Swiss Cro-Creme
t says: I ordered up one of those “Swiss Cro-Cremes” the other day … actually – it was two Swiss Cro-Cremes. Check it out:
pre-bite photo …
post-bite photo!
They were pretty tasty (yep, I ate two in 24 hours), but I’m not sure they’re worth all the “fuss”. Here’s what I learned:
Fact #1: If you take a lot of sugar and fat and put it together, it’s going to taste pretty awesome. I mean, how can fried dough with cinnamon-sugar outside, a nice creme on the inside and a frosting on top possibly taste bad? It can’t!
Fact #2: After eating said amount of sugar and fat, it’s nearly impossible to feel “good” afterwards (seriously, I was full for ~6 hours … well … until I ate another one …)
However, I am reluctant to bother with going through the hassle of having to “reserve” them because I just don’t think they’re “interesting” enough. I mean, where’s the “fun”? Fednuts if fun because of the wacky flavors. Capogiro is fun because of the vivid flavors and possible combinations. But the Swiss Cro-creme, while tasty, can be a little monotonous – I know that by the end of my second donut, I had had enough of that particular creme that’s on the inside (I did, however, quite enjoy the viscosity of the icing!). Maybe put a bit of chocolate in there? Or maybe a fruit swirl? I don’t know – I just need something a little more compelling to keep me coming back for more …
breakfast wine with kanella
t says: Today [i.e. the day I’m writing this, not the day this will post], Kanella served us the best brunch they have ever served us. It was a perfect storm that looked a bit like this:
Step One: Bring Riesling. g and I pulled out a delightful little not-too-sweet-but-just-sweet-enough Riesling and it was a perfect style of wine. Kanella’s breakfast is entirely savory (I mean, there are some desserts on the menu, but you’re not going to find pancakes and syrup or anything on the menu). With enough citrus flavors and a touch of honey, it’s the perfect accompaniment. And yes, if this means that you have a 10:30am reservation, you start drinking at 10:30am – it’s never “too early” for a good Riesling!
Step two: Dips of the Day are compulsory. They are that good. The above combination (one was lentil, one was fava bean, and one was garlic+potato) featured the absolute best dips I’ve ever had at Kanella.
Step three: Shaksouka … no – not everyone needs to get the Shaksouka, but one person [who shares] does. g is a shaksouka-sucker … and boy am I glad she is! The stewed tomatotoes and peppers with the multigrain bread and that just-cracked egg was stepped up to another level with lamb merguez (a $2 supplement that’s totally worth it) – it was amazeballs (before the lamb wasn’t an option and it was still amazing!).
So there you have it – three steps to a perfect Sunday brunch. Better take advantage of it now while all the people in Philly are out of town at the shore on the weekends …
when g is away … t will play … with his food
t says: g is busy hangin’ out in Greece – I hope she’s taking some pictures to share! So what does that mean? It means that I have to cook for myself … which isn’t that big of a deal … unless I’ve had a long day and my silliness comes out … For example, while walking home, I pondered, “gee, I forgot to eat lunch … what should I eat? Well … I made some super-secret-recipe-macaroni salad last night, so I should probably eat that … but I want something sweet … and we have some eggs in the fridge … oh, wait – that bottle of wine is open …” So this was the result:
obviously, I decided to make a PB2&J&C&E sandwich to have with my macaroni salad … that’s right – it’s peanut butter (two types – creamy and crunchy) and jelly and [lemon] curd and egg sandwich. does it “go well” with a French sauvignon blanc? … who cares? it was so delicious that i’m doing the same thing tomorrow night, too! the thin coat of lemon curd made it all work!
Garces going Cuban
t says: Chifa wasn’t a “bad” place to go – the food was usually pretty good! Be that as it may, I never got a craving for Peruvian-Cantonese food … Now Cuban food, on the other hand … Can’t wait to get v up in there to see how the new place is when it opens …
Percy Street BBQ tries to class it up [some]
t says: sr, ha, and j came to visit us for my bday last month, and I chose to go to Percy Street BBQ. Now, I didn’t choose to go there because it’s the absolute best food in the city. I chose to go there because it is our Father’s Day tradition! As I’ve mentioned before, Percy Street is probably my dad’s favorite restaurant in Philly. It’s pretty spacious, it has large television screens, there’s a lot of tasty meat, he gets to use his fingers, and he loves the root beer float dessert. This year, though, things are different … it turns out that Percy Street is no longer doing it up like before – gone are the platters of meat – now things are served with accompaniments so that the dishes more resemble dishes that you could find at a normal restaurant. For example, the pork belly entree is now a sandwich with accompaniments that emulate a banh mi … it’s no longer a few hunks of pork belly and some sliced white bread. So here are the plusses and minuses of what they’re doing:
Minuses: 1) The above is the free “starter” course, kinda like bread for the table. As a note, crackers and cheese that has the consistency of squeezy cheese should never start off any meal, ever … 2) The Lockhart is changed forever – pork belly is NO LONGER INCLUDED, thus meaning that my family will never order the Lockhart ever again (*sadface*). 3) There’s no more whitebread. This is saddening. Now Percy Street is operating more like a real restaurant and less like a meatery (is that a real thing? i have no idea). This is dangerous because I never thought of Percy Street is a real “restaurant” before …
plus: So I can only think of one “plus” and that is that because things are going to be classed up, you have access to dishes like the above: wondrous pork belly, maple syrup, egg yolk, and toast that was so divine, I would have traded in my main sandwich for another two of these (maybe a sandwich made of the above concoction?). It is true – O’Shea can cook for sure and showed Philly back when she was at Marigold – I hope that the menu, now that it’s more than just meat, is going to show off her panache like this.
bonus photo: as you can see, dishes are more composed, but now you can appreciate the various pickled items (g had a pickled watermelon rind that was quite delicious!)
Overall, the family and I are shocked about the changes at Percy Street. In general, I liked a lot of what we tasted, but we still missed the pork belly in the Lockhart, which was a super-critical meat for our family. While Percy Street will probably still be the place we go for Father’s Day, I do have to confess that without the Lockhart, it misses that little bit of “fun” that it used to have. Maybe by next year, it’ll be back!
Post #500: Return to “The Table”
t says: This is our 500th post. That’s a huge milestone for us! And boy do we have a food experience for it: Talula’s Table! This little psuedo-restaurant in Kennett Square needs no introduction, as we’ve been there several times before, so let’s just roll with the pictures:
The Menu for the Evening!
Bluefish, toter tot, green onion: a surprisingly strong (but delightful) fish flavor atop a wonderfully salty, crispy tater tot. After demolishing the plate, we tried to pretend that we hadn’t received any … surprise – they were not fooled … so I guess we do have a criticism of this dish: it needs to be about 17 times larger …
golden beet ravioli with goat cheese, romaine salad on top: this was my favorite hors d’oeuvre – it starts off with a very vivid romaine that then has a palate-coating goat cheese and ends with the distinct crisp golden beet flavor – what a roller-coaster of flavors and textures! nice!
soup of cauliflower, salmon roe, cucumber, chevre: most found this to be a refreshing start to the meal. I found the cauliflower to be interesting because it tasted like straight-up cauliflower, but not roasted or anything.
Chesapeake blue crab omelette: holy crap – this dish totally blew people’s faces off. I suspect it was because it had a benign name: “omelette”. Seriously – when’s the last time an “omelette” ever did anything surprising? Well this one was like a ninja to your palate because you take a bite expecting “egg”, but instead get rocked by crab and greens and herbs, with the egg plays some mellow background music – v’s favorite of the night!
foie, turnips, radishes: a fun combination: an impressive demonstration of foie married nicely to its accompaniments. I think that foie-lovers would have gravitated more towards this dish, while I tend to prefer my foie darkly seared and deeper (this one was more light-and-springy)
pea ravioli with pork belly surprise (hiding underneath!): this was my favorite of the night – and for the record, it was not just because there was a hiding mass of pork underneath (many attested to the greatness of the ravioli sans pork). I can’t even begin to describe what made this dish so remarkable other than to admit that “pea ravioli” as I’ve called it does it a tremendous disservice.
blue fish: this dish probably had the most fans – I give it props for having just the right balance of novelty (garlic flan … no, it’s not the next generation of cooking, but when’s the last time you had garlic flan?) and integration (putting the fennel and the fava beans and the perfectly cooked fish and the flan and the sauce together resulted in a symphony that forced you to stop and ponder the meaning of life …). a’s mom just couldn’t get enough!
chicken: perhaps the weakest dish of the evening – the chicken was nicely-done, as were the curried carrots, but ultimately it didn’t quite come together in the end as we would have liked. v felt that this flavoring of this dish didn’t quite “fit” with the progression of the rest of the meal, and I tend to agree. Sorry chicken – every meal is going to have its weakest link, and that’s you (even though technically, every single item was indeed perfectly cooked).
steak 2 ways: this was a’s favorite dish of the evening, and he’s not a guy to just give props to meat for the sake of being meat. Maybe it was the squash blossoms? Maybe it was the perfect seasoning? Maybe it because the main character was given an opportunity to shine, and shine it did, with a tenderness I have never seen in a skirt steak? Or maybe it was because a brought out his 2004 Opus One that was drinking beautifully, with aromas of cigar box and dark fruit and a palate of cola, raisins, and tea? Whatever it was, it was an appropriate finale to the steady crescendo the meal had been trending towards.
cheese: cows: gouda, parm reg, cheddar, something else, and a local blue. All in all, a nice cheese plate. Personally, I would have preferred a variety of milks on a cheese plate, but the point of the plate was there to be all cows, so I understand why they did it. I think I was most surprised by the pickled asparagus and pickled cauliflower – they really reset your palate between cheeses, which I appreciated (especially because I was getting full by this point).
and now the final course …
dessert! pancakes! yay! nuff said …
double-dessert: chocolate truffles: because every meal needs a little chocolate, otherwise, it’s not really a meal …
This was one of the best Table experiences we’ve had! With really only the chicken being a little snooze-y, it’s safe to say that Chef is doing a wonderful job – I haven’t had this good a food there since Sikora’s time. The Table still delivers amazing flavor combinations despite unassuming ingredients and simplistic plating – it never fails to surprise me. The service was top-notch and the staff was very approachable, not hesitating to allow us to get up from our seats and watch them cook up and plate the dishes (even though we clearly were a few glasses of wine into dinner). The kitchen table is a fabulous experience – we [still] highly recommend it and feel that it’s totally worth the price of admission (e.g. go to Vetri once, but go to Talula’s Table as many times as you can). And so, I went to end by thanking sr and ha for their generosity that allows us to eat out like this – thanks guys! Thanks to a and v, as this event would not have been as much fun without them – we love having friends with a similar love of and priority for fine dining. And, of course, thanks to a’s parents – it’s always a pleasure to eat [and drink] with them.
after dinner sneeze 