What's the food culture in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia eats early and heavy. Breakfast means scrapple, a slab of pork scraps bound with cornmeal and buckwheat flour, pan-fried until the edges go crispy and dark. You'll find it at most diners in South Philly and the Northeast, served alongside eggs over easy for $8-12. The city's relationship with bread runs deep. Soft pretzels, sold warm from Philly Pretzel Factory locations and street vendors for $1-2, are the default commuter snack by 7am. They taste like nothing you've had labeled 'pretzel' elsewhere. Denser, chewier, lightly salted, eaten with yellow mustard, never cheese sauce. Lunch runs 11:30 to 2, and dinner starts at 6 in most neighborhoods but closer to 7:30 in Rittenhouse Square and along East Passyunk Avenue, where the restaurants that take reservations tend to cluster. Late-night food is a cheesesteak or a slice from Lorenzo and Sons on South Street, $4-5, until 3am on weekends.

The cheesesteak question. Pat's King of Steaks on East Passyunk and 9th opened in 1930. Geno's Steaks went up across the intersection in 1966. Tourists line up at both for 30 minutes or more. The steak at Pat's is fine. Thin-chopped rib-eye on an Amoroso roll, Cheez Whiz optional. But neither place serves the best cheesesteak in the city. Dalessandro's in Roxborough, about 20 minutes northwest of Center City, uses thinner-shaved rib-eye on a roll that holds up to the grease without going soggy. John's Roast Pork near the sports stadiums in South Philly closes at 3pm and takes cash only. Their cheesesteak is strong, but order the roast pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe instead. That sandwich, around $13, comes dripping with pork jus that soaks through the roll in your hands. It might be the single best thing to eat in this city. The ordering protocol at cheesesteak windows matters. Say 'whiz wit' for Cheez Whiz with fried onions, or 'provolone without' for provolone, no onions. Know your order before you step up.

Reading Terminal Market opened in 1893 inside the old Reading Railroad train shed at 12th and Arch. It runs Monday through Saturday, 8am to 6pm. Some vendors close by 3. Byler's counter sells shoofly pie, whoopie pies, and chow chow from Lancaster County Amish farms. DiNic's roast pork draws a line 20 minutes deep at lunch, and the sharp provolone they melt over the top runs down the roll in hot strings. Bassetts Ice Cream has been in business since 1861 and has held a stall at Reading Terminal since it opened. The burnt caramel flavor is the one to get. South of Center City, the Italian Market along 9th Street between Christian and Wharton has run continuously since the 1880s. Produce stalls set up outdoors by 8am. The smell of fresh oregano and dried peppers hits you from half a block away. Fante's Kitchen Shop at 1006 S 9th has sold cookware since 1906. D'Angelo Bros at 909 S 9th carries wild boar, rabbit, and venison alongside standard cuts.

Limit yourself to Center City and you miss half the picture. Washington Avenue in South Philly, between Broad and 11th, is where Vietnamese and Indonesian restaurants concentrate. Pho 75 does one thing, beef pho for $12, with tendon and tripe if you want it, in a broth that has been going since morning. The steam, heavy with star anise and charred ginger, fills the small room. Chinatown sits roughly between 9th, 11th, Vine, and Arch. It runs smaller than New York's or San Francisco's but the Cantonese barbecue per square block might be better. Sang Kee Peking Duck House at 238 N 9th Street has been open since the early 1980s. East Passyunk Avenue south of Broad is the city's densest dining corridor, with 3 or 4 BYO restaurants per block and prix-fixe dinners running $60-135. Philadelphia's BYO culture is worth knowing. Dozens of serious restaurants hold no liquor license, so you bring your own wine with no corkage fee.

Water ice, pronounced 'wooder ice' by anyone who grew up here, appears from corner stands and Rita's Italian Ice locations starting in late March. Pop's on Oregon Avenue in South Philly is the benchmark for lemon flavor, $3 for a small. It is grainier and icier than gelato, served in a paper cup. On a 32-degree-Celsius August afternoon, 4 spoonfuls drop your core temperature. Federal Donuts opened its first location at 1219 S 2nd Street in 2011. It combines fried chicken and fresh donuts in the same order, about $15 for a 2-piece combo and a donut. The za'atar-dusted donut is the one to get. Tomato pie, a thick rectangular pizza with a cold tomato-sauce top and almost no cheese, sells at Sarcone's Bakery on 9th Street and Corropolese in Norristown for $8-12 per tray. You eat it at room temperature. That's the point.