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The Sunday night after Live8, we headed into Philly for dinner and a night of bar hopping at some of my favorite spots. Having some of our Phoenix friends along provided the perfect opportunity to show off Old City.

We began our evening with dinner at Buddakan, one of Steven Star's most popular and famous restaurants. Although not nearly my favorite restaurant in the city, it does embody one side of Philadelphia dining very well (well appointed interior, signature cocktails, fusion cuisine, and a hip clientele). When Buddakan first opened about seven years ago, it was next to impossible to get a table. They were booked solid for months - both week nights and weekends. These days, it's much easier to get a table there, although the place still remains busy every single night of the week.

We showed up at 8pm for our reservation, and were promptly seated at an upstairs table. It's the first time I've eaten upstairs at Buddakan, and the table was ok. Half had a decent view of the action downstairs (including the giant gold Buddha, while the other half had to settle for what was going on upstairs.

To kick things off, the six of us ordered cocktails. I don't remember all of them, but I do remember that Catherine had a Sumo in a Sidecar II, which was pretty good. It was made with apricot brandy, sake, and sour mix. I had a Millennium, which was made from orange vodka, cointreau, blood orange juice, and sweet and sour. It was good, but certainly not worth $11 (among the most expensive cocktails in Philly).

Buddakan serves their meals family style, meaning you generally order several dishes for the table, and they are brought out as they are prepared. This results in a steady stream of food throughout the dining experience. Being hungry, we ordered a ton of food. We started off with three appetizers, the special sushi of the night, two orders of edamame ravioli with shallot broth, and miso tuna tartare. The sushi was good, but not remarkable. The ravioli were very tasty. The miso tuna tartare was by far our favorite appetizer (actually, the best dish of all). It came topped with wasabi creme fraiche and caviar. It was velvety smooth with a wonderfully fresh taste. It simply melted in your mouth. For our entrees, we went with duck breast with roasted garlic, five spice jus and corn and scallion spoon bread; cashew chicken with plum wine sauce; whole crispy fish with black bean sauce; pan seared Chilean sea bass with green beans and sake truffle jus; and wasabi crusted filet mignon with sweet potato mash. We also ordered a side of lobster fried rice, and another side of wasabi mashed potatoes.

All of the food came out looking great. Of all the entrees, the sea bass was definitely the most popular, but still not as good as the miso tuna tartare appetizer. The crispy fish was, well, nice and crispy, but not worth the $30 price. The wasabi mashed potatoes were also a hit - very creamy with enough wasabi to give them flavor without being pungent. That seemed to really sum up this trip to Buddakan. Everyone pretty much agreed that the food was good, but nothing (except the tuna tartare) really wowed us. In the end, we ended up devouring just about everything sans a tiny bit of the lobster fried rice. Buddakan ended up being a good destination restaurant for our guests, but I'd be okay if I didn't eat there again for quite a while. As far as value goes, I'd suggest that if you are set on eating there, you might want to try lunch, which carries the same menu, but at more reasonable prices.

Continuing on my Pennsylvania/Delaware trip food roundup, we have the Classic Diner. The classic diner isn't your classic New Jersey style diner in the aesthetic sense at all. Instead, they specialize in new interpretations of classic diner food. It's a popular (and crowded) place, and that remained true for our visit. Luckily, there were six of us, so we lucked out with a short wait that day even thought there were a bunch of other couples waiting for a table.

There are so many interesting things on the menu at the Classic Diner that it's tough to decide what to go with. Sensing I was having a tough time deciding, my brother Mark offered to split plates with me. This made it a little easier. We decided on a make your own omelette with blue cheese and filet tips and an order of their famous peanut butter and banana french toast. Pere and Mark's fiance Jen also decided to share plates and opted for the lobster BLT and a tuna melt. Moody had a breakfast sandwich with egg, roasted red peppers, and avocado. Catherine went more traditional and opted for eggs and canadian bacon.

Just about all of the dishes came with some sort of potato and toast. My omelette had thick cut fried potato rounds with rosemary. Pere's lobster BLT had thin cut chips. Most of us had rye or wheat toast.

The blue cheese and filet omelette was nice. The eggs were light and fluffy, and the blue cheese offered a nice contrast to the juicy filet. What I really enjoyed, though, was the peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast. The slices of bread were each at least an inch thick, with plenty of creamy peanut butter and bananas in the middle. The dish was finished with a honey star anise drizzle, which imparted just the right amount of fragrance and additional sweetness. It was definitely a rich and decadent breakfast, and even though Mark and I split it, we still weren't able to finish it!

All in all, everyone really enjoyed their breakfast at the Classic Diner. I had a small taste of Pere's lobster BLT, and almost wish I was able to have split my breakfast three ways. Since I'm not sure when we're going to be back East anytime soon, I think it's going to be a long time before I can feed another Classic Diner fix.