Audrey Claire - best of the BYOBs

I've been wanting to go to Audrey Claire forever, I don't even know why I've never been there. It's even M's favorite restaurant in the city, hands down. So no more excuses, Audrey Claire it is. But first...


I took a mental health day on Thursday and just hung out in the city. After getting my hair did I met up with a friend, who works for the fine city of Philadelphia, for lunch at Reading Terminal Market. She suggested the thai place. The line was long, but it moved fairly quickly. I got the chicken basil, and she got the pork. Both were delicious. Shame on me, I forget what the thai place was called, but it was something very nondescript, which started with the word "Thai". There was plenty of food, I shouldn't have eaten it all, but of course I did!


After a tour of the City Planning office and roaming around the city for awhile more, I met up with M for happy hour. She had suggested Tragos because it was nearby her work. We had no idea that they would have $8 pitchers of whatever we wanted - margaritas, mojitos, sangria, etc. $8? It was like they were giving it away, and we were happy to partake. We went with the white sangria. Everyone makes them differently, but we were definitely fans of this one. Sharing a pitcher of sangria at 6PM on a warm almost summer day surely did the job, right quick. It's a small but intimate place, and for those of you that are near Rittenhouse, how can you go wrong going here for happy hour? Remember one thing- $8 pitchers!




We then stumbled to Audrey Claire after picking up a bottle of riesling. Remember, Audrey Claire is a BYOB. It's a very cute place on the corner and offers outside dining when appropriate. Otherwise it's very clean, sparse, fresh, and tasteful. We got a spot outside, our table was decorated with a fresh green apple. We started with the hummus and salmon flatbread. It's pizza-esque and tasty.





We then went for the octopus salad, one of M's favorite dishes, and now mine! I don't know that they even seasoned the octopus at all, but it was grilled to perfection, even though slightly chewy (which I don't mind), and smoky and delicious. It was such a surprise how good this was. So apparently, they're fairly famous for their mussels. We didn't order them, but a neighboring diner did, and they looked so good I had to take a pic. I promised Mr. Penn-colored polo shirt that he could be in the blog. Now that's alot of mussels!




They had a soft-shell crab special that night, so we ordered it. I may have been a little too white sangria-d and byob'd out to remember too much, but it had a corn salsa with chipotle mayo and basil mashed potatoes. It was great. I was espcially in love with the mashed potatoes. They were amazing! And to round out the meal we ordered creme brulee for dessert, which you already know is probably my favorite dessert. They bruleed it right before serving and it was also delicious. The creme part was a little watery, but it was full of flavor and I quite enjoyed it. I think many people love Audrey Claire, and now I do too. There's definitely a reason why it always ends up on the Top BYOB lists! Especially for warm-weather outdoor dining, it's a perfect choice.