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Notes from the Weekend: May 8
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: May 8
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
Got myself Moo-O-Roy and sticky rice for lunch at Note Thai (279 Bushwick Ave.) in Brooklyn Friday afternoon. I don't think Moo-O-Roy is a real thing outside of Note, so it's just marinated pork over sticky rice with sweet chili sauce. After JN came home, we met up with a friend at Brooklyn Star (593 Lorimer St.) for a Pimm's Cup, but subbed cucumber and mint for "seasonal fruit" on friend's suggestion. A+, would drink again. —AW
This weekend was another filled with wedding bliss, featuring friends K and D on location in lovely Phoenixville. Friday night's rehearsal dinner saw us at rollicking Irish pub Molly Maguire's (197 Bridge St.), where the beer was as warm as the shepherd's pie. I liked the pie, actually, rich and potato-y with lots of dark, faintly sweet gravy. Plus, I was starving and would have gnawed on the corner of a faux-vintage Guinness sign if I could have. —AE
Friday: Being a bride is lots o' fun. My mom's friends threw me a bridal shower on Friday afternoon down in Savannah, complete with petit fours and a gift of Emily Post's Guide to Entertaining. They served me Chick-fil-A sweet tea and wiped crumbs off of my chair before I sat down, which leads me to believe that brides are the happiest folks on the planet. That night me and some Savannah friends made dinner together, which included fresh squash from their farm and the biggest bag of tortilla chips I've ever seen in a domestic setting. —KL
Friday: Dinner with a bunch of friends, including a few visiting from London, at Collingswood's Zeppoli (618 Collings Ave.). I'm not the first to point out that Joey Baldino is killing it here in Jerz, but indulge my pile-on for just one sec — I don't think there is a better Italian restaurant of this style in Philly. If there is, name one and we'll fight about it etc. Ate literally everything on the menu. Too many dishes to list in full, but the shrimp/white beans and the bottarga tagliatelle (re-orders from last meal) were sick, as were the sardines, elaborate antipasti spread, fusilli with almond-pistachio pesto, lardo-marinated ribeye ... I'll stop now. Just like I stopped our marathon meal with a shot of homemade anisette, garnished with a little star anise at the bottom of the cup. —DL
We had tickets to Crossing Brooklyn Ferry on Friday night at Brooklyn Academy of Music (651 Fulton St.). We missed the doors for Tyondai Braxton so we went to get a bagel for dinner at Connecticut Muffin and to Frank's Cocktail Lounge (660 Fulton St.) for a very strong, very quick whiskey Coke. Made it back in time to see The Antlers and St. Vincent. Afterward, we all went to Der Schwarze Kolner (710 Fulton St.) for some German beer and pretzels and to talk about how awesome Annie Clark is. Why are pretzels at German beer halls always the best? —AW
C and fellow bridesmaids stayed overnight at the bride's house Friday night, so I woke lonely and hungry on Saturday morning. Chhaya Cafe (1823 E. Passyunk Ave.) fixed me up with with their cinnamon-y French toast waffle, tiny-diced, big-flavor home fries and sausage. Solo server was husssstlin'. Appreciate that. —AE
Saturday: Bridal Shower No. 2 — I'll take fried chicken and collards over petit fours any day. My aunt and cousins threw me a shower in a private room at the Pirate's House and we feasted on their totally southern, totally delicious buffet. Even though I wasn't hungry, I hated to waste a prime opportunity for fresh seafood, so I ordered shrimp and grits. I ate half for dinner and decided to save the rest for breakfast. —KL
Had Saturday brunch at Talde (369 Seventh Ave.) with JN, NP and CW. Their belini is called "Very Excellent Bellini" and it was very excellent, made with mango, passion fruit, raspberry, pineapple, orange juice and Prosecco. As for food, we had pretzel pork and chive dumplings; everything bagel spring rolls; shrimp toast; sausage, egg and cheese fried rice; bacon pad thai; and Korean chicken wings and waffles. Everything was flavorful and great, but I think I liked the fried rice, waffles and rolls the best. It's a good idea to go with a group of people for brunch (and dinner) so you can try all sorts of things, since the menu is mostly dim sum-style. —AW
Visited Ramen Boy (204 N. Ninth St.) for the first time since my March ramen story on Saturday night. As touched on in the piece, I know it's fashionable in food circles to shit-talk this place, but I've discovered that an alarming number of people who say shitty things about it to me HAVE NOT ACTUALLY EATEN THERE. Come on kids. I know it's easy to throw your voice around the soup-hate echo chamber, but if you're gonna claim a place blows, you should at least try it first. I think Ramen Boy is good. This is their "spicy," dressed with tender, pho-like beef slices. Dope noodles here too. Yes, the broth is not nearly as unctuous as at NYC spots or at cross-town competitor Nom Nom, but that's chef Ben Watanabe's whole steez. Some like it, others don't. But you owe it to yourself to give it a real shake before drawing a conclusion either way. —DL
Dinner on Saturday was at Dressler (149 Broadway), across the street from Peter Luger Steak House. JN and I split the grilled baby octopus (with fingerlings, chorizo, piperade, romesco and charred lemon vinaigrette) and I had the salmon with asparagus risotto, ramps and spring pea puree. Tasted JN's hanger steak and veal cheek. Each dish was really great and I got to have some ramps. Everbody loves ramps! I'm willing to bet Dressler's steak could hold up to Peter Luger's. After dinner, we went to Skylark Bar (477 5th Ave.) in Park Slope for JE's birthday party. There were dishes of candy on the tables. —AW
Later on Saturday, headed back to Phoenixville for the wedding. (76, I hate you.) Reception at Franklin Commons (400 Franklin Ave.) did the food two ways: traditional wedding stuff like creamy pasta, grilled veggies and steak on one buffet and the much more interesting Nigerian home cooking on another for the groom's side. Oxtail, fried fish, plantains, rice, fiery greens and more. Just not something you see every day at a wedding, and I loved it. Apparently everything was prepared by the chef at Wazobia (616 N. 11th St.), a family friend. —AE
After a very busy Sunday morning and afternoon at the first Headhouse Square farmers market (Second and Lombard) of the year, I hooked up a huge salad a casa in lieu of a late brunch out. Weaver's Way lettuce formed the green foundation for balsamic-poached eggs, bacon, croutons, diced apple and standard lemon vinaigrette. Still semi-healthy, right? —AE
I had a fun time as a judge at the second annual Burger Brawl on Sunday afternoon. Held at the Fleisher Art Memorial (719 Catharine St.), this year's event featured fancy-shmance judging criteria designed by Yorn — we scanned each burger's QR code and were taken to a polling site to rate on categories like bun, meat and toppings. I had to dip early, but fellow judge Michael Klein shares that Capital Grille took the judges' top honor, with Bobby's Burger Palace winning people's choice. I didn't come close to trying all the entries, but one that really stood out to me was Ela chef Jason Cichonski's beef-filled banh cam. Cool shit. Later that night I detoxed with a chopped salad. —DL
Ate leftovers for breakfast on Sunday and then headed out to the Brooklyn Flea (27 N Sixth St.). Lots of cool expensive stuff to buy and lots of cool guys walking around. Late lunch at Samurai (149 N. Sixth St.) and sat out back in their garden. Even though it was in the middle of Willamsburg, it felt like being at the beach out in the garden. We split a few rolls: spider, lobster tempura, spicy tuna and black pepper tuna with wasabi mayo. Pretty cheap, too. $7.50 for a spider roll! —AW
Sunday: My aunt provided Panera cinnamon crunch bagels for breakfast and those are hard to pass up. Naturally, I ate the bagels... and the shrimp and grits. —KL
DL, I must agree with you about Ramen Boy--haters gotta hate, but I found it's a totally decent, non-gourmet bowl of noodles, and while the broth may not be as umami-tastic as other spots, it certainly doesn't give you the salt-induced blood pressure spike from over at Nom Nom.— gourmandjk
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