Philadelphia: Reading Terminal Market

It actually turned out for the best that our bus to Philadelphia was delayed by five hours.  We were supposed to arrive at 5:50am and then find somewhere to hide out until my sister's friend (let's call her JP) came downtown at a more godly hour.  But because of the Great Delay, we were able to meet with JP soon after we arrived.  That way we didn't have to worry about dragging our luggage around town and finding a restaurant open for breakfast at 6:00am.  

After dumping our luggage with JP's mother, we headed straight to Reading Terminal Market for lunch.  Apparently pronounced "redding," Reading Terminal is Philly's historic farmers' market (or so its website says).  It's made up of open restaurants and little grocers selling everything from flowers to seafood to candy.  

Our first stop was the Dutch Eating Place:

JP told us it's run by Amish women.  My sister and I were both skeptical.  Yes, the women are wearing Amish-style dresses, but they're also operating microwaves and stovetops...and buying pizza from other restaurants in the building.  Something doesn't add up here.  Just sayin'.

Anyway, putting aside the fishy Amish story for the moment, Dutch Eating Place is known for its breakfast and also for its desserts.  Since we planned on getting sandwiches from elsewhere, we stuck with the dessert selection.

At JP's recommendation, we got the shoofly pie, which I didn't even know was a real thing:

It's a doughy molasses pie that my sister enjoyed way more than I did.

We also got the apple dumpling:

Some of the dough seemed undercooked to me, but as that was my first apple dumpling, I don't know if it's supposed to be that way.  I guess microwaving it in the Styrofoam box wasn't enough to cook it through.  (I just checked the Harvard Medical School HEALTHbeat.  Looks like some Styrofoam products are safe to microwave.  Hopefully Dutch Eating Places uses those.)

Anyway, Styrofoam microwaving induced freak out aside, the apple dumpling was fabulous in flavor.  And I don't even like cooked apples.  The milk on the side added a creaminess to all the cinnamon-y syrupy goodness going on.     

Our next stop was Tommy DiNic's:

JP and just about everyone on Yelpland rave about DiNic's roast pork sandwich:

We were told to ask for broccoli rabe, but we couldn't find it on the list of available toppings, so we chickened out and stuck with roasted peppers and provolone instead.  Then the guy behind us ordered broccoli rabe and we wanted to cry.  Sigh.

Even without the broccoli rabe, the sandwich was super delicious.  Gotta love a sandwich drenched in pork juice.  Yum yum!  Kinda on the expensive side ($8.25 + 75 cents per topping), but worth trying at least once.

On our way out, we dropped by Bassett's for some ice cream:

The setup wasn't the most friendly in terms of taste testing multiple flavors, but we ultimately were able to make a decision.  We went with a scoop of pistachio and a scoop of Irish coffee:

The Irish coffee reminded me of the cappuccino mix my piano teacher used to use to make cappuccino smoothies for us when I was a kid.  It looked like it was all melt-y, but it actually wasn't at all.  Quite a pleasant surprise, one that I enjoyed thoroughly.

Lots to check out at Reading Terminal.  Definitely requires multiple trips to do it justice.  With all that good food in our bellies, we were more than ready for our intense historical walking tour of Philly that followed.


51 N 12th St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 922-2317
http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/