3 Eastern PA Restaurants Make New Top 50 List

PHILADELPHIA — Over the past several years, Philadelphia's food scene has received national and international attention.

While many not from the area still think of cheesesteaks when it comes to Philly's food offerings, the city has stellar places to eat that go beyond the pop culture idea of wiz wits being the best options.

Subscribe to Patch news alerts in your inbox

And that's reflected in the New York Times new list.

The Times' Restaurant List 2021 features three Philadelphia restaurants.

Fifty restaurants are included, but they are not ranked. The Times writes "together they reflect the rich mosaic of American dining."

"Some are classics, still great after decades," the Times writes. "Others are in their prime, restaurants at their practiced peaks. And still others are newcomers, intrepidly making their way through the roughest stretch the restaurant business is likely to endure. All of them beckon us back to the table."

And the Philadelphia restaurants to make the list are Down North Pizza, Laser Wolf, and Korshak Bagels.

Here's what writer Nikita Richardson said about Down North Pizza:

A mission like Down North’s — to provide gainful employment for the formerly incarcerated — would normally be enough to land a restaurant on any number of laudatory lists. But the pizza (Detroit-style, delicious and well worth the trip beyond Philadelphia’s Center City) is why it deserves a place on this list. Take the pie called Uptown Vibes: Pungent red peppers and red onions dot the sauce, a perfect complement to earthy kale and mushrooms, and the generous serving size will feed one person for days.

And this is what she wrote about Laser Wolf:

Any restaurateur of a certain pedigree will say that the longer a place is around, the harder it is to keep up with the tastes of the restaurant-going public. Laser Wolf is a rare exception. Philadelphians of all ages are obsessed with this restaurant from Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook (their eighth project) and its fantastic array of meze-like salatim (schug with sweet pineapple and bitter celery, creamy kale baba ghanouj) and hearty grilled skewers. There’s also a new entree, lamb served barbecue-style with pita fresh from the oven and two kinds of pickled cabbage. Few restaurants give as much flavorful bang for the buck, and what’s more exciting than that?

Lastly, here's her write-up on Korshak Bagels:

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a New York bagel tends to go in search of that doughy delight even when far from the city. Korshak Bagels will make you crave a Philly bagel, which in this case means a pillowy-soft, sourdough bagel with a healthy schmear of cream cheese made with mozzarella rind and goat’s milk. If this sounds like culinary poetry, that’s because the bagels’ maker, Philip Korshak, is himself a poet who believes that “the love and respect for the bagels will feed our hearts.”

Read the Times' full list of the 50 best restaurants for 2021 here.