Everything but Water

Don't go near a Caribbean ocean, Shore house or backyard pool without coming here first. Plaza at King of Prussia, 160 North Gulph Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406, everythingbutwater.com.

Circles

Yes, they won "Best New Thai" last year. And they're still the best. Nothing else even comes close. 1514 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145, circlesthai.com.

Devil's Den

All drafts are half-price during happy hour and Great Lakes proves good things do come from Cleveland. 1148 South 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, devilsdenphilly.com.

Hardena

The chafing dishes at this cigar-box-sized buffet are the closest you can come to Java without leaving the 215. 1754 South Hicks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145, hardenas.com.

Curve Conscious

This resale spot with an ever-changing inventory is a wish come true: Imagine the cutest plus looks from every store in the mall, sold for a fraction of full price. 2719 West Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19130, curveconsciousphilly.com.

Resurrection Ale House

Seasons change, plates change, but there are always thoughtful dishes coming out of this tiny and impressive kitchen. 2425 Grays Ferry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19146, resurrectionalehouse.com.

Bait & Switch

The owners here have the discipline not to meddle. That pile of shrimp, the fish tacos and the fish and chips come just as the Fish Gods intended them to be: simple. 2537 East Somerset Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134, thebestseafood.com.

Old Italian at Uncle Oogie’s

Simple, straightforward, perfected — this is pan pizza that doesn’t come with an agenda. No one wants to think too much about dinner on a weekday night anyway. Multiple locations. uncleoogies.com.

Empanada Mama

They’ve got the great traditional spiced-beef-filled pastries, but come here for more surprising varieties, like cheesesteak, spinach and artichoke dip, or Mexican street corn. 21 Donaldson Street, Doylestown, PA 18901, yoemama.com.

Terakawa Ramen

Loyalists go for the noodle soups, but you should get to know this spot for the dumplings, too particularly the addictive tempura-fried shrimp shumai, which come hot and crispy. 204 North 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, terakawaramenphilly.com.

Philadelphia Sports Network

This mega-network of every-team-sport-under-the-sun is to would-be ballers what karaoke is to American Idol wannabes, making childhood dreams come true one goal at a time. See website for locations, 00000, philadelphiasportsnetwork.com.

Nature's Gallery

The prettiest bunches we've seen of late come from chief designer, Gabriella Nemati, who artfully arranges unusual offerings (succulents, lilacs, parrot tulips, even feathers) with a peerless eye for color and form. 2124 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, naturesgalleryflorist.net.

Pinot Boutique

Come here for Riedel decanters for your snooty oenophile uncle, handpainted glasses for Mom and her gal pals, and a posh picnic basket stocked with stemware for you (because outdoor drinking need not be limited to tailgating at the Linc). 227 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, pinotboutique.com.

Takeout Pizza

There are times when we resent how obsessed this city can get with pizza. How in 2020 — an era in dining when we ought to be fawning over Sri Lankan curries and Nigerian jollof rice — pizza still consistently gets top billing.

And there are other times — like … now, when the world feels so unsteady — that we’re very happy seeking solace in the basics. Finding comfort in pizza. Letting Philly’s pizzaiolos, you know, take care of us in our time of need. Because if nothing else, pizza is as comforting as comfort foods get.

When we were still in the red phase, some shops, like Pizzeria Stella(420 South 2nd Street) in Society Hill, Barbuzzo (110 South 13th Street) in Midtown Village, and Wood Street Pizza (325 North 12th Street) in Callowhill (which, not for nothing, is one of the city’s best classic pizza shops), provided us with DIY pizza kits that kept us occupied and well-fed during the quarantine. Wood Street’s Dean Kitagawa even commissioned his wife, Sarah D’Ambrosio, to create artwork on some of the pizza boxes. “It was a small thing we did to establish a connection with our guests — a connection we lost when we pivoted to just doing takeout,” he says.

Philly found comfort in pizza even when the style of pizza was completely new to us. Much as it did in almost every other major food city in the U.S., Detroit-style pizza took over Philly. Of course, it got the aged-dough/high-quality-ingredients treatment we’ve become so used to seeing; witness Dan Gutter’s focaccia-like frico-crusted pies from Circles + Squares (2513 Tulip Street) in Kensington, or even his less Detroit-y pan pizzas — à la Pizza Hut — at Pizza Plus (1846 South 12th Street) in East Passyunk, or the fat, deeply caramelized squares at Sidecar Bar & Grille (2201 Christian Street) in Grad Hospital. The ranch-drizzled, banana-peppered monstrosity at Emmy Squared (632 South 5th Street) was a delicious addition to Queen Village.

Neapolitan pizza, a food trend that came as quickly as it left this city, found new life at Gigi Pizza (504 Bainbridge Street), across the street from Emmy Squared. They do a sort of hybrid NYC-meets-Napoli pie baked in a wood-burning oven, with a crust that’s somehow both airy and stiff — essentially, a big middle finger to the chewy, soupy pies favored by the Neapolitan pizza gods.

We saw our fair share of illegal pizza activity, too, which has become something of the norm in this city after @pizza_gutt paved the way back in 2017. Instagram “pizza shops” like @pizza_jawn and @freelancepizza_ began delivering pies (baked who knows where) to their thousands of eager followers.

And in maybe the longest slog of quarantine, Joe and Angela Cicala, the chef-owners of Cicala at the Divine Lorraine and former owners of Brigantessa in East Passyunk, launched an illicit pizza “speakeasy” out of their backyard in South Philly, with proceeds to help pay their laid-off staff. On its first day, the Cicalas sold 200 pizzas in 40 minutes. They sold out again on the second day. And on the third day, seven cops and two city health inspectors shut the operation down. Pizza-obsessed, indeed.

Taffets Bakery

Soft, chewy gluten-free loaves, rolls, focaccia, baguettes and bagels that don't taste anything like a brick—yes, it's a GF-eater's dream come true. 1024 South 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, taffets.com.