Best ... Open Mic ... Ever.

Last night I had to go into Philly to trade out my rental car. (Avis will give you a six month contract to rent a car with a registration that expires in 2.5 months. Dorks.) Since I was going to be sort of in her neighborhood, I have my friend Nikki a call, and lucky day, she had the night off and hadn't eaten all day. A friend of hers had recommended Tritone (on South St between 15th and 16th) for affordable, tasty food. It delivered on that for sure. Start with the freshest (vegetarian) Spring roll I've tasted. She had red beans and rice with Andouille, which was totally delicious, and I had a nachos with black beans, also excellent. I know what you're thinking: nachos are unfuckupable. That's just not true. Many restaurants are serving totally uninteresting nachos. Tritone's are excellent. (They also had a vegan black beans and rice on the menu, which, based on the nacho black beans, I would guess are muy delicioso.) Meanwhile, there's an open-mic happening. We got there at about 8 and the place was pretty sparsely populated, so I was really surprised by the quality of the music. This is an unusual open mic in that a music store across the street supplies a full backline (amps, drums, mics, PA) so a band can show up with guitars and plug 'n' play. By 9 or 9:30, the crowd had thickened considerably, and the good music continued. I would say more about it, but I have to go to work, and the only name I remember is "Suburban Missile," for whom I can't find a web page. Dumb web. tagged local philadelphia music food