Roadtrip to Philly: A Perfect Weekend Getaway

The more I see of Philly, the better I like the City of Brotherly Love. On this most recent trip, my wife wanted to attend a concert at Macy’s department store downtown. All I had to hear to make me want to go was Bach’s Tocatta Fugue in D Minor would be on the program. You just wouldn’t believe the power in this almost forgotten piece of classical music played on the world’s largest pipe organ.

Since the concert was slated to start at 8:30 p.m., we’d need to spend the night. A quick search of the city’s hotels found $250+ hotel rooms for our one night stay. We eschewed pricy hotels, chosing an AirB&B with thrifty lodging in mind. It had been a while since we’d visited Chestnut Hill. Since that’s where we found the best deal on an AirBnB whole-apartment, that’s where we landed.

One of the first things we noticed was a mom and pop bakery called Baker Street Bread Company. In my travels, there are lots of eateries calling to me, but none of them can match the siren song of a mom and pop bakery. We ducked into Baker St. Bakery for a look and a sniff. It turned out to be a rare artisanal bread bakery with challah, pumpernickel, raisin walnut, square marble rye, multigrain, and several other types listed on the board.

Tom, the baker and owner is said to be Philly’s first artisanal bread bakery. While I don’t have the time or inclination to prove that fact, I can tell you the bread is good. I tried a sample of the multigrain and found a crusty outer surface hiding a seedy-earthy interior with the moist fluff I love.
Down the hill is yet another bakery Night Kitchen Bakery. They almost had me with the mini-chocolate pecan pie, and my wife wanted the coconut cookie bars. Somehow we were able to save the Night Kitchen for further taste testing and moved on.

The Chestnut Hill shopping is concentrated on Germantown Avenue. There are boutique clothing shops, gobs of restaurants, three bakeries, and a food hall behind the Chestnut Hill Hotel. With just a 24 hour trip, it was impossible to test all the eateries that we saw on Chestnut Hill.

Dinner was at Cincin, a Chinese restaurant on Germantown Avenue, close to our AirB&B. I started with hot and sour soup and got to say it was probably the best I’ve had on the East Coast. My wife ordered the wonton soup, and it was also quite good.

My black bean tofu with veggies was tasty but could have used just a bit more black bean sauce. What really surprised us was the chocolate-dipped fortune cookies. The dark chocolate was a perfect finish to a spicy and garlicky meal. Where are you ever going to find a dark chocolate fortune cookie?

With dinner over, it was time to summon LYFT for a ride into central Philly for the concert. It took almost 30 minutes to get to Macy’s for the show. Back in the heyday of large department stores, America’s greatest cities had their own local version. In Denver where I grew up, it was May D&F, Chicago had Marshall Fields, and Philly had Wannamaker’s. Even though John Wannamaker’s department store has been sold several times, the store’s name has changed, but the organ still bears the title, Wannamaker’s Organ.

I thought the pipe organ at Longwood Gardens with 1010 pipes was large, but the Wannamaker Organ has 28,750 pipes! During the concert’s beginning, the organ shook the building with the deep, thundering bass notes pounded out by organist Peter Richard Conte. Symphony in C  (a full orchestra) added lots of oomph to the concert making this a big time show.

Throughout the year, Macy’s and Friends of the Wannamaker organ put on several free performances.

If you are in town on the weekend, the chances are good that there will be a free concert either Saturday or Sunday. With the performance over, we hopped an Uber back to our apartment splashing through big puddles as the skies opened up and delivered a long overdue drenching.

Sunday morning brought blue skies and drier, cooler weather. Our first stop was the Headhouse Farmer’s Market near Washington Square. Too bad we only had ten minutes before brunch to buy veggies as there were loads of great looking farm goods to peruse. I snagged some super sweet corn-on-the-cob, fresh ginger, Arlett apples, and cheese curds before heading to brunch.

We made reservations at our favorite East Coast brunch spot, Talula’s Garden. The weather was perfect for outdoor dining, and we lucked out and got the last available table on the patio. I ordered the crab Benedict and my wife got the shrimp and grits.

This was a good deal for both of us as we agreed to split the entrees. The shrimp and grits had fragrant seared shrimp served on the best grits money can buy. The chef’s Creole sauce tied the creamy grits, spicy shrimp, and poached eggs together for a party on a plate.

While the crab Benedict was excellent, it was best to have the shrimp and grits to split keeping the butterfat level in manageable proportions. With a mimosa on the side, this was brunch done right.
Alas, all good things come to an end. It was time to head home for weekend chores and to pick up the pooch at the dog sitters.

Philly is easily accessed by trains, planes, or automobiles and should be on your list of places to visit. I recommend Taste of Philly food tours if you want to get a taste of the city’s best eats and a history lesson. Philly also has gobs fo great craft beer joints and cocktail bars. If you go, chances are you’ll be back for another taste.