Mexican Food in West Philadelphia

I was putting a property under contract in West Philadelphia recently and had the opportunity to have lunch at Distrito -- a newer Mexican restaurant at 40th and Chestnut. The property was a few blocks West in Overbrook -- a nicely maintained and updated rowhome which will settle for around $100,000 at the end of this month -- but 40th and Chestnut is about the closest culinary experience, inside the City limits worth a trip.

For years the corner of 40th and Chestnut has provided some of the best ethnic food in the city. There have been several Indian, Thai and Mexican restaurants over the years. The current balance of Indian (my favorite being Tandoor India on 40th Street just south of Chestnut) and Thai (my favorite being the Thai Singha House on Chestnut just east of 40th street) restaurants has been signigicantly upgraded with the addition of Distrito, however.

The experience is jarring. Brightly colored woven chairs and ratan benches with cushions surround the tables. Postcards held in clips decorate the walls. The bar sits beneath illuminated white, text-only, signs that promote specials of the house.

The food also challenges. We ordered lunch specials which consisted of two small plates each, plus a beverage. We each ordered yellow tail tacos which were spectacular. Soft tortillas topped with batterd yellow tail, avocado and red cabage were beautiful to behold and magnificent to taste. My other course was a shrimp ceviche, which was a Mexican version of a shrimp cocktail that included guacamole and a Mex'd up cocktail sauce. We didn't try them, but the margaritas, according to a friend and fellow realtor, are yummy as well.

Over the years I've had Mexican at many locations throughout the City, notably El Vez -- great table-side guac -- Tequila, Mexican Post, and not far from Distrito my heretofore favorite Zocalo. It's been a decade since I've been to Zocalo, actually. Located at 36th and Lancaster, they also serve up-scale "Mexico City" mexican and make a mean margarita.

Tastefully Done Overbrook Rehab

I've been showing properties off and on to Dawn for a few months and today we saw a true gem in Overbrook. A well renovated row home with gleaming original hardwood floors with exquisite inlay details on both the first and 2nd floors. The open floor plan on the first floor combined a living room with fireplace (non-functional) and crown molding, dining room with crown molding and a kitchen with new laminate floor and updated countertops. The rear yard was terraced and included boxes for plantings as well as a hardscaped patio and lower entrance to the finished basement. The pricetag was a very affordable $125,000 on a tree-lined block.

The home screams "Pride of Ownership" without adding over-the-top, trendy, super-improvements. It's amazing what polyurethane, paint and a little elbow grease can do -- all fairly inexpensive improvements -- to improve a seller's chance of getting an offer in a buyer's market. An article in today's Wall Street Journal, which was adapted from David Crook's "The Wall Street Journal Complete Home Owner's Guidebook" published last year, speaks to the fact that most home improvements will not return their value when it comes time to re-sell a house. Even an upscale kitchen renovation returns only 74 cents on the dollar, and a rehabbed bathroom just 68 cents, according to the article. He points out that some maintenance does have to be done:
"It's not a discretionary expense to fix a broken window, replace a worn-out furnace or sometimes even to add a new bathroom. The buyer of a fixer-upper with a kitchen that hasn't seen a paint brush or a scouring pad since 1967 doesn't have a choice but to renovate."

Today's home in Overbrook really does encapsulate this philosophy: all the rooms are well maintained: bathroom tile work is all in tact, kitchen is clean with older cabinets that have been repainted, etc. Without granite and new appliances, the home still shows heads and shoulders above all else in the market right now.

Savoring South Philly

No matter what people are saying about the awful state of the real estate market, this is a great market for first time homebuyers and investors. There are lots of homes to choose from in most areas, interest rates are extremely low, sellers are motivated and buyers are in short supply. That all spells a great Buyer’s Market.

I showed houses to Evan and Katie today – first time homebuyers looking to purchase a 2-3 bedroom rowhome in Philadelphia, perhaps in South Philadelphia. Today we looked at one home in Fishtown (just northeast of the Northern Liberties along the I-95 corridor) and several other properties on both sides of Broad Street below Washington Avenue. On the west side of broad we looked at new construction and some rehabbed properties right around $200K. Many of them featured granite kitchens and finished basements and ranged from 960 square feet to 1700 square feet. The neighborhoods were south of Graduate Hospital and ran from Broad over to Point Breeze. On the east side of Broad we looked at similarly priced rehabbed rowhomes in the 1000-1200 square foot range as well below Bella Vista.

Philly Delis
At the end of the day Evan mentioned that we were really close to Cosmi’s, a South Philly delicatessen that I had never been to. I love deli food, and Philadelphia more than holds its own against the great lower Manhattan eateries that pile on the corned beef. I am partial to Koch’s Take Out Shop in University City (4309 Locust St), which I have been frequenting for more than 20 years. Now run by Ezra and Raffi, they still build the great sandwiches with mounds of fresh, thinly sliced lunch meat that would have made Frances Koch proud. In the Italian Market area (abutting Bella Vista), I am very fond of Chickie’s Italian Deli at 1014 Federal Street for “The Original Veggie Hoagie” which is piled high with baked eggplant, sautéed broccoli rabe, roasted peppers and sharp provolone on a seeded Sarcone’s roll. So at 4pm today, with a new deli to experience just a few blocks away, I ventured to 8th and Dickinson to check out Cosmi’s Deli.
It’s a very unassuming corner store – a neighborhood staple on many city blocks – which I have passed dozens of times over the years (mostly on my way to Termini Bros bakery a block further south on 8th Street). Inside the menu boasts it’s 2004 and 2008 “Best of Philly” Cheesesteak awards and offers an Italian Chicken Hoagie (Missanelli’s) that Evan speaks highly of – marinated, grilled chicken breast topped with prosciutto, sharp provolone and either roasted or long hot peppers. It was 4pm, and I was going home to make dinner (Indian Chicken and Potatoes with ginger, onion, garlic, cardamom, turmeric and cinnamon from Madhur Jaffrey’s “An Invitation to Indian Cooking”), so a hoagie was not on my agenda; if it were, I think the prosciutto with fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers on a seeded roll would have been my choice. Instead, I cruised the center aisle which featured packaged foods including DiBruno’s cheese spreads, sharp provolone bites and Zayda’s Kosher Hot Pickles, the latter of which I took home.