Zavino Now Charging for EtOH
Although this is old news – for those who are “out of the loop” (i.e. us) Zavino finally attained their liquor license. Why would you care? Well, prior to this they didn’t go to “we’re-BYO-until-the-license-comes-through” route, rather, they simply offered two free glasses of wine to diners. g and I never got in past the hours of waiting time (as I’m sure every Philadelphian and his/her mother also wanted free wine), and now the promotion’s over. Fortunately, I read they have delicious food (the menu sounds good!) for reasonable prices, so we’ll check it out … eventually.
Garces Strikes Again (with a store!)
As I’m sure everyone’s aware – Jose Garces (Philadelphia restauranteur and our favorite of the current American Iron Chefs) has opened up a new establishment in Philadelphia today: Garces Trading Company. I’ll let google fill you in with the details; I’ll just tease you by saying that it seems to offer (among other things) unique selections of olive oils, vinegars, cheeses, and special wines (i.e. not offered by most PA’s Wine and Spirits Shoppes!). Yea, there’s food, too!
Butternut Squash Risotto
t says: I never order risotto at restaurants. Why? Well, I guess it’s because when I was growing up, rice was always white and plain (just how I like it). I have come to find there is actually a lot of flavor in plain white rice if cooked correctly, but that’s for another post another time. The thought of “Italian rice” made with wine and broths, featuring other flavors like squashes, mushrooms, or meats always struck me as peculiar. And, to be quite honest, whenever I tasted someone else’s at a restaurant, it had always failed to taste more-than-good. I then watched an episode of Hell’s Kitchen (which is rare as it’s far from my favorite food-related show) where Gordon kept screaming about the poor quality of a cheftestant’s seafood risotto. I figured, “well, if he’s that upset, then it should be easy to make, right?”.
For my first ever attempt, I opted for a butternut squash risotto, as I had seen several renditions of this recipe throughout foodnetwork. The following was adapted from Ina’s and Giada’s recipes. The end result was pretty good; g and I would happily eat it again. I’d normally be more critical of my (or any) dishes, but I don’t have a decent measuring stick – I guess I should try out more risottos in restaurants now!
Ingredients:
__ 1 butternut squash (~2 lbs)
__ 2 Tbs olive oil
__ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
__ 6 c chicken stock (we used Kitchen Basics “Unsalted”)
__ 5 Tbs unsalted butter (<0.75 stick) + more if needed
__ 2-3 links of Italian sausage, casing removed
__ 0.5 c minced shallots (2 large) (we forgot to buy these, so we used an onion)
__ 1.5 c Arborio rice (~10 oz)
__ 0.5 c dry white wine (we used Sauvignon Blanc)
__ 1 tsp saffron threads (saffron’s pricey, so we omitted it – but it would be an interesting addition!)
__ 1 c freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
__ 1 vanilla bean (or 2 drops extract)
__ 2 Tbs chopped fresh chives
Methods:
0) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
1) Peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds, and cut it into 0.75-inch cubes. Place the squash on a sheet pan and toss it with the olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and 0.5 tsp pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes (tossing once, halfway through). Squash should be very tender. Set aside.
2) Combine chicken broth and vanilla in saucepan. Heat to a very low simmer.
3) In a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven (we lack one of these, so we used a standard 4 quart pot – worked fine) over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the sausage (it’ll crumble) and shallots/onions on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until the shallots/onions are translucent but not browned.
4) Add the rice to the onions/meat, and stir to coat the grains with butter. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add 2 full ladles of stock to the rice plus the saffron, 0.75 tsp salt, and 0.5 tsp pepper. Stir, and simmer until the stock is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes. You may have to lower the heat – you don’t want a vigorous boil for this or the following steps, rather, a playful simmer.
5) Continue to add the stock, 2 ladles at a time and cooking/stirring until the mixture seems a little dry before adding more stock. Continue until the rice is cooked through, but still al dente (as the whole point of using Arborio rice is to retain some bitey texture), about 30 minutes total
6) Off the heat, add the roasted squash cubes and the Parm-Reg. Add more butter, cheese, or salt/pepper if needed (I think I added a little pepper). Mix well. Sprinkle with chives. Serve immediately. Leftovers aren’t as good in terms of texture, as the rice gets a little mushier in the microwave, but the flavors are still quite tasty (we ate it)!
g says: The leftovers of this risotto are delicious — don’t let t scare you!
Turkey Meatballs
g says: Homemade meatballs are my thing. They are one of my favorites to make for friends, and I think I like eating them more than any other meat dish. Growing up (and still now) everyone in my parents’ house — especially dad– would hover around the kitchen as mom neared completion of her meatballs, for we all knew that we were in for a special treat to snack on. As soon as those balls hit the pot of tomato gravy and mom turned her back, they were up for grabs — and you needed to be ready to pounce, bread in hand to soak up your extra sauce, or else. I am still tickled by this ritual, and am glad that it has caught on in our home (t loves to be the meatball taste-tester).
I learned the age-old technique of mixing together foods that are potentially hazardous when raw, but taste like heaven when properly combined and cooked, from my mom (who, despite her protests, is indeed a great Italian cook). There is nothing more satisfying than being able to use my hands to mix together a multitude of textures in a bowl, sniff the mixture every now and then to make sure all ingredients are in proper ratio, and have results I can be proud of, every time. I am sure there are some secrets to great meatballs — some say a teaspoon of sugar, some swear by their brand of bread crumbs (I do) — but I think it’s all about the proportion in which the ingredients are combined to achieve the salty, cheesy, peppery, fresh scent of a good meatball mix (can’t really say taste, as raw meats and eggs are involved, so it’s all up to the nose). And I have quite the schnoz, thanks to my dad and gran, two of the greatest smellers of our time, who have passed the talent on to me. You can ask t — my nose knows.
On Friday, we are planning to host a godfather party — friends will gather at our apartment to feast on spaghetti and meatballs, biscotti, maybe some cannoli, and watch The Godfather. It should make for a great time, and as the token Italian of our group of friends, I am of course in charge of preparing the meatballs. The only catch is, not all of our guests eat red meat. So, I decided to get creative with my traditional meatball recipe (which is an adaptation combining both mom’s and aunt beabea’s recipes). Today I tried using ground turkey in lieu of beef, and added some ricotta cheese for smoothness after tasting some veal ricotta meatballs at craftbar in nyc. The results were truly delectable, and I may have to add this recipe to my personal repertoire permanently.
I’ll turn it over to t, as he insists on formatting the recipes his way.
t says: Here’s the recipe. It tastes better every time g makes it …
Ingredients:
__ 3 lbs ground turkey (85% lean)
__ 1 egg
__ ~1 c Progresso brand “Italian Style” bread crumbs (but you may need more because it’s a texture thing)
__ 0.75 c grated cheese (Kraft brand Parmesan and Romano mix)
__ 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
__ 1 large yellow onion, diced
__ 0.5 c part-skim ricotta cheese (you could use whole milk as well)
__ a few tsp each of of salt, pepper, and olive oil
Methods:
0) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1) All of the following mixing must be done by hand (it’s easier and more fun than using utensils). In a bowl, mix together turkey, onion, and egg. Then add breadcrumbs and combine until mixture is workable and not too sticky. Add parsley and grated cheese and mix.
2) Smell the mixture to get an idea of how much salt and pepper to add (it’ll “smell” right). Ballpark estimate: ~ 2 tsp each. Add the salt and pepper and re-smell to check. If this is your first time letting your nose guide your meatballs, smell the mixture, add only 1 tsp of each to start, and smell it again (to see the difference); there will be a chance to add more seasoning in step 3. Add the ricotta and mix until smooth and homogeneous in appearance.
3) Make a small test meatball (~1″ in diameter) and cook it fully in a frying pan with some olive oil. Taste it to check seasoning and consistency. Decide on whether it needs more salt, pepper, cheese, or breadcrumbs. Smell the mixture before and after adding ingredients (start to build up a library of smells). If adding salt, combine thoroughly because, depending on the size of the grains of salt, it might take a few minute to dissolve. Re-test another sample meatball and tinker with your recipe until you are satisfied. Make a mental note of what the mixture smelled like right before you cooked that perfect meatball.
4) Line a baking pan that has a lip (to prevent spills) with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup). Rub the pan with olive oil. Roll meat mixture into balls (we prefer ~1″ for hors d’oeuvres, 2″ for pasta, 2.5+” for sandwiches) and place on pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until underside is moderately browned, and flip. Bake for another 20+ minutes, until meatballs are cooked through (bigger meatballs will take longer). This may require rolling them periodically to prevent burning the side contacting the pan.
5) Remove from oven, and cool. Put into sauce/gravy, and lightly simmer for at least a half hour so that the meat flavors will infuse into the liquid. Serve with your favorite pasta shape.
Cranberry Upside-Down Cake (with pix!)
t says: Once upon a time, in October 2009, g and her cousin d had a hankering for cranberries. In southern jersey are some serious cranberry bogs, although perhaps cranberries don’t get as much press as Hammonton’s blueberries. This year, we tracked down a somewhat nearby cranberry farm: Fox’s Cranberries in Weekstown, NJ. While, yes, google said that there were many others we could have visited, only Fox’s would allow us to pick a few on our own (and they were really nice over the phone – definitely a family run operation). g, d, d’s friend, and I drove to Weekstown. It took some adventuring (as their driveway was perhaps the most “off-road” we had ever gone in our car), but we easily arrived with the help of the blinking blue dot on our iphone’s maps application.
Ann, one of the owners, showed us around the farm, introduced us to her husband, Bill, who was out in the bogs with the harvesters, and let us watch them harvest. She filled us in on the workings of the farm, the nature of the cranberry, and what it’s like to eat/breathe/sleep cranberries. She also let us pick a few pounds from one of their bogs (they don’t flood the bogs to harvest here) on our own, which was amazing (she probably thought we were crazy for having so much fun doing something that machines could do far more easily). On our way back from the bogs, she showed us the cranberry sorting equipment and the stocks they were going to sell. We bought a few more pounds of cranberries (for some ridiculously low price – we spent less than $5 and got more cranberries than any four sane people should be in possession of – grocery stores are a TOTAL rip!!). She then gave us this recipe for an Upside Down Cranberry Cake (among others). g made it a total of four times within 10 days (between making it for our friends and her co-workers). It’s super-easy. I imagine one could also use frozen cranberries – I’m not sure how the temperature or added moisture would affect baking so perhaps it would be wise to temper and dry them before use.
Ingredients:
__ 2+ c cranberries (enough to cover the bottom of a 9″ pie plate)
__ 0.5 c chopped nuts (we crushed some almonds and toasted them in a dry fry pan)
__ 1.5 c sugar
__ 0.75 c melted butter (should be creamy, not transparent yellow liquid)
__ 1 c flour
__ 2 eggs
__ 2 tsp almond extract.
Methods:
0) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour cranberries into 9″ pie plate until the bottom is completely covered with a cranberry monolayer. Remove those cranberries and set aside. Grease the pie plate (we’ve used glass and metal pans with Pam-for-baking – both worked great – and other greasing fats are probably fine).
1) Mix a pie-plate’s worth of cranberries, all of the nuts, and 0.5 c sugar in a bowl. After well combined, pour into pie plate. Try not to agitate too much, as this will cause the nuts and sugar to fall through to the bottom of pie plate (and ultimately be lost when you invert the plate). Yes, some loss is inevitable.
2) Beat together the butter, flour, remaining sugar, eggs, and extract. BEAT AS LITTLE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE – just to uniformity – not to smoothness. It is very easy to over-beat this mixture (we did 2 out of 4 times); an over-beaten batter will not be cakey when baked.
3) Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. When done, carefully loosen around the edge with a knife. Invert it to your serving plate of choice. Cool. Enjoy!
4) Start prepping a second cake when you realize you ate the first one by yourself …
Options:
1) j made a variant of this using strawberries and was happy with the results. I had my doubts as strawberries have a lot of water. Alas, j’s no liar – I made it with strawberries and it was quite good (you get a nice syrupy topping) – just do your best to dry the strawberries as much as possible. Here’s a pic (I also used a 9″ square pan in this case because our pie pan was being used for … a pie).
If this was at my workplace ... it'd be gone by 1pm for sure ...
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.
after dinner sneeze 