Bufad Helps Kick Off a New Pizza Wave in Philadelphia

There's another wave of awesome pizza hitting Philadelphia. Thank goodness because we would not be the first comment that this city isn't exactly flourishing with good take out pizza. Sure, there are plenty of restaurants to get fancy pizza - Stella, Zavino, Osteria - and they are all great. In the next few weeks, we'll cover a few of the less-nonsense spots we've tried lately and will definitely be going back. 

Interior - handful of tables for 2-6 people, plus bar stools. 

Bufad was opened February 1 by the folks behind Prohibition Taproom. It's a straight up yet kinda funky 30-seat pizza shop at the corner of 13th and Spring Garden that was packed on a Thursday for lunch when I went (the photo is from after most of the crowd left).

The menu includes fancy-sounding starters that I didn't try, 3 salads, 6 personal size pizzas and a chalkboard of specials, including a soup and panini of the day and several inventive square slices, such as beet with ricotta and salsa verde.

Spring Food Events in Philly

Brewer's Plate 2013

Not sure about you, but we're ready for spring. Let's make today's snow/sleet/rain the end of it and bring on the tulips. Springtime will bring the end of cold and - even better - the beginning of food event season. Brewer's Plate helped kick it off last weekend with a packed house of local food/beer pairings. We tried as much as our stomachs could handle and posted the highlights in photos on Facebook.

We've been hearing about all sorts of other food-related events coming up and wanted to share a few more that look fun:

Giorgio on Pine Leads in The Nana Test

Giorgio on Pine is an Italian BYOB located just off Broad Street on, you guessed it, Pine Street.

This is the first time we've put a restaurant through the Nana Test with a large group of 15 people. [Click for our previous Nana Test reviews.] Did Giorgio’s live up to a true large Italian family experience? Yup.

Atmosphere: Giorgio's is your typical small BYOB with tables close together. Conversation throughout the restaurant was plentiful, relaxed and loud like any Italian meal should be. A highlight of the night was a couple sitting next to us who asked why our group of 15 was there (answer: dinner before a Mask & Wig show). This led to a hilarious exchange about members of each party dating, the pleasures of drinking wine and fond experiences with the laugh-so-hard-you-cry Mask & Wig club.

Any place that enables such a conversation gets a perfect score on the atmosphere portion of the Nana Test. My family would fit in at Giorgio's anytime. 5 out of 5 points

City Dining Cards Giveaway!

Dear fellow foodies,

Eat more! Save money! City Dining Cards sent us two packs of discount cards to some of Philadelphia's top eating establishments and we're giving them away to you, our readers.

Each pack includes 50 discount cards worth $10 each to local spots like Pumpkin, La Calaca Feliz, Honey's Sit 'n Eat, and more. If you like what you get, tell your friends or buy more packs as gifts. They are only $20 and 5% of all sales goes to local food banks. It's like those Entertainment books, but for restaurants only.

How do you win? Simple: Just type your email address in the box below and you'll be entered. You’ll automatically be subscribed to 22nd & Philly's posts and get a heads up on future giveaways, but we promise we don't spam or sell your email to anyone else. Two winners will be selected at random and notified next week. If you're a current subscriber, you're already entered to win, too.

Notes from the fine print: A $30 minimum purchase is required to use City Dining Cards and the discount only applies to food, not drinks. Dine in only. The cards expire 12/31/13. See more details here.

Enter to win City Dining Cards!