Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia’
I got scooped at Tyson Bee’s
t says: Darnit!! Foobooz totally scooped me with their live blog at Tyson Bee’s!! I was actually there AT THE SAME TIME! But I don’t know what they look like, so I don’t know if they’re in my picture; I scrutinized theirs, and I’m not in it.
I wonder where the Foobooz peeps are ...
Approaching the window ...
The menu
Well, at least I can say that I’ve been there twice in the past week, and in general, the food is pretty good! I’ve sampled the steamed pork bun, which features pork belly and loin, and have concluded that it’s my favorite. It has salty and sweet and that doughy bun – I can’t resist it. I also had the korean short rib and kimchi burrito, which was also very good (beef had a great texture and nice spice) – but a bit too much rice (it’s already in a tortilla – there doesn’t need to be that much rice!). Finally, I also did the pork bahn mi which, while not quite Sampan-delicious, is still pretty good (they gotta put pork belly in it – then it’d be a competitor). Overall, I think the flavors are not as deep as the buns you’d get at Chifa or the bahn mi from Sampan, but for a quick bite from a food-truck, I think most foodies will be satisfied. The prices are quite reasonable, but I will agree with foobooz peeps and say that it is quite a messy lunch!
The double-pork-bun!
The pork bahn mi
The one drawback – I am peculiarly full after eating there. I don’t know if it’s the excessive amount of pork or what, but after eating there for lunch, I’m nearly uncomfortably full for like 7 hours – I wonder if I’m just eating too much? Regardless, this apparently was not enough to dissuade me because I did go back after the first time and will probably go back again, too! Good job food truck! It’s a wonderful addition to the HUP foodtruck neighborhood.
Living the Dream: Chocolate Sushi
t says: Valentine’s Day. What a rip-off. All you want is a good meal with that special someone, but if you walk into a restaurant, you’re often faced with fixed price menus at ridiculous prices … Well not g and me. We have rebelled! We’ve seen the crowds in restaurants offering Valentine’s Day fixed price menus and shout in triumph: “NEVER AGAIN!”.
So what did we do?
Sunday we went to Barbuzzo. We couldn’t go on Monday because they were offering a special menu, too! Good thing we got in a day early. We’ve already talked about Barbuzzo before, so I’ll spare you the details. Basically – it boils down to this:
The sheep’s milk ricotta and meatballs are still obligatory/compulsory selections – they’re that good. The paccheri, we preemptively requested they cook a few seconds longer (last time was a little too al dente for us), and it came out perfect ; and this time it had a smoky flavor to it – very nice. Our new dish of the evening was the gnocchi, and it was surprisingly good (it’s a very rich dish though, so be careful!), putting La Viola to shame (I like picking on La Viola’s gnocchi …). Finally, the salted caramel budino, which I would not be surprised if it’s the easiest-to-make, highest-profit-per-serving dessert ever put forth by any restaurant ever, is just too good to not get. Drawbacks? For the love of all that is good and holy, please please please serve your red wines at the appropriate temperature! The wine was actually getting cooler the longer it sit in the glass! That alone could probably win them like another half-bell from Laban or something!
Then Valentine’s day continued on Monday. We got an email from Tria that said something like “come and taste some 1999 Dom for $20”. We had to go. Why? #1 – g likes bubbly. #2 – g has never had Dom. #3 – it’d be so cool to “go out for drinks before dinner” – very bawler. #4 – we were going to get a bottle of ’99 Dom for our wedding (it was the year we started dating … awwwwww ….) but couldn’t justify spending that much cash at that time for something that really not too many people were going to drink/enjoy/appreciate (but we got a nice ’99 Veuve Rose that was awesome). So it was destiny. We rolled up into Tria and immediately ordered g a glass. She liked it quite a bit!
If you notice, there’s another glass in the pic. A short glass filled with a dark liquid. That, my friends, is a glass of wine travesty. Delicious, delicious sin in a glass. It is a chocolate dessert wine. Yes, there’s some Zin in there, but it’s clearly been adulterated with chocolate. And it is so good. It’s like an alcoholic Hershey’s syrup (but textured like wine – not like syrup). g found it weird that her tongue wasn’t encountering a thick, viscous liquid when she took a sip. I found it to be amazing. I know that some people will read “Hershey’s syrup” and turn up their nose – but I happen to like Hershey’s syrup – it has all of those childhood memories attached – how can you not like it? Granted, it’s not the best “chocolate” in the world, but I like to think of Hershey’s like “white chocolate”, i.e. I don’t consider it “chocolate”, I consider it its own thing. Of course, the dessert wine was way too rich to drink a lot of (I left a third of the glass behind), but it was a nice treat before dinner: sushi!
That’s right! The dream has been fulfilled! Chocolate sushi (the name for the blog that I was championing before we … umm … “compromised” …)! Basically, I was thinking it’d be fun if there was a restaurant or bar or hangout that specialized in two things I could really eat almost any time: chocolate and sushi. But these two things don’t really “go” with eachother – one is pure and clean and fresh, while the other is decadent and rich and seductive. Let’s face it – I’m never surprised if a sushi place only offers chocolate-free desserts (or, in the case of Kiss Seafood in SF, no desserts). But tonight was a special night! It was Valentine’s! So I tried out the combination and consumed a considerable amount of chocolate along with a considerable amount of raw fish, enjoying chocolate both before and after the sushi …
Whose sushi? We went to Zama, which ended up being quite impressive. Long story short (cuz this is turning out to be a long post): the decor is reasonable (a not too over-the-top combination of clean, modern, a splash of chic, and a twist of trying-too-hard). The service was quite friendly, which we appreciated. And, of course, the fish was very good (we got the sushi and sashimi combo for 2), and, just as important, the rice was very good, too. Using the amount of soy sauce I use as a marker for how good the sushi/sashimi is (i.e. the better the food, the less the soy sauce), I can say that their sashimi and nigiri required none (their maki still needed a bit). Very nice!
Zama also offered some pretty good desserts, too. They had this “pick 3 for $10”, where you choose three little desserts from a list – it was like a little dessert tasting! And a few of them had chocolate!! In the end, the yuzu creme brulee was my favorite, giving a nice zesty flavor that was enjoyable. The PB-chocolate-cake-and-crisped-rice was also pretty good, as now I wonder if anyone has ever made a 100-Grand chocolate bar, but replaced the caramel with peanut butter … mmmmmm … Unfortunately, the green tea eclair kind of sucked, as the pastry was very hard … sorry Zama.
What were the bad parts of Zama aside from the eclair? Actually, the big black eye of the evening was the ridiculous acrylic dish they served our sushi in. g called it “a sushi corral”. After she said it, I contemplated herding the sushi together into a group and making bleeting or mooing noises. Man, that sucker was big, unwieldy, and ugly; give me one of those silly wooden boats any day.
But the memorable part of the dinner was the inadvertent entertainment. The girl sitting at the table next to ours was hilarious. Why? Cuz she used her fingers. Ok – now I want to say right away that I’m totally cool with people not using chopsticks. Chopsticks are a weird instrument that not every human being is required to know how to operate. I even know real live Asian people who can’t use chopsticks. That’s totally fine. This girl had a fork. I’m down with forks. I use them all the time. But what was funny was not the mere fact that she was straight-up using her fingers, rather, the manner in which she was using them. This was no, “oh, I’m being silly and funny and sneaking a piece of sushi in my mouth by using a pinching motion with my thumb and forefinger” … this was a fumbling around, using all five fingers, dropping pieces of sushi (she even dropped a piece onto her fork), dripping soy sauce everywhere style. I guess it’d be like me … trying to eat spaghetti … without a fork … Ok – maybe it doesn’t sound that funny as you read this, but we were there … and it was funny, damnit!
So kudos to Barbuzzo, Tria, and Zama. A great Valentine’s day (actually, two days), with not a single fixed price in sight!
k and cm Go to Vetri
k says: This is a long overdue discussion of our venture to one of the best restaurants in the city. Or, better spoken by the people at Bon Appetit, it is “ probably the best Italian restaurant in America.” (cm note: or as k put it, “the most important meal of our lives.”) We’re talking about Vetri. Yup, and we got to go. Ballers. So this is usually a bit out of our price range, but we had help from t and g in the form of a gift certificate for our wedding gift. It was a wonderful night. We waited almost a year to go, waiting for the right time when we were both definitely in need of a night out, and actually free enough to have a night out. We were also lucky to get in just after the airing of Iron Chef America with Vetri as the challenger, as I’m sure they booked up quickly after his strong showing. The evening started with the presentation of the menu. It resembled a price fixe menu but instead of you choosing one from each category, the chef chooses for you (and you get more than one from each category anyways.) They ask if you have any particular requests, and beyond that you are to leave it to the chef. Now, normally, I don’t like giving up any element of control, particularly in a very expensive meal. But if we hadn’t, then we never would have experienced Israeli couscous for dessert!
The atmosphere was really cozy – the living room of an old Philadelphia row house turned into a gourmet restaurant. We spotted the shiny espresso maker, which he famously made room for by removing one of the tables. We took a corner seat, perfect for people watching. We were the youngest people in the room, and definitely the most excited to be there. We were surrounded by older couples that seemed bored by the concept of a delicious dinner, and frankly bored by each other. One couple just played with their phones the whole night! There was also a young woman dining by herself in a short black dress. We took bets on whether she was a food critic or just stood up on a date. Twice we saw Mr. Vetri himself wearing his chef outfit. I stifled my desire to yell something out to him, although I felt a bit like an adoring teenaged fan. We did get a chance to talk to Jeff, the wine guy. He was really friendly and very knowledgeable about wine and food pairings. I liked his obvious pride in his work, yet his ability to speak about his specialty without making you feel dumb or beneath him.
The dinner began with an array of amuse bouches. My favorite was a solitary butternut squash gnocchi with a crispy sage leaf, served on a golden spoon. The gnocchi was so rich and smooth, perfectly balanced by the saltiness of the cheese and the crispy, herby leaf.
cm felt the foie gras was delicious but could only eat his own and not mine also, as it was too similar to butter to eat much of. The golden sweet onion crepe was incredible, with onions that had been cooked for hours and so much intense flavor. Other amuse bouches included a bluefin tuna tartare and a veal carpaccio, both decadently rich.
Perhaps my favorite part of the entire meal was the spinach gnocchi. So fluffy, like green pillows bursting with spinach and cheese flavor. The biggest mistake of the night was not eating my last spinach gnocchi. I was afraid I’d be too full for the rest of the dishes to follow. But I awoke the next morning wishing for just one more spinach gnocchi. A major error!
Next we were served two different pastas. One was a saffron pasta stuffed with braised squab and hand shaped into tortellini then served with a savory cocoa sauce. This was cm’s favorite from the whole night. I loved the stuffed pappardelle. It was long strips of tender home made pasta stuffed with cheese and matched with caramelized onions and topped with shaved foie gras. I had never eaten foie gras before, and I feel like I can still claim that. This was literally shavings from a big block, much as like some sprinkled parmesan cheese, and once it melted in I couldn’t taste it at all. The flavors in this pasta were very similar to the sweet onion crepe. Frankly, I didn’t care because they were both so freakin’ delicious I liked having it in two forms during the meal. In both pasta dishes the texture of the pasta was absolutely perfect, and cm wished he could have a whole bowl of it.
For the meat, we were served poached cod with a side of mushrooms. This was cm’s other favorite. The fish was light and buttery and kind of understated flavors. I agreed but thought it was over salted. Next we were served these little shot glasses of Concord grape sorbet. The texture was so smooth and creamy, not the usual icy feel you expect. As cm put it, it was more grapey than grapes. It was seriously grapey, and the perfect palate cleanser before dessert. Then came the craziest most creative dessert we’ve ever eaten. Israeli couscous, nuts, raisins in a light vanilla sauce served with ginger ice cream. As I mentioned, I never would have ordered this myself, but I was so glad we tried it! The Israeli couscous is plumper than the conventional one, with a great nutty flavor and feels almost like eating the pearls in bubble tea. The second dessert was a pistachio flan with a rich chocolate sauce and molten pistachio stuff flowing from the middle. This was followed by a plate of bite-size desserts. One was a deliciously light meringue with a vanilla coconut flavor. There was also a miniature chocolate mousse layer cake that was very tasty.
In all, we were stuffed to the brim with fantastic foods. Some were unique combinations of flavors we never would have dreamed of, while others were classic foods just executed perfectly. Thanks to t and g for making this culinary wonderland possible! Vetri sent us home with a signed copy of the menu and 2 beautiful blueberry muffins for the next morning’s breakfast. Such a nice touch to have a bit of the night’s dining experience left over for breakfast. Doesn’t make up for not eating that last spinach gnocchi though. How could I!
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 …
Percy Street Lures More Manly Men (like dad)
t says: Percy Street BBQ went and did it. They have officially set out to become my dad’s favorite new restaurant. Check it out. Now I have no idea how my dad, the traditional big-guy-who-loves-eating-things-with-his-hands (e.g. buffalo wings, hot dogs, cheesesteaks, ribs) is going to be able to resist this place now.
after dinner sneeze 