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Notes from the Weekend: November 13
AC eats, celeb chef sightings and friendsgiving on this week's slightly delayed edition of Notes from the Weekend.
Notes from the Weekend: November 13
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. We'd love to hear all about YOUR weekend eating adventures in the comments. Go for it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)
Adam Erace: AE
Caroline Russock: CR
Emily Kovach: EK
Pictures can't adequately describe the wonder of a South Philly serenade, which is where I spent my Saturday night. Cousins of Meal Ticket A and L tie the knot next week, so in proper form, the groom sang to his bride-to-be while friends and family feasted on roast pork sandwiches, Jell-O shots and snowflake-shaped pizzelles. A's songs of choice: Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel," Brad Paisley's "She's Everything" and crowd favorite "I'll be Lovin' You" but the one and only Stevie B.—AE
On Friday evening I headed down to one of my favorite places in the world, Atlantic City via the always glamorous NJ Transit bus for Borgata's whirlwind weekend of wine and food, Savor. After meeting up with a my birthday-celebrating date for the weekend we cabbed it to our swanky room ath The Water Club. Although we missed out Michael Schulson's sushi making demo, we did have time to check in and dress up before heading to Stephen Kalt's subterranean Fornelletto for an epic spread of antipasti (hello burrata), family-style pastas (lamb ragu topped gnocchi is a shiny copper pan was a big winner) and a pretty outrageous chocolate hazelnut budino. After some luck at the slots we headed over to mur.mur where we found none other than Bobby Flay on the dance floor. He's got some moves.—CR
The best way to start the weekend is with a late lunch that your sweetheart hand delivers to your office door. Ryan toted a classic meatball sandwhich to share all the way from the center city Marabella's, and we shared it at the Penn BioPond. After, we hustled West to 40th Street to grab a few scoops of gelato from Capogiro before the lunch hour wrapped up. I ordered two of my favorites, sweet potato with pecan praline (just the perfect fall flavor) and stracciatella, the simplest chocolate chip you can find. Much later that night, after catching a friend's band upstairs at Kung Fu Necktie, our crew rolled into the Abbeye for vegetarian cheesesteaks, mussels and chicken fingers, just in the nick of time before the kitchen closed at 1 a.m.—EK
While it's never easy to wake up after staying out until 4 a.m., room service has the tendency to ease the pain. A smoked fish platter, stack of lemon ricotta pancakes and a bowl of grits topped with (holy moly) pulled pork and grits did us right. The first stop of the day was a Thanksgiving tutorial with Bobby Flay who was in rare form considering the hour at which we spotted him in the club. He was on stage doling out turkey tips, taking on Brussels sprouts haters and being generally kind of hilarious.Next up was an intimate meatball making class with Stephen Kalt in the kitchen of Fornelletto where instead of the go-to tomato he sauced his with a bright caper-lemon butter. The afternoon continued with a gnocchi-making demo with Wolfgang Puck who is as full of personality and dirty as I could have ever hoped for.—CR
Later that evening we grazed our way around the main tasting event where Schulson was rolling some damned fine hand rolls, there were sliders everywhere and a mind boggling selection of wine, cocktails and sake. Back to the slots, a little bit of stand-up and then it was time for dinner number two: cheese burgers and chili-cheese fries from Fat Burger. After that it was another round of wild AC nightclubbing, this time made even more surreal due to the fact that Samantha Ronson was the guest DJ. And yes, Bobby Flay was on hand tearing it up.—CR
The band buddies ended up staying over, and on Saturday morning, we treated them to a homecooked brunch of cheesy eggs, sauteed veggies and toast. I had a quiet, lazy day after they left, until 5pm, when I clocked in at Miss Rachel's Pantry to work the Saturday night farmhouse dinner. There were lots of great things on the menu (including spaghetti squash latkes, mustard glazed tempeh and a chocolate peanutbutter milkshake!), but my favorite was a spicy, brothy soup with juicy mushrooms and tofu. The ended with Season 2 episodes of Mad Men and a beautiful margherita pizza, carried out from Little Italy on 9th and South.—EK
On Sunday, Ry and I rewarded ourselves for a trip to Home Depot with a trek out to Cheltenham to feast on Korean Fried Chicken at Cafe Soho. I was so lost in spicy battered heaven that I forgot to snap even one photo. The plate itself was nothing fancy, just a massive pile of 20 pieces of perfectly fried and seasoned chicken parts. Our conversation was silenced by the roar of the K-pop blasted through the cafe, and the fifteen straight glorious minutes of non stop eating. For dinner, a big green salad helped to combat the salt and grease hangover, and some soft, salted caramels leftover from the San Fransico trip were a dainty dessert during the requisite Sunday night Walking Dead power hour.—EK
The term Friendsgiving is kind of annoying, no? C and I had one nonetheless with her college crew in Doylestown and it was a blast. (Two Thanksgiving dinners in two weeks?! Yes, please.) My contributions: sweet potatoes mashed with brown sugar and Sriracha and my Hurricane Sandy rye mac 'n' cheese. C's (culinary challenged) contribution: slice-and-bake cookies. I ate like 20. —AE
A lazy hotel morning was followed by a much more civilized train ride back to the city. After careful consideration and a hearty helping of refusing to let the weekend come to an end, I headed down to Amis. Thinking that a plate of pasta and a glass of wine would do me right, I was won over by Sal's Sunday Supper, a three course prix fixe inspired by Vetri's dad. The meal kicked off with an escarole salad topped with house-pickled giardiniera followed by a plate of spaghetti topped with meatballs, sausage and a hard boiled egg slow simmered in marinara. A slice of Sicilian grandma-style ricotta cheesecake and a few glasses of Morellino di Scansano rounded off this entirely excellent meal and sent me off to bed at an hour so early it's unheard of.—CR
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