By day, Claire Quaranta is director of accounts at a real estate brokerage firm and by night, she’s a musician. A drummer, singer, and bassist (though she also plays guitar), she loves long walks, traveling, and reading. Despite being embedded in Fishtown for 15 years, she remains active and adventurous in the neighborhood and beyond. Among her friends, she’s the go-to person for dining recommendations. As our inaugural weekend guide, she takes us through her Saturday.
In the last year, she says, she has started waking up much earlier. She used to go out more, drink a bit more, and stay out later. Now that she does those things less often, she finds that she loves her mornings.
After I went to Italy for the first time in June of 2024, I got obsessed with starting the day with a morning cappuccino. I just love that tradition. Every morning there, the people in the neighborhood will go to their coffee bar and they’ll chat and talk and sit and read the paper. I like my quiet time with my book, but seeing the people who live around you going about their day and the small interactions with them are a nice way to connect.
And so usually I get up on the early side, and my first move is to take a walk to go get my cappuccino. I like to get a decent walk in, so ideally it’s at least 15 minutes away and I bring a book — I’m always reading a book — and I take a walk to a coffee shop. Sometimes that’s Forin Cafe. I also love Persimmon Coffee on Girard. And sometimes I hit Menagerie in Northern Liberties. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll go to Anna & Bel, the newish hotel that has the pool. They are an awesome spot to get a morning coffee and a fancier breakfast-type thing. There’s this one avocado tartine at the hotel. I’m obsessed with that.
So I’ll pick one of those depending on my mood, I’ll bring my book, and I’ll get my cappuccino and usually a pastry. I really love “Heart the Lover” by Lily King, which came out recently. I read a lot of newer fiction. I like to be at the cafes around 8ish if possible.
And then I’ll walk to Riverwards to get stuff to make myself a little midday meal. I’ll usually come back and do boring stuff at home like shower and whatnot.
After lunch, I typically want another outing, so I might go to a different cafe and get a decaf. I often go to Persimmon for my afternoon coffee. The staff there always ask me what I’m reading and just make an effort to get to know people, which is really awesome.
I might hit Lot 49, a very cute and cool bookshop on Girard. I’ll be going through lists of potential books to read, and very often, shortly after, their Instagram will be like, “We got this new book in.” I’ll run over and see if I can get it. I know a friend who did a poetry workshop that was associated with the shop and I heard about a writing seminar that I’m considering taking through them.
I like to take a longer walk, often to Penn Treaty, which in the late afternoon before sunset in the winter is amazing and beautiful. Sometimes the sky is totally pink. I do lots of Penn Treaty walks, every day basically, but especially on a Saturday. If it’s during the summer, I’ll often meet friends there. We had had a tradition for years of picnicking or going there on holidays, but sometimes also on your average Saturday or Sunday. So that in nicer weather is often part of my routine, but in the winter I tend to be taking my walk on my own, and maybe going clothing shopping. Sometimes I go to Another Chance, sometimes I go to Once Worn in Northern Liberties. When I play shows, I’ll often wear semi-vintage dresses. I was in Once Worn a week or two ago. My eye just goes to a random dress that would work and I may wear it to the show that I’m playing. That’s the kind of thing that always jumps out at me.
I will often go to one of the local record shops just as part of my walk, so that could be Milkcrate, which is great for newer prints — I got a reissue of “In Utereo” from there and the new Stereolab album — or it could be Philadelphia Record Exchange during the afternoon. There, I’m going through the used bin.
Sometimes I might have band practice, and if I don’t, sometimes if I’m prepping for a show, I might be practicing bass at home for a little while in between.
I have a group chat called Movie Club and sometimes we’ll see a Saturday matinee at the Ritz in Old City or Philadelphia Film Society and I also have another group chat called A Little Scone Through the Phone where we send each other photos of the treats that we have. I often send a picture of my cappuccino and a pastry, but sometimes we will meet up in person.
My brother was in town a couple months ago, and we went to Pizzeria Beddia. I like to get whatever the specialty pizza is. It’s always changing. I took him and the family to Sulimay’s, the diner on Girard. It’s really great, classic diner food. I always go with simple pancakes and hash browns. If I have someone in town for the day, I also like Middle Child Clubhouse, where I get the General Tso-Wich or their Deli Burrito 2.0. They have the Phony Negroni on tap, I believe, which is cool.
On Saturday evenings, me and my friend Bekah will often treat ourselves to a nice dinner out. We have a rotation of places in the neighborhood. For example, a couple months ago, we did Elma, which is this amazing little BYOB on Girard that has really great Italian food. And so we’ll wear a nicer top or whatever and go have a really nice dinner. But that could be anywhere in the neighborhood. We’ve done Suraya, where I get the samke harra (grilled branzino with a spicy tomato sauce) and the fatteh, a tasty, warm chickpea and eggplant dish with pita and tahini yogurt, or [Wm.] Mulherin [Sons]’s, which, with that fireplace, is really nice for a cozy meetup, or the restaurant in Anna & Bel, Bastia. There, I like the swordfish brochettes for dinner. They do a nice bread service then, too.
Sometimes, we’ll go to some of the Mediterranean places in Northern Liberties, like Apricot Stone. There’s another one on 2nd Street, Pera Turkish Cuisine, that’s also really good.
Often after dinner, we might get a nightcap in the neighborhood. Even though I’m not really drinking as much anymore, the cool thing in the neighborhood is that the bars have really good non-alcoholic options. I’ve gotten mocktails at R&D [Cocktail Bar], and then at a place like Fishtown Tavern, I might get an NA beer. International Bar is good for both mocktails and non-alcoholic beer, and then sometimes, l’ll treat myself and have a nice glass of wine at one of these spots. I like that I can do all the same things even on nights when I don’t want to drink, I can have a Guinness Zero, which is probably my favorite NA beer — both Fishtown Tavern and International Bar stock them — or a mocktail. But R&D definitely has the most exciting presentation I’ve experienced. I like the Virgin Colada. There’s also a great new bar called Cormorant. It’s a very nicely done version of a classic corner bar: not too fancy, but it has good lighting, a cozy mood, and more reasonable prices than some spots in the neighborhood. They always have a good playlist going. I’m a sucker for any place where I’m likely to hear Sonic Youth.
There’s a new restaurant way up on Front Street, kind of in Kensington, called Fleur’s. It’s the new George Sabatino restaurant, a French spot. I went there shortly after it opened and had a really nice glass of wine. It’s a really beautiful restaurant. That’s probably the most recent standout spot for a glass of wine. I’m not really doing that much anymore, but if I really decided I wanted one, I’d either get a minerally white or a light-bodied red like the Gamay. If I were doing seafood, I might get a white or orange glass of wine.
Sometimes there’s a show that I’m going to which could be at Johnny Brenda’s, or it could be a bigger thing at Union Transfer. Next Saturday, I’ll be playing Silk City — that’s often part of the mix too.
If I’m really feeling ambitious we’ll visit our friends at Fergie’s Live Band Karaoke with Brian Langan. Then there is a newish bar in Fishtown called the Neon Clown Dream Lounge above Kung Fu Necktie that has DJs now. It’s hard to get into now because it’s gotten pretty popular — I think there’s a viral video about it, but when it first opened, we were trying to get there on the earlier side. It’s a cool-looking place with lots of crazy decor and a speakeasy vibe. It’s not horror-movie themed, but it’s got lots of color and weird clowns. They do karaoke sometimes there. I haven’t done it yet, but that would be on my list of things to do.
These days on a Saturday if I’m not out at Live Band Karaoke or a show, I like to be in bed by 11. And sometimes earlier if I am feeling cozy. Some shows are early now, which is great. A few weeks ago, I was still home by 11:30, even though I played a gig. If I were to venture to Live Band Karaoke at Fergie’s, it might be a little past midnight. But in general, I try to be in bed by 11-ish because I like to wake up the next morning and start the whole thing over early at a cafe.
That’s the typical day. It starts with coffee and then ends with a nice dinner with a lot of random meandering in the neighborhood in between. Sometimes my Saturdays are solo, but sometimes there’s a bunch of us going to a movie or we see a show — or play a show. Fishtown is a great place to walk around and just hit a bunch of spots. I’m more of a homebody than I used to be, but that’s still a typical Saturday for me.
