Notes from the Weekend: September 12 13

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.

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Notes from the Weekend: September 12 13

POSTED: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 11:10 AM

Filed Under: Notes from the Weekend

Notes from the Weekend is a Monday Tuesday (this week!) 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
Jessica Leung: JL
Esther Martin: EM
Nicole Rossi: NR

Grabbed a ham and brie on sourdough at Cafe Twelve (212 S. 12th St.) and a Blue Moon from Slainte (3000 Market St.) Friday on my way to grab the Bolt up to NYC for some bday/Fashion Week/bachelorette type fun. Popped everything from Veuve to Andre at my gal's apartment soire in Nolita. Later made our way over to King's Cross (356 Bowery St.) for some dancing and Red Bull/vodkas (had to keep up with the 4 a.m. crowd). Stumbled home, broke a heel and scored some falafel from a cart, making me feel like Parker Posey in Party Girl. —NR

Friday night, Andrew and I went out for our birthdays (they're nine days apart) to Daddy Mims' (150 Bridge St.) in Phoenixville. The restaurant is Creole-themed, small but not cramped and extremely personal. How personal? The chef delivered our appetizer. Oh my gosh, it was the greatest meal I've ever had. Started with a light, fluffy jumbo lump crabmeat and baked gouda cheesecake. Entrées were blackened pork loin with a spicy mole and mashed sweet potatoes for me 24-hour braised Cajun-style pork shoulder and grilled Andouille with bacon gravy and collard greens for Andrew. (He got a side of Boursin cheese grits, too.) We ended with sticky bun bread pudding, chocolate pecan pie and NOLA-style coffee with chicory. Heavenly. The whole experience was so good we left a 45 percent tip. —EM

I was being lazy after work Friday, so takeout was the logical thing. The group in front of me walking home was talking about Sawatdee (1501 South St) — I knew it had to be a sign. Strolled on over and made room in my belly for pad thai noodles and crispy spring rolls; definitely going back soon to grub on more noodles and take advantage of that three-course $9.95 lunch deal. —JL

This is getting redundant, but Friday dinner was Santucci's (10th and Christian) pizza and stromboli. I promise to stop talking about this place. —AE

Prepare for more redundance, kids: I also had Santucci's for dinner on Friday. Friends of Meal Ticket MS and ML live a mere block away so it's pretty much illegal not to get it if you're over. Tried their stromboli for the first time — much thinner, slimmer and less bulbuous than specimens I've come across at other pizza joints, likely closer to the OG stromboli style that was invented right here in Philly. Somewhat relatedly, I looked the other day for the 1950 Rossellini flick Stromboli on Netflix (the food's named the movie), and it's not on there. —DL

Saturday got off to a beautiful start with a sick brunch at SPTR (1509 Mifflin St.). Have you tried Scott Schroeder's grilled halloumi with galia melon, cucumber and mint? It's the shit. Salty, peppery, bright, refreshing. A gigantic omelette was packed with pickled jalapenos and bacon. French toast was perfect with peaches, ricotta and mint. I also got to try one of Schroder's Scott Dogs via "Scott Dogs & Eggs, a scrambled set-up with sliced dogs that tasted just like a dish my grandmom used to make me for lunch when I was a kid. Tear. —AE

Woke up Saturday with the gals (six of us in a tiny, one-bedroom NYC apartment) feeling not too shabby and headed to Delicatessen (54 Prince St.) for the three Bs — brunch, Bellinis and Bloody marys. The parmesan truffle fries, bacon/spinach/Swiss quiche and mac and cheese were just what we needed to pique our perkiness and get in a day's worth of shopping, spa and illy latte sipping. —NR

Saturday afternoon I was in NoLibs, judging the "Anything Goes" category of A Full Plate Café's Rib Cook Off. We got eight little dishes — a bland tuna taco, a mini pecan pie tart (the crust tasted like it was prepared with bacon fat; awesome), chocolate bread pudding (ugly as all get-out but delicious), pork with hot peppers, an ugly jambalaya, elote and a little piece of over-smoked meat lathered with too-sweet BBQ sauce. That guy lost. Who won: NoLibs' own Sonata, who made Dr. Pepper BBQ pulled pork with peach/onio jam on a Peking steamed bun. —EM

Headed to Maryland Saturday to get it in at Virgin Freefest, a no-charge festival that Sir Richard Branson throws every year in the Baltimore/D.C. area. Friends cooked out a little, then I drank a whole lotta beers and saw a whole lotta bands (tops: Ghostland Observatory, Cut Copy and of course my dude James Murphy). Then I hazily downed a whole lotta nuggets from Wendy's. Also somewhat food-related: As we've discussed before, most of my buddies, down in MD especially, are huge Phish phans (consider me the noodle-averse black sheep). Gotta respect their hustle: They pay for all their travel, food and ticket expenses by selling these custom Phish beer koozies at shows. If anyone would like to decode this for me go ahead. —DL

Later Saturday, the gals and I ordered dinner and Sauvignon Blanc at Cafe Gitane (242 Mott St.), a neighborhood gem with shockingly reasonable prices — avocado spreads, Moroccan couscous and hummus, yellowtail ceviche, spicy meatballs. Piled ourselves into cabs and then headed to The Griffin (50 Gansevoort St.) for Rue La La's Fashion Week party. Bounced around between the East Village and Nolita for bachelorette fun and Cava sipping, ending the night walking home snacking on a bag of Lay's Honey-BBQ chips. —NR

Was up at the uber-scenic Inn at Lambertville Station in Lambertville, N.J., Saturday night. Drank some sick wines, including Ferrari-Carano's inky violet Eldorado Noir, a long-legged late-harvest jewel made exclusively from black Muscat grapes. Dessert wine = underappreciated. —AE

Saturday night I was alone so I went all out: I watched Tangled while eating two pints of Ben & Jerry's (Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Late Night Snack), supplemented by Friendly Farms mild cheddar from Green Aisle Grocery (1618 E. Passyunk St.) and kalamata olives from Whole Foods. I didn't even use plates or bowls and I bawled like a baby through the movie. It was so sad and so awesome. —EM

Sunday morning made the short hop from Lambertville over to the in-laws' in Holland. (So many deer! I want to eat them.) Little bro-in-law and his girl made brunch, which included these ah-mazing healthy whole-wheat oatmeal pancakes that I promptly saturated in butter and syrup. Lesson learned: It is hard to root for the Eagles when your mouth is full of flapjacks. —AE

Sunday: Ran errands, then made my way over to the P.O.P.E. (1501 E. Passyunk Ave) for brunch. I made due with a breakfast burrito while the BF had a grilled cheese and a couple of beers. While he wanted to get back to the couch ASAP for quality football, I had no problem making a pit stop at Capogiro (1625 E. Passyunk Ave) for dulce de leche gelato. —JL

Headed back north Sunday morning and stopped by my parents' place for a sec — my dad whipped up his famous Caesar and I had a square from a giant lasagna pan my mom tried (and failed!) to offload on me. I'm trying to be healthy, you see. Andddd now I will directly contradict myself by showing you this picture of Filipino junk food etc., curated by my cousin Louie and brought back to the states by my parents from their recent trip over there. Polvoron are like these shortbread-type cookies that are crumbly and amazing (cookies and cream flavor!). The seasoning mix you see is used to make sinigang, a sour soup comparable to Thai tom yum goong. The white-topped jar in the back is my fave — fish crackle, same idea as pork rinds but with crispy fish skin. Telling sign: My cat has already tried to open up this jar and devour its contents three times. Yes, me and my cat, who licks his own butt daily, have similar tastes in food. —DL

Looking for a quick dinner fix between games, we ran over to Pho Ha (610 Washington Ave.) to snag some noodles. Pho came out literally 5 minutes after we order. Main problem: How do you go about slurping down scorching-hot soup that arrives in record time? —JL

Grabbed a half-tomato pie, half-ricotta/prosciutto/roasted pepper set-up at the recently relocated Adriana's (1702 S. 11th St.). Made a little arugula salad with sliced Three Springs white peaches, crumbled feta and balsamic vinaigrette to go with. (I always like a vinegary salad with pizza, e tu?) The pie was really good! Not Santucci's, though. —AE

Sunday: Alright AE seriously we all need to stop talking about Santucci's so much. And we also need to stop ordering from Circles (1516 Tasker St.) with such freakish frequence, huh? That's why I copped Sunday night — pad kee mow, the funny Thai burrito (potatoes instead of promised edamame purée in it), tofu corn fritters and superburny tom yum this time. —DL

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 11:10 AM Permalink | 5 comments

5 comments

Comments (5)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:07 PM, 09/13/2011

Yes, Santucci's is frequently discussed here on MT so I will only say that it was delicious on Friday. Also good was the blueberry pie served with cool whip for dessert. Oh and of course the glasses of Crios rose.

Virgin Fest was great -so much beer and dancing! Very happy I brought a little bag of baby carrots and celery in my purse, it kept me going until my late night large fry from Wendy's.

That Caesar is one of my all time fav salads, made with apple cider vinegar so it's a little light than most. Ah, Cirlces, what happened Sunday night?? Only 1 of out 3 things requested spicy came spicy and the promised edamame in my burrito arrived as mushy potatoes! Good thing we ordered the corn fritters.

— MLF

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 1:06 PM, 09/13/2011

Cafe Lutecia is back! They were mysteriously closed for a couple of weeks but had a friend out of town who simply needed to try the tomato bisque. Considering after every bite she said, "Oh my god, this is so good," I think it was a success.

— molls to the wall

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:22 PM, 09/13/2011

As a devoted Phish fan/pseudo hipster (is that even possible?), I really dig the beer koozie. Do you friends sell those online?

PS - It's a line from the song "Tweezer" if you wanted to know.
PPS - That pie from Adrina's looks dope...right near my house too, will have to check it out.

— lawgirl321978

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:33 PM, 09/13/2011

Agreed on the koozie. They must sell a on of those to pay for all their expenses.

"Tweezer" is a popular Phish song. "Won't you step into the freezer,Tease her with a tweezer, It's gonna be cold cold cold cold cold.

— jkov

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 4:41 PM, 09/13/2011

Thanks for the Phish information! Haha. I can certainly ask them if they sell them online, not sure. For what it's worth, they claim that this is "by far" their worst design. I've seen some of their other ones and they are really good, even though I don't know anything about Phish.

— Drew Lazor

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Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews here — those are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to caroline@citypaper.net.

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