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Notes from the Weekend: March 6
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 6
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.)
Drew Lazor: DL
Adam Erace: AE
Katie Linton: KL
Alexandra Weiss: AW
Here's a little tip for those who find themselves skulking Headhouse Square the first weekend of the month — every First Friday, a regular at Bodhi Coffee (410 S. Second St.) drops off containers of amazing homemade ice cream to his favorite baristas, which they generously share with customers. This time, I got me scoops of lemon/ginger and chocolate/peanut butter. Skipped dessert at La Calaca Feliz (2321 Fairmount Ave.) later to make up for it, but I was stuffed from enchiladas con mariscos, campechanos tlayudas and Lucio Palazzo's oysters topped with muy frio sangrita granita (!) anyway. Sick cooking over there foreal. I did have room left, however, for a large-format Brooklyn Sorachi Ace at London Grill (2301 Fairmount Ave.) and a Maker's Rocks nightcap at American Sardine Bar (1801 Federal St.). My drinking is killing me. —DL
Laziest weekend. Went to TD's new place Friday night to watch movies (but ended up watching My Strange Addiction, ew) and ordered in from Number One China (2900 Aramingo Ave.). Standard Chinese takeout: spare ribs, dumplings, curry chicken, house mai fun and sesame chicken because it came free with an order of $30 or more. —AW
This weekend was murder, literally. C and I brought our bridal party together for a murder mystery extravaganza at a creepy-ass mansion in Cape May. Twenty-seven people equaled a monster pizza order Friday night from Brothers II, who delivered 15 large pies in thick of an ominous thunderstorm. Their bianca pie with ricotta made worthy sustenance for scouring the house for fingerprints, hair fibers and missing diamonds. —AE
Friday: I usually can't say this, but there is so no doubt in my mind that I ate better than you this weekend. (Read "better" as tastier, not healthier.) I flew back to my hometown of Savannah, Georgia for some wedding planning. I stayed with my mother, and she kicked off the weekend with my favorite breakfast: Jimmy Dean sausage crumbled into cheese grits. I had a salad at the Starland Café for lunch in an effort to make up for that, but healthy eating went to hell in a hand basket later that night at The Olde Pink House. I started with the BLT salad — three fried green tomatoes over a bed of romaine topped with thick-cut bacon and buttermilk ranch dressing. We had cornbread-battered fried oysters before crispy scored flounder with stone-milled grits and collard greens. I finished off the meal with a praline basket filled with housemade vanilla ice cream, berries, mango sauce and whipped cream. Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay, my favorite, accompanied every last delicious course. —KL
Met up with a bud at Ida Mae's Bruncherie (2302 E. Norris St.) on Saturday morning. I had the steak and eggs ($14), which came with sautéed mushrooms, hash browns and a roasted tomato. Good, but a little on the expensive side for a diner-y place. After brunch, we walked across the street to Rocket Cat Café (2001 Frankford Ave.) to drink hot chocolate and do the CP crossword. Apparently, a lot of people don't like Rocket Cat's coffee, but their hot chocolate is real good. —AW
After a clue gathering and scavenger hunting all through Cape May, grabbed a bowl of Manhattan clam chowder at the Ugly Mug. (Weren't they supposed to open a branch in Old City a while back?) Our waitress, watching up pore over weird ciphers and maps, asked if we were in a cult. Later, while everyone was comparing notes over dinner at the Pilot House, I was trying to solve the mystery of where my sense of taste had disappeared to. The cold I had all week was back with a vengeance. The only thing I could taste was bitter envy. —AE
Saturday: I skipped breakfast. Mom and I discussed wedding details over lunch at the Driftaway Café. I got the grilled diver scallops and shrimp but took quite a few bites of Mom’s "Redneck Reuben," a brisket and collards sandwich. (I eat more collards in one weekend in Savannah than I do the entire year in Philadelphia.) We broke up the day with cake tastings — Minette Rushing of Custom Cakes' Kahlua chocolate cake with caramel filling was divine. That night my friends used some pork from Ossabaw Island to make andouille. We worked it into our dinner — sausage and shrimp bread pudding. —KL
By Saturday, the killer had gotten to three of our guests, but they weren't so dead they couldn't enjoy a kingly breakfast. Cousin M prepped four hotel pans of food at home and baked them off Saturday morning, treating everyone to baguette French toast and two bread pudding-like sourdough stradas (one ham-and-cheese, one spinach-and-tomato) made with Wild Flour bread. Strong work, Cousin M! —AE
Saturday was a marathon. I started by joining Cook's Lily Cope, Emilio Mignucci of Di Bruno's, entrepreneur-about-town Joe Bernstein and chef Kevin Sbraga at the judges' table of the third annual BigBite Philly Chili Bowl, held this year at Fleisher Art Memorial (719 Catharine St.). We ganged up on 25 different chilis, eventually landing on our victor, Louis Cook and Matt Coll's Pet Cemetery, which also repped quite well in a Khyber chili cookoff I judged in January 2011. Congrats, guys. After this, bachelor party for Friend of Meal Ticket IE at Brauhaus Schmitz (718 South St.). We'd been planning this for awhile — for a flat and very reasonable rate, chef Jeremy Nolen will roast off a suckling pig stuffed with housemade herb sausage (so good) and side it up with Brussels, roasted potatoes, kraut and spaetzle. Adding to the danger: They'll give groups two hours of unlimited access to select drafts for $20 a head. Let's just say we took advantage, and let's just say we also did slammed schnapps off a Shot Ski. Everything else after this is a blur, if we're keeping it real. Sorry to anyone and everyone I interacted with post Shot-Ski. —DL
Met up with TD for dinner at Interstate Draft House (1235 E. Palmer St.). There was a bacon chocolate stout on tap that I found intriguing, but it didn't taste much like bacon. I decided I should have the Southern Tier Eurotrash Pilz. I was hoping to try the new menu that AE posted about a while back, but it didn't seem that different from that last time I'd been there. Did a pizza that was sort of like two flour tortillas with mozz, shrimp, goat cheese and roasted tomato in between and more mozzarella on top. Intended to go to the Barbary to dance off the calories, but came home to roommate watching what she referred to as "Sein and Krame" (read: Seinfeld), so I did that instead. —AW
The mystery unraveled on Sunday morning over bagels from Avalon Coffee Co. All was explained by the murderer, my buddy B's fiancée. Her motive? Diamonds. Ain't all women alike? (If you want the contact information of the guy who planned our murder mystery weekend, get at me in the comments. It was a fucking blast.) —AE
Sunday: They rolled me to the airplane at noon and I ate toast for supper. —KL
Standard Sunday brunch at the Abbaye (637 N. Third St.): bloody mary and eggs benedict. I don't know why I even bother telling you guys anymore. Dinner Sunday night was left overs from Friday. Pathetic. I thought the spare ribs were better this time around. —AW
Sunday: Joined a big group at Pat Cancelliere's 943 (943 S. Ninth St.) for the soulful Sunday gravy deal he launched two weeks ago. This time, it was one big plate stacked with your choice of sauce-braised chicken or short rib, plus pappardelle and salad. Did some sweetbreads, morcilla and ribs, too. (I still hadn't recovered from Saturday night's terrible Shot Ski decision but managed to sip a little wine.) I think 943 is one of the best meat places around. Speaking of meat — one of the people at the table happened to be Gene Giuffi of Cochon (801 E. Passyunk Ave.), who specifically requested that I put this photo in NFTW. Wave hello to your adoring public, Gene. —DL
Hit up Sammy Chon's K-Town BBQ on Friday night. I wasn't a huge fan of my spicy octupus and udon noodles but everything else I tried was delicious, especially the short rib bimbibop. Keep in mind, their spice level of 1-5 is adjusted for white people's tastes. The macaroni salad in the banchan was a little weird but whatever. All in all, it was a bit cheaper than Miga but true Korean-loving fans should head out to Cheltenham. Saturday was dedicated to South Philly Tap Room where I had bites of the eggplant parm (divine) and the vegan hoagie, which I think they switched up a bit because it was better than I remember it being. On Sunday, I made some banging chicken tinga (pulled chicken in a spicy sauce). It was so good, I had some leftover and ate it for breakfast this morning.— molls to the wall- I've always wanted to try Cakebread's Chardonnay. And Drew, the boyfriend was at Brauhaus on Saturday night after the beer fest-I received a nearly illegible text praising the god of sausage. Their smoked fish platter is to die for.
Friday the two of us checked out Fish for the new oyster-lovin happy hour-the bar was packed so we sat at a table and indulged in a bunch of small plates: 6 oysters, pork belly sliders, sardines, grilled octopus, calamari, and our favorite, the smoked marlin tacos. We went all out and shared the chocolate cake with caramelized honey and vanilla sage ice cream.
Saturday we checked out a potential caterer for our wedding reception-all I learned was that Conshohocken has the largest estates I have ever seen and that catering food can look pretty but still taste like evil. I'm looking at you Parmesan wontons filled with mint and pea puree. That night I took my girlfriend who was visiting from DC to In Riva-we shared the blue crab and pepper bruschetta, fried baby artichokes with lemon yogurt and olives, and the cippolini pizza-Brussels sprouts, onions, pancetta, and goat cheese. Best pizza I've had in a long time.
Sunday was Lennies Day, I indulged in their fried clam po boy and drank about 78 ciders. Dinner he made fried chicken and I made my first (and sadly subpar) batch of cornbread. It was such a lovely decadent weekend.— JulieC - Ha, so we both got got by Brauhaus Schmitz that night! Please advise your boyfriend never to do a Shot-Ski ever.
AE is also a huge fan of the cippolini pie at In Riva.— Drew Lazor - k, adam. i want the contact information of your guy!— klinton2
- Friday night six of us went to Dante & Luigi's and as always it did not disappoint. The staff is always fun, friendly and knowlegeable. They replaced (I'm not sure if it's permanent) their house Chianti with an organic that I forget the name of. We all split caesar salads, I had the lasagna, and got to sample some veal saltimbuca, the mussels in white sauce and the osso buco, all of which were excellent. The table next to us gave us an extra tiramisu. If you haven't had the tiramisu at D&L then why are you still reading this and not on your way there now? A double espresso helped me keep drinking through the night.
Saturday afternoon we headed to another South Philly stalwart, the Pennrose Diner, love it there. The table broke fast with a communal plate of pancakes and I had a simple breakfast sandwich on an english muffin. Everything that place does is down-home and even my bacon, egg and cheese was more than the sum of its parts. And the fries at Pennrose are what I consider to be perfect. Saturday night me and the gf ordered in from Lazaro's. We split their cheeseburger deluxe and some wings. Does eating a lit bit of bad food count as eating healthy? I say yes.
Sunday had brunch with my family at schlesinger's. Aside from Friday night's throwdown I've been watching my portion sizes so I had fried eggs, turkey bacon and tomato. Not much to report there. Watching all those stacks of corned beef go by though... dieting is like living behind a glass window. Sunday night went to our new favorite Le Viet. So good and so cheap. Their clay pots are outstanding.
All in all a good eating weekend.— Marc Steel - AW- please call out the abbaye for having shitty bloody mary's this weekend— corncobs
- corncobs is right, guys. The bloody marys were disappointing this week. But, they were only $3 and tomato juice is healthy for me.— aweiss
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