bw > tk
t says: Our newest castmember, bw, has been showing off quite a baking repertoire over the past 6 or so months. But this time … he made a dish especially for me. Ok, that’s totally not true, but it might as well have been – look at it:
bacon cheddar scones!
Ok … so … I don’t want to offend bw with this next statement, but I have to say it: it reminds me of a McDonald’s bacon egg and cheese biscuit. Well – but it’s better! It doesn’t have that mouth-coating-grease sensation, but packs a wollop of bacon and cheddar in a nice airy scone (and I didn’t even get ’em straight from the oven!). Now I know what you’re thinking: “t … you like everything with bacon … so this isn’t fair”. I figured you’d say that … so I brought out the one pig-eating person who doesn’t feel that bacon automatically increases deliciousness: g. g ate hers in 60 seconds flat. Afterwards she proclaimed, “wow – this is way better than at Bouchon Bakery”.
WHOA. Hey there now. Did she just go there? Did bw just take down Thomas Keller? Yea he did.
After her comment, I brought her attention to the truth: bw actually used the recipe from Bouchon Bakery cookbook (probably reproduced accurately here)! So … bw versus full-time paid professionals … and bw for the win! We tried to figure out how/why this could happen. g suspected that it was due to the larger bacon pieces and larger size of the scone, allowing it to have more substance in the center. I feel that bw’s was seasoned more aggressively, with brighter chives. Well, whatever it was, we give him an A+! And … because [according to TK] “you really only begin to learn the second time you prepare a dish” … we eagerly await the second time … although not too soon: my cholesterol levels are still recuperating from the 2.5 I ate this time …
zahav kills it with a steak to the heart
t says: Ok, the title isn’t quite the most sensical (not that that’s a word, either), but it does quite capture how amazed I was at a recent visit to Zahav.
December 2012, Sunday Dinner, Party of 4. g and I dined with two friends at Zahav … or rather, g dined with our two friends and I showed up an hour late. C’est la vie. The three of them ordered four people’s worth of food, so when I showed up, the table was completely littered with plates. And yes, everything was quite delicious. But the standout: Duck Heart. Keeping in mind that only three of the four of us tasted it (g was reluctant), two of us were quite impressed. First off, Zahav made no effort to hide the fact that you were eating heart. As the slices of meat sat on their plate, it was clear to anyone who has had anatomy that you were staring straight at ventricle. Literally. The only thing that would have reminded me more that I was eating heart would be if it was beating on the plate. g had had rabbit heart before (and I mooched off her plate), but when faced with an obvious piece of organ, she balked. And you know what … it was delicious. Think as tender as filet mignon, with a little bit of a duckiness (very mild … or maybe I was imagining it?).
As for the desserts, check this one out:
a block of awesomeness
So I forget what exactly that igloo-looking thing was, but it was kind of like a panna cotta but a little richer. I loved it. Add on a brulee’d crust or something and I would have ordered another one for myself (we were sharing)!
There were lots of delicious foods to be had at Zahav, and g and I were quite impressed with a lot of the dishes. It’s true that some were kind of unremarkable (the meatballs), but the highlights were high indeed, especially when using unusual cuts of meat. Similarly, their normal dishes were quite boring, meanwhile the ones pulling in non-traditional ingredients (e.g. chickpeas). Even though the tasting menu is now more expensive than it used to be (it used to be $36), it actually seems closer to being worth it now than it used to be – and now their restaurant week pricing is a great deal! So squeeze into here if you can! I don’t know if it’s four-bell-material, but it’s close!
and … we’re back!
t says: So, we’ve been gone for a while due to the holidays, but now we’re back and ready to blog blog and blog some more.
Here’s a little teaser:
ramen … in chocolate?
see the ramen!
Yea, so I have a notorious sweet-tooth, so I like me some chocolate. Also, as you can remember, I also like ramen. So would the combination reward me with a sweet-savory one-two punch? Well … kinda … I enjoyed the flavor combination – the salty/earthy/umami of the ramen was fun with the not-too-bitter chocolate. But I just didn’t quite like the noodle bits – they added an awkward crunchiness that wasn’t as desireable as I had hoped. This is on contrast to nuts, which kinda crunch and go away; meanwhile, the raw noodles had this crackley-crunch that just kept going as the uncooked noodles broke down into smaller pieces of uncooked noodles. I don’t think I’ll be buying another one of these in the future, but I still think they’re worth a first try if you haven’t had one yet. Maybe buy it and share with three friends? (each bar is made of four blocks) – it’s worth the experience just so you can have an opinion.
Pardon Our Absence …
t says: Yes, yes, it’s been very-nearly-forever since our last legitimate post. We’re sorry! The holidays have left us with very little time. And with those little times that we have had, we’ve spent dining on already-proven-delicious foods (if you have limited time, why risk a bad meal?) For example:
Han Dynasty is still blowing us away. Lately, we’re digging the double-cooked fish (new to us!) as well as oldie-but-goodies, like Cold Sesame Noodles, Dan Dan Noodles, the fish soup (whatever it’s called), Cumin Lamb, Eggplant in Garlic Sauce …
Sotto keeps me coming back with their Matriciana and BYO policy – just the hug you need when it’s cold, windy, and rainy outside …
Talula’s Garden’s December menu rocked our socks with some delightful sweetbreads and cheese and lamb belly and dessert and everything … We also used it as an opportunity to try out a wine we’ve been cellaring for some time:
it tasted like … sea salt … kinda weird, but very interesting
Ekta’s Laamb Saag, Masalader Chola, Vegetable Samosa … we love you!
Indian attack!
So, all in all, there’s a lot of old news here … we’ll hit up some new places in the new year … we promise!
all i wanted was a.salad …
t says: g and I wanted to go to Parc the other weekend for our favorite “Warm Shrimp Salad” brunch. Sadly, they had no space. Rouge similarly had no space. Day-by-day had a half-hour wait. g and I were hungry-verging-on-hangry and getting rained on, so I suggested visiting a.kitchen, as opentable assured me they had space. Here’s our review in a slightly different style than we normally go for: a list-lover’s review!
December 2012, Sunday Brunch, Party of 2.
1) Your hostess made us wait for a table … when there was only one occupied table in the entire restaurant (i.e. at least 8 unoccupied tables, not including the seats at the chef’s counter) – that was weird. I took a photo of it (but won’t post it because you can see patrons’ faces very well … which is creepers). She didn’t move to attempt to assist in the turning over of another table (which I’m not exactly sure anyone did anything to – no one was clearing anything!). She didn’t offer us a seat at the empty bar. She didn’t smile at all. After five minutes had passed, g and I began looking through opentable for seats at Dandelion. Meanwhile, we were subjected to inane chit-chat between the hostess and the patrons who were leaving the restaurant (they apparently knew each other from somewhere). During this time, your bartender, having noted that we were standing off to the side, seemingly exiled to limbo, came over to us and asked, “She’s the hostess – you should talk to her if you want a seat.” To which we replied that we had …
2) … your bartender, upon hearing that we were stuck in the very peculiar predicament of waiting for a table in a restaurant with no dearth of open spaces proceeded to do nothing to help the situation: no offer to get us started with drinks, no assistance in pushing along the seating process, no nothing … just silence … Aawwkkwwaarrdd …
3) Your server was excellent. Fire the hostess and bartender and clone your server twice. She was polite and prompt and was able to answer my queries by confessing that your pastries are not made on-site (no big deal!) and that your “Namaste tea” was “just black tea”.
4) “Namaste” black tea? For real? Is that different from “Bonjour tea”?
5) Cava bar? For real!
cava bar!
Why are you not publicizing the hell out this? This is awesome!
5) Your pancakes could use a little something …
Super-simple pancakes
They’re not as good as Cochon’s (which are twice as thick and moreso fluffy … by the way – why did Cochon take it off their menu?), not as good as Parc (which has better, but definitely between the golden brown outside and pillowy inside), but still better than ones I can make at home using Bisquick or Aunt Jemima … but for $10/plate I should hope so! My feeble-minded suggestions are either add an interesting topping (?bruleed banana?) or flavor (? lemon ? orange ?) or something! You could charge a buck or two more!
6) The “mushroom scrapple” (pictured above) is more like a fried polenta/grits cake with mushrooms interspersed throughout. I don’t know what the composition actually is, but in my mouth, that’s what it reminded me of. Personally, I feel that this is not very scrapple-like, but moreso disappointing because it was quite bland from a salt/pepper perspective and a lacking-mushroom-flavor perspective. Give me more mushrooms!
7) g applauds your use of the English muffin on your burger, but wishes it was just a little fluffier in the middle and a little less burned on the outside (it’s hard to eat a burger if the “bun” part is crunchy like this.
burger attack!
The meat was well-seasoned and nicely-cooked, so definite props for that! And the sauce was a nice addition!
8) Why on Earth do you insist on the tiniest plates possible to fit the food? Maybe to make it seem like you have more food? But a problem arises in that there’s no real space to create a puddle of syrup or for your burger to drip its medium-rare blood without soggifying your chips. And forget trying to rest a utensil on them … Add like 1 inch to the radius – what youll give up in “artistry” you’ll make up for in utility – I promise …
In all, it was an “ok” brunch. As good as Parc? Not really … but surely better than falling prey to hanger on a Sunday when all the other places on Rittenhouse are packed – and that cava bar is definitely worth checking out. I think the better question is why is it not so packed? g pointed out that on one hand, a.kitchen is kinda-sorta-lika hotel restaurant, so they don’t really have to push any boundaries and that it might even be safer not to. I disagree – if they want the street cred (as clearly this blog is the ultimate bestower of “cred”), I just need a bit more “oomph”, be it in innovation or just straight-up flavor. I’m glad we got to go to a.kitchen for brunch, but I only wish that it would have sidled its way into my heart … Maybe next time …
Philly raw denim
t says: As mentioned briefly in the “MANual”, I’ve been following raw denim for a while now. I was unaware of Philly’s raw denim scene until made aware by a. Coincidentally, rawr did a little article on Norman Porter, which is Philly-based. While I haven’t seen any myself, it’s worth keeping an eye on … just so long as it’s not overrun by hipsters …
g&t&a&v take over NYC
t says: The other weekend, we got in a car with a and v, who graciously drove us to NYC. Rather than give a super-long-winded blow-by-blow, let’s take a look at the picture roll and see what I actually used the iPhone to capture:
momofuku ramen!
Our first stop was Momofuku Noodle Bar. Inspired by my previous visit, I knew that this place would at the very least have some delicious food. Plus, I feel like a David Chang restaurant is mandatory for any food enthusiasts like ourselves. l and c met us there (after a spirited 20-block jog), and the 6 of us were the second party to enter the restaurant when they opened at noon. As a side note: if you’re not there more than 25 minutes early for Saturday lunch, your butt is going to be waiting outside in the cold.
The pork buns. Amazing. The smoked chicken wings. Scrumptious. The rice cakes were hit-or-miss depending on if you can deal with rice cakes (e.g. I loved them – and so did l! But the rest of the party was less-impressed.) The kim-chi was white-ified (i.e. white people added too much sugar to it, so it had a sweet tang to it and not enough funk). And the ramen, while tasty, was indeed [just-as-every-New-Yorker-has-ever-said] not-as-good-as-Ippudo’s. Don’t get me wrong – the broth was delightful, with lots of different flavors. But there wasn’t the depth or soul of Ippudo’s. (Also, Ippudo’s noodles are superior). Next time, we’ll hit up Ippudo … (a opines: Momo, sadly, did not live up to the hype – of course the hype was Earth-shattering noodles and ramen which is no small task. I thought the apps were more interesting and noteworthy. Starting with the smoked chicken wings which had a savory, smokey dimension to them beyond the typical heat of a hot wing. The star of the meal, pork buns, would put a smile on anyone’s face. A perfect execution of Korean comfort food, the pork belly was delicious and the perfect texture, and the buns provided an appropriate canvas. The chilled spicy noodles with sichuan spiced sausage, spinach, cashews was interesting but only to a point and its novelty was lost before the bowl was finished. I love all the ingredients in the bowl and cold noodles can be fun but their consistency didn’t blow me away. My main enjoyment came from the buildup of heat from the sausage.)
ice cream break!
We did some shopping. And we did some Christmas-tree-watching. And we did some hunting. Hunting for what? The Blue Bottle Coffee tucked away underneath Rockefeller! It was absolutely wonderful. Their coffee is some of the best I’ve ever had (not that I’m a coffee afficianado like a). It’s just so easy to drink and full of non-coffee flavors while lacking any bitterness. They might be poo-poo’d by those “in the know”, but let’s just say that in my eyes, they can do no wrong. Actually – I hesitated before writing/gushing about them because I kind of want them to be my little New York secret … I will say that the dudes behind the counter are the most not-in-a-hurry workers ever … so if want coffee on a run, don’t go here – they’ll make you wait as they perfectly brew each cup of coffee … with one hand … ‘cuz the other is too busy sipping a coffee of their own …
super-wicked sausage gravy!
We went to Brooklyn Farmacy … and let’s just say that this place is awesome! Of course, the workers were just a little “too cool” for us, dressed in dapper threads from head to toe (literally: a cool, period-specific hat must have been mandatory to work there). The sausage gravy pictured above was ridiculously good. Although, g probably liked her dessert better:
“sundae of broken dreams”: sweet-and-salty deliciousness!
g also had a great egg-based sandwich, but no photos made it onto our phone. And yes, more things were eaten on our trip than just at the above three stops, but … you know what they say: “pictures or it didn’t happen!”.
after dinner sneeze 