I'm thinking about going to this on saturday night
http://www.ihousephilly.org/30yearsoffilm.htm

if you want to come along, you're welcome. otherwise, there are a lot of good, small restaurants in philly-- I went to this place Mr. Martino's in south philly recently, and was thinking it would be primo for romantic outings.

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Cool, thanks for the invite! I actually have no idea what we'll be doing Saturday night, but I'll find a way to get in touch if we go to the film thing.

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I saw that exhibit in London and enjoyed it.

I use Tablet Hotels for finding my boutique-y hotels (and then check the reviews on TripAdvisor:)

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seconding tablet hotels!

but i just took a look and yuck, no cool hotels in philly.

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I just did the same search...how can Philly have none of the "cutting edge" and "happening" ones (their descriptors) that Tablet is so awesome about helping us find?

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yeah. i wanted to go to for a weekend, check out the mutter museum and stay in a hotel but there are zero. i've stayed in the hotel rouge and hotel george in DC. at least they're trying.

there's no point for a hotelier to start up something hip in philly, i guess.

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We stayed at the Loews hotel in Philly a few years ago:
http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Hotels/Philadelphia-Hotel/Overview.aspx

It's not a boutique, but it's pretty cool: in an old banking building with a trendy bar on the first floor.

This summer I stayed at the society hill sheraton:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/societyhill
DEFINITELY not a boutique, but we got a great deal there on hotwire, and it's in a great neighborhood -- a quiet part of old city near the water.

may I also recommend this restaurant:
http://www.radicchio-cafe.com/

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excellent all around. muchos gracias!

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There are lots of awesome BYOs in Philly! One of my favorites is Audrey Claire, in my old neighborhood right off of Rittenhouse Square. Also, you can search the Philly citypaper for restaurants by neighborhood, food type, BYO, etc.:
http://www.citypaper.net/
As far as I know there aren't many boutiquey hotels in Philly, but there are some interesting ones: the Loew's hotel used to be a bank (designed by some famous art-deco architect or something, I forget the story), and the Ritz was also once a bank, although a more froufy one.

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awesome, awesome, awesome! thanks! i'll follow up with stories, for sure.

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Good - I will be looking forward to your report :) Blow Philly a kiss for me while you're there - I miss that place!

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I always stay at the thomas bond house. it's not boutiquey, but it's got a really good intersection of value, location, and quality of rooms. the people who run it do an amazing job, and the people who stay there are always very nice (they have a free wine-and-cheese at night and free breakfast; both are excellent, and as anti-social as i am, ive always ended up chatting with someone).

they have some more expensive rooms if you want, e.g., a jacuzzi, but even the "value" rooms ($115-$130) are very pretty and well-done. and the location couldn't be better, it's within walking distance of almost anything that you'd want to go to in philly, and overlooking the water (only a couple of the rooms have water views, but there are a couple of little wine bars with outdoor seating on the water right around the corner).

in that same neighborhood is my favorite restaurant in philly, ariana, which is an afghan restaurant. it's not very fancy, but the food is excellent and the price is unbeatable. very good find in that downtown area, which seems mostly dominated by marked-up neuveau american places.

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Believe it or not, I looked into the Thomas Bond House - woulda been great, but it's booked for the weekend we're going. Stupid Valentine's Day, ruining everything.

Thanks for the info though - maybe the restaurant stuff will work out.

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easy to believe... we value-driven midwesterners have to stick together. :)

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I'm surprised no one has recommended running up the steps of the Museum a la Rocky yet.

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Maybe we'll take in a midnight screening of "Rambo."

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