Archive for the ‘in Philadelphia’ Category
Sotto Update …
t says: g and I revisited Sotto and have updated the original post. Point: we were impressed!
i have steak belly …
t says: I visited GTC with cm and his cousin. We had one goal: all-you-can-eat-steak-for-$25. I’ll skip the formalities and get straight to the meat of the review …
steak and fries
The steak was actually very good. This is not like one of those all-you-can-eat smorgasboards where you cram as much top round in your mouth as you can. This is actually well-prepared meat! Beware – they only serve it rare and medium, though – so if you want it well-done, then don’t bother. I went for medium, and it was wonderfully tender, with a good browning on the outside of each medallion maximal flavor. It was a real treat to be afforded the opportunity to eat as much good-tasting meat as I wanted. So … for this meal, I wanted to “play it smart” and maximize my quantity of cow consumption. I ended up going through three servings of cow (pictured above is one serving). To accomplish this feat (I’m a somewhat-smaller-than-average guy, so I feel like this deserves a gold star), I resolved to the following strategies:
1) Minimize table bread consumption. This was difficult because I really do like GTC’s olive oils – but sacrifices must be made!
2) Minimize salad consumption. I know that in the grand scheme, a plate of salad is but a drop in the bucket/stomach … but let’s face it – space is space! I ate some of it as an apology to my bowels for the impending onslaught of meat that was coming … sorry guys! (By the way, the salad, while very straightforward – greens in a light dressing – was very fresh and tasty – I would have eaten the entire place had all-you-can-eat-meat not been offered).
3) Avoid the cream. When I ordered, I opted for the wine-based Bordelaise sauce – I figured the other two were more cream-based and would fill me up. It was hands-down more delicious than the peppercorn sauce, and none of us went for the bearnaise – next time, maybe?
4) Ration the frites. The format of the dinner is this: you get one plate of steak and fries, and as you run out of things, you ask your server for more, and then a food runner appears with a serving plate of your desired item (i.e. steak or fries) and adds it to your plate. So, let’s say you consume all the steak, but only half the fries – they’ll come by and offer you more steak! This is a brilliant way to do things, limiting wasted fries and excessive dishes. It also allows you to just keep on going with the steak at whatever speed you desire, regardless your frites status.. Hooray!
5) Post-meal walk and caffeine. With all of the fat/meat consumed, I avoided the “too-disgusted-to-move” feeling with a nice long walk home, fueled by the caffeine in one of GTC’s coffee drinks. Not a bad way to end the night … now if only I could fall asleep instead of blogging this entry right now …
P.S. The first bottle of wine at GTC is corkage-free. Bottles after that are charged corkage – something in the $10-$20 range.
Sotto: no frills, just food
t says: There’s a tiny restaurant that opened up on 24th Street right next to the Walnut St bridge. We’ve been watching the renovations for some time, now, hoping that something delicious was going to move in. What was bizarre, though, is that the blogosphere didn’t report any new restaurant going up in that location, leading us to believe that it was going to be a front of some sort.
When we saw it was open, we decided it was time to visit. Fortunately, we then saw this post, suggesting that the place was going to be a real restaurant, and not a vital piece of an organized crime syndicate. That’s good.
October 2012, Thursday Dinner, Party of 2. It was astonishingly empty when we got there, but picked up by the time we left. We sat by ourselves, and the servers were very attentive (we were the only ones there in the beginning, so the moment we stirred, they were all over us). But they were polite and we liked the enthusiasm.
g and I got down to business:
saute of broccoli rabe
The rabe was wonderfully-textured, with just the right amount of bitter and spice. This is how g makes broccoli rabe – it’s simple and delicious. We would come to find that this was going to be a recurring theme:
dittelini and chicken
pasta and seafood
We went for pastas (we’re predictable like that). Both dishes featured perfectly-textured pasta with just the right amount of bite. The sauces were insanely simple. The added meats/seafood/veggies were tastefully done. But in actuality, nothing was at all that “deeply flavored” … for example, these pastas are not Melograno-tasty, and they’re not going to knock-your-socks-off. Rather, these were bowls of pasta that some Italian grandmother would make and the younger generations strive to emulate. They did fill us up (the servings are large – don’t let the ridiculously-super-XXXL bowls above throw you) and completely disarmed us – this was comfort pasta, seemingly designed to lull you into a state of relaxation that brings to close an otherwise crazy day. With no thought required to eat this food (“simple” is good, right?) our conversations ran wild, from stories of growing up in South Jersey, to lost stethoscopes, to who-we-hoped-would-date-whom. And before we knew it, we were lingering over the last few drops of wine in our glass, realizing it was time to go to our actual home. Well – we did have some dessert in there, too:
tiramisu like an Italian grandmother/aunt would make it
Nice job Sotto. You’re not fancy or frilly. You’re not pushing boundaries. But you are making solid pasta at reasonable prices within walking distance from our home. We’ll be back on those weekdays when we roll in the door, are too tired to cook, and are too impatient to wait for delivery … which is more often that one would think …
EDIT: Boom. Within 2 weeks of our last visit, g and I were back at Sotto for some cheap, yummy pasta. This time we did the bolognese and the matriciana. Wow. They were superb. I mean I’m almost about to take back that “not pushing boundaries” thing, because I’m going to go out on a limb and just say it: Sotto’s “matriciana” is as good as Melograno’s “amatriciana”. Wonderful! The bolognese didn’t quite have the finesse of Melogran’s wild boar bologenese (Sotto uses ground meat and a more “tomato-y” sauce), but g was still very satisfied. We’ll be back for sure …
Surprise! Fednuts Lunch!
t says: g and I did Fednuts take-out for lunch yesterday (this is where a goes, “what? and you didn’t invite us? you boogerheads!”).
Fednuts Surprise Face : o
The chicken was a bit saltier this time than last, so someone over there’s gotta go easy on the shaker, otherwise people are going to go straight into heart failure after eating one of these pieces of chicken. But damn, it’s still so tasty. I only wish they’d offer that garlic-chile (i.e. Korean-esque) one at the CC location. Oh well. Weekly chicken+donuts, anyone? Let’s see who’ll be the first to put on the Intern-15?
“The Garden” keeps rocking it
t says: g and I revisited one our faves, Talula’s Garden. Yes, it’s still a great place to go. Let me just hit you with two highlights because anyone who’s seen our blog already knows that we talk about it WAY too much:
lamb belly appetizer
A long time ago, back when JG Domestic first opened 2 years ago, boasting a whole animal tasting menu featuring lamb and including lamb belly, I knew I had to try it. After all, I had my pork belly phase, so I reasoned that lamb belly would be just like it, but mo-better by virtue of lamb. Alas, JG was out of lamb that night (which to this day I haven’t forgiven them for), so I was S.O.L. Since then, I’ve seen lamb belly on virtual menus, but never at the same time when I was actually in the restaurant serving it … until the above dish. And yes. Lamb belly is as good as pork belly in every aspect, but better, by virtue of being lamb. Go to Talula’s and try this dish. It’s soft and sweet and gamy. Beautiful. Yea, there were some vegetables on the dish, too, but to be honest, I totally forgot about them because I was too busy enjoying the glazed belly …
striped bass with curry sauce, pumpkin, greens
This fish is my new most-perfectly-cooked-fish-in-the-city. Seriously. And it didn’t just because the meat of the fish was oh-so-tender-but-cooked-through-perfectly, and not just because it was perfectly infused with flavors that balanced the bass-ness and curry, but also because that skin was absolutely perfectly crisped. This is a fall fish dish. Not fussy. Not complicated. Just some damn good fish and balanced accompaniments. Everyone else take note.
Philly’s new Asian eateries
t says: We checked out two cool Asian-centered eateries that somewhat-recently opened. Here they are in lightning-round style …
Jane G’s. September 2012, Restaurant Week (and some a-la-carte), Party of 3.
Props: The mains were sizable and quite tasty. Check ’em out!
hunan lamb – think of it like the best Chinese-takeout-beef-and-vegetable-stir-fry ever (except that this was way better because it was tender yummy lamb) – the sauce had a nice balance of savory and sweet, and the veggies were a nice texture … but the greens on the right were pretty dumb though – they had no purpose!
crispy half duck – it was actually crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and the largest amount of duck i’ve ever seen a restaurant put on a plate ever! (and it was for restaurant week). the sweet potato was pretty much an afterthought, and the veggies were “ok”, texturally.
The popcorn rock shrimp was pretty solid (it gets rave reviews online) – but to be honest, it really is nothing more than some fried shrimp and wasabi aioli. Be that as it may – it’s still pretty tasty. Dumplings are similarly solid – not earth-shattering, but good! The tiramisu … once again – not “great”, but it was pretty good – with solid tiramisu flavors and a format more reminiscent of a cake than a real tiramisu – we ate it!
Slops: The service was W-E-I-R-D. Our dude checked on us every two minutes in a very direct in-your-face manner. And it’s not that he was impolite – it was more of a lack-of-politeness. For example, instead of asking, “would you like another drink?”, he pointed at my empty glass from a few feet away and stared at me. He was a little too intense for us. On the flip side, whenever we had a need or want, it was accommodated.
Take-home: I’m worried about Jane G’s. On one hand, they have “good” food – not mindblowing, but good. On the other, their service needs some work, and their prices on the normal menu are pretty high! If Jane G’s is trying to be “fancy Chinese”, then I think they are unsuccessful because all of the “garnishes”/accompaniments were mediocre at best. But if it’s trying to be “one step above Chinese”, then I think we’re right-on. I’ll keep it in mind for future restaurants weeks …
Spice28. August 2012, Friday Dinner, Party of 4. No pictures of this one – just words.
Props: Excellent cumin lamb – as flavorful as Han, but even more tender. Duck crepes were nice, too! Furthermore, the total bill was as cheap as Han when you share among people (seriously – our bill was $20/pp including tax/tip).
Slops: Cold sesame noodles – not as flavorful as Han, and mooshier. Pineapple fried rice was a little boring. No longer BYO. The desserts seemed uninspiring (but that’s ok – Capogiro’s closeby!)
Take-home: It’s an interesting alternative to Han Dynasty. Definitely a different vibe to the restaurant (a little more “modern” – riding that line between “cool” and “too cool”), but at least there are less undergrads. I’d definitely check it out if Han’s booked in the future!
a.nother chance for a.kitchen
t says: It’s been a long while since we’ve gone to a.kitchen, and we’ve received some email suggesting that we try out the place again. So we put it on our list … and there it stayed for quite a while – we just never got around to it! Nevertheless, we still recommended that others give it a whirl and let us know how it was … and now – someone actually has! Welcome to the blog, bw!
bw says: The main problem with a.kitchen is that it doesn’t really know whether it wants to be a regular restaurant or a tapas restaurant. You sit down to a menu of “plates”–no appetizers, no mains, “plates”. The dishes are all described like mains (a central item plus a side with a second taste), but priced suspiciously reasonably (i.e., in the high teens) for a fancy restaurant right on Rittenhouse. The fact that some items (e.g., lobster and steak) are priced much higher somewhat relieves you of your doubt. The service was very prompt and friendly, but they didn’t really guide you through the menu. Specifically, no “Is this your first time dining with us? Our menu is organized in [such-and-such] a manner.” Or, when each of us ordered one item, they didn’t say “maybe you want some more food as the plates are [blank]-size”. The “plates” live on that schizophrenic border between main and tapas. They definitely weren’t small, but they left you wanting just a little more food. Probably for the two of us, we should have had three items, which would have been at a price I would have expected for a main at a Rittenhouse restaurant. But three is an odd number. If you’re going for tapas, you’d generally probably get four or five items for two people. Who thinks to themselves “I really want to eat one-and-a-half things”? No one. In case you were wondering if there was a Goldilocks-style dish-size in between “too small” tapas and “too large” mains, there isn’t–it’s just awkward.
So, how did the food actually taste? I got the “blue crab salad with Sardinian couscous and summer pesto”. (Again, sounds like a main, right? OK, I made that point.) It was really good. The crab “salad” was mostly crab, with some crème fraiche and a few green sprouts. The flavors were nice together, although it could have used a little more greens to balance the crab. The couscous was also really interesting (going in I didn’t know what Sardinian couscous was): it was very large couscous, about the size of barley with the same toothsome quality as al dente barley. It was a good texture and a welcome contrast to the crab. My friend got the black bass (I can’t remember the side), and she said it was really good. The rest of the menu seemed interesting. It had a seafood predominance, which I’m a fan of, being in seafood-withdrawal after the midwest.
On to dessert, which we mostly got because we simultaneously said “that wasn’t a lot of food.” We both got the apple cobbler, so no ability to review the variety here (although the options generally all sounded tasty). As you know, my dessert-out-at-a-restuarant judgement criterion is “can I make a better version of this at home?” And here, I would have to say the answer is “yes”. The cobbler just wasn’t that good. The apple-filling and the streusel topping seemed disjointed and weren’t magical together. The apples were just baked apples–nothing special. And the topping was too dry in texture without any real flavor too it. Making a good streusel isn’t all that hard; so I was pretty disappointed. The caramel ice cream that topped it was, however, really good. Unfortunately, it melted so fast that I couldn’t enjoy it with the apples–I essentially had to eat it quickly right at the start.
So, I would definitely go back. Knowing what I now know about the menu, I would either order more, or go for something like a late dinner after having appetizers at a bar somewhere. But I would look elsewhere for dessert, although I guess I could give their pastry chef one more chance.
t says: It’s cool – Capogiro’s close by … so when we goin?
after dinner sneeze 