Philly Neighborhoods: Where to Eat in South Street West

Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods that not only help define the people who live there, but also foster hyper-local passion for each area's contribution to our food culture. In a series of posts, we'll talk about what's new and where to eat/drink in different neighborhoods across the city.

Bar and a few tables inside Magpie

"South Street West," as you might expect, is the stretch of South Street that runs west from Broad, and it is really moving up in the ranks of local food communities.

Several spots opened there in the last few years, such as thai BYOB Sawatdee, The Quick Fixx for high quality takeout and Sweet Freedom gluten free desserts. They join the likes of Pumpkin, Bob and Barbara's and Jamaican Jerk Hut to make South Street West home to a variety of new drinking/dining experiences.

Neighborhood thai at Sawatdee

We were sitting out on our stoops one Saturday night chatting with neighbors when Bradd suggested we try the area's new thai BYOB, Sawatdee. Our party of five rolled down to 15th and South with a handful of beers and no reservation but the staff at Sawatdee didn't think twice about shifting some tables around to accommodate us.

Sawatdee turned Pico de Gallo's old corner spot into a little neon green haven of good food for low prices. In addition to dinner, they have a three-course lunch special for $9.95 and offer take-out. I recommend a reservation for dinner because it always looks packed when we walk by. It's probably not big enough for a large group, but is a fun spot for a party of 4-6 friends.

Shrimp Pad Thai

The appetizers we started with were all very satisfying: Ka-Nom-Jeep (chicken and shrimp dumplings), Por-Piah-Sod (spring roll with crabmeat, sausage and a lot of other stuff) and Satay-Gai (grilled marinated coconut curry chicken with peanut sauce). The dumplings were my favorite of the three - nice and light, not rubbery. While chicken satay always seems a little boring to me at parties, Sawatdee's peanut sauce was such a big hit at the table, I think some spring rolls ended up dipped in it, too.

I tend not to get very adventurous with thai food, mostly because I just love shrimp pad thai. Sawatdee delivered a solid rendition of the traditional dish (listed as Pad-Thai-Gung on their menu) so I cleared my plate and left happy.