PHILTHY PHIL’S. haha philthy! that’s a fun ohgodnowiseewhytheycallitphilthy…..
no. no that’s not right. philthy phil’s is not actually all that philthy. or filthy, for that matter. maybe the upstairs portion where the “cool” kids hang out gets a little filthy every now and then, but the main dining area on the bottom floor was actually pretty clean.
FALSE ADVERTISING! strike one, phil…
so philthy phil’s, in st. pete on the corner of 75th avenue and sunset way, is a nice bar/grill deal, with live music and possibly dancing upstairs, and a whole bunch of TVs and a bar downstairs. with food! a full menu actually! a full menu full of clipart and many terrible design choices, to boot. but i’m not here to judge their menu quality (strike two)! i’m here to judge their food. their delicious, delicious, very deep-fried food. i went with four others, and the only thing that anyone ate that wasn’t deep fried was pasta salad!
and that is awesome.
we began with a few appetizer dishes, all fried:
oh god yes. fried cheese curds in back, fried clam strips on the right, and fried grouper nuggets on the left. now before i go any further, let me say this: i do not care for sea food. i have not been a fan of any sort of seafood since i was a kid eating fish sticks and tuna fish sandwiches. but in the past few years, i’ve made efforts to expand my horizons. that being said, the grouper nuggets were delicious. it was mild, tender grouper on the inside of a nice battered and fried exterior. the clam strips were pretty good, but could have used more meat in them, and the cheese curds were alight, though not as cheesy as i’d have liked. but seriously… this was a badass way to start off. then came the main event…
wings. 20 wings, “philthy” style (medium… that just means medium). and were these bad boys fried! my god how they were fried. it was more like eating popeye’s chicken than eating regular chicken wings. there was a sauce fried into them, and a bit of sauce on the outside (i think??), but basically what you were tasting was a salty fried breading. crisp. intense.
as you can see, the breading was like cornmeal, reminding me of the exterior of a hush puppy. and god damn, were they salty. it actually was a negative in the taste – a little salty would be fine, but they took it too far. there was a small bite to them, too, a traditional wing sauce tasting bite, but it was really masked by the fried outside. now, my friend got them too, and he totally dug them, so my criticism of the wings may just be my personal preference. but i did not much care for them. if you like immediate heart attacks, though, check these out!
in addition to wings, they had a full menu, with a lot of different options. my friends got fried white fish, a huge fried crab cake sandwich, and buffalo fried shrimp. and they have pretty great fries. here’s the menu. it’s full of good, fried stuff.
it was a nice place. i would definitely go back. the grouper was the highlight, and from someone who doesn’t care for seafood, that says something. whatever that is, i’m unsure… but it’s something.
UPDATE: philthy phil’s has apparently closed. i’m not sure what has taken it’s place, but phil is dead. RIP PHIL!
