Where and what to eat at Reading Terminal Market
Among at least two dozen food stands, we find the highlights.
Whatever is happening at the Convention Center — the Philadelphia Auto Show, the Small Business Expo, the Philadelphia Flower Show — surely there are countless attendees for whom the real high point is a trip to Reading Terminal Market across the street.
Yes, it's a market whose mission is to provide locally produced perishables — meats, poultry, cheeses, vegetables. It also houses one of the finest collections of prepared foods anywhere — more than two dozen stalls delivering a diet-busting collection of crepes, doughnuts, falafel, dumplings, burgers, soul food, gyros, po'boys, Thai salmon, pastrami sandwiches, scrapple, ice cream, cookies…
Such an enormous roster requires planning, especially if you visit at lunchtime during a show or convention. The market's website has a searchable map, which will help you budget your time. But time will have little meaning during the Flower Show, when the predicted hordes will be further impeded by baby strollers, walkers, and canes.
Stand by stand, here are some high points:
Bassetts Ice Cream: vanilla ice cream — heck, every flavor
Beck's Cajun Cafe: a baguette sandwich called the Trainwreck (steak, andouille sausage, Genoa salami, caramelized onions, American cheese, Creole mayo, and "devil's dust" spices)
Beiler's Doughnuts: apple fritters
By George! Pizza, Pasta & Cheesesteaks: the Pompeii sandwich (proscuitto, mozzarella, basil, tomato); pizza
Carmen's Famous Italian Hoagies & Cheesesteaks: cheesesteaks
Dienner's BBQ Chicken: rotisserie chicken (winner, winner)
DiNic's: roast pork sandwich with greens and long hots
Down Home Diner: scrapple (this is where many first-timers meet the mystery meat)
Dutch Eating Place: breakfasts at the counter; hot apple dumplings
Famous 4th Street cookies: chocolate chip
Flying Monkey bakery: whoopie pies
Fox & Son Fancy Corndogs: corndogs, fried cheese curds (all is gluten-free)
Franks A Lot: hot dogs; pierogies; pizza fries
Glick's Rib Shack: baby backs
Hatfield Deli: chicken salad sandwich
Hershel's East Side Deli: corned beef and pastrami sandwiches; latkes
Hunger Burger: any of the burgers
Kamal's Middle Eastern Specialties: lamb shawarma; falafel; chocolate nut rolls
Keven Parker's Soul Food Cafe: turkey chops in pepper gravy; fried chicken
Little Thai Market: basil chicken; Thai salmon (among the longest lines in the market)
Market Bakery: breakfast club sandwich; turkey club sandwich
Metropolitan Bakery: millet muffins, as a snack
Miller's Twist: pretzel cheese dog
Molly Malloy's: short-rib empanadas (it's a sit-down restaurant with a bar boasting 35 beers)
Mueller's Chocolates: chocolate body parts
Nanee's Kitchen: curry potato samosas
Olympia Gyro: Buffalo chicken souvlaki
The Original Turkey: the Dinner Sandwich (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry, and gravy on a roll)
Pearl's Oyster Bar: any daily special; French toast
Profi's Crêperie: ham, eggs and cheese crepe at breakfast; crepes a la mode later in the day
Sang Kee Peking Duck: the Peking duck, duck noodle soup
Shanghai Gourmet: Mandarin chicken; vegetable dumplings
Smucker’s: pot roast sandwich (your best use of $8.25)
Spataro's Cheesesteaks: Italian hoagies; cheesesteaks
Tea Leaf: passion fruit ice tea
Termini Bros.: cannoli; almond horns
Tootsie’s Hot & Cold Buffet: The salad bar buffet
Umi Seafood & Sushi: Sushi and prepared foods from chef Yong Kim (of Bluefin fame)