plcb strikes again …
t says: Fine wine and good spirits strikes again with some intriguing buys …
greywacke: this wine was delicious when we had it last. i’m suspicious of plcb’s score given how tight supplies have been since their glowing Wine Spectator reviews – i had to do a double-take to make sure it’s the real thing. if it’s like the last bottle, it’ll be delicious indeed! and if not, i’m going to blame the plcb’s storage practices and return all that i bought … (as an FYI – this wine takes a few minutes of swirling or an hour or so after bottle opening to let the super-funky-skunky petrol to blow off the nose – give it time and be rewarded handsomely with tropical fruits, citrus, pith, and a zing at the end that screams New Zealand!)
bennett lane: a is a huge fan of bennett lane – he hearts them a lot. he thinks it’s quite a deal. he’s probably right – maybe worth a shot.
a few pictures … and a break …
t says: It’s that time of life again: “standardized testing time”. And it’s all goin’ down at the end of this month. In an effort to limit distractions, we’re going to put the blog on hiatus … but of course, I’ll leave us with some parting shots and a preview of what’s to come …
jose garces has invaded a local children’s hospital’s cafeteria with distrito tacos … trust me – they are ten times better than the previous taco-related foods that were being offered and at least 2.3 times better than anything else they have ever offered. My source (i.e. the dude running the station) says they’re coming back in June sometime – I hope they stay!
kp was so kind as to bring us a gift from his international travels … we couldn’t drink any of that super-crazy beer that he had to drive up a mountain to some kind of monastery for in Belgium, but we do sure like chocolate!
g liked how the chocolates, themselves, were labeled with what they tasted like – it was very cool. and the chocolates were great! they had just the right proportion of chocolate to filling (i.e. the imprinted flavors were just a thin layer so they didn’t overwhelm the chocolate so much as accent it). I think these’d be a great dinner party thing to have.
speaking of parties … well let’s just say that someone special is having their 80th birthday party pretty soon … and that person put g in charge of putting a and me in charge of acquiring EtOH for the party … so a and I went shopping this weekend for the party … Funny thing happened – with our combined infinite wisdoms, neither of us stopped to think about how much we could actually transport in the car when we made our purchases – we just stopped buying things when we felt like we had “enough” … and we come out to my tiny clown car (our adorable volvo C30 named FiFi) and panic strikes us – was it all going to fit? Well, as you can see, it did! But we literally could not fit a single other case of beer or wine in the car (a did have to hold a case on his lap). Crisis averted! Now that I have scrutinized the layout, I suspect that with some reorganization of with putting some cases on their side, I may have found another way to fit at least 2 more cases back there … next time! And when we come back from hiatus, I’m sure we’ll have updates as to how the party went.
And now … the main [other] main June event … So, my testing ends on the 27th of June … and on the 29th: we go to Talula’s Table! Woohoo! There will be food and wine galore. I’ll be posting pretty shortly thereafter – I promise!
long live pig at cochon
t says: For the past couple weeks, we’ve had some fabulous meals, hitting up Little Fish and Bibou on consecutive weekends. We kept the trend going by visiting Cochon. We visited Cochon for Mother’s day brunch and it was fabulous (as usual … so no pictures taken) – but in that instant, we knew we had to come back for dinner, soon! So we did! And we brought along kp and two other close friends (a and v were still MIA …) to take on the piggerific dining experience that is Cochon.
May 2013, Saturday Dinner, Party of 5. This one won’t be a full review of every dish, as you already got the punchline from the title: YES, Cochon makes delicious food. YES, you should go. NO, leave your vegetarian friends at home. Well, maybe that’s not fair – I keep on wanting to try their unlisted vegetarian item, but I keep getting sidetracked by things like this:
duck heart appetizer: I’m a sucker for a duck heart. Is it the future cardiologist in me? I have no idea. But there’s something that’s so simple about a duck heart that’s wonderful. Tablemates did try it and we agreed: it had the texture of filet mignon, a brilliant smokey flavor (a lot of the grilled items at Cochon have an intense smoky flavor to them), and a surprisingly mild duck flavor. The accompanying sauce added a hint of sweet and that herbed slaw reset the palate nicely. Quite a delicious appetizer!
out-of-focus shredded suckling pig: if you go to Cochon and they offer you the suckling pig as a special … you get the suckling pig. period. super-tender shreds of pig, accompanied by charred brussel sprouts, lentils, and a bacon broth – instant game over. it’s a dish that could do no wrong. now on one hand, it was so rich that after my appetizer I couldn’t finish it all at dinner …
… but on the other, I took home the leftovers and g whipped up an omelette the next morning that was absolutely to-die-for. I show you the picture so you can see in the upper left corner the congealed fat gold that was so critical in the omelette’s success.
Now, we do have to put a disclaimer up here. Cochon is indeed absolutely brilliant. But in a monkey-knife-fight with Little Fish and Bibou, the other two are going to win. Cochon is all about richness and smoke and decadence. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that … But Bibou’s steak is always going to have that extra layer of refinement, and their pig’s foot and lentils will always have the extra depth. Of course … Cochon is easier to get in to and a tad cheaper that the other two, so pick you poison wisely!
pierre’s still in charge
t says: This story begins with Bibou calling out to me – I swear! It all started a week ago, at work, when I noticed (from across the room) that one person was showing another person Bibou’s menu and pointing out all the “good things” they had the night before (that’s right, I eavesdropped, too). I thought at that time, “gee – It’s been a while since we’ve been, maybe we should go?” Then, two days ago, a colleague happened to be reviewing the old Philadelphia magazine restaurant list out loud and and noted that previous faves had been seriously demoted in the 2013 list – I instantly thought about Bibou. Again I thought, “gee, I really want to go now”. And then today (i.e. the day I wrote this post – not the day it’ll actually post to the blog), as I was walking to work, I just happened to be searching through Opentable for an open Friday night reservation, scrolling passed the B’s, when boom! I happened to notice that Bibou had availability! I was so shocked that I had to double-check the reservation date to make sure I wasn’t looking at like a Wednesday night or something. I wasn’t! It was true! I booked it, texted g, and THAT’s how we got a random Friday night reservation to Bibou …
May 2013, Friday Dinner, Party of 2.
it did feel a little awkward to be dining at bibou without the gang (a, v, and kp), so g and I decided to make it very casual – we were not going to order our normal entrees – no beef, no pig’s foot, and we weren’t going to pull out some crazy-big-wines. We were going to bring in the summer with some seafood and enjoy it with a Pouilly-Fusee that my thoughtful sis got g for her birthday (thanks!).
ok … well … I knew I had to go for the snails – they are the bomb-diggity … but these one were different. Pierre definitely changed it up, as I remembered there being far more garlic and the flavors far more deep, while this time the accompanying sauce was brighter, more acidic, and lighter. I preferred the old version – I mean don’t get me wrong – they’re still delicious and fabulously done, but they were only “excellent” and not “legendary”. g’s was the scallop on a half-shell which was, as on one of our previous visits, fabulous – even better than the escargots!
For our mains, I went for the cod in “brick” dough over a bed of carrot and julienne snowpeas and an emulsion of uni and sweet corn. Holy crap. I know I just went to Little Fish recently, but this was on another level. Little Fish’s fish are superbly cooked and finely balanced. Pierre’s still has superb cookery and great balance – but he reaches for flavors that are deeper, more profound. Halfway through my entree, I really did put down my utensils and just sit back, relax, and ponder the symphony of flavors. Dorky as hell, but it was necessary. It was so remarkable that I didn’t miss the pig’s foot. I repeat: I didn’t miss the pig’s foot. Egad! g’s dorade, in the background, was completely different that my dish in terms of flavor profile. We don’t know why, but for some reason, it had a strikingly Asian note somewhere in there amongst the tomato and lemon verbena and ramps (?lemongrass?). It was the lighter and more agile of the two, but nevertheless, it, too, made me take pause after g gave me a bite … (but I like mine better …)
Dessert has never really been a strongsuit of Bibou. But it seems like they’ve stepped up their game! The chocolate cake was thick and rich and luscious. Definitely not fancy (and not the “best”) I’ve ever had, but a nice sweet end to the meal for me. g went with the strawberry rhubarb tart which was quite fabulous – a step up from previous tarts.
just keep winning, just keep winning … just keep winning, winning, winning …
t says: g and I, having had multiple great experiences at Little Fish, especially for their Sunday fixed price menus, decided it was time to crack the whip and demand that a and v and kp accompany us on our next visit. kp couldn’t make it, but that didn’t stop the four of us from seeing the task to its end … for the sake of the blog! …
May 2013, Sunday Dinner, Party of 4.
Sunday dinners work like this: for $35, you get 5 courses, no choices (they can entertain some dietary restrictions), and that’s it. There are two seatings, and they’re typically booked a few weeks in advance. But I tell you this here and now: this is the absolute best way to eat at Little Fish and one of the best deals in all of Philadelphia. Do it. We usually go to the later seating so we can bide our time, but if you go to the early one, you can catch a glimpse out the window (and get actually reasonable lighting for photos of food and wine!). We brought along 4 bottles of wine that night – one of which was a 2011 Alexana Revana Vineyard pinot noir (arguably the wine of the night …)
Course #1: salad with rhubarb: Little Fish’s first course always rides the line between “simple” and “fancy”. There really isn’t a lot of extra super-cool stuff in the salad. No weird things foraged by an anarchist farmer. No super-exotic fruits. No special plating. Just a clump of fresh, bright greens and a touch of ?pickled? rhubarb, some nuts, a light toss, and bam – first course done! Our palates were energized and ready to go!
The second course of hamachi, radish, and cashews was so beautifully balanced that my mouth simply could not believe it. Well – I take that back – that ?buttermilk? smear was a bit overwhelming, but I just cut back on it and the other flavors came out like a rays of sun through clouds. The salinity of the fish, the meatiness of the nuts, the unique crunch and flavor of radish – ah, beautiful.
Welcome to v’s and my favorite dish: speck, scallop, and ramp purée. This scallop was so beautifully seared that v and I could do no more than sit back and wonder exactly how a mortal man accomplishes such a feat. We didn’t ponder for too long, though, as before we knew it, the scallop was gone. Once again – the balance between the seafood and the speck and hauntingly smooth ramp flavor was a beautiful thing.
g and a’s favorite was the swordfish with spinach purée, fava beans, and asparagus. Maybe I just don’t appreciate swordfish – if I wanted something that was this meaty, I’d just eat cow or pig! But g and a enjoyed how the denser, richer texture stood up to the dense, rich puree and sauce. Personally, I woulda gone for another scallop, but whatever!
This was perhaps Little Fish’s weakest dessert ever. Which is shocking because it’s strawberry shortcake! I guess I was expecting more. The cake was a little on the dry side – and I half-expected there to be some sort of small twist – maybe a ribbon of cinnamon in the cake or a dash of mint or basil in the whipped cream. Nevertheless, it was a comforting ending to a wonderful meal (g loves strawberry shortcake!) When all was said and done, we had enjoyed 5 courses and 3 good bottles of wine (and 1 disappointment – that stupid rose from Moore Brothers that was hawked as “the finest rose in Provence” – what a load of crap). What a wonderful Sunday night!
the plcb gets some taste!
t says: I’m not a huge fan of the PLCB – the selection is very often limited and the people who work in the stores are of no help. That said, even the blind squirrel finds an acorn … or five … While these are some of the pricier wines that the PLCB offers at its 19th and Chestnut store, I have to say that I was impressed to see them there. It’s not that I’ve had any of them (as a matter of fact, I’ve had none of them), but it’s the first time in a while that I’ve actually been excited to see something in a state store! No, I didn’t buy any of them (I’m not made of money!), but I’m hoping that in seeing these, it’s a sign that some more-better wines are in the pipeline …
So you need Bordeaux, but you’re stuck in a state store? Go for an ’09 or ’10. Supposedly fabulous vintages in Bordeaux, the saying goes, “If you couldn’t make a good Bordeaux in ’09 or ’10 … you shouldn’t be making Bordeaux.” I spied a bottle or two hanging out with some recognizable names. It’d be worth a shot …
Tucked away behind all those distracting chianti was this bottle. You see, the 2009 Sughere di Frassinello was a phenomenal wine at ~$17. Well … this is that wine’s older, more sophisticated brother who went to Ivy League school, is a tennis phenom, and drives a Porsche. What does it taste like? I have no idea. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen it on a shelf, so I’m VERY intrigued. Am I $40 intrigued. Oh-so-very-close …
Dunham Riesling. One of a’s favorite American Rieslings, this is a great bottle to try to see if you’re down with Riesling (beware, it is going to be off-dry). I’m actually wondering if, upon reading this, a will “stop by” tomorrow on the way home and pick up a bottle or two …
2011 Ayoub Memoirs. This is the more plebian version of the estate bottle below. Ayoub makes some fine Oregon pinot, and a previous version of this that I’ve had was pretty darned tasty. For $34, it’s not exactly a “steal”, but I’m glad to know it’s there in case I need something for a “nicer” weekend BYO dinner.
Ayoub 2011. It has a big-ass bottle with a stupidly ostentatious waxed cap. But I love it. Or at least, I haven’t had this one yet, but I have had other Ayoub (2008 and 2009) that have all been beautiful very elegant pinots. Now, I know that 2011 was a rough year in Oregon (which is probably why the PLCB had a shot at attaining ANY of these Ayoub wines at all), but if I needed to find a $50 bottle of pinot in a hurry at a state store, this is what I’d get (P.S. never have I EVER had to find a $50 bottle of ANYTHING in a hurry …)
