You may be asking yourself what culinary expertise I have to take on this monumental and long-overdue task. Please stop asking. I'm going to do it anyway.
Typical restaurant reviews grade on criteria such as atmosphere, service and taste. For Reading Terminal, that would be a waste of precious time that could be spent eating more food at Reading Terminal.
The place already has the greatest atmosphere in the Northern Hemisphere (only because I have never been to the southern one). Just about every stand will dish out your food in well under 10 minutes. And delicious does not begin to describe any of these restaurants.
To solve the criteria problem, I used a different rating system. If, after the first bite, I exclaimed to the bewildered guy sitting next to me, "This tastes better than heaven!" the restaurant made the top third. If I yelled to a frightened waitress, "This tastes like heaven!" it made the middle third. If I announced to the security guard, "Hmmm . . . tastes like purgatory . . ., " it was in the bottom third.
I also created two categories, one for meals and one for desserts and other stuff. To further distinguish among them, I used my man's intuition - I think that exists.
Bon appétit, which is French for something.
Meals
1. Dutch Eating Place
There was a long line on that fateful day, but I was the only solo in line, so the kind waitress in Amish garb quickly found me a spot. Everything on the menu looked like it could fill the soul with happiness, but the chicken pot pie grabbed hold of me and, for the next transcendent half-hour, it did not let go.
