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Notes from the Weekend: March 28
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: March 28
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
On Friday morning Dan and I adopted a beautiful 6-month-old chihuahua. (We named her Clover.) Needless to say, our eating adventures were put to a halt because it's like we have a newborn or something. We made it out that night for a brief dinner-plus-drinks at Standard Tap (901 N. Second St.). The food was just straight-up killer. I had grilled mahi-mahi with roasted sweet potatoes and English peas, and yessir, I will have that again, though last week's whole flounder took the cake in my Standard Tap food book. —LRP
It got real womanly in Zavino (112 S. 13th St.) around 5 p.m. on Friday when my dining partner and I ordered two diet sodas and a white wine special. Unlike the birds at the table next to us, who were trying to out-not-eat each other, we killed two pizzas with our bare hands: One creamy, goat-cheese-sprinkled spinach pie and one four-cheese pizza, which tasted of four different cheeses, not just cheese of four different colors. —EF
A Friday daytime stroll from West Philly to Center City turned up a handful of good finds: First, the deck at Biba (3131 Walnut St.) that AP told you about the other day is good to go. Second, I was able to confirm for the 156089126926th time that the Tuna Diablo from Primo’s (2043 Chestnut St.) is indeed delicious. Really love their polite instructional sign, too. —DL
Friday night, grabbed a bite at Opa (1311 Sansom St.) on Official City Paper business, then picked up some Sweet Ending (13th/Walnut) yogurt to go. Strawberry with strawberries and Fruity Pebbles for me, chocolate/vanilla with blueberries and chocolate chips for m’lady. Carted the tangy treats home and watched the highly reco'ed Let Me In, the best bloodsucker flick this side of Interview with the Vampire. —AE
On Friday, I went home to Northern Liberties to pay a isit to my charming little sister. With meager options in the fridge and no desire to go to a grocery store, we decided that omelettes would be reasonable. I filled mine with spinach, gruyere, onions, and, of course, crisped-up pancetta. It’s a standby everyone should keep in their freezer — pancetta takes but a second to heat up, and it always provides the salty kick that improves pretty much any dish. —AP
Friday night, headed to my home stomping grounds of Baltimore to meet up with a bunch of old friends at the Stalking Horse, a slightly bro-ish bar in Fed Hill. ‘Twas more than cool though because we were able to have the top floor to ourselves for three hours to toast to the impending nuptials of dear friends JW and CF. Cheered on Kentucky and also cheered on JW to eat his own face, which was superimposed onto a cake. (He didn’t. Wuss.) —DL
Brunched with my main man at Cafe Lift (428 N. 13th St.) on Saturday morning and I made the major life decision to start my day with cannoli french toast. Topped with a mound of marscapone, pistachios, bananas, and chocolate, it tasted closer to a donut than french toast. This was the right choice. —EF
Stopped in a warm and busy Cafe con Chocolate (2100 S. Norwood St.) on Saturday afternoon for their eponymous drink and one of my top brunch items, molletes, a long roll split in half and smothered in frijoles and Chihuahua cheese. Fortified me for a long night of dominating-my-life-lately house shopping. —AE
Saturday morning usually calls for one thing and one thing only: chaat. Thankfully, my apartment’s mere steps away from Desi Chaat House (501 S. 42nd St.). Since I was in the mood for something vaguely breakfast-y, I opted for the fruit salad chaat — a good, refreshing choice if I do say so myself. —AP
Saturday, I had the great honor of judging the second annual oyster-shucking competition at the Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.), alongside Art from Foobooz and Jamie from Midtown Lunch Philly. (We all drank a good amount of Dogfish Head 75-Minute on cask.) Both professional and amateur shuckers did their gnarliest, prying open Delaware Bay bivalves with speed, skill, cleanliness and overall aptitude in mind. OH’s own Ameen "The Dream" Lawrence took home top professional honors, earning a cool $200 in cash. After competition wrapped up, I accidentally drank two Rhino Teeth courtesy of badass barkeep Jordan Stalsworth and wandered off aimlessly into the bowels of Center City. —DL
I spent all day before work on Saturday housebreaking my little Clo. I had some instant rice noodles with curry and a banana all day, that's it. There was nothing else on the brain except getting that small thing to do her biz outside, and selling one million tapas to buy her food in order to make her do so. I'm sorry if I've ruined your appetites, but for what it's worth: She did. —LRP
After I was all shucked out, went to Pho Hoa (1111 S. 11th St.) to recharge with my fave No. 44 (why y'all skimping on my tripe though, that's my fave!), and then walked across the street to Hung Vuong Supermarket to purchase who-knows-what (read: adorable little mis bowls, head-on prawns and waaaaaaay too much unidentifiable candy). —DL
Kept it low-key and flew solo on Saturday night. Peeped Sucker Punch (peep DL’s review for a very accurate summation of the picture), then cooked up some curried chickpeas & potatoes with a cilantro yogurt sauce and jalepenos. So delicious — thank you, Food Network Mag. —EF
Later on Saturday, I hopped on the El to Upper Darby, where I met up with the staff of 34th Street for dinner at Don Memo (57 Garrett Road, Upper Darby). By this point in the evening, I was ridiculously hungry, so I ordered way more food than I could ever feasibly eat on my own — started with nachos, then moved into a main course of four tacos (two a la plancha, two beef), and half a chicken burrito. I spent the rest of the night bloatedly napping. —AP
I decided to hit the eat beat hard on Sunday. I grabbed my friend Mady and scooted over to Saigon Pho Cafe (4248 Spruce St.) where we practically have standing orders at this point. I got my usual No. 27 (vermicelli topped with charbroiled pork and spring rolls), and we split an additional order of spring rolls, just in case. —AP
Sunday morning we went to visit one of our best girls at work for brunch at N. 3rd (801 N. Third St.). I was persuaded into this curried scrambled egg pile that was all sorts of heaven, called the Bollywood: scrambled eggs, raisins, curried cauliflower, peas, carrots, garbanzos and a creamy/tangy tomato sauce on top made for a very rewarding (and very me) breakfast. I saw an EF doppelganger there too, and I even yelled her name during our meal. Oops. —LRP
Finally made it in for brunch at Kanella (1001 Spruce St.) and I am in love. My usual Sunday brunch companions went for the Cyprus Breakfast, but I ordered the Shaksouka: A broad, shallow bowl of pepper & tomato stew, topped with two poached eggs and some next-level-biz bread. —EF
Sunday, caught the very last tomato pizza at my very-fave New York Bakery (2215 S. 11th St.). You gotta get there early for these sauced-just-right squares, or be prepared to fight off the onslaught of churchgoing ladies. Aim for the hips. —AE
Sunday: Decompressed from clothes-shopping (I HATE clothes-shopping, but a huge chunk of my wardrobe currently has hobo-steez holes and rips in it so I had to make it happen), stopped into Jet Wine Bar (1525 South St.) for a few Bloodys (peep their Monday brunch deal!) and a few snacks, including a smoked meatloaf sandwich and a gorgonzola “cake” (bit more like a salad) with matchsticked Granny Smiths, arugula and a loverly vinaigrette. Also, safe travels to Jet’s owner, archaeologist Jill Weber, who’s jetting off to leaving for Syria to work in a few days. —DL
My fiance's grandfather is a pickle man — chances are you've seen or eaten his work at one of the many greasy spoons around town that he supplies. Having been gifted a jar recently, I went to work in the Pop's Pickles Test Kitchen this weekend to perfect a breaded baked pickle chip recipe. It's still a W.I.P., but so far the best trial involves French's Fried Onions. —EF
My big plans to cook Sunday dinner with the stuff I copped at Viet Huong the day before were hampered when I — like an IDIOT — sliced the living hell out of my left (dominant) hand, rendering me gimpy and whiny. Thank you thank you THANK YOU to Circles Thai (1516 Tasker St.), who saved the night with a clutch-ass delivery of amazing red curry and crab pad Thai. I love you Circles! —DL
Mama kept life easy for my step-dad's (surprise!) sixtieth birthday party on Sunday. JP Catering (2812 S. Ninth St) charged $10 a head X 18 people for the following: 1 hotel pan each of sausage scaloppine, manicotti, hot roast beef and roasted chicken in pieces, plus giant tubs of Caesar, fruit, potato and pasta salad. $180. It was ridiculous. How do they make money?— felicia.dambrosio- Pretty much everything consumed before Saturday afternoon was in an effort to conserve energy/make room/apologize ahead of time for ScrappleFest at Reading Terminal Market, for which my main dude was a judge. Got to taste scraps (zing) of scrapple fries, scrapple french toast and scrapple hot dog. Missed out on nabbing any of the crawfish scrapple benny -- damn.
Sunday we cooked dinner for family, and picked up dessert from Termini's Soufilly HQ. Holy cannoli! Ordered four ricotta and one vanilla, and I must say the ricotta is *far* superior. Also babas with rum and those clam-shaped things I can't spell or pronounce. (HTML deleted)— CarolynH - Good weekend over here.
Friday, feasted with the fam a Dante & Luigi's. The gravy is great, but the saffron risotto is divine and the little fork to scoop out the marrow in my Osso Bucco bone took the meal over the top. Broke off from the fam and downed several well crafted cocktails at Franklin with friends to close out the evening. Before hitting the sheets, though, we snagged late night sandwiches from Old Nelson, where my Austinite friend remarked that the Italian hoagie from this convenience store at 2:30am was better than any Italian sandwich in his entire city.
Saturday, kept it simple with a solid meal from South Philly Tap Room--special chickpea & tomato stew (spicy! and served with grape leaves) and the standby wild boar tacos, which somehow never get old.
Sunday, wow. A glorious spread of charcuterie and cheese with white wine at Parc led into the prix fixe menu at Bistrot la Minette, where the duck a l'orange stole the show. A four-course meal for $29, this is a great value.— BarryG - I hit up opa with my girlfriend after work on Friday for a few drinks and some pre-movie snacks. The octopus is ridiculously tender and delicious. We also had the trio of dips, all of which were solid. I will definitely be back to explore more of the food menu, which seems very affordable. Even if everything else on the menu is god awful, I would go back just for a couple plates of tender tenacles. After a super depressing ending to Barney's Version, I needed some bourbon. Stopped in to Cooperage, which was surprisingly crowded. Had some solid pork nachos and a few four roses. A solid way to end the evening.
Saturday seemed like the perfect evening to stay home and do some grilling. I've recently started using hard wood charcoal versus brickets - the hardwood tends to burn hotter and quicker - but it definitely gives better flavor. I brined some chicken thighs in a new brine I've been working on - cardamom seeds, whole cloves, head of garlic cut in half, red pepper flakes, brown sugar and salt. After brining for a few hours I dry them off and them apply some of my dry rub. Chicken was banging. I also grilled some brocoli which was also tasty.
Sunday was spent catching huge striped bass and drinking busch on the upper Cheasapeake.— rascal b. schuylkillian - So was dragged to Ithaca, NY to surprise the gf's little sister for her 21st. This would not prevent me from getting my juice on.
Saturday road trip started with some sort of chicken pesto sandwich and I chased that down with a large coffee, two nantucket nectars (orange mango and strawberry watermelon), and a chocolate milk. At the first rest stop I got a quart of apple juice, and two red squeeze bottles of some kind of JUICE. At the third rest stop of the day I picked up a 6 inch subway and some more JUICE. For dinner, I tried the Ithaca Ale Houses' Fat Kid Burger, a delicious burger, bunned by two grilled cheeses, yum.
-Jameson.— bje55 - Friday I went to El Rey for lunch with a girlfriend who was visiting from out of town. We both had the nopales salad with cactus and avocado and I had the chicken tostada. Not bad for $10.
Saturday the boyfriend and I dragged ourselves to Scrapple Fest at Reading Terminal to meet up with friends. The line was a little long, so we grabbed some samples from two different vendors and then headed back into the fray to find anywhere open with seats. Ended up at the Greek counter for some lamb and beef gyros and a side of fries. I love Reading Terminal, but good GOD it's a haven of claustrophobia on Saturdays.
Saturday night we met up with two friends at Estia. I would sell my soul and yours for that octopus appetizer. I had the halibut with grilled vegetables and capers, though I was jealous of my buddy's prawns. He's Greek, so I knew better than to say "thank you" to the coat check girl like he taught me. He finally admitted that it was really "My balls ache."
Sunday I made us turkey sausage and home-fries with cubanelle peppers and then we had a crappy albeit cheap pizza from Colonial. The dude was a total bitch on the phone and then sent us the wrong pie.— JulieC - JUICEEEEEEEEEEEE— Drew Lazor
- Hit up Cantina happy hour on Friday with some hot-to-trot ladies, but after an hour wait, we learned that HH ended at six. Total sad face. So we headed up to POPE for fancy beer (for them) and lager (for me). On Saturday, had a delish outta town burger in Ithaca with BJE55. But I went surf and turf -- a burger with a crab cake on top. Didn't even get through half and, keep in mind, that doesn't include the bun. Would have regretted my inability to eat if the app eggplant fries weren't good (hey, Meal Ticket peeps, maybe help me out with a sans-deep frier recipe?). Sunday morning meant eggs benedict with so much ham that I left half of Babe on the plate and still didn't have to eat for the rest of the day.— molls to the wall
- Also, Laurel, that dog is insanely cute. — molls to the wall
- Molls, she is seriously the most incredible little creature. Definitely oven re: eggplant fries. — laurelro
- I think they would have been better done in the oven, key to salt the eggplant and let it rest to get all that water out so you're not dealing with a spongue fry. — bje55
- Was out of town until Friday night... so I'm doing Saturday through Monday.
Saturday: Scrapplefest at RTM. Not as fun as the previous years... less vendors, more people (and where was the dietz and watson truck made of scrapple?). Stopped by Hershel's after for a deelish corned beef reuben and latkes. They also mentioned that they were working on a pastrami scrapple for next year's Scrapplefest. True? Probably not. Awesome? Definitely.
Marathon for a quick bloody mary then off to the Oyster House for the shucking contest and a few from the Dogfish head firkin. Then dinner at the Dandelion. Fish and Chips, Rabbit Pie and their new Banoffee dessert. Love banoffee!
Sunday: Brunch at Noble. SO good. Crab eggs benedict, ricotta and lemon curd crepes, chorizo and a free bloody mary. Service was... so so but one of the better brunches I've had in a while.
Monday: Korean fried chicken from Eden Chicken Noodle in Cherry Hill. A little pricey but 3 different types of kfc? Worth it. Worth it. Garces Trading Company for dinner. A brilliant bottle of Gine Gine Priorat, charcuterie, cheese, pappardelle and pork chop special.
Can this weekend be every weekend?— AKJackie
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