Blogs of Note: Home Town Edition

This thread saw its kick-off with a little shout out to some of my favorite New York wine bloggers. It’s only fitting then that the second edition should bring things home to Philly, “the city that loves you back.” Philadelphia has a rich, all too often overlooked, food and dining scene and a corresponding wealth of good food blogs. I read almost all of them semi-regularly – you’ll find many in my Philly blogroll – but there is a core handful that really keeps me hungry for more.


Taylor of Mac & Cheese lives in the town where I work. As here at MFWT however, the majority of her out and about adventures focus on Philadelphia. Her choice of circuit is driven primarily by her vegetarianism. Sandwich shops and corporate cafeterias are fair game. Her posts are peppered with recipes, anecdotes and loads of fun-to-read attitude. For whatever reason, whether it was her disgruntlement with public expectoration and dogs’ balls or her rudi-scientific drawings, I was hooked when I read last summer’s post on errant basil pruning.

It’s a brand new blog and I’m probably a little biased as its author is a friend and occasional dining buddy, but I’m digging the Philadining blog. “Phil” has been running a regular website, also called Philadining, for years and is an über-regular commentator in the Philly forum at eGullet.org. Nonetheless – surprise, surprise – I rather prefer the more visceral, of-the-moment quality of the blog relative to the website and the clearer voice which blossoms outside of the sparring ring at eG. It’s worth keeping an eye on for the fantastic photos alone. I only wonder where he’ll find the time to maintain both the blog and the website….

In stark contrast to its food culture, Philadelphia has a young, relatively meager wine scene and an almost total dearth of wine blogs. Aside from myself, I can think of only one other Philablogger who writes about wine, though only from time to time as he tends to focus more on food. I just wish David Snyder, aka Philafoodie, would post more often, as his journalistic style is extremely well executed and his topics tend to be well researched. His ongoing series on the great foie gras debate is particularly compelling.

I considered saving this final entry for the “Blogs of Note: Food Porn” edition. Shola Olunloyo surely considers himself a citizen of the global food scene. However, from the days when we cycled together on the Tuesday night drive ride, to his time behind the stove in now defunct Stephen Starr (L’Ange Bleu) and Neil Stein (Bleu) restaurants, I’ll always think of him as a Philly guy. Studiokitchen is his business, his persona and, in its most public essence, his blog. Updated regularly, the blog features stunning food photography, descriptions of culinary experimentation, and no shortage of the nuggets of wisdom spawned in Shola’s “search for deliciousness.” Recently, he’s even committed to jumping into the wine blogging scene, albeit solely photographically.