Archive for the ‘Restaurant Reviews’ Category
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.
California Photo-Storm (pt 1)!
t says: g and I are in the Golden State once again – we just can’t stop visiting! Between the friends, the food, and the wine – it’s a triple threat! We would have mentioned weather for a quadruple threat, but today, it decided to rain on us … hard … so we’re deducting points. But at least it gave us time to stop and make this post.
Ridge Vineyards: go there and look out onto Cupertino/Palo Alto/whatever it is that lies below. And wines are quite good – lots of varietals to taste!
Anyone want to start up a library of Ridge Monte Bellow cabs? The cost is steep … but doable …
Just watch out for rattlesnakes (there are a lot of signs warning visitors … although we saw no rattlesnakes – much to k’s satisfaction).
We went to Gabriella Cafe for dinner. It’s a little, unassuming place tucked away in Santa Cruz … and they served things like this: mushroom-stuffed gnocchia with a pesto and butternut squash. I was floored. I did not expect this non-descript eatery to nail this dish, but they did. Never have I seen gnocchi injected with something like mushroom, but they did it! I guess that makes it more like a ravioli? I have no idea.
g’s tortilla soup was also quite nice.
the next morning, we went to Kelly’s French Bakery, where we enjoyed a few morning treats. Above is a chocolate “goodfellow”. I have no idea if it was done “properly” or not, but it was quite good and something I wish I could find elsewhere.
Coffee at Verve roasters was a highlight as well. We snapped this photo because a had mentinoed that his heaven would be a cafe that also served bourbon … so here’s a coffee drink that uses some kind of Bulleit mixture (I assume they burned off the alcohol?). So, it’s final: heaven is in Santa Cruz. Next time, we’ll have to try it (they were out of it the day we visited).
There were lots of awesome photos of us scaling rocks in Monterey … but they reveal our identities, so we’ll skip them. Let’s just say that I’m pretty agile on those rocky shores …
La Bicyclette in Carmel-by-the-Sea offered up some simple breakfast items done very well …
… like the prototypical “California” breakfast featuring tomatoes, eggs, avocado, and a green of some sort. Not pictured was the flakiest, lightest croissant we ever had in the states. Rock on La Bicyclette.
We did some pretty awesome hiking around Point Lobos. We were tempted to do the 17-mile drive … but refused to pay money to see beautiful sights when we saw plenty of beautiful sights for free!
This was followed by a twisty-turny drive down US-1, with some of the craziest views ever!
By the end of our drive, we were a little tired, so we stopped at San Simeo, where I was able to walk up to these seabirds and they didn’t flinch at all!
Enchilada at Estrella in Paso was unfortunately mediocre. The wine list was a little too focused on nearby producers – which would be fine if they would offer some small flights or something like that for tourists like us. However, given the quality of the food, we’d pass on Estrella in the future – Artisan and La Cosecha looked great.
The diner across from our hotel was hi-lar-i-ous. Take a look at these menu shots!
lo-cal plate, anyone?
these are the banana pancakes at Margie’s. the syrup packet is there for scale. they were enormous. and don’t be fooled – they were chocked full of bananas (to be seen on the underside). I only finished half the plate. WHY on earth would anyone need pancakes to be this huge? I don’t know. But if we were staying in Paso Robles for more than a day, I would have brought them with me to the hotel to reheat for later (they had a microwave!).
We did a variety of wine tastings in Paso. Our fave was Clos Solene. Sure, their wines are a bit pricey, but Guillaume and Solene are gracious hosts with absolutely superb wines. Definitely the best Syrah I’ve ever had in the US. And the barrel-sampling of rose and white wines were fabulous – we’re totally in for some Clos Solene next Spring.
Inbetween wine-tatings, g and I finally conquered In-n-Out Burger – something g had been wanting to do for years! Welcome to the “animal style” burger with a “well done” set of fries. Personally, I think that the “secret menu” is kinda silly. But whatever. Grub’s good – I’d go back. It’s a notch above Mickey-D’s.
On the way back from Paso, we stopped in Mountainview to visit some friends, who treated us to this great little Indian restaurant nearby. I have no idea what it was called, but all I can say is that it was tiny and had great food.
After returning to SF, we went to a restaurant called Saru for lunch. cm unerwent an 8-piece tasting which made his eyes roll to the back of his head a few times out of pure enjoyment. They did look fabulous …
I did some fancy yellowtail sashimi (it was some special kind of yellowtail I don’t recall), as well as some way-off-the-hook Chirashi (in the background). Seriously. This Chirashi was like full-on 8 slabs of sashimi with egg, mushrooms, and rice for around $15. This was some of the best raw fish I’ve ever had (up there with Kiss Seafood, also in SF).
welcome to the grilled yellowtail collar. keep in mind that we, a bunch of silly sushi neophytes (face it, if your only experience with sushi is Philly nigiri and an occasional o-toro or “sushi tasting” when you want to feel “spendy” … you’re a noob), had no idea what we were ordering. now, having googled it, we understand where on the fish this piece comes from. And let us tell you: it was crazy-good. I haven’t had grilled fish this good in years. YEARS. If you go to Saru, you HAVE to order this and share it with a tablemate or two.
We brought a bottle of Quintessa with us from Philly to share with kp. A 2007, it was drinking beautifully, with a purity of fruit that was only beginning to gain some age. What a treat.
And now, for the grand finale of this post: our meal at State Bird Provisions. kp is a SBP veteran. He knows the standbys like the back of his hand. And, because of the dim sum style, there were SO many dishes that it was hard to keep up. The details are fuzzy, so if you are dissatisfied, you’re just going to have to go there yourself for the full experience. Above is the pork loin with an apple mustarda. A great way to start the meal (that one was early on).
Lamb pierogies in its own braising liquid. You know – how can you go wrong? Take some pierogies, which are inherently good, and jam some lamb up in there … and you have heaven …
… well … you had heaven until you ate this, and then you transcend to a whole new heaven. This was the “burrata on a sourdough garlic knot” topped with 5 spices. Easy enough, right? you figure, “oh, this is a bullshit dish – it’s all bait, and I’ve had it at Barbuzzo, so it can’t possibly be better”. WRONG. It can. And it was. I don’t know why or how. Was it the texture of the burrata? Was it the spices or infused olive oil? Or maybe it was the pull-apart texture of the bread. Well, whatever it was, it has taken over as the new Best Burrata to have ever touched these lips …
This is the dish that made g drool. Correction. The food didn’t make her drool – the smell did! It hit the table right in front of g, and she immediately started drooling based on smell alone. She had to wipe her mouth because she was drooling too much – I took a picture of it, but she threatened to delete it if I posted it. So what was the dish, you ask? It was the signature “California State Bird with Provisions” – fried quail with strips of cheese and herbed braised onions underneath. Now, I missed out on the onions (cm interjects: t, your meal must have sucked not having had those”; g agrees: big mistake … huge.), but the quail was juicy and delicious. To be fair, it could have broccoli for all I cared – it was so fabulously fried – but the quail did complete the dish nicely.
Yet another dish that sounded underwhelming but delivered the goods: sourdough, sauerkraut, and ricotta. They look like benign little pancake thingees … but what you got on the palate was a luscious burst of cheese and onion that made you want to order 10 more …
… but don’t order 10 of those, order 10 of THESE. These are the dumplings. They are filled with guinea hen and a combination of spices that was insane. The waiter’s description required like 3 sentences, 4 dependent clauses, and 5 breaths to finish. And it killed it. After that, there was simply nothing else I needed or wanted. Now the broth that you see it sitting in is the real dark horse. kp and I could have downed it by the cup. Meanwhile k spoke out: “you know … it’s too salty”. We were flabbergasted. No way. It was perfect. I guess you’ll just have to go and decide for yourself.
The desserts sound lame on the mnu. Trust us: they aren’t. They are full on flavors and as complicated as the regular menu items. I won’t bore you with the details, but just know that they keep the party going and aren’t in the least bit “phoned in”. cm wants there to be special mention of the huckleberries on the apple cake you see in the background, “they really made the dessert”.
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.
all done at aldine? … or just gettin’ started!
t says: So, the gang had the chance to hit up Aldine during their opening week. There are lots of opinions amongst us, so we’ll do this round a little differently.
October 2014, Party of 4, Friday Dinner.
re: Location/Ambience:
v says: are we allowed to ding them for burger.org’s ugly sign underneath?
t says: no, that’s not fair.
a says: well, one thing is that it was really dark in there!
t says: what are you – like 60? j/k. I will agree with you – none of the pictures turned out!
a says: and it was a little “cold” in there – not very homey. But what was good was the space between tables, and the big windows – but of course it was night, so it’s not like sun was coming in. maybe they were going for “sexy” and “modern.”
t says: it did come a long way since the times of Noche. I’d be interested to see how that space evolves as they find out how they’re going to run things.
re: Menu:
a says: the menu was stupid – totally stupid.
t says: it’s true – while grouping items into “vegetarian,” “meat,” and “fish” sounds like a good idea, there really is no indication of how big or small each dish might be. Like, for example, the carrots dish was larger than the rabbit dish. I think Serpico might do it better.
a says: as I said, the menu was stupid. tell us a little more. knowing “Duck. Quack. Water. Salt” is not helpful. and the prices gave no indication to a plate’s size or presentation.
g says: and it was hard for people to tell us exactly how much to order.
a says: yea – three dishes a person is a total up-sell… unless you are unlucky enough to get three small dishes by accident – but how would you know?
re: Food:
a says: both of my dishes were solid (rabbit rillette, and sunchoke soup), but nothing quite blew me away
g says: but my carrots were really good! and i think my cappeletti may have won me the meal.
a says: I feel like if his “shtick” is being inventive, he could have taken more risks.
t says: my dishes were also pretty good (pork belly and squid, the duck breast), but nothing crazy.
v says: the portion sizes were erratic – mine had three medallions, and yours was the whole duck breast
t says: the wine was really good.
a says: yea – nice and food friendly – the white Bordeaux had good rubber.
t says: their red wine list looked a bit weak – so we brought our own. Of course, they messed up and told us $25 corkage on the phone, but then charged us $30 (but fixed it).
re: Service:
a says: the service was kinda cold.
g says: i dunno if she was “cold” – she was friendly, just not so knowledgable that we would find her helpful.
a says: but for example, the wine service was nonexistent!
t says: that’s true. We did pay corkage on one bottle and we did buy a whole other bottle, and they didn’t pour our wine once after the initial pour!
g says: i think they need to tweak the experience overall — i am sure with more staff training they will be able to guide customers to a better dining experience, from navigating the menu to smooth food and wine delivery to the tables.
a says: if Aldine and Townsend came together, that would be a good restaurant. the atmosphere and service that Townsend had would have been nice here.
g says: You know – the server (minus that one girl we didn’t have) seemed a little nervous and unsure.
t says: yea – they’re probably still working out the kinks – maybe it’ll get better with time.
re: Overall:
a says: back to the food: I think they want to be Fond – good food, good service, very chill, no pretentiousness, but this place doesn’t do that.
g says: I think they can get there!
a says: I’m not damning them to hell – this is just what happened! Cuz, like, the overall atmosphere they were trying to give was one of high service, high quality, etc … but in the end didn’t quite reach the expectations they allude to! oh, and the menu: it’s garbage!
So there we go – a lot of voices, no pictures, and just the raw, uncut, real deal review.
Oh! I found the photos!
the duck breast in all its glory! a sizeable amount for sure! flavors were pretty good, too – probably the best dish of our dinner.
chocolate mousse, coffee, peanut. it was ok, but the “butter[cream] sundae” was better – more textures and flavors.
g & t meet MTL
t says: We visited MTL for a super-long weekend and it. was. awesome. We ended up airbnb-ing a super-great little apartment in Le Plateau, which was perfectly located for exploring the supposedly hip area of town (we could tell by the graffiti and 20-30-somethings that it was hip). And while we didn’t hit up every tourist-obligatory destination (e.g. we skipped Old Montreal entirely), we pulled off a nice mix of chillaxing, eating, and touring, the former two of which , resulting in the following photostorm:
Absent is a photo of the Ramen we ate on our first night there. While definitely not particularly Canadian, Ramen-Ya’s slurpable broth definitely hit the spot after a seemingly endless car ride (for some unknown reason, it took us 10 hours to get there! Only 8 for the return …)
We visited Le Couteau Cafe. French for “the knife” (and given my affinity for knives, how could I not go there?), Le Couteau was FABULOUS. It is probably the best cafe we’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting (Paris, Vienna, US). You know you’re at the right place if you see a giant knife on the outside of the building …
… meanwhile, on the inside, it was nothing more than just a very well done cafe. Nothing was at all that crazy-exotic or over-the-top – it just had great coffee (we brought some back for a), great pastries (omg the pistachio croissant has changed my life – I will never eat an almond croissant ever again – and g nearly lost her mind with the strawberry turnover seen above), great service, and a tasteful assortment of minimalist decor. If we lived in MTL, I’d live around this coffee shop just so I could go there every day. For real. Don’t test me.
… here is that pistachio croissant (and cortado) I raved about … pictures do not do it any justice at all.
We went to the super-famous Schwartz’s for some “smoked meat” sandwich. It was good … but I can’t say that it was impressive. It was essentially the same as you’d get from a Jewish deli. I have no idea why people are so ga-ga for this thing. It’s meat and bread. No amount of seasoning/cooking will make it “to die for” – it’s certainly NOT worth waiting in line for. Don’t get me wrong – I’m glad we went – but I have no intention of ever going back again …
Above is the menu for Joe Beef (and some random stranger). None of the pictures of the food turned out, so I’ll just say my piece here … Joe Beef is VERY over-hyped. It does not serve the “best food in the world”, or whatever accolade that Dave Chang put on it. Sure, it serves “good food”, but “best” is a tough superlative to attach; it’s good raw ingredients, done very nicely, and with a dash of “extreme”. For instance, the steaks are huge. Foie is everywhere. They use off cuts of meat all the time. So … it’s like [what I think would be] a chef’s dream come true: good ingredients, done in a not-fussy manner, but done very well, and served in a very friendly, bar-like environment. Unfortunately, Joe Beef is less a gathering place for locals, rather a tourist attraction for people looking to get that stupid Foie Double-down (google it). So what did we eat? g went for “Lobster Spaghetti” … and despite my previous rant, I now have to admit that it blew her face off. She initially said “gee, this is huge – I’m totally taking some of this home” when it first hit the table, and then she took a bite, and then she completely blacked out for about 15 minutes, and when she came to, her pasta was gone. And it was a HUGE dish. It had 1.5 lbs of lobster on it! I did sneak some, and it was quite tasty – not like elegant, complex or anything like that – it was just straight-up “good” – I’m not a huge lobster fan, so I didn’t also lose control, but I can see how some people might (g chimes in: i feel a little ashamed – i mean – how did I eat it all?). It’s rare for g to eat herself into a stomachache, so this is pretty high praise for Mr. Beef. As for me, I asked the server for “something piggy” – and he instantly responded “go for sauerkraut” … so I did. Despite not having anything piggy in the title, it features two cuts of pork and two giant sausages. It was quite solid – it was like something out of Cochon’s playbook – once again – my socks remained on my feet, but I was net-happy with what I got.
We did Fairmount bagel despite everyone saying St. Viateur was better (Fairmount was closer). The fun was that while walking there, I witnessed three females beat the crap out of a male after a disagreement while exiting a cab. I have no idea if they were Canadian or not (they weren’t yelling in French which makes me think not), but it was a sight to see! And to watch the natives spring into action: cars pulled over and guys jumped out to restrain the one dude so he wouldn’t hit back. Cops were called (and showed up in urban camo pants and bullet proof vests! Montreal cops are serious … no Mounties though …). It was crazy! … The bagels on the other hand, weren’t crazy; delicious, yes, crazy, no. But it definitely allowed me to see where Spread Bagelry is getting their inspiration from. A nice start to the morning (even if I was wishing it was a pistachio croissant instead …).
This blurry picture is from the Big in Japan Bar (not to be confused with Big in Japan Restaurant). This bar is super-awesome. It’s a little stupid as well (unmarked door … you know … to add to its exclusivity … even though anyone can just walk in) … but more awesome than stupid, as it had a pretty cool setup for a bar and featured Japanese whiskey! While it only had three or so available, and none of them were all that rare (all were available in the US, and none older than 12 years), it was still a great experience to be sitting down at a classy bar, enjoying my whiskey, and pondering the pre-paid bottles they had hanging from the ceiling (patrons can “buy a bottle” and they’ll save it for them, to have whenever they come back to the bar). Now if only they had Taketsuru 17-year …
Dinner at Bouillon Bilk was SENSATIONAL. We loved it. While not particularly “Canadian” or “French” in cuisine, it was superb flavor combinations, cookery, and service. Maybe the one drawback is we would have preferred a slightly more interesting bread than what was provided (it was a little anemic for our taste). However, whatever points they lost on bread, they more-than-made-up-for with that Bourgogne I drank. It happened to be from Guy Amiot et Fils – the winery we happened to visit when we were in Beaune!!! It was everything Bourgogne should be: light-to-medium weight, some snappy fruit up front followed by a nice evolution of savory/dirty flavors afterwards, and a mouthwatering acidity to prepare you for some more food or drink. Loved it. Would buy it by the case if it were available here.
This is a “dumpling” topped with mushrooms, fruit, corn, and other various things. It was like an Asian dumpling, but take every possible flavor and make it more pronounced, but at the same time, balanced. Like even if I had all these ingredients on hand, I doubt I would ever be able to strike the balance of sweet (from fruit and corn) with the savory. I would have eaten three of these … and trust me … I love bashing crappy wonton-wannabes, which this was not.
Tuna amuse. They lose points for presenting an amuse on a GIANT plate. That’s pretentious and stupid. Don’t do that. They also lose points for it being larger than one bite. BUT … they instantly gain it back because this was perfect, and I was happy I had a second bite left after my first. I had no idea what was in it but damn they nailed it.
And then g had the crudo (g says: surprise!) This yellowtail was nicely done, with great textures put in there (there was some kind of foamy cracker and some gel).
The “veal dish”, which was a special, rivaled the best thing I’ve eaten in the past few months (which was Fond’s Pork Belly). Perfect sweetbreads. Perfect veal medallions. Perfect greens. Perfect gnocchi. I died and went to heaven. And then I took a sip of the aforementioned Bourgogne, and then I went straight to hell, because to taste that good must be the work of the devil. Drawback? I have none. In the background was g’s fish. I completely forget what she ate, as I blacked out like g’s experience with Joe Beef’s lobster spaghetti, so anything g said during that time, I can’t remember … Oh, and did I mention that they gave me a non-serrated steak knife! Hooray!! I mean, it could have used a sharpening, but at least it shows that someone is taking pride in their work so as not to force me to tear it apart with jagged points. Very nice.
So I was too full for dessert. But how could we not have dessert on our last night in MTL? C’est impossible! So I went with the “yogurt”. This was crazy. It was like everything I want a yogurt parfait to be: bold fruit, smooth yogurt, and candy (those little petit-four-ish things were like currant candies). Those white chocolate pieces added another flavor which somehow fit seemlessly – and I hate white chocolate! It was as if Bouillon Bilk could do no wrong …
Believe the hype of Bouillon Bilk. Yea, there are some yelp tourists, but even the Canadians are dying to get in.
And then, on the morning we left, we visited Guillaume boulangerie, which had a great assortment of baguettes and other baked goods. Definitely a place we should have used more often during our trip (it’s one of the top three baguettes in MTL!).
Finally, here are some random other photos:
we thought about getting a this shirt … but it was more than $5 …
Japanese paper (for origami) store … with an origami grasshopper hanging outside!
after dinner sneeze 