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Notes from the Weekend: March 21
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Notes from the Weekend: March 21
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
Erin Finnerty: EF
Drew Lazor: DL
Adrian Pelliccia: AP
Laurel Rose Purdy: LRP
Took a bit of a long lunch on Friday afternoon to check out Villanova getting waxed at Khyber Pass Pub (56 S. Second St.). Tried a great soup — red beans/sausage — and a few woo-inducing beers, including Bear Republic Racer 5 on cask (far less hoppy than draft/bottle) and a peculiar little new-to-America "white lambic" called Mort Subite Blanche. Might've already kicked, but it's worth asking for by name if you're Khybering. —DL
Had great success growing basil in my AeroGarden, so I decided to give their Seed Starter Tray a go over the weekend. I filled the 66 growing pods with lemon cucumbers, purple Russian tomatoes, flying saucer morning glories, snow peas, chocolate peppers, nasturtiums, freckled violets, Charentais melons and more. Already they're starting to sprout. —AE
Friday: After an excruciating day at work, I decided I'd had enough of missing out on the perfect weather. I did what any rational college student would do: I went to my parents' house, lifted a bunch of beers, grabbed an Italian deluxe hoagie from my favorite neighborhood deli (Palm Tree Market at 717 N. Second), and headed back to West Philly to hang out on my porch with some pals. The return of porch weather is best greeted with some Victory Prima Pils and a good sandwich. —AP
Late lunch on Friday at Paradiso (1627 E. Passyunk Ave.). My Catholic-school teachers would approve of their Lent-friendly crab-and-asparaus soup, followed by this HUGE grilled veggie sandwich with my favorite fries in town. Later, rode 76 to 476 to the Turnpike to Bethlehem Pike to get to Cantina Feliz (424 S. Bethlehem Pike) in Fort Washington, a trip me and the fiancée did in under 30 minutes for some double-date action with DL and his girl. Razor clams and ceviches almost as good as the company. —AE
Two of our dearest Fairmount companions flew to sunny West Palm Beach this weekend, so we gathered at The Institute (549 N. 12th St.) Friday night to give them a proper Philly send-off. Sampled some ultra-rich pumpkin mac 'n' cheese and their tasty (albeit inauthentic) interpretation of Canada's best (only?) culinary export, poutine. (They melted cheese on the fries in lieu of cheese curds, and the gravy was white, ont brown.) —EF
I crushed Friday night with a homemade tom kha gai soup — I mean, I crushed it. With some guidance from my talented beau, made an aromatic stock from shrimp shells, shiitake stems, galangal and lemongrass to strain and mix with coconut milk and red curry. Added some black trumpet mushrooms, tons of shiitakes, Thai basil and prawns. I'm more than confident that this was my best soup to date. Steamed up some baby bok choy and jasmine rice, and washed it down with a bottle of Verdejo. Take me back there, now. —LRP
When fridge provisions are slim, sometimes you just gotta make a leftover sandwich. This one was toasted rye with inexact proportions of Maille grain mustard, La Peral blue cheese, slices of spicy Calabrese salami and some arugula. Was tempted to do mayo too but I resisted. —DL
Saturday morning I had a craving for my foul moudamas at my beloved Cafe La Maude (816 N. Fourth St.) — you know, that hummus/marinated fava bean/tomato/scrambled egg situation I never seem to stop mentioning? We picked one up to go with our morning coffees and found a sunny spot in the park and enjoyed it while saying things at our dog. After work on Saturday night I made myself a bowl of leftover tom kha gai, duh. —LRP
Saturday: After wandering West Philadelphia in vain while looking for a place to study (Manakeesh, Cafe Clave and both Green Lines were all packed), I managed to scoop up the only open space in Lovers & Madmen (28 S. 40th St.). I settled in with a delicious slice of quiche and did homework until it was time to head home and make a huge bowl of spaghetti and red sauce. Nothing fancy, just filling. —AP
Girlie's Polish side features an army of beautiful tow-headed children who are all roughly the same age, so we shipped up to the KoP area on Saturday evening for a triple birthday party. (Just one gift for everyone to enjoy, though — Despicable Me on DVD!) I had lots of fun handing off my expensive SLR camera to various hilarious toddlers (they take way better photos than me), and even more getting down on Cousin Nicole's golabkis (gah-lump-kees), cabbage-leaf dumplings stuffed with ground beef and rice. You can't really mess with this family's Eastern-Euro cooking game ... —DL
Attended a co-worker's wedding on Saturday night. (Nothing beats seeing the entire office for a sixth day in a row!) The wedding was held across the bridge at Lucien's Manor in Berlin, New Jersey, but the party was 100 percent Philly. Dessert was the highlight for me, including creme brulee and bananas foster torching stations and an ice cream sundae bar. Stopped at both. Twice. —EF
Putting your name on a wait list for Sunday brunch is like waiting in a long line for a bathroom. It's just awful — everyone standing there, fidgeting, the competitive stares, the down-on-your-luck pathetic-ness. I SAY F U SUNDAY BRUNCH. Went to the old faithful La Maude again for a delicious egg white omelette with halloumi, mushrooms and caramelized onions, and made all those despondent Honey's people jealous as shit. —LRP
Sunday: I accepted a friend's brunch invitation and headed to Rx (4443 Spruce St.). Since the huevos rancheros had already sold out (buzzkill), I got eggs benedict with a side of bacon. They were delicious on their own, but they were PERFECT with the addition of way too much Cholula. —AP
Sunday, rocked Rocco's Sausages at the Aramingo Home Depot, where I noticed the parmigiana-style sandwich a few seconds too late. (Hot sausage, marinara, mozzarella!) Had onions, mustard, sweet peppers, but the parm is the plan for next time. —AE
Brunched at Devil's Alley (1907 Chestnut St.) with two socialite friends on Sunday. My fried green tomatoes and sunnyside-up eggs on toast lacked the spilling-over-the-edge portion size my demanding
inner fat kid desires on the weekend: One piece of toast, topped with a couple fried greens and overcooked eggs, added up to pretty sad plate. Afterwards, supplemented with blood orange and champagne mango gelato from Capogiro (117 S. 20th St.) and felt better instantly. —EF
After work on Sunday we wound up at Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) for some sparkling wine and Jameson. You know how I do. I ate a bangin' beet salad with almonds and chevre. But it was Sunday night, and come on, need I say more? I ate chocolate ice cream into comatose. It's what I do on Sunday evening. Happy first day of spring, supermooners! —LRP
I really regret being too hung over tired to make it to Yards' Real Ale Invitational on Sunday afternoon. (For those who went, how was it? I had soooo much fun last year.) But I made up for my negligence like crazy with an early Sunday prix-fixe dinner at the new Little Fish (746 S. Sixth St.). Though the price has increased slightly since LF's Sixth-and-Catharine days — $28 to $33 — that is still a friggin' STEAL for five courses, and you cannot argue with me on that. Make a reservation already. Loved these two courses in particular — a beautifully seared scallop with duck breast and pistachio, over a carrot purée; and a nice piece of hebi, a meaty Hawaiian white fish, topped with red onions and fluffy avocado mousse, sittin' on a garlic broth I'd like a gigantic bowl of, por favor. —DL
TACCONELLIIIIIIISSSSS (2604 E. Somerset St.) for dinner on Sunday night for a family birthday party. Between plain red with lots of garlic powder and the "special" (white with spinach and tomato), I packed away a modest six or seven slices, no big deal. —EF
Speaking of local standout pizzas: When we were up in the KoP corridor on Saturday, we stopped at Franzone's (Fifth and DeKalb, Bridgeport) for a large plain pie to take home. That was THE MOVE. If you've never had this pizza before, it's worth the short drive. Folks like to talk about Franzone's sweet sauce (it ain't that sweet to me), but I think what really makes it stand out is the sneaky/genius addition of cheddar into their cheese blend. —DL
The only meal of note this weekend was Sunday dinner at Dad's house: left to our own devices, little sister and I scoured a stack of old New York Times Magazines in search of inspiration. Everything was either too time consuming (Malfatti al Maialino) or too esoteric for parents (everything else).
Good old Sam Sifton came through with his article about making meatloaf for Nora Ephron. His turkey loaf spiked with Italian sausage sounded just about D'Ambrosio Dad speed. Knowing the tendencies of the NYTimes to posit one small slice per person, I doubled the recipes.
What I did not double was the time needed to cook those babies through in a slow oven. After many queries of "What's for breakfast" from the irritable elders, I capitulated and sliced down the loaf to be seared, covered, until acceptable doneness.
This is how you turn Turkey Loaf into Seared Turkey Free-Form Shapes. Pretty tasty either way.— felicia.dambrosio- Saturday my buddy dragged 30 Delawareans out to celebrate his girlfriend's birthday at Bistro La Baia at 17th and Lombard. Un. REAL. Just good, unencumbered Italian food for pretty cheap. My Caesar salad was perfect, all anchovy and cheese, but the winning appetizer was the baked shrimp and mushrooms. Delightful. I had the Veal Scallopine with polenta cake as an entree, but spent part of the night jealously eyeing up a table mate's gnocchi. Split a slice of cheesecake with the boyfriend-perfect.
Sunday was dinner at mom's. She has obviously lost her mind. She made cheesy bread, a chicken and peppers calzone, Caesar salad (so garlicky it burns), TWO pork tenderloins with gravy, sausage simmered in fennel and onions, and this unbelievable rigatoni with a creamy tomato sauce and pancetta (she whipped the heavy cream and folded it into the sauce). This was for 8 people and one fetus. I had to force her to scratch the Parmesan chicken cutlets. Now I know where I get my inability to cook for just two.— JulieC - khybering! i need to use that term.— brian.
- Feel free, Brian.— Drew Lazor
- today lunch was han dynasty. yesterday lunch was vw. had a burger w my rents. tried the new pickled items. green beans and shallots were good. truffled cauliflower was kinda boring. pickled tomatoes still king. burger still boss. GTC brunch on sunday. pretty much just meats and cheeses plus funhgi pizza. they are instituting a corkage fee which i think is kinda weird. sunday night pig roast w andouille hush puppies. crawfish boil. collards. dont remember saturday or friday. thursday night, i swung by barbuzzo to try the meatballs that everybody talks about. they were really good but i think a little too cheesy. i fukin love the meatballs at amis. the week previous, they (amis) had some swordfish meatballs that i thought were killer. tonight i wanted monsu but it's closed. gonna try and talk hanna into either fathom or farmers cabinet. holla!— milkshakepizza
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