Dining

Before she was Judy Wicks the entrepreneur, touring speaker, and author of books about sustainability and locally-based economies, she was Judy, a young woman fresh off a year of AmeriCorps’ VISTA, living in a remote village in Alaska with her childhood sweetheart-turned-husband Dick Hayne, trying to figure out what to do with her life. In 1970 Judy and Dick, originally from outside of Pittsburgh, realized they didn’t want to work for other people and decided to open a store.

UCD is pleased to announce the arrival of two new resources that will help visitors and residents alike take advantage of all that the neighborhood has to offer.

2013 was another strong year for retail and restaurants in University City. Exciting new arrivals like Hip City Veg, Shake Shack, Rx The Farmacy, and The Fat Ham were among the 25 restaurants, cafes and bars opening in 2013. This continues a recent trend in the neighborhood as the number of places to eat and drink has been up by an incredible 17% over the last five years! New retail also had a good year, including exciting openings like Greene Street consignment and Plaza Artist Materials, with the number of new businesses up by 3% over the last five years.

Dining days might just be my favorite time of year in University City. It’s the time when I get to try out all the restaurants that my student budget does not allow for, and the time when I no longer have an excuse to not try something new.

Han Dynasty is opening at the University City Science Center. The newest branch of the restaurant known for its fiery dishes is scheduled to open at 3711 Market Street in Philadelphia in mid-May. Han Dynasty was named one of the top 50 Chinese restaurants in the U.S. by CNN and has been featured on television’s Food Network.

One of my favorite things about this University City is the lunch trucks. While New York seems to only be able to handle hot dogs and roasted nuts, University City has a lunch truck for everything. Yesterday I moseyed over to Marrakesh Express on 40th & Locust. I couldn’t tell if the crowd around the truck was there because it was actually that delicious, or if it was simply because the surrounding trucks were already closed. But let me say…