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Notes from the (Long) Weekend: May 29
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.
Notes from the (Long) Weekend: May 29
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. Consider this a place for good deals, great dishes, wicked cocktails, recipe triumphs (and tragedies), bizarro conversations and more. We're eager to share our notes, but especially excited to read yours.We encourage you to leave notes from YOUR weekend in the comments. Have at it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)
Adam Erace: AE
Drew Lazor: DL
Katie Linton: KL
Alexandra Weiss: AW
Lunch with CP photog to the stars Neal Santos at Pho 75 (Wing Phat Plaza, 11th and Washington) on Friday afternoon. Number three steez above. Pho 75 has the distinction of being the one Philly pho parlor never to "roundeye" me (i.e. leaving all the good tripe, tendon, fatty flank etc. out because I'm not Viet). My across-the-street go-to Pho Hoa, of all places, has even pulled this, despite me looking kinda Asian. C'mon dudes, gimme what I ordered please! —DL
Spent a quiet evening in on Friday night in preparation for a quiet weekend in OCNJ. We decided to splurge a little and get the sushi and sashimi for two from Sakura (1521 Spring Garden St.). It came with all sorts of stuff, including a spicy tuna roll and a dragon roll. I felt ridiculous when I brought the platter inside to show JN, but it was still a beautiful sight. —AW
Friday: A relatively epic home-cooked meal from H and I on Friday night. My hoarding of strawberries allowed us to make a darn good strawberry cocktail I'd read about in Cooking Light. My friend let me have her Greensgrow farm share this week, so we had lots more fresh fruits and vegetables to work with. We sautéed fresh peas, cucumbers and mint for a subtle side. For the main, we crumbled wild salmon over pasta with dill, green onion and edamame. I marinated strawberries in balsamic, black pepper and sugar and poured it over Bassett's chocolate ice cream for dessert. —KL
Seriously, how much do you love this guy? The teal bandana, the hat, the zinc-smeared lips ... the ice cream man is a Shore classic, and this one, patrolling 15th Street beach in North Wildwood on Saturday, provided refreshment (in the form of a red-white-and-blue raspberry Firecracker pop) exactly when I needed it. —AE
Saturday: For the second year in a row I had the pleasure of judging Big Bite's Wing King, held this year at the always-trippy Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial in West Philly. I joined Scott Schroeder (SPTR/ASB), Shao Zhi Zhong (FriedWontons4U) and resident judge Joe Bernstein in smashing close to 20 entries while chugging Gansett and cautiously sipping Spodee, which tastes to me a little like sangria mixed with Nesquik. The winner? Adrian, actually a judge from Wing King III in 2011, whose flappers packed serious smoke. —DL
Enjoyed a nice lunch of Bagliani's prosciutto and provolone on whole grain after my dad picked us up from the AC train station Saturday afternoon. Since I was on vacation, I decided to make myself an afternoon martini. Based on the several self-'tinis I drank that day, I think I might have a future in bartending. —AW
Saturday: I ate leftovers for lunch before we headed to Lebanon, Pa. for a friend's wedding. He got married on his parents' idyllic farm in the middle of nowhere. The wedding food was pretty good, but the dessert was amazing! Alongside a chocolate cake with ganache layers and cream cheese icing, there were about 10 different homemade pies to choose from. —KL
Saturday: Takeout dinner Nomad Pizza (611 S. Seventh St.), which AE is reviewing in this week's CP. Arugula'd margherita was definitely good, but I was partial to the shiitake pie, which tossed an unapologetic amount of garlic right at ya. All the food I cook tends to taste like that because I have no concept of restraint so I was more than happy. I also asked for a side of anchovies for the salad and they packed up two little plastic rammies full of them for me. Generous with the 'chovies, Nomad! I love you. —DL
Saturday dinner was grilled salmon, corn on the cob and balsamic marinated cucumbers. I was a little toasted from pretending to be Don Draper that afternoon, so I laid off the Chardonnay and Riesling. Dessert was a hot fudge sundae from Kessel's Korner (2760 Asbury Ave.). I have had many hot fudge sundaes in my life, but Kessel's is the best. —AW
Breakfast at the Rio Grande Diner just outside Wildwood is a summer tradition for C's fam, one in which I'm happy to participate when the cinnamon-raisin-walnut pancakes are this wide and fluffy. —AE
I don't think I ate a real lunch on Sunday, just snacked on hors d'oeuvres from Bagliani's all day (several types of sausages and cheeses) in preparation for an open house our hosts were throwing that night. The party was for RG's birthday, as well as her and JY's anniversary. The spread included fried chicken, fruit, veggies, lobster dip courtesy of JN's mom and a cake made out of cupcakes! The frosting was like two inches thick. —AW
Sunday: Sunday was more or less a cleansing day after the wedding dessert buffet and the hot dogs I knew would follow on Monday. Yogurt and papaya for breakfast, salmon leftovers for lunch and Tuscan white bean soup for dinner. H and I went for a run and passed all the happy people at brunch; I wasn't even tempted. —KL
Here's any easy way to make any fruit interesting: Take one cup sugar, a few sprigs of mint and a pinch of salt and buzz in a spice grinder till sandy and green. I tossed the mint sugar with orange slices for a sweet beach snack on Memorial Day. —AE
Monday was a total bust. I had felt a scratch in my throat during the party, so I thought keeping hydrated and eating a lozenge would do the trick. WRONG. Spent all of Monday laying on the couch, watching Saved by the Bell. Can you even believe that time that Stacey Carosi totally played Zach with her BF from Boston?! I did, however, enjoy a nice breakfast made by JY. Two eggs sunny side up with sausage. —AW
My Memorial Day dinner was not that American. On a whim we swung up to Loco Pez (2401 E. Norris St.), where M got their nachos with soy chorizo and I got me a taco quartet — fish, chorizo/potato (fave from reg menu), al pastor and a special cochinita, aka the braised pork dish that makes Johnny Depp kill cooks in Once Upon a Time in Mexico. If I adhered to Depp's standards I would have murked Loco's entire kitchen staff because shit was fiiiiire. Hear it's a contender for a permanent place on the menu. Don't worry, I tend not to kill those who feed me dope foods. —DL
After miserable, albeit quick, ride home I ordered seafood udon soup from Ken Shin (301 Spring Garden St.) for dinner. Stopped at CVS to pick up all the drinks, including blue Gatorade and purple V8 Splash, to keep hydrated. The soup and V8 were great, making a dent in the Gatorade as we speak. —AW
Après-beach, ate wayyy too much at a cookout at the fam's Ventnor crib. Burgers and dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad w/chickpeas, Uncle Tom's "Grays Ferry" potato salad, baby greens with chevre, corn on the cob, watermelon and so much more. I love you, summer. —AE
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