October 1st, 2014

Destination? Manayunk, Streat Food Festival, Restaurant Week, Until Friday, October 10th, Philadelphia, PA, Food Trucks, Vendors, Entertainment…Philly’s First Fashion Truck!

Manayunk is located in the northwestern section of the City of Philadelphia and on the banks of the Schuykill River.  For years it was just there and in need of TLC…not anymore.  It is a city capturing the young professionals, single and with families, moving to this town that has shops, restaurants, bars, and a place to enjoy the outdoors….just a few miles from everything Philadelphia has to offer.

Main Street is long covering more than several blocks.  Restaurants have outdoor seatings, perfect for when the weather is nice.  To know more about Manayunk, please visit http://www.manayunk.com.

Manayunk’s Annual Streat Food Festival was Saturday, September 28th.  This was also the opening of their Restaurant Week, which will go on until Friday, October 10th.  Restaurant Week offers 3 courses and 3 prices.  Visit the website above mentioned for more information and to find out the participating restaurants.

I arrived at the Streat Festival early so as to find parking which, actually, ended up being very easy.  Everything was very well organized.  Saturday’s big event was the Food Trucks.  Philadelphia is known for its amazing food.  There were about 40 food trucks lining Main Street.  Some people knew exactly where they were going….they had their favorites.  I had my son, Michael, to show me the way.

Food trucks are mobile restaurants, or mobile cuisine.  The trend continues to grow and there are no signs of them slowing down.  They say that food trucks are restaurants’ worst nightmare.  In Philly you can find them around all the universities, feeding those hungry students.

Yoga on the Street…..Was I supposed to join them before hitting the food trucks?  Plenty of others did.

Musicians were available to entertain the crowds.

And, as soon as the Beer Garden opened…the crowds followed.  It was such a gorgeous day.  Perfect for a festival.

Mama’s Meat Ball was a winner.  That’s the first Food Truck we hit….my son said that their slider meatballs are just awesome.  Their address is 1426 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125.  Tel. 267-530-1493.  Website?  http://www.mamasmeatballphilly.com.  You can also find them on Facebook.

The following photo shows what we ordered:  On the left is Mama’s Ball…beef, pork, veal mix, topped with arugula and Parmesan.  On the right is my Apple Bomb made with 100% turkey mixed with sauteed spinach, Granny Smith, stuffred with roasted red pepper, Asiago, and topped with spicy Fresno Chili-Apple Chutney.  Totally the best.  People sitting around were raving about them, as well.

The smallest Food Truck was the Korean Truck Kami….small but popular.  You can find Kami at N. 33rd St. at Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.  Tel. 215-555-5555.  On Facebook, as well.

Another most popular food truck and one we did not try was Mac Mart.  It is Philadelphia’s only Mac ‘n Cheese Food Truck.  They are usually located by Drexel University.  Tel. 267-908-5662  Website?  http://www.macmartcart.com Find them on Facebook and Twitter.

We decided to stop at Delicias.  Their specialty?  Latin Food and Arepas.  Arepas are grilled corn patties that can be filled with almost anything you can think of.

The first photo shows on the left an Arepa filled with Shredded Chicken tossed in guacamole and mayo.  On the right is my own which had Shredded Beef, sweet plantains, black beans and Cotija Cheese.  This was an expensive Food Truck.  Both of those, which by the way, were completely filled and heavy, plus 2 waters…..a total price of $26!!

You can take a peek at mine…a close-up.

We were totally satisfied, but continued walking Main Street.  I found Sweet Elizabeth’s Edible Art to be at the perfect location on Main Street at 4409 Maint St…… I will have to visit them another time.  In the meantime, their edible art looked beautiful.  You can find them on Facebook as Sweet Elizabeth Cakes.  Tel. 267-331-8949.  Website?  http://www.sweetelizabethscakes.com.  They make everything from scratch, with a specialty on custom designed cakes.

Philadelphia has its first Fashion Truck….it was also mingling with the Food Trucks.  It is called Smak Parlour Fashion Truck.  http://www.smakparlour.com.

This is a girly, glam and funky truck.   The Boutique is on 219 Market Street in Old City.  The Fashion Truck travels to events throughout the city, but it can also come to your home, office or party.  It is a fun shopping extravaganza.  Smak Parlour has also its own line of in-house designed clothing.  Visit the above mentioned website to see where they will be going next.

It was time to head back to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware…..Main Street was so crowded and I wanted to have a head start….the Eagles were playing, NASCAR was also in Dover….Yikes….it took me a long time to get home but not as long as the ones that were heading north.

Note:  The Streat Festival is around the same time each year.  Save the Date…it is worth going, especially if you like to Eat…On the STREAT!!

August 25th, 2013

Winnie’s, Restaurant, Bar, Breakfast, Lunch, Brunch, Dinner, Manayunk, Philadelphia, PA, Good Gotta Eat Food!!

Manayunk is a neighborhood of Philadelphia.  With its small town charm, boutiques, specialty shops, and plenty of restaurants, it sorts of reminds me of a town with similar attitude in Florida…Delray Beach.  Minus the palm trees, though.

Manayunk has the Towpath, which is accessible from Fairmount Park to the east and from the Schuylkill River Trail to the west.  Lots of joggers, cycling, and walkers on this tranquil and beautiful path.

Overlooking Main Street, sitting above it, the town is hilly, is Pretzel Park.  I could not find out why it has that named but it has been mentioned that it could be because of the pretzel shape of the sidewalks or because for many years a pretzel vendor was selling Philly pretzels.

A dog park, benches, playground and on Saturdays the Farmers’ Market makes Pretzel Park its home.

During the day the streets are quiet in Manayunk but come happy hour there is a different scene.  Most restaurants have dining al fresco.  On week-ends tables at sidewalks are filled with patrons ready to taste great food for every discriminating palate.

Our choice was Winnie’s, located at 4266 Main St.  Tel. 215-487-2663.  Website?  http://www.lebusmanayunk.com.  It opens for breakfast, lunch, brunch (Saturday and Sunday), and dinner.

Taking center stage at Winni’es is its bar.  Then, dining on both sides of the restaurants and outdoors, as well.

Healthy comfort food..their baked goods are so delicious.  Don’t push that bread basket away.  Their corn bread is very good.  They also sell it at the restaurant.

So, this is what we had:

Soups are made daily at Winnie’s and on that particular day their sweet potato corn chowder was full of flavor and very tasty.

An order of sweet potato fries accompanied with a dipping sauce of sour cream, horseradish, and I believe honey.  It had some sweetness to it.  We ordered the fries without salt.  I love fries that are crispy and these ones were perfect.

The Crisp Pear Salad – Mixed greens tossed in citrus vinaigrette with bosc pears, crumbled blue cheese, roasted peppers ad spiced walnuts.  This salad was topped with their Colorado Chicken, which is the best.  It is grilled with ancho chili.

A Healthy Brown Rice Nut Salad had brown rice, broccoli, carrots, peppers, onions, sunflower seeds, almonds, raisins and walnuts, tossed in tahini dressing and served with feta cheese, hummus, roasted peppers, calamata olives and pita.  Topped also with the Colorado Chicken, it made a heck of a lunch!!

The Veggie Burger – Whole grains, vegetable spices and herbs, grilled and topped with guacamole and salsa on a wheat bun with those delicious sweet potato fries.  Very good!!

The traditional Caesar Salad was also ordered and again, the Colorado Chicken was ordered to accompanied the salad.

No dessert was necessary….I think we ate enough!!

On the run?  Want something to go?  In a corner of the restaurant there is take out. And, freshly baked breads.

There is a lot on the schedule for Manayunk:

The StrEAT Food Festival kicks off on September 21st from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.  Main Street will be lined up with some of Philadelphia’s best food trucks with specialties from ice cream to Asian delicacies.  Plenty of options at affordable prices.

The restaurant week will be ongoing until October 5th.  22 restaurants are participating with special 3 course menus offered at $10, $20, and $30 price ranges.

More info?  Please visit http://www.manayunk.com/signature-events/streat-food-festival-restaurant-week/fall-streat-food-festival.

Have a great day!!  This pooch was enjoying one beautiful day in Manayunk!!