standard tap – standard burger


I’ve been to Standard Tap several times for beer. Not just because it’s in my hood, but also because they always have a great selection of brews on tap. They also have food, and last weekend, I finally got around to trying their burger, the Standard Burger.

The Standard Burger consists of jack cheese, sauteed mushrooms, grilled onion, and lettuce. It sits between a standard bun and comes with a side of ketchup, fries, and pickle slices.


Let’s talk about the good. The burger itself was cooked to medium rare, tasted great, and was juicy. The fries were so tasty that I had a flashback to when I used to down McDonald’s fries like deep fried crack in my adolescence.

Now the let-downs. The burger to bun ratio was quite far from 1:1. Towards the end of the burger, me AND my other dining companions all had large pieces of burgerless bun at the end. Besides the ratio, the bun was way too bready and lacked a slight airiness/lightness that the bun should have. Another underwhelming factor was the toppings. I personally don’t think jack cheese is a good burger cheese and it also wasn’t quite melted enough. The ring of onions used was just a cross section that was grilled as is. This led to several onionless bites and some bites with too much onion. Lastly, there wasn’t much adding more moisture to the burger. The aforementioned juicy burger wasn’t enough to add to the lack of moisture in the toppings.

I’ll definitely be back at Standard Tap for it’s chill vibe, great beer selection, and awesome fries…not so much for their burger.

Standard Tap
901 N. 2nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215.238.0630

Tagged: , , , ,

dim sum garden


I was the first to get to Dim Sum Garden last week. As I waited for my friends to arrive I couldn’t help but notice the picture of a familiar food I haven’t seen in years. I immediately asked the waitress what it was. I even asked her to say it in Chinese, the only way it would ring a bell.

Pictured above is sheng jian bao. It’s kind of like XLB, a soup dumpling with pork, though it’s pan fried and has a much thicker, slightly bready outside. I was more than excited to eat these since me and my friends ordered this all the time when we were in Shanghai. In addition to the sheng jian bao, we ordered XLB, guo tie, pork noodles, and shumai.

xiao long bao


Dim Sum Garden offers a decent variety of dim sum, though I don’t think you’re getting a true dim sum experience since they’re lacking the moving carts and large variety that Ocean Harbor or Joy Tsin Lau has. The sheng jian bao and xiao long bao are pretty tasty though, and I’ll certainly be back to have em.

Does anywhere else in Philly have sheng jian bao?

guo tie


Also, in case you were wondering how to order these since the English names aren’t exactly translated 100%:
Sheng jian bao = 2a. Shanghai Pan Fried Pork Juicy Buns
Xiao long bao = 1. Shanghai Steamed Pork Juicy Buns
Guo tie = 9. Pan Fried Napa & Pork Dumplings

Dim Sum Garden
59 N. 11th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.627.0218

Tagged: , , , ,

foodspotting’s 2nd birthday party


One year ago from Sunday all of us Philly Foodspotters met for the first time at the late Adsum. Two years ago from Sunday, Foodspotting was launched by Alexa Andrzejewski , Ted Grubb and Soraya Darabi.


To celebrate the 2nd birthday, we gathered at Khyber Pass Pub in Old City where they offered us drink specials for the night. In addition to the great food and drink that Khyber offers, our own Philly Foodspotter & Cupcake Karma frontwoman, Jackie Seigle made a Foodspotting cake and cupcakes.


The cake had the Foodspotting logo on top and was made of an almond poundcake with strawberry and buttercream filling. The cupcakes were topped with various Philly food staples such as cheesesteaks, pretzels, and Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets. Two different kinds of cupcakes were made, chocolate cake with chocolate peanut butter mousse filling and salted caramel buttercream and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut. Everything was out of this world.

Check out some of the other spots from the event on the Foodspotting guide. Keep up with Philly Foodspotting on Twitter & Facebook.

Thanks a bunch to the Khyber Pass Pub staff and Jackie for the cakes!

*All non-food photos taken by Philly Foodspotter Mikey Ilagan. Thanks Mikey!

Here are some more photos from the party! Check out the rest on Mikey’s Flickr.

Tagged: , ,

nick’s charcoal pit


When I’m working along South Broad I always find myself at this one pizza shop for lunch. I was sick of having that for lunch so I reached out to some friends who suggested this nearby restaurant, Nick’s Charcoal Pit.

The menu had a lot of stuff from burgers, hoagies, hot dogs, and sandwiches. Being my first time, I went with the Nick’s Special which was slices of charbroiled filet mignon, spinach, and provolone on fresh Sarcone’s bread.


The slices of filet were juicy and had a delicious charbroiled taste. Melty provolone and slightly bitter spinach complimented the meat well. The Sarcone’s bread was perfect too, with that seeded, crusty outside and soft inside.

It’s going to be tough NOT to get the Nick’s Special next time I’m in!

Nick’s Charcoal Pit
1242 Snyder Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19148
215.271.3750

Tagged: , , ,

sammy chon’s k-town bbq


I used to live across the river and have been to the Cherry Hill location of Sammy Chon’s K-Town BBQ a couple times and it’s always been a good experience. I haven’t had a chance to return even though I found out they had Korean fried chicken! Recently, a new Chinatown location opened up and that’s exactly where I was last night.

This is the second time having Korean fried chicken. My only prior experience was in NYC at Kyochon. It was a while ago so I don’t remember too much, except that it was pretty tasty. At Sammy Chon’s, they have four different varieties: soy garlic, honey sesame, spicy, and diablo. Last night I tried all but the diablo. All of them had a nice crunchy outside with a tasty sauce. The honey sesame was my favorite as I found it to be the most flavorful. The soy garlic seemed to have a little too much overpowering soy flavor. The spicy had a good kick to it, great for those who like buffalo/hot wings.


In addition to the wings, me and my dining partner. decided to split a Koagie, too. The Koagie is a Korean hoagie, comprised of either beef bulgogi, bbq chicken, or spicy pork. We went with the beef bulgogi. It comes out on a sesame seeded roll and is served with this housemade white sauce. I asked what the sauce was made of and they said it’s mayo, honey, sesame seeds, and a couple of secret ingredients. Whatever it was, it tasted good with the Koagie. The meat was flavorful and spicy. They had this available when I last visited their Cherry Hill location and I’m upset it took me this long to try it.


Lastly, the meal ended in a familiar fashion…with the yogurt!

Sammy Chon’s in Chinatown is BYO at the moment and serves some delicious food, including Korean fried chicken. Apparently they plan on opening up another floor with karaoke and they’re going to have late hours. I enjoyed what I ate and look forward to my future visits.

Sammy Chon’s K-Town BBQ
911 Race St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.574.1778

Tagged: , , ,
Page 5 of 15« First...34567...10...Last »