Weekend in Philly

We spent the night in Philadelphia this past weekend and had such amazing food I wanted to do a post just to show off the deliciousness. I'm going to start at the end of our trip since I'm still drooling over our meal at Shake Shack. I've been making a knock-off version of these burgers for awhile now but trying the real thing was a revelation. So, so, so amazingly good. I can't wait to go back. We'll definitely be trying a milkshake next time.

We each got a double ShackBurger - cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce. Double was the way to go. It was the perfect bread to meat ratio. The toppings were fresh and delicious but my favorite part was the crispy crust. Words really cannot describe how good this was.

We'd been told to get the cheese fries - crispy fries coated in a sauce made with American and cheddar cheeses.

One thing to note - for as long as anyone can remember (my mom will vouch for this) I've been disappointed by the real deal vs. the food-styled versions of food. Apparently I'd pitch a fit in fast food restaurants when I was a kid because the food I was served looked nothing like the pictures I'd seen on TV or even the menu in the store. But Shake Shack doesn't suffer from this problem. Our burgers, our whole order actually, looked exactly like every single photo I've ever seen of Shake Shack food. This is a very big deal to me and I was thrilled that I was given exactly what I was expecting.

I apologize for these photos not being better - the lighting in the restaurant was low and romantic, which wasn't good for taking pictures. Saturday night we went to the Oyster House for dinner. It had come highly recommended and we weren't disappointed. SP started with a gin and tonic made with royal dock gin and fever tree tonic, while I had the French fox - champagne, gin, campari, and lemon. I really enjoyed this but my favorite of my two cocktails (which I didn't get a picture of) was a concoction the bartender had just come up with - cantaloupe puree, alcohol and cucumber were involved. It was light and refreshing and dangerously addictive.

I started with a half-dozen oysters. I like them nice and briny and our waitress (she was incredibly attentive and helpful with oyster and cocktail recommendations) thought I'd enjoy the Naked Cowboy and East Beach Blondes. She also gave me a free oyster to try - a Wellfleet. They were all fantastic; I couldn't decide which were my favorite.

As soon as I saw whole belly Ipswich clams on the menu I knew we had to order them. They were perfectly fried and delicious.

I ordered the lobster roll, served with fresh hand-cut fries. Per our waitress's recommendation I opted for the chilled New England version - a little mayo and celery - to let the lobster meat shine. This was, hands down, the best lobster roll I've ever had. I've been searching for years for a good version that's mostly lobster meat and I finally found it. Simple perfection. Just look at those huge chunks of meat.

SP got the scallops, which were served with bulgar, sliced peaches, pistachios, tomatoes and an herb-yogurt sauce. I was a bit wary of how everything would come together but this was positively divine. The herb-yogurt sauce really made it for me. SP was gracious enough to give me a whole scallop and I made sure each bite had a little bit of everything on it.

We walked around a bit after dinner, went back to our hotel to watch an episode of Sherlock (have you seen this show? If not, find the time to watch it) and then we ventured back out for gelato at Capogiro. I love that you can sample any flavor you want before ordering. I ended up with the Thai coconut milk and peanut butter, SP got the mocha and Thai coconut milk. We were in heaven.