POSTED: Monday, April 26, 2010, 8:10 PM
Notes from the Weekend is a new Monday 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!
FD: Felicia D'Ambrosio
MD: Marie DiFeliciantonio
AH: Alexandra Harcharek
DL: Drew Lazor
Dragged a bunch of
Di Bruno's goodies to an impromptu picnic at Wissahickon Creek Friday afternoon. Discovered the ideal blue cheese for those who tend to avoid its inherently superfunky nature — the friendly, accessible
blu di bufala, made from the same milk used for buffalo mozzarella. Hard to hate.
—DL
Loved the tasty pineapple margarita at
National Mechanics (22 S. Third St.), which gets its kick from jalapeno-infused tequila. If you think you can take it, ask for extra heat.
—AH
Friday I met friends at the cougarlicious
Redstone American Grill (500 Route 73 S.) for a few glasses of Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. We exited a few hours later and shifted gears at
Ott's Green Top Inn (588 Route 73 N.) for a few rounds of shuffleboard, greasy bar food and Blue Moon drafts.
—MD
This weekend's eating itinerary was literally stuffed due to boyfriend
Mike Persico's birthday festivities. Kicked off excessive consumption at
Village Whiskey (118 S. 20th St.) on Friday and was gratified by both the burger and the fact that a drink mixmaster
Stephen Seibert made up for me,
the Cellar Door (Rittenhouse Rye, Carpano Antica vermouth, lemon, orange and mole bitters, rosemary),
has made the new official list. —FD
Mealed at
Mémé (2201 Spruce St.) slightly late on Friday night. Delicious as always — but please pay special attention to
David Katz's agnolotti, with mint, lemon and English peas. It's so spring it should come to your table wearing gingham.
—DL
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| Photo | Alexandra Harcharek |
Enjoyed brunch at
Swift Half in the Piazza. Available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, the spread includes breakfast burritos (stuffed with peppers, onions and jack cheese, topped with black bean salsa) and baked eggs, chorizo and roasted paprika-spiced potatoes.
—AH
Met friends from out of town for pies and wine at
Pizzeria Stella (420 S. Second St.) Saturday night. All agree, the Pistachio pizza trumps all. Hustled to
Franklin Fountain (116 Market St.) ahead of the storm for a Stock Market Crunch sundae (peanut butter and chocolate ice cream, peanut butter sauce, crunchy pretzel nubs and whipped cream), then had to forgo any kind of further activity due to being a fat sow.
—FD
Boozed at the always-slept-on
Locust Rendezvous (1415 Locust St.) for lady's birthday late Friday. Tequila shots in plastic cups, lots and lots of Maker's rocks. Got my name in the No. 1 slot on the trivia touch-screen (have probably been ousted by now). Turns out I knew that
Apollonia's real first name is Patricia (?!).
—DL
Embarrassed to admit that I stopped at
Domino's (716 South St.) for late-night munchies Saturday. The "new and improved" formula touted in their recent damage-control campaign has a garlicky crust and peppery red sauce. Better than cardboard, but in the morning my lips were still swollen from all that sodium.
—AH
Preston Eckman over at
APO (102 S. 13th St.) invited us in Saturday night to test out
A Halo Over Her Head (above), a new cocktail he's entered in a drink competition organized by acai spirit
VeeV. The top three vote-getters come May 3 — head to
http://tinyurl.com/voteforpreston (it's thru
Facebook so you gotta have an account; you can vote once a day) — win a trip to July's
Tales of the Cocktail in NOLA. Vote Preston.
—DL
One of my buddies is a second-degree black belt, and to help fund his demo team's fall trip to Ireland, I ate and drank at a beef and beer at
Dadz (744 Main St.). I was hoping for a few chopped blocks and high kicks but no such luck — just ribs and Bud Light.
—MD
Mealed out on a bowl of shrimp and ham fried rice at the bar at
Sampan (124 S. 13th St.) and decided it's drunk snackage perfected.
—DL
Tried to catch Sunday brunch at the bustling
Green Eggs Cafe (1306 Dickinson St.), but the wait for a table (for one!) was close to an hour. After sticking it out for a while to try to snag one of the counter seats, I abandoned my quest and vowed to show up earlier next week. The quinoa porridge is calling me.
—AH
If there's a better deal than
Percy Street Barbecue's (900 South St.) Lockhart menu to feed a table of 20 — $24 a head, and you get the whole menu to share plus your OWN dessert — I want to know about it. Also, a gallon of beer is A LOT of beer.
—FD
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| Photo | Felicia D'Ambrosio |
Exit 1 Bayshore Oyster Stout from
Flying Fish is a great example of the style, but we tried another contender from across the pond Sunday evening at
Tria (123 S. 18th St.) —
Porterhouse's Oyster Stout, a tasty 4.8 percent ABV from Dublin that recently made its way stateside. It's got this dope little pop top cap too.
—DL
Laid low Sunday and vowed not to leave the house but I ached for some good beer so I went out to mix-a-six of
Stone's Ruination IPA and
Levitation Ale,
Orval,
Yards Saison and
ESA and
Green Flash IPA. Also made patty melts with sautéed onions and peppers, fried egg, avocado and blue cheese. Damn good Sunday.
—MD
