It’s no wonder that there is frequently a line outside of Jamaican D’s on Chelten Avenue: the caramelized plantains, creamy mac and cheese, and savory collard greens made there are all perfect complements to the shop’s deeply flavored jerk chicken, and the enormous platters will keep you full for days. Customers can preorder online through Grubhub for pickup and delivery.

While there may not be a great preponderance of Tibetan restaurants in Philadelphia, as long as there’s White Yak in Roxborough, co-owned by husband-and-wife pair Tsering Parshingtsang and Treley Parshingtsang, we can be thankful. The Ridge Ave. restaurant, which opened in 2019, serves a warming mix of hearty, chewy momos — available in meat, chicken, and vegetarian varieties — and Tibetan-style curries, soups, and sauteed dishes. The chilled mung bean noodles are a cooling element to pair with chili chicken, and the thenthuk, a classic Tibetan soup with hand-pulled noodles, is nourishing and delicious.

No guide to Philly’s diverse restaurant scene is truly complete without the addition of at least one cheesesteak place, and everyone has their favorite. Dalessandro’s in Roxborough is a high standard by which to measure a cheesesteak: long rolls are full to bursting with thick-cut griddle-fried steak with all the requisite options (Whiz, wit, provolone, hot peppers, and more) to make your steak your own. Want to do a cheesesteak crawl? Chubby’s and Barry’s are not far away.

By now, you’ve likely heard word of the Detroit-style square pies, spicy chicken wings, and flavored lemonades at Down North Pizza in Strawberry Mansion. That’s because the admirable mission of the place — to hire formerly incarcerated workers at fair wages — goes hand in hand with deliciously crispy, delightfully cheesy pizzas to make something special. Whether you end up there to support the mission, or to get a taste of their signature “Norf Sauce,” you’re going to leave satisfied either way.

Philly is a pizza town — you can’t throw a rock in this city without hitting a dozen delicious pizza places. But if you’re looking for a thoughtful menu of seasonal wood-fired sourdough pies, a list of interesting and well-curated natural wines, and a beautifully designed space, Eeva is definitely the spot. Chef Greg Dunn’s pizza dough is tangy, chewy, and airy, and side dishes like gem lettuces and fresh ricotta served with house-made focaccia are worthy pie complements. Don’t miss the sourdough loaves to-go and bagels on the weekends.

Philadelphia’s love of sandwiches may be confusing to outsiders, but everyone loves Middle Child. While Middle Child Clubhouse — the second, much bigger restaurant from sandwich legend Matt Cahn — has only been open for a few months, you can still get all the hits from the first shop. Order a So Long Sal, the platonic ideal of an Italian hoagie (think salami, prosciutto cotto, and sharp provolone), or try the Phoagie, a “vegan by chance” banh mi-ish hoagie that will more than fill you up. Grab a sandwich for breakfast or lunch, or stay for dinner or drinks later on.

Brothers Ben and Robert Bynum have been influential forces in Philly’s entertainment scene since 1990, when they opened their first jazz club. South, their biggest restaurant, brought live jazz and Southern staples to Spring Garden in 2015. The jazz shows are back on, and comfort food highlights like macaroni and cheese, honey butter skillet cornbread, etouffee and po’ boys are all highlights.

Every city needs a splurge-y date night destination — and Philly is charmed to have James Beard Award-winner Greg Vernick’s Vernick Fish for celebrations, big and small. Everything from the raw bar to the small plates to the large format dishes like roasted fluke imperial and whole branzino are immaculate. Save room for dessert: they’re perfect, too.

Jezabel Careaga’s Argentinean medialunas, alfajores, empanadas and other treats are like a song you can’t get out of your head: once you try them, you’ll definitely be back for more. Alfresco seats are well suited for a quiet lunch or breakfast with a cup of tea, or go the takeout or delivery route.

Judy Ni’s fast-casual Taiwanese spot serves up its namesake steamy, meat, and vegetable-filled bao buns, but there’s also a wide menu of bento boxes (bian dangs), burrito-like ruen bings, excellent handmade potstickers, and so much more, all made with local ingredients. You can place orders for pickup or delivery online.

A stalwart of Ethiopian cuisine in the city, Abyssinia has long comforted Philadelphians with its array of hearty dishes. Diners scoop up dishes of spiced chicken and lamb — including several vegetarian and vegan options — with perfectly thin, spongy, slightly sour injera bread. Takeout and delivery are also available.

After leaving Center City restaurant Abe Fisher, chef Yehuda Sichel turned his attention to sandwiches with this gourmet sandwich shop in Rittenhouse serving creative combinations on house-baked sourdough bread and fluffy milk buns. It has been an instant favorite, partially for its brisket and partially for its vegetarian crispy maitake mushrooms. But don’t take sides: no matter what you get, it’ll be a damn good sandwich.

Sonam Parikh and Kate Egghart’s coffee shop opened at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, so the sunny indoor space at Mina’s World hardly got a chance to be appreciated before indoor service was halted. No matter: the pair soldiered on and have made the coffee shop not only a go-to for a variety of ever-changing specialty drinks (think: turmeric elixirs and tahini mochas), vegan baked goods, and excellent samosas, but a mission-driven community hub as well. With a community free fridge out front and a market of radical zines, ceramics, and more (available to order online), Mina’s World is much more than a coffee shop. Orders can be placed online for pickup or walk up to the counter to order, Tuesday through Sunday.

Amanda Shulman’s Her Place Supper Club is the kind of dinner party everyone wants an invite to and it’s not hard to see why. The prix-fixe dinner has a limited number of reservations, a rotating menu of extraordinary fine-dining-done-casually dishes, and a convivial energy that supper clubs are known for. While Shulman’s place started as a pop-up, she’s now making the space a permanent restaurant. Watch Tock for reservations — they go online every other Sunday at 6 p.m.

The versatile High Street on Market in Old City was one of Philly’s first notable all-day cafes — now relocated on 9th Street and rebranded as High Street Philly, it’s still very much worth the visit. 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 pastas, salads, and pizzas that will explain why everyone started paying attention to Philadelphia’s restaurant scene.

Chad and Hanna Williams’s fine dining restaurant has been offering an indulgent indoor eight-course tasting menu since February 2021, and for diners looking for a restaurant experience that is focused on both hospitality and whimsy, Friday Saturday Sunday is the place to go. The menu is ever-changing and the cocktails are some of the best in town, courtesy of bartender Paul Macdonald. Reservations are necessary.

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 of influences more than a decade ago and continues to set the standard with its menu of laffa, mezze, and grilled meats and vegetables. In addition to the stellar service, which continues to be extremely friendly, attentive, and enjoyable, the real showstopper at Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook’s restaurant is the pomegranate molasses–braised lamb shoulder, but even something as simple and now-ubiquitous as hummus is genuinely eye-opening here. Outdoor and indoor dining by reservation only.

Puyero’s Venezuelan flavors of arepas, cachapas (thick, sweet and savory corn pancakes stuffed like a quesadilla with a variety of rich fillings) and more have gotten Philadelphians absolutely hooked. Keep an eye out for specials like beef and potato empanadas and their special holiday hallacas, an extra-large Venezuelan tamale they make every Christmas.

It was Chloe Grigri’s dream for years to open an intimate bar à vins, inspired by wine bars around France where diners snack on charcuterie and drink good wine. When she finally took the plunge to open Le Caveau upstairs from her French tavern The Good King in October of 2019, it was bustling for only six months before the pandemic shutdown. To our good fortune, Le Caveau is open and ready again for the perfect date night. Drink natural wines, martinis on tap, and order the French hot dog, which comes served on half a baguette. It’s one of the coolest bars in the city.

The dilemma at Fiore, a contemporary Italian restaurant on Front Street, is whether to go in the morning for a pistachio cornetti (the Italian equivalent of a croissant) and a breakfast sandwich stuffed with fluffy scrambled egg and ricotta, or wait until dinnertime to fill the table with lasagna bolognese, gnocchi with chanterelles, fluke Milanese, and expertly made amaro cocktails. Diners can order takeout and reservations can be made for the outdoor patio or indoor dining room online.

Jesse Ito has managed to translate his omakase into a high-end takeout experience, featuring 11-, 44- and sometimes 100-piece platters. They can be a pricey endeavor but the menu also features more affordable chirashi bowls, maki rolls, and other Japanese treats, all of which are made to Ito’s exacting standards with the highest-quality ingredients. Diners can do takeout and delivery, or walk in for dinner.

Philly is lucky to be full of excellent pho spots, but Pho 75 is one of the best. They offer a small, excellent menu of flavorful, perfectly rich and balanced soup broth with any number of add-ins: tender, fatty brisket, chewy tripe, thinly sliced flank steak, and more. Enjoy an outdoor or indoor table, or order soup to go (call directly) — either way, it’ll be hot, fast, and absolutely comforting.

It didn’t take long for Randy and Amanda Rucker’s River Twice to became one of the most exciting New American restaurants in the city, with an evolving tasting menu that offers the full spectrum of Rucker’s repertoire. All of the dishes are heavy on flavor, personality, and creativity, and the restaurant itself is just a lovely place at which to dine. Reservations can be made here.

It’s best to call ahead to reserve meat at Mike’s BBQ. Michael Strauss’s casual counter-service barbecue destination in South Philly opens at noon Thursday 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. Takeout and delivery and some outdoor seating is available.

Diana and Maylia Widjojo hit on something special when they began offering what they call the #NotPizzaBox, a pizza box lined with banana leaves and stuffed to the gills with the Indonesian specialties that have long made Hardena a beloved Philly mainstay. They’ve moved away from that concept for now, but you can still get all those highlights a la carte. No order is complete without a few of their fried corn fritters, called bakwan, and a few skewers of richly marinated chicken sate. Be sure to ask for extra cups of their housemade sambal, which is the best in the city. Takeout is available.

After opening her Vietnamese and Thai grill restaurant in Ambler in 2019, chef Thanh Nguyen expanded into the former Saté Kampar space in East Passyunk to serve Vietnamese street food of the highest order. The bánh bèo quảng nam — open-faced dumplings that come served in small decorative bowls — are unreal, and the large format dishes, from the half-chicken platter to Vietnamese fried winter flounder will not let you down. Come prepared: it’s BYOB.

Jennifer Zavala’s birria taco pop-ups were some of the most exciting (and delicious) to hit the Philly scene over the past few years, so much so that Zavala’s Juana Tamale grew a devoted cult following. Zavala opened a brick-and-mortar location in East Passyunk that’s brightly colored, extremely fun, and where she serves her infamous juicy birria tacos, tamales, and ramen to match. Everything on the menu is worth it.

While Emily Riddell’s French boulangerie only opened in January of 2022 in the Bok building, her retail cafe was a long-time coming. Over a year of pop-ups turned the whole city onto Riddell’s incredible patisserie, viennosierie, and breads, all made so delicately that it’s no wonder that she always sells out. The new permanent space just gives even more Philadelphians a chance at trying her famous vibrant lemon tarts with toasted meringue.