Food Country Restaurant Reviews serving the Delaware Valley

Washington Street Ale House is located in downtown Wilmington on (surprise!) Washington Street and has been around since 1996. The restaurant served upscale pub and tavern food alongside handcrafted beer and microbrews in a restored downtown building. The exposed brick walls, 19th century photographs, oak floors, fireplace, and open porch give the ale house a great warm ambiance. While Washington Street does not brew any of their own beers, they do have 20 beers on-tap many of which come from local breweries. Mike’s Take: It’s hard not to draw comparisons to Iron Hill Brewery when you visit Washington Street. The menu and décor are very similar. In fact, I ordered the same cheese steak eggroll appetizer that I had at Iron Hill. Here is where the restaurants start to differ. Washington Street Ale House’s food is definitely a little more upscale than Iron Hill’s both in presentation and price. The cheese steak eggrolls were very good, but could have been cheesier and a slightly bigger po...

Jeff's Take: I’ve heard of Kansas City-style barbecue. Ditto with Texas-style and Memphis-style barbecue. But I’ve never heard of Philly-style barbecue. And I don’t think I’m alone. But Tommy Gunns, a tiny joint in Manayunk, claims that it has The City of Brotherly Love’s unique variant of the American classic. Well, at least for spare ribs. What makes “Philly-style” spare ribs unique, according to the website, is that while other styles trim more meat off the bone in order to achieve a uniform rib size, Tommy Gunns eschews size uniformity, and therefore leaves more meat on the bone. In addition, while most places serve their ribs right out of the smoker, Tommy Gunns throws them on the grill quickly before they’re plated. In the flavor department, the spare ribs here are excellent. The meat has a nice smoky flavor that’s complemented well with the dry rub Tommy Gunns uses. The accompanying barbecue sauce is also solid—tangy with just the right amount of heat. The texture of the mea...

Sonny’s, a small shop in Old City Philadelphia, isn’t one of the better-known cheesesteak places. The wall isn’t lined with press photos of celebrities who have eaten there. But they do serve excellent steaks. Unlike most of other steak shops in the area, which purchase their steak pre-sliced, Sonny’s uses freshly sliced ribeye for their cheesesteaks (check it out, the slicer is right on the counter). Sonny’s also slices their steak a little thicker than other places, and serves their steaks on a soft, chewy roll. Jeff’s Take: There are several reasons why Sonny’s is my current pick for best cheesesteak in the Delaware Valley . First off, their quality is more consistent than most other places. With a lot of the better-known cheesesteak places, it’s either hit or miss, and this gets frustrating. Second, I like that Sonny’s has thicker sliced meat—a lot of other places finely chop their meat, which occasionally results in a dry steak. Also, I prefer cheese whiz on my steak, and Sonny’s...

Jeff's Take: With taquerias, quality is a crapshoot—it’s usually either going to be really good or really bad (for the latter, see Mike’s review of Taqueria Moroleon). You’ll very rarely be able to figure out what you’re getting just by looking at the place. Luckily, I tried Taqueria La Veracruzana, located in South Philly near the Italian Market, after a trusted friend recommended it. This place isn’t much for atmosphere—we’re talking Mexican wrestling and soccer playing on television and pretty harsh lighting. The important thing is that the place is clean, because many taquerias aren’t. Standard with each meal is a generous serving of crisp, homemade tortilla chips served with two salsas—one jalapeno-based, and one smoky chipotle-based. Both are about medium-hot, and are very different from what most people are probably used to. If you prefer, you can order fresh pico de gallo or guacamole for a few extra bucks—I like to order some guacamole with the chips and then use some on m...

Mike's Take: Taqueria Morleon is a little hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant on the outskirts of Kennett Square. It is in a shopping strip next to a Capriotti's. My work colleague and I were debating on eating at the Capriotti's or trying this "quaint" Mexican restaurant. Let's just say we made the wrong decision. Taqueria Moroleon's atmosphere was adequate, having all the typically bright painted walls and Mexican flair. The lighting is a bit dim, but the atmosphere and facility is not where Taqueria Morleon stumbles. Let me start off with the highlight of the meal - The tortilla chips and salsa. Chips were good and there were 2 salsas to choose from: a mildly fresh salsa and a waterier spicy salsa. That's pretty much where the positives end, so let's move onto how this was one of my worst restaurant experiences of recent memory. The chips were ok, but the iced teas we ordered were pretty awful. My colleague described them, as "Dirty Waters....

Buckley’s Tavern, a bar and restaurant located in a historic former house on Kennett Pike in Centreville, Delaware, offers nice atmosphere for a variety of purposes. The dark, cozy bar is a great place to get some drinks, the downstairs dining room (with fireplace) offers a charming ambiance for lunch or dinner, and the rooftop deck is great when the weather gets nice. Buckley’s also has an interesting brunch policy—dine in your pajamas, and you get ½ off the bill. Enticing, but neither of us did it. Jeff’s Take: I started off with a bowl of mushroom soup—a generous portion of mushrooms with leeks and tomatoes in broth. I’m a big mushroom fan, but I found this soup to be pretty boring. The broth was salty and unimpressive, and after I finished scooping out the mushrooms it wasn’t worth bothering with. The Steak & Egg Grinder (right) was also a disappointing experience. “Tenderloin with sautéed onions, garlic & scrambled eggs topped with provolone on a crusty roll” sounded prett...

Jeff's Take: When ordering a gyro, it’s always a good sign if there’s seasoned lamb roasting on the counter. There’s a clear difference between lamb cooked on a gyro roaster and frozen lamb strips that have been warmed up on a griddle. The former wins by a mile in the taste and texture categories—with a crispy crust and a tender interior. The latter is what you’ll get at most places that offer gyros on their menus, and it just can’t compare. Greek Lady is known for its gyros and souvlaki, and it’s a place where you can always expect to see gyro roasters in constant use. This popular eatery started out in one of the many food carts around University City , and became so successful that it moved into a much more spacious storefront on 40 th Street , between Walnut and Locust. At this point, the eatery could even expand next door—it’s usually buzzing during lunch and dinner, and it’s a madhouse late on weekend nights, when it’s open until 2 a.m. An interesting twist that Greek Lady a...

Jeff's Take: A good sandwich all starts with good meat. And when you want good meat, it’s not a bad idea to go to the source—a dependable butcher who knows his stuff. Main Line Prime, a new shop in Ardmore , PA , offers exactly that. First and foremost, it’s a high-end butcher shop. It carries an impressive mix of fresh, local, organic meats and aged cuts from across the globe. As the owner told me, “we’re not really a sandwich shop.” But Main Line Prime does sandwiches well. Really well. The shop’s menu has a selection of about a dozen sandwiches and wraps, most of which are in the $6-7 price range. The one exception is The Gladwyne, a sandwich that includes seared Kobe steak, and is priced at $99. The price tag is high because Main Line Prime uses authentic Kobe steak. Real Kobe steak is imported from Japan and comes from cattle that are fed beer and sake, and receive daily muscle massages. The result is a tender, well-marbled, and very expensive steak. While many American m...

For the past decade, there’s been almost constant development on the Wilmington riverfront. What was once a dull cluster of old warehouses and industrial lots is now home to high-rise condominium buildings, dozens of town homes, brand new office buildings, outlet shops, a minor league baseball stadium, a farmer’s market, and of course, several restaurants. Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant appeared on the scene in 2003, in a 9,000 square foot building which includes a small bar area, a downstairs dining room, an outdoor dining area, and a second level with an additional bar and banquet room. What really makes this building special is the on-site brewery, where guests can watch the brewing process. In addition to the Wilmington location, Iron Hill has seven locations in the Delaware Valley area. For starters, the fajita-spiced chicken nachos were almost perfect. So many things can go wrong with nachos, and at most places, they do. It all starts with the tortilla chips—you can tell when...

While we’ve been told that Fogo de Chao means “Fire of the Ground” or “Campfire,” we’re convinced that the direct translation is actually “Food Country.” Fogo de Chao is a churrascaria , a Brazilian-style barbecue where the meats are roasted over an open fire. It has almost a dozen locations across the U.S. , and five locations in Brazil . Its Philadelphia location, at 13 th and Chestnut, is a beautiful space, with high ceilings, huge chandeliers, and walls lined with wine bottles behind glass cases. A meal at Fogo de Chao is like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, except the pages are made of delicious, fire-roasted meat. Each person is given a two-sided disk at his or her place setting. Turn it over so the green side is facing up, and the gauchos (on double duty as both chefs and servers) circulating throughout the restaurant will bring fresh, sizzling cuts of skewered meat to carve directly onto your plate. Turn the disk back over to red, and you’ll get some time to clear your pla...

If one were to give an out-of-towner a tour of the best food Delaware has to offer, a stop at Capriotti’s is a must. This place serves some of the best hoagies in the area—and that includes Philadelphia, which is known for having the best hoagies anywhere. The original shop, located on Union Street in Wilmington, started serving up delicious hoagies over 30 years ago. Since then, Capriotti’s has expanded to more locations around the area, as well as across the country—as far as Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Without a doubt, the star at Capriotti’s is the turkey. While most other delis continue to use processed turkey, Capriotti’s always uses freshly roasted, pulled turkey on its hoagies. You’ll never want regular deli turkey again. In addition to the standard turkey hoagie, Capriotti’s offers The Bobbie, a highly recommended mainstay at the shop, which includes turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and mayo. While Capriotti’s is most famous for its turkey hoagies, there are some other great ...