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Notes from the Weekend: August 22
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: August 22
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
Drew Lazor: DL
Jessica Leung: JL
Nicole Rossi: NR
Lunchtime had an abdominous effect on me as I chowed down on a quinoa/black bean burger smothered in chipotle aioli and a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting and caramel/toffee/chili roasted peanuts from my go-to spot, Grocery (106 S. 13th St.). Loving their veggie burger and will be trying my own variation soon. Fingers crossed; recipes welcomed. —NR
Friend of Meal Ticket MC was up in Philly for the weekend so we decided to tool around 13th Street and get it in Friday night. Dinner at The Corner (102 S. 13th St.) saw us destroying my fave salt cod hush puppies, plus chef John Taus' sick new fried chicken (right) — it's a whole Cornish game hen partially deboned, brined in herbed buttermilk, deep-fried and served magma-hot over a hill of hammy collards. Crunch, salt, juiciness ... all dead-on. New contender! From there it was stops at Bar (1309 Sansom St.) for beers, picklebacks and some Phils, and next door to Time (1315 Sansom St.) for trombone jams, Breckenridge double IPAs (oof strong) et cetera. Closed out the evening with a bit of Maker's rocks at Grace Tavern (2229 Grays Ferry Ave.) and then the rest is lil' blurry. —DL
Stopped in Mission Grill (1835 Arch St.) to see my best gal and grab a few Sapphire and tonics from the bar. Ended up being a pretty low-key Friday night save for the early-morning texts/calls — best gal ended up breaking her ankle in two places. Ouch! That's what happens when I leave her unattended. Kidding! Get better sooooon, sweets. —NR
Peach pancakes for breakfast on Saturday morning? Summer! The slices of fruit laid into the batter and scattered over top these flapjacks hailed from Three Springs in Adams County. While many local orchards are currently finishing up their harvest, Three Springs grows dozens of varieties, some of which will ripen through the fall. —AE
Woke up later than I wanted to on Saturday; I blame the above note. Didn't stop me from tearing up the Italian Market, picking up Sarcone's rolls, a bunch of veggies and a gorgeous 5-pound lamb shoulder from Esposito's (1001 S. Ninth St.) for that evening's dinner (more on this in one sec). M and MC were stricken with hungover munchies back at the crib though, so I made sure to walk through the door with two pies from the new Santucci's (10th and Christian), packed to capacity in the afternoon. This place has been killing it since it opened last month — the original O Street pizzeria in Juniata may be no more (the Santuccis closed it to focus on down here; they still own the building), but local demand for upside-down pie seems stronger than ever. —DL
I didn’t have a lot of time, so I grabbed a Lion Bar from Old Nelson (2002 Chestnut St.) as I briskly walked to work. I have come to the conclusion that I'm contributing to the nutrition crisis in America, as I settled for a candy bar as my Saturday lunch. I've also come to the conclusion that Lion Bars are pretty good. I'll take the calories if it tastes like I'm eating a combo Twix/Crunch Bar. —JL
Fired up the grill on Saturday night at the shore. This picture was snapped right after we pulled some inch-thick Green Meadow pork chops marinated all day in pineapple juice and rosemary off the fire, while thick-cut red onions, Yukon Golds, cheesy zucchini and Brauhaus Schmitz brats finished cooking. This barbecue went down at my folks' place on their hulking stainless-steel gas grill that belches flames as unpredictably as a Targaryen dragon. I have a charcoal guy at home, but often find myself having to cook on mom and pop's gas-powered 'cue. Who's got tips for taming this fickle beast? —AE
After caring for my crutch-hobbling patient most of the day Saturday, I got ready for the night with Maker's and makeup and met up with a friend at The Farmer's Cabinet (1113 Walnut St.). Eager to see Christian and Phoebe in action, we snatched the only two seats at the bar — lucky too, the place was packed — and began ordering everything that appealed to our bibulous desires. Sticking with the whiskey theme and adding a few splashes of Champagne (as you've probably noticed in past NFTW, I always leave room for bubbly), we sampled and shared Ancestral Spirits, Sacrificial Dance, The Cockaigne and of course let Phoebe work her magic on some special bourbon/champagne mixed cocktails made especially for us. Deliciousness all around. —NR
Last NFTW, I discussed my experimentation with the archaic, dense and ultimately impossible-to-understand Le Guide Culinaire, by Auguste Escoffier (I call him "Auggie" at this point). I wanted to attempt one more recipe out of the book — a roast, figuring this would be the easiest way for a dummy like me to achieve edible satisfactory results. After perusing Le Guide and growing thoroughly frustrated by all the contrarian instructions, I decided to go with a much more straightforward process, shared by David Katz of Mémé (2201 Spruce St.). The slower/lower the better, but mine came out beautifully in 3 hours at 350 — rub your seasoned shoulder with a thyme/rosemary/garlic/olive oil mix, place it in a dish over mirepoix and pop that shiz in. Baste with dijon and honey occasionally during the second half of cook time; tent with foil if top's getting too brown. Uncomplicated. Amazing results. You can't see me Auggie. —DL
In a blind frenzy of cheap Jersey impulse booze buying, I picked up a bottle of Sauternes last year and haven't done anything with it since. Until Sunday morning, when I deployed a slug of the golden French dessert wine with honey, salt and pepper to quartered figs from a secret South Philly stash. I paired the purple beauties with silky prosciutto for the kind of breakfast I'd want some sweet gnarled nonna to serve me in a courtyard in Rome. I still have three-quarters of a bottle of Sauternes left; get at me in the comments with recipes. —AE
Feeling triumphant about my successful, non-Escoffier-based dinner, we stopped by Mémé (2201 Spruce St.) for Sunday brunch under the guise of thanking Katz in person for his lamby help — really we were just wicked hungover and needed fried green tomatoes with crab remoulade, griddle cakes with shaved foie, cinna-raisin French toast, biscuits 'n' gravy and heirloom salad. —DL
Sunday morning the girls and I brunched outdoors in Fishtown with homemade mini bacon quiche, mini pancakes, fresh fruit, mini scrapple sandwiches and fishbowl-like pitchers of mimosas. I won't even tell you how many bottles we went through. Classy ladies but the most inappropriate talk ever and some pretty crazy swirling dark clouds threatening our picnic like a scene from The Witches of Eastwick (we cackled at the rain and braved it for as long as we could) led to yet another Sunday fun day. —NR
Sunday dinner: Massive pile of leftover lamb shoulder with veggie sides during Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage. How amazing has Curb been this season?! So many food-centric episodes so far, too. It's a shit bow! —DL
Dinner at The Corner was delish, those hush puppies, the crabcake - so good! Bar was pretty ok, the crowd was young and made me feel like I had crashed a college bar. Time was awesome, def my first time there on a Friday night and I would recommend it. And a very sincere thanks to Rees over at Grace for showing us a good time on our last stop of the evening.
Santuccis saved my life on Saturday, giving me the fuel necessary to brave Whole Foods for cheese and veggies and Bella Vista for some Kronenbourg. Feasted on the cheese plate, brussels, sauteed mushrooms, pasta salad and lemon iced cake with peach compote before sinking into the couch to watch 967-Evil II.
So happy to wake up feeling refreshed and not hungover Sunday morning. All the better to enjoy the refreshing ($5!) glass of rose with the awesome fried green tomato/crab remoulade dish at Meme. I chose to reward my smart behavior by ordering a buttery biscuit with apricot jam as a side, a wise move if I do say so.— MLF- Spent Friday night at the Geek Awards at the Academy of Natural Science. Free beer from Victory made for a pretty lively event. Post Geek headed to old city for a late dinner at Khyber Pass Pub, where fortunately the burger and potato salad were on point as was the beer menu (per usual.) Slid into the corner booth at Grace in time for last call, and it's pretty much a haze from there.
Saturday didn't do a ton. Ikea, PennDOT, etc. Led an expedition to Darkest South Philly to South Philly Tap Room with some friends from Boston. That tomato and mayo sandwich is so good, if it's ever on the specials when you go, you know what to do. Likewise with the head cheese taco's. Don't think about where head cheese comes from, just eat it. Friends were amazed you can get beer to go in Philly.
Early Sunday braved the sea of people at Headhouse for 10 lbs of tomatoes and a few other items. Grabbed a late brunch on Sunday with my dad and wife at Sidecar. The hangar steak omelet with asparagus was on special, and was enormous/delicious. Special treat: RJ Rocker's Son of a Peach on tap. Spent the rest of the day in the kitchen making lots of stuff that is now wrapped dated and frozen.— LouPerseghin - Was down the shore this weekend for my annual glorious vacation, which means I buy all of my produce from Clinton Conover's farm stand on Route 9 between Avalon and Stone Harbor. It's simply the best, freshest fruits and veggies I've found down the shore and the couple who own are super sweet, even if they did make fun of my love of okra. I also ate my weigh in water ice, mainly from the Buccaneer ice cream parlor and Avalon Freeze, both in Avalon.— molls to the wall
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