Max Brenner - Philadelphia

On Saturday night, I went to visit two of my college friends in Philadelphia. We saw the Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music and then had dinner at Max Brenner. I've been wanting to go there for such a long time. I've tried the one at Union Square a few times, but there's always a ridiculously long wait. For this trip, we made a reservation and only had to wait a couple minutes. If you aren't familiar with this restaurant, it's all about chocolate. Check out the menus.

It was cold outside, and these jerks refused to close the front doors of the restaurant. Everyone seated near the door was upset, not just me. Seriously, you don't have to make it cold to force your customers to buy hot chocolate. I was going to get some, anyway.

WHOA! So many different kinds! My friend wanted me to get the Choco Pops so she could have some, but I remembered that chili powder hot chocolate from the movie Chocolat and really wanted to try that.

Mexican spicy hot chocolate. It was amazing, and I really enjoyed the cute little mug.

Pure chocolate truffle granita. I don't know why my friend ordered a cold drink in a cold restaurant, but I was so cold I wouldn't even taste it.

My other friend decided to have dessert and no dinner. This is melting chocolate truffle heart cake and shake. The presentation is AMAZING. I was so busy drinking my hot chocolate and brooding about the cold air that it didn't occur to me to taste this one.

I was expecting the entrees to be full of chocolate, too, but I was disappointed. This pizza is called Meaty, Crispy, Cheesy and More. It has bacon, pepperoni, chorizo, salami, red peppers, garlic, onions and mozzarella. It was fantastic even though it didn't have chocolate. The crust is thin, so I was actually able to eat more than half before I got full.

My friend was very excited about her veggie burger even though she could only finish half. I definitely want to try this restaurant again, probably the NYC version. I'll just have to remember to make a reservation.