Reading Terminal Market, a Foodies Wonderland

 City Food Tours and Reading Terminal Market

1136 Arch Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

A great way to get to know a city you have never visited is to take a tour. An even better understanding of a city is to eat where the locals eat, along with a local tour guide. That's what we did on our third day of being in Philadelphia. Before leaving home, our good friend Rocio was kind enough to book the eight of us on the Flavors of Philly Food Tour run by City Food Tours. 

This is one of five tours that City Food Tours operates in the city, and it's the most popular, as they offer it every day of the week. This two-and-a-half-hour tour spans six city blocks and includes five stops at locally-owned restaurants where they claim that locals eat. We met at a coffee shop, and after a quick introduction and some general housekeeping by our tour guide, Kaitlyn, we were quickly on to stop number one. 

At Joe's Pizza, I learned something I had never known. Tomato Pie is a big thing in Philadelphia. Italian immigrants brought it here at the turn of the last century. Joe's Pizza has been in business for 35-plus years, and they cook their pizzas in a brick oven. The tomato pie is simple, with just the San Marzano tomato sauce on the crust. The simplicity of this pizza is meant to highlight the very well-done tomato sauce. There's no cheese or other toppings included. I liked my first slice, but it's not like I would eat a whole pie by myself like I could do with a typical pizza. Everyone enjoyed this, though. 

On our next stop, I learned another fact I did not know. Philadelphia is the pretzel capital of the US. Their population eats more pretzels than anywhere else in the country. Most Americans eat two pounds of pretzels yearly, while Philadelphians eat six times that amount. A staggering 12 pounds of pretzels per person. Wow. A quick Yelp check yielded plenty of pretzel options in the city. 

The most popular pretzel spot is Philly Pretzel Factory. They have 165 locations throughout the US, and a whopping 29 of those are located in Philadelphia. These are soft pretzels, lightly salted. I'm not the world's biggest fan of pretzels, but I liked this one well enough. It tasted freshly made, had just enough salt, and the chewiness of it was on point. These are something that I could only see myself eating sometimes, but every once in a while, it would be more my jam.  

Stop number three was Zio's Brick Oven Pizza. We weren't here for pizza. We tried a sampling of their Cheese Whiz Fries and their Cheesesteak. Again, cheese whiz is not my favorite thing, but these were good for what they were. The fries were crispy, and I picked the fires with the least whiz. 

We didn't need it, but Katie wanted to try their Rice Ball Parmigiana ($7.74). This rice ball was filled with ground meat, peas, carrots, and meat sauce, then topped with more sauce and a good amount of mozzarella cheese. A little different spin on the usual arancini that we've had in other places. This was a good version. I enjoyed how the cheese and sauce elevated the rice ball and its contents. I could see us eating this often if we lived in the area. 

The last two places on our tour were at the famous Reading Terminal Market. If you are a food person, this is where you need to head when you are in Philadelphia. It was overwhelming figuring out where to eat, and so many people were everywhere. Luckily, our tour guide, Kaitlyn, could answer all of our questions and give us some good tips about one of the country's largest and oldest public markets. 

Our last two stops on our food tour were of the sweeter variety. First up was a Chocolate Chip Cookie from The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company. This 40-year-old company made some seriously great cookies. They were chewy, with a good amount of decadent chocolate chips included in every bite.  This cookie was served warm and tasted more homemade than most cookies I've bought. I still regret not returning to their booth and trying one of their peanut butter cookies. 

On Saturdays, the line for Beiler's Doughnuts can stretch as far as the eye can see. We hit them at a good time, even though they were out of the apple fritter I had wanted to try. We were given an Original Glazed as our last offering on our tour. Beiler's is a Pennsylvania Dutch bakery with other locations in Lancaster and Germantown, Maryland. They offer salads, pickles, and traditional Amish puddings, but the donuts draw the most praise. 

The glazed donut was different in texture from any I had before. This is partly due to how the dough is kneaded during baking. It was not an overly sweet doughnut, but it did feel like it could have melted in my mouth. There was also an excellent buttery taste on the back end of each bite. It reminded me of an Entenmann's glazed but made with fresher ingredients and way higher in quality. 

Our tour was now wrapped up, and we could walk around the market. I had my eye on a roast pork sandwich from DiNic's, but unfortunately, they had closed for the day because they had sold out. Mental note to self: get here early for their legendary pork sandwich. Hershel's East Side Deli did a more than admirable job of stepping in. Locals call this place "the best Jewish deli outside of New York."  Hershel was originally the head chef at Katz's Deli for over 40 years, so I knew I would be in for a treat when I ordered my Pastrami Reuben ($15.05). 

The pastrami was thick-cut and piled between two grilled slices of rye bread with Russian dressing, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut. I really enjoyed this sandwich, with the tanginess from the sauerkraut, the savory and tender pastrami, and the creamy Swiss. I'd get the Rachel version the next time I was here, as the touch of sweetness that the coleslaw would bring would make this sandwich unbelievable.  

Any TV program I've ever seen about Reading Terminal Market has always mentioned Bassett's Ice Cream. In business for 163 years, yes, you read that right, they occupy the space closest to the front of the market and are the last original remaining tenant at the market. The day we were here, they offered 37 different flavors to choose from. I had a scoop of their Chocolate Fudge Brownie ($7), which had some good-sized hunks of brownie mixed into its very creamy chocolate ice cream. I figure I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I hadn't just eaten so much on our tour and at the market. Still, it was an excellent end to a day that anybody who likes food as much as myself will think back fondly on.  

For more information about City Food Tours, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.phillysfoodtour.com/