Archive for the ‘in Philadelphia’ Category
Meat Abundace: Fat Ham Hot Chicken and Zahav Lamb Shack
t says: Before heading off to Florida (g and I were sick of the cold), we hit up a few awesome eateries:
February 2015, Wednesday Dinner, Party of 4. Oh yes, we rocked out at the Lamb Shack (that’s where it’s at). And it was awesome. Take a look at that menu and just start drooling. Mmmmmmm. And one of the best parts was that it was BYO!! Super-awesome (we brought a few rieslings and a trusty OR pinot noir)! How’d it taste? You’ll see:
In traditional Zahav manner, there was a lot of delicious pickled starters. And hummus. I know this picture kinda-sorta-sucks, but it’s just a placeholder to remind me that Zahav has more than just their mains (as if we could ever forget).
And the main course: lamb shoulder! It was HUGE. Shared with the rest of the table, this sizable hunk was delicious.. Tons of luxurious, unctuous crisped fat. Delightful chickpeas. We (g, t, sz) devoured as much as we could and had to take some home. I wish there were a few pickled items left to reset the palate between each cholesterol-raising bite. Meanwhile, our one vegetarian (dz) who was served the eggplant (which, while tasty was of meager size). I think we won …
February 2015, Thursday Lunch, Party of 2. I also hit up The Fat Ham with a for lunch (yay! it’s back!). While I understand why lunch at the Fat Ham will never be permanent (not enough foot traffic!!), boy am I grateful for the few chances we are able to go; I get to taste things like this: boiled peanut hummus. After having Zahav the night before, how could I dare eat someone else’s hummus? Well, this, in my mind, is a completely different kind of hummus – not meant to be olivey and spiced, rather, accented with herbs and crunch peanuts. Quite good! (Although quite small).
Shrimp and grits was one our mains. It was delicious, although had a lot of subtlety to it – not quite what we were expecting. Not a lot of whiz-pow-bang, rather, perfectly done shrimp, a well-spiced hummus, good accompaniments. Nothing smacked you in the face … but it did make you wish you could do this at home.
And the main event: the hot chicken! Enter the whiz-pow-bang! A scrumptiously crunchy crust, with a hot sauce that I actually thought was just-right spicy (it was a good kind of spicy – not excessive, diarrhea-causing spicey!). The chicken was also good (as was the dressing and bread), but the real star is the fried goodness. I almost wonder if chicken fingers would be a better presentation to delivery more crust. Oh, and something about this dish reminds me of another dish I had as a youngster, but I couldn’t put my finger on it – one day I’ll remember …
For dessert, we ventured the mud pie. Which came in a jar. BOOOOOOO. It should have been a slice of pie. There needed to be crust – there was no crust! It was brownie pieces, choco pudding, and whipped cream … but no crust! AGH! Sure, it tasted delicious – but it was no mud pie. Giving them a D- for this one. Sorry Sbraga.
Trifecta from Heaven
t says: So … let’s say you just finished a dental appointment and were looking for a congratulatory treat (still no cavities!) – something to rub in the face of those smug hygienists (“yea … I floss 17 times a day and brush before and after every meal …”) – something that’d give you a real reason to floss … What’d you eat first? I was on the prowl near Rittenhouse … and wandered into the Bakeshop on 20th … which gave me several options … like this one with which I left the store:
strawberry + hazelnut = money
chocolate + hazelnut = money
strawberry + chocolate = money
So basically, we’re left with mo’ money and absolutely no problems as far as I’m concerned. Trust me – it tasted every bit as good as it sounded and looked.
Guess I should move up my next 6-month cleaning …
Happy Valentine’s Day!
t says: Ah, yes. Valentine’s Day. g and I love celebrating it, but we just hate eating out at restaurants during it. Determined to stay at home for yet another Valentine’s Day, this year we enlisted the help of a and v to make it a truly special day …
… but first: we have to play some catch-up.
what the hell is this? “rice crunchins?” this is what they now serve instead of Rice Krispies at my workplace. wwhhaatt? but it’s just like Rice Krispies, right? …
… WRONG. The shapes are these square-ish things that, when exposed to milk, have a crunch that is completely inferior to the original Rice Krispies. Who thought this was a good idea? I don’t even like Rice Krispies that much to begin with, and even I can tell that this is horrible!
February 2015, Thursday Lunch, Party of 2. I had a chance to catch up with k at Barbuzzo and let’s just say that it continues to rock my world, even after all these years. Yes, the budino is wonderful. Yes the pizza was delish. But come on: this frickin’ burrata gets me every time. That creaminess, and that baslsamic, and that oil, and that perfect bread. It just doesn’t get better than that! If I could do this at home, I’d eat it every day for breakfast.
February 2015, Friday Diner, Party of 3. Ok. Buried within today’s post will be this one picture. This will be our little secret. Hidden in West Philly, there is a restaurant called Szechuan Chili. I was directed there by a coworker, and his one recommendation has changed my life forever. This restaurant serves “Americanized” Chinese food as well as their more traditional dishes … where are exactly like Han Dynasty’s. What you see above you is the aftermath of some Dan Dan noodles that were just as good as Han’s (less pork, better spice, less gummy noodle), a huge pot of pickled vegetable fish soup (better balance of sour and spice, more fish, and noodles!), and their Chinese broccoli (perfectly cooked!). We also sampled a chicken dish and their cumin lamb, both of which were awesome. AND it’s BYO. AND it’s staffed by real Asians. AND they’re really nice. AND there are no undergrads, d-bags, or main-liners. While it’d be foolish of me to say that “I’d never go to Han again”, I guess what I will say is, “I’ll go to Han … but I’ll know deep down inside that Szechuan Chili is just as tasty, $1 per entree cheaper, with larger portions, and lets me feel like I’m truly supporting a family business” (whether or not that last bit is true is completely unknown to me). Next time you’re in West Philly, check it out. Just make sure you bring your wine from home, because the local PLCB (50th and Baltimore) absolutely blows. (They do have Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling in the refrigerated case, tho – a good standby for spicy foods).
Which brings us back to V-Day. The four of us cooked (cheese, charcuterie, salad, pork belly, pork chop, risotto, Fednuts, chocolates), drank (see below), talked, and laughed. While an at-home double-date is unconventional for a “Valentine’s Day” date, it’s everything we could have wanted on a made-up holiday like this …
Even though it’s a Hallmark holiday, we took it very seriously in the wine department. Our grape graveyard of the night featured a 2013 Illumination (personally flown back from CA by yours truly, as it’s hard to find on the east coast), a 2010 M. Etain (sold out in 48 hours to its mailing list customers upon offering in 2012 and now only available at a handful of retailers for a ridiculous up-charge), NV Pol Roger (wine of the Royal Wedding), and a NV Perrier Jouet (i.e. why-drink-Moet-if-you-drink-Jouet). While I know that none of these will make a master sommelier swoon, for non-bawlers like us, they were an excellent reminder that although we love our usual “weekday-warriors” and “cellar-defenders”, sometimes it’s nice to “treat yo’-self”.
Post-Holiday Catch-up
t says: Greetings everyone! How has it been this long since our last post!? In any case, I hope the holidays have treated you as well as they’ve treated me (lots of delicious food, with little return to the skipped meals and rushed Clif Bars that typically dominate my daily intake). It’s time to clear out the iPhone!
I got into the spirit of the holidays by constructing a Kale Chip Christmas Tree. Ok. No. Not really. It just happened to be a very tall pile of kale chips. Test assured that no kale was wasted in the construction of this holiday decoration (i.e. it was consumed within 24 hours by yours truly – I’m not sure if g even got a leaf).
On a trip to NYC, g kept telling me, “there’s this place that has pretzel croissants”. I was intrigued. Pretzel and croissant are two mutually exclusive things in my mind, with pretzels having a savory flavor and dense texture, while croissants are buttery-sweet and lighter-than-air. This was more like a savory take on a croissant, but they still got that pretzel flavor, which was impressive. Check it out! (City Bakery is a great place to people-watch).
For our NYC lunch, g took me to this cool restaurant called Freemans that’s tucked away in this alley around the corner from Soho. None of the pictures showed well, but what you see in front of you is a pineapple upside-down pancake as well as a delicious salad (guess which one of us got which). I have to say that if I had to own a restaurant, I’d love to own one like Freemans – the setting was cool, the food was delish – everything about it fit together really well. I’d be happy to try them for dinner sometime!
For dinner, we celebrated a’s 31st birthday at Maysville. There was a slew of tasty food that came out (above is ~1/3 of all the food) – so much that I can’t remember a single dish, specifically. It was funny because I felt that a Philly restaurant could totally pull off these well-constructed dishes like Maysville – it just turns out that I can’t think of any one in particular that’s riffing on Southern-inspired food like this – maybe Fat Ham? But it’s more modern than Fat Ham. In any case, it was the usual story of “delicious NYC food with high NYC prices”. Still – totally worth it – their bourbon selection was crazy!
Ah yes, the Good King Tavern. I had been wanting to go ever since g’s glowing review. Of course, she never wrote her glowing review, so it was unknown to the blog. But what we had was a wonderful execution of dishes that were really “something special” in the Philly brunch scene. For example, why have “home fries”, when you can have poutine fries with a mushroom gravy! So delicious.
Finally! Someone actually puts a reasonable amount of filling in a stuffed French toast! Blueberry and cream cheese – simple enough, right? But then why do so many people get it so wrong? Good King rocked out this dish.
g had no issues with the French Onion soup – it hit the spot – but I was kind of sad it didn’t come out in one of those classic crocks …
What’s a holiday season without at least one visit to Serpico? Underneath the scallion sauce and crusted white rice were some chili dumplings that totally blew my face off …
… much like the smorgasboard of vegetables … For something as innocuous-sounding as a “vegetable plate”, g and I happen to think it’s the finest display of cooked veggies in the city. Sure, it lacks the composure of Vedge’s plates, but if what you want is vegetables, come over here and share one with the table – you won’t be sorry. It’s an auto-order for us.
What is so poorly shot here is the Sirloin special. I mention it here only to say that that piece of meat was like 2 pounds. g and I split it and felt kinda-sorta-guitly-ashamed afterwards for eating so much cow. It might have won my Best Cow of 2014 award … (I’m not sure why they served salt on the side – it was perfectly seasoned as it was …)
Lo Spiedo was another new one for us. g and I met her parents there and buckled up for some “homey” Vetri food, and I have to say that we were quite impressed! Sure, there’s cornbread and ricotta …
… but the real star was this mess of meat that was the pork shoulder. With a single taste of it, I knew that Vetri had gone and absolutely destroed any pork shoulder I had ever made at home. It was so good that I have no idea what that other dish in the background was – I musta blacked out.
Whatever g got, it was obviously healthier than the slab of meat I was eating through …
Oh … but here it is – this is g’s favorite dish that I just can’t understand. It’s carrots. That’s right: it’s carrots. Sure, they’re roasted carrots, slathered in barbecue sauce, and topped with some kind of ?ranch?-ish aoili, but it’s still carrots … Nevertheless, I dare you to walk up to g one day and say, “hey g, tell me about Lo Spiedo’s carrots” – and she will immediately start drooling while telling you how amazing they are (watch for saliva spray). They’re good … but they’re carrots.
Obligatory dessert: apple pie. It’s a bit more savory than typical apple pie (more like an apple turnover, but the ice cream really helps it finish off your meal just right.
My parents love the 80’s . That was their hayday. So how could we not take them to Juniper Commons? As hokey as the “salad bar” was, they acutally got a kick out of it! And it allowed the rest of us to pick at their leftovers (like the beets!). The presentation reminded me a Korean banchan …
g went fettucine alfredo … which tasted exactly like fettucine alfredo. I was kind of expecting a more modern take, but I guess a well-executed cheese-and-pasta dish is good, too.
I killed this lobster roll – it was amazing. It was more like lobster with a side of bread and French Fries, which purists might claim is not what a lobster roll should be, but who cares? It was awesome! And I don’t even really like lobster! (I’m a crab guy).
my sis got the French Onion soup – now there’s a crock! My family got things like crab cakes and steak and were very happy with their meal. My dad even did the thing where he orders an “almost well done” steak and watches the kitchen struggle to make it so that the inside is brown, but the outside is not burnt. They took it in stride and produced a nicely cooked piece of meat. Of course, I don’t know if the microwave was used at all in its preparation, but who cares if it tastes good, right?
Having lc visit, we knew we had to take her to the Dandelion (she enjoys the British, that one). Raisin scones to start (not quite the butter-full scones at Talula’s Daily, but still good) …
followed by a slew of egg dishes. Ultimately, nothing too crazy went on here – all in all a very “restrained” brunching operation they have going on there.
Our last nice meal of the new year was a visit to Petruce et al. Holy crapballs – they killed it again – dish after dish. For the highlights, above is the short rib with kimchee and crusted rice ?cylinders?. It was a perfect adaptation of kalbi+kimchi+rice for white folk. Loved it. But perhaps the best tasting thing was the sweet potato with avocado dish. I wish I had a picture of it. But just envision it: sweet potato … and avocado … on top of eachother … intermingling their mushiness … I know that sounds weird, but the taste was incredible. Probably the most surprising dish I had of this entire photo-storm. I would go their every weekend (if my bank account could tolerate it …). Their winelist is still solid, too!
rando-pictures!
t says: It’s my fault. It’s not due to a lack of eating. It’s not due to a lack of photo-taking. It’s not even due to a lack of time to type. I’m not sure what’s gobbling up my time (it’s clearly not because Scrubs is now on hulu.com … ok … maybe it is …). Let’s play some catch-up:
While in SF, we went to Nopalito, where g had her most “craveable” meal. I mean, we ate a LOT of good things, but she chose this place when pushed (g confesses: I think it’s dumb when t asks me these questions, like, “what was your best meal?” – they were all fantastic meals – for different reasons – how do you choose? [t breaks in: ok “every-parent-ever”; “no I can’t choose between my children – I love them all the same – just differently] back to g: *rolls her eyes* whatever … anyways, I was telling t that when I look back, I’d definitely “crave” the food at Nopalito – it’s simple but it’s soooo good, and it’s not too fancy of a place, and the prices are reasonable and it’s not too much of a production when you get there – you pick up a menu, you order, and delicious food comes out! done!)! t takes over: so above is a seafood and avocado “soup”/gazpacho thing that was wonderful opposite the ?Brussels sprout quesadilla?. Yes. Brussels sprouts. In Quesadilla. Boom. Mind blown. Brain bits splattered on the wall behind you.
And of courrse, the carnitas, which is like the best tacos I could ever put together. Oh, and the empanada in the foreground? See all those bright colors. As good as it looks, it was 10 times better to taste. Gawd we love this place. g says: and it’s different than when we get “fancier” Tex/Mexican food in Philly. Our dishes weren’t “too heavy” or “too oily”. I mean this was heavier than Don Pepe that cm’s parent’s delivered, but it still was much lighter than here in Philly.
Oh yes … Griddle Fresh for brunch … first page of the menu blew my mind – I had no need to read anything else on the pages that followed.
green tea latte – exactly as you imagine it would taste. It did look like a milkshake, however, which was a funny incongruence with what it tasted like (it’s a warm drink).
This mess-of-a-dish was fabulous. I should incorporate more parm-reg in all of my morning breakfasts. The savory-salty note really helped me consume more sweet-juicy strawberries and syrup-laden French toast. Dangerous …
k had some issues with her pancakes. she asked if they were going to be “too cheesy”. The guy said “no – not at all – they’re pancakes”. I think the miscommunication centered around exactly how cooked through the marscapone/ricotta pancakes were going to be. It’s ok – they were delicious.
If your corned beef hash experiences are like mine, they are courtesy of a Hormel canned product … but not in California … where they use real corned beef slices and real potato chunks to make their hash. I swear cm must have had a whole cow’s worth of beef in this thing (don’t be fooled by the photo – it was a lot of hash – I’m pretty sure he had some leftover).
g went fruit + egg. No frills. Just fruit and an egg. Snoozeville, right? I agree. Well … just so long as she’s happy …
Dinner at Redd was “ok”. I mean, the food was good, and in line with what we’d expect to pay for fine dining in Napa. However, they didn’t quite nail the dishes as they did the first time we went. We missed the “spark”.
I have no idea where I ate this. I distinctly remembered “wanting to be healthy” … so I got a “salad”. Of course, it had these little pork cubes on the side – so as a “salad” and it was fabulous. I should routinely take some shreds of pork and fry them together into a chicken-nugget-like objects more often.
my name is t, and I have a problem. No, the problem is not alcoholism, the problem is that I only have 12 spaces in my wine-bottle-carrier for the airplane. Fortunately, I’m also a master probem-solver (we had to drink a bottle or two right then-and-there …).
kp has bigger problems than me. He lacks the 55-bottle wine fridge I have. So he had to perform a “draft” of which of his bottles were going to be stored in perfect conditions … and which ones were going to be in “near-perfect” 65-degrees of his SF apartment … cuz, you know, temperatures don’t really get much colder than that in SF … *looks out the window at the 27-degree weather outside right now in Philly*
We hit up brenda’s “Meat and Three”, which is probably kp’s most frequented restaurant/take-out. This is their watermelon sweet tea. Yes it’s outrageously good. Can’t believe I’ve gone this long without Snapple bottling this stuff. Sooooo good.
Imagine banana chocolate chip pancakes you might have had at Honey’s. And make them better. Like WAY better. Much fluffier, with a richer more buttermilky taste. I’m thankful my pants couldn’t expand anymore, otherwise I would eaten myself into insulin resistance.
Meanwhile … back in Philly … a and I hit up Zavino for lunch. Here they started off with a bang – a delicious “ricotta of the day” that was light and sproingy (“sproingy”? is that a word? is it onomatopoiea? sure, why not?) Not as decadent as Barbuzzo, but at least they give you ample bread …
Also had top-notch meatballs – I was afraid the sauce was going to be too sweet, but these were solid.
And now: bacon pizza … BACON PIZZA. Slam dunk, right? WRONG. a and I can’t figure out what went wrong. It had bacon and onion and arugula. But it just couldn’t get itself together. It also had some pickle on it, which made it weird – it made it come off like “all-the-toppings-you’d-want-on-a-burger-but-no-burger”. Weird. We won’t be ordered that again. We missed the ‘Stache pizza. Teaches us for committing to “trying something new”.
As I’ve been eating out a lot, my waistline is growing. It was hard to notice because I spend so much time in pants with drawstrings … but it was noticed! As a result, I had to miss out on a bakesale. How good could the “Ultimate Bake Shop Triple Choc Cake” be? I don’t know.
g and I hit up Pizzeria Vetri the other day as well. The salad was an interesting concoction of cauliflower, kale, raisins, etc. I felt like it was the best thing we ate!
This cinnamon-roll-looking thing was actually dough, rolled up with a layer of prosciutto and topped with nuts. It’s funny because all of the visual cues and proprioceptive cues (like the feeling of the fork as I was cutting it) and textural cues were that of a cinnabon … but it tasted like meat and nuts. So bizarre. It didn’t stop me from finishing it.
g loved the pizza. Personally, I felt like it was a little sweet, but she loved the fennel-on-fennel-sausage combo. She housed it.
But for me – I saved room for one of the most delicious affogatos ever. Affogato made with soft-serve? Yes please!
Ok, so now my iPhoto is all caught up. Hooray! Now I feel far less guilty about not updating the blog. Ahhhhh. I’ll be sure to try and keep up with the holiday eating season. It’s tough, but I’m up for the challenge.
Happy Anniversary [To Us!]
t says: Four years ago, we (g & t) went on our first food-centric outing with a & v. We chose Modo Mio, as we heard about this “great tasting menu option” … and it was FABULOUS. Fast forward 4 years, and here we found ourselves: four friends, with a helluvalotta good food and stories. And guess what: Modo Mio is still killing it:
November 2014, Friday Dinner, Party of 4. The challenge of the evening was: “who could eat the most eggs?” You’ll see what I mean in a second …
My appetizer was the chestnut crepes. It was amazing. To this day, I couldn’t tell you what was in it, but I was amazed. I remember thinking to myself, “this is kind of like breakfast … but boy am I happy to have it now at dinner.”
There were lots of fried eggs topping a lot of the dishes. Consequently, we have no idea what was under each …
And here’s another fried egg! We swear the things under the fried eggs were great. one was a lasagna, while another was a “special appetizer” featuring some other vegetable concoction. Darn. I wish we wrote down notes …
Another special, this wrapped up thing included a variety of veggies and meats that I remember wishing they would have put together with a normal noodled pasta (or something thicker like a lasagna noodle – but overall, the flavors were spot on.
I remember that v got the papparedelle, which included mushrooms and chicken liver. The pasta and chicken livers were both fantastic – we hope that the mushrooms were acceptable to v.
No wait … THIS was the lasagna … right? No? I’m so confused …
gnocchia and shortrib … classic …. delicious.
My pulled pork was “like a roast pork sandwich …”. Except even better. I don’t know how they treated it, but it was so incredibly savory and sweet at the same time – but not like a “sugary” sweet. Gawd – is there any animal tastier than pig?
ah, yes – a steak hides underneat that egg. g demolished it. it’s always good here – but don’t think something like a refined piece of meat cooked perfectly medium rare, meant to stand alone – this is a fixed-up piece of meat with a ton of additions.
a went for the veal as his main. It was one of the best veal parms I’ve ever had!
You know – I know we’re light on details – so sue us. But know that the meal was fabulous. The price was right (did I mention it was BYO?) And we’ll go on recommending it friends and family alike … just so long as they bring us with them when they go …
knead bagels – like a caterpillar waiting to pupate
t says: Sooo, I was a little bored-and-hungry after work the other day, and, having read all about the coverage on foobooz, decided to venture on out to Knead Bagels.
November 2014, Thursday Morning, All by Myself. It was a quaint little operation they had going on there.
the counter-person in action …
Now, there is some be some sort of bohemian anti-efficiency clause in Philadelphia – like you can’t open up a cool-but-quick place to eat – it must be the least efficient, most confusing process ever. Now, I realize that this was only their secon day open, however, I foresee an operation very similar to Spread Bagelry and Rotisseur. You go in, place an order; they work on the order, and then when it’s ready, it comes back out to you. Simple, right? Kinda. But this arrangement is fragile. Take Spread for example – you walk in and place an order. That order gets put in line while some suer-cool dude with his hair tied back takes his sweet time cooking eggs whilst singing along to whatever’s playing on overhead. But of course, your order then needs to be proof’d by the person who took your order before it goes out … but that takes away from her ability to continue taking orders … oh and did I mention the pick-up and order-taking occurs at the same place? The result is a giant cluster-storm, as the line extends out the door. Oh – and because the customers tend to be quite the self-entitled Rittenhouse type, the idea of a “line” eventually breaks down and it’s a free-for-all with people huffing-and-puffing, rolling their eyes, coppin’ ‘tude, and placing orders out of turn). If only Spread’s bagels weren’t so damn good, I would have written them off a long time ago (btw – be careful – their inefficiency at keeping track of fresh vs. not-fresh bagels means I got a super-stale most-likely-day-old one – I would have gone back to exchange, but the ginormous line of Lululemon gear and tight-jeans made me too self-conscious about creating too big a scene). Ok, so we’ll see if Knead Bagels also has the same systems issues. I will say that Rotisseur, after many-a-months, did manage to streamline their operation – they can keep up with the lunch rush without issues now – so there is some hope!
Now, as for the bagels. What did I think? Well, I tried the togarashi-scallion-lime as well as the black-sesame-kimchi. You know – I can say they were “ok”. The flavors were great! But ultimately, I was underwhelmed. I couldn’t figure out why. So I thought: these flavor combinations are something that I’d expect in a small plate of some sort at a restaurant – not a huge bagel. Consequently, to have the staying power to last through a full bagel, balance is more of an issue. While they were tasty at first (probably because of the novelty), I grew a bit tired of them after a few bites – there’s just something about having that much cream cheese that was distracting. If only there was a way to put more flavor in the bagel, and let the cream cheese be more of an accent. For example, what if instead I had a scallion-onion bagel with togarashi-lime cream cheese? Or a garlic-kimchi bagel with a sesame spread? I don’t know if it can be done, but if it could, I’d totally get those again. Now, there is a bagel that was on my radar that needs to be sampled because it sounds awesome (spiced apricot, lemon-goat-cheese spread) – so I’ll be back. We’ll see how they fair on round 2.
after dinner sneeze 