Best of the Best: Phoenixville

Morning: Steel City Coffeehouse & Brewery

203 Bridge St., Phoenixville
484-924-8425 / SteelCityBrews.com

Steel City, in the heart of and perhaps the heart of Phoenixville, is a top happy morning place. Along with great pastries, breakfast sandwiches and Hobo Ed’s coffee, their breakfast bowls taste amazing and are a healthy, energizing start to the day. The vegan breakfast bowl serves up black beans, potatoes, asparagus and avocado with add-on options of spinach, mushroom, tomato and a heap of other goodness. As if the superb poached egg and potato bowl with asparagus and avocado isn’t enough on its own, meat lovers can add kielbasa, bacon, sausage and more. Local art inside gets high marks, too.

Morning: Nook & Kranny Kafe

847 Valley Forge Rd., Phoenixville
610-933-5393 / NookAndKrannyKafe.com

On the outskirts of Phoenixville, settle in for breakfast at aptly named Nook and Kranny Kafe. Shelves filled with teapots, miniature tea sets and seasonal bric-a-brac line the cozy yet bustling old home turned café. Order their Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich. A plate arrives at your table filled with a large ciabatta piled so high with fluffy eggs, bacon, fresh spinach, avocado, tomato and cheese — your choice of feta, American, provolone or cheddar — that it would delight even Dagwood. Eggs Benedict gets applause, too. Ask for a side of the best grits around.

Noon: Bistro on Bridge

212 Bridge St., Phoenixville
610-935-7141 / BistroOnBridge.com

You can’t miss it. Bistro on Bridge is at the center of town, across from the iconic Colonial Theatre. Weekday lunches, 11 to 3, feature a soup/salad/half sandwich (choose two) for under $12. For soup, try French onion or chicken and poblano pepper. For salad, how about a fried goat cheese or Southwestern taco salad? And sandwich, tuck into a Cubano or Caprese. Of course, pair your choices with a beer. Bistro has two dozen beers on draft, as well as many more in cans or bottles, plus a choice of wine, spirits and cocktails. What were you planning for the afternoon? Better cancel it.

Night: Avlos

258 Bridge St., Phoenixville
610-455-4110 / AvlosGr.com

Avlos is a Chester County pick for delicious, authentic Greek cuisine. Two sisters who own and operate the restaurant have a passion for the food and recipes from their hometown village and talent. Start with Dakos — divine chunks of hearty barley rusk (bread) with feta, capers and tomato. Their lamb gets high praise — braised with artichokes or tender grilled chops with lemon potatoes — for high quality ingredients perfectly cooked and seasoned. End with Loumidis Kafes, traditional Greek coffee, and everything on the dessert menu. They’re BYOB — take your own ouzo or wine from Mt. Olympus grapes. To go once is to return.

Happy Hour: Sedona Taphouse

131 Bridge St. #5, Phoenixville
484-302-5714 / SedonaTaphouse.com

On weekdays, enjoy Happy Hour from 4 to 6, including half-price craft beers — almost 50 in Phoenixville (over 75 in West Chester, a sister location) — $7 wine, $8 truffle fries, guacamole or goat cheese and bruschetta, $9 for an assortment of flatbreads and sliders, and $12 for mussels. Sedona’s starter menu is stuffed with good … stuff — desert fire jalapeños, spicy Thai shrimp, bacon wrapped scallops, for instance. If you stay for dinner, which you just might as you enjoy the laidback ambiance, the menu is stocked with delicious pastas, wood-grilled meats, burgers, tacos and sliders.

Happy Hour: Root Down Brewing

1 N. Main St., Phoenixville
484-302-5407 / RootDownBrewing.com

In a plain brick and glass building, down the hill from Bridge Street, is Root Down Brewing. It doesn’t advertise Happy Hour, but some would argue that every hour is happy. Inside, find a cavernous room, with polished wooden floors, a long bar and psychedelic graffiti covering the walls. Behind the bar find 20 drafts, including an imperial stout, dark ale and Root Down’s own pilsner. Choose from plenty of shareables, pizzas and handhelds on the menu. There may be live music some nights, but on first Tuesdays, participate in a community science conversation or, on the last Sundays, enjoy its Punk Rock Flea Market.

Don’t Miss: G-Lodge

1371 Valley Forge Rd., Phoenixville
610-933-1646 / GLodgeCafe.com

This unassuming diner on Route 23 is a local institution, with a history dating back to the 1920s when it was a roadside stop between Philly and Reading and then morphed into a restaurant in the 1950s for Valley Forge Park visitors. Some may recognize it from its claim to fame cameo in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2008 thriller The Happening (appearing as The Filbert). The iconic rustic G-Lodge (some say the G is for the Gordon family that first owned it) serves breakfast and lunch — eggs Benedict to Dagwood breakfast sandwiches, plus homemade soups, grass-fed smash burgers, chicken and waffles — at the counter, tables and patio. Hang with the locals.