|
|
|
Notes from the Weekend: September 26 27
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.
Notes from the Weekend: September 26 27
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
Started my weekend early with my buddy's bachelor party in Florida on Wednesday. Grabbed beer and crab fries at Chickie's and Pete's at the airport before flying down to the Sunshine State. We stayed at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, just outside Fort Lauderdale, where a staffer recommended we check out Round Up in nearby Davie — neglecting to mention it's a rootin'-tootin', boot-scootin' country-western bar. Needless to say, 10 guys from South Philly stuck out. Shit was mesmerizing, hundreds of twentysomethings square dancing around a roller rink-like central dance floor. —AE
Dinner at Philly-themed Cafe Martorano Thursday night, where chef/owner Steve Martorano served up giant meatballs with the sweetest ricotta, tender octopus salad, thin-as-paper pizzas and the epic Eggplant Stack, a skyscraper of crisp veg cutlets, fresh mozzarella and tomato anointed with aged balsamic. After digesting, cabbed it to downtown Fort Lauderdale, where my phone got clipped right out of my pocket at Living Room! WTF, Fort Laud?! —AE
Busted a move to an At&T store on Friday morning, got a new phone and was back for challah french toast and buttered grits by noon. Chilled by the pool a while before heading back to the airport, where I stocked up on fam-favorite Coconut Patties (like Mounds but better) and grabbed a healthy-for-an-airport dinner at Pasha's. The Middle Eastern café did a nice job on a tomato/cucumber salad, creamy hummus and a chicken shish kebab wrap. —AE
Snuck away from a crazy day at the office for a few minutes on Friday to head to Grocery (101 S. 13th St.) and check out the soup selection — grabbed a split pea and ham, which unfortunately had to be rewarmed several times due to work-related interruptions. Still tasty, though. —NR
The outside of Yards could've doubled as a post-apocalyptic tent city Friday evening, as sheets of rain pummeled the 'cue hounds at the brewery's annual Smoke 'Em if Yous Got 'Em festival, centered around smoked beers and smoked meats. I had the belt-busting pleasure of judging the amateur barbecue competition with Collin Flatt of The Feast, Collin Keefe of Grub Street Philly and Yards founder Tom Kehoe; the winning team, Master Basters, put out some real nice pork ribs, but were narrowly edged in the unofficial best-name category by fellow Top 3 occupant Grill on Grill Action. —DL
Met up with a friend after work and treated myself to some Malbec and organic Zweigelt at Tria (1137 Spruce St.). Got caught in the downpour on our way to Time (1315 Sansom St.), where I got cozy with Black Maple Hill and a side of fries. A few more friends joined us, and when we eventually, as the bartender put it, "killed the bottle," we decided to move next door to Bar (1309 Sansom St.). Not really my scene — had a few glasses of water, spared my debit card and ducked out just before closing. —NR
I got done work a little earlier than usual on Friday but was too drained to head back out for a night in the city, so I went home and made some Gourmet Spicy Nong Shim Ramen Noodles before hitting the sack. I know, pretty lame, but I'll take falling asleep at my kitchen table over face-planting at the bar after one beer any day. —JL
Thanked those glasses of agua Saturday with a morning-free hangover. Met up with my cousin and headed to Jones (700 Chestnut St.) for brunch and Cava. Mushroom/cheddar omelette, tots and monkey bread filled me up. Headed over to Williams-Sonoma afterward to pick up a shower gift for a friend; bought cinnamon/graham cracker pancake mix and bourbon-infused maple syrup to go along with a pancake warmer/serving plate that will def be put to good use. —NR
West Philly lunch steez during the day Saturday: Grabbed a seat on the pretty patio at Manakeesh Café (4420 Walnut St.) for a spicy sausage manakeesh (see AE's March review for more), then shot down the block to Wah Gi Wah Halal (4447 Chestnut St.) for some of the best fried chicken I've eaten in a minute. A little more on that bird in this week's CP. —DL
Saturday stopped into SPTR (1509 Mifflin St.) for Scott Schroeder's grilled haloumi salad/cucumber/galia melon salad. This thing is so flavorful and well-seasoned, it's impossible not to devour it down to the last leaf of watercress. —AE
Saturday afternoon was spent in a haze of snacking. No seriously, I have no idea what I ate up until 5 p.m. at work, when Angela, the landlady at Green Aisle Grocery (1618 E. Passyunk Ave.), offered me a ricotta-stuffed, deep-fried zucchini blossom. I'd never had one before and it was delicious — reminded me of tempura. Back home, we had a stale baguette so we made French toast that we planned to top with vanilla ice cream and peach crumble, but my brand-new Pyrex pie dish shattered in the oven. Had to settle for French toast and just vanilla ice cream. How terrible for us. —EM
Got stuck inside for the rest of Saturday catching up on work, so takeout was the least stressful option — copped some rolls from our go-to Vic Sushi (2035 Sansom St.), including this Tiger Roll, buncha tuna and salmon wrapded with avo and masago in pretty patterned tori. In what sort of aesthetically conscious ocean does this stuff naturally occur? —DL
Back in Philly, recovered all day Saturday and ventured out on Sunday for brunch at Cafe Estelle (444 N. Fourth St.). That's newly married chef Marshall Green's featherweight omelette, filled with guanciale, apples and leeks. Mmmm. Followed it up by converting the fiancée to Mac at Best Buy, watching some amazing football (DL's dude Flacco sured up my fantasy win), food shopping and grabbing Santucci's (901 S. 10th St.) for dinner. Ate the famous Uncle Joe's stromboli (famous in my world, at least). —AE
Somehow escaped a hangover on Sunday. Planned ahead and marinated some chicken in fresh rosemary and garlic to be used later in the week for a chickpea salad. Traveled with the awesome pancake gift in tow to Bridget Foy's (200 South St.) for a "happy shower" Sunday Funday. Had one too many blood orange bellinis and overloaded my plate with a veggie frittata, bacon, maple sausage, penne vodka, home fries and salad. —NR
Strolled to the P.O.P.E. (1501 E. Passyunk Ave.) on Sunday for brunch with the BF. Indulged in a Western omelette and some coffee (wasn’t feeling a beer this a.m.). Later on, met up with some friends and headed to Moriarty's (1116 Walnut St.) for some buffalo wings, curly fries and football. —JL
Sunday night, Angela was in a good mood again — she'd gotten farfalle with crab ragu from Paradiso (1627 E. Passyunk Ave.) across the street and couldn't finish it, so gave me the rest. The crab was tender and sweet and free. For dinner we noshed on Renaissance Sausage's Mediterranean lamb/beef sausages. And, of course, no weekend of gluttony would be complete without leftover French toast and ice cream and a Double Caramel Magnum. —EM
I'm a huge basketball fan, so I was geeked to watch LeBron, CP3, Chester native/Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans and of course my main man Melo ball at Sunday night's Battle for I-95 charity exhibition at The Palestra (33rd and Walnut). I'm guessing it was a combo of old-ass vintage facilities, sellout-crowd body heat and oppressive humidity that turned the most historic college arena in America into a veritable sauna. Foreal I think I lost 10 pounds by the third. Undid all that unintentional weight loss by walking across the bridge and straight into Grace Tavern (2229 Grays Ferry Ave.), where the always-kind Leo took wonderful care of us as always. Back at home, Friend of Meal Ticket JC made up some thematic Manhattans (I feel bad asking the off-duty bartender to pour me cocktails ... no I don't) for the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire. —DL
I won't bore you with the details of how hard it is to find good Indian delivery in Hell's Kitchen, or how really delicious Eggo-apricot jam-and-peanut butter sandwiches are, but this I can't keep a secret:
Sake Bar Hagi.
Just off Times Square, in a neighborhood mostly populated with crappy tourist traps, down a vertiginous stairway, is the best izakaya in New York. Maybe in the universe.
Sweet, briny grilled hamachi collar; tender, smoky yakitori (duck, quail eggs, garlic);fluffy, greaseless ebi tempura of the most delicate shrimp--everything was unbelievably satisfying, especially accompanied by a bottle of cold, tart Yuzu-spiked sake. The best part was a gluttonous dinner for two, complete with plenty booze, was $98 plus tip.
WHERE IS MY PHILLY IZAKAYA— felicia.dambrosio- Flea, Royal Sushi and Izakaya, from the Cantina/Royal/Khyber dudes, is on its way! Last I checked it was stuck in the oh-so-Philly stupid paperwork morass. — Drew Lazor
- Spent Friday night avoiding being outside. Had tix to Popped and met up with a few friends at Good Dog to get the evening started. After several less than desirable reports from the field, decided to stay at Good Dog instead and spend the SEPTA fare on fries instead. Trekked to Food and Friends for a sixer to go on the way home, and spent the rest of the evening planning to go to Grace but never making it there.
Saturday my wife and I stopped in to Betty's Speakeasy, where I had the strongest coffee I've had in a while and a delicious bacon egg and cheese on homemade beer bread. The bread was a little thick, but the smoked cheddar was delicious. Next time I'll opt for the baguette, a neighboring table had it and it looked delicious too.
Had most of Saturday afternoon and evening to myself, so I opted for cooking off a lot of our leftovers from previous CSA hauls, mainly potatoes and onions. Hit up Esposito's for lamb shoulder(s), Whole Foods for odds and ends, the restaurant supply store @ 5th & Bainbridge for materials, and finally Omega because where else can you buy two bottles of Guinness for a recipe? The rest is a blur in the kitchen.
Sunday headed to Maryland to my folks house. My step-dad does a really good whole grilled chicken, and I'm not embarrassed to say I had about 4 servings.— LouPerseghin - Seconded Felicia on the izakaya. Philly definitely needs one of those.
Food was boring this weekend but drinks were great: slurped a bloody maria from Cantina on Saturday, which I like better than the average bloody mary because I like tequila better than vodka. Plus, less of a post-booze comedown. Hit up Tabu on Saturday night to visit a bartending friend and drank very strong, $3 Jameson and gingers all night. The gays know how to do their booze right. Capped off the night with an ouza night cap, which tasted like licorice. I don't even like licorice but I loved the ouza. Tell me Meal Ticketers, where's a good restaurant to sip some with a meal?— molls to the wall - Boring food this weekend--Wawa figured prominently--except for my pre-game trip to Koch's on 43rd and Locust in West Philly. The Penn football game was a disaster, but the sandwich — the PCOM special — was Jewish deli perfection.— migold
- Spent most of the weekend in Fairmount due to a weeklong house-sitting adventure. Highlights (and lowlights):
--Dinner at Rembrandt's (which technically happened on Wednesday but I'm counting it as a weekend meal because I was pretending I was on vacation) was AMAZING. What a sleeper! Or maybe I just didn't know about it because I live in South Philly. Get the gazpacho. Get the ice cream flight for sure.
--London Grill dinner on Thursday night was also good, although they should think about giving you crostini or apple slices or something with the cheese plate. A big hunk o' foccaccia didn't really cut the mustard. Mustard would have been nice too.
--Friday night we had dinner at old standby Bridgid's, which has the best neighborhoody feel/best beer list ever. Food was OK but the atmosphere is what keeps me trekking way the hell up there time and time again. Also, it's pumpkin beer season, YAY.
--Saturday morning, we got breakfast at Mugshots, which was perfect in all ways except the CUSTOMERS, good lord! You Fairmount people need to learn the art of patience and politeness. So many customers that morning were rude to the staff (one guy said, "I ordered a latte. LAT-TE!" Come on dude) who were just very clearly busting their asses.— CarolynH - Drank delicious smoked beers at Yards Friday and skipped the smoked meats so I found myself very hungry after. Thanks goodness Matt had a killer cheese plate set out in his beautiful new house! If it wasn't horrible for your health, I would eat cheese plates with fruit and crackers for dinner every night.
Take out Vic for dinner was good as usual, but it really made me want eat there to take advantage of specials and perhaps more diverse sashimi plates. At 5pm on a Monday though since it is always crowded.
Sunday morning breakfast was fanatastic! Scrambled eggs, cheese toast and leftover Vic rolls, it was like my very own breakfast buffet. Since breakfast was the only thing I had I was famished after the game and destroyed my sandwich at Grace. I passed on the late night Manhattans made by JC, but couldn't turn down the 1am veggie lumpia!— MLF - I had my first experience at Percy Street this weekend when a large group of us took advantage of their Lockhart special. Their mac and cheese was unanimously heralded as the best part of the mean. I loved the pulled pork and sausage but was underwhelmed by the brisket and ribs-they were too dry for me. It was a great time despite that and I was crazy impressed by the beer selection. Topped off the night at Tattooed Mom's and a food coma.— JulieC
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
