South Philly (Closed)

Sadly it seems we dined at South Philly just before they decided to close their doors for good. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the monkeys...

South Philly
250 Peabody Place
527-0007

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see Star Wars in Concert at the FedEx Forum. Warren, Satchel (8) and Anakin Skywalker (6) met me downtown and we went in search of dinner before the show. We wanted something quick and were in the mood for a new place, so we decided on South Philly which is just a short walk from the Forum.


Little did we know that Darth Maul and his friends had beaten us there. Luckily it seemed that our mutual hunger kept the light sabers at bay. I did see him and Anakin exchange a few threatening looks though.

Since South Philly is also near my office, and I'd eaten there a few times, I already knew what I wanted--the Buffalo Chicken Cheesesteak. (I'm telling you, if there is Buffalo Chicken anything on the menu, I have to order it.) I noticed that they now had Buffalo Chicken Nachos on the menu, but in a rare moment of self-control, I forced myself not to order them. Warren decided on a regular ol' cheesesteak and Satchel opted for a plain ol' turkey sub. Anakin, proving that jedis do actually eat, requested a cheeseburger and nachos. I added on a couple orders of fries and a drink for each of us and that was that.

I sent the boys to get a table while I paid and got cups for our drinks. That's when I noticed that there was no Italian Ice, South Philly's other specialty. I had planned to let the kids have a treat after dinner, but the counter dude said they wouldn't have the ice in for a few weeks. Our bill came to $31.46, which was a bit high, a sure giveaway that I probably ordered too much.

The drink machines are self-serve, which the kids love, and we happily served ourselves. Darth Maul and his posse continued to grow as we waited on our food. Warren snickered that it was weird that a group of adults wanted to go see Star Wars in Concert even though they didn't have kids, but I didn't find it that strange. So then he snickered a bit about their dorkiness until I pointed out that we were just as dorky.

Our dinners started arriving one by one and Warren turned his ire towards me. "Why did you order so much food?" he asked. I had no idea that an order of fries could be a meal on its own and I could only blame Anakin's jedi mind tricks for allowing me to get him a cheeseburger and nachos. Although I have to say that the highlight of the meal came when Anakin took off his glove and told us, "I can eat with my robot hand."


Eventually Warren stopped complaining and started wolfing down his cheesesteak sammy, which definitely didn't seem too big for him. I really tried to just eat half of my Buffalo Chicken cheesesteak, but it was so spicy and delicious, I couldn't stop. (Really spicy!) I did finally make Warren eat half of a half. I knew instantly that I had chosen the wrong thing to eat before confining myself in a stadium full of strangers. Oops!


In the end I was thankful for the leftovers--half of the nachos, half a cheeseburger, half a turkey sandwich, and almost a full order of fries--so that I had an excuse to walk back to my office and refrigerate them. I needed a little exercise after stuffing myself. And after the (completely fabulous and totally not at all geeky) show was over, Satchel and Anakin had no problem polishing off the leftovers.