Post-Festival Audrey Claire Trip

I don't normally get drunk in the middle of the day, but Saturday was one of those rare occasions. The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival was held, and luckily for us, the rain stayed clear and we were able to enjoy a nice day out.

P told A that there would be no funnel cake at the festival. Was he ever wrong! Not only was there funnel cake, but there was also tons of booze, including red and white sangria. Drinking sangria at 3PM on a Saturday is a recipe for shenanigans.


Eventually, we ended up going to Audrey Claire for dinner. It was a nice day for pretty much all of it, but by the time we went to eat, it was a bit too cold for al fresco dining. So we got a nice table by the open window instead.

We just ended up ordering a bunch of stuff and sharing. The grilled octopus salad, always one of my favorites. Pretty much P and I were the only ones digging it. I believed A called them "like tires". Which is fine because the more for me!

The flatbread with gorgonzola cheese, pears, and sunflower seeds. I didn't try this that night but I remember it from before. Gorgonzola is a strong cheese, so it's not for the faint of heart. It was not a very popular dish that night.

T ordered the mediterranean olives. This is like my ultimate nightmare dish. A bunch of olives on a plate (blech), plus, cornichons. I think this is what someone could use to torture me by, force feeding me olives.

T also got the tiger shrimp with sweet potato and watercress. She was digging on this.

D got the penne arrabiata. He said it had a bit of a kick!


A got the mediterranean spread with spicy hummus, roasted red pepper, and roquefort. The hummus - surprisingly spicy! The roquefort, a stinky cheese, so I did not enjoy this at all. The pitas were damn fine though.

I got the mussels and were there ever many many mussels. 2 lbs of big sizeable mussels. Definitely not puny like the ones at Plate earlier in the week. And it didn't even occur to me that I'd totally just eaten mussels earlier this week. In any case, they were good and very filling. I had to keep force feeding mussels to everyone else as the dinner went on. I also ordered the roasted beet appetizer but I totally forgot to snap a pic. It was simple, with fried shallots and a light dressing.

The service was good, as usual. We were pretty much the first set of diners for the evening, so they helped us quickly, and our food came out super fast, surprisingly fast. They kept our water glasses filled and they helped us with the wines we brought. As you already know, it's a favorite BYOB of mine, and this visit was no different. And it's super affordable, as it only ended up being $20 a piece for everyone, including tip.