Pod
My sister's birthday was Saturday, so the girlfriend and I drove to Philadelphia for dinner with the family. We ate at Pod, an ultra-hip pan-asian restaurant on the University of Pennsylvania's campus.
First things first: The food was fantastic. The samosas were light and perfectly spiced, the seared tuna melted in our mouths, the mushroom dumplings were beatific, and even the chicken was notably delicious.
The decor was where the restaurant really stood out. It's either one of the best or one of the worst decorated restaurants in Philadelphia. The design is a hyper-futuristic combination of white walls, tables, and chairs; curved surfaces; and colored lights. (My sister spent the night colored green by a spotlight above her.) There were a few enclosed booth-like areas (called pods, no doubt) that had intense mono-chromatic lighting that would cycle from color to color. The whole place evoked Sleeper, or being encased in a James Turrell installation. To see what the heck I'm talking about, you can find pictures of Pod at its web site (see link above), or via a google image search.
Oh, and about the bathrooms: Just picture a slightly-more-roomy stainless steel airplane bathroom and you'll have the idea. Practically, not a good idea, but they did seem to mesh well with the rest of the place.
Comments
Were there many people wearing white there? Cause I would feel kind of crass wearing some brightly-colored thing - like I was ruining the calm whiteness.
Posted by: Vanessa | March 15, 2004 08:25 PM
As long as you wore something hip, you were pretty much ok. (I wasn't so ok, undoubtedly, but they let me in.) Maybe the point of all this futuristic whiteness is to make the room fade away so the people can be the center of attention. Of course, that might have been the point of the guy who came up with the original white minimalism idea, but at Pod, the design dominates.
Posted by: Andy | March 16, 2004 09:59 AM