Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse
If the name didn’t clue you in, this place is a bit excessive. It occupies the shell of an enormous former bank, a fact made blindingly evident by a private dining room downstairs being housed in a fully preserved vault, three-foot-thick door included and Del Frisco branded. And the food within maintains this luxurious allure steadfastly. Chilled seafood appetizers (and the contextually odd but nevertheless delicious cheesesteak dumplings) pave the way to what I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for, the steak. Don’t get caught up in the appetizers; as someone who’s been enchanted by their siren’s song, you don’t want to find yourself caught in the rocks of a full stomach and ¾ of a steak still on your plate. These chops are also not skimpy in their servings - aside from the 12 oz Filet Mignon (the health food of steaks)- you’ll find that cuts start from 16 oz (a pound, for you international students) and keep going. Straggling alternative dishes litter the menu, but best pay them no mind. If your parents will really let you indulge in the dining habits of a gilded age robber baron, then the berries and cream or chocolate mousse cake of the desserts section will certainly help you achieve this. While outstanding steakhouses stud the Center City landscape, nothing lets your parents whisk you out of a Houston Hall haze like Del Frisco’s.
Harp and Crown
Successfully tackling a diverse array of international cuisines just two blocks away from City Hall, Harp and Crown has some of the best food in Philadelphia. It also has a garden room (at the entrance), an enormous amount of large-seating tables, including viking-esque longtable stretching throughout the length of the restaurant, and, to top it off, a bowling alley, sans kitsch. One cannot describe the food at Harp and Crown without describing their pierogies - perfectly fried potato dumplings with crème fraîche. Undoubtedly your parents will pilfer your pierogi plate, so perhaps opt for a few appetizers - cheesesteak egg rolls and the benevolently sized burrata over toast can serve as buttresses to the star appetizer. Or just order three plates of pierogies. That also works. For mains, the pork schnitzel is colossal and delicious, and its spätzle side is some of the best I’ve ever consumed. If not in the mood for German food, revert to Italian; the rigatoni brings an agonizingly delicious rendition of an Italian classic with a burrata reprise. Oh, and it’s also vegetarian. For dessert, get the s’mores cosmic brownie sundae. Just do it. If you need rhetorical justification, you shouldn’t be getting dessert in the first place.
Rosy’s Taco Bar
Perhaps on some stroll into Center City down Walnut Street, you’ve seen it: a luminous scarlet neon sign spelling out the very name above. Even if your sense of wonder hasn’t drawn you into this restaurant, as long as you like Mexican food, you should come here - especially on your parents dime. The restaurant is loud, open until 2am (for future outings), and home to perhaps the greatest variety of hot sauces in the state of Pennsylvania. In terms of food, the esquites are a corn-based bowl-format appetizer, which is one of the best foods you can get for nine dollars in any restaurant, and the crab tostadas: an amazing twist on standard crabcakes. In terms of recommended mains, both the shrimp and chorizo tacos are stunningly good, as well as the cheese enchiladas. The portions are big, cheap, and the tables are big, so this restaurant is fitting for the perfect mid-semester family reunion.
Continental Midtown
This restaurant is a two-fer because, beyond fitting in the category of this article, it also happens to double as a sensational date spot depending on which floor you settle. You will dine within a creatively imagined mid century modern interior, while listening to a soundtrack of alternative hip-hop. The cuisine is quirky and varied, but full of heavy hitters. The yuzu-salt edamame may bear little trace of yuzu, but it is nevertheless a great edamame. And the BBQ chicken quesadilla is amazing, even as an unheated leftover. The food is served as it is prepared (the traditional course order is abandoned), but, to fill the role of entrée, among the best dishes are the pastrami fried rice and the chicken parm. Luckily, however, navigating the menu isn't a problem because it's incredibly hard to miss with these swanky dishes.
With family weekend around the corner, it’s key to open culinary negotiations with an arsenal of restaurants your parents can have the privilege of meeting with you at. So, whether you want spunk or sophistication, schnitzel or sirloin, this list has got you covered. That being said, I hope to have been a helpful arms dealer.
