Hawthorne Cafe

Hawthorne Cafe (738 S. 11th St) is unique restaurant with a bottle shop in the back and a small section with a fire place and couches. I have been to Hawthorne Cafe in the past for dinner. I remember getting an open faced falafel sandwich and it being delicious. This time around when I came to Hawthorne for brunch, they did not disappoint.

I ordered the 11th Street Omelet (brussel spouts, crispy pancetta, roasted red pepper, and sharp provolone; however, I got mine without the pancetta of course and without cheese). It came with toast and home fries. For this omelet, instead of the ingredients cooked in the egg, the egg and veggies were cooked separately. The egg wrapped around the veggies. The veggies were shredded, tender, and tasty. The egg was soft and so what fluffy. My favorite part of the dish was the home fries. It was definitely a home run for me. The texture and seasoning were perfect. They were crispy outside and tender inside. The seasoning tasted like Old Bay. The multigrain toast was lightly toast and okay. Considering I enjoyed food here twice, I am definitely going to come back to experience more of Hawthorne's wondrous food. 

11th Street Omelet with Home Fries and Toast

Five Guys

This was my first time trying Five Guys (1527 Chestnut St.). You are probably thinking okay Jen...wait until you are a vegetarian to try five guys, a fast food chain known for their beef burger. But I have a good reason for trying five guys. I was craving french fries and was wondering which fast food chain close by had the most natural french fries with the least ingredients. Five Guys showed up in my search (http://www.foodbeast.com/news/nba-pbj-addiction/).  They primarily used potatoes, salt, and refined peanut oil. Some of the fast food joints had excessive preservatives and additives totaling to as much as 15 ingredients. Come on 15 ingredients for French Fries...unnecessary.

I ordered the Cajun fries because I like hot. I love how Five Guys add an extra scope of fries into the bag. The texture of the fries were good. It was crispy on the outside and tender inside. Although I like the cajun favor, it was a little too much especially when you are eating all the fries in the cup and in the bag. Next time, I think I will just stick too regular fries. 

Cajun French Fries

Since I was getting fries, I might as well try their Veggie Sandwich with Cheese. The Veggie Sandwich came on a sesame bun with lettuce, tomato, American cheese, green peppers,onion, and mushroom. The sandwich was okay. I was not too impress. It was just an assortment of veggies and cheese place between sesame buns and tasted like so. In the future, I don't think I get the veggie sandwich, but I will definitely be back for more fries. I love fries.

Veggie Sandwich with Cheese

Wiz Kid

Wiz Kid (124 S. 19 St.) is relatively new establishment that open inside the new Wholes Food's foodcourt in Fairmount. It is associated with Vedge and V Street, two popular vegan restaurants in Philadelphia. Their menu has a limited aka like 3 selection of sandwiches, salads, and sides.

I got the Wiz Kid Philly. It was seitan, mushrooms, and fried onions on a potato roll topped with rutabaga wiz and pickled peppers . The minced seitan along with mushrooms, fried onions, and wiz cheese was flavorful. It really mimicked the texture and taste of a real cheese steak. The pickled peppers also added a little something extra to the sandwich. I wish there was more though because I like pickled peppers. One complaint I do have was that with some bites there was a burnt taste which I attributed to some burnt onions. In addition, I wasn't a fan of the bread. It was too soft for me. I prefer my bread on the firmer side. 

Wiz Kid Philly 

For a side, I got the Togarishi Fries. Togarishi is a Japanese seasoning blend of mandarin orange peel, sesame seed, poppy seed, hemp seed, nori, and ground sansho. The fries looked and was good. The fries were somewhat crispy and tender inside. The spices were not too strong, but did give a more complex taste. Overall, the food was good but unfortunately not great enough for me to come back again. 

Togarishi Fries

The Dandelion- Afternoon Tea

The Dandelion (18th and Sansom Streets) is actually a Starr Restaurant which I didn't know. I have tried Starr Restaurants in the past (eg. El Vez, POD) and thought they were just okay. Now that I have tried Dandelion, I would say its my favorite out of all Starr Restaurants I visited. The Dandelion had three levels which was surprising to me. Usually, center city restaurants are one level and relatively small. My company and I were seated on the third floor by the front window where there was cushioned bench seating on one side of the table. I thought the location where we were seated was nice. Below was what our table got.

We ordered the A Royal Occasion afternoon tea set. It came with an assortment of tea sandwiches and canapes, assortment of pastries and tarts, homemade scones with devon cream, lemon curd, and raspberry jam as well as 4 cups of tea. I think this was meant to be shared between two people since there was basically two of everything. But of course, with how my friends and I roll, it was going to be shared among 5 people. In addition, we requested another pot of tea and an order of Scones and Shortbread that came with more Devon cream, lemon curd, and raspberry jam. I will highlight some of the items I ate. The raisins scones were one of the best scones I ever had. They were moist, crumbly, and not too sweet. My favorite spread was the lemon curd. It had the right balance of sweet and sour. My favorite and also probably the only one tea sandwich I could eat was the spicy crabmeat. It tasted creamy and had a kick to it. Everything else I sampled was good. There wasn't anything that I disliked. I tasted the crispy cookies, snap like cookies, shortbread, apple crumb pastry, open egg tea sandwich, mini apple muffin, and lemon curd pastry. 

A Royal Ocassion

Raisin Scones

Scones and Shortbread

After devouring all of the Royal Occasion tea set, we were still kind of hungry. So we got Welsh Rarebit (whole grain mustard and cheddar on buttermilk toast) per the suggestion of one friend. I was okay with this dish. It was basically thick bread topped with mustard and melted cheese. It was a simple and nice combo, but I thought the bread portion was too much relative to the mustard and cheese part.

Welsh Rarebit

Overall, I like the ambience, food, and customer service. The restaurant had an atmosphere that was suitable for both a date, business date, and a casual outing with friends. The customer service was great. The waiter occasionally checked up on us, but it wasn't too excessive. The only con I have for this place is that it might be more on the pricier side.