Today VisitPhilly announced a partnership with Foodspotting, the incredibly addictive local food guide application for iOS and Android devices.

Now Philly regulars and tourists can easily find the most delicious food items hand picked by the VisitPhilly team in sandwich focused guides like “Cheesesteak 101” and “Philadelphia’s Burger Bonanza.” There are a slew of other food adventures as well including a guide to local craft breweries, vegetarian eateries, Tastykake-inspired dishes, and a whole lot more!

To make things exciting, VisitPhilly will award one lucky foodspotter who completes the “Famous Philly Flavors” guide by May 25th with an overnight stay at a luxury hotel, a $100 Garces Restaurant Group gift card, and two tickets to the City Food Tours “Flavors of Philly” excursion. Another 10 winners, chosen at random will receive free passes to the “Flavors of Philly” food excursion as well.

What are you waiting for? Explore Philly through its amazing food at Foodspotting!

When news surfaced about the Cheesesteak Pretzel, there was really no doubt we had to cover it. This is a Philadelphia-based sandwich blog after all, and a sandwich-like creation capturing and combining the essence of two of Philly’s most iconic foods is a completely undeniable force. The Cheesesteak Pretzel is the creation of the Philly (Soft) Pretzel Factory (PPF). A franchised company that began with humble beginnings in Northeast Philadelphia just 12 years ago, but today has well over 100 stores that stretch the length of the east coast from upper New York down to Georgia.

I met with Marty Ferrill, VP of Operations at the corporate headquarters in Mayfair and he gave me a bit of insight to the company’s origins and its owners Dan DiZio and Len Lehman. DiZio and Lehman started the first Philly Soft Pretzel Factory on Frankford Ave., in the base of the building where headquarters is currently located. The business model was simple back then, their intention was to provide fresh baked pretzels for delivery like other companies at the time. The walk-in availability of pretzels in a retail environment that has become their mainstay was only a secondary consideration. Though, after the first full day and consistently long lines of people waiting for their fresh baked, hand-twisted pretzels, the business model had to adapt.

The first franchise didn’t actually open up until 2004. The business prior to then focused on the products and the overall company vision while pushing forward with the established vision of fresh pretzels available just about any time of day. From 2004 onward however, the company experienced exponential growth until about two years ago when they decided to once again focus on products and the company itself. That’s about the time when PPF started experimenting with various sandwich-like creations. For lack of a better comparison, they’re essentially Hot Pocket-like. The notable difference would be the fact that PPF uses the same exact pretzel recipe we’ve all come to love and enjoy.

Billed as “As Philly As It Gets” the Cheesesteak Pretzel was the clear winner after trial runs of other less successful/interesting sandwich varieties (turkey and cheese, ham and cheese). The Cheesesteak Pretzel debuted on May 17, with a free giveaway day on May 24. Thousands were given out among the 100+ locations, with over 800 alone in under 3 hours at the corporate store. The novelty of the item is surely enough to entice people to try the item, but its existence as a decent lunch offering will probably get folks to try it again and again.

As stated, it starts out using the exact pretzel recipe, though unsalted. And within, it contains some lightly seasoned beef and American cheese. The total product weighs in at 5.5oz and makes for a great lunch meal. It’d be easy to eat two and still be under what some cheesesteak shops have for their portions. Nutrition-wise they stand at a decent, approximate 340 calories and 8 grams of fat per Cheesesteak Pretzel. The cheesesteak pretzels are available now at every PPF and priced between $3-$3.50 each, though many stores have a 2 for $5 special. We’d recommend adding some ketchup to the inside of the cheesesteak pretzel, but we wouldn’t mind a squirt of mustard on the outside as well.

After the initial success of the Cheesesteak Pretzel, PPF is on its way to considering other stuffed pretzel varieties and even the potential for breakfast-sandwich inspired ones. With an entry into quick, satisfying sandwich-like offerings such as this one, PPF has proven itself to be a capable contender in quick and affordable lunch bites.

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In early April, Citizens Bank Park challenged local fans to pick a signature hot dog from three gourmet choices (all of which are far too good to be placed into an air powered hot dog launcher). The winner, the South Philly Dog, consists of broccoli rabe, spicy roasted peppers, sharp provolone and a grilled, juicy Nathan’s dog in an Italian roll.

Bridget Foy’s hosted its own in-house hot dog contest using the same choices and the South Philly Dog was again a clear frontrunner. Originally offered as a special during home games only, due to popular demand you can now get the South Philly dog, fries and a Kenzinger draft for $8 during all Phils games this season. All of the flavors are balanced wonderfully – the rabe is not at all bitter and the spicy roasted peppers add just enough kick. Most enjoyably, the entire thing is slightly toasted allowing the cheese to melt and cover the rest of the ingredients.

What’s also delicious are each and every one of the new burgers offerings on the menu. All of the burgers are made from a generous half-pound Angus beef patty. Traditionalists can enjoy the Standard Burger with Wisconsin cheese, shaved romaine, tomato and red onion. For veggie lovers, the house-made veg burger is a solid choice with black beans, mushrooms and spinach, topped with gruyere and pesto aioli.

We specifically sought out the Head House Market Burger, which has herb mayo, gruyere and sauteed mushrooms, indulgently topped with a fried egg. Truth be told, gruyere simply isn’t one of my favorite cheeses and I honestly do not even like mushrooms. However, this burger had flavor unlike many.

Unfortunately waiting for a repeat visit, the New Mexico Burger (roasted green chilies, pepperjack, chipotle aioli) and Turkey Burger (cranberry relish, avocado aioli, gruyere, alfalfa sprouts) each sound like winning decisions. All of the burgers can come with a side of greens and of course fries. The hand-cut fries can be paired with two of several house-made dipping sauces: house mayo, chipotle aioli, jalapeno ketchup, bourbon dijon and my personal favorite, garlic cumin ranch. One of those repeat visits might just have to happen on a Wednesday night for Bridget Foy’s Beer & A Burger $10 special, available on their 2nd floor Copper Bar from 7-10pm. Watching a Wednesday night Phillies game with friends and prefacing the burger special with a South Philly Hot Dog as an appetizer might just be the recipe for a fantastic evening.

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Bridget Foy’s
200 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Google Map)

We just received this awesome news from Poses’ people:

Frög Commissary is rolling its latest project right out onto the front lawn. Frög Burger, a no-frills hamburger and ‘shake stand, will open this June outside the Franklin Institute on the Parkway, the home of its catering division for decades. They aim to be known as much for what they aren’t (chic and overpriced) as much as what they are (burgers “so juicy you might want a bib”).

The Franklin Institute has long been a family place – the Parkway, too – and what Steve Poses and his team, which includes his son, are working on is informal and homegrown, a simple burger “shack” with grills and picnic tables and kids playing. It will all be on the grass beneath the gleaming Budd BB-1 Pioneer, the stainless steel airplane on display since the mid-1930s.

The logo, like the menu and details of the burgers themselves, is still a work in progress, but Unbreaded has an exclusive first look – four of them, in fact. Following are the concepts currently under consideration, designed by a democratic combination of chefs and graphic designers and they want your feedback!

Hit the jump to find out how you can help choose Frög Burger’s logo and a chance to win free lunch!

Below you’ll find the four logos under consideration. Leave a comment telling us which you like best (1, 2, 3 or 4) and we’ll pick two winners at random to receive a $20 gift card each when Frög Burger opens in June! Voting ends at 11:59pm on Monday, May 17th.

Be sure to sign up on their e-mail list to be notified when the official menu and opening date are revealed!

I never did get to experience the old Twenty Manning. However, after a complete interior redesign and the introduction of an almost-entirely new, affordable, American bistro menu and a variety of burgers, I had to go. I met with Chef Kiong Banh, who has spent 10 years within these walls, and is excited for some change.

Taking feedback from over the past year, Banh and owner Audrey Claire Taichman re-invented the concept of Twenty Manning from the ground up. Banh invested a lot of time in receiving feedback to create a selection of dishes at a price that would keep customers coming back, adding a bistro feel and a slight modification to the name. Though his background is a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese, Banh’s culinary focus is primarily French and Italian. He’s truly excited about the breath of fresh air that has been introduced to the restaurant and looks forward to serving the neighborhood as a destination with a focus on local, fresh and organic ingredients.

As we’re celebrating National Hamburger Month here at Unbreaded, I decided to go with the flagship (namesake) TMG Burger. Featuring a generously sized half-pound organic patty made from a combination of sirloin, tenderloin and beef chuck cuts, it’s no small sandwich, but a bit sized down from the 9.5oz Bison burger (Twenty Manning’s only burger in its past life). Although the Bison burger did have a good run, it was just a little too big, said Banh. And with the nature of it being sourced from Colorado, it simply doesn’t have a natural fit with the new local flavor of TMG. The TMG Burger is formed from grass-fed and pasture raised local beef. The produce is sourced locally as well: iceberg lettuce, juicy garden tomato and raw purple onion. Naturally, I opted to add the optional Kentucky bacon and Vermont cheddar to my TMG, which sits atop a fluffy bun, designed by Banh and baked at George Perrier’s commissary in Wayne. The accompanying shoestring fries and pure kosher dill pickle round off the experience.

Though the menu is very new, TMG has already set a record of selling an excess of over seventy burgers. Though half of these are the TMG Burger, the remaining Turkey Burger (half-pound patty sourced from pineland farms free range gobblers, goes well with pepperjack cheese), Ahi Tuna Burger (thick slab of tuna with ginger-soy marinade and avocado-wasabi mayo), Veggie Burger (whole lot of local market veggies: onion, mushroom, roasted peppers and even avocado all held together by a white bean puree and some oil) are all strong performers as well.

So, head over to the Rittenhouse Square area and check out the brand new Twenty Manning Grill. Be sure not to miss it; a new bright white facade shines as a beacon, in stark contrast to its old one.

Twenty Manning Grill
59 South 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 (Google Map)

Apparently eating 40 cheesesteaks, and 60 Italian hoagies wasn’t enough for 610 WIP’s Glen Macnow. This morning “The Professor” announced his Hot Specialty Sandwich Safari, an adventure to take down as many sandwiches as possible by June.

So what constitutes a “hot specialty sandwich”? In Glen’s eyes it’s anything besides cheesesteaks, grinders, burgers and hot dogs – roast beef, roast pork, meatball or chicken cutlet and others are all game. Macnow has already kicked it off with eight sandwiches; including some of our favorites like Paesano’s Arista, Bubby’s Brisket at Honey’s Sit N’ Eat, and the Chicken Cutlet from Tony Luke’s.

Macnow is taking user submissions, so head over to the official Sandwich Safari page and lend him your sandwich expertise. We’d love to know in the comments here what sandwich you submitted!

There’s certainly no shortage of fatty-tastic burgers in the city, nor a shortage of great, innovative kitchens. In honor of National Hamburger Month, we took a look at some burgerless menus and decided to challenge some of Philly’s best chefs to create a unique burger worthy of their menu space. Each week in May we’ll hit you with an exclusive interview and review of each handcrafted burger.

Up first: Chef David Katz, owner of rustic-casual restaurant Mémé (2201 Spruce Street).

Katz, a self-described American hamburger traditionalist, accepted his mission and turned out an out-of-the-ordinary Middle Eastern style sandwich, inspired by ingredients left over from a recent Moroccan barbecue. He said he’d recently invited some friends over for a cookout in his upstairs digs, resulting in a few odds and ends. After throwing a quick dinner together with the remaining bits the next day, inspiration struck.

The Moccocan Burger starts with a 6oz meat patty called kefta, a mix of ground beef and lamb traditionally grilled over charcoals. The ground meat is blended with cumin, coriander, parsley, cilantro, cinnamon and cayenne pepper, adding some deep and complex Middle Eastern flavors.

Using recipes passed down through his family, Katz finished it off a hot pepper tomato paste (“an all-purpose Moroccan condiment”) and a cold traditional carrot salad, dressed with lemon and olive oil. This burger plays with flavors and textures well; in one bite you have the warm and distinct flavor of the kefta, in another the cool acidic crunch of carrots. We loved the pepper spread the most, which was spicy and robust enough that it left our lips tingling long after we had finished.

“It’s not entirely traditional,” said Katz. “But this is pretty damn good.”

Notice something different about these photos? That’s right – no glossy, egg-heavy brioche globes here. Everything is nestled between a soft, flour-dusted Snowflake bun, at the chef’s insistence.

“It’s an old school American bun,” he said. “Brioche is bullshit. Just because something is the most trendy doesn’t make it the best.”

You can catch the Moroccan Burger on the Mémé menu all week, for about $8.

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Mémé
2201 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 (Google Map)

Since the opening of The Wishing Well on 9^th and Catharine early this month, we have been receiving emails directing us to the burger that got kicked out of Atlanta for being too rib sticking.

The SHAME burger was invented by chef Carmen Cappello at his southern location, where he improvised on Pennsylvania tradition in creating this enigmatic creation.  A bit of background- the restaurant is part of the Slow Food Movement – meaning that they pledge to bring ingredients in that are grown within 100 miles of their location, contributing to the local economy and respecting the environment.  The Burger is made of local Lancaster sirloin, bought fresh right down the street in the Italian Market.  It is topped with house-made scrapple, American cheese and a runny fried farm fresh egg. Yep. It’s ridiculous.  Carmen calls it a “gluttonous treat that you can feel good about eating” and we definitely agree.

The burger is cooked well-done because the gooey cheese and fried egg provide all the juiciness you need. The fresh scrapple is well spiced with thyme and sage, and is both creamy and crispy – it’s fried, as it should be.  The multiple textures and contrasting breakfast and lunch flavors, shifting back and forth depending upon the ratio of what you get in each bite, together make this a fascinating sandwich.

We speculate that another reason that they belong to the Slow Food movement is because you ain’t moving so fast after you eat one of these.   Next time we head to Wishing Well, we’re going to get the appetizer version of this burger, which comes topped with a fried quail egg, so that we can save room for the fresh fish, inventive meat dishes and seasonal vegetables that they actually work directly with farmers to source.  Wishing Well is a welcome addition to the Italian market.  Co-owner and GM Chris Martino is already seeing repeat customers at the bar, which carries over 50 bottled beers.  Final verdict: do this burger at least once, it’s delicious, it supports the local economy and is definitely something to talk about.

The Wishing Well
767 S. 9th St. – Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Google Map)
(215) 238-6555

Behind the the walls of a currently unassuming brick-faced building on Sansom Street is Center City Philadelphia’s latest burger joint. 500º opens today and features handcrafted burgers and fries using only the highest quality ingredients. Owners Rob and Maggie Wasserman, found inspiration for the restaurant and its menu from the their taste of success with the burger at, Rouge. At the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival in 2009, Rouge offered a mini version of the burger, with the same ingredients at a much more affordable price. After quickly selling out that day, and the following explosion of demand for burgers in Philadelphia in recent months, the Wassermans set out on their latest concept.

Yesterday, we were granted the opportunity to check out the food and space before the official opening. The summation in three words: precision in simplicity. That precision is indicated in their name, drawn from the operating temperature of the grill. The burger initiative at 500º is being spearheaded by Rouge Executive Chef, Matt Zagorski. He’s told us that 500º will be using 5.5oz Certified Hereford Beef burgers from Ashley Foods with the same proprietary blend from that has made the Rouge burger a national success. The meat is ground thickly to ensure that a texture is retained even when cooked at rare temperatures. All burgers are served on fresh challah rolls from Wild Flour Bakery, from which they’ll be receiving deliveries twice daily. All burgers will also be made to order according to guests’ preferences, fine-tuned to meet the temperature of perfection according to their order (from rare to well-done).

Our favorite burger was “The 500″ with bibb lettuce, tomato, cheddar, bacon and a special house sauce. This sauce isn’t the typical thousand island dressing by any means, it was sweet, mildly tangy and resembled a smooth dijon mustard in color and texture. Chef Zagorski wouldn’t give up any details to its ingredients, with the exception of noting that cloves were used for its aromatic flavor. All five of their burgers can be ordered individually for under $6 or as combos ranging fro $9 to $12.50. Upon opening guests will have access to the entire menu, with a selection of cheeses includes domestic Swiss, provolone, cheddar and American. Along the lines of toppings, pickles, bacon, mushrooms, jalapenos and grilled red onions can be added to any of the burgers. We certainly can’t forget the amazing hand-cut fries that came with our burger. They’re available plain, with spicy seasoning or dressed with truffle oil. Complementing the burgers and fries are fountain sodas and milkshakes (chocolate, vanilla or black & white) made from locally-owned and sourced Bassetts Ice Cream.

We’re sure 500º is likely to be a Center City staple for years to come for those in search of a great quality burger, fast and don’t necessarily want to people watch at Rittenhouse Square. It opens today with various promotions starting at 11:00 am. The first 100 people will be given a free burger of their choice. After that, until 3pm, bring a friend and split the bill with a buy-1-get-1. From 5-7pm enjoy free soda and fries with the purchase of any burger. And then finally, from 11pm until their yet-undetermined closing time, enjoy free fries with any purchase.

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500º
1504 Sansom St. – Philadelphia, PA, 19102 (Google Map)
(215) 568-5000
Twitter: @500_Degrees

Tucked away between 11th and 12th on Locust is Iron Chef Jose Garces’ latest Philadelphia endeavor, the Garces Trading Company. We’re truly amazed that in just four short years the man has been able to open up six restaurants in our lovely city, with a seventh already on the way in the Cira Centre. Unlike his previous projects which follow more of a traditional restaurant theme, GTC is a one of a kind, pioneer establishment in this city.

Featuring a long list of their own lines of coffee, cheese, house-made charcuterie and meats (the Village Whiskey burger blend is available to-go), oil and vinegar and house-baked breads, GTC is part gourmet market/deli and dine-in cafe with the addition with a very unique, State Store inside the building. Despite the clumsiness of Pennsylvania’s restrictions on wine and liquor, GTC’s special arrangement allows patrons have the ability to buy a bottle of wine and consume it on premises as if it were brought in like a BYO.

Dine-in options feature a nice selection of European-inspired, plates from antipasti, soups and salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza. The notable exception to the European theme would be the deep dish pizza pies, more than likely a result of Garces being a native of Chicago. Though, we found that their presence on the menu is exceptionally complementary. The plats du jour are complete meals available for dine-in or for take out. Those who opt to take the entrees to-go will find that all parts of the meal are separated and flash frozen to preserve their individual flavors.

We had the opportunity to stop in and try each of the six sandwiches available on the menu. The Spaniard features two respected key players in the modern sandwich world: grilled chicken and bacon combined with crisp romaine, a glorious amount of finely shredded manchego cheese and almond romesco aioli. The Moroccan, from what we can gather, lives up to the name with an authentic taste of Moroccan cuisine. It features roasted lamb loin, roasted pepper, eggplant, bacon and comté cheese.

Tartine Aux Fromage, as the name would indicate to the French-savvy, is an open-faced cheese sandwich using melted tomes crayeuse on fresh brioche and topped with a slice of marinated tomato. The Italian combines bresaola and hot coppa with melted taleggio, it’s then topped with arugula and a lemon confit spread. El Cubano Clåsico is GTC’s delicious interpretation of a classic Cuban pressed sandwich that includes roast pork, ham, gruyere mustard and pickles.

With a great variety of experiences under one roof, the Garces Trading Company is already gaining some notoriety for being a wonderful addition to not only the neighborhood but to the city as a whole. We definitely anticipate some repeat visits to dine on the other wonderful selections on the menu, or pick up a plat du jour to go.

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Garces Trading Company
1111 Locust Street – Philadelphia, PA 19107 (Google Map)
(215) 574-1099