224 South 15th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Family vacation time in Philadelphia! My good friend Erven and his wonderful family were vacationing in the City of Brotherly Love to sightsee, attend a soccer and baseball game, and see what Philly has to offer in food. That's where I came in. I scoured Yelp, TV Food Maps, and obsessively read every best-of-restaurant list I could get my hands on from when we were invited to join the family on this four-day adventure to Philadelphia.
I was apprehensive at first. This would be my first family vacation with teenagers in quite some time. It was more pressure than usual for me to pick restaurants I thought these youngsters might like. Then I realized I knew these kids. They are open to trying things and can find something on any restaurant menu they would like. I put together three restaurant pages and was sure it would be impossible to hit them all, but it would be fun trying.
We took a red-eye from LAX and arrived in Philadelphia at noon. Tired but determined to make every minute count, we dropped off our bags at our hotel and headed out to explore the city we would call home for the next four days. We did a double-decker bus tour, visited the Liberty Bell, and explored some of the neighborhoods of this historic town. By the time it was 4pm, we were all famished and tired, so I whipped out my restaurant list and realized we were within a mile of one of the restaurants I had wanted to try. So we all trudged to Good Dog Bar near Rittenhouse Square.
Good Dog made my list because they were featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, have a 4-star rating on Yelp with over 1,400 reviews, and are consistently ranked as having one of the best burgers in all of Philadelphia. At the helm of this place are Heather Gleason and Dave Garry, dog enthusiasts who opened it in 2003 and married a few months later.
This 100-year-old building is three stories high, with bars and tables on both the first and second stories, a game room featuring a pool table, and a Ms. Pac-Man arcade game on the third floor. Every wall is adorned with black and white framed pictures of dogs. Our party of eight was here between lunch and dinner, and they were kind enough to set up a table for us on the second floor, which they opened just for us.
The menu here is divided into soups and salads, small and big bites, two burgers, and a quintet of sandwiches. A big draw at Good Dog is their daily specials, which usually include a daily empanada, flatbread, steak offering, and other assorted items. Price points for their menu items hover around the $20 mark, with only steak entrees going for more. We were hungry, so we ordered as quickly as seven people could make their selections. Let's see if Good Dog Bar was a good selection for the first meal of our vacation.
Since we were so hungry, some starters were in order. We began with two orders of the Esquites Empanadas ($14). These come three to an order, and the empanadas are rotated daily. The esquites empanadas were predictably filled with corn and were dusted with cotija cheese. They were a little bland on their own, but they were saved by a delicious sauce with just a hint of spice. The outer shells of the empanadas were crafted well, and I would have liked a different version of their empanadas, like the Philly cheesesteak that they offer often or any other one that featured meat.
The Buffalo Wings ($17) were a bigger hit. They came dressed in slightly spicy buffalo sauce, celery sticks, and perfect ranch dressing. The wings were fried well and featured plenty of meat on them. The consistency of the ranch was nicely achieved, as it clung to the chicken when dipped.
Not every day, you see a Banh Mi Sandwich ($14) on a menu in a bar. The long roll was filled with daikon, pickled carrots, a little sambal for some spice, cilantro, jalapenos, miso mayo, and pork belly. Katie liked this well enough but has had better banh mi sandwiches. She felt the pork belly was overcooked and nowhere close to tender. She enjoyed the rest of the sandwich, especially the way the condiments went well with the veggies. The fries were nicely done and were plentiful.
Erven is all about seafood and gave these Steamed Clams ($17) a whirl. These were listed on their daily specials menu. They were served in a classic white wine and garlic sauce and came with a sliced loaf of crusty bread. The clams were on the smaller side, but I liked the one that I had. The sauce was well done with lots of garlic present. I imagined sopping up the sauce with the bread would be great.
Here's a quick shot of the Kid's Cheese Pizza ($10). For a kids-sized pizza, the size of this was more than generous, and as you'll see as you scroll down, it's no smaller than the flatbread pizza coming up. I enjoyed how this looked from across the table, with its slightly crisped dots of cheese topping this pie. I heard no complaints from Addison about this, but she's pretty mild-mannered, except when dealing with her three brothers.
When Guy Fieri was here, he tried this Good Dog Burger ($16), so I followed suit. This half-pound ground sirloin patty was stuffed with Roquefort cheese and topped with caramelized onions on a Challah bun. This burger was delicious, and was made even better when I asked for some mayo to add to the burger. It was cooked nicely medium rare, which made this one of the most tender burgers I have had. The Roquefort cheese added just the right amount of tanginess to each bite, and the onions added a nice sweetness. A very balanced burger. The hand-cut fries were like In-N-Out fries from back home but were seasoned and not over-fried to resemble the old Durkee's Fried Onions used only to top green bean casseroles during the holidays. These fries were way better than In-N-Out's version.
Not content with just the steamed clams, Erven also got this Flatbread Pizza ($17). We were on vacation, so live it up, big guy. Flatbread pizza is usually rectangular when we are home, but not here at Good Dog. Like the empanadas, the flatbread changes daily and appears on the daily specials menu. The flatbread featured mushrooms, garlic, and onions on the day we visited. It has the same cheese and red sauce as the kid's pizza. I don't remember Erven giving me much info about how much he liked this pizza, but he finished it, so that's a good sign.
Good Dog Bar was a great way to start our eating adventure in Philadelphia. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, and this place proves that this city is not just about Cheesesteaks. This restaurant serves what I'd call elevated bar food. Even better than the food was the service that we experienced. They were so lovely setting up our private room when we walked in and catering to our every whim. These are some really great people who run this place. Dave and Heather should be really proud of the staff they have put together. It was fantastic to see my research paid off with a great selection right off the bat. Let's hope the rest of the restaurant choices are just as good.
Out of five fire hydrants (because where you have good dogs, you will also find dogs marking their territory on fire hydrants), five being best to zero being worst, Good Dog Bar gets 3.5 fire hydrants.
For more information about Good Dog Bar, head to their website by clicking here: https://gooddogbar.com/
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