East Passyunk Is Philadelphia's Real Food Corridor

East Passyunk Is Philadelphia's Real Food Corridor

East Passyunk Avenue cuts diagonal through South Philly's grid. Pat's and Geno's glow at the north end like neon cheesesteak shrines, but they're not the point.

Bing Bing Dim Sum does pork buns and turnip cake in a tiny BYOB room — Philadelphia's greatest contribution to dining culture is BYOB and you can fight me on that. Fond does tasting menus in a space the size of a living room where you can watch the chef plate from your seat. Between them: Vietnamese pho, Mexican bakeries, and Italian delis slicing prosciutto since before most newer chefs were born.

The Singing Fountain at the avenue's bend is a tiled Italian piazza in miniature. Walk the full diagonal from Broad to Dickinson — a mile and a half, character changing every three blocks. The polished bistros fade into corner bars where the Eagles game is the only programming and dissent is not tolerated.