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Notes from the Weekend: July 18
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: July 18
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
Esther Martin: EM
Nicole Rossi: NR
After arriving in Lansing, Michigan early Thursday morning, it was hard to get up early again and start finalizing the details of my friend's wedding. I wolfed down two bananas and a yogurt and we were right back picking up flowers, choosing reception music and getting the maid of honor a dress, all less than 24 hours before the actual ceremony. We finally made it to Claddagh Irish Pub, where I started off with a balsamic vinaigrette-dressed salad followed by shepherd's pie. I ate so fast that by the time I realized I should have taken a picture for Meal Ticket, I was more than half done. —JL
Post-Friday workday meeting at frequent Meal Ticket haunt Khyber Pass Pub (56 S. Second St.) resulted in a nice buzz and half a "sammy" po'boy (fried chicken, ham, Swiss, all dressed) to take home. On the walk back I dropped into Hung Vuong Supermarket (1100 Washington Ave.) for some mangoes (cut 'em up and sprinkle with salt and cayenne) and classic chocolate Pocky in a nine-pack, which is new to me. Why have I not been buying Pocky in bulk this whole time?! —DL
Started off the weekend going to a beer exchange party with friends. The idea was that each person would bring a six-pack of varied craft beers for everyone to try out. Choice beers: Dogfish Head's Midas Touch and Raison D'etre and Left Hand's Good Juju. "Left My Taste Buds Sad" Beer: R.J. Rocker's Son of a Peach. —NR
Friday night, sat down to Scatturo's in Marlton (841 Rt. 73 South) for dinner on the way to the Shore. New Jerseyans of a certain age cut a rug in the restaurant's steamy outdoor lounge. Remarkably, the cover band's screechy rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'" didn't put me off my crab/ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms. —AE
Friday night we ordered out from Circles (1514 Tasker St.), one of my favorites. Chicken and shrimp pad Thai, pan-fried dumplings and crab rangoon. The pad thai was a little spicy, but the crab rangoon (which I'd never had before) surprised me — when I bit in I expected the usual cream cheese filling, but this one had curry in it. Sure it said it was a curry cream cheese filling on the menu, but do you think I actually read the menu? Duh. No. —EM
Saturday I woke up feeling like a bruised piece of fruit (damn Son of a Peach!), but a trip to Reading Terminal Market (12th and Arch streets) for Bassetts Ice Cream's 150th anniversary party (and cherry-vanilla ice cream) quickly had me refreshed. Still craving some more cool, sweet treats, but not loving the bustle of the crowded RTM, the gang and I took a stroll to Sweet Ending (1300 Walnut St.) and brought on the brain freeze with watermelon and vanilla froyo. —NR
Sometimes, if you ask real nice, they'll mix your burrito meats at El Fuego (2104 Chestnut St.), creating amazing tortilla-wrapped specimens like this half chicken/half chorizo jawn. Washed down with a lime-flavored Jarritos, it was precisely the pig/fowl collabo I was looking for. —DL
Bookended the beach Saturday with heavy a.m. and p.m. writing sessions. Broke for a chicken cutlet dinner, then pumped out more 11th-hour copy. I did reward myself with a 2 a.m. viewing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (so moody!) and bowl of Cocoa Krispies ... —AE (Psst here's a review of Part 2. —DL)
Saturday, aka the day of the wedding, I started off with a hotel bagel and then made my way to the bride’s house. Here I spent hours entertaining flower girls/feeding the bride. Finally we made it to Lansing's Eagle Eye Country Club for the ceremony, where I took quick advantage of the buffet. Again, I started off with a green salad and then made my way over to real food. Not as appetizing as some of the wedding dinners I’ve had in the past, this plate tasted as unappealing as it looked on camera. So be it — when I'm hungry I'll eat anything, so I settled for a sampling of meat lasagna, over-cooked beef tenderloin and a piece of frozen chicken cordon bleu that was still cold in the middle. Best part of the night, though? The cakes — chocolate with chocolate mousse and strawberry with fresh strawberries in the middle, both finished off with a thick layer of butter cream. The fondant work was beautiful. —JL
On Saturday night we had Uncle Tomy's (1653 S. 17th St.). It was mostly for the wings. There was a small pizza involved, but I hate their pizza so I skipped it. The hot wings are so tasty — the sauce (it's really hot) comes on the side so the wings don't get soggy. Sometimes I like to eat them without dipping 'cause spicy, crispy fried chicken is amazing. —EM
Pretty soon my little sister is moving to Mississippi (home of David Banner!) for a job, so my entire fam got together in Maryland Saturday night for dinner. Pops grilled some pork and shrimp and moms made some sick potato salad and there was even some "healthy" fried tofu, but the highlight for me was halo-halo, a popular Filipino dessert that involves shaved ice, evaporated milk and a dizzying array of weird sweet fruit cubes and beans. (You can prep that all yourself, or you can be smart and buy a pre-package mix — shoutout to Tito Al!) Once everything's assembled, you stir it all up ("halo" means "mix" in Tagalog) and get down. My favorite thing in the glass was my mom's famous lecheplan (flan), which she proudly declares has eight eggs in it. —DL
Saturday evening, my cousins came into the city to have a girls' night, and celebrate my apple-pie-loving cousin Jay's bday — the big 3-0. Dinner at Bindi (105 S 13th St.) was phenomenal as always. We began by sharing tuna tartar, sindhi eggplant with truffled polenta, oyster mushrooms with sweet/spicy sindhi curry and lobster pan puri — all marvelous. Next up was seafood goozoo with shrimp, scallops, mussels in a spicy curry sauce, lamb (so tender) with an assortment of lime-soaked veggies on top, and my fave, veggie thali, with pickled mangoes, spicy cauliflower, chana masala, saag paneer, potato paratha and pulao rice. Of course we threw in two pitchers of their pomegranate/lemonade concoction to top with vodka. The rest of the night involved lots of dancing, too many Sapphire and tonics and some pretty sore pedicured feet. Gotta love those 4-inch heels. —NR
We did Sunday brunch in MD too, with sis and some of her college friends — mom and dad came up with this dope scrambled egg/smoked salmon pizza on homemade crust, among other dishes. Also got the chance to raid my parents' vegetable coffers, and I brought back some homegrown onions and garlic to Philly. This is why I always got bad breath. —DL
Something funny happened at Luke Palladino at Harrah's (777 Harrah's Blvd.) for Sunday supper: I ordered a fizzy summer white for our foursome, the opening and pouring of which our server delegated to her assistant server. The guy opened it, then proceeded to empty half the bottle into my glass — glugglugglug — before wedging the cork back in, turning on his heels and setting the wine in a chilling station without filling anybody's else's glasses. Do I really look like that much of a drunk? Sheesh. —AE
John's Water Ice (701 Christian St.), aka Obama's favorite ice shop, does a really good job of trumpeting the fact that their flavors menu NEVER CHANGES — cherry, lemon, chocolate, pineapple and that's it, right? TRADITION! The thing is that they always do weekend specials, so the whole "they only got four flavors, that's how old-school they are, yo" line of reasoning is rather erroneous. Sunday, for example, they scooped strawberry (awesome) and peach. A good place to keep tabs on all this is John's FB page. —DL
Rolled out of bed on Saturday for brunch at Smokin' Betty's. I haven't had eggs benedict since I read Kitchen Confidential about a year ago, but I decided to brave my fear of bacteria and go for it. I'm glad I did--the hollandaise was a little lighter than I like it, but it was the perfect way to start the day. Followed it up with the Ice Cream festival and Bastille Day (free wine!) before retreating to my home in South Philly and ordering takeout from Circles. I'd eaten there a hundred times and never ordered the tofu/corn fritters--what a waste..— migold- Tried all of South Philly Tap Room's taco offerings on Friday night and have to say (to my great surprise) the potato tacos were the clear winners. Damn tasty.
Saturday night ate outside at Jamaican Jerk Hut and took a little risk with the curried goat, should have gone with the staple jerk chicken, tropical fruit salsa filled with scotch bonnets was awesome.— bje55 - wooow DL your fam MADE the halo-halo? nice. even from a mix, still, nice. (lol i thought tito al was one of your uncles) good idea putting the flan on top of the halo-halo. to be honest i'm a bad filipino and haven't had halo-halo yet, it kind of weirds me out. and that smoked salmon/scrambled egg pizza looks so good.
spent the weekend up in mifflinburg, PA: drank a ton of beer at the selinsgrove beerfest (bavarian barbarian was pretty great and of course, the selinsgrove stuff was real good too. they have this porter named after 3rd governor simon snyder, which was awesome), ate too much homemade potato salad (obsessed), made smores, and grilled hotdogs on sticks. also checked out the selinsgrove brewery pub on sunday where they have a big array of good, simple sandwiches (but no burgers).— jreyes - Yea jreyes my mom bought an ice shaving machine on the Internet! — Drew Lazor
- Standard Tap has the most delicious seasonal goods right now. Their heirlooms tomatoes had that just-picked, warm, ripe flavor. And with bulgarian feta? I'm going back tonight after just being there on Sunday. Also, the roasted local baby carrots and salmon with crisped skin. It wasn't sockeye, but close to it. Fatty and nutritious.
OH, and they also have a cider on draft, which I think is Revolution Cider, my favorite local (my favorite American) dry cider. They said it was PBC, but I have no recollection of PBC making cider.
Other than this meal, I ate steel cut oatmeal with raisins all. weekend.— laurelro - After a day of swumming at the public pool, went to Jamaican Jerk Hunt and ate my weight in ox tail stew. I've never had ox tail before. I WILL be eating it again. But seriously that cabbage stuff they put on the side? I'm all about that. Can I just have plateful of that?
Boyfriend took me to Effie's on Sunday where we ate a full meal's worth of apps in the chef's mezze. But then I attacked some mousaka, which was good but I prefer more eggplant, less potato. Definitely prefer Boyfriend's dish: orzo and lots of seafood.
I gained 40 pounds this weekend.— molls to the wall - A to-go shrimp po' boy from the Khyber with some Crystal hot sauce added was the perfect Friday night dinner, so filling I could only eat half.
My appetite becomes irrationally and insatiably hungry every time I step foot in the L family house, so this of course means I eat my weight in food when there. Fried tofu, grilled spicy shrimp, garlic bread, 2 helpings of potato salad and halo-halo equals me, sedentary on the reclining chair drinking cheaper-than-in-Philly Dogfish head IPAs.
The food marathon continued the next morning, really dug the side of roasted grapes and sweet potatoes. Manged to save room for the amazing strawberry water ice at Jonh's on the way back, but if I had a do-over I would have rocked a strawberry lemon combo. Finished the afternoon off with some homemade bloodies. There's nothing like doing laundry with a good buzz.— MLF - The boy took me on a trip to Rock Hall, MD on the Chesapeake for the weekend. We stayed at this great B&B-the proprietor kept the library/den filled with complimentary Yuengling and wine, so I knew I would have a blast. The breakfasts were fantastic: grilled country bread, heirloom tomatoes from their garden, chicken apple sausage, bacon, cheesy eggs, and fresh berry bread pudding.
Friday night we went to the Harbor Shack on the bay-we started with crab dip and margaritas, and then I had the broiled rockfish with crab imperial while he had the seafood pasta. So good. Saturday we drove 20 minutes away to Chestertown and found a great place (on the bay of course) called the Fish Whistle. The boyfriend claimed their cream of crab soup was some of the best he had, and I happened upon the most delicious house-smoked salmon ever. Served open face on toasted rye with chive cream cheese and pickled cucumbers. That night we went to Rock Hall's other dockside restaurant Waterman's. It was one of those awesome places with wooden tables at the waterfront complete with rolls of paper towels for crab hands. We started with oysters and then he had the bucket o' blue crabs, clams, mussels, and shrimp while I had the half rack of baby back ribs, a half dozen steamed spiced shrimp, potato salad, and corn on the cob. We then split key lime pie.
I love vacation eating, it made up for my trucker burn on my right arm from the car ride and the many dragonflies that attempted to eat my brains.— JulieC
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