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Notes from the Weekend: December 19
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: December 19
Notes from the Weekend is a Monday Tuesday (this week) 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
Whipped up a real quick but real delicious all-local dinner at home on Friday: za'atar-crusted bone-in pork chops, honey-roasted carrots and salad with persimmons, blue cheese, shaved turnips and parsley vinaigrette. So good I forgot to take pictures. Lo siento. —AE
Arrived in Austin, Texas on Monday to visit some good friends. About a month before my trip, my friend sent me the menu for Franklin Barbecue (900 E 11th St.) — we went Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. to wait in line for for the 11 a.m. opening because it's that dang good. I got brisket and ribs with potato salad and beans and a Dublin's Dr. Pepper. I'm on vacation, I can drink soda, I do what I want. Got full after a quarter of the plate. Took the rest home for when we would inevitably be drunk later that night. Dinner was at Red House (1917 Manor Road) during happy hour because they have half-price margaritas that are apparently made with EVERCLEAR (see note regarding drunk leftovers). Then we headed over to Flipnotics (1601 Barton Springs Road) to see our buddy Shakey Graves perform. You can get beer pretty much anywhere here, including coffee shops, so we drank Lone Star in preparation for the show. —AW
Friday: Used my wealthy friend’s leftovers from Amada (217-219 Chestnut St.) to make a mean brunch before I headed to Kennett Square with my girl Meg. I served as a buffer between her and her mom’s brand-new boyfriend while we ate fantastic sushi at Lily Asian Cuisine (104 W. State St.). Dinner for four cost us just $60; it might have run us $520 had we made reservations a year prior to eat at the restaurant next door (Talula's Table). —KL
Took a trip to the Whole Foods flagship store (525 N. Lamar Blvd.) and boy is it cool. There's a restaurant inside! Kind of. It has menus. We went around and tried all the samples, of course. I got udon and a spicy tuna hand roll for my actual lunch with Steaz iced tea. Steaz is based in Doylestown! —AW
Friday: Dropped by the bar at CP Big Vision winner Vedge (1221 Locust St.) for a few drinks (nice Perfect Manhattan, friendly bar staff) and a few plates, including Rich Landau's steak-spiced tofu. (The burly seasoning on this was better than most New York strips I've cut up.) Afterward, walked down the street to Garces Trading Co. (1111 Locust St.) to buy a few presents — harissa and arbequina olive oils and some imported anchovies (pop's obsessed). Took Tom and Donna's "Treat Yo Self" advice and copped this bottle of Brut Cava, which I liked because it has an incorrect math problem on it. Fuck math! —DL
Friday was the coolest day. A friend works at the state capitol, so we met him for lunch in the cafeteria. We all got taco bowls, where the bowl is made out of taco shell. Ran around the capitol afterward being tourists. After our friend finished work, we went to the Cloak Room (1300 Colorado St.). Beverly, the bartender who has been there forever, called me sweetie a lot. Then we went to Antone's (213 W. Fifth St.) for a record release party. Danced our faces off to Whiskey Shivers and White Ghost Shivers. Two different bands that are both cold, apparently. —AW
The majority of Saturday was dedicated to the nuptials of friends C and L. I was in the bridal party, and knowing myself, thought it wise to fuel up with a big breakfast to carry me through until cocktail hour. Ergo, I would wind up at Melrose Diner (1501 Snyder Ave.) for the second time in two weeks, eating cream chipped beef on wheat for the second time in two weeks. Whoops. Seeking to balance my sodium, carb and fat intake, I ordered a fruit cup on the side. Big mistake. Squishy grapes, slimy melon and citrus that looked like it had been clawed to death by Thaddeus. Serves me right for trying to be healthy. —AE
Another Philadelphia friend of mine moved to Austin and works at Kome (4917 Airport Blvd.). We got a million maki rolls, camembert tempura with honey, carrot wakame miso soup, and iidako kushi, which are teeny tiny grilled octopods. They were almost too cute to eat but we did it anyway. We got some sort of green tea ice cream parfait with mochi, red bean, Pocky and crisped rice. I wish I had the money to bribe the owner to open another location in Philly. —AW
Saturday: Feasted on Popeye’s chicken and delicious stir-fry at a church Christmas party, only to discover the Red Hots popcorn (like the candy) during post-feast dessert and coffee. I snuck a handful on my way out and loved it so much that I looked up the recipe. Who knew that you could melt down Red Hots? Warning: It is addictive. —KL
At the groom's house, there was a spread of muffins, brownies, Primo's hoagies and more beer than 12 p.m. warrants. Cracked a Sam Adams Oktoberfest before boarding a trolley and heading to church with the rest of the guys. The ceremony was beautiful and everything went smoothly, expect when I spilled a whole tin of Altoids all over the floor. —AE
Late lunch/early dinner at Hot Diggity! (630 South St.) on Saturday — they were out of Southwark charcutier Nick Macri's December-special headcheese dog (damn!), but their other special, veal gravy-soaked poutine, plus a fishcake-wrapped Philly Surf 'n' Turf Dog, more than made up for it. You wouldn't think it but poutine actually reheats pretty well in a toaster oven at home. Veal gravy, tricks! —DL
After picture-taking at the Art Museum, we arrived at the Atrium at the Curtis Center (601 Walnut St.) for the reception. The bridal suite was stocked with shrimp cocktail, crab claws, grilled marinated veggies, pulled pork sliders and more, and we ate like we were going to the electric chair. Cocktail hour followed in the stunning foyer overlooking Washington Square, then dinner (bacon-wrapped filet!) and dancing till the wee hours. Check out this dessert plate; the pumpkin cheesecake was bangin'. —AE
Had a lot of errands to run on Sunday before watching my Ravens crap the bed against Philip Rivers' stupid face (waaah), so brunch-fueled up across the street at American Sardine Bar (1801 Federal St.) — roast pork/boursin sandwich, spicy potato/collard soup, nice Bloody. Also discovered a new favorite thing — "homefries fries," fries smothered in hot sauce-caramelized onions and hollandaise. Whaaaaat. This was less than 24 hours after that Hot Diggity! poutine. Who am I? I don't know. —DL
On Sunday, post-wedding, C and I woke up way earlier than expected and took advantage of it by knocking out some last-minute Christmas shopping. (Don't front, all my South Phillies, youse know the new Burlington Coat Factory is the jam.) I fortified myself at Dunkin' Donuts on Third and Oregon with one of the those new (?) bagel twists, which bore an uncanny resemblance to several of the bridesmaids' hairdos the night before. After shopping, settled into a proper brunch at SPTR (1509 Mifflin St.). Tight butternut squash tomatillo soup, followed by Scott Schroeder's French toast, always crunchy outside, soft in the middle and never too sweet. —AE
Sunday: Woke up at 7:30 a.m. excited for an early Christmas morning with my Philly family (the kind family of four that rents me a room). We stayed in our pajamas until 2, eating frittata, potatoes and homemade cinnamon rolls when we weren’t shaking our groove thangs to Rihanna. Dropped by Devil's Den (1148 S. 11th St.) that evening to shake the hand of Don "Joe Sixpack" Russell, author of a fantastic beer blog and a new book called What the Hell am I Drinking?. Joe was just about the nicest guy in the bar; I would have bought his book if I hadn't spent all my money on beer. —KL
Adriana's (1701 S. 11th St.) for dinner Sunday. It's just too convenient having this pizzeria so close to the crib. Cheesesteak stromboli, veal parm, gnocchi. The end. —AE
Some weekends you just have to accept that Saturday is going to be lost to the void; this weekend fit that description.
Friday night was a party at the home of two friends who are pretty serious about their home cocktail craft. The deal is everyone brings a pre-assigned bottle and maybe some snacks. Our hosts picked out a few standards (old fashioned, nog, buttered rum etc.), but also threw in 5 cocktails of their own. All the home concocted drinks were wonderful. Wonderfully boozy.
Felt like a LOST survivor fresh off the plane crash on Saturday. Finally mustered the energy to borrow some jumper cables for my car and head down to Gooey Looie's, where I grabbed an Italian with everything (the sandwich not a person) that was the size of a rugby ball.
Sunday was spent grabbing the last Headhouse Market offerings of the year and making two kinds of soups, then watching the Ravens get mauled.— LouPerseghin- hoookay time to go to the sardine bar and order all of that. after work, i mean. ok.
made some tomato balsamic soup friday night, super easy cooking light recipe and turned out nicely along with grilled american cheese (cheese sourced from the south philly acme, of course). popped into the kinda-new kris on 11th & federal, but they didn't have any beers on tap and it felt a bit stuffy, overly formal. so we made the move towards the always comfortable devil's den and drank some tasty brew works pumpkin beer.
saturday night i grabbed chorizo and carnitas burritos from el jarocho for the boy and me, which is my go-to when starving. met up with friends at stateside and sipped on an american 75 and marveled over GOAT CHEESE ICE CREAM.
on sunday i had a ball at dibruno bros. in the italian market. it was my first time in that one and even though it was packed, no one rushed you and you got to try everything you wanted to try (and more!). the service is there is awesome. left with two different kinds of goat cheese, this crazy salami and umm truffle honey. (i couldn't say no.)
also, can i give a shout out to francoluigi's sicilian with mozz + grilled eggplant? i gotta. that shit is right.— jreyes - I read AE's last note as "veal parm gnocchi" (sans comma) and almost passed out thinking it was a real thing.— aweiss
- I forgot a note! Tasty homemade chili at M and M's house for the Eagles game, post Sardine. That was goooood. Sour cream. You're a part of the fun with a dollop.— Drew Lazor
- Friday was everything Christmas. First Macy's, then the Christmas Village split a bratwurst and mulled wine. Headed down to Sbraga for pre-orchestra drinks and a bite. Their monticello vineyard cocktail was fantastic. After the orchestra, headed to Fond for dinner. I expected Fond to be good, but it ended up being one of my best meals of 2011. Really fantastic food.
Monday was my Christmas present of dinner at Vetri. Everything was mind blowing, wine pairings were perfect and service was superb. I know there's some debate if it's worth the money, I have been there twice and still consider it to be the best dining experiences I have ever experienced.— Jilly B
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