While we were traveling in Philadelphia, we saw this interesting sign hanging outside a red brick building. After a quick research, we found out this is a very unique restaurant. It comes with rich history, the building was commissioned as the City Tavern around 1773. What I thought was really cool was that in July of 1777, first Fourth of July celebration was held here. It had a few historical guests, including John Jay and George Washington. It was damaged by fire in 1834, but then it was replicated accurately to its original Tavern structure in 1975.

The very next day, we went over to City Tavern for lunch. The entrance facing the street is on a higher level, up the stairs. The building is quite large, it has five levels, and used to have lodging rooms and servant rooms. From the lantern over the entrance to the windows, you can really feel like you are walking into history.

 

On the top of the stairs, a historical-looking cardboard-man was waiting for us with a plate of turkey. The moment we walked in, we saw the staffs dressed in the 18th century attire. I saw on their website about this, but it is so cool to actually see them.

Another very noticeable items at the entrance are the numerous photos and shiny awards. The chef at this restaurant, chef Staib is an author, Emmy Award winning TV host, James Beard-nominated chef and culinary historian. My expectation was getting higher and higher…

The room we were taken to had a nice, old-fashion dining room feel to it. high ceiling, fire place (I don’t think it is operational), wooden structure and large windows. The room was nice and bright with natural light flooding in from the windows.

The plate setting was quite nice too, with their original design plates, and silver goblets. I thought these were just for show, and not for actual use. And, just as thought, the plates were taken away once we got seated. BUT, the silver goblets stayed.

The goblet was for water, we got to have our water out of the silver goblet! How cool is that! It made the water taste somehow extra tasty. Our server was very informative, explained their menu and offerings really well.

In addition to the water, I ordered their popular Hot Cider ($4.75). You can have it hot or cold, with or without Rum/Brandy/Whiskey. I got it without any alcohol. It came in a nice sized glass, almost as big as the goblet. It was at the right temperature of warm-to-hot, really nice even without alcohol. It certainly warmed me up from the inside. Very comforting and tasty.

I found a nice cinnamon stick in the mug, providing great cinnamon flavor that gives a little kick to the drink.

At this point, I also got to see the male staff at City Tavern, who are also dressed in the 18th century attire. Pretty cool… I wonder if the staffs actually enjoy dressing up in these attires?

Here, you can experience authentic 18th century American food. Their dishes are made fresh daily from scratch with local ingredients. First, we received complimentary bread platter, which was also served on pewter plate, keeping up with the old-fashion atmosphere. It had assortment of colonial breads; Sally Lunn Bread, Anadama Loaves, and Sweet Potato Biscuits.

The Sally Lunn is the light colored one, a traditional English sweet tea bead. It is named after a baker from 18th century England. It was dry but not too dry, better with some butter. It does have “colonial” feel to it if you know what I mean… I think it would have been even better with some kind of jam to help with moisture. Anadama Loaves is the dark one, also named after a baker, made with coarse corn meal and molasses. The sweet flavor of the molasses was really nice, very distinguishable. I enjoyed this more than the white bread. Sweet Potato Biscuits were said to be Thomas Jefferson’s favorite.  It is made with cinnamon, sweet potato, ginger and pecans. It had lots of crushed pecans which gave nice crunchy texture. I liked the little kick from the ginger. It was dense and moist, kind of similar to ginger snaps in flavor, really nice!

My husband chose Fried Tofu ($12.95). On the menu, it was indicated “In a 1770 letter to Philadelphia’s John Bartram, Benjamin Franklin included instructions on how to make tofu.” How educational and informative! The fried tofu was breaded with Sally Lunn breaded. It is cooked with spinach, seasonal vegetables, sautéed tomatoes & herbs, and linguine.

The tofu was quite large, bigger than I expected. It had lots of fresh veggies with nice firm texture, and the pasta was cooked just right. Tofu had good amount of breading, lightly fried so it was not oily at all. The whole dish was light, yet very filling.

I went with Pork Chop “Apple-Wood Smoked” ($21.95). On the menu, it indicated “In the 18th century, preserving meats by curing them in salt & then smoking was necessary to survive the long winters.” Interesting! This dish was prepared in a similar matter, salt cured and smoked. When it arrived, I was so shocked with its size. It was HUGE! It was cooked perfectly, resting atop fluffy bed of mashed potatoes. It also had a side of Dijon mustard in a pewter container.

It also came with lots of Pennsylvania Dutch style sauerkraut. It was pretty darn good! The pork chop was juicy and packed with flavor. My hubby said that it is like a high quality deli meat. Even though the meat was super thick, it was cooked perfectly. This was the first delicious pork chop that my husband have ever had, and this has changed his view of pork chop.

After the main, we wanted to see what the dessert option was going to be…even though we were both pretty stuffed. We can always make a little more room for dessert somehow… Then our server brought a tray full of beautiful sweet treasures. They looked all good, it was not easy to pick just one.

We chose Creme Brûlée ($8.50). It was described as “Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brûlée” which probably means it was his favorite? They also had Martha Washington’s original recipe for Chocolate Mousse Cake, Carrot Tea Cake, Raspberry Linzer Torte, etc., etc…

The Creme Brûlée came in a nice sized ramekin, but then found out it is not so deep. Still a good size. It was very creamy and velvety, light and vanilla-y. I could see vanilla beans in the custard, which is always a plus. The hard caramel on top was not too thick, but delicate and light. Really delicious dessert!

To go with the dessert, we also had Coffee ($3) with milk. It came in the same glass that the Hot Cider came in, so it was a good amount of coffee.

After the meal, we did a quick tour of the house, as we were encouraged to do so by our server. We first went down to the basement, where they had a large bathroom. It seemed like an old storage section, with some antique-looking items placed around there.

The bathroom is definitely not the old-fashion style, but a regular, no-frills bathrooms.

There was a large banquet room on the other side, possibly with a wine cellar?

Then, we went back up to the street level. There were several rooms on this level, including a little lounge with a bar. I liked how old-fashion the bar looked. And here, the staffs are in the same 18th century attire as well. Keeping up the atmosphere everywhere.

They had a handicapped-accessible bathroom right by the bar, so you don’t have to take the stairs to get to the bathroom. They had nice big wooden booth seating across from the bar as well.

In the next room, it had more like a large living room feel to it, with grandfather clock and large fireplace. I don’t think this is a serious dining area, but more like drinks and bar food.

Then we went upstairs to explore some more. My hubby took this cool photo of staffs bringing up the flight of beers (beer samplers) up the stairs! Awesome shot!

 

The upper levels also had several dining rooms, with chandeliers and large banquet style tables.

Another thing they had was their own bathroom, so that they don’t need to go all the way bottom to the basement. The way it was constructed was a bit odd…it was not really easy for a person to come in at the same time someone was going out. It was much prettier than the one in the basement though.

The view from and of the stairs were quite lovely, I love these old houses and its architectures…

I also found a little bell by one of the doors, really cute! Reminded me of Downton Abbey (if you are a fan, you know what I mean). Finally back to the street level to leave the lovely house/restaurant.

Our server was polite and efficient, she checked on our table often to make sure we are well taken care of, and we have water in our cups. She was friendly without being too friendly. The food takes a bit to come out, but you get very good quality food, so it is totally worth the wait. If you are in the Philly area and enjoys food and history, don’t miss this lovely and delicious spot!

 

City Tavern – 138 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106