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Notes from the Weekend: April 18
Notes from the Weekend is a Monday 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 Weekend: April 18
Notes from the Weekend is a Monday 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
Erin Finnerty: EF
Drew Lazor: DL
Adrian Pelliccia: AP
Laurel Rose Purdy: LRP
Friday moved furniture all damn day, and a trip to South Philly for the Buxco in-laws isn't complete without a visit to Fiorella's (817 Christian St.). Wifey's dad loves the 120-year-old linkery's liver sausage and loaded up on the slippery suckers. They wiggled around like stubby crimson caterpillars on the silver scale. —AE
For me, Friday night was one of those "Definitely not going out, staying in and saving money and COOKING and eating healthy!" nights. So naturally I went to South Philly Tap Room (1509 Mifflin St.). Dammit! Lack of willpower had splendid end results, though: wrecked a burger and got a chance to try some of those new Firestone Walker beers, along with Scott Schroeder's nice pairings (beef carpaccio with fried oysters on top I hope makes another appearance). —DL
On Friday, the first day of Penn's Spring Fling, I did what any rational human being in my situation would do and consumed as much fried food as possible. This included a banana/strawberry/Nutella crepe from the Crepe and Wraps truck on 37th and Spruce, an order of fish and chips from a stand in the quad and two orders of fried Oreos. I have no regrets about this diet, but am glad that it's only really available as an option to me once a year. —AP
After leaving work on Friday and feeling inspired by Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods adventure in Baja, I thought, "I could really go for some corn smut." So before heading home we popped into Dos Segundos (931 N. Second St.). We split an order of fried plantains, topped with queso fresco (so good), and I opted for the mushroom/huiltacoche veggie quesadilla and my date went for a monstrous GOAT burrito. Solid all around. —EF
A late start on Friday led boyfriend and me to Green Eggs Café (719 N. Second St.) because we just couldn't be bothered to prepare ourselves breakfast. The quinoa porridge is always heavenly, with its heap of fresh berries and that berry puree. Also, I had an egg white omelette (don't make fun) with spinach, wild mushrooms and white cheddar. Dan ordered a side of pork roll with his club, because they had it and pork roll is his lifeblood. —LRP
Early Friday dinner at the redundantly named Liberty Bell Diner Restaurant (8445 Frankford Ave.) in Holmesburg. And I mean EARLY, as in early bird. (Lots of crotchety blue hair complainers in the house.) The booths are aqua blue, the pack-a-day waitresses are a trip and the eggplant parm is solid, not to mention inclusive of soup (spicy Manhattan clam) AND salad (Caesar) AND dessert (black raspberry ice cream, hello) for about $12. —AE
We had all of these big dinner plans for Friday night, but neither of us were feeling good. Him, allergies. Me, general under the weather. Fell asleep at 8 p.m. Woke up at 11:30 p.m. realizing I hadn't eaten since breakfast. Baked myself a sweet potato and called it dinner. —LRP
I've been really feeling like eating a proper "full breakfast" — that's the unapologetic a.m. meat-worship plate most often found in England and Ireland — ever since seeing The Trip, and I got my fix Saturday afternoon at The Bards (2013 Walnut St.). I see you, back bacon. —DL
SATURDAY WAS A LITERAL WASH. When plans of attending the Phillies game were drowned out by the rain, the contingency plan — pizza dinner at Zavino and some 13th Street strolling — met the same fate as the skies opened up and dumped on me while I waited at the bus stop. I walked home feeling/looking like Charlie Brown and ordered cheese fries and a big pineapple pie from Colosseo Pizza (1501 Spring Garden St.). Then I felt better. —EF
Saturday afternoon, popped into a hopping Hawthornes (738 S. 11th St.) for a quick mix-a-six. Outside was a wrath-of-God flood, but inside brunchers packed the cafe, warming their cockles by the flickering fireplace. Later, house shopping at Best Buy and Home Depot = Chick-fil-A. I can be against their gay marriage stance but still for their waffle fries and Polynesian sauce, right? —AE
I’d decided to spend the entire terrifically rainy Saturday indoors. By 7, my hunger pangs were getting stronger and I couldn't face yet another night of pasta with my patented red-sauce-a-la-college (more on that later). I decided to withstand the downpour and head over to White Dog Cafe (3420 Sansom St.). In retrospect, it was the best thing we could have done in such inclement weather. My friend Sarah and I split a bacon cheeseburger with cheese fries and a Schanuzer (one of their hot dogs) laden with sauerkraut, relish and spicy mustard. Washed it all down with a Dock Street IPA and sprinted back home through the deluge. —AP
Saturday we headed West for brunch at Distrito (3945 Chestnut St.) and opted for the very new $20 two-course offering. The nachos were banging! Melty cheese on every single chip, with an abundance of jalapeno and radish. Even better was the tortilla soup, a spicy little bowl of traditional Mexican flavor. My hanger steak with over easies and refried beans did the job, but I liked his queso fundido with slow cooked duck "barbacoa" best. —LRP
I’ve discussed my love for flaczki on this blog before, and the mushy miserable weather Saturday necessitated a trip to Krakus Market (3150 Richmond St.), easily one of my fave places in Philly. Though we didn’t cop anything at Restaurant Staropolska (the lil’ sit-down inside), definitely left with a quart of my fave frozen tripe stew, a few links of kielbasa and some chocolate goodness. All of Saturday’s the daytime meat consumption made me feel like a brick drowning slowly, so I cooked this real light leek/quinoa sitch for dinner. —DL
Later on Saturday night, whipped up my contribution to an early Passover dinner on Sunday: flourless, butterless and, yes, gluten-free chocolate walnut cookies, aka "best cookies ever," most certainly fit for our own GF rep, LRP (recipe TK if you desire, LRP). —EF
I turned the big 2-7 last week and celebrated Saturday night the way all birthdays should be celebrated: ICE CREAM CAKE! Blue gel icing and chocolate crumblies for everyone! —AE
After waking up too late on Sunday morning and unsuccessfully chasing breakfast (Chasing Breakfast, the title of my forthcoming memoir and/or indie romcom) all the way into Cherry Hill, we admitted defeat and settled for Taco Bell at the mall. I feel like my affinity for TB makes me a bad Meal Ticket team member. It's my only vice, you guys. Come on. —EF
A bunch of friends and I decided to take advantage of the suddenly glorious Sunday weather, hoofing it up to Atiya Ola's Spirit First Foods (4505 Baltimore Ave.) and snapping up an outdoor table for six. My vegan pals took full advantage of their raw foods and opted for some snazzy looking wraps (jerk mushrooms were a big hit), but I decided to go the complete opposite route: banana walnut pancakes with two eggs over easy, hash browns, turkey sausage. The waffles were topped off with agave, which, surprise surprise, makes a really awesome alternative to maple syrup. On the way back, we stopped in at Milk and Honey Market (4425 Baltimore Ave.) to buy some bread and ogle the overpriced dry goods. A quick run-through of the Clark Park Flea Market later and I was back home, working in the blustery sunshine on my porch. —AP
Peeped the new brunch operation at Sampan (124 S. 13th St.) on Sunday morning. I slammed four shots of espresso and a togarashi bloody (that was gooood!) whilst nibbling on these two faves — black bean/soy/ginger-glazed chicken feet and real simple scrambled eggs with crispy, salty scallion pancakes. —DL
Brunched at Bar Ferdinand (1030 N. Second St.) Sunday afternoon — it was just nice enough to sit outside with the pups. I kept it light with their cured salmon wrapped around snow pea shoots, creme fraiche and pickled red onion, as well as the Mixta salad with endive leaves, marinated Spanish tuna, hearts of palm, egg mimosa and olives. (Look at Clover sticking her little nose in my grub!) I also drank a mimosa and took bites of Dan's truffled steak and eggs and shrimp revuelto. —LRP
Grandmoms put the most love into their cooking and therefore their cooking is the bomb. Per Passover tradition, my main man's g-mom created two glorious pans of kugel for Sunday dinner. One pan, easily topping out at at least 10 pounds, laced with cream cheese and the good stuff, and one dairy-free version. Both were early Passover miracles I was privileged to have witnessed. —EF
Sunday's dinner was a return to the usual grind - spaghetti with red-sauce-a-la-college, aka San Marzano red sauce (it's worth the extra couple of dollars for the great label design alone) punched up with red wine vinegar and garlic. I tend to err on the side of "more" where those two ingredients are concerned. —AP
On Sunday evening I had a few friends of Meal Ticket over to test out the pizza dough — Jonathan Waxman's recipe, out of his new cookbook — I began prepping on Saturday afternoon. Shoutout to Waxman because the dough turned out GREAT, and I have very little experience making it. Letting the sponge (basically just yeast and some snacks for it — in this case stale beer, honey and a little flour) get going 24 hours ahead really develops some nice flavor. The oven-stone-baked pies themselves were pretty successful, too — loved our margherita, bacon/leek and mushroom/herbs/ricotta pizzas. The hot Italian sausage pie, though … as was the case last week, chalk it up again to my immense impatience. You can probably guess which one is the holy-crap-that-is-effed one in the pics above. —DL
So, I always want to participate in this but my weekend plans are usually über predictable (Jet, Jet, Jet). I DID brunch at Jet saturday and sunday, with the savory bread-pudding topped with scrambled egg one day, and smoked-salmon blt with caper-anchovy aioli the next. But, this weekend I ventured a bit further. Starting with Jet happy-hour (can't help myself), I ventured with the kind-of hubby to Hamilton Hall and an art opening. Two sculpture/installation artists (Stephanie Koenig and Lewis Colburn) had a show "This is the House You'll Live in Tomorrow", which had pretty awesome modern use of older craftsmanship. Then off to Bistrot la Minette. Prix fixe meal, the best of which was the Pate en croute with black truffle and aspic - god that was good. Then, Smile Cafe on Sunday- mmmmm! I looooove their seafood pad thai. and their seafood spicy noodle whatever. Always good.— JetJill- You are KILLING me with the pizza pictures. And happy birthday Adam! I turned the even more frightening 3-1 last week and had no chocolate crumblies to drown my old old tears.
Boyfriend took me to Distrito for my birthday-he had never been, so it was almost as much fun watching him eat the food as it was to devour it. We started with the tuna ceviche with coconut and lime (my favorite), then had the tongue tacos, hamachi tacos, pulled pork tamales, queso fundito with duck, and the chicken enchilada. Capped that with churros-I'm going to create a cult based around that cajeta cream.
Friday me and a gaggle of friends stopped at Mid Atlantic for happy hour-we were thrilled to see they had Oberon on tap, and I split a soft pretzel with their special fancypants mustard. Good, but I prefer mine with a hint of exhaust fumes from Cottman Ave. The boy and my buddy bonded over cans of Natty-Bo. Good GOD. We finished the night at Goijo with pitchers of...something (so drunk) and some Ethiopian spiced cheesesteaks.
Saturday we bought our usual hangover cures from Mr. Lees Deli. Then after a 12 hour nap we dragged ourselves through the deluge to Old City for a barbecue where my friend Jason smoked a hunk of brisket for hours. There was also bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms, mac and cheese, collards with bacon, wings with homemade Jack Daniels barbeque sauce, and a cake made with some delicious porter. Worth getting soaked.
And Sunday was dinner at mom's-filet roast, marinated asparagus and baby portabellas, twice-baked potatoes topped with Fontina, Caesar salad, and apple crisp. I'm obviously on a water/baby food diet for the rest of the week. Except I'm lying and getting beers later.— JulieC - Friday: Me and JNog fake-dated it/stuffed face at Izumi. The live-scallop and soft-shell crab specials stood out, especially the tempura-battered, crispy fresh crab with roasted maitakes.
Saturday: road-tripped to Whitmore Farm with CP photog Neal Santos and Moda Botanica florist/backyard chicken advocate Bailey Hale. Will and Kent of the farm pasture-raise heritage chickens, pigs, lambs, goats and rabbits on their stunning farm in Maryland. Their own lamb was braised Tuscan-style with tons of lemon for dinner, with kale from their hoop house and wines from Chrysalis Vineyards in VA. I was frankly dreading saying nice things to a local winemaker about her crappy plonk, but the wines were drop-dead, especially the Viognier and native Norton varietals. Check Chrysalis out if you're into serious native viticulture.
Sunday: Hit the road back to the city after doing some farm chores, but not before stopping at Stoudt's Black Angus in Adamstown, PA. There's not much healthy, local food along the turnpike (for all the damn rich farmland you're driving through), but Stoudt's served up nice housemade sausages with kraut, homey beef stroganoff and their excellent brews on tap.
— felicia.dambrosio - Friday: Happy-houred at Zahav, where cocktails are $5 (!) and hummus is half-price. One drink too many caused me to wander home and randomly eat an egg sandwich for dinner instead of the planned Ba Le banh mi.
Saturday: Participated in Love Your Garden day at Howard Street Park, fortified by Dunkin' crullers. Partook in annual Record Store Day trip to Collingswood, NJ, to visit Groovegrounds and, more importantly, The Pop Shop. It's Grilled Cheese Month, y'all, so TPS has a special sammy every day of the month. Tempted by the lobster grilled cheese but since I'm testing out vegetarianism (day 9!), went with the simpler Magill. Late-night dinner was double-baked potatoes with sharp cheddar and broc.
Sunday: Made challah french toast (thanks for the best french toast bread evar, Whole Foods) to kick off a day of gardening and various other tasks; made veggie gyoza and Szechuan green beans for dinner, plus tons of zucchini bread that's just meh. Anyone have a good zucchini bread/muffin recipe?— CarolynH - Friday: At CBP for the Phils game. So... Italian sausage w/ peppers & onions and Chickies crab fries.
Saturday: Brunch at Pub and Kitchen. Bacon and butterscotch French toast and "Disco Fries"... basically French fries topped with cheese, turkey gravy and a fried egg (!) washed down with a couple of bloody marys. Dinner at Square 1682 and then off to Misconduct to make some bad decisions.
Sunday: Paid the price for the night before... nothing but coffee during the day and ordered a pie from Lazaro's for dinner. Happens.— AKJackie - Carnitas cemita and lengua tacos from El Paisita at 8th & Jackson. That is all.— BarryG
- Started the weekend with a carnitas tacos and waaaay too much guac from Taqueria Veracruzana. Decided that my all time fave bagel is the whole wheat everything at the South Street Bagels. Sunday night, rocked the thai tempura (very light and fluffy, plus you get a ton of it) and golden eggplant from Erawan, which I need to go to way more often.— molls to the wall
- I forgot to mention that I ate my first chocolate babka this weekend, courtesy of a bakery in Brooklyn and it was DELICIOUS.— erinfinnerty
- Friday, I saw scream 4 and drank a giant cherry coke and ate skittles CRAZY CORES. Have you had these? I am not a skittles girl at all- in fact, I kind of hate them. But, the CRAZY CORES are my favorite candy right now- a must try! Saturday we braved the rain and had dinner at Kennett. I've been there a few times now and I am a fan! I ate that damn kale salad that everyone raves about and it held up to my expectations. Very yum. Sunday was my usual routine of grocery shopping, cleaning and outrageous coffee consumption. This time I was trying to grocery shop faster than ever before (personal challenge!) and in my rush I accidentally grabbed SMOKE flavored string cheese instead of the regular! It upset me more than it probably should have. Sunday dinner- Pizza feast of epic proportions, all of it completely delicious.— kibby
- Friday night had dinner at Le Virtu which was delish, I'm excited for their outdoor area to open soon. The special dish of the night was springtime ramps with a poached egg. Saturday morning we had a wedding cake tasting so that was breakfast and then braved the massive crowds and terrible parkers in the suburban Whole Foods lot in the pouring rain. But it was all worth it by dinner time when we had a recipe from the Radically Simple cookbook by Roxanne Gold. Panko crusted chicken with avocado and chimichuri sauce. It was pretty radically simple. Sunday tried Talula's Garden which rocked, if only it had been warmer we would have sat out in the garden part but still inside is pretty and the food was delish. Definitely going back for happy hour drinks on a sunny day soon.— Emilye148
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