Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagies and Cheesesteaks 51 North 12th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107

Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagies and Cheesesteaks

51 North 12th Street (Reading Terminal Market)

Philadelphia, PA  19107

(215) 592-7799

Open:  Sunday-Saturday 8:00am-6:00pm (when Reading Terminal Market opens)

Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagies & Cheesesteaks

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60795-d3606272-Reviews-Carmen_s_Famous_Italian_Hoagies_Cheesesteaks-Philadelphia_Pennsylvania.html?m=19905

You can’t come to Philly and not want a cheesesteak. It is the best meal of the day. Those thin little well cooked steaks in a chewy Italian roll with a generous pour of hot Cheese Wiz is one of the best food combinations around. I have to admit I have not tried the other sandwiches (yet) but that then means more trips to Philly to try them.

Carmen’s Cheesesteaks counter just moved across the aisle to a bigger spot and you can still sit at their old one around the counter. It is a place to watch the rest of Reading Market operate. Reading Market is always crowded and you watch the world go by.

The Staff at Carmen’s

I am partial to Carmen’s traditional Cheesesteak ($10.50), which means piled high with slivers of freshly fried thin steaks on the grill and then fried and chopped. They are then placed in a soft chewy hoagie roll, which they will not tell me where in New Jersey they get them and then it is topped with a generous slab of hot Cheese Wiz. You can have it with other cheeses but this is what I like on it. I prefer no onions or peppers on mine.

After it is cut and served, it is the best taste. The caramelized beef and the molten cheese just melts in your mouth and you don’t want to stop biting into it until you are done. It has the best combinations of rich flavors.

Cheesesteak with Wiz

The service is always friendly and welcoming and I have seen the same people working there over the last few years. You don’t have to go through the nonsense of ordering the way you would at Geno’s or Pat’s, where they give you a strange look when you don’t know how to order correctly.

Like the woman at the counter said to me, “We don’t play those games with the customers.” That showed me the customer service that any out-of- towner would appreciate.

When I went there for lunch recently the guy working the counter was so happy that I came down all the way from Jersey to have his sandwiches. I told him that I make a special trip at least two times a year to have his food because we do not get these in New York City or New Jersey the way they make them. That made him very happy!

Don’t miss Carmen’s when visiting Reading Market in Downtown Philadelphia, PA. It is a taste of heaven for you traditionalists.

Still the best!

Beiler’s Doughnuts 3900 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104

Beiler’s Dounuts

3900 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA  19104

(215) 921-5874

Open: Sunday-Saturday 8:00am-6:00pm (when Reading Terminal Market is open)

Home

Beiler’s Donuts and Salads

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60795-d3964520-Reviews-Beiler_s_Bakery-Philadelphia_Pennsylvania.html?m=19905

Prices: One doughnut $1.50/Six doughnuts $6.50/Dozen $11.99

All I have to say it that Beiler’s Doughnut Store in the Reading Market is the best bakery in Philadelphia and one of the best I have been to in a long time. The doughnuts here are always fresh fried, filled on the spot and decorated. The bakery carries the most unusual flavors. The best part is that they are each $1.20 for these very original and delicious treats.

When Alvin Beiler took over the family bakery in 1985, he expanded it into the Reading Market in Philadelphia, PA where it has been serving customers for over thirty years.  It was one of the first Amish businesses to open up at the market. The business has now expanded into two other locations, one in Lancaster, PA and one in University City by the University of Pennsylvania campus (Beiler Family History).

Now Alvin’s two sons, Kevin and Keith, have gotten involved in the business and the bakery continues to grow. On any given day in Reading Market, there are long lines to buy the different flavors of doughnuts. You can watch the doughnuts made, filled and iced for sale in the cases by leaning over the counter when waiting in line. All the doughnuts are fried to a nice chewy and doughy consistency (Beiler Family History).

The Salted Caramel Apple and the Caramel Apple Doughnuts

The Caramel Apple is filled with a fresh apple mixture and topped with a vanilla icing and caramel glaze. It is a nice mixture of sweet and tart. The Fruity Pebble doughnut is a chewy delight with a thick vanilla icing topped with almost a cereal bowl of Fruity Pebbles.  The Banana Cream is filled with a banana pudding filling topped with a thick vanilla icing and has the sweetness of vanilla cream.

The Fruity Pebble Doughnut

The Harvest Apple doughnut is filled with a sweet apple filling and topped with a thick vanilla icing and tastes like an apple pie a la mode. The Strawberry glazed is filled with a sweet strawberry jelly filling and topped with a generous power sugary glazed. The Old Fashioned Glaze is a simple fried doughnut topped with a sugary glaze. It is a delight in each bite.

All the delicious varieties of doughnuts

Each one of these doughnuts you can watch be filled and iced right in front of you as you are waiting in line so you have time to make your selection. All the fillings are homemade and much care is taken to make all the doughnuts look visually appealing. They sit like jewels in a case when you are ordering and that’s the reason why so many people were buying them at a dozen at a time during the recent Flower Show. I have never seen a staff of people work so hard.

Don’t miss the Beiler’s Doughnut store when visiting the Reading Market. It is a delicious and sweet treat! Don’t miss the bakery across the aisle as well. The cookies and sweet rolls are the best.

Spoiler: On Saturday nights when they are closing for the night and closed for the rest of the week until the next Thursday, all the items at the top of the counter are $2.00! Make a b-line to that. I got the most delicious Chocolate Chip cookies and Raison Sweet Rolls in packages for $3.00.

Everything is so delicious!

Dutch Eating Place 1136 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19107

Dutch Eating Place

1136 Arch Street

Philadelphia, PA  19107

(215) 992- 0425

Open: Sunday-Monday Closed/Tuesday-Wednesday 8:00am-3:00pm/Thursday-Saturday 8:00am-5:00pm

Dutch Eating Place

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60795-d463036-Reviews-Dutch_Eating_Place-Philadelphia_Pennsylvania.html?m=19905

Every time I visit Philadelphia, The Reading Market is one of the first stops on the list. There is such a variety of places to eat and the cuisine ranges from Chinese to Italian to ice cream to baked goods. There are so many choices that it is hard to choose between them.

One of my favorite places to eat is the Dutch Eating Place. It is true Pennsylvania Dutch cooking that is ‘homey’ and ‘stick to your ribs’ type of cooking. For breakfast, it is layers of pancakes or French toast, scrambled eggs cooked in real butter and sticky buns.

For lunch it could be meatloaf, chicken pot pie or my favorite, a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and lots of gravy on top. I always get a kick at the way the cooks and servers watch me with the big smile on my face when I see the food come and the big ‘MMMMMMs” while I am eating. The food is consistently good.

The last time I was in Philly for the Cornell-Penn Game, I had come here for lunch and had the Chicken Pot Pie ($7.95). Just to let readers know this is not the traditional pot pie with a thick gravy and a golden crust but more of a stew with thick egg noodles mixed in. The whole stew is large chunks of white meat cooked in a gravy with large cuts of fresh vegetables and thick egg noodles cooked in the mixture. It may not be the traditional pot pie we know but it still is delicious and the portion size is large.

Chicken Pot Pie stew

On my recent trip to Philly for the Flower Show, I had the Hot Turkey Sandwich ($8.25) which I love and highly recommend. Slices of freshly roasted turkey line two thickly cut pieces of freshly baked bread and then covered in a rich brown turkey gravy and served with mashed potatoes loaded with fresh butter and a side of cranberry berry sauce and Cole slaw. The portion size was very large but perfect after a long afternoon of walking the show.

The sliced turkey was juicy and moist and there was layer upon layer between the two thick slices of bread. I made sure that I saved some of the bread so that I could soak up the rest of the gravy.

I have eaten breakfast here many times on my visits to Philly. My first morning I had the pancakes with a side of sausage. I received two large golden brown pancakes with a big slab of fresh butter on top ($5.75) with a side of sausage ($2.75). The breakfast was delicious. The pancakes are huge and take up the whole plate. They have a nice caramelized outside and a soft inside accented by the fresh butter and maple syrup.

On my third trip here, I had the Blueberry Pancakes with a side of Turkey Bacon ($5.95) that were just excellent. The pancakes were loaded with fresh blueberries that were in each bite and had a big slab of fresh churned butter on top. The Turkey bacon was well cured and had a smoky flavor to it.

The pancakes here are excellent

The Apple French Toast ($5.75) is the same with a nice caramelized, crisp buttery outside and a soft sweet interior because the freshly baked bread that is used to make it. A fresh apple mixture tops the two pieces of toast that you get and with the syrup has a nice complexity that gives the apples a nice sweet taste.

The special came with a side of the Turkey bacon the third time I visited. The scrambled egg on the side was cooked in clarified butter and was so good. You could taste the butter cooked in the egg.

The Apple French Toast is out of the this  world!

The sausage and bacon are all freshly made and have a nice smoked flavor to them. The sausage are large, plump and have the right amount of spices and smoked nicely. The bacon is cured and thickly cut. I am sure these are made by their own butchers. This is not your standard grocery store meats.

The service is always nice and even in busy times is very engaging. The Amish families that work at the restaurant could not be nicer and even in the busiest times always have a smile on their face.

They make the best recommendations of what to order and will describe all the dishes to you. It seems that they had a lot of problems with people ordering the chicken pot pie and have put a better description of it up on the board.

None of the entrees are over $10.00, so it is a nice place for a meal when you want traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking close by the hotel and tourist district this is the place to visit.

It is so nice to have food cooked and served to you with people with patience with a smile on their faces at all times.