Two restaurants recs around Rittenhouse would be Fish on 17th and Lombard and Twenty Manning on 20th/Manning.

Rouge is also pretty good (northeast side of Rittenhouse) -- had (I think) some great lobster scrambled eggs there or something. Parque has good food but it is too much of a scene and I don't like crowds or waiting.

I think El Rey is kinda underrated but might just be me. Their chicken enchiladas are great and all the prices are quite good relative to other Starr restaurants. Also helps that I live near it.

Been to dandelion multiple times. It is very good.

Also played golf at juniata today. Its 15 from cc in northeastphilly and honestly its not terrible for $20 or so. Greens were in great shape for a philly muni.

I played scotland run once , but it rained the day before so it was soaked and wrecked the experience.

A.kitchenlast night was phenomenal. Possibly best nom-steak restaurant dinner ive had. Me and gf sat at counter at kitchen. Very cool. Highly highly recommend.

Do you need a res for A.Kitchen on like a Tuesday/Wednesday.

probably

it's on opentable.com, so its easy to check

For you guys who have just moved to the city you should really check out the haunted house at the Eastern State Penitentiary. It's excellent, and I say that as a person who is not into that kind of thing at all really.

The Bates Motel (haunted hayride, house, maze) is better. It's about 30 minutes outside the city, but worth it IMO.

I've gotten mixed reviews about the ESP.

Is it just me or have there been a disproportionate amount of haunted houses and haunted house marketing this year compared with years past? I am bombarded on tv radio and billboards by ads for these places.

Has the restaurant Sampan been discussed in this thread yet? 'Cause I'm going there tomorrow for the 3rd or 4th time, and it's awesome.

Just a recommendation.

I think Fish is under- and Rouge is over-rated. Agree on Parque. Haven't been to Rouge in a while though.

Also, the Graffiti Bar behind Sampan is fun and feels exclusive (even though it really isn't).

I'm considering a move to Philly when my lease is up this summer. I know a bunch of you have just gone through this so just curious what you guys looked at and what you thought pros and cons were of the different places/neighborhoods.

I'm late 20s, moving with my long-term girlfriend, coming from a 3/2.5 1800+sqft house in the burbs. We know this is going to be a downsize.

Looking for someplace safe, first and foremost. She'll be working in the city so walking to/from public transit alone, sometimes after dark. Not much preference between a high-rise and something in an older converting building. I think she'd probably prefer something older with "character" and I'm probably more looking for a luxury highrise. I'll be commuting to Princeton, NJ, probably by car most of the time, but I'd like the option to Septa to Trenton and connect to NJT/bus/cab. We definitely want to be near some bars and restaurants, as that's the whole point of moving into the city.

Budget is extremely flexible. We're happy to save money if we can meet our requirements in a minimal way, but if we found the right place, we'd happily splurge a little.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Based on your situation I don't think you have that many choices in terms of neighborhoods (at least if you had my preferences). You're going to be in Center City, but Center City is big so that doesn't mean anything specific. Depends a bit where she works. Check out Rittenhouse Square and Washington Square areas. Both are really nice from what I've seen. I live near Rittenhouse myself, and if I were you I'd just look for stuff around there. I've been to some people's places around Society Hill and Washington Square and they're sick and way outside my price range, but west of Broad St. >>>> east of Broad St. as a general rule and those two aforementioned areas are in the middle of like 4000 hospitals and I'd hate to be around all that **** all the time. Plus crime is a bigger factor east of Broad.

There are some old brownstones that I believe have been converted to modern luxury lofts in old city. Would fit your girlfriends desires as well as yours and would be in the heart of the city's best bars and restaurants. I saw one or two listed when I was apartment hunting.

If you guys are looking to buy a condo and price really isn't an issue Ten Rittenhouse just finished and is crazy baller. Probably the best address in the city.

When I was hunting I remember Reinhold Residential having many nice buildings out of the management companies with many properties. Philadelphia Management is a solid rung below them but my roomate and I moved into 600 on Broad which is probably their best property up there with 2100 Parkway.

I recommend taking a look at RiverLoft too. I was pretty close to signing there.

Heh, I didn't say price wasn't an issue, but some of those places look pretty nice. I think she'd be all about the brownstone-->loft in Old City, plus that's pretty convenient for me hopping on 95 and heading North.

From Rittenhouse, I guess I'd hope on the Vine St Expressway --> 95? How is that headed across town between like 7a and 8a?

We'll see where the GF ends up working and whether that impacts us. Plus we have some friends already in Rittenhouse, so she might want to be down in that area.

Keep the suggestions coming though -- I really appreciate them, and they look great so far. It's getting me pretty excited for the move, actually. I'm more of a NY guy (grew up on the shore in central NJ, so a little more NYC-centric than Philly-centric), so I was pushing for Manhattan, but she really wanted to give Philly a shot. For the $$, I decided, why the hell not?

Having just moved from the Riverloft, which nickel mentioned, I can say that it fits your criteria pretty well, minus the high rise aspect (only 7 floors). Old building, but up to date. Close to freeway for travel to princeton, and 10 min walk to 30th street station. And obv Rittenhouse neighborhood.

The apartments are very large. I think my 1BR was ~1100 sq ft. And I had no issues living there.

I only moved out because it was too much space than what i needed and a bit overpriced imo. I moved to 600 Broad because it's cozier cheaper and more my style. That place is close to the subway, but your gf may think the neighborhood is suspect, but it's really not, and is actually an up and coming area, with new Starr restaurant and Vertri restaurant opening up right next door.

I'm happy to talk to you about either of these places, if you want.

speaking of the Starr restaurant in our building, just came back from a 12 day vacation and surprised at how much progress they made, any idea on the open date?

where the hell is the Vetri restaurant going to go? Looks like they're out of room to me

I saw a very large all-hands meeting being held Sunday evening at Route 6. Doubt they would hold such a meeting if the grand opening was any more than two weeks away. I don't know about the Birreria Vetri Place.

was wondering teh same thing, Kyle. where the f is Vetri's place going.

and yeah, Route 6 went up quickly. Although from the looks of it, it doesn't have that Starr feel to it. like its not trendy looking, like he tries to make his places for the most part.

foobooz blog (well worth a read for all Philly foodies) said it was looking at a December opening. we'll see

edit: err, maybe November actually, according to its website (http://route6restaurant.com/)

edit 2: opens next week! and pics, here: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/t...-6-on-611.html

http://mobile.philly.com/blogs/?wss=...ver=iphone&c=y

Article says November. Also says that this will be the last restaurant he opens in Philly because he thinks city officials haven't done a good job of helping the city develop in certain areas but also because he wants to expand in NYC and Washington.

I guess the only spot Vetri could go is either some room behind (highly doubt) or the space directly next to Route 5 (left).

Also, is the name Alla Spina or Birriera 600 or whatever? That latest article references Alla Spina.

Looks like they're not in til 2012:

http://www.vetrifamily.com/index.php...ns/alla_spina/

Just found out my firm's holiday party is at Vie, the new catering hall. Love the convenience.

I parked my car at Broad and Wallace last night and it got broken into. First time it's happened in the 2 years I've been here with a car. I hide all my valuables but left my gps charger plugged in so that tipped off the thief.

Needless to say I will be using the $150/month gated parking lot. I have a white Lexus SUV but it's pretty old. Never thought I'd be a target since there are nicer cars around. Oh well.

Damn. That sucks dude. Sorry to hear

Wallace is definitely one of the shadier streets in our area, especially closer to 16th... I was wondering how bad it was but I guess that answers it.. sucks man sorry.

We have 1 parking spot and I street park my POS car.. the thing is, I would still be very careful with valuables even if you have the parking spot on our roof. There is no security to prevent people from going up there. I'd imagine if some people go looking for free stuff up there they would make out with a fortune of GPS type stuff because I'm sure people think it's safe and leave stuff out in the open but anyone can walk up there.