Jaunted

Jaunted: First tell us about your new project Phoodie. When did it launch? What kinda stuff do you cover? And please tell us there was some crazy story about how the site came to be...

Phoodie: Well, Philebrity launched in 2004, and a year or so later, our friend Jersey Dan (HI JERSEY DAN!) suggested we do a food blog about Philly, since this really is a city with a massive food culture, both high and low. Only problem was, for the first year or so we were envisioning it, Philebrity was becoming more demanding AND our original concept for Phoodie.info was so dot-commy and bogus that I'm embarrassed to discuss it. (It involved lots of "affiliates" and "partners" and "user interaction" and "synergy.")

But once we chucked all of that and realized the best thing we could possibly do is talk about food and help people to find said food, things started moving faster and we launched on March 4th. Like the Scientologists, we had to get clear.

Jaunted: A lot of stuff you read about Philly makes it seem like Stephen Starr owns every restaurant in town. Does he?

Phoodie: He does not, but like The Beatles or Karl Rove, his influence is felt everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. But to put Starr in a local context: Philly is the kind of place where anyone who is successful gets knocked a lot, all while the knockers go on to try and ape that person's style more or less exactly, only crappier.

So for the last ten years, there have been a whole crop of Starr knockoffs, some very successful but also many which were abysmal failures, often because they were going toe to toe with actual Starr restaurants. And you can't do that: The guy makes amazing spots, and the food at them is almost uniformly good.

Tell you what, though: Dude has gone WILD with the upsell at his Continental's lately. Getting a Bloody Mary over there is like buying a goddamned car. No, I don't want Absolut Peppar, that is completely disgusting.

Jaunted: Is that whole BYOB thing still popular in Philly? Can tourists get in on that action? And what are the rules?

Phoodie: Okay. Pennsylvania has utterly draconian liquor laws that will never change, because plain and simple, the state makes too much money off of them via the whole State Store concept. But the other thing in play here is that it is very, very difficult and expensive to get a liquor license in Philly and by the time you have one, you might as well be a bar; after all, you just basically paid to become one.

I think for a lot of restauranteurs here, the BYOB concept keeps the focus on the food and kills off a lot of headaches. For tourists, all that's required is a Google text message for "PA Liquor Stores Philadelphia (and zip code)" and boom, you have the nearest place to score some hooch to go with your flaming duck or what have you.

That extra step might seem like too much work for a tourist, but trust me, it's worth it. Philly has some amazing BYO spots--Lolita, Chloe, Mr. Martino's, August and Il Cantuccio all come to mind--and if you don't try one, you're not really getting a full sense of the food scene here.

Jaunted: What's the latest on the dining scene?

Phoodie: It's kind of a twin-pronged assault of gastropubs and the locavore thing, which as it happens, dovetail quite nicely. The Standard Tap, not too far from our HQ, has touched off a whole storm of these places, which seem to work because, quite frankly, Philadelphians like to DRINK.

For a lot of folks, food is almost an afterthought to beer here, so the idea of actually eating something delicious in between beers seems like an insane, decadent luxury to us even still. Keep in mind that some of our most notable bars still offer dirty water hot dogs to get you through.

Jaunted: Where's the Phoodie staff gone for a good meal lately?

Phoodie: For us, it's dictated by standbys we could (and sometimes do) hit up almost weekly, coupled with a burning desire to find new places that we could hit up almost weekly.

So, for instance, we ate at Vietnam twice last week. It's an old school Vietnamese joint that had bad linoleum and flourescent lights when I started going there in the early 90s, but has since totally grown up. They've redone it with warm and romantic wood walls and soft lights, but they still serve the same utterly amazing, impeccably fresh French Vietnamese food--get the BBQ platter and lemongrass soup for two, and bam, you're done. Heavenly.

But then we also checked out Tria, a wine and cheese bar in the Gayborhood, and that was so good that we went back immediately after posting about it yesterday afternoon. Luckily, we were not recognized, because it is, pardon the pun, cheesey to show up in a spot like five minutes after you write about it. But we love what we love, you know?

Jaunted: Anything else we've forgotten to ask ya?

Phoodie: Yes, but allow me to make it easy on you: I eat roughly one cheesesteak a week. I do not consider it irony. I regard it as my birthright.

Related Stories:
· Phoodie [Official Site]
· Philadelphia Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Jaunted Interviews coverage [Jaunted]

Where: Philadelphia, PA, United States

Tags: Jaunted Interviews / Joey Sweeney / Websites / Travel Websites

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