Common Wealth

Common Wealth (319 Market Street) was the destination for brunch on one lovely Sunday. I really like the feel of the place. The establishment was cute and homey. Since it was the holiday season, there were christmas lights up and a tree by the front window.  The restaurant was kind of empty for a Sunday afternoon except for a large party in the back. I guess alot people don't like going out when it's cold. Well, I suppose it is better that way. We had good customer service and a suitable environment to talk. Below was what I ate. Of course, as like many of my brunch excursions, I experienced both savory and sweet goodies.

I ordered the Parfait Stuffed French Toast (house-made challah, sweetened vanilla greek yogurt, walnut streusel, and cinnamon maple). It came with home fries and ketchup on the side. The toast was overall good. Although the toast was describe as stuffed, I didn't see anything inside/between the toast nor did I see any walnut streusel. It was more like fluffy bread marinated with a sweet goodness that it didn't need any syrup. The French Toast was topped with what I assume was melted butter which went well with the sweetness of the toast. The home fries were small diced potatoes fried with some greens and onions. The potatoes were fried on the outside and soft in the inside. They were not crispy but nonetheless very tasty.

Parfait French Toast

For the table, we got Shrimp and Grits to share. The dish came with the perfect amount of shrimp (5). Everyone was able to get a shrimp with some grits. This was first time I ever tried grits. I thought I would enjoy it because it looked like the texture of cream of wheat, oatmeal, and porridge and I like all of those things. I was wrong. I didn't like the grits. The taste was okay, but it was the texture that I did not like. It tasted like warm cottage cheese with many tiny little grains and some mildly bigger pieces in it. The shrimp and gravy on the hand were delicious. The shrimp was cooked to perfection and the gravy was very flavorful. I can see myself coming back to this place again to try other things if an opportunity presents itself aka if I am around the area.

Shrimp and Grits

City Tap House

City Tap House has two locations in Philadelphia- one at University City (39th and Walnut St.) and one at Logan Square (2 Logan Square). My friends and I visited the one in University City. In front of the establishment, there was a rectangular bar in the center with seating around it. Once you walk past the bar, there were many table seatings. My friends and I came here for happy hour. The bar seating was packed and some of the tables were filled. We sat in the back.

Tartufo pizza was topped with roast portabello, taleggio, sunnyside egg, and truffle. The pizza was delicious. The crust was thin and crispy. The mushroom were tendered. The yolk sauce added to the texture of the pizza. The combination of all it's components really complemented each other--- texture-wise and taste-wise.

Tartufo Pizza

Bavarain Pretzel with Beer Cheese was on the beer menu. It was recommended by one of my friends who frequented the place. So the pretzel actually came with spicy brown mustard sauce and beer cheese. I think the restaurant might had made their own spicy brown mustard sauce. I found it good but it was a little more potent than other spicy brown mustard sauce I had before aka spicy brown mustard sauce from the Pretzel Factory. The beer cheese was very creamy and savory. The pretzel was warm, soft, and chewy. Both of the sauces went well with the pretzel. Getting the pretzel was a great decision. 

Bavarian Pretzel with Beer Cheese and Spicy Brown Mustard

Overall, the food I tried were delicious. The atmosphere was nice. I can see myself coming here again either for happy hour or dinner.

The Twisted Tails

As a pre Thanksgiving dinner, two of my friends and I went to The Twisted Tails (509 South 2nd Street). I thought it would be a nice place because it had good reviews and live music on Tuesday nights. The restaurant had both inside and outside seating. Inside, the bar was located at the center of the establishment. There were tables in front of, to the left, and to the right of the bar. We were seated at a table away from the entrance side, away from the live music, and to the right of the bar. The serving sides were on the smaller end. The waitress, who had someone tailing her, recommended two plates per person.  On a side note, I pondered if the person following the waitress was a trainee, supervisor, or a stalker. It was just so weird that the waitress didn't introduce that person following her. Okay, back to the purpose...the food. We ordered 5 plates in total and received 3 complimentary desserts. I would like to apologize for the picture quality in advance. It was fairly dark in the restaurant.

Dinner came with complimentary house popcorn. I think the popcorn was made with bacon grease along with other things. It was fresh, very savory, and addictive. I also thought it was the best food of the night.

House Popcorn

The Crispy Cauliflower Flatbread with yogurt, almond, and parsley was okay. I was expecting flatbread made from cauliflower; however, we got a crispy dough with cauliflower, yogurt, almond, and parsley on top. I was disappointed that the crust was not made from cauliflower. I have been hearing good things about using cauliflower as a substitute for crusts and been wanting to try it. I became more disheartened with the fact that the dough was fried. The flatbread was like a big circular fried wonton skin. The fried dough was way too heavy for me. I wished it was just regular flatbread. The cauliflower floret along with the other topping were okay. Nothing really positively stood out for me.

Crispy Cauliflower Flatbread

The Roasted Pumpkin and Burrata Cheese with cinnamon, maple, and bourbon wasn't a favorite. I am usually surprised with the pumpkin dishes at restaurants. They had always exceeded my expectation. I decided to give this pumpkin dish a try. Unfortunately, I was wrong about this one. The pumpkin was heavily seasoned with cinnamon. I think this was my second time having Burratta and it's alright. It comes in a ball. The outside is mozzarella and firm while the inside is like cottage cheese and has a cream flavored. In my opinion, this cheese have a more milky taste versus an aged taste. The pumpkin was warm and the cheese was cold. I didn't think it was a good combination at all. I thought the dish would have been better if it was just a piece of roasted pumpkin.

Roasted Pumpkin and Burrata

The Crawfish Mac 'n' Cheese with aged cheddar and toasted breadcrumb was a little watery. I think the sauce is one of the most important factor in a mac n cheese and this sauce failed me. It was not creamy and it was bit too salty. On the bright side, the macaroni was cooked well and tender, but then again, since the dish was salty we could not really eat much of it.

Crawfish Mac 'N' Cheese

The Mushroom Fricassese Gnoochi with basil, ricotta, and parmesan was interesting and grew on me. The gnocchi tasted different than any other gnocchi I had in the past. The gnocchi I had before were somewhat firm and chewy. These gnocchi were more doughy. They were shaped into little rectangles and pan fried on the top and bottom. While two sides of the gnocchi were somewhat crispy, the rest was soft and more crumbly when you eat it. As I ate them and got use to the texture, it wasn't bad. They were unique, but good and tasted well with the parmesan, basil, tendered mushroom, and ricotta. I would say this was my favorite dish of the night except for the free popcorn, of course.

Mushroom Fricassese Gnocchi

I didn't eat the BBQ Smoked Ribs. According to my friends, the BBQ Smoked Ribs was okay.  I did get to taste the Celeriac Slaw that came with the ribs. It was very bland. The dressing tasted like watered down  mayonnaise.

BBQ Smoked Ribs

When the waitress came to take the finished foods always, she asked if we were done with the mac 'n' cheese. My friend commented yes and told her that it was salty. The waitress came back shortly and offered us complimentary desserts to make up for the subpar mac 'n' cheese.  One of the dessert was a thick coffee and chocolate ganache thing with whip cream on top. The dessert was rich in coffee flavor which was nice, but I didn't like the consistency of the ganache. I think it would be better if it was more airy and mousse like.

Coffee and Chocolate

The other desserts were Pumpkin Cheesecake and Sorbet. I thought the cheesecake was good. It was creamy, not too sweet, and there was pumpkin flavor from the puree. By all means, it wasn't spectacular but nonetheless delicious. The sorbet was okay. There was a sweetness to it, but I thought the lemon flavor was too strong.

Pumpkin Cheeesecake and Sorbet

Overall, unfortunately, I wasn't impressed by the foods. One of my friends had been there before and stated she had the mac 'n' cheese as well as other foods and they were delicious. She remember the mac 'n' cheese being creamy, but the one we got was watery. I am not sure if we ordered the wrong foods or if we came on a off night.