19 Essential Philly Eats — from Appetizers to Desserts

Jordan Johnson, a former boxer turned food impresario, didn’t set out to create Philly’s most viral fish sandwich, but any-fin is possible. By masterfully blending the feeling you get at a church fish fry with hallowed hoagie culture, Jordan Johnson Seafood cooks up roughly 8,000 pounds of buttermilk-fried whiting every month for his golden-crusted sandwiches. 

First, the restaurant hollows out a Sarcone’s hoagie roll and rubs it in mayonnaise before adding five slices of American cheese, fresh romaine lettuce, sliced Jersey tomatoes, raw onions and pickles. The secret ingredient? Honey scotch bonnet truffle sauce — sweet with a kick. 

Named one of the best dishes in America by La New York Times, this bright salad is a deconstructed version of the Cambodian sizzling coconut rice crepe, accented by sautéed ground chicken and shrimp along with “backyard herbs” and Sunday fish sauce. It’s crispy, delicate, sweet and savory all at the same time. 

Mawn, perennially ranked by food critics as one of the best restaurants in America, can be a hard table to snag: It only has 28 seats. Chef Phila Lorn opens the reservation book on the first of every month at 12 p.m., but lunch service is walk-in only. (Pro tip: People start lining up around 10 a.m.) 

We’ll always love Amy Rivera-Nassar’s mama. She’s the inspiration for this Fishtown grab-and-go oasis for doughy treats. 

The modest pastellillo, a Puerto Rican puff pastry — whose name literally means “little pastry” — is packed with sweet or savory ingredients. Amy’s Pastelillos elevates the humble handheld through the infusion of posh fillings, like Guava BBQ Pork and Truffle Mushroom and Queso. 

Each pastelillo is individually crimped, too, so those forked lines you see along the curved edge of the pastry dough tell you it’s fresh. Dress yours up with her trademark La Parchita Hot Sauce, with the eats available online for delivery. 

Akin to catching Punxsutawney Phil peep his shadow on Groundhog Day at Gobbler’s Knob, you have to time it just right. 

La Middle Child BLT is only on the menu from mid-July to late August, and the lines during those craveworthy weeks are quite long, but the hype is real.

Why? Middle Child uses peak-ripened heirloom tomatoes from Urban Roots Farm and five Leidy’s bacon strips (no less, no more!), oozing with Duke’s mayonnaise from edge to edge, then finished with arugula on toasted rye bread from Merzbacher’s Bakery. Find the seasonal sandwich at both Middle Child locations. 

Much ink (and many napkins!) has been spilled on this unpretentious burger. It features a single patty (80% lean, 20% fat) cooked medium-rare, topped with melted American cheese, plus a crispy tomato slice and iceberg lettuce, served on a pillowy Martin’s potato roll — griddled on high heat for a seared crust. That’s it, save for two pickle chips on the side. 

Fountain Porter, one of South Philly’s most beloved beer bars, has been cranking out roughly 800 burgers a week for nearly 13 years, making the homey handheld the exact same way — all for a cool $7.

In 1904, Italian immigrants Mario and Crocifissa Isgro started selling rum cake, cannoli and other baked goods out of the shop in front of their Italian Market rowhome. Four generations and a James Beard nomination later, the bakery is still at it. 

Handmade in small batches, the cannoli use real butter, high-quality vanilla and chocolate, and a splash of homemade red wine — the exact recipe for the Sicilian delicacy is a family secret only three people are privy to. 

What we do know: (1) the crispy, golden-brown pastry shells are still cut on Mario’s original Carrara marble table; (2) the vanilla, chocolate and traditional whipped ricotta fillings are borderline addictive; and (3) the signature mascarpone cannoli is one of the best things on the menu — dipped in chocolate at both ends and piped with savory mascarpone cream inside with chocolate drizzle on top. 

We’re not weighing in on the (whispers) “cheesesteak conversation” here. Pat’s or Geno’s? Wit or witout? It’s passionate. It’s controversial. (It’s a bit exhausting.) What we can tell you is that Angelo’s Pizzeria in South Philly makes a damn good steak. 

With perfectly shredded meat and rolls baked fresh in-house (fitting given that owner Danny DiGiampietro married into Philadelphia’s legendary Sarcone bread dynasty), this Italian Market takeout spot elevates the standard steak — bread, meat, onions, cheese — to an art form. We won’t tell you what to order, but we’re going to suggest something: melted Cooper sharp and onions. 

With two Angelo’s locations in the city — plus DiGiampietro’s collaboration project, Uncle Gus’ Steaks in the Reading Terminal Market — you have multiple ways to taste one of Philly’s new favorite cheesesteaks.

What began as a hobby in Amy Wilson’s home kitchen in 2012 is now one of Philly’s most revered ice cream shops. 

Milk Jawn, which makes “Philly Style” ice cream (no eggs), has an ever-rotating lineup of droolworthy scoops, yet the Earl Grey with Honeycomb remains the shop’s top seller. Milk Jawn takes Earl Grey teabags and steeps them right into the cream (16% butterfat), giving every velvety scoop the essence of bergamot orange — and the housemade honeycomb candy adds gratifying sweetness. 

Other favorite flavors include tahini fudge swirl, lemon curd with blueberry basil swirl, cold brew and caramelized cacao nibs, and mango sticky rice (vegan). 

Forget the colonel: These sisters have their own secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices (give or take). With their restaurant Doro Bet, Mebruka Kane and Hayat Ali introduced Philadelphia to their life-changing (per USA Today) Ethiopian-style fried chicken. 

La West Philly spot serves two varieties of fried chicken dinners and sandwiches: the Hot-Hot Awaze (a traditional berbere blend using chili, cumin and coriander) for spice lovers and the lemon turmeric Alicha for more sensitive palates. Whatever you choose, both are packed with a ton of flavor inspired by the duo’s East African roots and fried to crispy perfection using a gluten-free mixture of teff and tapioca flours.

Ahh, the hoagie that launched a thousand TikTok reels. Liberty Kitchen sold 1,012 chicken cutlets in a single weekend when it first launched this now-viral sando on a whim in 2024. 

It’s an uncomplicated concept: three double-breaded chicken cutlets (sliced thin, not pounded!) and fresh kale, slathered in a housemade Caesar dressing and finished with Locatelli cheese and fried shallots. But the magic is in the marinade as executive chef Beau Neidhardt lets them sit overnight in his signature “herb jawn,” consisting of parsley, dill, garlic and basil. 

Liberty Kitchen has spun new iterations, too, including the Buffalo Kale Caesar Cutlet. 

Many restaurants have attempted to pay tribute to the McDonald’s Big Mac. Few have succeeded like Honeysuckle, the Afrocentric restaurant praised by Food & Wine and Bon Appétit for weaving “history and pop culture into modern American cuisine.” 

Chef-owners Omar Tate and Cybille St. Aude-Tate prep two all-beef patties — injected with the Holy Trinity of bell pepper, celery, onion — and lather all that juicy meat in Cooper sharp, a caviar remoulade and caramelized malt-vinegar onions.

The $65 burger rests comfortably between two thick slices of housemade Japanese shokupan milk bread, then gets topped with 24-karat edible gold leaf along with Périgord black truffles and cornichons.

Muhammad Abdul-Hadi and Michael Carter’s mission-led pizzeria takes Detroit-style and puts a Philly spin on it. Chewy, rectangular pies cut into thick slices, the pizzas at Down North are named after hip-hop classics by Philly artists. 

No Betta Love, a four-cheese blended pie named after the hit track from Philly hip-hop duo Young Gunz, has been called one of the best pizzas in America by Food & Wine thanks to its “sweet and smoky house tomato Norf sauce.”

Another popular pie is Roc the Mic, named for North Philly natives Beanie Sigel and Freeway’s 2002 rap hit. This doughy delight is topped with mozzarella, handfuls of mini beef pepperoni and drizzled with (what else?) the shop’s signature Norf sauce.

Zahav — Steve Cook and Michael Solomonov’s modern Israeli establishment — does everything well. After all, they were named the best restaurant in the country by the James Beard Foundation in 2019 (and have only gotten better since). 

But the lamb shoulder, glazed with pomegranate molasses and topped with chickpeas, has earned a cult following. It takes some planning to score a reservation, or you can show up just before 5 p.m. in hopes of getting a seat at the bar to taste this masterful dish for yourself. (Another option is to order a meal kit online to try your hand at culinary perfection at home.)

Located in the iconic Reading Terminal Market, where you’re certain to find other culinary delights, is Tommy DiNic’s, the sandwich shop famous for its roast pork. 

The best part about DiNic’s is the love that goes into it. It’s a three-day process to bring out all the bold, intense flavors in the meat, beginning with a 24-hour bath in pickled pepper brine, dried rosemary, kosher salt and a proprietary seasoning blend — mostly red pepper, black pepper, marjoram, oregano, thyme, parsley and lots of granulated garlic. 

For this must-have sammie, thin-sliced pork is piled high on a long roll, topped with broccoli rabe — a bitter, leafy, garlicky green — and sharp provolone. Add long hots (chili peppers) to give the sandwich a fiery kick.

This traditional Vietnamese dish, also known as bò lúc lắc, has roots in French cooking and started appearing on menus in the early 1900s. Shaking beef gets its kinetic name from the non-stop movement used to cook it: chefs shake a screaming-hot wok back and forth (in butter, over high heat) to brown the meat. 

At Vietnam Restaurant — winner of the 2024 James Beard America’s Classics Award, with locations in Chinatown and University City — shaking beef features wok-seared cubed sirloin steak (marinated in oyster sauce) served with fresh watercress, red onions, tomatoes and soy vinaigrette. 

Maybe you’ve seen the adorable blue-purple dumplings from Kalaya all over your Instagram feed. Guess what? They’re as delicious as they are beautiful. 

Among James Beard Award-nominated chef Nok Suntaranon’s stellar menu is shaw muang — flower-shaped dumplings filled with seasoned ground chicken and peanut paste atop a slice of cucumber. Pretty and pretty delicious all at once.

That’s not all. Shaw muang doubles as works of art. Each dumpling is made by hand, with 100 dumplings taking two cooks up to two hours to mold. The blue-purple color comes from dyeing the dough with butterfly pea flowers. 

Fun fact: Did you know Pennsylvania produces (and consumes) more pretzels than any other place in the nation? The snacks arrived here with the Pennsylvania Dutch (who actually have German roots), and today about 80% of American pretzels come from the state. 

All about the softer, salty-with-the-slightest-hint-of-sweetness variety, Philly has a ton of places to grab a pretzel, but one of the best is Center City Pretzel Company.  

After closing for more than a year due to a 2022 fire, the family-owned bakery (actually located right near Italian Market) is back to pumping out thousands of its all-natural, nut-free, dairy-free, kosher treats.

On select days, chef Cristina Martínez — famous not only for her delicious food (which nabbed her a James Beard Award win for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2022), but also for her advocacy for undocumented workers’ rights — sells her juicy lamb barbacoa tacos on fresh homemade tortillas in the heart of the Italian Market. 

The tacos can be found at a South Philly Barbacoa pop-up food cart inside Martínez’s newest restaurant, Casa México. You can also find Martinez’s tacos inside Triple Bottom Brewing, where South Philly Barbacoa serves as a permanent food vendor. Check her website for details on catering and experiences, including hands-on tortilla classes. 

For a seasonal Philadelphia treat that’s perfect for summa-summa-summatime, John’s Water Ice offers craveable concoctions of fruit and sugar mixed into frozen treats. 

Using natural flavors from actual fruit, the water ice (don’t you dare say shaved ice) comes in an iconic Dixie cup in a variety of flavors including lemon, cherry, chocolate and pineapple. You can opt for a twist of gelati (with soft-serve ice cream), or add a dunkable soft pretzel for a true Philly power couple. 

Keep in mind: John’s is only open from spring (early April) through fall (late September), with a strict cash-only (or Venmo) policy. The shop’s historic flagship parlor, located in a red-brick building at the corner of 7th and Christian streets, first opened in 1945.