My parents took me to the Old Original Bookbinders when I was a kid, at the time Bookbinders was one of the cities few top tier restaurants I hadn’t had a chance to get back there and by the time I did the 2nd street restaurant was closed and only the one on 15th street was open. 15th street was abysmal and totally disturbed my memory of my first Bookbinders experience. So when the remodeled 2nd street restaurant reopened I knew I wanted to get down there. I finally did get to it just two weeks ago and more recently again this past Monday.

The first thing I noticed was how much more modern the restaurant had become, gone was the almost gaudy nautical décor I remembered as a child and in its place was a modern design that kept a nautical theme but toned it down to a classy level. We were early for our reservations (both times) but the restaurant had plenty of available tables and we were seated upon arrival. The chairs are quite comfortable but the tables are a slight bit small (more on that later). A member of the wait staff quickly came to the table to ask if we would like bottled spring water or tap water, after deciding on tap water our glasses were filled and our menus were brought out.

I must say I expected more from the menus, being slightly put-off by their lack of leather covering, instead being delivered on one sheet of heavy cardstock paper. A wine list, encased in leather, was also delivered to the table. Not being a wine drinker I can’t comment on their selection or pricing. The menu has a small, yet fairly diverse selection of seafood entrees (this is after all primarily a seafood restaurant) as well as three choices of steak, a chicken entrée and a pork entrée. There of course is also the obligatory surf and turf consisting of two choices, steak and lobster tail ($55) or steak and crab cake ($45) and finally the live Maine lobster ranging in price and weight (5 to 15 lbs.).

I chose one of the seafood specialties, halibut topped with shrimp and crab in a cream sauce with mussels ($29) as well as a bowl of their New England Clam Chowder ($6) with an appetizer of shrimp and crab cheese dip ($11). The soup came out quite quick and while it wasn’t quite as filling as a $6 bowl of soup should be I considered myself lucky that I at least spent the extra dollar for the bowl over the cup as the cups were miniscule. After clearing our soup bowls the appetizers were brought out and the cheese dip was magnificent, although the amount of toasted bread they bring you isn’t enough for the amount of dip (I ended up eating the dip on my fork as there were whole pieces of crab and shrimp). After a slight wait our entrees were brought out and while everything is a la carte, the amount of food is well worth the price. The halibut was a slight bit overcooked but the crab and shrimp was fantastic and as I said previously the portions were more than fair for their price.

My one complaint as I said earlier was the table size. With everything being a la carte there are more plates on the table than it has the ability to comfortably fit, so I spent the entrée portion of the meal fearing I was going to knock something off the table. Drinks were mildly priced for a restaurant of this caliber ($6-$8) and they carry most top shelf liquors. Overall price of the meal was about $55 a person including a 16% tip making it a fairly reasonable night out at one of the older eating establishments in Philadelphia. While the quality of Philadelphia restaurants has certainly upgraded over the years, Old Original Bookbinders remains a high quality establishment.

8 * out of 10

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