Results tagged “coffeeshop”

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week!

The sun may be shining now, but it was pouring this morning, and that was quite the thunderstorm we had last night. This Phillyist is a big fan of summer storms, so long as she's not at any risk of being struck by lightning, which makes the view from her desk (snapped quickly during this morning's deluge, left) kind of awesome for rain-watching. When she's in her apartment, she throws the windows open with reckless abandon, nevermind that the wind is blowing the rain into the bedroom. And when she can find one, she believes that nothing beats sitting on a covered porch or patio while it's raining.

bolster multiple shops and restaurants is simultaneously mind boggling and and comforting. And, yet, if you wander down Sansom, between 19th and 20th, that's just what you'll find.

Toby Lightman

*The Schuylkill was originally used for recreation...a use they hope to renew. (It's nice enough to cruise on, but you won't catch this Phillyist kayaking in it. It's a bit too murky for us to chance falling in.)

Phillyist has a wee little caffeine addiction. Our need is so sharp that we have developed a sixth-sense that allows us to locate the Starbucks nearest to us at any given time. However, although we are a slave to the bean, we aren't slaves to that Seattle corporate coffee giant. Here are some of our favorite coffee spots around town:

It is oh so sad when that time of year rolls around again and we need to bid adieu to the annual pagan ritual we have of dressing up in costume to get candy and trick each other.The good news is, not only do we have another full year to ponder our next costume, we can still go to some favorite haunts for both tricks and treats year-round.Although places to find tricks are limited, some of our favorite places to find everyday treats include:Buttercup Bakery – Located at 1709 Walnut Street, the bakery is a franchise of the New York original and sells a wide variety of beautifully frosted creations made with buttercream, meringue and whipped cream.Walnut Bridge Coffee Shop - Serving the ultimate in chocolate indulgences – from enormous Joseph Schmidt chocolate truffles to mini Scharfenberger bites to go along with the outrageously delicious coffee.Le Bus Bakery - Makers of the finest artisan-made bread, rolls and pastries in the area. The lemon bars are outrageously delicious.DiBruno Brothers - “Culinary Pioneers Since 1939” this is the absolute best place for savory treats like pate, caviar, cheese … and Zapp’s Crunchin Crawtator flavored potato chips.Rite Aid – One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that for true candy lovers and bargain hunters, the day after Halloween and Easter are the most wonderful days of the year because all the bags of candy are drastically reduced (half off or more). Happy Shopping.

Dear Philadelphia Dog Owners:

by Neil McGarry

by Neil McGarry

by Neil McGarry

Last night, FX premiered its new comedy line-up: Starved, followed by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Starved highlights four neurotic New Yorkers-- kind of like Seinfeld, except darker, raunchier, and filmed like an indie movie. Starved is different from your average sitcom not only in the way it is filmed, but also in its level of crassness. It's not for the faint of heart: this episode included frank sexual scenes, obscured nudity, and not-at-all obscured vomiting. Although some critics found Starved to be too crude, we thought it was actually kind of funny. Starved has also been accused of not being politically correct. While that may be true, this show does not come off as making fun of eating disorders; in fact, it often evokes sympathy for the main characters. And we have to give Starved props for addressing what it's like to live in a body-image obsessed country. Of course, we can relate: we watched it with a stack of Double-Stuf Oreos and a tall glass of whole milk.

Words can’t describe how excited we are to discover a new coffee shop that just sprouted up in just the right place – right across the street from a gym and smack dab on the bridge between University City and Rittenhouse Square. Owned and operated by two people who left corporate America in search of coffee wishes and chocolate truffle dreams, Mike Caro and Edna Cruz, The Walnut Bridge Coffee House http://www.walnutbridgecoffeehouse.com/ provides a selection of gourmet coffee, teas, chocolates and pastries in a universally comfortable setting.... A vast assortment of San Francisco-imported Joseph Schmidt truffles such as pecan praline, macadamia Jamaican rum and traditional all milk or all dark ($1.30 per gigantic piece) fill the display case while Droste Chocolate Pastilles ($3.75 per pack) can be found towards the back of the House and there are also chocolate croissants and chocolate milk.

It was just the other day that Phillyist mentioned how West Philly and University City were a haven for the adventurous gastronome. Apparently, someone at the University City District (warning: slow-loading Flash components) agrees, because they just released a University City Ethnic Dining Guide. You can either download the pamphlet and print it out, or you can find one of the twenty-thousand or so copies that the UCD folk plan to distribute around town (coming soon to a trash-choked gutter near you!). On first glance, the guide offers a pretty decent primer to some of the better-known ethnic dining places in the neighborhood. For some reason it skews heavily towards the African eateries in the area, listing three or four times as many of those as any other cuisine. Also, some of the classifications are a tad suspect: Cafe Paris isn't really French food so much as a regular neighborhood coffee shop with French pretensions, and Allegro Pizza is about as Italian as Taco Bell is authentically Mexican. Still, the little twelve-page booklet is attractive, and the map in the back is quite handy if you happen to be in the neighborhood and have a sudden craving for Pakistani food (or Greek, or Japanese, or what have you). It doesn't beat a knowledgeable local -- or Phillyist, natch -- but the University City Ethnic Dining Guide is definitely worth keeping around anyway.