48 S. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106   

Phone: (215) 925-2317

Offer more caffeinated products than coke and coffee. If this place is a café, where's the cappuccino and espresso? 

The Sassafras Café is a quaint bar located directly across the street from the Plough and the Stars on 2nd Street. But contrary to its name, you're not going to get a latté at this Old City café.

Don't get your panties in a bunch, but the Sassafras Café is a bar. But being the educated, pubcrawling, websurfer that you are, you probably guessed that already. The Sassafras does serve coffee, but that is the extent of their café offerings. If the Sassafras offered a few other coffee selections they would really distinguish themselves from the other Old City establishments that only offer liquor.

The Sassafras is long narrow drinking establishment with the bar on the left wall (seats about 15) and tables/chairs along the right and rear of the establishment. Mirrors extend along the left hand wall to the back of the room which makes the place look larger than it actually is. A fireplace is tucked away in the rear of the facility also. The front of the Sassafras is awash in windows which provides ample ogling opportunities of the 2nd Street passersby. 

The Sassafras is an antique itself. The copper-on-tin ceiling, the mirrored walls, the intricate wood carvings around the bar and the antique lamps make you feel as though you're in a Speakeasy straight out of the 1920's. Sure, there are a few chunks of wood worn away after the years, but that's to be expected. I wasn't really sure if the lights were turned down low on purpose, or was it the fact that these antique lamps only put out about as much light as a fistful of lighters.

The only beer on tap is Lewes, Delaware's Dogfish Head Ale. While you drink your Dogfish Ale, you can sit and ponder what made the owners buy paintings of really fat women and put them up on their walls. Ok, maybe "fat" isn't politically correct in these times, perhaps we should say that the owners went a little nuts with the porker paintings.

Although the Sassafras Café isn't the most exciting bar along 2nd Street, it provides a good respite from the hoity-toity crowds that often congregate in the neighborhood on the weekends. If you get bored, you can always find something more to your liking, after all, you are in Olde City - the options are endless.