When John Adams arrived in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress, he immediately went out to eat. “Dirty, dusty, and fatigued as we were,” he wrote in his diary that night—August 29, 1774—“we could not resist the Importunity, to go to the Tavern, the most genteel one in America.” A few days later, when George Washington rode into Philadelphia, he made straight for the same establishment.
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City Tavern had opened the previous year, backed by a group of wealthy Philadelphians who’d decided there was no place in town that met their standards for decent food and drink. Although the tavern’s sophisticated culinary style was influenced by Europe, it was also uniquely American, and a reflection of the colonies’ global ties. There was likely shad from the Delaware River, fresh corn and lettuces from nearby farms, sugar and pineapples from the Caribbean, spices from Asia.
But the multistory building at the corner of Walnut and Second Streets was more than just a place to eat.
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