Archive for the ‘in Philadelphia’ Category
Sampan: Quite the Center City Steal
t says: It was the Saturday before Valentine’s Day, so that means several things. 1) It’s cold (as a matter of fact, the city is still recovering from the ?20? inches of snow it weathered 3 days ago, and bracing for another storm on Monday). 2) It’s a great excuse to eat dinner out. 3) Every restaurant and their mother will be offering fixed price menus at absolutely absurd prices. For instance, Fork, which has been around a while and recently got 3 bells from LaBan somehow got away with a 3 course dinner – 1 of which is dessert – at a price tag of $70 excluding tax/tip/beverage. I don’t care if they had 23 bells – at $70 pp, it better be Vetri-good! Thus, g and I do our best to avoid obligatory fixed price shenanigans. Enter Sampan.
Sampan is a relatively new Philadelphia restaurant helmed by Michael Schulson (of the TV show Pantry Raid and the well-received “modern Japanese pub” in Atlantic City called Izakaya). This restaurant featuring “modern Asian small plates” sounded like a good idea, but with so many poor (e.g. Pod) and good-but-not-great (e.g. Chifa) modern takes on Asian cuisine in the city, I was wary – would this be just another white-guy-who-does-“Asian-inspired”-food? I figured that if he did well with Izakaya (so I’ve read – I’ve never been), then surely he could do it again. So I booked the opentable reservation and let it be a surprise for g (she likes that sort of thing).
2/2010, Saturday Dinner, Party of 2. We walk in the door and it is packed! Every table is full, the bar is two people thick the entire way around, and there is a line to the hostess. When I do get to her for our 9:30pm reservation, she was only somewhat polite but told us that they were running a half-hour behind (but really didn’t direct us towards the bar or a waiting area or offer to take our coats … g was not impressed to say the least). If it wasn’t Valentine’s Day weekend, we would have gone elsewhere – but because we could potentially run into a bad fixed price menu (or a similar wait time), we opted to stand around and look hungry (politely of course – I’m sure some diners were just taking too long to leave). Our conversation topics included the following: “What do you think they’ll comp for us?”, “Do you think that’s her dad or her date?”, and “Do you think that’s Michael Schulson?” (it was – he came out to greet the dad/date personally – that patron must have been someone important). After 37 minutes passed, we were led to our table, but we had our happy faces on, because in a situation like this, we just don’t think any good can come from being irate patron (we didn’t want any additional saliva in our food) .
We were given a drink menu, and, after we were CARDED, g went for a glass of Albarino, while I opted for a half carafe of the “Flower in the Wind” sake (not being a sake aficionado, I was suckered by a flavor description including peach and strawberry). g felt that her wine was reminiscent of alcoholic grape juice (which means she liked it) – I felt that it was a little warm and may have been out for a day or so, so it wasn’t very bright. The sake on the other hand was delicious: smooth, surprisingly fruity and creamy, but not overpowering; neither g nor I have ever had such a fruity sake. Its playfulness went well with a lot of what we ate.
After an introduction to the menu by our waiter (who named his favorite dish from each of the categories of foods), we were advised that 3-4 plates per person was recommended. g and I decided that we were going to completely ignore his advice and order whatever we wanted to try (of which only 1 was a dish he referenced). We settled on 1 plate from 5 (of the ?7?) categories on the menu. “Hot”: Pork Bahn Mi, “Cold”: Yellowtail Sashimi, “Salad”: Chicken Bim Bim Bap (an odd category for this dish), “Noodles”: Pad Thai, “Sides”: Crispy Brussels Sprouts.
The Yellowtail Sashimi hit the table first. The five reasonably-sized pieces of fish were accompanied by arugula, 2 strips of bacon (“she’s got jungle fever, she’s got jungle fever …” – anyone get this Scrubs reference?), and “pear kimchi” (not likely pickled in kimchi sauce, rather, lightly tossed). To be honest, the fish was good, but easily overpowered by the bacon and arugula. Additionally, there was some sort of green sauce on the fish(almost like an arugula puree – but I could be wrong – maybe I was just still tasting the arugula from prior bites), so I didn’t get as much yellowtail flavor that I love. The pear kimchi was the shining star of this dish – it was sweet and spicy and great in combination with the bacon and arugula. It reminded me of the momofuku recipe (awesome cookbook) where David Chang tosses apple cubes in a puree of kimchi and couples them with bacon and arugula. Had Schulson’s dish been constructed differently (i.e. put the greens, bacon, and kimchi-fruit together – give me straight up fish on the side) , it would have been a hit.
The next dish was the Pork Banh Mi. I don’t know what this dish is traditionally supposed to be, but Schulson’s take is delicious. We were served what looked like a wrapped up hoagie from Wawa (except replace the white masking tape with blue painters’ tape). When we unwrapped the present, what we found was a delightfully golden roll (crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, just as a hoagie roll should be) that was filled with slices of tender pork belly, finely shredded cucumber and carrot, and some sort of sweet/spicy/tangy sauce (that almost tasted ?cheesy? too). I’m not exactly sure how these components added up to what my mouth experienced, but all I can say is that it was heaven in a hoagie roll. If you gave me one of these next to a Tony Luke Steak Italian (with rabe of course!), it would actually be an impossible decision for me to make – they’re both good in the same exact way! Something about the banh mi was, as I like to tell g, “soul-satisfying”, making me feel that what I’m eating is doing more than just flooding my tastebuds and filling my stomach. I noted that it’s not the absolute best-tasting thing I’ve ever eaten – but there’s just something about experiencing those flavors as a sandwich and eating it with my hands that just hits the spot (g: “I believe the word you’re looking for is scrumptious). I hope you feel the same when you eat it, too.
The Crispy Brussels Sprouts and Pad Thai came next. The brussels sprouts were caramelized very well (although perhaps the largest pieces could have used a few more seconds in the heat to be just a little more tender) and accompanied by cilantro, salt (?fish sauce?), spice (?chile?), and acid (?touch of vinegar?). g liked the dish a lot but felt that it could have used a little less salt; I thought it was fabulous (I <3 salt). While it was an awesome take on brussels sprouts (that would have been a great side to have with the pork bahn mi), something struck me as familiar – I later found a recipe that I had used from the Momofuku cookbook for Brussels sprouts that seems very close to what Sampan had (including sprouts, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, chiles, cilantro, and mint). That said, Sampan’s was superior to my own attempt (likely because of they’re superior cooking skills). As for the pad thai, I found it a little sweet (kind of like how ketchup is sweet), nevertheless, the noodles were cooked perfectly (I hate mushy pad thai), and the heat was inviting, not discouraging. Perhaps this was a lighter, appetizer-esque pad thai, in lieu of the normal peanutty, savory entree-esque pad thai that I’m used to (e.g. at Lemongrass in West Philly). g liked it very much (she’s like standard pad thai, too), and wouldn’t hesitate to order it again.
Finally, the chicken bim bim bap came to the table (after they reset our dishes and silverware). When I think of [“soul-satisfying”] bim bim bap, I think of dolsot bim bim bap, which features a hot stone bowl (which browns the rice and cooks the egg), veggies, a little meat, and a savory and spicy sauce to meld together all the components. I forgot that bim bim bap can also be done cold (which I still like), in which case the raw egg acts like a binder. Schulson made some tweaks. The egg was cooked sunny side up (or maybe it was over easy, I forget) before it came to the table, and the bowl was a standard serving bowl, so I imagine the intention was for it to be like a cold bim bim bap. The rice was a little stiff (like it had been placed in a box and cooled before serving. The veggies, sauce, meat, rice, and egg were mixed for us tableside by the server (I kind of wanted to do that, myself). The end result was reminiscent of the classic mish-mash of bim bim bap, however, the sauce caught me offguard once again as not having the savory and spice I’m used to, rather, a bit of sweet. That said – everything still tasted very good – just don’t expect old world Korean if you order it. While I’m 100% sure that my grandfather is definitely not going to be hunched over a bowl of this bim bim bap, aggressively attacking it with his chopsticks, lips smacking, and sweat building on his forehead, the average diner at Sampan (just so long as you’re ok with runny egg yolk) will probably greatly appreciate this version (g liked both this dish and the pad thai a lot!). In retrospect, it seems like Schulson is purposefully reinventing dishes to make them light and fun.
For dessert, g was stuffed, so I ordered the Sampan equivalent of a molten lava cake. Now, I’m a sucker for this genre of desserts, and tonight’s was in the top 3 that I’ve had (Number 1 is Morton’s Godiva flourless lava cake – there’s something about it where I will eat it, risking rupturing my stomach, no matter how full I am). BUT – it’s not “normal”. For starters, instead of cake, he opted for a light and airy hemisphere of milk chocolate mousse that rests on top of a disk of dense chocolate cake. The ‘lava’ is somehow suspended in the mousse and does spill out upon piercing the hemisphere. The end result is a decadent AND light chocolate dessert that makes you happy at the end of your meal without pushing you over the edge risking organ damage. This was accompanied by a ‘cookie’ (i.e. a super-thin wafer) and a smear of raspberry that was unfortunately so thin and stuck to the plate that I couldn’t scoop it up with my cake to taste any! My only criticisms with the dessert (aside from not being able to sample the raspberry smear) is that the lava could have been just a smidge darker chocolate (to foil with the sweeter milk chocolate mousse) and also a tiny bit thicker in consistency so that it could would be easier to spoon up after it spills onto your plate (I had contemplated licking the plate in order to recover that which I couldn’t retrieve with my spoon). Now I know this sounds like the dessert was a “miss”, but trust me, it was delicious – I’m just being overly critical.
Finally, to close our meal, our waiter came over and informed us that he was sorry for our wait. Because of this, he said that the restaurant would like to comp our dessert and my sake. g and I appreciated this generosity very much, but, while we joked about it between ourselves, we neither expected nor even thought that such an action was warranted – it was a busy night – no excuses needed. In any case, this act proved to us the gracious attitude of Sampan, and I hope that their hospitality takes them far in this city. I also hope that they can retain it if they do get some critical acclaim, as no one likes a pretentious restaurant.
I want to note that having some of our bill comped is NOT the reason why I think that Sampan is a steal. With alcohol and tax, our total tab would have been $79 (and I still had a substantial amount of sake left – they give so much more here than at Fuji Mountain) – it was $61 without the EtOH (i.e. less than a SINGLE person’s fixed price at Fork! shazam!) The “small plates” (or at least the ones we enjoyed the most) were huge for being “small”. I feel that if you want to eat on the cheap for two people (and can share nicely), get the sprouts ($6), the bahn mi ($9), a noodle (~$12), and a dessert ($8), and for the price of a single restaurant week dinner, you can get a quantity of food that two people should be eating at a single dinner. Of course, if you’re like us, you’ll end up over-eating every time you eat out, but even if you add another vegetable or app-ish plate (the server was REALLY pushing those wonton tacos for $10), or, if you’re really hungry, another noodle, that’s still very reasonable for what’s supposed to be “modern Asian” food in Philly (Pod, Buddakan, and Chifa are WAY more expensive for this quantity of food). Compared to my favorite “small plates” restaurant, Amada, the food at Sampan might be nearly as good (“nearly” because I have certain expectations when it comes to Asian-esque foods – so I’m not on board with all of Schulson’s tweaks – but his very best dishes just might go toe-to-toe with Amada’s best), and it’s far easier to eat plenty and be happy without going broke.
Village Whiskey: Best Fries in the City?
g says: After months of trying to find a time when there was not a 2 hour wait at Jose Garces’ latest venture, we finally made our way there for lunch today– we were at the bar, but we still made it! At last, we would be able to taste for ourselves the storied burgers and duck fat fries, and even try a little whiskey.
We were surprised by how narrow the place is; I guess it seemed larger from the outside in warmer months when they have outdoor seating to accommodate the throngs of folks wanting to check out how the newest Iron Chef makes a burger. But no matter, we were in and not moving until our mission was accomplished.
To drink, we shared a classic old fashioned, which was refreshing and had a nice balance of bitter/sweet. For our lunch, we split the following: deviled eggs, Village Burger with cheddar and caramelized onions, and short rib and cheddar fries.
Our deviled eggs were decent — unlike any that I have experienced before, as they seemed to include chopped pickles in the filling. I did feel that the batch served to us were oversalted, so not the best I have eaten. But, I am a bit of a deviled egg snob, so I wouldn’t discourage anyone from trying them out for his or herself at some point.
The Village Burger is aptly named, as this thing could have fed an entire village. The couple seated to my left actually exclaimed when they received theirs, “This is the biggest burger I’ve ever seen!” Luckily, we saw a few come out of the kitchen before ordering so we knew that splitting one between us would be just right for us. Our medium burger was cooked nicely, and definitely made it into my top 5 list of best burgers ever. I know that t is still talking about that Supper burger from a few months ago, but I feel that is an unfair comparison, as that was a brisket burger, and the Village Burger was made of a ground beef more familiar to my classic burger taste.
The short rib and cheddar fries were delicious! See further comments by t below.
The verdict — I would absolutely come back, especially with friends who have not been before (and I will have to make up for the fact that we went without my mom. Sorry, Mom — I promise to make it up to you). Every once in a while I have a classic burger craving, which I believe VW could handily satisfy on any day. However, I think that I would more frequently come in just for the short rib fries, some dessert (the three on their menu sounded incredible, though we were both far too full to try) and a drink. It made for an amazing Saturday afternoon, and I was really pleased with our lunch as a whole.
t says: 2/2010, Saturday Lunch, Party of 2 [at the extension of the bar, facing a wall]. Yes, it was time to experience what the infamous food critic Craig Laban (of the Philadelphia Inquirer) claims is the best burger in Philadelphia. Now, g and I are not huge burger eaters, so we don’t [yet] have a huge repertoire with which to compare/contrast the food at Village Whiskey – but we have had one remarkable burger (and deviled eggs and fries) at Supper on South Street. Given my competitive nature (thanks, mom), it should not surprise you that I [not so] secretly modeled our selections to mirror what Supper had offered.
While I completely agree with g’s description of the burger and eggs, in the end, someone has to be the bad cop; I’m the bad cop. My conclusion: VW’s burger just can’t compete with the sheer flavor and texture of Supper’s burger (VW’s was a little “crumbly”). Personally, I also preferred Supper’s outside-the-box deviled eggs (we STILL put Sriracha sauce in our deviled eggs) to VW’s take (I’m not a huge fan of dill/pickle). Keep in mind that while I praise Supper here, our dinner there wasn’t flawless, either (you can see my critical analysis in the page “Oh the places we’ve gone”).
We also had VW’s short rib cheddar fries. They were amazing (why didn’t -I- think of such a dish – I love short rib!). I feel that they were the saving grace of the meal (not that the rest of the meal was bad – it was quite good – it just didn’t blow me away). The short rib and cheddar fries were served to our [tiny] counter next in a hot Staub cast iron platter. It looked amazing: big, beautiful chunks of tender short rib among well-cheesed (i.e. not just on top), golden fries. The meat was tasty, and the cheese wasn’t overwhelming. The contrasting textures between the cheese, short rib, and potato was fantastic – this was no puddle of mush. I don’t think I’ve seen fries prepared with short rib before, and the result was the most delicious homage to potato that I have ever encountered. That said, an order of these fries is substantial enough to stand alone – this ain’t no side dish.
Finally, I do want to mention that after eating 3 deviled egg halves, 1 burger, and 1 dish of fries (and that old-fashioned), g and I were stuffed from 2pm all the way until 9:30pm. I was uncomfortably stuffed for at least 3 hours, and by our 9:30 reservation at Sampan (see our review for details of that meal), I still wasn’t starving. So my advice is don’t be fooled by this gourmet “burger joint” – it’s easy to get full.
Oh the places we’ve gone …
We were trying to become foodies long before deciding to start a blog. We kept track of our experiences at a lot of restaurants through the reservation-making website opentable.com. Unfortunately, they impose a very low character limit (which actually was one of the primary reasons we started this blog – limitless space!). We’ve copy-pasted these reviews (actually, they’re mostly t’s impressions) below so both we and readers will be able to remember and know the places we went in the pre-blog era.
Some of the more recent visits will migrate into actual posts. We’ll also try to add on several other reviews of restaurants we’ve visited for which we did not provide an opentable review – our memories will likely be fuzzy, which is most definitely a shame, as we kind of wished we had recorded those experiences to revisit. It’s funny how sometimes we even forget the things we swore we’d never forget …
29 Jan 2010. Tinto. Fri, 8:30pm, Party of 4, Restaurant week. I find that Jose Garces restaurants are among the only ones that perform very well during restaurant week in Philadelphia; go with a group ready to share and you’re guaranteed a fun time. There were too many dishes for me to evaluate – highlights included sea bass (cooked perfectly), mussels, and the cheeses. Meats were done well – nothing extraordinary, but good. While not every dish was mind-blowing, everything was consistent; I still prefer Amada (guess I’m a sucker for flat bread and bolder flavors). Also, the red sangria was better than usual!
20 Nov 2009. Supper. Fri, Dinner, Party of 2. We were searching specifically for an excellent burger, especially after visiting Devil’s Alley the weekend before. The hostess, waitress, and support staff were all excellent: prompt and pleasant. We started off with the deviled eggs of the day, a sampler including one each of truffled, sriracha, tandoori, and bacon. While all were unique, well-executed, and tasty, the siracha one was AMAZING. The charcuterie plate wasn’t to-die-for like at Vetri, but respectable. We each had the Supper Burger (which ended up being a mistake – we only needed one to satiate us). For only $14 we got perhaps the best burger I had ever had! It was fancy, but not too fancy; it still had soul. It’s our new standard by which to measure all other burgers. Now if only their charcuterie plate was better and they started being BYO …
13 Sep 2009. Chifa. Sun, Dinner, Party of 4, Restaurant Week. Unfortunately, for me, this is the weakest of the Garces restaurants that I’ve visited (Amada, Tinto, Distrito, Chifa). If Asian flavors are new to you, then this place may pack enough novelty to warrant a visit. It’s tough to do soups and curries as sharable food items, which is supposed to be the theme of this small plates restaurant. That said, Chifa does a dynamite ceviche – perhaps the best I’ve had in the city – somehow the super-bright citrus comes out just enough to balance, and not overtake the fish – amazing. My second favorite dish was the fabled pork buns – I think they’re a little overhyped (I’m sure Momofuku will blow these out of the water – I’ll let you know if/when I ever get to go), but they are at least “very tasty”, with a good amount of salt and sweet and savory, in a package you hold in your hands.
01 Aug 2009. Zahav. Sat, Dinner, Party of 3. We opted for the tasting menu x 3. The multiple course “salads” (a variety of pickled and lightly sauced vegetables) and choice of hummus were an excellent way to start the meal – a multitude of unfamiliar but delicious tastes. The rest of the dishes were all very good, but nothing was really mind-blowing with either big/unexpected flavors (which is surprising given how unfamiliar I am with this cuisine), rather, a lot of subtle flavors. The raw ground lamb was only “ok”, while the standouts were the lamb kibbe and some sort of melted cheese concoction (sorry, I forgot which meat was featured). My dessert which featured baklava and panne cotta was dynamite – I wish the whole meal went like that one dessert. The service was adequate, but our waiter wasn’t personable and didn’t look me in the eyes once, almost exuding arrogance. The wine list was ok, but I’d like it more if it were BYO or offered more Israeli wines by the glass. Because it’s not, and the food by itself wasn’t consistently mind-blowing, I’d really only go back with good company. (N.B. I did go back for lunch in January 2010 and the food and service were much improved.)
28 Jul 2009. Distrito. Tue, Dinner, Party of 4, Restaurant Week. This was my second visit to Distrito, and it was even better than I remember. However, I advise that you order a nice mix of super-tasty dishes with others that will provide more ‘filling’. For instance, we ordered ceviches and scallops (which were executed perfectly), but foiled it with orders of guacomole and short rib flatbread (which were also delicious but had larger portions). The rosemary orange margarita was delicious. (I apparently forgot what I had for dessert, but I’m sure it was as good as the rest of the meal.)
09 Jul 2009. Fig & Olive – Meatpacking. NYC. Thu, Dinner, Party of 2. They have a great selection of olive oils (they offer three when you first sit down). The wine list was not huge, but the wines they did offer were VERY good. The charcuterie plate was delicious and worked well with the included fig-olive tapenade (I find some tapenades a little too strong). For dinner, we had filet and lamb (with sides of spinach and olive oil mash) – they were good, but definitely did NOT shine through as the best ever entrees we’ve had – the seasoning was a little off (some too salty, others bland). Service was excellent. I would say that this would be an EXCELLENT place to go if you made a meal of the wine, appetizers, and smaller plates – pass on the entrees. From where we sat, it seemed like they have a great bar scene (and a nice open space) given the location and excellent snack-esque offerings.
21 Jun 2009. Little Fish. Sun, Dinner, Party of 3 (FTC), $28 5-course meal. Food was tasty – everything was superbly executed – the chef knows how to cook seafood. However, I would have appreciated it had they pushed the creative boundaries a little more, which I’m not sure is the goal of Little Fish. For them, it’s more ’safe’, (although is cooking seafood really “safe” given the slim margin of error?) g thinks that I’m being too harsh and that every dish she had was superb. Service was top-notch. As critical as I was, I must admit that a 5-course, $28 meal is a superb value!
24 May 2009. The Melting Pot. Atlantic City. Sat, Lunch, Party of 2. We went during memorial day weekend – it was empty. Service was very good – it has to be given that the format of the restaurant. I feel that the price of the food was a bit higher than warranted – however, the price of the food is in line with the polished interior design and well-stocked wine list (including half-bottles). So, either the food needs to be better, or everything else needs to come down. Keep in mind that the food wasn’t bad. We had the swiss cheese fondu which was tasty, however, the vegetable assortment was a little bare, and adding some fruits as well as toasting the bread (for a little more flavor than plain bread) would have been nice. The ‘French quarter’ entree fondu was ok – but the spices overpowered the meat. I guess for a gimicky chain, it was “not bad”.
25 Apr 2009. Cochon. Sat, Dinner, Party of 3 (FTC). We went to Cochon before it joined opentable.com, thus I have no written review. I’m trying to piece together what we had from emails in order to capture why it was SUCH a great meal. Cochon is small and cozy. We were seated close to the “kitchen” and were intrigued by the aromas that came forth. The appetizer I remember the most is the escargots – they were tender and full of flavor; the sauce was the most delicious garlic-based sauce I have ever had. We ordered three different pork dishes, 2 of which came from the menu (one was a tenderloin), and one of which was a special (24-hour Berkshire Pork Shoulder with a Mushroom Madeira Sauce). I actually remember asking the waitress if she preferred the pork shoulder or some lamb special – she recommended the pork without hesitation. This pork was the best pork I had ever had. The tender texture of the meat and silky texture of the sauce was a one-two punch that completely overshadowed the two other dishes. Part of the reason why I can’t remember what else we ate is likely due to how strong a memory I have of just that pork shoulder. (N.B. Even by the time we started afterdinnersneeze, it’s STILL the best pork I’ve ever had).
17 Apr 2009. Chifa. Fri, Dinner, Party of 4. For anyone who is already familiar with Asian-fusion dishes, the cuisine at Chifa will not blow you away with uniqueness. So, while the dishes were all “good”, nothing really made me sit up and take note. Service and ambiance were as they should be for a Garces restaurant. Unfortunately, of the four that I’ve been to (Amada, Tinto, Distrito), this one is my least favorite (but it’s not “bad”). Interestingly, the noise level was low, but that might have been because the restaurant was surprisingly empty! Maybe it’ll be louder for you! (N.B. I revisited Chifa in September 2009 and, while the food was better, it still can’t outdo the other three small plate Garces joints.)
21 Mar 2009. Ruth’s Chris Steak House – Philly. Sat, Dinner, Party of 2. This Ruth’s Chris is rather stuffy (vs the one in AC) with the diners being either older or families. The food was tasty – nothing special or earth-shattering (I still stand by the lamb as their best dish) – very nearly on par with Morton’s in taste/texture (although inferior in presentation and service). Although the waiter was intially far too eager to ‘help’ with our drink order – he stopped after we demonstrated our wine knowledge (all you have to do is pimp them on Bordeaux vintages). All in all, the food is good for a steak-house chain, but maybe not worth the price, as I’d probably choose an inventive Philly BYOB to it any day. But if you want a no-frills steak (or lamb!), I have no beef with Ruth’s Chris.
13 Feb 2009. Bistro St. Tropez. Fri, Dinner, Party of 2. We were hoping that this restaurant would be a hidden gem among Philadelphia restaurants. It was not. The menu mentioned reasonably priced entrees that sounded very good, however, when the food arrived at the table, I was completely underwhelmed. Technically, the dishes included all of the ingredients listed in the menu, and everything seemed like it was cooked ok, but there was no soul in the food. For instance, meat can taste like meat or it can taste like meat. When I eat out, every dish MUST be better than what I can make at home if given access to those ingredients. This expectation was not met. I do want to mention that its location is both weird (it’s in a building of showrooms) and cool (the views of the river at night are phenomenal). The decor was ridiculous (in a bad way). Why can’t a good restaurant (preferably BYO) move in here?
Ancient History:
Morimoto. Great food, although pricey for what it was. The fish was superb. The atmosphere is unique and definitely is a place to go at least once (or more if someone else is paying).
Morton’s. I’ve been here a number of times throughout high school and college, and it’ll stand in my mind as having the best “classic” steak. Nowadays, I’m more into “unique” foods, so I don’t know when the next time I’ll go will be. Their flourless Godiva chocolate lava cake still stands as the best lava cake I have ever had.
Django. When I first came to Philadelphia, this BYO was tauted as “the best” in the city, having received four bells from Craig LaBan. By the time I got there, it was supposedly “on its way out” as the owners Sikora and Olexy had moved on (I had just missed them!). Nevertheless, those meals we had at Django in 2005 and early 2006 were some of the best we had ever had in Philadelphia (on par with the best dishes we’ve had at Bibou and Cochon). That said, Django did slowly decline over time, eventually closing its doors in either late 2008 or early 2009. May it rest in peace.
The Helmand. Having spent some time in Baltimore (early 2000’s), I had the great fortunate of visiting some of the best restaurants (with the exception of the Charleston – the one that got away). In the end, the Helmand is the one that I remember the most fondly. Completely unpretentious (no fancy plating, no weird cuts of meat, no bizarre techniques), it served the best food in Baltimore. It’s been several years since I left, but I hope it’s still going strong.
Towson Best and Sushi Hana. In Towson, MD are these two Asian restaurants. One is a chinese takeout joint that also does sushi, while the other specializes primarily in sushi. Towson Best has some of the best fake Chinese food you’ll ever have (this is not being sarcastic at all – it really does taste delicious!). Go for the “Veal Mimosas with Orange Lest” (a funny typo on their menu) or any of the fried chickens (e.g. General Tso’s, Orange, or Sesame), and I’d like to see you try and stop yourself from eating yourself into a food coma. Couple this with some nice rolls (Dragon Roll, Red Phoenix Roll, Birthday Roll), and what you have is a very satisfying meal. I mention Sushi Hana only because some might criticize Towson Best as maybe not having enough turnover to consistently have the freshest sushi (although I’ve never had a problem). For these critics, I suggest Sushi Hana around the corner – but you won’t get the awesome fake Chinese food!
after dinner sneeze 