Outside Fork on Market Street, the regular rumble of buses failed to deter diners at its four discreet tables.
And even a stiff breeze riffling across the patio in front of the Comcast Center didn't dampen the lunch crowd one day last week at the Plaza Cafe, Table 31's jaunty alfresco space bordered by spouting fountains. (On peak days, 300 meals are being served.)
A fresh survey from the Center City District confirms that, yes, despite the recession, at least the cafe economy is holding steady.
The handful of dropouts (a total of six) within the boundaries of Center City - between Pine and Vine Streets, from the Delaware River to 22d Street - still left a rather grand total of 209 sidewalk cafes, a number all the more extraordinary considering there were zero in 1995 when Mayor Edward G. Rendell legalized the genre by executive order.
Inflate the Center City boundaries a little, adding in the blocks south to South Street, and from 22d to 24th Street, and the totals are even more impressive: That extra territory ups the crop to 240 cafes.
Still, that's half the story. Include the rest of the city, and the numbers just keep climbing - on South Philadelphia's reviving East Passyunk Avenue, Le Virtu has opened an outdoor courtyard, and outside Cantina Los Caballitos, the hipster Mexican eatery, the sidewalks are nearly impassable.
At London Grill in Fairmount, recently, the place was inside out: The dining-room crowd was sparse, the sidewalks choked. And the same impulse swelled business at the rooftop cafe at Standard Tap, at the edges of the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties, and, no surprise, in the city's pioneering alfresco spaces - the canopied precincts of the cheesesteak joints in the Italian Market.
It is the impulse that unglues people from their coffee-shop laptops, that propels them to their porches and, lacking them, their steps, to survey the passing scene.
They may glimpse the world from another angle; notice for the first time the hand folded behind the statue in front of Cafe Cret on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Or find themselves indulging a moment of serendipity; hailing an old jazz musician emerging from Rittenhouse Square over for a tableside visit under the awning at Parc, the French brasserie on 18th Street.
Or just squint at the blinding miracle of sunshine.
Eating on the streets, in the end, adds a personal dimension to local and seasonal. It's not just about the food. It's about putting your body on the line; gobbling up an overdue taste of summer - before the heavens part.
Contact columnist Rick Nichols at 215-854-2715 or rnichols@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/ricknichols.
