Bookbinders Old Original Inc   

One of Philadelphia's most legendary -- and most debate-inspiring -- restaurants, Bookbinder's, is back. Once considered the city's premiere seafood and special occasion house, a destination for highbrow locals and visiting celebrities, Bookie's finally closed in 2001 after years of steady decline into an overpriced tourist trap. It wasn't gone for good though, just in a Walt Disney-esque cryogenic slumber while the Taxin family, who has owned the restaurant since the 1940's regrouped, renovated (to the tune of $4.5mil) and reopened in February, 2005. The new old Original Bookbinder's has a Le Bernardin-trained chef, a swanky modern redesign -- complete with an enormous live lobster tank -- and the same expense-account-necessary prices. Classic seafood is still the showstopper here, with old favorites on the menu like oysters Rockefeller, gargantuan lobsters and its famous snapper soup, but glammed up with modern preparations like tuna tartare. Whatever side you take on the great Bookie's debate -- and there are many -- it's hard to deny its historical significance in the Philadelphia dining scene.