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Notes from the Weekend: December 17
New York eats, Northeast hoagies and bloody mary brunches on this edition of Notes from the weekend.
Notes from the Weekend: December 17
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
On Friday headed to New York via New Jersey Transit making it from Philly to Greenpoint just in time for dinner at Paulie Gee's. A few Sixpoint Sehr Crisps and the Hellified Porkpie White pie with fior di latte, Berkshire soppressata piccante, sweet fennel sausage, red onion basil and Mike's Hot Honey plus a Vegan Shmooglua with arugula, tomatoes nutritional yeast and Aleppo chili oil made for a perfect pre-show meal.Post-pizza I made my way over to St. Vitus to see Lust for Youth, Widowspeak and The Men plus a couple of Priests (that'd be St. Vitus's take on a city wide: can of Bud plus a shot of Evan Williams.)—CR
Another Friday, another night staying in to do homework. Pasta with kale and cheese was a hasty, if cozy, dinner for one. After a string of four work-related holiday parties the week before, having a quiet night to work and snuggle the dog was actually a welcome change of pace.—EK
On Saturday I woke up and headed into the city for a day of Japanese food eating adventures. Ramen and tsukemen at Minca, takoyaki and okonomoyaki at Oanktafuku. A trip down to Japanese knife mecca Korin where I spotted Mission Chinese's Danny Bowien shopping for hand-honed creations then back up to the Lower East Side for green tea martinis at Blue Ribbon Izakaya. But all of that eating was just a precursor to the super exciting meal that I had planned for that evening. Del Posto, Mario Batali's Tenth Avenue flagship does a vegan tasting menu that I'd been hearing about forever and Saturday was the night that I finally had a chance to try it. Celery hearts and garbanzo beans were dressed with 25 year old balsamic, a porcini and salsify soup was served in bone China and a perfectly executed risotto was heaped with shaved black truffle. Incredible. But the real highlight of the meal was dessert made by my bud (and former Born Against drummer) Brooks Headley. The dude is a genius. Amedei Chocolate Bruciato was a drop dead amazing plate of vegan chocolate mousse with chards of bruleed sugar, sweet-tart Amarena cherries and crunchy olive oil crostini. And the mignardises? Don't even get me started. —CR
Wasn't really conscious on Saturday until the pungent aroma of Marinucci's Deli woke me up. Ya been? It's up in the lower Northeast, a family-run shop around since forever and a favorite of the Tacony transplant in-laws. C and I had to scoop hoagie trays there en route to the family Christmas party housed in a heated tent in the backyard, because when you live in Bucks County, there's room to do things like that. I ate too many soft pretzel sticks with some sort of cinnamon brown sugar whipped butter, too many slices of pizza after that, and too many ricotta cookies after that. At least we broke up the festivities with the Christmas light show hayride at Shady Brook Farm. A very bucolic day.—AE
Saturday was largely swallowed up by a shopping adventure that took us from the Go West Craft Fair at the Rotunda in West Philly to the Target on Columbus Blvd. We stayed well nourished with Mexican hot chocolate ice cream from Weckerly's, a new local ice cream start up, who were tabling outside of the craft fair, and later, a bounty of offerings from the Underdogs location on Passyunk Ave. The Smoker (a spicy sausage with pepper hash, relish and ketchup), the Chicken Parm Haute Dog, and a veggie Chicago dog were a nice sampling of the meat-tube rainbow of offerings that the shop offers. Fortified, we faced the south Philly hordes and carted our random wares back home for wrapping and Toy Story watching.—EK
At night we trotted a few blocks down to Vietnam Cafe for an eggy pork and shrimp filled crepe, a spicy seafood and tofu clay pot, and a rice noodle bowl with every kind of meat atop it. In an uncharacteristic break, Ryan ordered the "Bachelor's Downfall," a rum, bourbon and fruit juicy Tiki drink, all dressed up with cherries and an umbrella and ready to party. He reported that it was good and not too sweet, though we were both enviously eyeing the flaming bowl of booze that the girls behind us were giggling over and snapping photos of.—EK
After a full night of tasting menus topped off with a little too much Fernet Branca (and maybe a few too many gin and tonics) I woke up way late on Sunday with no plan other than making my way back to Philadelphia, eventually. Not wanting to miss out on one last meal in New York I landed an early reservation at Torrisi Italian Specialties for yet another epic Italian tasting menu. Oysters with pickled peppers, house made mozzarella and Da Vero olive oil, grilled arancini with fermented broccoli rabe, tuna with a holy moley incredible charred eggplant puree. The creamiest sheeps milk gnocchi with a chestnut ragu and veal Aldo with boudin blanc, grilled tongue and a kohlrabi croquette. Lemon cake, rainbow cake and then back into the real world i.e. the Megabus. Back in Philly I swung by Tequilas to check out Pheobe Esmon's cocktail benefit for Hurricane Sandy. All of the cocktails that I tried were out of control awesome but the Quiet Stars made with cachaca, ginger liqueur lime and a red pepper-blackberry syrup was the winner.—CR
Aside from food shopping, writing and ordering sandwiches from Plenty (their porchetta is awesome), did squat on Sunday. Oh wait, I made pizzelles for Christmas (lemon and vanilla bean). And I pan-roasted pork chops for dinner, with corn chowder and salad. Even when I'm trying to refrain from doing food things, I wind up doing food things. Story of my life.—AE
After weeks of discussion, we finally made it to Alla Spina for Sunday brunch. Our cute server proudly referred to it as "best brunch in the city," and they made a believer out of me. We kicked off the meal with a horseradish spiked Bloody Mary for me, and a bizarre but insanely delicious cocktail of Tuaca, red wine and Aranciata for Ryan. It was impossible to pick from the menu, so we went with the server's recommendations: veal shank stuffed biscuits with poached eggs, and honey drizzled chestnut crepes with breakfast sausage and over easy eggs. Don't forget the side of cheesy polenta! But before we could even sit back and make a dent in our beverages, the kitchen sent out a trio of petite, perfect donuts: an old fashioned chocolate, an apple fritter, and one stuffed with a silky pistachio cream. What a way to start off brunch! When our food came out, we were already giddy and high on sugar, which drove home the deep, savory flavors of the eggs and breakfast meats even harder. Dizzy pleasure and beyond sated, we wandered through a favorite antique store off South Street before driving home for an ideal afternoon of couch surfing off a food coma.—EK
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