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Notes from the Weekend: November 19
On this week's XL edition of NFTW we've got yours truly reporting on Portland adventures, Adam enjoying hors d'oeuvres and Chipwiches and Emily doing burgers and bagels.
Notes from the Weekend: November 19
Notes from the Weekend is a feature that sees the members of Team Meal Ticket compiling all the food/drink highlights uncovered during prime eatin' time, Friday to Sunday. We'd love to hear all about YOUR weekend eating adventures in the comments. Go for it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)
Adam Erace: AE
Caroline Russock: CR
Emily Kovach: EK
My weekend kicked off a little early with a midday flight from Philly to Portland. Lunch was a few glasses of US Air house Chardonnay accompanied by this very bizarre assortment of airplane food that included an icy steak salad, a single shrimp on top of a slice of pineapple and some chocolate cake that was actually kind of good. Onboard entertainment was the latest and totally awesome Chinatown-themed issue of Lucky Peach. After checking into the lovely Hotel Lucia I headed out to meet my Portland-local little brother for a late dinner at Clyde Common at the ACE Hotel. We had the first of many expertly mixed cocktails (sparkling Americano!) along with a spread of gravlax (with aquavit!), chicken liver mousse and a cheese plate. We ended the night a Valentine's where the music was great and it's totally not weird to order local rosé all night long.—CR
Buckled up for the short (but deadly) stretch of Kelly Drive to the Water Works on Friday night for Cousin of Meal Ticket K's surprise 30th birthday. The restaurant hooked up some pretty passed hors d'oeuvres (tempura chicken nugz) and a slider bar featuring beef burgers and pulled pork on burnished brioche rolls. PSN would not have been happy about it, but I was.—AE
On Saturday I hung up the Do Not Disturb sign and slept off the time change. Lunch was a spread of smørrebrød at Swedish spot Broder topped with pickled herring, shrimp and gravlax and a grapefruit-aquavit cocktail. For dinner I headed to Smallwares on the recommendation of Portland native/Serious Eats Drinks editor/buddy Maggie Hoffman. Billing itself as an 'inauthentic Asian restaurant' the menu read like a combo of Momofuku Ssam Bar and Mission Chinese. Fried kale with candied bacon, fish sauce and mint and mapo tofu with egg custard and scallions were big winners along with a totally over-the-top glass of floral-amazing C.H. Berres Riesling. Post dinner I headed over to the Industrial District to see Ceremony, stumbled into a bar called Lovecraft where there was an Industrial dance night happening with plenty of real deal goths. Something about the dream of the 90s, right?—CR
Friday night was extremely low key (like in pajamas by 8pm kind of low key), and dinner was reaheated stuffed shells, made way back on Monday.—AE
Remember the serenade I went to last Saturday night? That happy couple officially tied the knot this weekend, followed by a smashing reception at Vie, the Cescaphe catering group's venue near Route 6 and Alla Spina. Me and C's reception was also here in August, so it was cool/surreal to be back and on the other side of the experience. A head cold had me down, but that didn't stop me from going balls deep into the cocktail hour spread: tuna tataki, gorgonzola sachetti, shrimp cocktail, etc. and more, all washed down with Ketel on the rocks. That gorgefest killed my appetite for dinner, but I did come back to life just in time for a Chipwich, which went very well with the vodka and Nyquil.—AE
Saturday lunch happened at Kenny and Zuke's, a deli that even east coasters can get behind. I'm happy to report that the pastrami was solid and the Bloody Marys come garnished with thick slabs of pastrami jerky and a loaded skewer of housemade pickles. Pre-dinner I grabbed a cocktail at The Imperial, a totally inspired take on the Pimm's Cup entitled Iron Chef: Radish! that blended Pimm's with radish sorbet, watermelon and cucumber soda. For dinner we headed to cocktail mecca Beaker & Flask where boozy hits were a bourbon-spiked chicken liver mousse and chocolate ice cream served with a poured over shot of cherry daiquiri, a combo that ended up tasting like the best chocolate-covered cherry ever. Post-dinner I checked out the super fun White Fang at Slim's and then headed over to The Kenton Club for shoegaze-y great Still Caves. I'm pretty sure that it's against the law to charge more than $2 for a beer in Portland.—CR
Things started looking up on Saturday, with a mixed cheese hoagie with all the fixings from Chickie's Deli on 10th and Federal. With some sour cream and onion chips on the side, this is pure and perfect comfort food. Later that night, Ry and I went to a West Philly Thanksgiving themed potluck. We brought along a brussels, tofu and quinoa salad dressed with a blue cheese, and a brown butter candied apple clafoutis taken right from a front page recipe at Food52. This dessert is so elegant and easy, I actually made it for two different dinners in the span of three days! Highly recommended.—EK
On Sunday, my sister and I went to cheer on a buddy who was bravely running the Philadelphia half marathon. At the finish line she collapsed tearfully into our arms and then declared, "What's for breakfast?" We walked away from the roaring madness on the Parkway and toward Center City, and settled into a little table at Rachel's Nosheri on 20th and Sansom. She rewarded herself for the epic run with a whitefish salad platter, and sis and I rewarded ourselves for standing around in the cold with bagels and eggs. Sometimes, deli breakfast just hits the spot.—EK
The in-laws were up on Sunday afternoon to help with some house painting. Afterwards , we all went to celebrate a job well done with cheeseburgers and fries from the Shake Shack. I talked myself out of the custard of the day (chocolate hazelnut), hoping to keep my Sunday from being too unhealthy. But I've been regretting it ever since! We wound down the evening with a couple bottles from Local 44, the MythBusters Thanksgiving Special, a big bowl of popcorn (if you watched the MythBusters, you'll know why we were inspired!), and the new Walking Dead. Now to gear up for a week of heavy duty cooking and eating...—EK
Although the adventures of the pervious evening made my 11:30 flight seem a little on the early side, I set the alarm to squeeze in a few more eating adventures. First order of business was coffee from Coava, a roaster that shares a gorgeous industrial space with a woodworking shop. And obviously the macchiato was killer. For breakfast I headed to the I'm-not-sure-if-I-love-it-or-hate-it food truck called Fried Egg I'm in Love (kind of wonder if Robert Smith knows about it) anyway, the menu included such gems as Back in Black Bean, Yolko Ono, OK Commuter, Free-Range Against the Machine and my choice, Huevo Mutilation.—CR
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