Now on Resy: Lacroix, Bar Jawn, R&D Cocktail Bar, and More Local Favorites

Remember this longtime Rittenhouse Square classic — named for its founder, legendary local chef Jean-Marie Lacroix — for a special occasion: The dining room is quietly luxurious, the service is impeccable, and chef Eric Leveillée’s menu offers memorable but unpretentious fare (raclette tartine, traditional pot-au-feu) that will warm your soul.

It’s the kind of place you hope to stumble upon when you need a limoncello spritz or guava margarita stat, followed by cacio e pepper wings, Buffalo chicken arancini, and a South Philly chopped cheese. That’s to say: A neighborhood joint (owned by the Pizza Jawn crew) with a killer bar menu and friendly vibes to match.

Happy hour with friends, date night, or a solo search for wine-friendly snacks and a flight of whites, this lively Midtown Village spot ticks all the boxes. Go French with steak tartare, excellent shoestring fries, and mussels in classic garlic wine broth, but there’s a little bit of everything else (i.e. meatballs!)  to keep things interesting.

You’ll want to spend plenty of time in the taproom at this 70,000-square-foot, 100% wind-powered brewery to enjoy as many of their roughly two dozen beers as you can — including ales brewed in the styles favored by Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin — and beer-friendly food like Philly wings and cheesesteak egg rolls.

There’s a reason R&D is often touted as one of Philly’s best cocktail bars. It’s not just the menu, which veers from twists on classics to outright mind-bending concoctions that can only be tasted to be believed (rum, black pepper bay leaf, coconut oil, and absinthe, anyone?). It’s also the slightly retro vibe, the dim lights, and yes, maybe it’s the smash burgers, too.

Anyone who adores numbingly hot dry pepper chicken wings, spicy dan dan noodles, and cumin-crusted lamb flocks to Han Dynasty. Even the cocktails, like the gingery Chengdu Mule, get a sprinkling of Sichuan peppercorns. Now a mainstay around New York and Philadelphia, the University location features multiple dining rooms, a full bar, sleek lounge area, and a nice open patio.

This casual all-day café is now firmly ensconced in the Divine Lorraine history, a place for chef Natalie Maronski’s cuisine-defying brunch, cocktails, and dinner in the courtyard. Weekends are only made better by buttermilk biscuits with burnt miso butter, shrimp and grits with baby bok choy, and cornbread waffles with sweet and sour pork.

Note: Resys are out, starting on August 31st.

Because this is one cozy Rittenhouse spot for Thai staples that are both familiar and go beyond the norm. Pad Thai, drunken duck, green curry mussels, and spring rolls are a good place to start, but definitely end with the unmissable coconut custard.

Go beyond the basics at this Northern Liberties BYOB spot, meaning, try the salmon ceviche with gorgonzola, chive pork dumplings, and bulgogi before (or after) devouring creative rolls and miso soup. Outside tables come in handy for summer night sipping and grazing.

Cafe by day, wine bar at night, this cozy 25-seater is the epitome of multitasking. While its sibling is daytime-only, you’ll want to go here for lamb meatballs with whipped feta, cocktails made with croissant-infused rye, or a glass of housemade wine set to a cool vinyl-driven soundtrack.

Does every banh mi or beef pho need a ginger margarita to go with it? At B&B, the answer is always yes. Chef Tuan Phung’s modern interpretation of Vietnamese favorites, from street bites to noodle and rice bowls, works in every way.

First thing you do at South: Get the cornbread. Don’t even think about it, just do it, whether it’s for you alone or not. Fried green tomatoes, mac and cheese, gumbo — these are all reasons to dine here. But then the live jazz starts in the other room, and the whole evening just grooves.

If the name doesn’t give it away, there’s a lot of fire in this kitchen. Open flames kiss and char just about everything, from vegetables to a massive beef shin, a hunk of meat slathered in green curry sauce, that you shred off the bone and eat in lettuce leaves. Even the old fashioned is made with coal-infused bourbon, and we’re not mad at it.

With its glowing chandeliers, dark wood furnishings, and peacock-blue booths, Rex at the Royal is an almost-theatrically perfect setting for chef Aaron Paik’s tradition-rich and modern Lowcountry food (the crawfish pot pie is something else), which is set in part of the historic Black-owned Royal Theatre.

Organic, vegan, and gluten-free (and kosher, too) are the themes at this Rittenhouse area café, framed in raw brick and distressed wood, where each dish’s health benefits are spelled out on the menu, while the coffee is softened with Brazil-nut milk, hand-pressed in the kitchen.

Philadelphia-based mega-restaurateur Stephen Starr hits it out of the park with this animated neighborhood pizzeria on Headhouse Square, where the acclaimed Neapolitan-style pies come out of an 850º wood-burning oven, but the classic antipasti and pastas are so good that you might even save the pizza for next time.

You’ll want to add this intimate Conshohoken bar and bistro to your list of regular stops for its stylish interior, amiable staff, and deliciously accessible comfort-food menu (don’t miss the duck fat fries) from chef Will Langlois of Bar Lucca fame.

You won’t go wrong at this bustling all-purpose Italian place from Glu Hospitality (the group behind Añejo and Izakaya by Yanaga) — part pizza and hoagie shop and part full-scale sit-back-and-relax restaurant where the menu ranges from seafood towers to spicy rigatoni and chicken Parm.

Everybody’s favorite Manhattan saloon translates perfectly to Independence Square, complete with the amiable bartenders, lively happy hour, and classic bar-and-grill menu for which the original is known. Definitive must-order: One of the legendary Clarke burgers (perhaps the bacon cheeseburger, which Nat King Cole dubbed the “Cadillac of hamburgers”?).

You’re going to want to bring your friends to this convivial, well-loved rodizio in Horsham, where the skewers of grilled meats (plus chicken and salmon) just keep coming, and the extensive salad bar will keep even the non-carnivore happy and well-fed.