Moshulu, The Floating Restaurant

I’m sure this is not the last time I will say this on this trip, but Philadelphia is the most incredible city I have seen so far in my life. Now, as I write this, I am about to plan my trip to Washington D.C, so I would like to reserve the right to take it back and re-designate that title.

We stayed in a little town in New Jersey, about 15 miles outside Philadelphia. When we arrived, work was swarming into our email’s, so we decided to take it easy for the evening.

The next day, as we finally headed into town, we decided to tour the outskirt, industrial area of the Philadelphia harbor, going in circles… by “we”, I mean, my psychotic navigation thought we should really soak in the sites of the industrial park.

So, we decided to ignore the retarded little unit and accidentally stumbled upon a very cool old ship in the harbor. As Todd commented on wanting to see it, I noticed that it said restaurant and Bar on the side. “Well…. Hello.”  So, we stopped for lunch aboard the Moshulu. This ship has an amazing history, which you can read about Here, but you would never know about it, just on a visit alone. This ship is missing one major thing… Information. While we were there, we speculated about it being a cruise ship or a grand “Yatch” for the well off of the 19^th century. Not knowing it’s age or history, we could only imagine. With a little investigation, we found that this ship is the oldest 4 mast sail boat still afloat today. At one time, it carried coal, copper ore and coke, and in it’s hay day, it won the great grain race of 1939. It has changed hands from country to country since its creation in 1904. The interior is in the design of a luxury liner, which was done in a remodel in 1994, after a fire damaged it in 1989.

The menu at the Moshulu is not by any means extensive, but it’s also not unreasonably priced. You will be able to enjoy fresh salads, wraps and meat entrees during the lunch hours for around $8-$20 (at dinner, you are asked to check your arm and leg at the coat check). We were very pleased with this, considering the atmosphere we were enjoying. We expected to pay much more for less food in this type of place.  

Prior to receiving our food, they brought out a plate with sliced French bread and cute little balls of butter, sprinkled with chives. I wouldn’t have thought to do this, but it was quite tasty.

I ordered the Roasted Vegetable Wrap, which included spinach, peppers, oven dried tomatos, onions and fried eggplant with a basil aoli, and served with Satur Farm Greens and a Green Goddess dressing.  Now, I don’t know what the deal is lately, but if I don’t get a decent salad soon, I’m going to scream. I’m not sure what makes a green goddess dressing, but I wasn’t willing to eat enough to find out. The wrap was more than enough food and made up for the weeds on the side. I almost had the wrap sans fried eggplant, but this would have been a mistake. The combination was excellent. 

Todd, is on a mission to find the perfect burger, so he ordered the ½ lb. Pirme Steak Burger. (Two words that when combined, are sure to be excellent.) This was a ½ lb of quality beef covered in 2 types of cheddar, caramelized onions and a chipotle aioli sauce. I thought the flavor was excellent. Todd was not convinced it was the perfect burger… so the quest continues.

Moshulu… I give you a 4 Wandering Sisters. Even if you’re only looking for a place to just have a cocktail, the atmosphere on this boat is too good to pass up. The food was great, the presentation is excellent, the experience is exceptional…

2 changes would have made this trip a 5…

First, if there was some history of this amazing ship, whether it’s posted or simply explained by the staff.

Second, salad dressings should not be green… unless there’s a lot of blue cheese. Throw some balsamic on there for heaven sake!