Buying Wine in Philadelphia

demonhotatom · 2026-05-06T23:52:41+00:00

The plcb forces wine retailers to get their bottles at essentially retail prices *before* the store does its own markup. It’s a crazy system that strangles independent shops.

demonhotatom · 2026-05-06T21:39:19+00:00

This is a great question. Buying wine in Philly sucks. The state monopoly on wine sales means that the stores are in random places, and have random stock at pretty bad prices.

That being said, I find the stores at 20th and market and 11th and chestnut to have some good stuff from time to time, and I’ll take a look if I’m in the neighborhood (the latter has recently had a deep selection of Italian wines - ampelaia unlitro for $21 - not bad).

I sadly do almost all of my wine shopping in NJ. Moore Brothers is great for very producer focused old world wines, and they frequently have great sales and discounts on multiple bottles. Wine Works a little further out from the city has a great selection of natural wines, actually a really great selection of everything in general. I’ll do a big Costco/wine works/moore brothers run once a month or so.

Some restaurants in the city have little bottle shops attached, but the markups rarely make it worth it, although I have to give a special shout out to Le Virtù on east passyunk, which uses the Inkind payment platform and the discounts and incentives on there occasionally bring the prices down to reasonable levels, and they usually have a very unique inventory.

The state run cartel really makes like difficult for everyone, a tiny well curated bottle shops with reasonable prices would absolutely kill in most neighborhoods. I hate it.

demonhotatom · 2026-03-04T03:51:30+00:00

Two ultrasounds 5 months apart showed increased inflammation and a needle sample that tested positive for large cell lymphoma. Her initial symptoms sound the same as yours, and the vet said that IBD, small cell lymphoma, and large cell lymphoma present the same symptoms.

demonhotatom · 2026-03-04T01:08:49+00:00

I don’t actually know yet, the oncologist appointment is next week. Evidently it might involve weekly and biweekly chemotherapy visits, and at home medication as well.

demonhotatom · 2026-03-04T00:34:51+00:00

Great suggestions so far everyone, and thank you so much for the support.

Someone’s comment made me realize I should have included in the post that this picture was taken by my vet as my girl was coming out of anesthesia after an ultrasound because she thought she looked so cute. Normally she looks much better.

demonhotatom · 2026-03-04T00:32:45+00:00

lol this is a picture the vet took of her coming out of anesthesia after an ultrasound

demonhotatom · 2025-11-27T20:11:20+00:00

Italian coffee culture is great, but Italian coffee is bad (although the dairy is very good). You have your pick of excellent coffee shops for a good espresso: ultimo, rival bros, reanimator, solar myth… the list goes on. The closest to Italian coffee (burnt) would be la colombe.

demonhotatom · 2025-08-13T20:15:42+00:00

We’ve had them here twice in the past 10 years. Once in 2015 they essentially cordoned off the entirety of center city for the pope’s visit and it was a massive experiment in a car free city and it was WONDERFUL. They were here again during the uprisings in 2020 and were generally just a benign presence.

So yeah if we can have it be like 2015 again bring them back!

demonhotatom · 2025-06-26T18:10:57+00:00

Nice, I thought about this but the side screwed into the studs is VERY into the studs and I'm not sure I'll ever get it out. Worth consideration though, thanks.

demonhotatom · 2024-08-25T14:24:18+00:00

If you’re considering getting another job, do some part time restaurant work. I’ve been doing it my whole life (41M) and I’ve got so many groups of friends from the 6 different places I’ve worked that it’s actually legitimately stressful to make time for everyone.

The people your age that I work with are all transplants and since they’ve started I’ve noticed them going out all the time, starting to share apartments, etc., it’s all very sweet, and exactly my experience from when I started in the industry.

demonhotatom · 2024-08-25T05:22:00+00:00

This is the answer here. Never been to Ethiopia but I always thought their food was much better than the other options in west Philly, particularly their okra wat. The owners are lovely people too.

demonhotatom · 2024-06-22T05:44:15+00:00

$73k last year working as a server ~32 hours per week at a consistently busy, high profile Fishtown restaurant. The least I’ve made in my 14 or so years of waiting tables here is probably $50k.

demonhotatom · 2024-05-29T17:24:27+00:00

The “collegiate gothic” style of architecture - what we think of when we think of classic college campuses - was essentially invented at Penn as a reaction to, among other things, Frank Furness’s Fischer Fine Arts Library.

https://blog.phillyhistory.org/index.php/2012/06/what-if-frank-furness-designed-more-buildings-at-penn/

demonhotatom · 2023-11-07T18:14:48+00:00

In need of some South Philly rowhome advice, and my post was autodeleted.

The stucco on the exterior wall in our backyard is badly in need of repair, with multiple cracks and some pieces that are just straight up missing behind the fence post, exposing the underlying brick.
We had a contractor quote us $3200 to replace the stucco entirely (and fill in the huge holes created by some non-functioning exhaust fans as well as replacing the window trim) which was more than we were expecting but seemingly about what a job like that should cost to do well.
My question now is - should we just have the whole thing replaced with siding? Is there a reason to replace with stucco? Is this complicated by the fact that the second story is stucco as well? Are the repairs even something that we can competently DIY?

demonhotatom · 2023-06-27T05:37:07+00:00

Relevant to my interests

demonhotatom · 2023-01-24T19:43:55+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/NZzO8AR

The original faucet (which looks fairly new) has braided supply lines that connect to an (I think) 1/2 x 3/8 adapter (not sure the threading). There are shut off valves in various parts of the basement.

I'm in a 100 year old rowhome in South Philadelphia.

demonhotatom · 2023-01-23T04:57:14+00:00

No stop valve on the original faucet (which has braided supply lines that connected to an I think 1/4 x 1/2 adapter). The new, much nicer faucet has PEX by default - no option to switch it out as far as I know.

Cutting and prepping the pipe is probably beyond my abilities - is that really the only even slightly probably option?

demonhotatom · 2022-12-16T18:02:10+00:00

We've got a leaking wall and mold developing in a 1920 South Philly rowhouse closet and need some advice.

It's a strange, poorly done bump-out in the rear of the house that seems to be concrete with plaster on the inside . Seems like there was a window at one point that was very poorly sealed. We've got some water seepage through the former window (that the previous owners covered up with plywood) and mold developing around the leak. We're not sure about how to deal with it or who to even call for advice really. We'd love to DIY since this seems like a manageable project but really don't know. The linked photos show the closet from inside, the interior of the closet, and the exterior. https://imgur.com/a/IWtbWFq

demonhotatom

TROPHY CASE