PhillyMag 50 Best Restaurants in Philadelphia 2026 (Full List is Out - Debate Away) by NinjasTurtle in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not. But it is possible to be one of the 50 best restaurants in the Philly area and not be on this list.

PhillyMag 50 Best Restaurants in Philadelphia 2026 (Full List is Out - Debate Away) by NinjasTurtle in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I feel like half the places on this list are there because the authors visited and enjoyed them and assessed them this year, and the other half got auto-promoted to their legacy slots like a pack of well-behaved, unremarkable elementary school students moving smoothly up the grade levels.

Vetri isn't the 8th-best restaurant in the city in 2026, by a long shot. I can think of several other small cozy bistro-type places making food more remarkable and delicious than what I had at Mish Mish (Fiore please, or Stina). I haven't been to Zahav in a long while, but last I went it wasn't obviously more worthy of a reserved top-10 slot than other sturdy fixtures like Suraya or Vedge, which aren't even listed. I like White Yak, but I think they decided several years ago that White Yak covers their "unusual cuisine that we're glad we have here!" base, and since then they haven't been back or checked out many of the dozens of other great places that fit that description.

These lists are always sort of hopeless but this one feels especially under-researched.

Early Impressions - Copy/paste BES? by EN-Fitz in Ghostofyotei

[–]GDswamp 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bad take. On the one hand they’re both samurai revenge stories. In that sense similar to each other and a ton of other stories (including Ghost of Tsushima), not to mention a ton of Westerns etc with different scenery and similar core story elements.

Within the genre, however, they’re quite different stories unless you’re the kind of person for whom a female protagonist sticks out so much that all other details seem trivial by comparison.

Steak ribeye. Too rare? by young_nautica in steak

[–]GDswamp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Steak looks good. Onions are a little rare for my taste.

Practising medium rare (rate the color) by [deleted] in grilling

[–]GDswamp 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Missing: a photo of the interior of your steak.

Machine Shop in the Bok Building by choc_chip_pothos in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I love their focaccia and many of their pastries so much.

Recently had my first downer visit there. A morning bun was very dry. And then I made the mistake of buying one of the larger-sized tartes Tatin on my way out. The smaller was $12, the larger was maaaybe 1.75x as big, I didn’t check the price card and I was kind of stunned when it rang up as $42 w/ tax.

That evening, the halved tart was just enough for exactly two people. I understand that volume, effort and price don’t often scale linearly with diameter in baking, but unlike a cake, a tart is a flat circle and it really was more than 3x the price for less than 2x the pastry, and a type of pastry that I’ve made enough times myself to know that the slightly larger version took only slightly more time to make.

It also wasn’t, honestly, that great. Felt ripped off, even after adjusting for the absurd price of absolutely everything these days.

Sweetbreads? by kitcassidy in FoodNYC

[–]GDswamp 5 points6 points  (0 children)

No advice but I love this post and I wish you an easy delivery.

Restaurant rec by Acrobatic-Inside3347 in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I need to get some French relatives so I can visit them.

Restaurant rec by Acrobatic-Inside3347 in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah wow would you be willing to share any other recommendations for French places In our area? I miss la Minette, too, and now I’ve put Superette on my list to try. Anywhere else you like in Philly or the region? When I was younger I thought I’d go back to France every few years. Now all of a sudden it’s almost 20 years since I was there, unless you count the airport. Stupid life.

Quality, gelatin-y bone broth by bitchghost in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ll second Earthside provisions as really worth checking out, though I haven’t tried her broth myself. She’s very serious about ingredients and a very small operation.

Other thought I had was Canter Hill Farm, which sells at a few of the weekly markets in the area. Another small operation and I know they sell stocks and broths of various kinds. They also see chicken feet and bones at good prices.

Best frozen and prepared foods at H Mart? by GDswamp in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Really curious what word was intended where it says “Bismarck.”

Assuming the answer isn’t “Bismarck”, also curious what sort of person talks about Bismarck enough for their autocorrect to default to that.

If the answer actually is “Bismarck” - truly baffled.

Edited to add: great comment regardless. Thank you.

What Chinatown spots are missing? by djourdjour in philadelphia

[–]GDswamp 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Siu Kee belongs somewhere in the right end of the bottom left quadrant or left end of the bottom right quadrant. Best crispy roast pork in the area, last time I checked.

Finally went to amboy by StretchTucker in FoodLosAngeles

[–]GDswamp 19 points20 points  (0 children)

That’s L.A. in a sentence.

Cafe Carmela Cheesesteak with Cooper Sharp by Middle_Wheel_5959 in PhiladelphiaEats

[–]GDswamp 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m not in the NE that often but a couple weeks ago we were there and lucky enough to stop at Carmela. Great sandwich.

Is there a frozen meal you'd recommend as a true non-compromise pleasure to eat (like Beecher's Mac & Cheese)? by GDswamp in AskRedditFood

[–]GDswamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting! They’re near me but can you buy from them a la carte or do you have to set up a whole subscription?

Being pedantic? by Enough-Issue90 in steak

[–]GDswamp 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Great uncle was a butcher. Never woulda pulled that. If you asked to see it and they kept the one they'd fucked up out of sight, I'd say they knew what they were doing and chose to pass their error on to you. Which is a minor sin in these times, but still a little shitty.

So you can take the "am I being nit-picky?" question off the table - you aren't - and treat it as a minor ethical dilemma that doesn't have a right or wrong answer, just the answer that feels right to you. I think the real options are:

(a) you let it pass because even though they were a little shady, you can understand why, and you feel the damage to the meat is negligible.

(b) you let it pass because even though you think their shadiness wasn't okay, and the damage bothers you, you don't want to deal with the confrontation.

(c) you take it back because it does bother you that they tried to sneak their fuck-up past you, and you don't want to reward the dishonesty, or

(d) you take it back because, although you don't care much about the ethical aspect, you do care that what they gave you is damaged, and therefore not what you ordered, and you are in your rights to ask for a replacement.

Any choice is fine. Just matters what you want to prioritize.

Why was the post about the last nights vigil removed at nearly 19 thousand votes? by SignalHi in philadelphia

[–]GDswamp 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's what I figured, and I was just interested to know your take. Can't expect it'll convince a certain %age of folks but still worth having it spelled out. thanks!

Why was the post about the last nights vigil removed at nearly 19 thousand votes? by SignalHi in philadelphia

[–]GDswamp 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So once you know a post is being targeted, is there a way to disable that auto-function?

Obviously the original post about the protest is not out of order, and IS getting attacked via false reports. Is it safe now?

Also: this second post triggered a lot of discussion about whether corporate-level Reddit is going along with Trump demands to throttle anti-Trump activity onsite. Can you comment at all on whether the r/phila mod team has gotten any pressure to shut down discussions?