On June 5, the fifth season of Netflix's Queer Eye hits our TVs, bringing the Fab Five—Bobby Berk, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown, and Jonathan Van Ness—to the City of Brotherly Love.
During filming last summer, the hosts and the show's crew lived in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood, just around the corner from where Brown got his start on Real World in 2004. "This was very full circle for me," Brown says. "When I came to Philadelphia the first time, I was 22 years old, fresh out of college, full of angst—still trying to figure myself out. To flash forward 15 years later and to live one block from where I was, but this time as a father, as a social worker, on a television show helping people deal with all the issues that I was dealing with in there... It was one of those weird moments where you think, 'Oh, I've grown.'"
We checked in with Brown, France, Berk, and Porowski to see how they spent their time off set in Philly—Brown, of course, suggests stopping by the Real World house at Third and Arch—and where they think you should go on your next trip to one of the U.S.'s most historic cities. (Note: Many of the restaurants suggested remain open for local pick-up and/or delivery, so be sure to support if you live in the area or buy a gift card and bank it for your next trip.)
Karamo Brown
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens
"I actually ended up shooting an episode there because I was so in love with it and kept going back so often. The architecture on the outside of the building is so beautiful—it's made out of recycled materials and recycled glass. I'm not into Instagram posting but if I was, this would be the spot that I would probably go to for these amazing backgrounds."
Warmdaddy's
"It's a soul food restaurant that has all of these soul bands, and neo-soul bands, come and play. It's not like a dive bar because it's really nice, but it has this feeling... I would go in and people would recognize me from Queer Eye but not care. It was like, 'Yeah, just come, eat, and listen to music.'"
The African American Museum in Philadelphia
"The African American Museum in Philadelphia, which was down the street from where we lived, is a pretty special place. When I was there, a lot of Philadelphians were like, 'I've never been.' I sometimes think people imagine the museum is just going be just full of archives. But there is so much rich history that ties directly into American history, into Philadelphia history, that I just would suggest people go there to get such a sense and more of a breath of appreciation for African American culture."
Pizzeria Beddia
"They had the best pizza I have ever had. I'm talking about from New York, I've been to Italy, I've been to so many places—I know every Italian person is going to hate me that I had the best in Philly—but this was so good to me."
Antoni Porowski
Zahav
"I think I went to Zahav three times while we were there for some of the best meals I've ever had in my life. When you start the tasting menu, there's a sampler with these spicy carrots with tahini, and there's his famous twice-cooked eggplant. I ate there two nights before filming and I actually, as an homage to [chef] Mike Solomonov and my love and my respect for him, recreated his twice cooked-eggplant with [a young activist] so that she could then share it with with her roommates. Oh, gosh, now I'm thinking about this really nice, spicy fennel salad that came with the amuse-bouche and the apps. There's this great lamb shank [with] pomegranate molasses... Every single dish was amazing. There wasn't a single thing where I was like, I'm not gonna remember this."
K'far Cafe
"This isn't going to be all about Mike's restaurants, but there's another one that I have to mention. He has a fantastic lunch spot downtown called K'far that has incredible salads and a really lovely pastry program. It has a bit of a French bistro feel. It's amazing."
Vernick Food and Drink
"It's on Walnut Street in a really beautiful street that has a bunch of really cool little restaurants and bistros and bars. It was really fantastic, just very modern. I always love getting inspired by dishes that show me new pairings of specific nuts with a specific herb, or multiple herbs in a dish. And this place just blew my frickin' mind with stuff that I'd never seen before."
Parc
"There's a restaurant on Rittenhouse Square called Parc, with tables outside that give you that really cool French vibe. There are oysters. There's a poached shrimp salad. They have the best steak frites with Béarnaise. It's like Philly's answer to Balthazar, basically, but still very much its own thing. It doesn't feel like like a knockoff."
Tan France
Tuna Bar
"Their tuna crudo is gorgeous, and their miso Brussel sprouts have me wanting to get back to Philly as soon as I get a chance."
Boyd’s
"Their offering is so well considered. It was a treat to shoot at the luxury department store whilst filming season five."
Cactus Collective Vingate
"If you’re looking for great vintage denim, or '70s band tees, Cactus is your spot."
Bobby Berk
Material Culture"One of my favorite ways to decorate not only my home, but other peoples' homes is by using things from places where they traveled. And this place has stuff from all over the world. It's massive. You could just get locked in there for hours and hours and hours. The world has gotten so small and it's very hard to find a store where I haven't seen everything that's in it somewhere else already—there are only so many cool manufacturers that are in front of everybody right now. So to find a store where there's stuff in it that I've never seen anywhere else really excites me."
Vedge
"I'm not 100 percent vegan, but I try eating vegan as much as possible. It was really, really nice to find good vegan restaurants in Philly. Vedge is one of those vegan restaurants that even if you're not vegan, you go, and you're like, 'Oh my god, the best thing ever, I don't care that it's vegan, it's just good.' This one is more on the fancy side and their other, more casual restaurant is V Street and it's also so, so good."
Walking in Old City"When my husband would come to visit, we would walk all over Old City. We would just walk up and down every single street. I love the architecture. It reminded me of SoHo in New York: the old brick buildings with the ironwork at the top and around the windows and, the cobblestone streets. It's very, very pretty. It was nice to not be walking from point A to point B—you're just walking to walk and look. It was really nice really living like a local. I often prefer to do that over hitting the touristy things."
