Vic Sushi: No Dog-Fights, Just Fish
t says: There’s a small place near us that serves some reliably tasty sushi rolls. We’ve been to Vic Sushi a couple of times and have never been disappointed with whatever we ordered. Yes, it’s small. Yes, the AC doesn’t always work spectacularly. Yes, the lunchtime crowd can sometimes be too large to sit through. But, when g and I are in the mood for a couple of quick rolls at an off-peak hour without breaking the bank, we pop in, get their 3-rolls-for-$10 deal and a specialty roll, and we’re good-to-go! While I’m well aware that rolls aren’t the best way to gauge sushi – but my mouth and wallet know what they like, so we’ll be back for more fo’ sho’.
The Pig Crawl [and Percy Street BBQ: A Taste of the South on South]
t says: Last Sunday, g, kp, and I wanted to do a pig crawl. We wanted to sample some notable pig dishes and truly experience pig in all of its glory. We originally planned to go to DiNic’s (in Reading Terminal), Sampan, and Percy Street BBQ. Things don’t always work out as planned.
When the day began we actually found ourselves at Parc with even more friends! We’d gone there once before and, in preparation for our pig crawl, we exerted restraint in choosing our dishes. We opted for the pastry basket, a side of bacon, and a French75. That’s restraint, right? Starting off the day with some buttery pastries and fatty bacon chased by a bubbly cocktail? Sounded good to us! Plus, the bacon meant we were starting our pig crawl early! (which is actually why we ordered it). The pastry basket was delicious like the first time (although the chocolate croissant still had its rod of chocolate), and it included madelines! Sooo good. The bacon was only ok for me, as I like mine a bit thicker (and a little crispier), but the salty, smoky taste of it was quite nice, and, after all, who’s going to argue with bacon? The French75 was exactly as before, so g liked it a lot! Our friends sampled the pomme frites, pain perdu, the poached eggs, and the steak-and-eggs. By the end of the meal, not a single scrap of food remained, so I think it was a success. Good job, Parc. You might not be besting Cochon’s brunch, but you’re a good ol’-reliable.
As g, kp, and I readied to go to DiNic’s, we called ahead just to make sure they were open. It’s a good thing we did because they told us that they only had like 15 sandwiches left and that unless we were “in the area”, we probably wouldn’t get there fast enough. We appreciate their honesty. But that removed DiNic’s from the Pig Crawl! So we decided to take a little break (that pastry basket was quite filling) and skip straight to Sampan.
Sampan was very nearly empty when we got there (5:30). We were seated and enjoyed the Pork Banh Mi, Brussels Sprouts, and the Beautiful Boy sake. The Banh Mi was spot on (you go, Fernandez!) – I grow weary of raving about it, so you can read about it in all of our past reviews. g felt that the meat was the most tender it’s ever been – I felt that there might have been a tad too much cilantro – but it’s not like any of this prevented us from demolishing the sandwich. The Brussels sprouts were a little firmer than I’d like, but still tasty. The sake was as smooth as a baby’s bottom. When we were finished we got up and readied ourselves for the main event – a restaurant we’ve never visited: Percy Street BBQ.
5/2010, Sunday 6:30pm, Party of 3. When we arrived at Percy Street, I was impressed with how big it was. Maybe it was the open windows or something, but it just felt like a very large space! We were seated promptly and happily perused the menu. kp was happy that there was a roll of paper towels on the table – apparently that’s how they do it in the South. We ordered a PST sandwich, the deviled eggs, the mac-and-cheese, and a half-pound each of pork belly and pork spare ribs. We had no idea that this was WAY too much food for three not-starving people.
The mac-and-cheese and deviled eggs arrived first. The deviled eggs were classic deviled eggs. No dill (like Village Whiskey), no fancy add-ins (like Supper) – just eggs, mayo, and paprika. If there was anything else, my feeble palate missed it. They were quite good! Classic. I’m not sure how they got the filling to be so light and fluffy – but it was like an egg yolk cloud in my mouth. The mac-and-cheese came bubbling in a hot dish covered with nicely-toasted breadcrumbs. It was a nice, plain mac-and-cheese. Once again – no weird cheeses, nothing added to it – just mac … and cheese … It was also done well – the macaroni was a soft-but-not-mushy consistency, and the cheese was calm and smooth. kp and I wanted a little more flavor in the mac-and-cheese (maybe some sharper cheese), so kp requested his go-to fix-all, hot sauce. He was pleasantly surprised and satisfied with Percy Street’s selection of hot sauce: Crystal (apparently this is also the hot sauce that is used in the South). It perked up the mac-and-cheese nicely (although if I used as much as kp did, my mouth would still be burning).
When the meat came, I was a little worried that I was getting full … but I pressed on … for the sake of the blog. As the meat was set down, we were asked if we wanted some bread to make sandwiches. Sure! The waitress returned immediately with a basket of sliced white bread. kp was delighted by this as well, as apparently white bread is also how they do it in the South – no fancy baguettes, no brioche – this could have been Wonder Bread. And it worked beautifully. I put some pork belly on the white bread with some of the baked beans. Wow – that was SO tasty. The pork belly was soft and nicely streaked with fat (maybe a little too much for g’s taste – it’s a textural thing). The baked beans had just a touch of sweet and some nice heat and were firm enough so you knew were eating beans, not mush. So good. The ribs were no slouch, either (actually, opposite of my preferences, kp preferred the ribs to the belly!). The meat was super-tender and had enough smoky flavor that made you want to gnaw on the bone to ensure you got every last bit.
g’s PST was a pork belly-coleslaw-pickled green tomato sandwich. It tasted exactly as one might imagine it to taste – the pork belly was the same as I had ordered but the accompaniment of that pickled tomato and cole slaw added some sour and tang. I gravitated towards the belly-bean combination – g gravitated towards her sandwich. I kind of doubted that the belly-bean combo was that good and suspected that the atmosphere was altering my perceptions … Well, I took the leftovers home and ate it the next day; yep – still delicious. I have GOT to learn how to make pork belly like that …
The wait staff was very courteous and the food was quite good, so we liked our Percy Street BBQ experience overall. It was definitely fun to have BBQ-esque food that you could pick up with your hands. I have a feeling that this place could be kind of like a cheap Amada for us in the sense that it would be a blast to dine there with a group of friends. Of course, unlike Amada, the dishes aren’t as polished/refined, but BBQ’s aren’t supposed to be ; Percy Street wasn’t so chic-ified that it lost sight of the whole theme: down-and-dirty BBQ.
g says: Whoa there, cowboy! I wouldn’t go comparing psbbq to the almighty Amada. They are definitely not in the same galaxy of awesomeness. Don’t get me wrong, we did have a great time and really enjoyed our meal, but I wouldn’t get carried away. Are you with me, kp? Okay, I’ve said my piece – back to your regularly scheduled programming…
t says: That said, a true, Southern BBQ seeker I imagine will be disappointed with Percy Street because it’s not that down-and-dirty, but for someone who wants a slight touch of clean with their down-and-dirty (kind of like a down-and-dirty-lite), I think he/she will be satisfied – we sure were. Actually, we look forward to taking our dads there … between ribs (for my dad) and chicken (for g’s dad), I just can’t see how they wouldn’t like it!
Ice Cream “Scoop and Stack”
t says: While perusing a kitchen gadgetry website, I came across this ice cream scoop. I thought it was kind of cool. I’d totally use it to wow friends at our next gathering. g had a slightly different impression …
g says: Thumbs down! Those are not scoops!
t says: So you decide …
Bryan Sikora Does Scrapple?
t says: Foobooz says that Daniel Stern says that Sikora is to come on as a culinary director, with his first task being to focus on the scrapple-obsessed Midatlantic Restaurant and Tap Room. I love scrapple. g doesn’t. I love the crisp outside and the smooth, porky inside. g thinks it tastes like someone chewed up sausage, spit it out, shaped it into the brick and fried it. Result: we haven’t gone to Midatlantic – it’s not even on our radar. I’m willing to give Bryan a few months to see if he can offer some noteworthy dishes that would entice g to go. I wish him good luck with that … he’s going to need it …
The Truth … about Hellmann’s “Real-ness”
t says: I decided to start up a new category of posts dealing with the fabled question: “why?”. Not every one will deal with food, and I’m not even sure if there will ever be another post. I guess the truth about “The Truth” is that I just couldn’t figure out in which of the existing categories this particular post belongs …
It all started when I was watching television and saw a Miracle Whip advertisement in which they mocked Hellmann’s campaign of being “real” (i.e. they called it “real boring” or something like that). Not having seen Hellmann’s ads, I had no idea what they were talking about. Later, I finally saw a Hellmann’s ad that professed that their mayonnaise was “real” as it was made with good stuff like eggs, oil, and vinegar … but did anyone else see the fine white print at the bottom of the screen? You can watch it here. It said something like “Contains a small amount of EDTA to protect quality”. I then remembered that one of my bosses mentioned how EDTA was added to mayonnaise … wanna know why?
We humans love calcium. Our bones use it to be nice and strong. Our muscles, brains, and nerves use it to function properly. It turns out that mold and other nasty things also love calcium, too! Without calcium, they either don’t grow or grow very slowly. What does this have to do with mayonnaise? Those “real” ingredients that Hellmann’s is using contain calcium. This is good for our health, but it’s also good at making foods go bad, as those nasty things can grow in mayonnaise! So the fine people at Hellmann’s add EDTA. EDTA is kind of like a calcium sponge. The EDTA will suck up the calcium so that fungus can’t use it, thus, things won’t grow in the mayonnaise so quickly. How else could an egg-based product stay fresh in the fridge for so long?
Do I ding Hellmann’s for claiming to be “real”? Maybe. I’d say it’s “real-esque”. But I think they need to call a spade a spade – which maybe the fine print in the ad is enough. In the end, it is clear that a not-natural “chemical” is added to the food product … and if you can’t deal with chemicals in your food, you shouldn’t eat Hellmann’s. But for me, I don’t want to buy mayonnaise every time I want a spoonful for my sandwich hankering – so I’m totally fine with it! It’s not like I depend on mayonnaise for my daily calcium requirement, anyways.
Talula’s Split Goes More Public
t says: This had been reported a while ago, but now that it’s in the Inquirer, I feel a little more confident in its truth. I do want to say that it is kind of weird that this is front page news, but I guess if you consider the impact that Django had on the Philadelphia restaurant scene as well as the foodie-prestige that Talula’s brought to the area, it is somewhat big news.
What do I think? Well, regarding the article’s focus on the Aimee-Bryan relationship (and comments below the article), I feel that most readers will feel that LaBan is most certainly painting a stunning portrait of Aimee, and a less-than-stunning one of Bryan … but … if Bryan did truly pull a Tiger Woods here, then I’m totally fine with that. Obviously, there weren’t many details.
As far as the Bryan-cooking relationship is concerned, it’s quite a shame, because when we talked to Bryan in the kitchen in June 2009, we loved his attitude about food and cookery and restaurants. He even admitted that his days at Django killed him with stress, and that he liked Talula’s food-centric, slower-paced gig. But now the Inquirer claims he doesn’t want the cooking-for-one-table job, either, because he has to do some schmoozing? So he doesn’t want to cook a lot because it’s stressful, and he doesn’t want to schmooze because he doesn’t like it, but he does want to be “in the loop” as far as thinking up that prospective new place with Stephen Starr?
Finally, what do I think about the future of Talula’s? Well – g and I have been to the market and agree that they still have excellent food. As far as the dinners are concerned, we also have 2010 Labor Day Saturday reservations, and if we can get together the minimum number of people, we are in! If you want to come with us, let us know!
Bobby’s Burger Palace: Hype Meets Hamburgers
t says: Bobby Flay came to town, as k had foreshadowed and the end of our Ladder15 review. He was opening up a new burger joint. For $7-8, Bobby’s Burger Palace (BBP) promised some semi-fancy, semi-fast-food burgers that are made-to-order. What makes them semi-fancy? k already told you: unique topping combinations – not uber-fancy stuff like at Village Whiskey or Ladder15, just good stuff like avocado, bacon, hot peppers, etc.
g and cm were at work on the day that BBP was to open. And you know … when g and cm are at work … t and k go and have adventures! k absolutely had to catch a sight of the man, the myth, the legend … Bobby Flay. Personally, I just wanted to taste me some good, cheap burgers (Ladder15 totally did me in with their over-the-top meat-and-fat-fest).
So, at 3pm, k and I cut out of work to head to West Philly for the opening. This was actually k’s second attempt at visiting BBP – she’ll tell you more about that visit, her impressions of this visit, and her one-on-one encounter with Bobby later … after she and cm have had time to visit BBP multiple times (I’m far quicker to pass judgement … does that make me a bad person?) …
3/2010, Friday 3pm, Party of 2. So … I arrived at BBP before k and there’s a line. A very long line … a very long line that extends out the door by about 20 people. Fortunately, it was a nice day, so I stood and waited for k to arrive. As I waited, I found that the line refused to move. There was a BBP employee at the front of the line, so I imagined she was trying to hold us back so we wouldn’t mob the place? After all, Bobby was inside (I saw him through the windows, shmoozing with the customers). It became apparent that I wasn’t allowed to go inside … or at least … not if I waited in this line … When k arrived, I explained to her the situation and that we might not be able to make it during our lunch breaks. Just then … the BBP employee disappeared, and then the whole line waiting outside shuffled into the restaurant … including us! k has magical powers of non-verbal persuasion …
As we picked out our burgers, we saw him … Bobby. And you know what … he’s skinnier in person that I imagined. No, he’s not scrawny, but he’s not “normal American sized male” – he’s leaner, not super-tall, and has pretty highlights in his hair … We didn’t get a chance to talk to him before we ordered, but we did talk about what k should say as an icebreaker.
I ordered a pistachio milkshake and the “Philly Burger”, which featured beef, hot peppers, provolone (my choice instead of cheese whiz). Also, k and I ordered sweet potato fries to share. We paid and were seated at the long curvy-counter – we kept a lookout for Bobby (but he was standing right behind us the entire time, talking to some older gentlemen in suits and ties). My burger came first – it looked pretty good! Not as fancy as pictured here, but for $8, who cares? I saw a sesame bun, a burger topped with hot peppers and topped with melted cheese. How’d it taste? Not bad! The peppers were actually hot! No, they weren’t fancy hot peppers or anything, but they were still good. The provolone could have been sharper (as is the style seen in Philadelphia cheese steaks) to compete with the heat. The meat was cooked well-done instead of medium-well as I had ordered, but it was still juicy.
The sweet potato fries were very good. They weren’t too sweet potato-y, which is a common flaw in sweet potato fries – they’re often just too sweet! These were good. The milkshake was also tasty but not what I was expecting. I expected it to hit me in the mouth with pistachio – but it didn’t. It was a sweet vanilla at first, later followed by a hint of pistachio. The pistachio wasn’t as vivid as CapoGiro’s gelato, but it’s supposed to be a milkshake to go along with what you’re eating, so that might be excusable – and there really isn’t anything wrong with a pistachio-vanilla combo. I’d get it again!
Overall, I was happy with the result. How happy? Well, if I got these at a real sit-down restaurant, I wouldn’t send it back, but I don’t think I’d come back, either. However, at a fast-food-esque setting like BBP, I think it’d be a tough call between Chipotle and BBP – BBP might have an edge due to delicious milkshakes and not charging a whole extra $2 for adding guacamole to a burrito (that’s outrageous!). Of course, BBP has humungously long lines – so long that when I tried to take g there, we stepped out of line and went to Chipotle instead. Actually – to be honest – I think BBP’s opening was the best thing to happen to Chipotle in a long time – there were several BBP menus scattered about in Chipotle, evidently from people who couldn’t wait for Bobby. I will say that if I go back, I wouldn’t order the same thing again … I’d go for chicken and either the Napa Valley Burger (crunchified) or the Sante Fe Burger, the plain fries, and the Black and White milkshake. I think it’d be another satisfying meal. But after that – I dunno – 500-degrees is a little closer to home … and we’ve never been!
after dinner sneeze 