Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Morning Glory, South Philly, PA

Morning Glory is what an unpretentious Brunch should be: tasty, hearty and... ketchuppy. We'll get to that...

Ana's parents, Norma and Nestor, were visiting us while they were attending some business in New Jersey, so we decided that, instead of going to NYC for yet another go at the infinite Brunch options there, we would go to Philadelphia and enjoy one of our favorite places in the city of brotherly love. I got behind the wheel of our awful rental car and off we went south on 95, non-stop to South Philly.
Philadelphia is quite an interesting city, that offers many options in different neighborhoods as far as restaurants go. For Brunch we have two favorite places in the city (the other being Sabrina's, which we will review at some point) and both are in South Philly. This is a great area of the city, not only to have Brunch, but also to buy groceries at the Italian Market and have your fix of weird walking down South St.
On to Morning Glory. We were introduced to this establishment by our friends Sid and Anjana who used to live in Philadelphia (and who I suspect will be having brunch with us soon...). The place looks like a slightly rundown (but in style!) diner with a great Philly attitude.
They have a nice patio outside, but it seems they only use it as a waiting area for the long waiting minutes (hours!!??) that can go by between writing your name down in a list and enjoying their great food. In any case, this is not a problem as you can walk down the Italian Market, very close by, if you get bored.
Inside the decor is minimal but to the point: a sign reads "Be nice or leave". So, we had no choice but to be nice and enjoy a great Brunch.
Their menu is heavily influenced by southern diner style comfort food. And that is alright! Their menu features awesome frittatas as well as breakfast pizza (!), eggs any style and sandwiches. Most dishes are accompanied by a homemade biscuit that makes plates even more massive.
Not to be forgotten are the specials, that are always yummy and surprising.

Ana had one of the special frittatas that included potatoes, asparagus and goat cheese. Just perfect. If that was not enough, home fries were included as well as a slice of watermelon. More than enough food to feed two people.
I decided to go for the big prize: home pulled pork sandwich! Just perfect. Cooked to perfection and covered with cheese and... Did I mentioned the Ketchup? Well, this is the real reason why I come to Morning Glory. They have bottles of home made Ketchup in every table. They use old bottles of European beer (yes, what you see in the above picture is Ketchup, not beer!) which makes the sauce look like something they found in an old attic. It is just amazing. There are no words to describe the rich sweet goodness that flows down these brown bottles into your plate. You'll just have to go and sample it yourself.

At this point you are running out of excuses. If you feel like Brunch in Philadelphia, you know where to go.