BY AARON STELLA Philadelphia’s abundance of erudition of culture endures in Rittenhouse with the Mutter Museum. Originally founded to educate future doctors about human anatomy and the various anomalies therein, today the erstwhile College of Physicians of Philadelphia provides the public with a history of Philadelphia’s medical past as well as exploring what it means to be human from the inside out. Various attractions include an original cast of the first recognized Siamese Twins, Joseph Hyrtl’s collection of skulls, the

It’s florists like Pure Design that remind us of the glory of fields. Not to get to all literary on ya, but if you had your office space garlanded weekly in mother’s nature’s finest…

From the leisurely stroller to the tireless skateboarder, Rittenhouse Square is concentrated mingling grounds for Philadelphia’s eclectic denizens. The square’s namesake…

Apparitions of Ireland’s renowned writers gather at The Bards, Rittenhouse’s choice Irish gastorpub, where the finest of fare and drink that’s served is indistinguishable to those of the ole’ green isle.

When scrounging for food in Rittenhouse, try exploring the area’s western periphery, particularly the 22nd Street stretch. Be careful now: the façade of Smile, a quiet yet elegant Thai food restaurant, is somewhat inconspicuous.

Once a humble seafood shack, now, Seafood Unlimited, located in the Rittenhouse area, offers a quaint space with a motley selection of delicacies from the briny deep. After the simple egg white and scarlet paint on textured walls…

Vodka and gin have had their heyday, now it’s rum’s turn, and its all happening at Rum Bar in Rittenhouse. Owner Adam Kanter must have had pirates on the brain when he designed the joint.

BY AARON STELLA Clout for Parc, Steven Starr’s premiere French bistro situated at the southeast corner of Rittenhouse Square, drums up from his vast renown as a restaurant mogul and the restaurant’s unprecedented execution of French classics and modernizations thereof. Parc’s Beau Arts aesthetic transports diners to 19th-century Paris, with it’s old-fashioned canvass-covered radios, gas lamps, hand-drawn advertisements for spirits and culinary rarities, and meticulous beer and wine selection. Speaking of which, beer and/or wine are fundamental to one’s meal at Parc.

BY AARON STELLA Rittenhouse residents patronize Monk’s Café for two reasons: their tour de monde of brews containing more than 250 beers, and their mussels, which are arguably the best and most affordable in the city. The beer menu is hardly your standard order wash of local and imported; it’s a phalanx of curios, obscure as they’re beautiful, and refined and they’re diverse. Such that Monk’s appropriately titles their beer list, “The Beer Bible.” You could probably dream up some beer with random attributes and find it or something scarily similar to it at Monk’s. And the quaint cafe treats imbibing beer with same care that the brew masters took concocting them. All beer’s are served in precisely shaped glasses or are decantered for maximum flavor and breathing effect. Now for the food. After the braised veal cheeks, country terrine, a smattering of burger stacks and the seitan cheese steak, there are the mussels.

BY AARON STELLA Across the street from the Academy of Music on Locust Street in Philadelphia is a little slice of a Greek nostalgia. Estia, which means “hearth”, serves Rittenhouse residents, theatergoers and past vacationers to the Greek isles with an authentic experience of dining on the Mediterranean. All the wood and stone in Estia’s interior comes from small furniture, masonry and carpentry companies in Lebanon, Israel and Greece: while one wing of the restaurant resembles an agora, complete with a fresh fish display and a well, the dining area sprawls out under intricately laid stone work and cheese cloths suspended between sable wood struts. Without a doubt, Estia’s claim to fame is their fresh fish selection.