Where to eat during Philadelphia Restaurant Week

Fork’s ambitious next-door neighbor’s take on Restaurant Week is made for date nights. Pick a couple of first and second courses (the daily bread and spread plate is a must) and then move on to mains built for two. Your choices are a whole honey-glazed chicken with winter salad and potato rolls or a sharable pork chop served over locally milled polenta and brussels.

The best way to taste your way through the worldly flavors of the Jewish diaspora is with Abe Fisher’s year-round, sharable prix fixe. During Restaurant Week, the menu is discounted but not abbreviated meaning that all those bubbe-inspired faves like borscht tartare, mushroom blintzes and bacon and egg creams are on offer.

An evening at this Marc Vetri spot on North Broad is generally reserved for special occasions and that makes a weeknight visit all the more appealing. The menu lines up all of Osteria’s greatest hits with a rainbow of vegetable antipasti to start, chicken liver rigatoni and a chocolate hazelnut mousse to round out the meal. Consider those extra couple of bucks knocked off the bill an ideal excuse to dig deep into Osteria’s well-stocked wine cellars.

This Mediterannean kitchen from Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran doesn’t exactly sell itself as a pizza shop, but it manages to whip up some of the city’s most daring pizza recipes, such as the Fico, with black mission figs and gorgonzola dolce; a white-sauce asparagus pizza with truffled egg; and a zucchini and squash blossoms pizza. Stop by late at night during the week for easy happy hour bar seating to watch a pizza be whipped up right in front of you.

With décor reminiscent of a mid-century Midwestern rec-room, Bud & Marilyn’s is one of chef Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran’s string of successful eateries along the recently renovated 13th Street corridor. Warm up with Marilyn’s fried chicken or crispy Wisconsin cheese curds.

Another Vetri family restaurant, Amis Trattoria’s menu is inspired by quinto quarto aka “the Fifth Quarter, which is a Roman culinary practice that centers on using an animal in its entirety. The seasonal menu with daily specials offers items like duck hearts with pomegranate and herb salad and grilled veal tongue with pepper mostarda. Whatever you order, be sure to save room for Mom-Mom’s rice pudding for dessert.

If you haven’t been to this Graduate Hospital corner in a while, Restaurant Week is the ideal excuse for a revisit. Back in the spring, chef Steve Eckerd took the reigns and has revamped the menu to include lovely late-summer plates like chorizo-stuffed poblanos with sweet corn and fried chicken with summer-pepper ragout.

This Korean gastropub is expanding on Restaurant Week’s traditional three-course model with an five-plus-course menu that includes an amuse, selection of banchan (Korean side dishes), a starter, a main and dessert. In between all of these extras, guests can enjoy twic- fried Korean fried chicken, vegetarian bibimbap and pickl- topped bulgogi burgers.

There’s a reason why buck-a-shuck happy hour at this Sansom Street spot is perennially packed: Everyone loves deal on bivalves. Restaurant Week sees an even deeper discount with a menu featuring all sorts of seafood—from freshly shucked oysters to clams casino and crab cakes to lobster rolls.

In France, prix-fixe meals are par for the course, making this Queen Village bistro a natural pick for everyone’s favorite week of fixed-menu dining. The menu here is handpicked straight from the pages of Larousse Gastronomique, packed with classics such as garlicky escargot, foie gras terrine and trout meuniere.

This buzzy American bistro stays busy from morning to nights thanks to its location near the financial district and just adjacent to Rittenhouse Square. The menu focuses on seasonal small plates and entrees such as steamed mussels when they’re in season, a cured salmon on rye and the popular a.burger at lunch, and a selectin of beef, poultry and seafood dishes for dinner. The bar offers an impressive craft beer menu along with a hefty selection of wine and cocktails. It fills up around happy hour time when a.kitchen’s next-door watering hole a.bar fills to capacity.

Jose Garces’s redo of Bookbinder’s boasts a menu that embraces retro classics—from starters like shrimp remoulade and parker house rolls to crisp wedge salads and steak oscar topped with creamy crab hollandaise. 

If you find yourself waiting for a table at Hawthornes Cafe, grab a seat by the wood-burning fireplace and peruse the menu; you’ll need time to decide between sumptuous dishes like the Hot Potato Mess, homefries with scrambled eggs, cheese, garlic hot sauce and your choice of meat, or the House Baked French Toast, which is “nothing like any other French toast you’ve ever had”. The beer selection is just as enticing as the food, with more than 1,000 single bottles, 11 specialty growler fills and 11 rotating varieties on draft.

Chef Rakesh Romola has a way of weaving refined techniques with classic Indian spices, giving the menu at his Gayborhood Indian joint plenty of appeal. Vegetarians will appreciate several meatless options including a bright watermelon salad with cumin and masala cashews and paneer in a creamy saffron sauce.

Restaurant Week’s heartiest offerings can be found on the menu at this South Street beer hall. Come hungry, thirsty and prepared to knock back a few liters of lager along with a serious selection of schnitzels, shanks, sauerkraut and of course plenty of housemade sausages.

Even though it’s been around for more than 30 years and happens to be home to the city’s best selection of all things agave-related, Tequilas remains an under-the-radar destination for creative Mexican cooking. If you’re looking to work your way through the restaurant’s extensive tequila list, don’t go in on an empty stomach. Instead fortify yourself with three courses of ceviche, cheesy chilis rellenos and tres leches cake.