Cochon: Brunch Round 2
t says: g and I loved Cochon’s brunch the first time we went there. Simply put, I never had a better stack of pancakes – and I’ve had pancakes everywhere! It brings me great pain to admit that they even bested the pancakes made by our summer-time private chef, g’s grandfather. Of course, g’s grandfather does have some tricks up his sleeve (e.g. fresh blueberries, dark chocolate M&M’s). But now the question – is Cochon a one-trick pony, or can it do more? I guess they can also do “Eggs Cochon”, which g thought were very good – so maybe they’re a two-trick pony? It took us a while, but we gathered together some of adsz’s cast members and went out for brunch. Would Cochon live up to the hype [that I/we gave it]?
4/2010, Sunday 11am, Party of 6. Although we had reservations, it was clear that they were not needed: there was no line of people, only two tables had patrons, and, at first, there was only one hostess/waitress/server. I’m happy this place is still on the D-L.
We sat down with our chilled bottle of vodka (for the bloody mary mix!) and contemplated our options. I had the pancakes last time, and while I loved them, I knew that I had to try something new … for the sake of the blog … I felt somewhat obligated to take on the “other” classic breakfast starch: French toast. Cochon prepares theirs with a berry syrup and fresh whipped cream. It seemed like a winner. I was set. Perhaps I was too set – as I might have told the waitress that we were ready when we definitely were not … But the result was funny and fun! It involved a lot of “come back to me – do me last” among our castmates. Oops! Sorry guys! I couldn’t help it! I was excited!
When the French toast came to the table, all you could see were ?3?-?4? slices of bread surrounded by a pool of deep purple and hiding under a mound of off-white whipped cream. In retrospect, I realize now that it definitely wasn’t a dish that you’d look at and go, “wow, that’s pretty”, rather, “wow, that looks delicious”. And it smelled delicious, too; my nostrils were filled with the scent of berries and maple. I was happy. I offered everyone at the table an opportunity to taste my dish – because there wasn’t going to be any left when I was done. I gave them fair warning, waiting 6-8 seconds, and when no one raised his/her voice, I dove in. First, let’s talk about the sauce. That mixed berry syrup was ridiculous. It seriously was like I had jammed a bunch of berries in my mouth with some maple syrup – but it was smooth – no chunks. There also was minimal tartness, so I imagine that lots of sugar went into it – but it didn’t taste any sweeter than normal maple syrup. The whipped cream was decadent, just as it was last time on my pancakes – it made extra creamy Cool Whip look “light”. The toast, itself, was … good. It wasn’t fluffy like at Parc, but it wasn’t just plain white bread, either. It was an inbetween that had a nice crispness on the outside with some give in the middle … but there wasn’t anything remarkable about it. But, honestly, it could have been plain white toast and the berry syrup would have carried me through the meal until the very last bite. I now know the ultimate breakfast … Cochon’s berry syrup … on top of Cochon’s pancakes, with the caramelized banans and walnuts … I might ask them if they can do it next time I go …
g had the steak and eggs. She and I both agree that they were delicious! The steak with the red wine sauce was phenomenal – I’d say almost as good as Bibou’s hanger steak, and definitely the best steak-and-eggs breakfast we’ve had (meaning I liked it more than the fancy-fancy steak-and-eggs at Tinto).
k says: I liked the atmosphere and the crab – they were generous with the crab. But it wasn’t much of a frittata, though – it was more of a scramble.
t says: cm and d both ordered Eggs Cochon. I think they agreed that while the pig and sauce and eggs were all good – the brioche bread left something to be desired. It sopped up a lot of the grease from the meat and had a dry, crumbly texture. g remembered that the bread wasn’t her favorite part last time, either, but she must have forgotten about it because the rest was so good. cm and d still consumed the rest of their dish, so I think they at least were satisified. I didn’t try any of their food, so I can’t testify!
Finally, d’s friend ordered tomato pie. It looked and smelled delicious. Once again – I didn’t taste any, but if she wants to join the cast and lend her comments, we’d be happy to have her!
All-in-all, I think that while I thoroughly enjoyed eating brunch Cochon, both g and I are noting that there are some weaknesses. The brioche bread seems to be the biggest problem – however, g noted that they do serve English muffin with their steak and eggs, so perhaps a substitution can be requested if you ordered Eggs Cochon (actually, g prefers English muffin to any other type of buttery breakfast bread, anyways). That said, for the price and ease of getting in (and ease of finding parking in the area on a Sunday morning), Cochon continues to be one of my favorite places to go. Now all we need to do is try out some of their more lunch-esque items!
LATER …
Cochon has swapped out the brioche in the Eggs Cochon for “pancetta bread“. Two words: Holy Crap.
Zavino Gets 2 Bells: Laban Lays on Some Zingers!
t says: Laban reviewed Zavino, ultimately awarding them two bells. g and I still have yet to go, ever since we tried so desperately to get in when they were giving away free wine before they got their liquor license. Given some of the criticisms Laban had, I wonder if maybe he wasn’t allowed in during the snowstorm to get free wine, either – if so … payback’s a bitch. Well, we won’t let Laban influence whether or not we go – but now we just have to find a time when we’d rather go to Zavino than the nearby Tria …
By the way – g reminded me that Tria has never let us down. Sure, their menu could use some refreshing, but we’ve just never ever had a bad time there! The funny thing is – we can’t even blame them for the one time that we ordered a cheese that we didn’t like – it’s not their fault we didn’t like it – they did nothing more than cut it up and serve it! It makes me think that they have one hell of a business model …
Chifa and Sampan: Battle Pork Banh Mi
t says: On Saturday, g and I had a hankering for Sampan’s Pork Banh Mi. By the way, it has come to our attention that although Sampan spells it “Bahn”, it might actually be “Banh” – so we apologize for mis-spelling it and will slowly go back through our old posts to fix it. Regardless of how it’s spelled, we wanted it again, as we’ve had it twice so far <#1, #2>, and were happy both times (although we liked it better the first time). Then I remembered that Chifa also has this sandwich on their menu; we’ve never had it, but it’s Jose Garces – could his be as equally as awesome? We felt the storm clouds gathering, casting thick shadows on the grassy field upon which an epic battle was to take place … could Iron Chef Garces beat out Challenger Michael Schulson in Battle Pork Banh Mi? Furthermore, because Chifa’s more known for its Bao buns (steamed buns with pork belly), should that dish also be taken into consideration – perhaps as an exhibition match? Thus, we devised a pig-centric three-way battle. Here we go …
Chifa: 4/2010, Saturday 6pm, Party of 2. We decided to go to Chifa first. We did this for a couple of reasons. The first is that clearly Chifa was going to be the challenger with regard to the sandwich, as we knew that we liked Sampan’s already; Chifa deserved the advantage of being eaten while we were the most hungry. Furthermore, we wanted to end up at Sampan because it was closer to home (thus a shorter distance to walk afterward on a full stomach) and because if we were still hungry, we knew there were plenty of other delightful items on Sampan’s menu (overall, we and our wallets liked dinners at Sampan more than those we had at Chifa).
We were seated promptly (without a reservation) and we apologized in advance to our waitress that we wouldn’t be ordering a lot as we were doing a pork banh mi face-off. She seemed amused by and was happy to entertain our ridiculosity. We ended up ordering a spicy margarita, the pork belly bao buns (Chifa’s signature dish), and the pork banh mi (which apparently was added to the menu around January).
The first dish that was brought out was complimentary “bread”. When it first hit the table, I was highly suspicious. I didn’t recall them having a bread basket the last times we went. In the back of my mind, I reasoned that it was obviously the chef’s attempt to fill us up so that by the time we got to Sampan, we’d be too full to eat. Obviously, I was too smart for him/her. Well, whatever the reason/delusion, that was some fine bread. These were the size/shape of the steamed buns, except that they had more of the baked-brown look with the smell of cheese. They were served with a spreadable brown spicy sauce. When I bit into it, the first thing I noticed wasn’t a taste, rather, a texture; it reminded me of slightly undercooked Pillsbury dough. Sounds gross? Nope. It brought back childhood memories of home baking experiments – awesome! The bread was savory and soft and warm and gooey, and when coupled with the spicy sauce, it was a flavorful way to start our meal. I eventually reasoned that this obviously must not be the chef’s intention to sabotage our perception of Sampan’s food, as to do that, he would have had to given us more than four of these … because if there were more, we would have definitely eaten them all throughout the course of the meal (our other dishes had some sauce “smears” on the plates that we would have also sopped up with the bread).
The bao buns were next. You know – that Jose Garces is always so slick with presentation. I just don’t know how you can make pale-looking buns and brown-colored meat look that appetizing on a plate, but he [or whoever is actually in the kitchen constructing it] does it superbly – it looks like it’s ready for a photo shoot. Of course, I had to re-structure the components so that it could be handled and eaten more easily (a pretty stack isn’t always the easiest-to-eat), but I appreciated the effort to appeal to my eyes. Like my eyes, my mouth also appreciated the buns immensely. The very tender pork belly screamed sweet and savory. The daikon and carrot added some salty sour. Mix all of those with the texture of the light, fluffy, pillow-y bun and it was even better than the first times we went! I did notice, however, that the pieces of meat I had weren’t as fatty as pork belly can be – which is good or bad depending on your stance (I kinda like the fat). In any case, these really make me want to taste Momofuku’s …
The pork banh mi came out last. Although of a similar size, Garces’s sandwich isn’t wrapped in craft paper like Sampan, rather, is presented naked, cut in half, and accompanied by yet another sauce smear. The first thing I noticed was that the bread looked particularly delicious – it appeared golden brown, crusty, and not the least bit squished from cutting. And you know what – that was some good bread, with an awesome outside crust that resembling a Tony Luke’s cheese steak. As soon as my teeth broke past the bread, I inhaled a breath of vegetable/herb freshness – there was cucumber and carrot with some mint and cilantro. As my teeth chewed on the pork pieces (the waitress said it was pork shoulder), it released sweet, but was quickly followed by another salty, savory, mushy-textured experience: the pate! Apparently Jose likes to add pate to the sandwich, which was only so-so in terms of taste (the flavor of the pate is kind of muted versus the rest of the ingredients in the sandwich, so I didn’t want it to dominate). Furthermore, with later bites, I found that it’d aid the pork in sliding out the back of the sandwich as I chomped on the bread by acting as a lubricant – that was annoying. Finally, upon swallowing, I noticed a bit of heat. At first, I thought it was the spicy margarita, but it was not; sliced jalapenos were hidden among the greens. The heat was nice just so long as you didn’t happen to get an overwhelming piece of chile. Overall, the sandwich was good – the vegetables were very bold and up front, the bread and sauce were excellent, and the meat was tender. I deduct points for the pate (just leave it out!) and too little sauce (put it on my sandwich, not a smear on my plate). Not bad a bad showing …
After concluding these tastings, we paid our bill and walked over to Sampan. I was no longer “hungry” but “I could eat” …
Sampan: 4/2010, Saturday 7pm, Party of 2. We were seated promptly at the “bar” the faces the open kitchen. This time we were further from the salamanders, and closer to the appetizer prep stations. As we sat, we watched a pork banh mi being made – it looked simple enough – take some bread, slice it, add some sauce, add the meat, add the veggies, add the herbs, sprinkle some ?nuts? on top, wrap it up, and send it out. As we watched this one being made, we placed our order, and lo and behold, the one we had just watched was delivered to our table! It was like they were expecting us! I guess the reality is that they probably always have one ready to go because they have to make it so often …
First things first – how’d it look? Well, it was wrapped in paper emblazoned with “Sampan” … I kind of like the old school craft paper they had used the very first time we went. Furthermore, gone was the blue painter’s tape – they were now using masking tape. Once again – give me the blue painter’s tape! I don’t like change, damnit!
I opened up the paper and saw our victim. While it looked similar to Chifa’s, the bread definitely appeared softer – likely because there was some squishing in the wrapping process and the warmth from the meat was softening the bread. To be honest – I liked the bread at Chifa better because I like a nice hard outer crust – but if you want soft, then Sampan is the way to go. But when it comes to flavor, there’s a slightly different story … Sampan’s veggies and herbs and meat didn’t give me clear distinct notes, rather, a single harmonious flavor, including sour and sweet from the pickled vegetables, light heat from the sauce, a zing from the cilantro, and savory from the pork. Yes, all the flavor components were the same as in Chifa, but they all worked together at once – there weren’t phases of evolving flavors, rather, one big flavor up front that eventually gave way to the individual components later on, after you swallowed. It was so good.
After some thought, g and I felt that it was definitely better this time than at our last Sampan visit (and almost as good as our first). Why? Well, as we watched from our seat, we realized that the woman making the sandwich with “Fernandez” embroidered on her coat did an excellent job ensuring the right veggie:herb:meat:sauce ratio; this time was near perfect (maybe a little less sauce as our sandwich was a little drippy towards the end), but last time there just wasn’t enough meat. Thank you Chef Fernandez! You the woman!
We concluded our meal at Sampan with dessert – the chocolate banana “tart” in which a chocolate crust filled with bananas that were bruleed. It was an excellent idea, but there were some flaws in execution. The torch definitely burnt some of the exposed crust, so after the first accidental taste of burnt-bitterness (it’s hard to see the burnt parts as the chocolate crust was a dark brown), we had to seek out and remove the burnt areas. Also, there could have been some other sauce or ganache or something to bring together the mushy bananas (they were mushy in a good way!) and the firm, somewhat dry, crust. The waitress did recommend the ice cream to go with this dessert when we ordered, but we ignored her, and now we wished we hadn’t. Like each time we’ve been to Sampan, the desserts are theoretically great, but taste only “good” – int his case, it wasn’t quite good enough to order again (but they keep rotating the dessert menu, so I’m sure I’ll find something new to order next time).
Conclusions: Ok – super long post – let’s summarize …
1) I prefer Sampan’s pork banh mi to Chifa’s primarily because of the bold, harmonious flavor that hit you from the very beginning. While Chifa did have superior bread and more of a “freshness”, the pate subtracted from the dish, and perhaps adding more sauce and allowing the ingredients a chance to meld together (perhaps wrapped in some kraft paper with blue painters’ tape?) would help it?
2) Chifa’s pork buns, however, are superior to Chifa’s banh mi – the way the flavors are integrated makes this dish hit you with flavor the same way Sampan’s bhan mi hits you – you get a nice strong, combined flavor up front that eventually gives way to subtler flavors later.
3) Sampan’s banh mi vs. Chifa’s buns … gee … that’s really close … I think it’d have to come down to what kind of mood you’re in … do you want bread or buns? Ceviche (Chifa) or Brussels sprouts (Sampan)? Personally, I think that Sampan might have the edge because the rest of the menu (or at least, the things we like to eat) are priced more aggressively. We only wish they could execute the desserts a little better – there’s untapped potential there …
Epilogue: As we got up to leave Sampan, g tried to direct my attention to the kitchen. Eventually, she succeeded in doing so (I’m not too good with picking up on her non-verbal signals, and she didn’t want to say aloud, “Hey – look at the guy with the fish.”) I looked over just in time to see Chef Forneas (the real person in charge at Sampan) pull out this huge fillet of fish (looked like yellowtail) and do some trimming. He was showing another one of the kitchen staff how to cut the fish [I think]. Then, he attempted to slice off a piece, but was disappointed and left, hurriedly, to the back of the kitchen. I was psyched because I thought he was going to get a sharp, Japanese knife (one of those single-beveled ones known as a yanagi) and show this fish a thing or two. This was going to be so cool to see him do some sashimi slicing right in front of us (I’m a little obsessed with kitchen knives)! After a few seconds, he then came back into sight … with one hand holding the same knife he was holding before … and the other holding a honing rod … He then proceeded to hone his knife, Gordon Ramsey style, as he walked towards us (and the fish). I counted the offenses … He was going to slice this beautiful fillet not with a yanagi. He was going to use a knife that he was clearly abusing with a honing rod (any knife that you should be using to cut sashimi should not be honed as such). He appeared satisfied with this solution, as he walked with an air of pride in his honing technique. With those three strikes, I had no choice but to leave in utter disgust. Condoning such practices is abominable. I fought back the urge to reach across the bar, snatch the fillet, and run out the door in an attempt to rescue the meat. I vow to you here that I will order sashimi from Sampan nevermore …
Continental (Old City): Service with a Snooze
t says: g and I went to Continental yesterday with d and a friend after enduring 7 innings in the rain watching the Phillies. We were wet, we wanted to stay warm, and we wanted to eat near d’s place. The first establishment we visited (Race Street Cafe) was packed – everyone was watching the end of the Phillies game. Been there, done that. We decided to keep moving – so it was suggested we go to Continental. I was definitely a little under-dressed for the place, but I relied on d’s friend’s blazer-with-rolled-up-sleeves and shirt-with-French-words to make up for my ripped sweatshirt and flip-flops. We were successful in gaining entry (no wait!), and, after getting carded, we were seated at a booth …
4/2010, Friday 11pm, Party of 4. The hostess took us to our table and presented us with menus. After a quick scan, I found that even Continental was jumping aboard the Korean taco craze – after Ladder15, I was excited. Then, the waitress came over and, with a blank stare to some point in the horizon, she asked, “Welcome to Continental, have you eaten here before?” She looked very … tired … She explained that they serve food family style and probably said some other things too – I was too distracted by how enervated she sounded. It must have been a rough night.
As we looked at our menus, we decided on the calamari salad, Korean tacos (my choice), and chicken skewers. It must have taken us a while to decide because we were asked if we were ready at least twice before the time we were actually ready … well, either that or she desperately wanted us to get a move on.
The calamari salad was pretty good! Even better than I was expecting. I suppose it’s better described as an “Asian” calamari salad. No, there weren’t any visible sesame seeds or mandarin oranges or those crunch slender things, but there was some definitely soy, ginger, and sesame flavors going on in there – very nice for a pile of lettuce, some cabbage and some calamari. Also the calamari came out crisp and not mushy, so kudos to them! It was a nice sized portion for four of us to share.
The Korean tacos were next. To be honest, g and I don’t really know why they were “Korean”. Obviously, the tortilla wasn’t Korean – tasting distinctly like … a tortilla. The meat was not pork belly or short rib or rib eye … it was pulled pork flavored with a sauce that didn’t really have any resemblance to anything Korean (more like a sweet bbq sauce). There was some pickled cucumber and onion flecks involved, too … but they weren’t Korean either. Don’t get me wrong – it was pretty good (d seemed to enjoy it a lot) – but let’s be real – it’s a pulled pork taco. I’ll have to bring it up at our next Korean meeting.
The chicken skewers came out with peanut sauce. They were fine – nothing that I wouldn’t see at any old catered event that had chicken skewers with peanut sauce. I guess I really don’t have much to say beyond that.
Now, throughout the meal, the waitress did try her best to speed us along. She cleared plates as soon as they were done. She offered to take our salad, but I told her we were still picking at it (which we were – there was still at least 1/8 of the salad left!). And under no circumstance did she show the least bit of enthusiasm. I completely understand if you’re not thrilled with your job, but you kind of get paid to appear thrilled with your job … right?
In any case, I think Continental had a fairly reasonable showing. I’m not sure I’d head back by myself, but if some friends wanted to go, I wouldn’t try desperately to suggest other places. We chose some cheap items from the menu – totaling $32 for the four of us (although it’s not like we were starving to begin with). Aside from the improper use of the adjective “Korean” and the ridiculously uninterested waitress, I’d say: not too shabby, Mr. Starr.
g says: I think I like the one in Center City better. It definitely has better service, better atmosphere, and even better food. Also, I still want to go to center city and sit in a swing chair!
t says: Now who’s being the bad cop?
An Apple Aside …
t says: Welcome to one of our first non-food-related rants! To ease you in to this new category, I’m going to talk about Apples. No, not apples, but Apples. Not fruit, but computers. As you may know, Apple released their latest lines of Macbook Pro laptops this past Tuesday. As someone who is going to be purchasing a computer through work (free for me!!), I’ve been reading up on the pros/cons of these new PC’s. That’s right, PC doesn’t stand for “a computer running Windows”, it means “personal computer” – I still have no idea why “PC” means “Windows” to everyone – good marketing by Microsoft I guess (although now it’s biting them in the ass).
First off, I’m a little disappointed that the Macbook Air didn’t get updated – I was really going to jump on one of those for the portability. Because I need to decide on a computer really really soon, and because the Air will likely see an update in the somewhat near future (i.e. before the close of 2010) and it would CRUSH me to have an outdated model within the first 6 months of ownership, I think I’m going to have to go for one of the Macbook Pros. True, there are PCs out there which are vastly superior to Macbook Pros in terms of hardware, but over the years, I’ve found that ease of use and reliability are just far more important than speed. Plus – have you ever made use of an Apple store? It’s 742 times easier visiting an Apple store in person than it is trying to call up tech support, talking to someone, shipping the computer to them, waiting a while without a computer, and then finally opening it up when it gets back to you, hoping that it didn’t get damaged along the way. I’ll do that for frying pans. But I’m really tired of doing that for something I actually depend on (also, they’re opening up a new Apple store in Center City!). Also, after years of using Windows XP, if I have to learn a new GUI (as Windows 7 is different enough to have a learning curve), I might as well go over to the dark side. Lastly, g likes Macs, and as the saying goes, “Happy wife, happy life.” (Shout out to the Real Housewives of NJ)
What will I buy? I don’t know … but I’m really digging the high resolution, matte screens available on the 15″ model (I hate seeing my reflection in computer screens – I don’t care how good movies look on them or how good of a hair day I’m having). I’m going to wait for the benchmarks to come out – I don’t want to spend extra money on upgraded hardware if it doesn’t result in real-world performance.
Another question. Will I get an iPad, too? I don’t know – I’m leaning towards “not now” – I just can’t figure out what to use it for. But in the back of my head, I know that in order for Steve Jobs to rule the world, each and every one of us must find an excuse to carry one of these things around wherever we go. (Actually, it’s quite amazing how Apple’s really good at making us want to use their stuff, even if we technically don’t really need to use their stuff).
Finally … what’s the point of this post? I don’t know.
Koo Zee Doo: Wonderful Anti-Tapas
t says: Koo Zee Doo is a Portuguese BYOB in Northern Liberties. LaBan gave them three bells. It received four James Beard nominations (and was a semifinalist for “best new restaurant” – although I guess was eliminated as now Bibou is the only remaining Philadelphia restaurant in the category). When I read it was family style – a concept that I had not heard in Philadelphia outside of Chinatown and Italian restuarants – we had to go. Because maybe our own families would not appreciate Portuguese food (but they’d probably like family style), we decided to invite the third member of our own “Finer Things Club”: kp. Having just returned from his world travels, kp was totally down for this March FTC meeting.
3/2010, Friday 8:45pm, Party of 3. Our cab pulled up right on time. While there was a little crowd of people waiting to be seated, we walked right in and were seated very-nearly-immediately (they just had to put settings down on our table). Our server was very enthusiastic and explained that everything was served family style and that their entrees were the equivalent of 1.5 “normal” entrees. He then recommended getting three appetizers and 2 entrees for the three of us; my math is a little fuzzy, but that sounded like a lot of food. He also recommended the piri piri shrimp, but, after kp exclaimed how excited he was to see piri piri on the menu (kp makes a mean piri piri), the waiter said “well, this is our version.” As a result, we ignored all of his recommendations and ordered the following: Goat’s Cheese, Salt Cod and Chickpea Salad, Baked Duck Rice, and Pork & Clams. We were going to order more if necessary – I forget what the backups were, but they definitely weren’t necessary …
Before we start, I do want to say that we haven’t included kp’s thoughts on the food, yet – but if he wants, we’ll be happy to added this review at any time.
The bread came out with a dish of interesting yellow things. That’s right – “yellow things”. I have no idea what they were because I zoned out when the waiter was talking (a bean of some sort?), but you eat them in a manner similar to edamame (eat the insides, discard the skin). As other reviewers have said, the bread was quite tasty and worked well with the bean-like-things – but the bread didn’t really show off its true colors until the goat cheese and salad appetizers came to the table.
First, let me say that the apps were quite large! I don’t know how we’d fit a third app on the table had we wanted! The cheese was crumbly and light, kind of like ricotta in both texture and taste. Well, it didn’t taste like ricotta, as it was a richer cheese, but it definitely was not as nearly as goat-y as we expected. It was accompanied by some oil (with salt) that was very nice with the cheese (kp actually said out loud, “this cheese could use some salt” right before he stumbled upon the salted olive oil) as well as some honey and what looked like cubes of ?honeyed pears?. At first, the cheese was “ok” – but between the bread and the cheese, there was still something missing … but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Well, whatever the missing element was, it was hiding in our chickpea and cod salad. That salad was phenomenal. It was both simple and complicated. The chickpeas were accompanied by olives, pieces of tender cod, hardboiled egg, and what I think was broccoli rabe. It had the salt and sour that worked well the egg and chickpeas as well as the goat cheese from the other app. Put this together with the bread and to be honest, Actually, I was afraid that I’d be full after eating just that! And there were three of us!
Then came the entrees. As soon as they hit the table, my nose smelled delicious delicious pork – it was like the scent of good bacon – and bam! I was hungry again … The duck rice was closest to me, so I dove in. Holycrapitwasgood. The duck was so tenderly cooked (and we ordered it medium instead of medium rare!). It had a beautiful crust on the skin. In your mouth, you get the salt and fat followed by duck and the mild taste of the rice. I’ve never had a duck so good – although perhaps that’s not saying a lot because I haven’t sampled a ton of duck in my time. Perhaps it’s more impressive if I say that I’ve never had a bird so good [at a restaurant – it’s hard to compete with a brilliantly cooked Thanksgiving turkey] . This dish made me vow to order more duck. It was so good that the next morning, I got up and wished I had some more of that duck rice.
The Pork & Clams were served in an upside down roof tile and were mixed with what looked like “country potatoes” you’d get as a breakfast side. This dish was also excellent. A few of the first clams I had were a little over-cooked – but the rest were spot-on (I think the first few I had were tiny, so maybe that’s why they were a little over). Then the pieces of pork … the lovely pork. Each piece had a good crust on the outside but fell apart in your mouth to reveal tender meat on the inside. I will admit that the potatoes seemed a little out of place … until I looked at the shallow puddle of juices in the bottom of the tile. The potatoes were miniature sponges for the juices – duh! In any case, the main flavor of this dish was “pork”. Yes, the clams were good, but pork was the clear star.
We were kind of full (g had started sneezing), but we just had to try dessert, too. One item intrigued me especially: chocolate salami. A complete dish of chocolate – how could I go wrong? Well, when it hit the table and it looked very … brown. There were some slices of chocolate salami (slices of chocolate ganache with crushed cookies) set in a rich chocolate ?mousse?, a chocolate-dipped chestnut-filled fig, and a cinnamon creme with a chocolate cracker with almonds. I was totally digging the quantity of chocolate … but you know what … it was disappointing! The salami was crumbly (I wish it were softer, like actual salami) and the cookie bits didn’t really have much taste that my unrefined palate could discern (and didn’t really add much texture, either). The rich chocolate sauce was good, but it really didn’t have anything to shine against b/c the whole dish was chocolate! I desperately wanted some salt or some citrus or some nuts – give me a kumquat like at Zahav! The cinnamon creme was only “good”. The almond-chocolate crisp and the fig were the best items in the dish, but only because they were able to bring in some flavors that could stand up to the chocolate monotony.
We were amazed when the bill arrived. Each person paid less than restaurant week prices ($35), and that’s with tax and tip!! Couple this with it being BYO and you have a great combination of ample, delicious food for a reasonable price! We’ll definitely go back – there are so many things on the menu! And because the portions are so big, it’s going to take some time to get through them. But you should consider avoiding the chocolate salami … unless you actually want to reach a point in your life when you say: “You know … that’s just too much chocolate …”.
Sampan gets 2 bells … maybe more later?
t says: LaBan gave Sampan two bells. I guess that’s not too shabby … LaBan’s overall critique: a very diverse menu, probably too diverse of a menu, but the food had lots of potential. Some of the dishes had issues with balance of flavors, but others were spot on. Overall, I think our stomachs and our wallets appreciated Sampan more than LaBan, so at the very least, we’re happy that the place isn’t going to be super-mobbed when we want to go (like every restaurant that gets 3+ bells). g and I are also happy that one of our friends who recently dined there will be dreaming of the pork banh mi, like us. g and I can’t wait to do a Sampan versus Chifa pork banh mi taste-off!
after dinner sneeze 