Archive for the ‘Restaurant Reviews’ Category
A Cupcake Pitstop
t says: Yes, right now there is some friction about the cupcake trucks in Philly. But in the words of a great television star, “Hell, I don’t know who to believe!”. BUT – I realize that I don’t really care just so long as the cupcakes are good. And today … I finally put up the Buttercream Cupcake truck to the test – it just happened to be on my way home!
And how were the cupcakes? Well, they have more than just cupcakes …
Let’s do the cupcakes first. Overall, they weren’t that bad – but not the best either. The texture of the red velvet and chocolate cupcakes were a little crumby/crumbly, which isn’t my style of cupcake (but for some reason, a lot of Philly cupcakes are like this!). I felt the Red Velvet didn’t really have that luscious flavor you’d get from someplace like Brown Betty’s – and the cream cheese icing was a little more on the light-and-creamy side than the cream-cheese-decadent side (which I prefer). So if you like a Red Velvet cake that you could eat two of, then this one will probably do just fine (I suppose I want one that’s so rich that I couldn’t possibly eat two no matter the circumstance). As for the chocolate one, I was happy with the ganache, but couldn’t quite get past the crumbiness.
Then there was that yellow cupcake. But this was no ordinary yellow cupcake. It was actually a banana cupcake with a nutella buttercream, and I believe it was the best of the three. The cake was light and fluffy and spongey, with a hint of banana with just a dash of nutella in the icing. It was a nice-and-playful cupcake (which I realize is what I didn’t like about the Red Velvet above – but here I like it!). It was light enough so that I suspect that g might even like the banana one (when she gets home – muhuhahahaha).
But what is the other thing in the foreground? Well, that is a chocolate pie with a peanut-butter cream topping and swirls of chocolate ganache. The filling is delicious … just so long as you like straight up chocolate, peanut butter, and sugar (which I do). I only wish the crust was a little darker – it looked a little anemic. For the most part it was a run-of-the-mill crust as far as I could tell – the filling was the star of this dessert. I’d recommend it as much as the banana-nutella cupcake – which is both good and bad. On one hand, I like the pie thingee, but on the other, why can’t someone give me some cupcakes as good as kara’s?
Maybe when g gets home, she’ll blog her opinion …
One Fish, Two Fish, Tile Fish, Coffee Cake …
t says: g and I celebrated her bday with a trip to Little Fish. Why Little Fish? Well, we were looking for a place that was new to us and BYO. Technically, we had gone to Little Fish once before, BUT, we hadn’t gone since it closed and re-opened in its new digs – so it was kind of like a new restaurant!!! We also had a bottle of Illumination from Quintessa that we acquired during our visit to Napa – and what better way to make it the star of the evening than to have a bunch of fish!? Finally, when we saw the pricepoint of the menu, we knew that Little Fish is a little expensive to make it just a random-weekend-dinner – at nearly $30 per entree, there needs to be a little something special worth eating for.
As you prepare yourself for the rest of this post, you can stare at yet another poorly-taken iPhone photo of our dessert and wonder if it was good or not!
"Chocolate crunch" ice cream atop coffee cake atop a puddle of banana-esque shmutz.
2/2010, Saturday 8:30pm, Party of 2. When we arrived the place was kind of small … and empty. Only one table had guests, and another was clearly getting up to leave. I think we were the first of a second wave of diners or something because they were definitely packed by the time we were halfway through our meal. As usual, we were quite hungry (we like to make sure we don’t wuss out and get full after the appetizer when we go to restaurants) and wasted no time and got down to business. The menu was written on a board that we turned our heads to stare at. There’s got to be some way to put the menu in a more accessible place, but I guess not. In any case, as we read each item, we couldn’t quite decide what to do. Do we get two entrees and two apps? Or do we go 3 apps and 1 entree? So many things sounded good! Then we decided … we’d go three entrees for two people and skip the apps entirely. Genius. This meant we got a “three course tasting menu” of sorts (and they split each dish into two plates for us – so we wouldn’t have to dribble sauces onto the table – that was quite nice of them!). I let g choose two of the entrees, and I chose a third.
First course was “golden spot tilefish, shrimp and grits, tomato consomme, andouille”. Holy bejesus this was awesome. The tomato consomme was deep and flavorful – a beautiful harmony upon which the fish and andouille played a gorgeous melody (I think I used those terms right – maybe I got them backwards …). The way the flavors played with eachother totally reminded me of the kind of flavor adventure that we got when we first ate at Talula’s Table. I don’t know how they subdued the andouille (or amplified the tilefish), but one did not overtake the other – instead you got a beautiful fish and that savory/salty meat that worked so well together. And the shrimp and grits were perfect – a worthy challenger for kp (a shrimp and grits showdown, kp?).
Next up was “striped bass with braised romaine, bagna caude, crouton”. You know – it’s kind of weird, but for me the star of the dish was the braised romaine. Yes, the fish was delightful, and the crouton and ?sauce?/?liquid? was amazing. But that romaine … that romaine was awesome. And I have a personal vendetta against romaine … soooo … my endorsement means something. I don’t know how they got such flavor into the lettuce while having it keep some consistency, but they did, and I have thought about braising some romaine on my own … (haven’t gotten around to it yet).
The last course was the “sturgeon with pork belly, gigande beans, spinach, mustard”. I was psyched. Fish and pork belly. Bring it on. It arrived and it looked and smelled delicious. I was even more psyched. And then I tasted it. And you know what, I was a little disappointed. The dish was rather one-note, with the mustard taking over and masking everything. Don’t get me wrong – I like mustard – but I couldn’t get a whole lot more than it, which kind of bummed me out. The texture of the fish and pork belly suggested that they were both executed well – and tasting them on their revealed … surprise … fish and pork belly. But the one thing that was supposed to bring them together kind of trumped them both. It wasn’t a “bad” dish, but after the first two, it was kind of a let-down. Especially because this one was my choice – just goes to show you that my wife is a good picker (after all, she did pick me, right?).
And finally … the dessert. I let g choose the dessert (she gets a lot of power on her birthday). She asked for the coffee cake. To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled. Coffee cake? I mean, come on. On what planet is coffee cake an acceptable dessert at a restaurant … after eating fish and fine wine? Interestingly, neither g nor I even drink coffee, either! But, her birthday, her choice … She totally made me eat my thoughts. That dessert, which we showed you a crappy picture of above, was frickin’ delicious. The chocolate ice cream brought some sweat creaminess (?and I guess some crunch – but there wasn’t that much), and that coffee cake was perfect. And then there was the banana shmutz. It was like someone made some bananas foster and then blended it smooth. It was ridiculous. If they put it in a jar and charged $8 a piece a-la-Barbuzzo, I’d buy a dozen and take them home to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And then I realized that this was the best dessert I’ve had at a Philly restaurant. Better than Zahav. Better than Barbuzzo. I kind of want to try it again just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke …
So, the overall picture … The food is quite good at Little Fish. However, the prices are a little on the steep side, approaching $30 per entree. While in my personal price-point, the first dish (i.e. the tile fish) was “worth” it, the second was more like a $25 dish, and the last was more of a $20 dish (in terms of flavor – I realize that as soon as you put pork belly on something, you’re allowed to charge $5 more for it). I think g and I will keep the place in mind for special (e.g. Birthdays, holidays) and semi-special (e.g. V-day) events … or just when we need to show some fish-fanatic friends of ours a good time …
Our lost visit to Smokin’ Betty’s
t says: We went to Smokin’ Betty’s some time ago, but apparently forgot that we went up until we got a comment from one of our faithful readers … Actually, g and I remembered very little of the visit, so we’ll let our dinnermate, lc, tell you the story in her words … with my edits in italics …
lc says: Didn’t you order some kind of ridiculous dessert that was really good? <sounds like me>
We went the day before Thanksgiving (… and I walked around and past the building multiple times because they have no prominent sign and dim lighting makes the windows look dark. I was embarrassed but you guys thought it was hysterical.) I think there was some kind of turkey special, but I can’t remember if anyone got it. Also, I think there was a bucket of fries in there that I took home but never ended up finishing.
Looking at the menu now… I had BBQ sliders. All three were delicious but it was weird we couldn’t identify which meat was in each after they were smothered in sauce. <oh yea! I remember that – that was weird!> You may have had the Betty Burger, which does have pork belly, fried egg, and avocado <I’m pretty sure I had that – I think the accompaniments were fantastic, but the burger itself was only “good”. Of course, adding pork belly to anything usually raises its goodness by a point, so it’s now “above-good”.>. I can’t remember what g had; maybe it was a special from the board <She can’t remember either – initially she thought maybe she got the sliders?>. There is in fact a bucket of fries on the menu. And I vowed if I got to go back I would get the Turducken Burger. Dessert may have been the triple chocolate layer cake, or it might have been a more mysterious special from the board. I think it was very chocolate, though. <Aha!! The chocolate cake. I remember it being kind of pricey for just a slice of cake – it was very chocolatey, and I think I liked the icing/filling more than the cake itself, which was kind of bleh.>
I know I had the Ace Perry cider, and it was really good. Apple and pear blended, instead of just apple, was very refreshing. I think g had some kind of yummy drink as well, but I can’t remember. Maybe she just considered one.
I seem to remember that they played some pretty interesting “old alternative” music while we were there… Funny that they dialed in to the kind of music we listened to in high school–we’re actually not THAT old! <We’re old as dirt. Nirvana was still cool back then, and Green Day had just come out.>They had a lot of door/windows that probably open up when the weather’s warm, but it was too cold that day.
And that’s all I can remember. I hope you can flesh it out with more details for your readers. <Yea – without your prompts, I had nothing. So thanks for your memory! So when we goin for that Turducken burger? Caitlin liked it – see the comment on this post.>
Farmicia also made me a liar!
t says: g and I were caught down in the Old City area one weekend and stopped by Farmicia for brunch. When we were finished with the meal, all I can say is that we kind of wished we hadn’t stopped. Because it was so “unremarkable” as g stated, we’re just going to cut straight to the chase:
2/2011, Sunday Brunch, Party of 2. I had a French Toast Scrapple sandwich. Sounds great right? Some French toast. Some pig-product. Get some syrup up in there. It’s gotta be a winner! Wrong! The scrapple was a disgrace. The outside was as mushy as the inside – a huge faux pas! And the meat (if you call it that) was quite bland! But that wasn’t the weird part – I had had bad scrapple before. The weird part was that the French toast was … ?bland?. I’m not even sure if bland is the right word to use, but it really had no taste – maybe “insipid” is better. It tasted like bread, which was weird because I clearly saw that it had been French-ified. But there were no notes of egg, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, nothing! I doused my sandwich with strawberry jam to, one, make it taste better, and two, make it seem like it was bleeding (when my food isn’t tasty, my mind wanders …), but no amount of sweetness or humor could rescue the sad sad sandwich.
g had the crabcake sandwich. When I asked her how it was, these were her words: “it’s a crabcake sandwich.” No adjectives used at all. Perhaps this is a good thing because all of the adjectives for mine were negative.
So what’s the point of a post like this? Well, it’s not just to rant and rave – there are enough of those bloggers out there already. I want to share with you a troubling realization. It happened as we were sitting there. I had just told g how boring the food tasted – and not a microsecond after I got the words out of my mouth, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the waiter was a mere 4 steps away, coming to ask us how everything was. I literally turned my head from g, to whom a moment earlier I had been complaining about my food, and told him, “everything’s good, thanks.” I lied. I’m a liar. I kind of shocked myself. g gave me a wide-eyed look of accusation; her face said, “you are one of those people!”. She was referencing a time that good ‘ol a had pointed out that I was a liar back when we visited Baby Blues, when I told the waitress a similar comment despite having obvious reservations about the food … but never had I gone straight from saying one thing to saying another so quickly. This realization makes me feel dirty and guilty all over …
… but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed with some Cochon French toast (now Cochon douses their French toast in peanut butter and jelly) …
James Delivers Good for the Price of Great
t says: We’ve gone to James twice, courtesy of two groupons – and a and v went once, too! So here’s the lowdown of the restaurant that somehow went from top 10 to being left out of the top 50 according to Philly mag. But of course, let us tantalize you with a poorly-shot iPhone photo … and you can guess if I liked it or not …
- It has chocolate and bacon and chiles … was it awesome? Find out soon …
t’s Props: The food was good overall – nothing made us regret having tastebuds – so we were happy about that. Our favorites, which we’d reorder again were both pasta dishes. The first was the pappardelle with duck ragu with orange and chocolate – it was so good that we ordered it both times we went! And the risotto alla kristina (risotto made with prosecco and barely-warmed-through oysters) was also delicious! Both of these had nicely cooked pasta and beautifully harmonious flavors (seriously, that risotto dish with the oysters was surprisingly oyster-y … in a fresh-tasting, good way). I also enjoyed the venison dish (g doesn’t do venison) which, too, was impeccably cooked and worked so well with the bitter chocolate – I only wish they gave me more meat because it was rather tiny (so a normal-sized person might have found it microscopic). As for atmosphere – it’s a nice and large space – quite a departure for a South-of-South eatery. The chairs were plush (g seemed a little obsessed over how comfortable the chairs were) and there was substantial spacing between tables (although I felt like g and I were SO far apart because the table was so big!). This place is great for claustrophobics who are tired of the cramped BYO scene. The service was also top-notch – some of the best we’ve seen in the city.
t’s Slops: Venus’s jewel case (a spinach fettucine with bacon in a puffed pastry shell) was a good idea, but kind of a failure – it ended up being a mushy spinach fettucini in a congealed creamy sauce (the bacon was only noticeable if you happened to get a piece). g’s lobster dish was rather unremarkable … which was remarkable because it had lobster in it! The bacon budino dessert (pictured above) was good in concept (bacon brittle, chocolate budino, paprika ice cream, chile jam), but the balance of flavors was off – please turn down the paprika and turn up the bacon (stick it in the ice cream!). Also, in my opinion, the chocolate budino was not a budino (unless I am mistaken about what a budino is, but google suggests I am not). Had the budino been as awesome as I imagined, the title of this post would have been “James’s Barbuzzo Budino Killer”.
t’s Verdict: I’m sure there will be times when I think back and fondly remember those two pasta dishes. But without a strong supporting cast of other dishes, I’m afraid that walking to Melograno or Mercato or Barbuzzo or Amis for pasta is just far easier than cabbing to James. Furthermore, tack on the price of alcohol and the lack of more groupons, and now I’m pretty sure that the deliciosity-price quotient (DPQ) is just too low for a return visit, landing it in the same category as Matyson (good-tasting Contemporary American, but just not enough food!).
a says: We agree with almost everything said by t and our experience was much the same (n.b. Thank you Groupon). We were excited to hit James due to its past accolades and positive reviews online. We knew it was pricey for South Philly and not-byo but that’s no reason not to show some love.
a’s Hollas: We were seated immediately in a space much more open than any CC byo which is appreciated. Our server was polite, attentive, and happy to make recommendations when asked. The IPA and wines by the glass were decent. We split our first course, James’ rif on choucroute garnie, which was ambitious and delicious. My 2nd course, pappardelle wih duck ragu, was full of flavor and a high-point of the meal. My entrée course was a tender and juicy veal loin, cooked to perfection and appropriately sized. We went with the apple pie for dessert which was intricately plated but tough to properly eat.
a’s Boos: The music seemed a tad too loud for the ambiance and there was too much time between courses considering the restaurant was at 75% capacity. I found the wine list limited, lacking many deals or bottles in my “$35-$65 sweet spot” for this level of restaurant. The choucroute was was not substantial, even for an appetizer and v thought her risotto alla Kristina (risotto with oysters) was good, not great. (v said, “Too strong a sea flavor.”) v’s fish entrée was again too small and nothing to write home about.
a’s Verdict: I’d be happy to return to James to give it another shot, if someone else wants to pay or we’re in need of a respite from the cramped byos of CC. We also noted the lovely private table for large groups which sits in a beautiful room away from the main dining room.
Han Dynasty’s Got Some Balls
t says: I’m sorry for the crass, unsophisticated humor, but I just had to go there. I mean, you should have seen the size of their meatballs! Wait – what meatballs? Ok … let’s rewind …
g planned a dessert gathering of very diverse people for an evening celebration, figuring that a few would be able to come for dinner beforehand. A few turned into a party of 13 or so. Yikes. What restaurant would do a party of 13 on a Saturday night? Well … let’s just say that are a lot of restaurants that would not do a party of 13 on a Saturday night … looking at you Melograno, GTC, Mercato, etc. (don’t worry – we still love you, even if you’ve hurt us so *sheds a single tear*). Then a friend of ours sent out an email invite to celebrate Chinese New Year (the following weekend) at Han Dynasty … and then we got to thinking … if our guest list and his guest list didn’t overlap, then maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if maybe we borrowed his idea, right? … rriigghhtt?
Well, right or wrong, we did (g and I had been wanting to go for a long time and couldn’t make it to the Chinese New Year celebration, so we figured we owed it to ourselves to go … “for the sake of the blog!”).
1/2011, Saturday Dinner, Party of 13. Han Dynasty does things in a very cool way for large parties. There’s no lame, super-limited menu here. Instead, you tell them the number of people, the price that you want to pay per head, your dietary restrictions, and then let them do the rest. It was awesome. We went in at $20 per person and were absolutely stuffed!
As soon as we were ready, there an unending flurry of food hit the table. We tried to hear the descriptions of when they hit the table, but failed miserably (it’s pretty loud in there!). As a result, there’s no way I could try to describe the dishes for you here. There was pork (several kinds) and fish and noodles and duck and [some] veggies. I suspect that if we kept on eating, they would have kept on bringing. And they were all quite tasty! I didn’t have a single thing that I wouldn’t try again – so they definitely know how to please my palate.
But there was one that stood out. The meatballs …
They brought out this plate of humungous meatballs that were stacked on top of each other. They stared down the other plates surrounding them. And the weird thing was that they had an eerie Jello-esque jiggle to them (I suspect a large proportion of the mix is made of tofu). At this point, our party of 13 had had a reasonable amount of wine (Han is BYO … another super-awesome feature when doing something with a large party), so the question was no longer whether anyone was going to make a comment, rather, who was going to make a comment – leave it to one of g’s NYC girls to step up and own it. But you know what … peculiar jiggle aside … they, too, were actually pretty tasty! As a matter of fact, it was the only dish I asked to be wrapped up to be taken home (I suspect their appearance may have dissuaded people from trying them, so we had leftovers). But alas! I left it at the restaurant! Darn!
As far as best dish? You know – I don’t know which one tasted the best. There was one with duck I kept going back for, and I heard raves about a pork belly one. I think g was very fond of the noodle dishes (she’s a noodle fan from way back in the day). I guess we’ll just have to go back and take copious notes next time …
Han Dynasty drawbacks: Their level of spice is definitely on the higher end. Nothing was intolerable (I kind of liked it), but for the lightweights in our party, we should have requested super-mild or something (we asked for it mild and one of the dishes still had me reaching for water). Those comfortable with Asian spice will feel at home here; if you want to sweat while you eat (a la my grandfather), I’m sure that can be arranged. The second downer was that the table was right next to a pole which made fitting 13 people a little hard. Go for 12 – it’d be a bit more comfortable.
Summary: If we had another party of people to take out, I just don’t think you can beat the combo of price, BYO, taste, and casual atmosphere of Han Dynasty. Oh, and it’s tasty enough so that even real Chinese won’t care if it’s “authentic” or not.
I got scooped at Tyson Bee’s
t says: Darnit!! Foobooz totally scooped me with their live blog at Tyson Bee’s!! I was actually there AT THE SAME TIME! But I don’t know what they look like, so I don’t know if they’re in my picture; I scrutinized theirs, and I’m not in it.
I wonder where the Foobooz peeps are ...
Approaching the window ...
The menu
Well, at least I can say that I’ve been there twice in the past week, and in general, the food is pretty good! I’ve sampled the steamed pork bun, which features pork belly and loin, and have concluded that it’s my favorite. It has salty and sweet and that doughy bun – I can’t resist it. I also had the korean short rib and kimchi burrito, which was also very good (beef had a great texture and nice spice) – but a bit too much rice (it’s already in a tortilla – there doesn’t need to be that much rice!). Finally, I also did the pork bahn mi which, while not quite Sampan-delicious, is still pretty good (they gotta put pork belly in it – then it’d be a competitor). Overall, I think the flavors are not as deep as the buns you’d get at Chifa or the bahn mi from Sampan, but for a quick bite from a food-truck, I think most foodies will be satisfied. The prices are quite reasonable, but I will agree with foobooz peeps and say that it is quite a messy lunch!
The double-pork-bun!
The pork bahn mi
The one drawback – I am peculiarly full after eating there. I don’t know if it’s the excessive amount of pork or what, but after eating there for lunch, I’m nearly uncomfortably full for like 7 hours – I wonder if I’m just eating too much? Regardless, this apparently was not enough to dissuade me because I did go back after the first time and will probably go back again, too! Good job food truck! It’s a wonderful addition to the HUP foodtruck neighborhood.
after dinner sneeze 