Rhonda and I took off for Philly yesterday to see Tomahawk at Union Transfer. We had a lot of fun taking to boys to see the Foo Fighters two summers ago in Hershey, PA, and while we were tempted to reprise that trip, the Foo Fighters tickets were just too expensive.

I booked a room at Sosuite at Independence Lofts. They have a bunch of rooms on the ninth floor of a building in the Spring Garden section of the city. Like some of the more recent trips we’ve taken, Sosuite manages your check-in and check-out remotely; you don’t deal with a hotel manager or concierge. It was a great little room, with a nice view of the city, a queen size bed, bathroom, and kitchenette. It was perfect for a quick overnight.

We stopped by the Institute Craft Bar & Kitchen in the same building as our suite for a couple of drinks. We had Manhattans. It was the bartender’s first day on the job, so she needed a little direction. She even asked for our feedback (they were good).

Before the show, we had dinner at Osteria. It’s a more accessible version of Marc Vetri’s namesake restaurant. We shared the Frito miso, and we each tried a couple of the pasta dishes from the Primi section of the menu. (I learned by visiting the country twice that dinner in Italy isn’t a big plate of pasta; pasta is a small dish you enjoy before the second course, which is typically fish or meat.) I had the rigatoni, which is made with chicken liver, cipollini onion, and sage. I was torn between that and the tagliatelle, but when I asked our server what she recommended, she said the rigatoni is famous by dint of wining a James Beard Award. So that sealed the deal. Rhonda tried the Tortelli, which was served with sheep’s milk ricotta, brasied baby artichoke, and lamb bolognese. Both dishes were emblematic of both Vetri’s style and the Primi piatti tradition: just a few bites of pasta. We had a rosé with the appetizer and pasta.

The restaurant generously brought out a free pizza for us to share, which was a lot more food than we needed, but we were both keen to try it. It has a great chewy crust, charred on the undercarriage, but soft and chewy to the bite.

We splurged a bit and shared the T-bone steak special, which was superb. My general rule of thumb with steak in restaurants is to avoid it: I make it often enough at home, and it comes out pretty great. But this sounded too good to pass up, and provided a nice counterpoint to the carb-heavy pasta, focaccia, and pizza we’d enjoyed first.

There was nothing to regret with the T-Bone: it was expertly cooked to medium rare, cut Peter Luger style, with the sliced steak returned to its original place on the bone for serving. The platter was adorned with cippolini.

Osteria is a quick walk to and from our room, which was also a short walk from the venue. We strolled back to the room to drop off our leftovers, and then headed over to the show.

Union Transfer is a charming venue to say the least. It’s plenty small, if your tastes skew toward the intimate. It already pretty crowded when we got there, and after finding a place to stand upstairs, I went back downstairs to fetch us a couple of beers. I was on my way back up with our drinks when I heard the first strains of the Melvins, who were the show’s opener. I’m not familiar with the stuff, but man it sounded so tight. I grooved to the rest of their set. My only complaint is that we couldn’t find a place to stand that afforded us a view—any view—of the stage.

I checked out Union Transfer after the show online, and learned that it’s know for having great sound. I can’t disagree. Both bands were loud, but the sound was clear and intelligible. You could really feel it in the room.