Jim vs. Philadelphia

I went down to Philadelphia for some food and Dodger baseball.  The Dodgers were playing July 23-25.  My father’s birthday is July 23 so that was out.  But the July 25 game was at 12:35.  So I was able to go down on Tuesday, July 24, stay one night, and get to two baseball games.  These were my third and fourth games at Citizens Bank Park, which ties it with Nationals Park for seventh place on the list of stadiums where I've seen the most games (behind Shea Stadium, Citi Field, Old Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, New Yankee Stadium, and Fenway Park).  The last time I was at Citizens Bank Park, Clayton Kershaw was great.

This was my view for Chase Utley's last game at Citizens Bank Park (unless the Dodgers play the Phillies in the playoffs).

Man vs. Food has done two Philadelphia episodes (one with Adam Richman, one with Casey Webb).  There have been two New York episodes, a Brooklyn episode, a Long Island episode, two Boston episodes, and two Philadelphia episodes.  I’ve been to a lot of Man vs. Food places across the country, but the only place I had been to out of the somewhat close places was the Barking Crab in Boston, but that was only to drink.  I was able to change that with this trip.  I arrived around 1:30 on Tuesday.  My first stop was Mac Mart, which was about a mile away from 30th Street Station.  I got the Crabby Mac, which had cream cheese, jumbo lump crab meat dip, Old Bay, and potato chip panko crunch.  It was really good.  I wish I could try some of their other offerings.

Mac Mart would be the Philadelphia Man vs. Food spot I'd want to go back to the most.

I’ll finish up with Man vs. Food spots and then get to baseball.  When I arrived at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, I went straight to Tony Luke’s.  I got the cheese steak with sharp provolone and grilled onions.  It was a little underwhelming.  It seemed like it was the Citizens Bank Park version of Shake Shack in Citi Field.  It’s out in the outfield and the line is always really long.  It’s the thing to get at Citizens Bank Park.  I have to say, I would get Shake Shack more frequently at Citi Field if the line wasn’t always so long, but I would definitely be more likely to check out the other options at Citizens Bank Park even if the line wasn’t an issue.  I’m not saying that the cheesesteak was bad, but I was expecting it to be better.  I also got some edible cookie dough, which definitely wasn't as good as the edible cookie dough at Citi Field.

The other cheese options were American or Cheese Whiz.  I feel like I made the obvious choice.

The next stop was Spread Bagelry on Wednesday morning.  They do Montreal style bagels.  They boiled and wood-fired or something.  I had a whole wheat everything with cream cheese.  It wasn’t a bad bagel, but I can get a better one on Long Island.  The good was that all the everything was very densely packed on the bagel.  The bad was that it wasn’t quite an everything bagel.  There was no salt.  Or at least if there was, I didn’t notice it.  I don’t need too much salt, but salt is an important component of the everything bagel.

Not bad, but not as good as New York bagels

After Spread, my last Man vs. Food spot was Franklin Fountain.  It was about two miles away.  So I walked and did a little side tour because I passed Independence Hall.  I’ve been there before so I didn’t feel the need to do a tour or anything, but I stopped to take some pictures.  Near Independence Hall is the site of the president’s house from 1790-1800.  And a couple of blocks away is Benjamin Franklin’s grave.  The cemetery is usually open to the public, but because of threatening weather, it was closed.  However, Benjamin Franklin’s grave is right on the edge of the cemetery and there’s an opening in the brick wall covered by bars that lets you see in.  So I’ve now been to the grave sites of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, and a few US presidents (I was at Mount Vernon probably over a little over 20 years ago so Washington plus Truman, Nixon, and Reagan).  After checking all of that, I stopped in at Franklin Fountain.  I was their first customer of the day (it was the combination of wanting to avoid the crowd and the 12:35 baseball game that had me there early).  I got a scoop of peanut butter and a scoop of chocolate with hot fudge.  It was very good (I liked the peanut butter ice cream better than the chocolate).  My one criticism was that the scoops were huge.  This was a whole lot more ice cream than I should be getting if I ordered two scoops.  I didn’t finish it all.  I would prefer a more reasonable amount of ice cream for slightly lower prices.

Independence Hall

This is where the president's house was from 1790-1800.

Benjamin Franklin is buried here.

Yep, it's ice cream in a Chinese food container.

Now let’s get to baseball.  On Tuesday night, the Dodgers got off to a good start.  They were up 4-1.  Yasmani Grandal hit home runs from both sides of the plate.  Kenya Maeda looked very good, but then the seventh inning happened.  The Phillies scored a run to make it 4-2 and then Jorge Alfaro homered to tie the game.  And then nobody scored for a long time.  The game ended up going 16 innings over 5 hours and 55 minutes.  It’s most likely the longest game I’ve ever been to.  The Dodgers had their chances, but they couldn’t score.  Phillies fans were excited when Chase Utley got a pinch hit single in the 12th.  They were also excited that it didn’t lead to the Dodgers scoring.  In the 16th inning, Rich Hill ran from the dugout to the bullpen and started to warm up.  It turns out that he was only going to come in if the Dodgers took the lead.  Instead, Kike Hernandez pitched the bottom of the 16th.  I don’t think I had ever seen a position player pitch.  He got the first batter out and then walked two and gave up a home run to Trevor Plouffe.  Some Dodger fans were upset with Dave Roberts for not using Rich Hill, but I understand it.  With the game tied and the Dodgers on the road, once they got to the bottom of the 16th, the Dodgers had to record at least six outs to win the game.  That would be asking a lot from Hill.  Roberts did something else that nobody really seemed to notice (or at least they had forgotten about it by the time the game ended).  In the bottom of the 9th, JT Chargois got one out and left with a man on second to bring in Zac Rosscup to face a lefty, Nick Williams.  Rosscup walked Williams and then Roberts took him out to have Daniel Hudson to face a switch hitter and a righty.  Now, Rosscup came in with a runner on second in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth.  The batter at the plate meant nothing.  If the guy on second scores, the game is over.  Putting the batter on first base doesn’t hurt you at all (and it would actually kind of help because it could set up a double play).  If Rosscup was only going to face one batter before putting in another righty, why not just walk Nick Williams and have Chargois face the next two guys?  You would have saved two relief pitchers.  They could have helped later in the game.

This was where my ticket was, but I ended up sitting in several different places.

A couple of other notes about the Tuesday game.  As the game went on and people left, I kept moving down.  I watched the last five innings from about 15 rows behind the Dodger dugout.  And I have a few complaints about Citizens Bank Park.  One is that there are two many straight lines in the way the stadium was built.  Besides being a little aesthetically unpleasant, it leads to some sections of seats being weirdly angled to the field (like your seat would be facing foul territory).  And the other complaint is that I remember the beer selection being better.  There was a whole lot of Yuengling.  It’s Philadelphia, I get it.  But they needed more variety.  In the first game, I got a Troegs DreamWeaver.  I bought some Troegs HopBack Amber Ale before the Super Bowl as my pro-Eagles beer and it was pretty good.  But the DreamWeaver was bad.  I think it was the worst beer I’ve ever had at a baseball game.  It reminded me of other bad beers I’ve had, like the Sam Adams Hefeweizen. Sam Adams used to make a good Hefeweizen years ago, but for the last two years they’ve had this version of the Hefeweizen in their summer variety pack and it’s terrible.  I don’t know how to describe the taste of these beers, but it’s like they were stinging my taste buds.  No good.

I watched an inning or two from here.

I watched the last five innings from here.

The Wednesday game got off to a nice start.  A single, a walk, an error, and a sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.  But the Phillies tied it in the bottom of the first.  Walker Buehler looked pretty good after that until the fifth inning.  He gave up four runs and couldn’t get out of the inning.  That was pretty much the game.  Max Muncy hit a home run later to 6-3 and the Phillies ended up winning 7-3.  At this game, I just had a hot dog to eat, which was fine.  To drink, I had a Victory Summer Love, which was fine, but it was further evidence to support my theory that Sam Adams is the only brewery that makes a really good summer beer.  Also, they did a Christmas in July theme because it was five months until Christmas.  They played mostly decent-good Christmas songs.  It was a good reminder to everybody to get all their Christmas shopping done before it’s too late.

The Dodgers just finished their ten-game road trip against three good teams and went 6-4.  That was pretty good, but I saw two of their losses.  In the battle of Jim vs. Philadelphia, Philadelphia won.

Let’s finish off with an updated list of all the Man vs. Food spots I’ve been to:

Syracuse- Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.  I went there with Brother Robert on our trip there for a camping conference in January 2007.  I'm pretty sure it was really good, but it was more than a decade ago and I was really sick so I don't remember it too well.

Washington- Ben's Chili Bowl (Nationals Park version).  I think that’s the only place I’ve had it (and I’ve had it there a couple of times).  It was very good.

Boston- The Barking Crab.  I went with John in 2009 or 2010, but we were only drinking.  It was a great summer day and I was drinking Summer Ale.  So if I did power rankings, this might get the top spot.

Chicago- Gino's East and Lucky’s Sandwich Company.  I think we wanted to go to Gino’s when we were in Chicago for a Cubs game in 2008, but the wait was too long.  But I did get there in 2010 with my brothers.  It's probably my only real experience with Chicago pizza.  It's kind of hard to consider New York pizza and Chicago pizza the same food.  Chicago pizza is kind of like a cheese pie.  If I had to pick New York or Chicago pizza, it's easily New York pizza.  But if I had to pick between pizza from Gino's or pizza from the best spot in some random city, I'd go with Gino's.  Other cities probably try to do an imitation of New York pizza and don't come close.  As for Lucky’s I had their 2 Bagger Sandwich, which has corned beef, pastrami, coleslaw, and fries all on the sandwich.  It was very good.

Los Angeles- Felippe's and El Tepeyac.  I went to Felippe's in 2011 with my brothers and El Tepeyac in 2015 with Pete.  Felippe's had some good French Dip sandwiches.  El Tepeyac was good Mexican, but I feel like there are lots of places where you can find good Mexican food.

Pittsburgh- Primanti Brothers.  I went with Jon in 2012.  They have sandwiches with fries on the sandwich. This is one of the few places where I had exactly what Adam had.  I remember it was good, but there was a fried egg on the sandwich, but the meat kind of overwhelmed the egg so you didn't really notice it.  Pittsburgh is high on my list of cities to get back to because I’ve only done one game at PNC Park, which is great.  Maybe next year.

Phoenix- Alice Cooperstown.  I remember that Adam had the Big Unit Dog, which was a two-foot long hot dog with all sorts of stuff on it.  I had a burger, but I can't really remember it.

Atlanta- Vortex Bar and Grill.  I went with Dennis in 2013.  Adam had the Triple Bypass Burger.  I had a burger with blue cheese.  It was really good, probably the best food of all these places that I can remember.

Detroit- American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island.  I went in 2014.  These two compete with each other.  I had the Coney Island Dog at both places and liked Lafayette's better.

Salt Lake City- Bruges Waffles and Frites.  I went in 2015 and had what Adam had, the Machine Gun sandwich, which also has fries on the sandwich.  I didn't love the sandwich, but the fries and sauces were good.  But they weren't quite as good as European Republic's fries and sauces.

Cincinnati- Tom and Chee.  Grilled cheese and tomato soup for dipping.  It was simple, but good.

Minneapolis/St. Paul- The 5-8 Club and Mickey’s Diner.  I went to the 5-8 Club with Dennis in 2015.  I had the Juicy Lucy with blue cheese.  It was good, but not as good as the burger at Vortex in Atlanta.  On that same trip, Dennis took me to Mickey’s Diner for breakfast.  I’m pretty sure this is the only place I went to before it was on Man vs. Food.  I don’t remember what I had, but I’m pretty sure it was good.

Boise- Big Jud's.  I wish I had known to ask for no mustard on my burger.  The burger was good, but New Yorkers do not like mustard on burgers.  It would rank behind Vortex and the 5-8 Club.

New Orleans- Mother's Restaurant.  I had the Ferdi Special, which was what Adam had when he went.  It had ham, roast beef, their debris with real au jus sauce (I tried to find the video of Kramer celebrating selling his stories to Peterman, but I don't think it's on YouTube).  It was good, but it's not like I'd make a point of going there again if I was in New Orleans.

Honolulu- Helena’s Hawaiian Food and Mac 24/7.  I had what Adam had at Helena’s Hawaiian Food, laulau and pipikuala ribs.  The ribs were very good.  I had the short stack of blueberry pancakes, which was the almost normal sized version of what Adam had (that was the challenge).  They were good, but I couldn’t finish them.

Charleston- Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.  This was on the ballpark episode, but I didn’t have what Adam had so I don’t really count this one.

Hartford- Woody’s.  I had the Deputy Dog (which is what Adam had).  They take a hot dog and top it with pulled pork, cheddar cheese, and barbecue sauce.  The bun is grilled and it was like the bread on grilled cheese.  It was really good.  The dog was excellent and so were the toppings.

Denver- Cherry Cricket.  I got a burger with hot jack cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, and grilled onions.  It was good, but not as good as the burger at Vortex in Atlanta.

San Francisco- Ike’s Place and Taqueria La Cumbre.  I’ve been to Ike’s Place twice.  I got sandwiches named after Adam Richman (fried chicken, ham, Swiss, pesto, honey, and avocado) and Joe Montana (chicken, bacon, Asian sesame dressing, avocado, havarti).  The Joe Montana was better.  I had a vegetarian burrito at Taqueria La Cumbre.  It was fine.

Memphis- Gus’s Fried Chicken.  It was tasty, but I don’t think it lived up to the hype from Adam Richman and Bill Simmons.

San Diego- Lucha Libre (Petco Park version), Broken Yolk Cafe, and Phil’s BBQ (San Diego Airport version).  I had what Adam had, the Surfin' California burrito.  It has shrimp, steak, fries, pico de gallo, jack cheese, avocado, and chipotle sauce.  It was pretty good, but I would prefer just shrimp or just steak rather than both.  At the Broken Yolk I had a veggie omelette.  I didn’t like it that much.  And I had what Adam had at Phil’s BBQ, the El Toro Sandwich, which has tri-tip and barbecue sauce.  I didn’t particularly like the barbecue sauce, but it was still a pretty good sandwich.

Las Vegas/Reno- Hash House A Go Go.  Adam went to the Las Vegas location.  I went to the Reno location.  I got the Healthy Start Scramble.  It was egg whites with tomatoes, onions, and peppers served with fruit.  It was pretty good.

Philadelphia- Mac Mart, Tony Luke’s, Spread Bagelry, and Franklin Fountain.  You just read about them.