Posts Tagged ‘Philadelphia’
overhyping Le Virtu
t says: The gang has been wanting to go to Le Virtu for some time. They’ve been getting a lot of press, including a favorable review of the bajillion course meal, so we knew we just had to get in there and see what’s cookin’ …
January 2013, Saturday Dinner, Party of 5. The space was much smaller than I was expecting – or maybe it was a fine space, but dominated by very large tables. I found myself very-nearly-shouting across the table so people could hear me (the tables were very wide). But that’s cool, right? A nice “lively” atmosphere! After the first few minutes, we got used to the volume and it was no big deal. We ordered a bottle of wine (Le Virtu’s not BYO), ordered our food, and let the flurry of dishes just come on out! They came fast and furious, but I only managed to snap pictures of these:
house-made sausage and polenta: this was AWESOME – the leaking sausage juices over the polenta was incredible – I found myself using bread to sop my dish clean. I’d say this was the best dish of the evening …
gnocchi with lamb sausage and pecorino. When I first heard “gnocchi and lamb sausage” I was jazzed. Unfortunately, this wasn’t exactly the kind of gnocchi that I was expecting – it was more of an extra-firm pasta. Now I’m sure that what they served me is indeed technically considered “gnocchi”, and that’s fine, but I feel like they need to make some mention that it’s a little atypical, because simple-minded diners like me will be confused. Overall, the the dish was nothing more than some pasta, some cheese, and some sausage. No hidden surprises or complexities. WYSIWYG. I was hoping for something a little more … (some kind of acid would have brightened the dish a bit)
the other gnocchi with lamb shoulder. kp’s gnocchi were more of like gnocchi I was expecting with my dish. the texture was spot-on, however, the sauce had that sweet-tanginess to it that I generally dislike in tomato-based sauces. And where was the lamb?
g got a tagliettelle rabbit ragu and was very impressed. She boasted about her perfect pasta and savory sauce … and before I got any, it was gone! She said it was nearly-Melagrano-good – not quite as nuanced with the seasoning (e.g. it didn’t have herbacious rosemary accents), but a nice rabbit oomph! n and m enjoyed their food, but ultimately felt that there was better to be had at places like Modo Mio.
And there you had the general gist of the evening. There were some good highlights in there, but for every highlight (with the exception of the sausage), we found ourselves thinking of someone else who might do it better. Is it snobby-as-hell? Sure. And while some might think of this being a poor showing for Le Virtu, I think it’s a bit of a compliment, as it means that Le Virtu is flirting with greatness … but it’s just not “there” yet … and certainly not #5 …
little fish justs keep swimming …
t says: g and I hit up Little Fish the other day. It was amazing. Rather than harp, allow me to just say that it continues to be awesome … and taunt you with a photo … of lamb and fish:
Pardon Our Absence …
t says: Yes, yes, it’s been very-nearly-forever since our last legitimate post. We’re sorry! The holidays have left us with very little time. And with those little times that we have had, we’ve spent dining on already-proven-delicious foods (if you have limited time, why risk a bad meal?) For example:
Han Dynasty is still blowing us away. Lately, we’re digging the double-cooked fish (new to us!) as well as oldie-but-goodies, like Cold Sesame Noodles, Dan Dan Noodles, the fish soup (whatever it’s called), Cumin Lamb, Eggplant in Garlic Sauce …
Sotto keeps me coming back with their Matriciana and BYO policy – just the hug you need when it’s cold, windy, and rainy outside …
Talula’s Garden’s December menu rocked our socks with some delightful sweetbreads and cheese and lamb belly and dessert and everything … We also used it as an opportunity to try out a wine we’ve been cellaring for some time:
it tasted like … sea salt … kinda weird, but very interesting
Ekta’s Laamb Saag, Masalader Chola, Vegetable Samosa … we love you!
Indian attack!
So, all in all, there’s a lot of old news here … we’ll hit up some new places in the new year … we promise!
all i wanted was a.salad …
t says: g and I wanted to go to Parc the other weekend for our favorite “Warm Shrimp Salad” brunch. Sadly, they had no space. Rouge similarly had no space. Day-by-day had a half-hour wait. g and I were hungry-verging-on-hangry and getting rained on, so I suggested visiting a.kitchen, as opentable assured me they had space. Here’s our review in a slightly different style than we normally go for: a list-lover’s review!
December 2012, Sunday Brunch, Party of 2.
1) Your hostess made us wait for a table … when there was only one occupied table in the entire restaurant (i.e. at least 8 unoccupied tables, not including the seats at the chef’s counter) – that was weird. I took a photo of it (but won’t post it because you can see patrons’ faces very well … which is creepers). She didn’t move to attempt to assist in the turning over of another table (which I’m not exactly sure anyone did anything to – no one was clearing anything!). She didn’t offer us a seat at the empty bar. She didn’t smile at all. After five minutes had passed, g and I began looking through opentable for seats at Dandelion. Meanwhile, we were subjected to inane chit-chat between the hostess and the patrons who were leaving the restaurant (they apparently knew each other from somewhere). During this time, your bartender, having noted that we were standing off to the side, seemingly exiled to limbo, came over to us and asked, “She’s the hostess – you should talk to her if you want a seat.” To which we replied that we had …
2) … your bartender, upon hearing that we were stuck in the very peculiar predicament of waiting for a table in a restaurant with no dearth of open spaces proceeded to do nothing to help the situation: no offer to get us started with drinks, no assistance in pushing along the seating process, no nothing … just silence … Aawwkkwwaarrdd …
3) Your server was excellent. Fire the hostess and bartender and clone your server twice. She was polite and prompt and was able to answer my queries by confessing that your pastries are not made on-site (no big deal!) and that your “Namaste tea” was “just black tea”.
4) “Namaste” black tea? For real? Is that different from “Bonjour tea”?
5) Cava bar? For real!
cava bar!
Why are you not publicizing the hell out this? This is awesome!
5) Your pancakes could use a little something …
Super-simple pancakes
They’re not as good as Cochon’s (which are twice as thick and moreso fluffy … by the way – why did Cochon take it off their menu?), not as good as Parc (which has better, but definitely between the golden brown outside and pillowy inside), but still better than ones I can make at home using Bisquick or Aunt Jemima … but for $10/plate I should hope so! My feeble-minded suggestions are either add an interesting topping (?bruleed banana?) or flavor (? lemon ? orange ?) or something! You could charge a buck or two more!
6) The “mushroom scrapple” (pictured above) is more like a fried polenta/grits cake with mushrooms interspersed throughout. I don’t know what the composition actually is, but in my mouth, that’s what it reminded me of. Personally, I feel that this is not very scrapple-like, but moreso disappointing because it was quite bland from a salt/pepper perspective and a lacking-mushroom-flavor perspective. Give me more mushrooms!
7) g applauds your use of the English muffin on your burger, but wishes it was just a little fluffier in the middle and a little less burned on the outside (it’s hard to eat a burger if the “bun” part is crunchy like this.
burger attack!
The meat was well-seasoned and nicely-cooked, so definite props for that! And the sauce was a nice addition!
8) Why on Earth do you insist on the tiniest plates possible to fit the food? Maybe to make it seem like you have more food? But a problem arises in that there’s no real space to create a puddle of syrup or for your burger to drip its medium-rare blood without soggifying your chips. And forget trying to rest a utensil on them … Add like 1 inch to the radius – what youll give up in “artistry” you’ll make up for in utility – I promise …
In all, it was an “ok” brunch. As good as Parc? Not really … but surely better than falling prey to hanger on a Sunday when all the other places on Rittenhouse are packed – and that cava bar is definitely worth checking out. I think the better question is why is it not so packed? g pointed out that on one hand, a.kitchen is kinda-sorta-lika hotel restaurant, so they don’t really have to push any boundaries and that it might even be safer not to. I disagree – if they want the street cred (as clearly this blog is the ultimate bestower of “cred”), I just need a bit more “oomph”, be it in innovation or just straight-up flavor. I’m glad we got to go to a.kitchen for brunch, but I only wish that it would have sidled its way into my heart … Maybe next time …
Kris is bananas for brunch
t says: g and I met up with some friends at Kris for brunch the other weekend. Our brunchmates were Kris-obsessed, so when they heard that g and I had never gone, their hearts broke (I exaggerate for effect …). It has been a while since we’ve gone, so my memory has faded about what everyone else had. <Checks his iPhone> Actually. That’s a lie. I can’t remember what anyone else had because I was too busy focused on this:
bananas
I apologize for the quality of that photo, but I was trying to be nonchalant with my photo-taking (I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of our friends … and I didn’t want to embarrass our friends in front of the restaurant staff, either). And boy am I glad I did … because I totally housed this dish in a matter of 5 minutes. These pecan-crusted brioche french toast slices are topped with caramelized banana. It reminded me of a more elegant form of this monster (that I still love/miss/cherish to this very day). Say what you will about how “boring” some nuts, French toast, and bananas are, but this was damn delicious. All the textures were dead-on. Give me a scoop of bacon ice cream up in there and I could have gone into a food coma a happy man … as it was, I ended the meal pleasantly full, not grossly full … until, of course, we split an order of the nutella crepes which were amazing (although I have to confess that the dish is really kinda-sortuva pretty obvious excuse to just eat nutella for breakfast).
g had some kind of egg dish. If she was still awake at the time I was writing this, I would ask her about its details. I do remember her being happy, though – happy enough to want to try it again – both for brunch AND dinner!
It’s still early in the game to make a call on Kris, but I have to say that so far, it seems like they’re going to make a strong case for us to journey south-of-South more often!
have a capogiro affogato … even if it’s not on the menu
t says: A colleague and I hit up Capogiro for a post-lunch pick-me-up. Anticipating a somewhat-boring afternoon, we wanted some caffeine, but also wanted an excuse to have gelato as well. Problem solved:
affogato!
This concoction of coffee/espresso and gelato wasn’t on the menu, but the gelato-dude (?gelateer? gelatorista?) was happy to concoct one for the each of us. I went with marshmallow gelato, and the end result, while not quite in the proportions I was expecting (it was quite a good bit of gelato for a small amount of liquid … but I guess I could then reason that I was getting my mone’s worth!), was delicious. It reminded me of a hot chocolate with marshmallow … except with coffee … leading me wonder: why don’t people routinely add marshmallow to their coffee as they do hot chocolate? I think I might have to start! Also, while I had never had their marshmallow before, it might just be my new second-favorite flavor! (You can’t beat the dark chocolate.) So check out an affogato the next time you’re there – you can get your sugar-high and caffeine-rush on all at once!
sadface dinners …
t says: g and I have hit up two dinner recently that left us a little … wanting … I’m going to consolidate their stories here so we can minimize the number of negative posts …
Brick American Eatery. It’s no wonder there seems to be a “deal” like a Groupon going on here every time we turn around … the food is a miss! I don’t want to harp on every dish we got (actually, dz’s dinner, the Asian noodles and the Fish-n-Chips, looked pretty darned tasty! … nevermind they were the least “American” items on the menu), so I’ll pick the worst of the ones we had (i.e. out of 4 appetizers and 3 mains). It was mine. Check it:
the food was so bad that the picture didn’t even warrant a proper Snapdish quick-fix.
The sprouts: pale, no char, no texture. The steak: pale, minimal Maillard, no flavor. The jus: insipid, no salt, no pepper. People! It’s a steak! It’s a steak and Brussels sprouts! It was popular in 2009! If the $25 all-you-can-eat steak is better than yours, you should just take steak off the menu so you can stop breaking the hearts of customers. No matter how good dz’s entrees looked, nothing can save a restaurant from a bad steak … the mediocre salmon and stale duck nachos didn’t help either. Consequently, I have no choice but to withhold adsz’s stamp of approval (actually … it makes me wish we had a stamp of dismissal … can I do that?). Fortunately, the company was good, and the glass of wine was deep …
Jamonera. So, going in, I imagined that Jamonera would have been like Amada with the feel of Barbuzzo … Man-o-man was I disappointed. And it wasn’t just me! It was g and kp, too! (And kp is perhaps the second-nicest-guy-in-the-world!) The dish the best encapsulates our frustration:
Papa Frita Snoozefest!
So … the papa frita … It’s normally a deliciously fried seasoned potato. And the one thing jamonera did superbly was frying it – I have never had so wonderfully-a-crisped potato. But they were missing one very important aspect of the dish … flavor. What was that weak aioli they had going on? Where’s the seasoning? Where’s the oomph? I wanted it to hit my mouth and make me go “wow”, and then follow it up with a warm, soothing hug of fried-potato-comfort … and this did neither (I don’t find that quantity of aioli comforting … clog-inducing, yes, comforting, no). The other items we sampled that night were similarly lacking in flavor. Their albondigas made me wish I was at Barbuzzo. Their charcuterie made me wish I was at Amada or GTC. The were definitely not winning any adsz awards that night! Oh well – I guess even the mighty Val and Marcie can disappoint once in a while! I suspect that Jamongera may go the way of the Bindi. It’s ok – there’s always Lolita and Barbuzzo …
after dinner sneeze 