City Tavern, Philadelphia

For a historic Philadelphian meal, I took my children to the City Tavern, commission by our hungry founding fathers. They felt that a quality city like their Philadelphia ought to have a great tavern. I'm glad our founding fathers enjoyed a mug of ale at the end of the day. Opened in 1773, City Tavern must be one of the oldest restaurants in the country.

The worn wood floors, high, crown-molded ceilings, costumed servers, and pewter goblets evoked the spirits of the past. The menu posed a gastronomic challenge, offering many tantalizing selections: corn meal fried oysters, glazed duckling, venison and rabbit. A children's menu was available with something for each of my dining companions. Although the wine and ale selection was intriguing, I had to stick with the iced tea, being the only driver in my party. My children were happy with the hot and iced cider with cinnamon sticks.

Our charming server in breeches and brass buttons, Chris, enthusiastically told us the amusing history of the Anadama bread, Sally Lunn bread and Jefferson sweet potato pecan biscuits that opened our dinner. He offered a copy of the restaurant's cookbook for my perusal. The Jefferson biscuits went first and fast.

I started with the West Indies Pepperpot soup, which might have come with a sinus warning. The collard greens and chunks of pork were still tasty beneath the strong combination of black and Scotch Bonnet peppers, onions and scallions. (See how useful the cook book was?) My daughter enjoyed the golden cream of mushroom soup so much that, later that evening as she was drifting off to sleep, her last words were, “cream of mushroom.” The dry breads were excellent for dipping in the broth.

We enjoyed our other entrées, even if they weren't the best I've ever had. My children thought the pomme frittes were perfect. The pastry topping the turkey pot pie was scrumptious. Although the prime rib was a bit flat tasting to me, my children all enjoyed the tender cut. The chicken tenders were coated with a crispy corn meal coating. My basil bacon shrimp were good, but not as horseradishy as I had hoped. Perhaps that was the pepperpot soup's fault.

Despite the fact that we were no longer hungry, we couldn't resist the array of desserts. My son caved in to the Martha Washington chocolate mousse cake, especially after he was warned of the rum content. My daughters chose the crème brulée and the apple walnut cobbler. I tried the orange almond financier, a type of cake that seemed a cross between a pound cake and a scone. With the raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream, it was a real diet buster. But if you are going to go over the edge, you may as well go with something so delightful.

Our server was perfect, the right combination of friendly and informative without being intrusive. When my daughter knocked over her glass, several servers can quickly to the rescue and were very kind. For a restaurant that had such an elegant menu and appearance, they were very kid-friendly. I would be happy to bring my next guests to this historic tavern.