The pioneering Vedge, set in a beautiful brownstone designed by Frank Furness, isn't just a must-try vegan restaurant — it's one of Philly's best restaurants, period. Tofu and seitan play minor roles here; instead, the focus is on vegetables, treated with reverence and sophistication. If tables in the dining room are booked up, snag a seat at the front bar and order something off the list of natural wines.

It’s been more than two decades since star chef Marc Vetri debuted Vetri Cucina and the intimate Washington Square West restaurant is still the gold standard for dining in Philly. The tasting menu ($165) is the only choice here, with options adjusted for every table and each course, from the almond tortellini to the smoked goat to the chocolate polenta soufflé, a lesson in what modern Italian food can be.

The flavors of Konstantinos Pitsillides’ kebabs, falafel, and grilled halloumi are addictive at Washington Square West’s small, bright Kanella Grill. Go for a platter or a pita sandwich and a mint iced tea, or bring along a bottle of wine — it’s BYOB. 

Many years have gone by, many restaurants have come and gone, and Oyster House remains unfazed in its Sansom Street digs. The seafood and raw oyster king has been part of the Philly tradition since 1947 and in its present location since 1969. A revamp in the 2000s gave the space a glossy new look, with white-tile walls, a marble bar, and wooden tables.

Philadelphians no longer have to head into New Jersey for south Indian fare now that Amma’s is here with aloo bonda served with cooling coconut chutney, idli dipped into sambar, masala dosa, and lamb chettinad. For an introduction to the industrial-chic Rittenhouse restaurant, start with a lunchtime thali, available in veggie and meat versions. It’s BYOB.

Tyler Akin’s Fishtown BYOB of the same name is always worth a visit, but in 2020 the newer, fast-casual Stock in Rittenhouse feels like the place to be. The chef’s takes on Southeast Asian dishes — like pho and banh mi, Burmese noodles with tahini sauce, Thai crispy rice salad, and khao poon — are customizable, and several are, or can be made, vegan.

James Beard Award winner Greg Vernick now has a few Philly restaurants to his name, but you’ll never go wrong booking a table at the original. Set in Rittenhouse, Vernick Food & Drink serves beautifully presented new American dishes that change with the seasons. Start with a glass of orange wine and one of the thick toasts the restaurant is known for, like scallop with black truffle butter or fromage blanc with pickled kumquats.

Chad and Hanna Williams got rid of everything but the name at Friday Saturday Sunday when they took over the 40-year-old Rittenhouse institution. The revamped fine-dining restaurant now serves an imaginative new American menu full of unexpected flavor combinations. Head to the second-floor dining room or settle into a plush seat at the marble-topped bar on street level.

The versatile High Street on Market in Old City was one of Philly’s first notable all-day cafes. Stop by in the morning for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich on some of the city’s best bread, or bring out-of-towners for a dinner of seasonal new American dishes that will explain why everyone started paying attention to Philadelphia’s restaurant scene.

Top Chef winner Nick Elmi teamed up with the veteran bar owners behind several Philly hot spots for Royal Boucherie, a lively French brasserie in Old City with dark wood, exposed brick, and antique touches. To eat: Champagne-braised escargot, house-made charcuterie, and steak au poivre. But this isn’t just a dinner and drinks spot. Royal Boucherie is open for lunch and brunch, and also serves a late-night menu.

Zahav, the 2019 James Beard Award winner for best restaurant in the country, first introduced Philly to the delights of Israeli cuisine and its myriad influences more than a decade ago and continues to set the standard with its menu of laffa, mezze, and grilled meats and vegetables. The real showstopper at Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook’s restaurant is the pomegranate molasses–braised lamb shoulder (only available via tasting menu), but even something as simple and now ubiquitous as hummus is genuinely eye-opening here. Book well in advance.

Bella Vista's Good King Tavern is appropriate for any occasion with fantastic wines, friendly service, and expertly prepared French bistro fare, all in a relaxed neighborhood spot that's effortlessly cool enough to draw in diners from far and wide. Grab a seat at the bar for an after-work cocktail or settle into a booth and peruse the chalkboard for the day’s specials.

Philly doesn’t have too many restaurants devoted entirely to seafood. A teeny BYOB with the kitchen in the dining room and a sophisticated all-seafood menu that changes daily? There’s just the one. Chef-owner Alex Yoon took over Little Fish a few years ago and continues to raise the bar at this Queen Village mainstay with his expertly composed dishes, where fresh seafood is always the star. The best deal is the Sunday-only tasting menu with five courses for $48.

For the essence of South Philly, get in line at Danny DiGiampietro’s cash-only takeout shop near the Italian Market. On the menu: traditional pizzas with whole-milk mozzarella, fior di latte, and grana padano, thick square pan pies, and stacked sandwiches on phenomenal bread (start with the chicken cutlet, prosciutto, fresh mozz, flash-fried artichokes, arugula pesto, and balsamic combo). There’s a counter to lean on inside and a few tables set up on the sidewalk, in case you can’t wait until you get home to dig in.

Jesse Ito’s Queen Village destination is a two-in-one deal. Look for the red lantern outside and walk into a hip Japanese bar with anime projected on the wall, Hitachino and Kirin on draft, and plates of sushi and skewers. It feels like enough, but so far you’ve only tried Royal Izakaya. Hidden in the back, behind a thick curtain, is Royal Sushi, where Ito offers two or three omakase seatings a night, priced at $130. The izakaya doesn’t take reservations; book well in advance for the omakase dinners. 

The dilemma at Fiore, a contemporary Italian restaurant on Front Street, is whether you should go in the morning for a pistachio cornetti and a BLT with Calabrian chile aioli on focaccia, or wait until dinnertime to fill the table with cacio e pepe tonnarelli, fusi istriani with pork ragu, and swordfish with black garlic and citrus. Day or night, don’t skip whichever flavor of house-made gelato is featured.

After a couple of moves, Cristina Martinez’s nationally praised lamb tacos are safely ensconced in their sunny Italian Market home. But be warned that South Philly Barbacoa is only open Friday to Monday during the day, and thanks to Netflix shows Chef’s Table and Ugly Delicious spotlighting the casual counter-service Mexican eatery a lunch crowd is pretty much guaranteed.

South Philly’s Palizzi Social Club is the reinvention of a century-old hangout for Italian immigrants, complete with vintage decor and a 1950s soundtrack. Chef-owner Joey Baldino (known for Zeppoli) inherited the club from his uncle and added a menu full of the Italian-American favorites he grew up with, like stuffed artichokes, calamari and peas, and spaghetti with crabs. The 30 seater is tucked inside a rowhouse and members-only — due to Palizzi’s popularity, memberships ($20) can be hard to come by.

Hardena is that no-frills, family-run restaurant everyone loves to know. Choose from beef rendang, oseng tempeh, peanut-y gado gado, collard greens cooked in coconut milk, and other Indonesian dishes served on styrofoam plates in this snug South Philly restaurant started by Ena and Harry Widjojo and now run by their daughters Diana and Maylia, and always say yes to a dollop of their sambal — it’s easily one of the best hot sauces in town.

East Passyunk Avenue’s warm, inviting Le Virtù draws from the flavors of Italy’s Abruzzo region — and uses ingredients imported from Abruzzo — for pasta, fish, and meat dishes that change with the seasons. Start with the lamb arrosticini, choose a pasta, like the signature maccheroni alla mugnaia, and if the scrippelle is on the menu, get it.

A warning: Once you try the saté, grilled over coconut shell charcoal and served with peanut sauce at chef Angelina Branca’s Malaysian BYOB, you'll be craving it for days afterward. Round out the meal at Saté Kampar with pulled milk tea, a side of pickled veggies, and nasi lemak bungkus — coconut cream–soaked rice, egg, roasted peanuts, crispy anchovies, and spicy sambal snuggled together in a banana leaf.

It’s best to call ahead to reserve your meat at Mike’s BBQ. Michael Strauss’s casual counter-service barbecue destination in South Philly opens at noon Wednesday to Sunday and stays open until it sells out — which is a daily occurrence. The ribs are known to disappear first, but any smoked meat aficionado will be more than satisfied with the brisket, available on its own, in a sandwich, or as a cheesesteak with onions and Cooper Sharp whiz.

It's worth going to this simply decorated East Passyunk BYOB just for the novelty of Philly native Joncarl Lachman's Dutch-Scandinavian menu. The house-made breads and smoked and cured seafood — not to mention the hearty brunch dishes — are good enough to keep diners coming back again and again. New to Noord? Bite into a bitterballen (a nutmeg-tinged fried pork croquette) to see what the fuss is about.

Husband-and-wife chefs Lee Styer and Jessie Prawlucki serve new American fare at their small, elegant corner spot on East Passyunk Avenue. Sidle up to the bar at Fond for a plate of oysters and a glass of bubbly or sit down to a meal of grilled duck hearts with tahini yogurt, braised lamb shoulder, and, for dessert, malted milk chocolate ice cream with peanut brittle.

Chef Lou Boquila cooks modern takes on the foods he grew up with at Perla, his polished Filipino BYOB on East Passyunk Avenue. Bring a hungry crowd to the twice-weekly family-style kamayan dinners, where diners eat with their hands — rice, whole fish, chicken, pork belly, and more off a tablecloth of banana leaves.

There’s a story behind every dish at Elwood, chef Adam Diltz’s ode to the region’s culinary history and his Pennsylvania Dutch family. At the Fishtown restaurant — named after Diltz’s grandfather and designed by his co-owner/wife, architect Jenny Ko — homey dishes like snapper soup, ham pot pie, whole rabbit, and even funnel cake, usually reserved for paper plates at a fair, are served on delicate flowered china, landing it somewhere between elegant BYOB and grandma’s kitchen.

At Cadence, a tiny BYOB in South Kensington, chefs Jon Nodler and Samantha Kincaid are making creative new American fare like roasted beets with huckleberries and cashew cream, bison tartare with miso pita, and maitake mushrooms with sweet corn and malted grains. There’s a liquor store across the street for those who want to pick up a bottle of wine before dinner.

At Cheu Fishtown, set in a former horse stable on Frankford Avenue, diners settle in under a mural of an octopus slurping up noodles and dig into inventive Asian-Jewish fare: brisket ramen with matzo balls, Bubbie Chow’s sliced beef, a pastrami jianbing done up like a Reuben sandwich. It’s unlike anything else in Philly (except across town at the original, Cheu Noodle Bar, where the food is just as good but the space and menu are smaller).