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
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
I know I mentioned trying to make
Marc Vetri's tripe stew recipe from
Amis in
last week's NFTW installment, but I kinda messed it up so decided to go v2.0 on it Friday night. This round was a smash. Recipe/more pics later this week on Meal Ticket.
—DL
Was starving after Ariel Pink/Os Mutantes on Friday, and knew exactly what I wanted: a good burger. Boyfriend suggested
500 Degrees (15th and Sansom). Honestly, the place made my night. Went simple, with only cheddar and raw onions as toppings so I could go crazy on sauce. Their BBQÂ sauce? Fry sauce? Too good. Oh, and truffle fries and birch beer. Need to go back. Also, all the counter people there have cool glasses. I'm into that.
—JR
I spent the weekend with extended family at my parents' North Jersey home. It was wonderful. For dinner on Friday, we went to
Leone's (1626 Rt 130 North), an Italian BYOB where I ordered mussels in a garlic white wine sauce — delicious and perfectly sized. My dad ordered a veal dish that was just lemon, butter and white wine. I snagged a bite and it was so yummy, it might have made me change my stance on not ordering veal out of guilt.
—RB
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| Photo | Adam Erace |
Friday, lunched on Lockhart leftovers from
Percy Street BBQ (900 South St.). The good folks there recommended the Lockhart (every meat + every side + a dessert per person) for a minimum of four people, though eight is probably a more accurate figure. So much food! Highlights included the pork belly, burnt brisket ends, mac 'n' cheese topped with a crust of fine breadcrumbs, chicken, mashed sweet potatoes under a mattress of mini marshmallows, German potato salad and smoked wings with these awesome little sweet okra and onion pickles. Food coma.
—AE
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Stopped by the bar at
Noble (2025 Sansom St.) Saturday night, had bartender
Christian Gaal's killer Saratoga cocktail (all Manhattans need both cognac and whiskey from now on) and this gorgeous ditty from
Brinn Sinnott's kitchen: braised octopus over pumpkin puree, dressed with capers and watermelon radishes. So damn good.
—DL
Saturday night, at an
upscale restaurant that will remain nameless in New Jersey, sat near a 10-top of raucous cougars and the men that love them. If you
follow me on Twitter, then you already know about the antics that ensued. I thought it was entertaining, but some diners in the restaurant were clearly uncomfortable with the camera-phone cleavage photos, prolific F-bombs and Rihanna karaoke from Leslie Mann's
40 Year Old Virgin doppelganger. (Hope none of them had the shellfish sandwich.) The scene made me wonder: When is it a restaurant's responsibility to intervene with diners that are having too good of a time, especially when BYOB status means you can't cut them off? Something to discuss in the comments.
—AE
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| Photos | Rachel Burgos |
On Saturday, my folks hosted a "fake Thanksgiving" to celebrate the birth of a new cousin, the completion of their long-in-the-works kitchen and visits from family from all over the East Coast. With 30-plus people coming, it ended up being a potluck/catered/homemade hybrid. We grazed on spinach dip, salsa and guac, a cheese/veggie platter and other small bites until it was time for dinner, when we stuffed ourselves with typical T-Day fare like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. For dessert, my absolute favorite, an amazingly dreamy tres leches cake from
Martino's, a Cuban joint in Somerville. Suffered a slight food coma, but I came through. —RB
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
Post-Noble, made our way to Manayunk's
MangoMoon (4161 Main St.) for one seriously badass dinner at the upstairs bar. Everything awesome chef/owner
Moon Krapugthong put out was sick good (sea cucumber soup and clams in a big-flavor lemongrass broth are both perfect for this kinda weather) but I especially nerded out over the roti and the moist, galangal-anointed Northern-style Thai sausage, which is just as delicious as
Trey Popp said it was in his Feb. '09 review. —DL
On Sunday, boyfriend worked on
Heston Blumenthal's chilli con carne recipe for a couple days and finally finished at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. Crazy spicy (nearly
too spicy, but that's how I like it) and very rich (last step is a stick's worth of finishing butter with lime and Tabasco and some other good stuff), super good over rice. Had to pass out immediately.
—JR
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Spam and fried rice for lunch on Sunday. Don't front. It's a Filipino thing ... JR, do you concur? —DL
I went to the
South Philly Tap Room (1509 Mifflin St.) for Sunday dinner. At my boyfriend's suggestion, I got the fried chicken, and holy smokes am I glad I did. It was some of the best I've ever had, and paired with that cheddar/jalapeno/honey cornbread, I was in heaven. Will most definitely be eating that again in the near future.
—RB
Sunday night was the fourth annual farm dinner at
James (824 S. Eighth St.), a seriously delicious celebration of local bounty from Gap's
Green Meadow Farm. I'll defer descriptions to the camera-equipped DL, who sported a dapper Don Draper blazer I'm trying to borrow sometime soon.
—AE
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
Re: the farm dinner at
James — it was tremendous. I'll have more pics/info ready in the next few days, but for now take in these two dishes, fan favorites for sure — cardoons roasted in a richer-than-rich sauce, Pocono mountain trout and housemade fennel sausage. Yessssss.
—DL
