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Notes from the Weekend: January 16
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.
Notes from the Weekend: January 16
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. 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
Friday: My weeklong stint in Boston ended on Friday and the night was mostly uneventful; had dinner out with friends at Tory Row (3 Brattle St.) in Cambridge. Great atmosphere, but I think they must have a beer-list screw loose — Amstel Light and Samuel Smith Nut Brown are the same price? —KL
My wedding's three months away, and Friday was our menu appointment with Cescaphe Event Group. Looks like guests will be having a choice of filet mignon au poivre, roasted halibut in lobster cream or veal chop in morel mushroom demi. What're you having, DL? After hammering out all the details, headed to Brasil's (112 Chestnut St.) for a friend's surprise 30th. I skipped the salsa lessons. I did not skip the Ketel and clubs. —AE
Took a bus up to NYC on Friday evening to visit Friend of Meal Ticket CW. Headed to Pok Pok (137 Rivington St.) for dinner, which she'd been raving about ever since I told her I was coming up. OK fine it was amazing. We got Ike's wings, Khao Man Som Tam (papaya pok pok and shredded pork over coconut rice) and honey vinegar sodas (sounds gross; it wasn't). —AW
Attempted to have a few friends over to watch a flick Friday night but ended up just getting sloppy and yelling talking over the movie the whole time, which is fine/actually preferred. Put out a bunch of snacks like a savvy host should; I should've made pigs in blankets and I should've been wearing some sort of Santorum sweatervest whilst serving, but aside from those two oversights it was great. What went quickest: the last of my La Divisa Meats stores (coppa, lomo, black pepper salami), which sat pretty on this board just long enough for a pic before it was all bare-hand decimated. —DL
Post-dinner, met up with some friends, one of whom was visiting from Bogota, and attempted to go to The Back Room (102 Norfolk St.) because it's cool and everyone drinks out of teacups, but it was PACKED. Settled on The Whiskey Ward (121 Essex St.), where I drank what was essentially a Citywide for $7, while our Colombian friend fell in love with Irish Car Bombs. Due to alcohol, we decided to go to Crif Dog (113 St. Marks Pl.) afterward. I got a corndog; everyone else got a lot of things with weird names and ingredients, plus tater tots. —AW
Saturday: Found myself in possession of a big brown sack from Spread Bagelry (262 S. 20th St.), which is not something that happens every daily. M marked the occasion by putting together this profesh-as-hell bagel plate — lox, olives, capers, cornichons, mustard, Spread's scallion schmear, red onion, tomato. Stacked stuff up like crazy. Killing It, Home Approximation of Jewish Delicatessen Edition. —DL
Woke up Saturday in the mood for pancakes but was fresh outta milk. Would yogurt work instead? I tried it, replacing 3/4 cup moo juice with 1/2 cup whole-milk vanilla yogurt and a splash of water. One cup Barefoot Contessa pancake mix (don't know why I have this), one egg and some vanilla, brown sugar and lemon zest and the flapjacks came out incredible. Citrus was such a good look, matching the slight tang of the yogurt, which kept the cakes tender and fluffy in the middle. —AE
Woke up late Saturday. Walked kind of far in subzero weather to go to the bank to get cash to go to Lam Zhou Handmade Noodle (144 E. Broadway). Ordered seafood noodle soup and dumplings. The soup was great. Dumplings were, too, but my ambition got the best of me and I only had one. —AW
Saturday: My friends gave me a bag of Counter Culture coffee beans as a parting gift before I hightailed it back to Philadelphia. H had a Gleaner's bagel waiting for me and Philly friends made me dinner. Since we didn’t make it to the similarly themed event last November, we created our own version of a stout and chowder festival — shared four or five tasty stouts and some homemade soup. —KL
Went to Brooklyn Saturday afternoon to visit some other buds, only to come back to Manhattan for our friend's birthday party that night. Dinner was a cannoli that I decided I neeeeeeeeded when we passed a bakery and pizza we picked up on the way. I played bartender at the party for a second and made terrible makeshift Black Russians. People drank them, but I suspect it's because they either a) wanted to impress me or b) felt sorry for me. Either reason is fine. —AW
Saturday we met up with friends at Lansdowne's Sycamore (14 S. Lansdowne Ave.) — the BYO ain't huge and the main room was dominated by a lovely surprise party, so our four-top plopped down at a communal table in the next room over. They're so sweet here and chef Sam Jacobson, who helped me with my April '11 Full English story, always brings it. After humblebragging to us that he's travelling to India (way to rub it in ... I'm going to Cherry Hill tomorrow, eat it bro), he cooked us food and I ate that. I got me linguine with octo ragu (!) to start and a sick salted smoked Delmonico steak for my main. Then many many desserts while we killed off the last of the wine. Lansdowne's idyllic and Syc's worth the short drive. Book this immediately. —DL
Hadn't been to Mustard Greens (622 S. Second St.) in a minute, so was stoked to meet a big group of my cousins for dinner Saturday night. Have you had their dumplings? YOU MUST HAVE THEIR DUMPLINGS. After, we popped over to Fez (620 S. Second St.) next door for drinks and hookah, my first time toking on this kind of pipe. Kinda felt like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. There's gotta be someone out there making bacon- or Negroni-flavored tobacco right? —AE
Had brunch at Sidecar (560 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn) with a few partners in crime from the night before. Drank some Bloody Marys, had the biscuits and gravy. They had this thing on the menu called Hangover Soup that featured all the necessary ingredients for curing a hangover: spicy chicken broth, poached eggs, etc. Our hungover friend ordered it but was too hung over to eat it, so I tried some. Gimme the recipe. Please/thank you. —AW
Sunday: H made pancakes for brunch and I picked up strawberries at the Italian Market to complement. My travels forced me to do grocery shopping on Sunday, and so I braved the crowded Hung Vuong at 11th and Washington. If you don’t shop here regularly, you should start; great prices, diverse selection. Shopping wore me out, so H and I got takeout for dinner — rice vermicelli with spring rolls from nearby Nam Phuong. —KL
Nailed down tux rentals uptown on Sunday, then wandered to Bonte (130 S. 17th St.), where all the tables were occupied by people not eating or drinking. I smothered my craving for a Liege waffle and stomped over to the food court at Liberty Two, where I spent half an hour searching for the crepe stand Ashley Primis wrote about in the Inquirer last week... only to eventually realize that the crepe stand in question in the Bellevue. Foiled again! Settled for cut-rate tandoori chicken and a mango lassi from the Café Spice stall. Suffice to say, I can see why their Old City location has been turned into a sports bar called Red Zone. —AE
Wanted something different for dinner after watching my Ravens play their way into the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP Sunday afternoon (ball so hard!), so we copped takeout from Marabella Meatball Co. (1211 Walnut St.). Did their "classic" on a roll — all beef, rich sauce, mozz. Always love the texture of these balls! I'll opt for the beef/veal/pork blend jawns next. —DL
Sunday dinner, hoooo boy — went to opening night at Talde (369 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn). Had the "Chinatown," made by John Bush (half owner, half bartender). Then we sat down for dinner and ordered the entire menu. In order: perilla leaf (pictured), grilled lemongrass chicken, Saigon crepes, shrimp toast (pictured), pretzel pork and chive dumplings, phot roast, Korean fried chicken, crispy oyster and bacon pad thai (CW calls it the Kim Kardashian of the menu — it's the most photographed), banana leaf sticky rice and the #369. I really had to muscle through it by the end because I was so full, but it was completely worth it. Shook Dale Talde's hand on the way out. —AW
Began the weekend right with shrimp pho and summer rolls at Pho Cali on Friday. Saturday, checked out the new upstairs at Sidecar for the first time. Great addition, exactly what that spot needed. I just hope they don't raise the prices with their new chi-chi look. On Sunday, Veracruzana changed my life with some AMAZING chicken tinga quesadillas. I'm now obsessed with chicken tinga and must find more of it. Help!!— molls to the wall- The new addition @ Sidecar is great right? And I will help you on this chicken tinga quest, molls to the wall. — Drew Lazor
- Friday, gf and I (mostly her cooking, but I did the prep and chopping and cleaning) made a very tasty rice stick noodles (purchased on a whim for the awesome engrish instructions from the Spring Garden Market) with a spicy soy and tofu and water chestnut dish.
Saturday we pretended to be friends' out-of-town friends who cancelled and went to Fond. Duck + foie rilletes? where. have. you. been? sadly on a specials list. made my amazing sweetbreads weep with jealousy. oh, and you were topped with crispy duck skin? wow. Shortrib was delicious and comforting and gf's duck was perfectly cooked, though the tastes were not striking: twas a perfectly executed, traditional duck. Wish it had been a little more unique. Oh, and dessert. yeah--malted milk chocolate ice cream still stellar and my cheesecake was good, but my sabayon was better.
And then brunch at lacroix happened. best rue la la purchase gf has ever made. Began well when we got moved all of 5 feet to a different table after ordering drinks because another group had screwed up their reservations. Talk about good service--three different people apologized and even though we didn't care, there was a bottle of champagne comped (as well as my coffee). gracias. well done.
but, more than free champagne: Foie gras granola. STOP.
FOIE MF GRAS MF GRANOLA. at a buffet. twas glorious. there were other great dishes--duck confit, the brisket, the coffee crusted cured duck, the yuzu/something dessert. that brunch is great.
i think i ate that night. leftovers or something. dreamed of foie gras granole that night.— tjt - What is foie gras granola?! Is it foie coated in granola? Granola infused with foie? Both? Neither? — Drew Lazor
- Friday: What did I even do on Friday?
Saturday: Hit up Sammy Chon's K-Town BBQ with another couple and enjoyed the shit out of a vegetarian dolsot bibimbap. I enjoyed it so much I burnt my pinky finger flesh on the side of the bowl for a souvenir. Good service, good prices, clean, new, etc. From there, went to not one, but two CVSes looking for dessert. I ate a handheld Entenmann's Apple Pie (sorry TastyKake, Entenmann's wins - it's covered in glaze and basically a donut). Also, I ripped a couple phone books in half because I'm yoked.
Sunday: This Christmas I was gifted a Cuisinart ICE-20. Mixed up a quart of "Queen City Cayenne" taken from the Jeni's artisinal ice cream recipe book. Take that, $9.99 pints of Jeni's at Whole Foods. Spicy and delicious. I watched the Golden Globes and talked about Michael Fassbender a lot on this day.
Monday: Long weekend. Ate a Federal Donut and drank a coffee for breakfst and held out the rest of the day in anticipation of the evening's Princess Bride viewing party feast. Quinoa puttanesca, pesto pasta salad and a fluffy yam mash with a crunchy crumble top donated by Lizzy.— erinbfinnerty - more towards foie coated in granola, seemed most like a foie gras mousse (except denser) with pieces of granola interspersed, lightly, throughout. get you some.— tjt
- Friday night featured hummus & crudite, meats, cheeses, shrimp cocktail, nachos and a morally ambiguous Woody Harrelson. Enjoyed everything with some sparkling rose and High Lifes but somehow managed to miss almost 30 minutes of the movie.
Dinner at the Sycamore Saturday night was amazing! The food there is so good, and the staff is so polished. Loved the fried oysters and the soup on the first course and the Wahoo was rad. If you're a fan of sticky toffee pudding the one Sam makes is ridiculous.
Sunday I put together a bagel and toppings spread which is my preferred way of preparing brunch: Not actually cooking anything. I had Marabella Meatballs (vegetarian) for the 1st time Sunday and they were ok. The marinara sauce was great but the cheese was dissapointingly unmelted. Oh well, you can't win them all!— MLF - I explored the foreign land of Chestnut Hill Saturday night cos my fam and I needed to find a place that would take a bigger group on short notice. We ended up at Campbell's Place which I had high hopes for, but I didn't dig my fish & chips that much. Well, the chips were good. But the sweet pea mash didn't deliver.
Did dim sum at Ocean Harbor Sunday, weird set up where we had to go up to the carts and point to what we wanted. I'm a sucker for the fried shrimp ball which is basically a meatball of shrimp. Boyfriend thought it was weird though.— jreyes - Was it tough to get your visa for Cherry Hill?— Sam J
- You should've seen the inoculations I had to get Sam... — Drew Lazor
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