Posts Tagged ‘BYO’
FTC dominates Monsu
t says: The Finer Things Club (an idea we knowingly ripped from The Office) held our monthly meeting at Monsu (we had been on hiatus for a few months because I was being a party-pooper and working all the time). In attendance at April’s meeting were kp, a, v, g, k, cm and me. After g and I had a delightful brunch there, we rolled up into Monsu for a late Friday dinner with the gang. This is what went down …
4/2011, Friday 9:30pm, Party of 7. The moment we walked in, we saw that the people sitting at the large table were about to get up to leave. It’s a good thing. Had they not, then surely we would have fought them … West Side Story style (or not). So, unlike our experience at the sister restaurant Modo Mio (where we waited an hour before our reservation), we were immediately off to a good start.
We ordered a mess of food. And as we ate, we proceeded pull out a mess of wine, ranging from whites to bubbles to reds (including a very classy $12 magnum of Protocolo). g and I had the lamb “in the style of the horse”, the osso bucco, and the carbamare pasta. I found the lamb to be pretty good – but I actually can’t remember anything particularly mind-blowing with it – I guess I must have missed the big deal about the “style of the horse”. In short, I think it was cooked well and tasted fine, but I wouldn’t go back to order it again. I found the osso bucco to be a step up from the lamb, putting a variety of flavors together with a very tender pork – I also love the sesame candy topping and the thick glaze – I might order it again, but only if I was sharing it with other people (i.e. it wasn’t so good that I’d want to hog it all to myself). But it was the carbamare (i.e. carbonara) that was the highlight – it was beautifully cooked, a great combo of flavors (and that’s not just the prosciutto talking) and everyone who tasted it seemed to enjoy it; it’s a good challenger against Melagrano’s carbonara. But enough about us – here’s what the gang thought (and I’ll throw in my edits in [brackets]):
lamb "in the style of the horse" ... whatever that means.
a says: Overall, it was a great experience with great people [yea, we are pretty great …]. The space is better here than at Modo Mio but I think the food nod goes to Modo. The special gnocchi was outstanding, better than the “regular,” along with the mushrooms on several plates. The pulpo was good but did not bring all elements of the dish together perfectly. The osso buco, again, was good but did not blow me away. The roasted fennel with beets was surprisingly complex and tasty for a side. I’d like to go back and try some of the other dishes as well as brunch.
The osso bucco was a mound of tender meat and veggies with an ?apricot?-sweetened glaze and sesame candy on top.
k says: The evening started off with an amuse bouche of a mini-toast with some kind of lentil spread. An amuse bouche always puts me in a good mood. It makes the meal feel special and feels like a great freebie, even though the cost is no doubt incorporated into the rest of the menu. Unlike others in the group, I like the [regular] gnocchi dish better than the “special gnocchi”. cm and I shared the ricotta gnocchi with crab meat in a sweet tomato cream sauce [this “regular” gnocchi dish is also served at brunch at pictured on our brunch post]. Wow. t will remind me that I liked it so much I was somewhat less than generous is sharing tastes with the rest of the group. Sorry, guys. I also loved our fish dish. It had tender and flaky mahi mahi cooked in a tagine with sausage, a rich savory sauce with mushrooms on top of a bed of israeli couscous. cm said the sausage were great. Our appetizer featured perfectly cooked scallops (cm’s all time favorite) bursting with flavor. The place was very homey. There was lots of pleasant chit-chat with the wait staff. They didn’t seem at all annoyed by our increasing drunkenness and the absurd questions we posed them (what are those two pigs in the photo doing to each other? and what spice is laying tantilizingly on top of their pig bodies?) All in all, a very successful night of food and debauchery.
kp says: Re: Bruschetta. The earthiness of the mushrooms paired well with the escargot, which had a nice soft texture and was not over cooked to rubbery proportions. The bread itself a little on the soggier side but this probably owes to the ‘tagine’-esque pot it was served in which probably steamed the toasted bread a bit. The sauce itself was wonderful a lovely salty reduction of red wine with a hint of garlic and tarragon. The sauce paired well with the mushrooms and escargot.
Re: Duck. The confit of leg was nicely seasoned and went well with the broccoli rabe. The leg itself may have been a tad on the drier side, but still delicious.There was a nice smokiness to the leg meat which blended well with the rich sauce.
Re: Scallops. The scallops were buttery deliciousness. The foccacci had a nice crisp crust and salty taste. The olive oil/ricotta mixture is creamy but could use some nice sea salt coating.
v says: I prefer the space and ambience at Monsu, but the food at Modo Mio. Though, I was really hungry after waiting for an hour at Modo Mio!
t says: Wow – it looks like there were some highs and some middles – not a whole lot of lows, which is good. I think that the best part of the night was a combination of the table we were at (it fit the 7 of us comfortably) and the “chill” (but very attentive) service. I don’t know how many places can pull off a table like us, but we’re happy they did. Now if only they were open a little later – we could have used about a half-hour more to linger over our wine (they were closing up at 12:15 or so … Modo Mio let us stay ’til 1:30).
Can’t wait for our next meeting!
Han Dynasty’s Got Some Balls
t says: I’m sorry for the crass, unsophisticated humor, but I just had to go there. I mean, you should have seen the size of their meatballs! Wait – what meatballs? Ok … let’s rewind …
g planned a dessert gathering of very diverse people for an evening celebration, figuring that a few would be able to come for dinner beforehand. A few turned into a party of 13 or so. Yikes. What restaurant would do a party of 13 on a Saturday night? Well … let’s just say that are a lot of restaurants that would not do a party of 13 on a Saturday night … looking at you Melograno, GTC, Mercato, etc. (don’t worry – we still love you, even if you’ve hurt us so *sheds a single tear*). Then a friend of ours sent out an email invite to celebrate Chinese New Year (the following weekend) at Han Dynasty … and then we got to thinking … if our guest list and his guest list didn’t overlap, then maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if maybe we borrowed his idea, right? … rriigghhtt?
Well, right or wrong, we did (g and I had been wanting to go for a long time and couldn’t make it to the Chinese New Year celebration, so we figured we owed it to ourselves to go … “for the sake of the blog!”).
1/2011, Saturday Dinner, Party of 13. Han Dynasty does things in a very cool way for large parties. There’s no lame, super-limited menu here. Instead, you tell them the number of people, the price that you want to pay per head, your dietary restrictions, and then let them do the rest. It was awesome. We went in at $20 per person and were absolutely stuffed!
As soon as we were ready, there an unending flurry of food hit the table. We tried to hear the descriptions of when they hit the table, but failed miserably (it’s pretty loud in there!). As a result, there’s no way I could try to describe the dishes for you here. There was pork (several kinds) and fish and noodles and duck and [some] veggies. I suspect that if we kept on eating, they would have kept on bringing. And they were all quite tasty! I didn’t have a single thing that I wouldn’t try again – so they definitely know how to please my palate.
But there was one that stood out. The meatballs …
They brought out this plate of humungous meatballs that were stacked on top of each other. They stared down the other plates surrounding them. And the weird thing was that they had an eerie Jello-esque jiggle to them (I suspect a large proportion of the mix is made of tofu). At this point, our party of 13 had had a reasonable amount of wine (Han is BYO … another super-awesome feature when doing something with a large party), so the question was no longer whether anyone was going to make a comment, rather, who was going to make a comment – leave it to one of g’s NYC girls to step up and own it. But you know what … peculiar jiggle aside … they, too, were actually pretty tasty! As a matter of fact, it was the only dish I asked to be wrapped up to be taken home (I suspect their appearance may have dissuaded people from trying them, so we had leftovers). But alas! I left it at the restaurant! Darn!
As far as best dish? You know – I don’t know which one tasted the best. There was one with duck I kept going back for, and I heard raves about a pork belly one. I think g was very fond of the noodle dishes (she’s a noodle fan from way back in the day). I guess we’ll just have to go back and take copious notes next time …
Han Dynasty drawbacks: Their level of spice is definitely on the higher end. Nothing was intolerable (I kind of liked it), but for the lightweights in our party, we should have requested super-mild or something (we asked for it mild and one of the dishes still had me reaching for water). Those comfortable with Asian spice will feel at home here; if you want to sweat while you eat (a la my grandfather), I’m sure that can be arranged. The second downer was that the table was right next to a pole which made fitting 13 people a little hard. Go for 12 – it’d be a bit more comfortable.
Summary: If we had another party of people to take out, I just don’t think you can beat the combo of price, BYO, taste, and casual atmosphere of Han Dynasty. Oh, and it’s tasty enough so that even real Chinese won’t care if it’s “authentic” or not.
Nous aimons Bibou …
t says: Ok, so it’s been about a decade since I’ve had French classes – so the title might not actually say “We love Bibou.” But if it does – hooray! Because we’re about to give you an update about the joint:
IT …
STILL …
ROCKS!
g’s mom got us a gift certificate for Christmas, so we wasted no time in booking a reservation. We signed up to go for the the Sunday dinner fixed price dealio and cabbed our way down to the restaurant. Forget the rest of the setup – let’s dive into the food …
1/2011, Sun 8pm, Party of 2. First course was a delicious sunchoke ?cauliflower? soup. It was a nice start to a winter meal. Its was warm and rich, but the flavors were light enough to make us want more. But I’m glad they didn’t give us more – I wanted to pace myself. I knew what was next …
The escargots. These escargots are no mere snails. They are an unstoppable company of elite gastropods whose sole mission is to make your mouth happy. I get them every time, and every time, they are the perfect appetizer. Perfect texture, perfect flavor (but you have to like garlic – it’s a major component), perfect size, and the perfect sauce that g and I just have to sop up every bit of because to let the dish go back to the kitchen in any condition but completely clean is an absolute, unforgivable travesty … I need to take a break while I clean up the puddle of saliva that has accumulated on my shirt as a result of merely thinking of the escargots. Take over, g!
g says: I tried a special of the evening — wild boar chop with red quinoa — and was simply blown away. For being “wild” boar, Pierre certainly tamed it, as my dish was not the least bit gamey, and it was rather light and tender. I had always thought French food required a certain level of heaviness, but this meal was anything but. In fact, the bottle of Chablis that we brought took me through just about my entire meal, which was a pleasant surprise (my other courses included arctic char tartare, a cheese plate, and honey/chocolate ice cream). All fabulous, and a nice reminder of why we return here at least once or twice a year for special occasions.
t says: Ok, the puddle has been mopped up. For now. I say “for now” because I will next describe for you the fried pig’s feet stuffed with foie that I had as my main course. Holy bejesus – it was like a red-headed step-child of a stupendous pork belly (the fat), pork shoulder (the meat), and fried chicken (the skin). But this was a good red-headed step-child – perhaps it was more like “a cross between Fergie and Jesus” (Step Brothers, anyone?). The moist tender meat sung a sweet/salty pork, backed by luscious fat and a delicately crisped skin. I’m not sure the foie was completely appreciated in this dish – or maybe that’s why it was so silky on the tongue? The french lentils underneath were good, too. Personally, I normally feel like lentils are a “filler” that lacks much flavor on its own, but here they are executed well enough where I actually took a few spoonfuls unaccompanied by pieces of the pig feet superstar – quite tasty! I remembered how a friend of ours claimed that Bibou does the best pig’s feet he’s ever had (he’s Chinese and has consumed a lot of pig’s feet). While I’ve never had pig’s feet prior to this, I would not be surprised if they are indeed the best ever and would be quite content to simply never eat another foot of pig if it meant that I’d avoid future disappointment.
What else was great? Well, first off, we love it with Monsieur Calmels comes out and greets us. g totally shmoozed him up with how great her dish was (she didn’t lie or stretch the truth – but as you can tell – the truth is flattering enough). He was very nice and humble and told us a bit about how it was prepared; he’s comes across as a very nice guy and a class act, complete with a soothing French accent (not the kind that’s pompous like on cartoons).
We also love it when Charlotte “gets real”. She sat down at the table next to ours and chatted in French with those guests. That’s right – we eavesdropped the entire time. What’d they talk about? I have no idea – I don’t speak French (high school was a long time ago – l, we really needed you!!!). However, there were some definite phrases that I understood, because they did have to translate for one of the guests at the table who spoke no French. So what were they talking about? Well, I can’t give you details (because it might be inaccurate and I don’t want to start any rumors), but what I think we got was an insider’s scoop into some thoughts about the French-ness of French restaurants in Philly, the similarity of Biba and Bibou, the style of Stephen Starr, the accuracy of Philly Mag’s Top 50 list, the accuracy of Blackfish’s number 1 position standing in the Philly mag Top 50 list, and more! Even if it was just some late-night gossip, it was still a ton of fun.
Were there any drawbacks? Yes, there was one. One that nearly crushed g’s heart. When they took our dessert order, they told us they didn’t have any banana tartine left, which g was gunning for since she first saw the list when we sat down. We decided to go for the ice cream and the creme brulee instead (which were both still very good). But alas – we found out that we were lied to. The table of French-speaking people who arrived after us and were sitting with Charlotte were given an order – and they had ordered their dessert (and were seated) way after us!! We definitely could not mistake what our ears heard as their desserts hit the table: “Banana Tartine” (I’m saying it with a thick/fake/ridiculous French accent). Yes – I’m sure they were friends of the owners or something, and g and I admitted that we’d do the same – but I guess I’d do it just a little more discreetly. I think we weren’t disappointed that they participated in such a practice, rather, we were envious that we were not [yet] buddy-buddy enough to receive the forbidden fruits of the “we’re all out” excuse. Maybe next time. After all – we have run into them at Cochon eating brunch before. And as we have come to find when we told Charlotte where we’d like a cab to take us, that we and she were almost neighbors (we’re in the same neighborhood!). Awesome. I think we’ll have to keep an eye out for them … Maybe we’ll just carpool next time (why the hell is it so hard to get a cab to come out to South Philly?). If nothing else, in our neighborly discourse, it’d also be interesting to hear her thoughts about restaurants more local to us … like Meme …
Fond … Understatement of the Year!
t says: g and I were looking for a BYO to have our Merry Christmas dinner together … but the usual suspects were not under consideration … We had just recently gone to Cochon, we’ve done GTC to death, and Bibou was closed for the holidays … What to do? What to do? g was in charge. She suggested Fond. What’s Fond? Fond is a restaurant tucked away in South Philly that has garnered much praise recently from Zagat and Philly Mag, but perhaps only a so-so review from LaBan. To be honest, I wasn’t super-thrilled at first – it’s just so far away from where we live. Would cabs for our return be easy to come by? Would the food be worth it? Well, by the time the date rolled around, I couldn’t come up with any other ideas and, to be quite honest, I was a little excited (it had been a long week).
December 2010, Thursday 7pm, Party of 2. We gave our cabbie the address, but he had no idea where it was – Passyunk’s slant throws everybody off. Fortunately, the iPhone led the way. We arrived 10 minutes early!
When we walked in, we were greeted by the hostess but were told that they might be running a little behind so that we’d have to find something to do for 20 minutes. She did, however, say that we could go and grab a drink at Paradiso just a few doors down. That sounded like a plan …
g says: having a drink before dinner is the kind of thing that i generally think of as only happening in the movies. it’s not something we do all that often, if ever (t is a lightweight and we love a byo anyway) but this was a celebratory meal, so i thought it might be the perfect time to class it up a little. when the hostess said that paradiso was only 3 doors down, i was a little surprised since i hadn’t noticed passing it on the way. it is the only restaurant that we had ever been to in the area (for d’s graduation celebration this past summer) and i felt comfortable walking into their place for a 20-minute visit since it was familiar territory. fond’s waiting area/foyer is super-tiny as well, so it really doesn’t make much sense to try and stand there waiting for your table while others are trying to enter and exit the restaurant.
so, off we went to paradiso. that place is actually pretty spacious, which i appreciate. it wasn’t terribly crowded, and we were able to sit right down at the bar. it’s a family-run establishment, the bartender for the evening being a pleasant young girl whose aunt donna made the complimentary pizzelles on the counter. t ordered a glass of rose, and i went for a glass of bubbly. we were joined at the bar by some regulars (read: old italian south philly men) whom all seemed to know each other. this strangely put me at ease; it was like their version of cheers, except they had cookies instead of beer nuts.
about 2 sips into our drinks, fond called t’s phone letting us know that our table was ready. he told the hostess that we had just received our drinks so we might be a little late. she said that was fine, or that we could just bring our drinks to dinner with us. interesting. my immediate reaction was something like, “wait, she -the hostess- said that we can walk out with their -paradiso’s- drinks? what do es she (nodding toward the bartender) have to say about that?” i was not about to be chased down passyunk in 3-inch heels and 30-degree weather by any angry paradisians. t asked the bartender, and she confirmed that fond and paradiso are indeed very friendly and would allow us to carry our glasses to dinner, as the staff at fond would bring them back at the end of the evening. an arrangement unlike anything i have ever heard of – very interesting, indeed.
we made it to fond without dropping anything (thank goodness) and were seated right away next to a friendly couple of guys who were finishing up. they had pork belly on their plates, and it smelled divine – t was hooked. it wasn’t uncomfortably packed in the dining room, but our waiter did come over to let us know that they would nudge our table over a bit once our neighboring party had finished to give us a little more elbow room. how thoughtful! though we really didn’t mind being so close to the pork belly aroma…
anyway, i ordered the yellowfin tuna crudo and the hanger steak with crispy polenta, both of which were so delicious. the tuna was chopped, mixed with jicama and pickled pineapple, and seasoned with curry and cilantro. it was light and refreshing, yet still complex enough for me to feel that i was eating a decadent hors d’ouevre.
fond’s hanger steak is the strong, silent type; an equally humble and satisfying plate. t reminded me when it came that i would have to compare it to the bibou version, which is my favorite in the city. this was excellent in its own way, completely different from bibou’s approach. this hanger steak was not marinated in wine, and its jus was very simple. no hit-you-in-the-face flavors here, just really lovely subtleties. it was more of a mom’s pot roast jus, which i happen to appreciate. i will say that they make the best polenta i have ever encountered. the texture was just fluffy enough, and the top perfectly crisp. the best bite of this dish was a combination of the steak and polenta, swirled around in some jus. they had passed the test of making something otherwise simple really shine – one of the two ways that restaurant food can impress me (the other being a dish so creative and well-conceived that i wish i had thought of it).
t says: Allow me to review my dishes … First off, the foie gras was absolutely awesome. Now, I don’t eat foie often, so please understand that I might not be the best foie critic (it’s not a cruelty-to-animals thing, rather, an it-doesn’t-taste-any-better-than-butter-and-tofu thing), but I have had it at Bibou (I think), O Ya, Talula’s Table (twice), and a few other places that are supposed to do it well … But this dish was different than those … Well, except O Ya. Both O Ya and Fond attempted to marry their foie with dramatic “other” flavors … and to be honest, Fond’s was the better of the two, and also the best foie I’ve ever had. So what’d they do? They seared the foie beautifully (nice and dark on one side) and served it with some caramelized apple, a dollop of ricotta, some “pie crust” (puffed pastry-esque), and likely some other ingredients I couldn’t identify. The end result far exceeded the sum of the parts – there was a symphony of flavors and textures that worked so well together that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how good it was despite being a somewhat simple idea (foie and apple pie!). g had some, too, and she was less impressed than me, but of course, she’s not so keen on tofu-esque textures like foie.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, the pork belly appeared. That’s right – I ordered foie and pork belly in the same meal. The waiter commented, “So, I guess we’re going for a light meal this evening?” – funny guy. Back to the belly: it was ridiculous. The top had a super-dense crust. I suspect that they braised the pork belly, cut out a slab, and then deep fried the top (?maybe with a coating of sugar?) just before serving. Of course, as I’ve said before, what the hell do I know about how they did it? Neverthless, however they did it, it was the single best piece of pork belly I’ve ever had. Better than Cochon. Better than Morimoto. Better than Talula’s. That said, the dish as a whole just missed the title of the best pork belly dish I’ve ever had. Morimoto wins for superb incorporation of “other” flavors, and Cochon’s garnishings felt like they added a lot more dimension than Fond’s Okinawan sweet potatoes – which were good, but really, pork belly doesn’t need more rich potato flavor, rather a little something to cut through the fat and reset the palate between bites of pig – maybe some veg or something zippy/zingy/sour/spicy/sweet – I don’t know. But don’t get me wrong – I demolished the entire dish – and that was after eating a foie appetizer (I obviously did not go for a low-fat, low-calorie meal), so it’s pretty darn fantastic. And actually – I’d even order this dish if I had to order again, just so I could taste the pork belly once more, which I’m not sure I would do for pork belly dishes elsewhere.
I think we may have had a sorbet sampler for dessert – I actually turned down some sort of super-deep chocolate desserts for fruit-based dessert!! THAT says something about the rich-ness of the other foods I ate. I remember the sorbets being good – I think blood orange and strawberry were two of the flavors we went for – I forget the third – maybe a chocolate sorbet (I was thinking it’d be lighter than like a chocolate bake/cake thing). We’ll have to get at their dessert list the next time we go …
And now … back to your regularly schedule programming …
g says: our fond-love-fest, er dinner, was not without comic relief. about halfway through our meal, a table of 6 senior citizens was seated next to us. they were cute – it made t wonder if we would be like them when we are their age, going to dinner and talking much more loudly than necessary with friends, attempting to read the menu in dim lighting. they weren’t a terribly rowdy crew, and as i mentioned before, it wasn’t a totally cramped dining room, but WOW we had a lot of elderly butts in our faces. it seemed like someone from that table was up to use the restroom every few moments, shimmying by us, unaware of their behind hovering over our table, dangerously close to our glasses each time. t had to rescue our wine bottle from spillage on more than one occasion before we decided to shift our entire table over. this put us a bit closer to the table on our other side, a new party of 4 much closer to our age, so we hoped they understood.
certainly no butts-in-the-face ruined our evening, though, and we were able to have a good laugh. when we were ready to head out, our hostess called us a cab. they said it would be 15 minutes. after about 30 minutes, the hostess called back and they said it would take up to 2 hours to get a cab out there. t started to worry. what if we couldn’t get back? walking was not an option, as we were far too south of south, and although we knew there was a subway stop nearby, it just didn’t seem like the best time to be figuring out the philly underground that late at night. t called a few more cab companies himself, offering “whoever gets here will get a BIG tip!”
as he made calls by the door and strategized with the hostess about how we could get home, i stayed seated at the table. our new neighbors to my right were 2 young couples with a few open bottles of wine. the guy seated directly next to me was pretty happy at this point, and wanted to make small talk – mostly about my handbag. he kept talking about how awesome it was and showing his wife, who kind of rolled her eyes, half trying to be polite to me and half embarrassed that her husband was so interested in it rather than their party’s conversation. i kept my end of our conversation brief so as to let him get back to his friends, but this guy was not just friendly – he was drunk friendly, which in his case meant that talking to me/my handbag was more important than how many times his wife kicked him under the table.
finally, i was able to make a quick escape when we saw a cab drive up – which we jumped into immediately. turns out, it was not one of the 4 cab companies that t/the hostess called. oops! sorry, cab dispatchers…
t says: Overall, the food was great, but the location kind of stinks. There’s only one thing to do … we need to go to Bibou for a throwdown …
Meme goes BYO … again
t says: We visited Meme a long time ago – back when it was BYO, before it had a liquor license. We liked it, but not so much that we’d go back after they got their license. And we haven’t … Since getting their license, they instituted BYO nights on Wed, which was a good idea, but g and I can’t break in the middle of the week to go out to dinner (well, unless we’re talkin’ about Meritage’s Korean Friend Chicken – back when they offered it on Thursdays). But now Meme has sweetened the deal by completely eliminating corkage fees. I believe that means that g and I are now obligated to go!
Too many restaurants, too little time!! (We have groupons/coupons for James and Le Castagne – we want to return to Supper – and we have frequent hankerings for Barbuzzo!)
Koo Zee Doo: How do they do that octopus??
t says: We went to Koo Zee Doo with some friends recently. We did order a lot of the same things that we ordered last time, so there’s no point in re-reviewing those as they were pretty much the same. We did miss out on the cheese (they changed the menus), so that made us a little sad – and the chickpeas in the salad were a bit more al dente than I’d like. However, there was one new thing that we had that made me quite happy: the Friday octopus special. It was poached octopus with a creamy bechamel over mashed potatoes. It was delicious. On one hand, it might have been a tad too rich, as there really weren’t any vegetal or acidic flavors to cut through the almost-cheesy bechamel and potatoes. That said, the octopus was the most unreal texture I’ve ever had – it was so incredibly tender with not the least bit of chewiness – it was kind of like biting into a scallop, but a little heartier. I only wish that the bechamel didn’t mask the flavor of the octopus, because it did kind of get lost in there. It was so rich that we actually had some leftover that I brought home. And get this. The octopus stayed super-tender even after a trip to the microwave! Holy crap! I ate it with some of the leftover duck rice (gave nice salty twang to the rich octopus) and was back in heaven.
So hooray for Koo Zee Doo for cooking octopus so well …
Modo Mio: Veni Vidi Vici
t says: Yes, g and I write about Melograno … a LOT. We just had not experienced Italian fare as delicious as Melograno at a similar price point … Well, let me rephrase … Mercato is equally as delightful, but a bit further away from us, and yes, Amis, Osteria, and Vetri all have wonderful refined-meets-rustic food, however, these have higher prices when you take into account the smaller portions and BYO-lessness. Well, there was one BYO that we had heard of that promised to deliver delicious food at a reasonable price with a classic Philly BYO atmosphere: Modo Mio. a and v had wanted to go for some time as well, so we joined forces and trekked on over to NoLibs (I kind of hate that name the more I say it …).
11/2010, Friday 9pm, Party of 5. We showed up precisely at 9pm – we could not have planned it more perfectly if we tried. I had a bottle of red ready to go, having been decanted for an hour, and our dinnermates brought a few of their own as well. This was going to be fun … eventually. As soon as we got there, we were told that they were running behind and that they were trying to free up our table. I figured, “ok – maybe there’s a party that just hasn’t gotten their check yet”. But then the minutes started flying by … At fifteen minutes, we had watched the hostess seat a few couples/parties that had been waiting before us, but there were still a fare number jammed into the tiny little “holding area” (there was one door leading to the outside and one door leading to the dining room). We were a little irritated. g, on the other hand, had resorted to handing out gum as appetite suppressants – our party was hungry. I coped pretty well, as I had eaten a late lunch, and thankfully I did because no one wants to be around a hungry t. g suggested that I give them my “starving-child-from-a-poor-country-on-tv” look, but no one deserves to see that …
At the half-hour mark, the hostess came out and started handing out wine glasses to members of parties other than ours (she kind of pretended we weren’t there), apologizing for the wait – nevermind that we had waited longer than anyone else. What was funny was that she actually ran out of glasses to hand out, forcing some of those people to share – I guess the kitchen was still trying to clean up some glasses in the back?
At the forty minute mark, v confided in us, “guys – don’t say anything – I’ll handle it – I’m really good with Comcast …” Apparently v has had ample past experience in negotiating with Comcast for free channels and cheaper rates (I think she calls every 6 months or so); she felt that her negotiating skills would be able to get us some free food or cheaper rates, I suppose. Personally, at that point, I was wondering if we were actually going to eat there at all that night!
At 55 minutes, we were promised a table “in three minutes”. And sure enough – we were shown to a table with five seats at 10pm. Yikes – a one-hour wait despite having a reservation? In retrospect, I realize that we were never actually told an estimate of the amount of time it would be until we got a table – it always seemed like “a few more minutes” – even though the hostess never actually said that until the very end. Hmmmm – I wonder what would have happened if they said, “that’ll be an hour wait” up front? I guess we’ll never know, now …
As we sat down, a and v formulated “the plan”. “The plan” was that v was going to have a word with our server about our wait and whether something could be done to compensate. For the life of me, this did not sound like an idea that would produce a positive result – after all – we did wait for them even though we technically had the option of leaving … I felt that they should be giving us free stuff without us even having to ask – but of course, that only happens in fairy tales and at Sampan.
Then, a plate of bruschetta hit the table, compliments of the chef, because of our wait. a looked at v and said, “oh no – this doesn’t make up for anything.” (Actually, a might have not have said “anything”, rather, other choice words … I can’t remember … but we’ll keep it clean.) So, none of us touched the bruschetta until after v had a word with the server. Now, I have no idea what v said. She was very quiet about it, which perhaps the server and restaurant appreciated. And to be honest, it sounded kind of like the server was less-than-willing to give us anything for free – clinging to the usual excuses of “we’re really sorry about that – it’s just really hard when just one table takes too long then it throws everyone off, yada yada yada.” But somehow, v did work some magic! The server came back from the kitchen and said that the chef will send out extra courses with our meal. That sounded pretty good. The kitchen would get to use up ingredients they couldn’t save ’til the next day, and we’d get free food – excellent!
Amidst all of this negotiating, a noted that the place was VERY loud. Actually, it might have been the loudest BYO that I’ve ever been to. a, who’s not a very quiet person by nature, was using his full-on “outside voice”, and v, who normally has to rein him in for being too loud, remarked, “you know – in here, he’s actually not loud at all!”. I guess we found a place for him to really let loose. My favorite a-isms for the night include his version of speaking fluent Italian and shouting at the top of his lungs the first and last names of a politician interspersed with curse words.
How was the food? Well, we sampled a LOT of dishes – the five of us each got the “tour” deal (4 courses for $33). And then add on the “extras”. I’ll list the ones I had/remember and let the others take over at their convenience …
The grilled calf tongue dish I had was quite tasty, however, the tongue, itself, was a bit tough. I guess I imagined it would have had a similar texture to the veal tongue I had at Zahav, but grilling is different than braising, so that’s my fault. If nothing else, it was yet another cut of meat that I can now say I have had!
I had the gnocchi pasta which was very nice. The gnocchi, itself, was a solid performer – softer/more luxurious than at Gnocchi, but not quite the cloud-like consistency of Osteria’s potato gnocchi. The gorgonzola sauce was intensely rich – I couldn’t finish the dish – and this was surprising to me because they don’t give you a huge amount of pasta – but I was definitely crying uncle by the end.
g had the crab-ricotta cake. It was funny because normally people brag about how their crabcakes have “no fillers, all crab”. But not here. It was like “yea, we have crab and ricotta … got a problem with that?” Actually, it was delicious. On one hand, it was very decadently crabby – the ricotta didn’t mask any of the crab. Instead, the ricotta brought a nice flavor and texture of its own – I think this combo needs to be put together more often!
g also had the bucatini amatriciana. I sampled some and was quite impressed with the flavors – they weren’t quite as smokey-salty-prosciutto-y or as spicy as at Melograno, but there was some sort of richness with the tomato that was seductive. The pasta might have been a bit more al dente than I’m used to, but I liked it!
g and I both had the braised lamb cheek as our mains. The sauce was quite good with cherries, some other sweet-n-sour fruit, and a nice savory meaty taste. The lamb cheek itself was very good in taste, although I felt that it wasn’t the most tender piece of braised cheek I have ever had. On one hand, maybe lamb cheek just doesn’t get that tender, but I find that hard to believe. The meat was also streaked with glorious, glorious fat – but even that wasn’t quite as melt-in-your-mouth as I was hoping. Texture aside, the taste of the dish, itself, was quite good. I wish I knew all of the components that went into the braise as it was a combination that I’d like to try at home with some short ribs!
a says: I believe Lolita is the loudest/cramped byo that still produces food worth returning for – modo mio is a close second. a must also admit that v is certainly his better half and handled this situation with aplomb. A restaurant should, without prompting, rectify a mistake this large, but a doubts this would have happened without v’s thoughtful intervention.
Overall, none of the wines a provided blew him away. There was a mediocre pinot grigio (2009) and a decent Monastrell from Bleda (2008).
For starters, the capesante had a scallop cooked to perfection resting on a small salad but the Prosciutto di Parma seemed misplaced. The pasta course, gnocchi, was thick without being heavy, however, paired with a Gorgonzola-cream sauce, seemed too rich. My secondi was duck wrapped in prosciutto which is a dish I doubt could be bad, anywhere. The duck was good, not great, and I believe the proscuitto was used as “bait” – much like bacon or butter, it will be enjoyable on any dish but does it complement the main ingredient, bringing it to a higher plane. Similar to the capesante, I think the overall result was less focused.
The highlight of the evening, oddly enough, was an “extra;” their homemade lasagna topped with a fried egg. The lasagna was complex and delicious, and only made better with the yolk of the egg. Supplying us with the entire dessert menu was appreciated and a nice touch. The tiramisu stood out but after that much food, I can’t say much else.
The menu turista is definitely one of the best deals in the city, if you don’t mind a bottle-of-wine wait for your table (possibly).
t says: In retrospect, I suppose that it’s clear that Modo Mio was not a flawless restaurant. There was “the wait” and also some hiccups in the food … but for some reason, I would definitely want to try it again. Was it the company? Was it the wine? I don’t know – but the food, even with the flaws, still had these decadent strokes of genius throughout (e.g. that egg-on-the-lasagna was my favorite dish, too!). All in all, it was definitely worth the price of admission …
after dinner sneeze 