“Eating with your hands: a perfect possible segue into the rest of the evening, if all goes well. ”

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By Lauren Macaluso and Amanda Fries  |  Send to Friend

What is a legit date? Of course, definitions vary depending on whom you ask. Maybe when your parents were dating it was enough to go to dinner and a movie, but the era of drive-ins, burger joints, and picnics in the park are a part of the past. With everything a city like Philadelphia has to offer it’s time for your significant other to show his/her creative side. The criteria is something more than just dinner, and we’re not talking in the bedroom. From a first date to an anniversary there is an abundance of ways to impress your date, but the trick is finding that extra something to spice up the night.

JNA Institute of Culinary Arts- The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College
1212 S Broad St Philadelphia, PA
Call for Reservations: 215.468.8800
Instead of cooking for your date (because let’s face it, chances are good you don’t know a roux from Roo) have JNA’s students cook for two. The school’s fall menu offers four courses for $25.00/person including a non-alcoholic beverage. Thankfully, JNA also provides a small wine menu and welcomes BYO. While you can’t watch the students prepare the meal, after you’ve had your fill you can take a gander behind the scenes and meet the chefs. It’s relatively inexpensive for the number of courses and strays from the high-end, burn-a-hole-in-your-pocket restaurants over which critics are so likely to fawn.

Marrakesh
517 S Leithgow St Philadelphia, PA
Call for Reservations: 215.925.5929
Nestled in a back alley off of South Street, Marrakesh prepares you for a Moroccan cuisine adventure with cozy, intimate surroundings. Decorated with Moroccan-inspired draperies, you are given a full Moroccan food experience with a seven-course meal for $25/person. The price includes three different salads, three main courses, and baklava with mint tea (vegetarians can be accommodated, though they should be warned that your carnivorous friends will be tearing apart carcasses in front of them all night). What makes this such a good date possibility is that you're doing almost all of your eating with your hands -- a perfect possible segue into the rest of the evening, if all goes well.

City Tavern/Ghost Tour of Philadelphia
138 S. 2nd St Philadelphia, PA/Signer’s Garden 5th & Chestnut Sts.
Call for Reservations: 215.413.1443
How about instead of a horror flick you and your date take part in one of Philadelphia’s historic walking tours? Yes, it’s touristy, and more than slightly corny, but honestly taking a candlelit walk through Society Hill has to be more intimate than seeing another torture-porn Saw installment. The price is extremely reasonable for a 90-minute tour, $17.00/person ($15.00 if you buy on the Web site). http://www.ghosttour.com/philadelphia.html
After your romantic walk through the city, there’s a good chance you'll both be hungry. City Tavern is conveniently located in Old City near the start of the ghost tour and is an interesting choice to end the evening, especially since it goes along with the theme of historic Philadelphia. The menu is complete with award-winning18th century cuisine that ranges in prices from $10.00 appetizers to $30.00 entrees. Even if the whole Colonial America trip doesn’t quite suit you, it’d be hard to resist the Tavern’s loaded dishes, including smoked salmon & trout, black forest ham & asparagus, and artichoke & smoked chicken salad, to name a few.

Time
1315 Sansom St Philadelphia, PA
Call for Reservations: 215.985.4800
Time isn’t just a restaurant. It also serves as a tap room and an Absinthe bar. So, if you’re stumped for an anniversary or just want a change of place, this joint is more than capable of meeting the standards of elegance and surprise. The restaurant section presents an elaborate menu with an array of lavish dishes such as rib-eye steak, North Atlantic salmon, summer vegetable paella and steamed mussels, the most expensive of which is $24.00. The real attractions, although the food is delicious, are the other levels of the building. The Bohemian Absinthe Lounge is above the restaurant and offers more of a vibrant club atmosphere. Drinks can range from $8.00 to $15.00 depending on which type, and there is no cover. Each weekend (Thursday-Saturday, 10PM-2AM) there are featured and guest DJs at the bar playing house, electro and pop music. If dancing isn’t your forte, just try more absinthe -- there are five options on the menu to choose from, all over 100 Proof.

 

Snacks: Sweet, savory tidbits of food news.

1. VitaminFridge

Canada- The Hitachi R-Y6000 is a refrigerator that circulates air enhanced with genuine vitamin C, reducing nutrient loss from your food while you go about your day. The fridge is, right now, only available in Japan but will hopefully reach the domestic market soon. It is going for at least $3,000.

 

2. Berry Super

Green Bay, WI- Acai berries are named the super food of the New Year. This purple berry is a cross between raspberries and chocolate and is jammed packed with Vitamin E and protein. There is a new Web site called the Acai Tabloid dedicated to giving insightful information about the berry—check it out: www.acai-tabloid.com

 

 

3. Bye, Bye Mommy

Oakland, California- Two weeks ago, the company that owns the famous 92-year-old Mother’s Cookies filed for bankruptcy. Rising costs of raw materials and the inability to borrow money in the credit market equals no pink and white frosted circus animal cookies for us –er, kids.