Archive for the ‘Happenings’ Category
congratulations to the 4-bellers!
t says: As many of you know, Craig LaBan has selected a new group of four-bell restaurants. Fallen are Le-Bec and Lacroix. Veterans Vetri and Fountain are joined by Bibou, Talula’s Table, and Zahav. Personally, we here at adsz don’t really think that Zahav is actually four-bell material (the food + service + ambience are all “very good”, but are by no stretch flawless in any category – it must be the novelty of the cuisine), but are happy to congratulate them on their accomplishment, as they do a phenomenal lunch during Restaurant Week.
It’s a shame that trying to get reservations at these places is now going to be impossible. Oh well. We were at least fortunate enough to have nailed down some key reservations or several of these restaurants before this whole 4-bell business hit the airwaves … I’m sure Charlotte will never have an open table on a weekend ever again …
g & t spotted!
t says: The other day, g and I were shopping in a ritzy Philly home furnishings store and came across as couch with these cute lettered pillows. And I swear to you here and now that the two letters that were on the couch when we got there were those pictured below:
spotted!
In the spirit of full disclosure, I admit that when we saw the couch, the two pillows were on opposite ends of the couch. They looked lonely that way. We fixed it for them … we’re conscientious like that … now if only we could afford them – ha!
a little pretentious, no?
t says: Anyone see the latest drivel to come out of LaBan’s mouth? “I’ll reset the landscape of Philly’s restaurant elite.” I’m sorry, but what? I normally like reading LaBan’s reviews because I, myself, don’t get the chance to taste every single dish on a menu – so his reviews are like scouting reports. But what arrogance this last comment exudes! He must be a Michelin inspector or James-frickin-Beard, himself! Taking yourself a little too seriously, eh? Come on. You eat food for a living. It’s not theoretical physics. It’s not fetal open heart surgery. It’s not curing cancer. It’s inserting matter in one end of a 30-foot long tube so your body can turn it into poo. So let’s all take a chill pill and a slice of humble pie and just say, “I’m coming out with a new list of top 5 restaurants … and my previous top 4 might not have made the cut. Please read my article when it comes out on 2/5, because if no one does, I may no longer have the privilege of making a living by doing something that every single other person on this planet can do. Thank you.”
expensive chocolate bars with almonds
t says: If there’s one thing I love to eat, it’s chocolate. Surprised? Probably not. My chocolate consumption has recently featured a few more-expensive-than-a-Hershey’s-bar options. There were highs and there were lows. Allow me to show relay my findings …
mast bros chocolate + almonds + sea salt
Cutting straight to the chase, what you see above is my new favorite chocolate bar, trumping even bacon-studded Vosges bars! Amazing! Underneath that cutely wrapped package is the good stuff:
beauty on the inside and outside
The chocolate was so impressive that I immediately opened up a browser window and emailed myself my thoughts. First off, these aren’t just “plain old almonds” – these were toasty and smoky and accompanied by a sharp twang of salt. This was opposite a rich dark chocolate that wasn’t the least bit crumbly and had only a hint of sleep. It was funny, but this time I didn’t mind that the chocolate came on kind of late (the almonds are definitely front-and-center in the beginning). Actually – this bar epitomizes the kind of chocolate chip cooking that I one day aspire to make …
But, because these bars are hard to come by (and ridiculously expensive – who can afford $8 candy bars?), I have found an acceptable alternative:
These guys are under $3 around the corner at the grocery store and come off a bit sweeter than the Mast Bros bar, and the almonds aren’t as toasty-tasting, but not too shabby. When feeling a little down, I know that I could stop by and grab one of these bad boys for an instantaneous pick-me-up. Delish!
And it’s way better than the far-too-sweet, far-too-mild Theo bar:
organic and fair trade ... but not quite as delicious ...
So, for me, I’ll reserve Mast Bros bar for special occasions, but I guess I’ll have to stick with ChocoLove (ugh, I hate that name) until our wallet gets a little deeper.
re-found Monsu brunch pix!
t says: I was clearing out my inbox and found some pix I sent myself from our brunches at Monsu. I uploaded them in that post. I got hungry just look at them!
pillaging restaurant.com’s booty
t says: For those who might not be familiar, there is a website called restaurant.com that has a rather interesting proposition: pay some amount of money now to receive a gift certificate for a restaurant for an even larger amount of money. For example, $20 will get you a $25 gift certificate. j was kind enough to gift us some of these certificates some time ago and we thought they were quite fun. What’s even better is that now, if you join the mailing list, restaurant.com will very frequently send you discount codes that will allow you to get a full-price gift certificate (e.g. $25) for a nearly insignificant amount of money (e.g. $4). The code right now is “ENJOY”. Unfortunately, restaurant.com’s restaurant list is a little lacking. Our recommendations from the current list are City Tap House and Kabul. I’d say that City Tap House is pretty consistent in terms of providing satisfactory food, but the drawback is that the place is very often full of undergrads and the like (not that there’s anything wrong with that – but they do make me feel pretty darn old). Kabul is kind of like a hole-in-the-wall Afghan restaurant that’s been there for who knows how long but is still cranking out delicious food. They’ve been flying under the radar for quite some time now, so I hope the restaurant.com promotion works for them to draw in some patrons. If it weren’t so far away, I know that g and I would go there all the time.
we’re back, baby!
g & t
t says: g and I are back and totally pumped for 2012. We have a nice backlog of recent travels and visits to get through and also a few exciting upcoming FTC events to start the year off right. Also, look out for some more wine-related posts going on this year. Finally, we’re encouraging anyone/everyone to let us know if you want to contribute some posts about food/drink, be it reviews or recipes or adventures – we’d be happy to post them!
So cheers to a new year!
after dinner sneeze 