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Notes from the Weekend: December 10
Pizzas, strombolis, Christmas beers and oyster brunches all this week on Notes from the Weekend!
Notes from the Weekend: December 10
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
This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind, here goes: On Friday I grabbed a seat at the bar at Barbuzzo for a plate of gnocchi with wild mushroom and chestnuts and a glass of Chard. Of course it's pretty much impossible to get out of Barbuzzo without the salted caramel budino, so yeah. After dinner wandered over to Tria where I ran into SPTR/ASB chef Scott Schroeder. More wine (Guiseppe Stella Freisa d'Asti on the recommendation of Tria Fermentation School teacher Sande Friedman) and a cheese plate later and I made my way over to Voyuer for to check out Simian Mobile Disco. It's worth a mention that those guys have an album entitled Delicacies with all of the tracks named for “an exotic, and often bizarre, delicacy from around the world” including ortolan, fugu and Casu Marzu, that totally bizarre (and not for the faint of heart) Sardinian cheese with live bug larvae.—CR
On Friday night, I eschwed all of the fun stuff going on in town to stay in and do school work like a nerd. I consoled myself with takeout from West Philly's Vientiane Cafe: coconut soup with seafood and a yum salad with tofu. The sharp, vinegary salad was just the right balance for the rich smoothess of the soup, and both sustained me heartily, hunched over my laptop well into the rainy night.—EK
After an always wonderful cappuccino from Ultimo I met my buddy Hawk Krall for a few beers and a ham plate at Percy Street. The breakfast of a responsible grownup, right? Gearing up for Hawk's opening later that evening we walked down to American Sardine Bar to sample Hawk's guest sandwich, the Gatsby Combo featuring a Reiker's hot dog, housemade fish cake, curry mayo, fries and spicy pepper hash. It's huge, totally awesome and on the menu all month long. With a little more time to kill before the opening we stopped by Pub and Kitchen for a few cocktails and back to ASB for the unveiling of Hawk's epic sandwich show. Epic Saturday continued a mind blowing show at Union Transfer with DIIV and Japandroids followed by one last (probably not the best idea) beer at The Trestle Inn.—CR
After working all day on Saturday, I had to scrap plans to eat out in favor of take-out on the couch. (This gig's #1 pitfall: restaurant exhaustion.) Camped out with Santucci's Uncle Joe stromboli, their peerless bibb lettuce/Granny Smith apple/pickled red onion/blue cheese salad, spaghetti with boar meatballs (they lacked the baking spice flavor I liked so much in them before), Despicable Me and the wife. That's pretty much a perfect night at Casa Erace.—AE
After Saturday morning fun chores - a romp with the pup at the dog park, and free for all grocery shopping at Trader Joe's - Ry and I settled in for some couch surfing time with homemade meatball sandwiches. That evening, we got mildly gussied up and biked downtown for my work's holiday party at Valanni on 12th & Spruce. The dinner choices were actually pretty decent, and I ordered a creamy lobster bisque and vegetarian paella with a chocolate espresso pot de creme to finish it off.—EK
Another cappuccino from Ultimo and then it was off to the Punk Rock Flea Market where I figured out that I was probably not in the right frame of mind to dig through records or racks of vintage even though I'm sure there were plenty of great finds. Brunch at Ela was way more my speed. An ingenious kimchi bloody mary immediately improved everything. Next up pristine oysters topped with pomegranate caviar and then a plate of biscuits with softly scrambled eggs and over the top bone marrow gravy accompanied by a side of crispy-salty-perfect hash browns. A nap later I set out to check out some of the city's more festive bars for a upcoming feature, but more on that later.—CR
Our pals Mike and Danielle invited us for a homemade brunch on Sunday morning, so we cruised down to South Philly. While our dogs tore around the living room like adorable banshees, we shared a lovely spread of mini quiches (the salmon and spinach was my favorite), potatoes, homemade waffles with berries and whipped cream, and breakfast meats. And pomegranate mimosas! The at-home brunch vibe is a really nice contrast to going out, as we sat with coffee and shot the shit for a few relaxed hours and didn't worry about dividing up the bill at the end.—EK
After an overhwelming and fruitless spin around R5's Punk Rock Flea Market, we hosted an improptu family dinner, with a fat stack of pizzas from Little Italy on 9th and South and a 2 liter of diet cola. The pizzas - plain, margherita, sausage and onion, and tomato pie - did their job as the old reliable crowd pleasers for a diverse group of eaters ranging from vegans to unadventerous grandmoms. Leftovers for breakfast aren't a bad perk, either.—EK
Spent Sunday writing and watching football before heading up to Buxco for dinner for C's mom's birthday. Have I told you about this place Maggio's they like? The food is definitely a step up from the typical suburban fare (I had Berkshire pork tenderloin with cranberry-and-fennel mostarda, for example) and their beer list is similarly respectable. Had my first Mad Elf of the season. Who'da thought it'd be in a strip mall?
The Elysian Mr Yuck Pumpkin Sour that ASB had this week might be the most unique beer I've tried in a while.— le sigh
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