Notes from the Weekend: January 24

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Notes from the Weekend: January 24

POSTED: Monday, January 24, 2011, 8:43 PM

Filed Under: Notes from the Weekend

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 atÂ citypaper.net/notes.)

Adam Erace: AE Erin Finnerty: EF Drew Lazor: DL Adrian Pelliccia: AP Laurel Rose Purdy: LRP

Twice over the weekend, I slid into The Corner (102 S. 13th St.) for Official City Paper Business. Hang in there till next Thursday for the scoop on life after Buddakan for chef Scott Swiderski. âAE

Photos | Drew Lazor

Friday afternoon is the perfect time for a mini coffee adventure! So CP arts editor Carolyn Huckabay's mother's Vietnamese hairdresser provided her with a sack of pre-ground kopi luwak. It's a very expensive coffee from SE Asia, pricey because the berries themselves are (bear with me here) literally eaten and crapped out by adorable little weasel-like creatures called civets. The berries, after being passed through the animal's digestive system (and excruciatingly washed/processed, of course), are purported to create an amazingly nuanced cup of joe, so we brought the kopi over to Bodhi Coffee (410 S. Second St.), where equally curious co-owner Tom Henneman brewed us a pourover cup. Long story short, it didn't taste that great (check out Carolyn's reaction shot above). Could be because it was pre-ground, could be because the coffee was roasted way long ago, could be because it was flavored with an outside agent, could be a million different things. Sad to say that weasel poo coffee just didn't taste very good. Sigh. âDL Left my desk as the clock struck 5 on Friday to make Meal Ticket Happy Hour at The Latest Dish (613 S. Fourth St.), where our own LRP holds it down behind the bar. After downing a much needed week-ending Walt Wit with the troops, hustled to Zahav (237 St. James Place) to partake in one of the more fulfilling Restaurant Week menus I've seen. Everything was utter perfection, but I found the most pleasure in the little things, like the texture of the dates in the salatim and the crackling pops of the almond semifreddo. âEF Friday before work I hit up the prepared-food bar at Essene (719 S. Fourth St.) for what my cooks at the Dish like to call "hippie feed." Exited with a brown paper box filled with curried tofu scrambled with wild mushrooms, a delicious roasted carrot and rice wine vinegar salad, sweet roasted parsnips, beets, and broccoli rabe. And, of course, a ginger Kombucha. SUPER FOOD! âLRP Friday, after the Team Meal Ticket powwow â LRP pours a mean Raison D'Etre! â dined at the zen-like Mustard Greens (622 S. Second St.). I'm pretty sure their diaphanous steamed pork dumplings are what the angels eat in heaven. âAE After I said bye to my Meal Ticket compadres, I moseyed over to Barbuzzo (110 S. 13th St.) with my vegan friend Laura. I had been warned that this might be an issue, but the menu was way accommodating. She ordered the beet salad and veggie platter, while I got the bone marrow (out-of-control delicious), stuffed meatballs and paccheri with pork ragu. It was all superb, and our table was near a space heater, so things couldn't have been better. âAP After a Corner check-in, I popped over to Verde (108 S. 13th St.) for a cool Philly-street-name tote for the lady and a duo of Marcie Turney's artisanal chocolates. Highly reco the Italian Flirt, a salty rosemary-pinenut caramel enrobed in ganache. âAE

Photo | Drew Lazor

Dinner with some good friends Friday night at Percy Street (900 South St.). I really don't need to tell you how tasty pit mistress Erin O'Shea's offerings are, but I do need to share this artful dessert arrangement presented by amateur photo stylist/Friend of Meal Ticket Chris W. âDL Had a baller brunch with boyfriend and a couple of friends at Garces Trading Co. (1111 Locust St.) on Saturday afternoon. Standouts: orange-coriander salami, Kunik triple creme, baby artichokes swimming in a tangy preserved lemon broth with dates and walnuts, and a gorgeous Lyonnaise salad enhanced with duck confit. Arrived to work at Amada (217 Chestnut St.) for another busy Saturday night only to find a giant basket filled with chocolate in the office. For dinner I had two bags of plain M&Ms and dunked apple slices into chunky peanut butter. âLRP Saturday: I was lucky enough to be invited to the Daily Pennsylvanian Banquet, which is a dinner for everyone who contributes at an editorial level to some outlet of the DP. It was a standard catered menu â a wilted salad and a dry, lukewarm chicken breast. I left early, came home and ate some pasta. âAP

Photos | Drew Lazor

After a rousingly successful Soup Swap organized by Friend of Meal Ticket Amy R. back in November (read up on that here), the next installment in the "cook food for your friends and in turn receive mad food from them" series was this Saturday's Bean Swap. Only rule: Each person had to cook six portions of a dish featuring beans. Lots of highlights here â Rican-style rice and beans, a poppin' Hoppin' John, white beans with morcilla, chana masala and chickpea/chicken stew, to name just a few. I whipped up a simplified version of Bistrot La Minette's cassoulet (top photo) that went over well. Will share the recipe on MT this week. âDL Saturday: The bf and I took in early dinner at Nam Phuong (1100 Washington Ave.), where the prices are low and the portions are EXTREME. We split a vegetarian crepe, which tasted like Vietnamese hash browns, and some just-OK spring rolls. From their long list of veg selections I went with the sweet and sour bowl, in which veggies and tofu mingle in a bright, flavorful broth. We later ran into summertime staple Philly Flavors (2004 Fairmount Ave.) for sundaes on one of the coldest nights of the year. âEF Post-Bean Swap and post-house painting, worked up a hunger and sated it late-night at Pub & Kitchen (1946 Lombard St.). Peeped the winter market salad Felicia D. highlighted in last week's paper, a crabcake sandwich, and lots and lots of drinks. Check their barrel-aged Manhattan on the rocks, with housemade blood orange bitters. âDL To combat the chill drifting through my drafty old windows, on Sunday I cooked up a batch of Mario Batali's gullet-warming Sopa de Ajo, a simple blend of broth, garlic (we went with five cloves but could have used about five more), smoked paprika and stale crustless bread for body. Devoured the whole pot in one sitting along with 5.5 hours of Parks & Recreation. âEF

Photo | Laurel Rose Purdy

Sunday, dragged myself over to Bar Ferdinand (Liberties Walk, 1030 N. Second St.) for brunch with one of my best girls. We shared the house-cured salmon with pea shoots and creme fraiche, a rich Portabello mushroom revuelto, and a perfectly grilled skirt steak with black truffle and fried egg. Arrived home from another busy night of Restaurant Week, eating a banana, a bag of those weird popcorn chips â kettle flavor, duh â that I keep buying for some reason, and a can of Amy's lentil soup. These exhausted, half-assed post work "meals" are just embarrassing. âLRP

Photo | Adam Erace

Discovered the thoroughly delicious Coconut M&Ms Saturday at Target. EF, I smell a Weekly Candy. âAE

WEEKLY CANDY: Coconut M&Ms :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2011-02-10 13:00:48

[...] QUESTION: In one of last month’s Notes from the Weekend, Adam Erace suggested testing out Coconut M&Ms in the name of Weekly Candy. Ask and ye shall [...]

Michelle

Posted 2011-01-24 17:14:37

The snails with lentils and tarragon butter at p&k was easily the best dish of the night (Drew, how could you not mention them?!), and I would go back now for them. A full day of cleaning the new place meant I made myself the too-tired dinner of a cold veggie dog with sliced cheddar and triscuits on Sunday, with soft-baked choco chip cookies for dessert.

Posted 2011-01-24 17:12:36

My platonic man-lover Tommy made scotch eggs on Saturday: a hardboiled egg, covered in sausage, deep fried. In fact, here's the recipe he used: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/dining/19appe.html I had one of the substantial suckers and didn't eat anything else all day. It was worth the lack of appetite and my inevitable fatal heart attack. We spent the rest of the day making jokes about Tommy's salty brown balls, which led to me offering up $25 if he stuck an entire scotch egg in his mouth and ate it. He did. It was worth it.

Corbin

Posted 2011-01-24 16:39:17

Had brunch-turned-to-dinner at M. Wells in Long Island City, NY on Sunday. Well worth the 60 minute wait. Great coffee, fresh biscuits with cranapple butter and a Coquille St. Jacques, made with potato puree, razor clams, bay scallops and shrimp for me and my 3 friends to get us started. I then proceeded to inhale an amazing Egg-Sausage Sandwich on a Fat English Muffin, a hot dog with sweet bacon chili and slaw,  pickled pork tongue with mustard and soda crackers. I also sampled the seafood cobbler, Tourtiere (a Quebec specialty which is kind of like a turducken collided with a pot pie in the best way imaginable) and a creamy parsnip puree with foie gras that we couldn't stop eating! We settled for a nearly perfect banana cream pie only because they were sold out of the Pudding Chaumeur...which was described as cake batter oven poached in maple cream, served warm and TOPPED with heavy cream. Next time for sure. Great place, but don't spread it around until you get there first!

Rebecca

Posted 2011-01-24 16:04:05

Carolyn's mom here.  Looks like she was trying it black, which yes, would be pretty awful.  I did it in a press, with condensed milk, over ice.  Better.  My Vietnamese source suggests a sprinkle of cinnamon, or better yet, melt a bit of butter on top.  Worth a try, I guess.

RESTAURANT REMIX: Bistrot La Minette’s cassoulet :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2011-02-09 15:57:14

[...] was recently invited to take part in a “Bean Swap” that involved a bunch of friends cooking hearty bean-based recipes and trading them to stock up [...]

Drew Lazor

Posted 2011-01-25 10:30:49

Corbin that sounds like a most intense meal. "Turducken collided with a pot pie" is what I will now model my life after.

Jess

Posted 2011-01-25 10:33:49

Friday: cheeseburger at Johnny Brenda's. I've said it before and I'll say it again, totally underrated burger. So freaking juicy and wonderful. 

Saturday: roommate made me this amazing savory french toast with a poached egg on top. Spent the night at Teri's drinking Tecate and eating their amazing tater tots. I CAN'T EAT ENOUGH TATER TOTS.

Carolyn Huckabay

Posted 2011-01-24 16:16:17

First of all, I just got an update from my mom via her hairdresser: Apparently weasel poop coffee is best with a little butter on top. BUTTER!!1!?!

Anyway, Friday was a home-cooked meal made by my staycationing boyfriend, consisting of curry bechamel Thai sauce with noodles, broccoli and peanuts. It was all sorts of delicious, even though curry + bechamel sounds like a gamble. 

Saturday, didn't leave the house till 4:30, to make 5 pm reservations at Kanella. We ordered the dips du jour, grilled octopus, chicken cooked on a brick, butterfish with couscous and capers, cheese tortellini and an incredibly delicious oxtail ravioli, which we were told is one of the chef's top contenders for his Valentine's Day menu. We vote hell yes! After that I brought snacks to a sick friend (cheesy poofs, ho-hos) and ate most of them myself. Awesome.

Sunday spent the majority of the day in Bethlehem for boyfriend's nephew's 2nd birthday (aw). Said nephew's mom made cute-as-hell homemade cookie monster cupcakes with googly-eye icing, so everyone's faces were bright blue by day's end.

Tweets that mention Notes from the Weekend: January 24 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2011-01-24 16:22:25

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Drew Lazor and E.F., Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: NOTES FROM THE WEEKEND is live. Share your notes with Team Meal Ticket in the comments! http://ow.ly/3JnGR [...]

Notes from the Weekend: Feb. 7 :: Meal Ticket :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2011-02-07 17:42:48

[...] To’ up the last (but certainly not the least) dish from my recent friend-curated “Bean Swap” on Saturday night â this hearty, lil-bit-spicy chicken/chickpea stew, from Swapper Jess H. So [...]

Joan

Posted 2011-01-25 09:58:46

Awww I missed the poo coffee! I wonder what it tastes like when it's fresh and not pre-ground?

Mike H

Posted 2011-01-25 09:08:20

Friday: Started off looking for a pre-restaurant week drink with the gf, was happy to grab two spots at the kitchen counter at The Corner, Sipped on Mary Kellys last breath, a tasty concoction highlighted with boubon, and enjoyed watching Chainsaw work his magic, the pirogies, grilled cheese, and tuna looked especially good
 
Then on to Tweed for dinner, first impression, I dont know why they got rid of the beautiful staircase that was the centerpiece of le bon temps, but regardless the meal was honest and tasty, They cheese plate provided nice variety, but the lamb burger with tzatziki made the meal, interesting note: they put cucumber in their standard ice water
After dinner stopped in at Crocodile in old city for a drink, good beer menu, but lacked the games of the NYC location, so we moved on to meet friends at Buffalo Billiards where we enjoyed about an hour of erotic photohunt before moving to the shuffleboard tables

Saturday Spent the morning shopping the fresh markets, started at Clark park where I picked up some nice  hardneck garlic, and red beets, then to rittenhouse sq market for the most amazing Mushroom combination, and Green Aisle for some Duck Ragu from le Virtu

Sunday the Mushrooms became soup and the garlic and Duck Ragu complimented a pound of fresh rigatoni for the perfect end to a weekend

Drew Lazor

Posted 2011-01-25 16:56:24

Sorry to omit! Yes, P&K's snails are sick. Shoutout to the snail cassoulet from Jonny Mac's Snackbar days!

Erin

Posted 2011-01-25 11:40:44

Julie, I saw that too, when he went to Ethiopia.

Julie

Posted 2011-01-25 11:31:59

During the course of the weekend I managed to choke down half a pint of hot and sour soup, and half-heartedly chop up veggies for meatloaf before ordering the boyfriend to finish on account of my old lady lungs. Bronchitis is a hose beast. 

I'm pretty sure I watched Andrew Zimmern drink coffee with butter in an African country that now escapes me. It was poured hot over clarified butter, like a ghee.

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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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