you missed this event, don’t despair - East Passyunk Avenue’s first-ever Restaurant Week takes place Sunday, February 24 thru Saturday, March 2; for more info click here.
To read more of our food coverage click here.
Photo ©Glamorosi 2013
Posted on Friday, February 22, 2013
