POSTED: Monday, December 20, 2010, 10:10 PM
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. 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.)
Rachel Burgos: RB
Adam Erace: AE
Drew Lazor: DL
Juliana Reyes: JR
Anthony Sica: AS
Lunch at
Han Dynasty (108 Chestnut St.) on Friday afternoon with Friends of Meal Ticket
Felicia D. and
Mikey P. Though it's not on the menu, try asking for the dry pepper style pork intestines, which I had for the first time this meal. Yes, I realize how that sounds — but trust me, seriously! If you like deep-fried, spicy, garlicky-as-hell, lil'-bit-funky crunchy bits, you will love this.
—DL
I was craving something spicy on Friday night, so I ordered massaman curry (medium please) and tom kha soup from the
recently reviewed Circles (1516 Tasker St). My friend ordered her red curry "Thai Hot," and I tried a little. At first, I was surprised that it wasn't steam-out-the-ears fiery — but then the subtle heat explosion slowly crept into my mouth and didn't leave for 10 minutes. I could never handle an entire meal that spicy. I am part wimp, yes.
—RB
 |
| Photo | Adam Erace |
Friday, checked into the tiny, no-frills
Café Chau (2201 S. Seventh St.), tucked along Seventh Street's drag of Khmer clothiers and Cambodian groceries. Their crab noodle soup was filled with lots of things (including Jello Jigglers of pork blood), none of which appeared to be crab, but damn it was good!
—AE
Had a late lunch/early dinner at
Garces Trading Co. (1111 Locust St.). Went for the deep dish with lamb merguez — awesome stuff. We had the eggplant and artichokes to hold us over till the pie was ready, plus a bottle of Bordeaux. Skipped the dessert at GTC and headed over to Tutti Frutti (1315 Walnut St.) for an eclair and a yogurt that wound up costing like $10. I am happy to have had someone to share that with.
—AS
Saturday:
Brunch was epic 'cause the boyfriend and I double-teamed the kitchen (I never make anything).
Whipped up these pancakes (sans the vanilla bean syrup ... shockingly, the South Philly Acme didn't have any vanilla beans) and boyfriend made a frittata with leftovers (spaghetti, for example — strange, but so good).
—JR
 |
| Photo | Adam Erace |
Ultimo Coffee (1900 S. 15th St.) had a sick limited-edish El Salvadoran espresso I gulped down Saturday afternoon. It disappeared so quick that I forgot to snap a pic, so here's one of their lovely cappuccino.
—AE
 |
| Photo | Rachel Burgos |
Saturday afternoon, I made the mistake of going to see
Tron: Legacy in IMAX 3D ... at the King of Prussia Mall ... the Saturday before Christmas. Got stuck sitting in the front row, but it was still cool to look at. Went to
Taco Bell for post-movie grub, and was amazed and excited to discover that they have two new sauce packet varieties: "Salsa Verde" and "Fire Roasted Salsa." Both are inoffensive and not at all spicy; the Fire-Roasted kinda tastes like BBQ sauce. I added all three to my gordita and it was muy bueno.
—RB
 |
| Photo | Drew Lazor |
An interminable Christmas shopping session late Saturday afternoon (OK fine it was two hours tops) was rewarded with a lovely and partially giftcard-supplemented meal at
Parc (227 S. 18th St.), complete with a beautiful oyster/clam spread and a no-B.S. cheeseburger that I found killer.
—DL
Saturday, had a very late dinner at
Mémé (2201 Spruce St.) that involved a little sneakiness on my part in order to move our reservation to 10 p.m. Drank Prosecco and died over the bacon fat served with the Brussels sprouts. Was very happy with my roast chicken; it had so many different elements — the latke underneath, the pickled shallots, the foie gras. But I think the best part of the night was the harissa again, atop the boyfriend's tuna.
—JR
 |
| Photo | Adam Erace |
Sunday stopped into the
absolutely gorgeous (can I move in please?) and very new Shot Tower Coffee (524 Christian St.), quietly humming with neighborhood types getting their morning fix. Copped a quick coffee — they were brewing
Stumptown's excellent Ethiopian Yirgachaffe — and buttery baby brioche roll I devoured in the car en route to the last Headhouse market of the season.
—AE
 |
| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Sometimes, when you've had
a little a lot waaaaaaay too much to drink and the clock inches dangerously close to the witching hour, you've got to order delivery pizza from
California (3231 Powelton Ave.). And sometimes, you've got to get anchovies as the only topping. And sometimes, you'll wake up with a screaming-banshee headache the next morning and eat the three remaining pieces while standing in your kitchen and moaning in pain.
—DL
 |
 |
| Photos | Adam Erace |
Other big Sunday news:
I got engaged!!! Not sure if that's appropriate NFTW fodder, but fuck it. I'm excited and you should be too! Fiance and I kicked it old-school with veal parm dinner at
Marra's (1735 E. Passyunk Ave.), where the waitresses wrangled the entire staff over to ogle her ring. Followed it up with lots of Christmas cookies at her parents' place. The overwhelming fave: thumbprints filled with strawberry and black raspberry jam. Ho ho ho.
—AE
 |
 |
| Photos | Drew Lazor |
This is not topped with anchovies and I made it while relatively sober, and it was still somehow great — rocked
Jamie Oliver's English onion soup for dinner on Sunday night, which involved the spirited hacking of red onions, white onions, shallots and leeks and much more patience that I generally have when hungry. It turned out killer. The cheesy toast we put on top, we used some amazing American grain bread from
Ric's, purchased at AE's
Green Aisle.
—DL
Sunday: I have had some
serious lamb chops laying around in my freezer for awhile, so I pulled them out for a late dinner. Not wanting to fire up the grill, I turned to the
Tom Colicchio method of butter basting to cook them up. Paired with side of sweet pea risotto, I was was pleasantly surprised at my impromptu meal.
—AS
Sunday I was supposed to go
Kelly's Seafood (9362 Bustleton Ave.) for a holiday dinner with friends, but my boyfriend slept through his Philly car share rental.
Wahh Wahh. We ended up going to the South Philly Tap Room where I enjoyed their Southern Fried Chicken & a Sly Fox Black Raspberry ale.That chicken is probably my favorite thing on their menu, possibly ever.
—RB
 |
| Photo | Drew Lazor |
At
Omega Pizza (2145 South St.), a six-pack of
Miller High Life bottles costs $9. Also at Omega Pizza: a 12-pack of Miller High Life cans costs $10. KNOW THIS!
—DL
