Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia’
Cochon makes a say: OMG
a says: OMG. Update for our post:
http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/mealticket/Weeknight-dealage-through-the-end-of-the-year-at-cochon.html
Oh, and when are we going back?
t says: Thursday?
g says: yippeee!
Fond Brings Back the PORK BELLY
t says: g and I went back to Fond with a bunch of peeps – it was the night they brought in their Fall menu. While we were excited from our past Fond experience, I was especially excited for the menu change, as it marked the return of their super-awesome, super-ridiculous PORK BELLY (remember: Pork Caps)! Because we had so many peeps, I’ve pooled together their reviews for you here. Sorry – not a whole lot of pictures, though (it was dark in there).
I will start off and post the wine list that I created for the night:
the wine list for the evening
smn says: SO MUCH FUN. Can we please do it again? Like soon? The restaurant was fantastic- welcoming staff, neat area of the city, cozy feeling inside. The food was equally fantastic. The amuse bouche [t says: I think it was some kind of root vegetable soup] made my mouth oh-so-happy. I could have had a whole bowl of it, along with more of the tasty olive bread! Speaking of bowls, the the cauliflower veloute was soooo good. Could have had more of that, too, even without the dollop of greek yogurt/saffron. My scallops were delish and cooked perfectly. Surprisingly, dessert didn’t blow me away. I didn’t love the passionfruit sauce, and without a sauce of some sort the mousse cake was just mousse cake. I loved every single glass of wine put in front of me- nicely done, t. I also sampled g’s short rib and kp’s PORK BELLY- yummo all around! As for dz, he also liked the amuse bouche, enjoyed his salad appetizer (in part because of the large portion size), and inhaled his tuna dish. One observation on my end is that Fond is lacking a solid vegetarian dish to round out the menu.
kp says: So here’s my take …
Re: Foie Gras App: The foie gras was expertly seared with a nice crunch leading to a nice creamy interior. The flavoring (a sweet accent of sweet potatoes, turnips and pecans) was a nice but a little overpowering and too sweet over the foie gras. Maybe just hint of next time would be much better, the carmelized were a little lost in the mix too.
PORK BELLY ... looks like a slab of meat, but it's so much more.
Re: Berkshire PORK BELLY: Holy crap- this thing was porktastic. One of the first times i have the PORK BELLY expertly crisped on the outside but the meat still easily falls apart- you could eat with a spoon. The escarole was nice cut to the fattiness of the meat and buttery sweet potatoes but I think there needs to be a more stronger cut to balance that fattiness. The sweet potatoes were the perfect accent of delicate sweetness to the meat and again was expertly prepared, it so well caramelized. PS If your really nice to the waiter they may offer Sirachi- which for one bite of the PORK is nice (but I love spice).
Re: Cannolis: These little cream filled delights were amazing and the brown butter apples and cider were just the perfect fall accent to bring to this dish. The pastry remained crunchilious the mascarpone filling was and airy delight!
t says: I went for the tuna crudo. Shocker, I know! We had a nice white, so I eschewed the escargots I normally go for in favor of the fish. Take a peek:
tuna over asian pear and sesame seeds
It was a delightful dish, with all the right flavors – but composition was a little off. I think it was because those sticks of pear were a little hard to eat and juggle on the same fork as the fish and the sauce. Great flavors, but just needed a better way to put it into my mouth.
Next up, I went for the PORK BELLY, as kp mentioned already above. It was every bit as delicious as I remember it from the past. Without a doubt the best piece of PIG you can get. It’s all about the contrast between the top crisp layer and the rest of the tender meat with just the right amount of fat (so I guess whoever’s providing them with PIG should also get credit). But I also agree with kp – it needs a little something else to brighten the plate. It’s kind of like making football players take ballet to keep them light on their feet – but come on – this is one helluva kick-ass football player nonetheless.
The surprise of the evening was the shortrib.
shortrib
The shortrib was g’s dish. I had some. HOLY. CRAP. I haven’t had a shortrib this good since the slab of shortrib included in Talula Garden’s beef duo. It was fall-apart-tender and glazed in that rich thick sauce. I can’t tell you what was in it, but what I can tell you is that if I go back, I’d actually not be able to choose between the shortrib or the PORK BELLY. But of course – there are worse things in life than being forced to choose between the two. I don’t recall the accompaniments (?Brussels sprouts? ?onion spatzle?), but like the PORK BELLY, I don’t recall there being much counterpoint to the rich lusciousness of cow meat.
In the end, I think everyone enjoyed their dishes at Fond. The apps and mains are done superbly well. For some dishes, all the right flavors are there, but maybe a dish here or there could use a little more tweaking in terms of composition/presentation. For others (i.e. the pork belly and shortrib), I don’t think you can find better cooked slabs of meat in Philly. Period. With a little bit of brightening, these are best-dish-dish-I-ever-had worthy (crazy good!). The desserts around the table were all thought of as “good”, but not really life-altering. They ended the meal on a sweet note which [I believe] is necessary, but I don’t think they’re going to change anyone’s life – but I’m not even sure if that’s a fair assessment – “ragging” on dessert because it wasn’t life-changing? Hmmm. I guess there are worse situations for Fond to be in …
Screw You, Snow!
t says: So it decided to be cold and miserable out today. Boooooooo! Annoyed with the cold, g and I resolved to stay inside … then we realized we had no food. So we resolved to go outside … to Village Whiskey.
10/2011, 3pm Saturday, Party of 2. We sat at the bar-table-things in the back. Not before long, we were elbow-deep in deliciosity.
Oh short-rib-cheddar-fries ... it's been too long!
Trust us … as good as it looks in the pic – it’s even better in real life! Add the fact that it was cold outside, and voila – a perfect way to warm up. g and I still believe that it’s one of the best things on the VW menu. Nice salty potato and lusciously soft shortrib smothered in golden cheese. The problem is that it’s a huge serving – no single person should consume this entire thing. Even after splitting this between g and me, we knew that there was no way we’d be able to down a burger afterwards (but we didn’t mind some leftovers).
Chicken sandwich with long hot peppers.
The chicken sandwich was kind of bad. Sorry VW – the streak of awesome sandwiches ends here with the chicken. The long hots were indeed spicy and completely overpowered every other flavor that may have been incorporated. Furthermore, the chicken was very dry. When tasted sans chicken/peppers, the mushrooms, cheese, and bread were good – and so were the taro root chips! Nevertheless, the sandwich made me a little sad because I missed my normal go-to: bbq pork sandwich.
g got the ... surprise! veggie burger! It was as good as usual.
A classic g & t drink selection!
g feels that the above picture is a classic representation of our tastes. I go for chocolate and sugar – she goes for fancy mixed drinks … “with heels and accessories” (it’s in a stemmed glass with fruit garnish!). Both were wonderful.
I will say that the one thing that surprised us was that the service did NOT suck! The hostess was nice enough (it wasn’t the super-terse/snobby one with the tats), our server was both competent and expedient. True – no one was bubbly/friendly, but I’m glad to see some changing-of-the-guard going on over there. Figures though – the one time they have not-crap service, I order the boring chicken sandwich. Stupid, stupid t!
Fall Fits Cochon like a Pigskin Glove
a says: October 2011, Dinner, Party of 3. My mother was in town, so we wanted a nice dinner out but nothing too expensive. This likely meant byob and unfussy food. v and I have hit most of these places in Old City several times and wanted to show my Mom something new. I narrowed it down to two finalists, Chloe and Cochon, and after some debate, we decided on Cochon since they recently switched to a fall menu. (I realize Cochon is not located in Old City but it was close enough for our purposes, and more importantly, it never disappoints.) Readers of adsz are already familiar with our (a, v, t, g, and kp) amorous relationship with Cochon’s brunch but we felt their dinner service deserved some love, also.
Holy flying pigs did they deliver. We arrived to find the place almost empty, not a complete surprise on a weekday but undeserved considering the Cochon experience. There are always a few menu additions so we waited to hear those before making a final decision – v and I were leaning toward pork (duh) and my mother, toward escargots and gnocchi. The specials for the night only confirmed our initial inklings of pork and snail-filled bliss. Among the important information provided by our waitress was this lovely nugget: for $30, a patron could have 3 courses and a complimentary beer. OH. MY. GOD. Each course’s options were limited to a few dishes, but get this, escargots were a first course option and PORK BELLY (t’s “Pork Caps”) was a second course option, even though it wasn’t on the menu. After dinner, I sent t the picture below and this tidbit: “Yeah, that’s right, the PORK BELLY dish is in full effect @ Cochon… and it was amazing.” (update: It looks like the $30 prix fixe menu is only for October, their anniversary month, so get on over!)
My mother ordered the fried oysters and the vegetarian gnocchi, an off-menu option, which comes with roasted vegetables. I went with the $30 prix fixe and chose the escargot, PORK BELLY, and poor boy dessert (and Great Lakes Burning River pale ale). v only ordered an entree, slow-cooked suckling pig, since we knew a lot of food was on its way. Cochon is never one to be fussy with plating but everything looked lovely when it came to the table and the flavors soared from there.
"PORK BELLY"
All protein was cooked perfectly, with the PORK BELLY soft and tender less the crispy, crunchy skin. The sleeper dish of the night was definitely my mom’s gnocchi which had the perfect pillow-y consistency paired with harmonious flavors. v has had her share of homemade gnocchi and has even made some herself – none have compared to the consistency of these light, fluffy, tender gnocchi. The fried oysters with fennel were somehow light (for the night) and refreshing, and the escargots were solid. A slight edge for escargot flavor might go to Bibou but the surrounding pancetta, garlic-butter sauce at Cochon made us ask for extra bread to sop-up every last bit.
One knock on the meal from v, the lentils under her pork were “overpoweringly” salty and did not compare to the tour de force that are Bibou lentils. We ended with the poor boy dessert which was some mix of bacon ice cream, shortbread, and caramel gooeyness served warm in a ramekin. This was better than I expected as I don’t think of Cochon as a dessert place, and put a smile on each of our faces. v thinks this dessert was reminiscent, but not as delectable as the caramel budino at Barbuzzo.
I went with a Graf Hardegg “Vom Schloss” Riesling 2008 which I thought could hold-up to pork while matching well with the appetizer options. We’ve had this in the past and it has always served us well with its medium body, off-dry crispness. The apple and citrus flavors cut through the richness of the pork and escargots. The Great Lakes pale ale was a nice treat to start dinner and clear the palate. Oink.
t says: Loving the Pork Caps.
Honey’s Sit-n-Eat
t says: A long, long time ago (i.e. June 2011), g and I went to Honey’s for brunch. We went during a weekday, so there was absolutely no wait (g and I have relatively little tolerance for waiting). We were thrilled that we finally had our first chance to see what the almighty Honey’s Sit-n-Eat was warranted those soul-crushing Sunday morning lines.
June 2011, Brunch, Party of 2. g and I were celebrating my Birthday, so we had a day full of activities planned (not really). Regardless, we meant business. We arrived, we sat down, we perused the menu, we ordered. We went to work:
Pancakes for a 6-year-old ... or t.
Because it was my Birthday, I felt like I could ask for a special batch of pancakes to be made with all of the ridiculous things I wanted: chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and bananas. Their response: “no problem”. Awesome. Above you see a pic of the resulting masterpiece which was actually very good. A beautiful golden brown, it wasn’t the fluffiest pancake I had ever had, but because it’s approximately 50% of “stuff” that I requested, I guess it’d be foolish of me to dock them points for that. The pancake itself was pretty good, but really, it’s all about the other stuff – how can you go wrong with chocolate, peanut butter, and banana? Of course, I do have to give Honey’s the credit for even distribution of fillings and having just the right ratios to ensure that no one flavor trumped the rest. On the flip side: I’m not sure what the orange did on top – maybe if there was some kind of orange-twinged syrup, that would have been a pretty darn good addition.
Huevos Rancheros.
g went for huevos. Surprise. By now she has built up quite a huevos repertoire, having had it at all the major brunch spots that offer it. She has a hard time choosing a favorite, but what she does know is that this one just didn’t have the avocado, enough beans, or enough runny yolk to seal the deal. Plus, if I remember correctly, the tomatoes weren’t really cooked down much – it was more like a salsa. Bummer. Well, at least nothing was bad – she did a number on the dish. (Personally, I think her favorite is the one that cm and k make … just sayin’ …)
Conclusion: Honey’s allows me to choose my pancake toppings. That’s awesome. But, after that, I’m not sure why the place is so revered. The place is kind of small (which I don’t mind) and cramped (which I mind a little bit) with a lot of hipster-appeal (which I mind a little bit more) and a super-long wait on the weekend (which I mind a lot). Given the breadth of other brunch options, I’m just not sure that they were able to show me something I’d actually wait for. End result: I’d gladly go there on a weekday without a wait so I can have my pancakes my way (and g could explore other menu options to see if anything else strikes her fancy), but certainly not on a Sunday.
Matyson gets some new visitors.
t says: g was super-excited by an updated Matyson menu – but we hesitated in making a reservation … a and v did not … neither did kp. It was good though, because now we know whether or not we should go – here’s what they have to say about their [separate] visits.
kp says: I had the Pork Belly with Kimchi which was not okay. The pork belly itself was described as having some spice (gochujang); however, it really had no flavor and no definetly no heat. The cucumber kimchi was not kimchi at all – no sour or heat, just a cucumber that may have been semi pickled – and not even crispy. The cilantro was some kind of micro kind that again had no flavor. The only saving quality was the pork belly itself was crisped up nicely.
Now the entree was much better! Crispy Skin Red Drum Fish with black eye peas in a mild coconut curry. The skin of the fish was expertly crisped to perfection (almost as delicious as chicken skin). The meat itself was perfectly cooked through with delicate flaking. The black eyed peas (especially for a Southerner) was cooked to “just done-ness” (not mushy) with adequate flavors of hints of curry and coconut. The collard greens were not bitter whatsoever but could have used some kind of meat flavoring (bacon preferably).
I ordered the Coconut Cream Pie which was a heavenly dream. The filling itself was delicately fluffed and had crisped brown coconut that accented the creamy coconut. The macadameian crust was perfection with a beautiful full nutty flavor. The accompanying caramel was a nice sweet finish to each bite.
a says: Very good though v and I were not blown away. Many good flavors, all proteins/fish were well prepared, and they took some risks. However, the risks didn’t always pay off and we felt some dishes lacked harmony as did the courses of the tasting menu. Some flavors were from southeast Asia, some from the Caribbean, and some the near east – all quite good but not always coming together perfectly. I’m also pretty sure most would find the portions small. The tasting menu is a good way to taste multiple dishes and the whole table doesn’t have to order it.
after dinner sneeze 