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Notes from the Weekend: March 19
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: March 19
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: I swung by Hop Sing Laundromat (1029 Race St.), where Lêe and bartender Derek generously tasted me through a handful of their cocktails. (No, I do not know when it is opening. Read this in the meantime.) In between discussing the finer sartorial points of tuxedo selection and listening to Lêe yell a string of extremely creative insults at his photographer, he let on that the most popular drink at his tasting events has been Eldorado 15-Year, fresh-squeezed black grape juice and crushed ice — a simple mix-up he's calling Henry "Box" Brown, to honor the Virginia slave who in 1849 famously mailed himself to Philly (and to freedom) in a shipping crate. After, I went down the street to Xe Lua — known by most as Choo-Choo Pho (907 Race St.) — and got some of that, plus Viet rice cakes. I'll be real in saying that I prefer to take my pho in South Philly. —DL
Redeemed myself for falling asleep a few weekends ago and made it out to Stateside (1536 E. Passyunk Ave.) for dinner on Friday night. Started off with the housemade Negroni AE wrote about the other day and it was then I decided I would only drink Negronis from then on. Here's the dinner list: rabbit rillettes, steak tartare, fried housemade goat cheese, Brussels sprouts with trumpet mushrooms, a pork belly sausage special and pan-seared scallops. It was fucked-up good ... like Bistrot La Minette fucked up good. My favorite dish was probably the tartare — so light, almost like sashimi. JN says his favorite was the Brussels because he's been really into Brussels lately. After dinner, we did that thing we always do after a nice meal — went to a dive bar. This time it was P.O.P.E. (1501 E. Passyunk Ave.) where we ran into people we didn't want to see and drank Whiskey Cokes. —AW
Want to get your weekend off to a good start? Make eggs in purgatory for breakfast. It's stupid simple, especially if you have (it pains me to say this) jarred tomato sauce in the cupboard. In an ideal world, you'd have a stash of leftover gravy in the fridge as I did, but fortunately, this vividly crimson dish is forgiving. Just heat up the sauce in a skillet with lots of red pepper, crack a couple eggs right in, simmer until the whites begin to turn opaque, cover and continue to cook until the whites set but yolks are still runny. Served over rice, pasta or with toasted bread for yolk puncturing and gravy dipping, the limbo-dwelling huevos are rich yet bright, satisfying yet light. Make them immediately! —AE
Friday I met my girls at Cantina Los Cabillitos (1651 E. Passyunk Ave.), an old haunt of mine that's been sorely missed since I moved off the Ave. Half-price margarita happy hour saw me through two years of teaching middle school, but I can hardly stomach them these days. I stuck with half-price Mexican bottles and felt just fine. —KL
Went vegetarian for Friday's nights dinner, it being Lent and all. Actually ate more eggs, three of them whipped into a tall, golden omelette with a shitload of caramelized onions, plus a cool butterhead lettuce salad with cuke, radish, blood orange and blood orange vinaigrette to balance. I have a feeling this is improper, but I always throw my omelette under the broiler in lieu of flipping (read: making a mess). Anyone other heathens out there take this approach? —AE
Brought cheap Champagne to brunch at Cafe Lift (428 N. 13th St.) on Saturday. I deviated from my normal eggs Benny and opted for the huevos rancheros, which had a ton of chorizo and cheese (so, the perfect amount), along with roasted red peppers. What a curve ball, those peppers! Tasted JN's Benedict with smoked salmon subbed for Canadian bacon. Try it, you'll like it. After brunch, we did that thing we always do on Saturdays when roommate is working and saw Jeff, Who Lives at Home at the Ritz. Wished we saw We Need To Talk About Kevin instead. —AW
Copped a coffee (and managed to resists the bijoux pastries) and Le Pain Quotidien (801 Walnut St.) while having rings re-sized on Jeweler's Row, then skipped over to Zento (132 Chestnut St.) for lunch, a hushed reprieve from the kelly-green onslaught of bros and hoes. No ramen yet (I misread DL's story) but the miso soup loaded with kind crab was a solid consolation. They have LevelUp there, which I used for the first time. Less complicated than I anticipated, and I saved $4, enough to buy at least one St. Patty's reveler PATCO fare back to Jersey. —AE
Saturday I noshed on the chicken broth and rice I made for my sick boo before making a St. Patty's stand-by: corned beef, Swiss cheese, mustard and a dill pickle rolled into a tortilla and cut on the diagonal (to make it look fancy). I took the roll-ups to my friends' St. Patrick's day potluck, which also boasted Irish soda bread, corned beef and cabbage and mini shepherd's pies. —KL
I worked all day and night Saturday and didn't succeed in eating very much, aside from Spam and eggs at around 1 a.m. I'm just glad it wasn't ramen in any format. Taking a lil' breather on all that. —DL
Fuel (1917 E. Passyunk Ave.) for dinner on Saturday, which I overdosed on long ago but still frequent because my wedding tux pants are still tight. Their hummus is actually very good, whipped stiff and garnished with thyme and lemon zest (trying that at home) and the pita is always soft, warm and lightly grilled. —AE
CW invited us out to the inaugural brunch at Talula's Garden (210 W. Washington Square) on Sunday morning. What a darling place. There are these tiny little wooden rolling pins glued to the menus that are just precious. Sorry, all of those warm colors and flowers make me talk like a middle-aged British woman. We split the mini doughnuts and breakfast pastries (scone, coffee cake, muffin), and I had the ricotta blintzes ($13). They were these little pillows filled with whipped ricotta and had rhubarb and strawberries on top. They were almost too adorable to eat, but I was hungry. —AW
C visited her parents in Bucks on Sunday and brought home a big pot of her pop's pasta fagioli, which I doctored up with green garbanzos, crisped fennel pollen-scented salami, caramelized onions and organic olive oil for lunch on Sunday. Bangin'. Stuffed and roasted some chicken breasts with more onions, rosemary and mozzarella for dinner, which came out way better (and neater) than I expected. Beet/green grape salad on the side; can't wait to try it again when I have some blue cheese in the crib. —AE
Pizza-fixated Friend of Meal Ticket JB had a birthday get-together at Tacconelli's (2604 E. Somerset St.) Sunday evening, with two tables succeeding in destroying what I believe was 15 pies. (I hadn't been thru since I wrote this pizza story in 2010!). My faves, as always, were the straight-up red, the pepperoni and the sausage/pepper. More of a sauce dude than a white dude when we're talking Tacc's. Also ran into former Meal Ticket intern Erin "Finnerfunk" Finnerty there doing the same stuff with her fiancé's fam. Yo EF! The only differences I was able to discern from my last Tacc's visit: They no longer offer black olives and they now recommend that you max out at two toppings per pizza instead of three. I know this because said changes were scratched onto the menu with black pen. Love you Tacc's! —DL
Sunday I ate boring, moderately healthy food as I tried to avoid my monster chocolate craving. Two handfuls of chocolate chips didn't do it, but a chocolate chip cookie cake from Acme "for the band at church" did the trick. —KL
Intended on eating the leftovers I had from both brunches on Sunday for dinner, but went to Loco Pez (2401 E. Norris St.) instead. TD's cat (named Honey Boo Boo Child) had kittens that afternoon and we were all just too excited about our new nieces and nephews and decided to eat our feelings. Our feelings came in the form of the Nachos de Kenzo, chips, various cheeses, salsa, carne asada, chorizo, al pastor, jalepenos and guac. I've been on the chorizo tip lately and wanted to order one chorizo and potato taco, but roommate said NO, the nachos (for $12.50) would be more than enough. I heeded roommate's sage advice. —AW
Friday was Ladies Night! Stateside's Negroni, indeed, worth its hype. Loved the Harbison cheese in all its gooey glory, especially with a bottle of Bonny Doon's La Cigar Volante (also very nostalgic, used to get that wine with my man when we met 20 years ago). The bone marrow and truffle sausage was great, but confusing. I had though (and hoped) that the bone marrow would be a condiment. Also, ours looked nothing like the photo in LaBan's review- not nearly as pretty or composed. Next to Salt & Pepper where Bret made super-excellent "Sparkling Ginger" concoctions that went down way too easily. Pizza and the "Great Meatball Debacle" at Birra. I sadly dropped one on my friend and onto the floor. Followed by knocked-over water glasses (thank god it wasn't the margarita), a lot of guffawing, and probably many annoyed, surrounding tables. Oops, sounds like more liquor than food.— JetJill- The Great Meatball Debacle sounds like a slight variation of every day of my life, Jill. I spill things on myself and others much more than a fully grown adult should, and I'm often completely sober when I do it. — Drew Lazor
- Gotta love Choo Choo's app selection though. Those rice cakes look goood. I had the rice flour rolls with Viet sausage there once and I was taken aback 'cos they were not summer rolls with sausage like I thought.
Saturday took visiting friends to Paesano's -- it's been a while and I'm not sure why. Tried the Panelle for the first time and dang, how can that be vegetarian? Friends were taking bites left and right of everyone's sandwiches and were amazed at how there weren't any weak spots.
Sunday night I did Le Virtu by myself. Service was great. I did find my agnolotti a bit too salty but was won over by the basket of fresh and dried peppers they gave me with my plate of 4-foot long pasta. A bowl of peppers! Like a bowl of bread! Genius.— jreyes - Friday Holly and I hit up one of Denver's best new restaurants: Trillium. Scandinavian inspired deliciousness. For Smorgasbord (come on you gotta love a menu that says smorgasbord): Lemon Dill Pickled Shrimp and Cauliflower soup with Gouda Rye crouton. My entree was a Seared Duck Breast with Mushroom Dumplings, Maple Jus, and Braised red cabbage, while Holly had Grilled Lake Superior Whitefish with chervil mash potato, lemon mustard greens, and roasted beet vinaigrette. St. Patricks Day we helped our friends food truck, Crock Spot, at the busy parade downtown. They featured Corned Beef Brisket, Cardamom Meatballs, and several signature sauces including Avocado Velvet. Saturday night's dinner was a charcuterie plate (I forget all the options I was pretty drunk at that point). Finally Sunday I purchased my new Weber grill and we cooked Jalapeno Cheddar Chicken Sausage with veggie kebabs.— gnagle
- Hopped by Nam Son, the Vietnamese place next to the Asian market on 16th and Washington (if you haven't gone, go get your cheap-ass produce on) and got the shrimp on sugar cane vermicelli after always eying it jealously. Thank god for the Vietnamese ladies who kindly showed us white people the best way to wrap the rice paper (think burrito). On Saturday, hit up Resurrection for a delicious omelet, although I always regret not getting the biscuits and gravy. Later, I hit up the South Philly Taproom where I tried the new-to-the menu taco salad (good!) and the pork belly lettuce wraps (sooooo good). On Sunday, I made spinach lemon hummus for a baby shower and snacked on so much before it was even officially served that I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day.— molls to the wall
- Oh here's a discussion topic I forgot to mention in the note above: Why do people in Port Richmond hate Tacconelli's? I remember when I interviewed those guys a few years ago, they basically said that if they had to rely solely on support from the neighborhood, they'd be out of business. More recently, I met a girl from Port Richmond at a party and she launched into a tirade about how crappy and overrated it was with barely any encouragement. I find this so weird and fascinating. Anyone have any theories or insights as to why Tacc's own 'hood doesn't get down with them?
http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/2010/07/22/philadelphia-pizza— Drew Lazor - For me personally, it has to do with the cost. My family is solid every Friday night pizza for dinner. With Taco's prices - that just doesn't work. If you are planning a dinner out - it's perfect - especially when you factor in BYOB. But if we're just getting take out for home, I'm more than happy with 2 large Tony's (Belgrade & Clementine) pies for the cost of 1 Taco's. So, where is the "support" line drawn? Everybody that I know gets it on the regular, just not every week. — Sean Hamel
- For those of you wondering about the Negronish, it's made with Aperol instead of Campari, so it's Negroni-ish.— aweiss
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