The Hizzle of T-Fizzle

We finally made it to Jones! Philadelphians will probably know Jones as
Stephen Starr’s “budget” offering which focuses on American comfort
food. X is a big fan of comfort food, and was intrigued by descriptions
of the decor being reminiscent of The Brady Bunch house. She has been
jonesing to go to Jones as long as I’ve known her.
Taking advantage of the previously-discussed “Build a playground and get
a day off” deal, I took off Friday and we cooked up a plan to eat at
Jones and then go to the art museum, as X has never been there!
We slept very late Friday morning and the weather looked iffy. X had to
be back fairly early for Aspects Of Love. We decided to at least go get
lunch and then decide what to do from there.
My favorite travel tool right now is the Pop Out Map. X bought me one
for NYC a few years ago so that we could find our way around when we
venture over there. We picked one up in Boston and used it
extensively. We probably would have got one for Minneapolis/St. Paul
had we thought of it. At some point we decided we should get one for
every major city we ever visit. They are pocket-sized self-folding
maps, including street and subway maps. They fit easily into your
pocket/manbag and you can discreetly pop them out and get your bearings
without looking too much like a tourist. I’m the kind of traveller who
is willing to go almost anywhere as long as I’ve got a map and maybe a
guidebook to tell me where not to go.
All my life, I have avoided driving in Philly whenever possible. I
realized that a big part of it was inherited from my parents who are not
big on urban driving, but another big part of it was simply that I do
not have a mental picture of the streets. I don’t know which way the
numbered streets go. I don’t know where Spring Garden is in relation to
say Walnut Street. I don’t know where 676 is and how to get back to
it.
Yet for some reason carrying a map of one’s “local” city just seemed
embarassing. I don’t know anyone who carries a map of Philly around.
Everyone just seems to have acquired their street knowledge by trial and
error, eventually getting a feel for the lay of the land.
Well, I finally got over myself and picked up a Pop Out Map for Philly.
I actually got it months ago (shortly after Boston) but have not had
much occasion to use until now. Armed with my little map, I was able to
look at my route in advance and picture where I was going. I knew that
Chestnut was below Market, so I was ready to turn after I crossed
Market. Suddenly the city seemed a lot more navigable. I still feel
somewhat like a rube consulting a map “my” city, around which I have
lived for 26 years. But its better than constantly avoiding going
there.
Jones was very nice. The comfort food menu was somewhat innovative,
offering little twists to the “common” items. X got spaghetti with
mussels. It came with a LOT of mussels in the shell, and the sauce was
a basic olive oil and garlic, but it must have been some sort of infused
oil becuase it had a pretty good kick. I took the ALT which was the
avocado, lettuce and tomato sandwich with mozzarella cheese and some
sort of aioli. I really liked it. The lemon in the aioli really worked
well with the avocado. I also got a side of deviled eggs which were
pretty tasty.
For dessert we got a peach sorbet. Very refreshing.
The decor is indeed the sort of 70s “modern” style that is very
reminiscent of the Brady’s. No flying staircase, though. I was very
surprised and somewhat dismayed to realize that there is no draft beer
system! They have a pretty decent selection of microbrews, but all of
them seem to come bottled.

The weather cleared up nicely but we felt that we didn’t have much time
for the art museum, so with the aid of our trusty map, we located
Reading Terminal Market and wandered through it. It reminds me a lot of
Faneuil Hall in Boston although there is a heavier focus on food. We
found a nice set of salt/pepper grinders with adjustable coarseness. We
also found the most amazing dish rack. It’s made by OXO Goodgrips and
it features and elevated drainboard with a long spout that can be aimed
in any direction. This solves the frequent problem where the lip of the
sink causes the drainboard to not drain at all.
It’s too bad had already eaten because I would have loved to try some of
this enormous loaf of scrapple:

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