POSTED: Monday, October 4, 2010, 9:48 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 eatinÂ’ time, Friday to Sunday. Consider this a place for good deals, great dishes, wicked cocktails, recipe triumphs (and tragedies), bizarro conversations and more. WeÂ’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
Anthony Sica: AS
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Stopped into
City Tap House (3925 Walnut St.) with a buddy on the early side Friday night, where we split a really tasty pepperoni pizza and downed a few pints (
Duvel Green, you are so good to me). Later we trekked downstairs to a tasting
Katie Loeb was hosting for her
brand-new cocktail list at Capogiro's UPenn location. More on that in this week's CP food section.
—DL
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| Photo | Adam Erace |
Friday, snacked under the (drop ceiling panel) stars at
the moments-old Watkins Drinkery (1712 S. 10th St.). Owner
Jonn Klein really cleaned the, ahem, dust off this one-time neighborhood nuisance (
eye our first look here) while maintaining the only-in-South-Philly touches. I had respectable fish and chips, plus an insane Scotch egg on special. The fatty's Faberge came encased in spicy sauce crumbles and dark breadcrumbs, its bull's-eye yolk inside set but still glossy and quivering ever so slightly.
Dogfish Punkin' Ale to wash it down.
—AE
Friday: I found myself with a handful of combine-able coupons to the
giant chain restaurant with a pepper for a logo. I drank bathtub-size pink and blue margaritas until I didn't care that I was drinking pink and blue margaritas. Â I will not apologize for my new found affinity for the ridiculously thick bacon they put on their burgers, but someone should. That stuff is insane.
—AS
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| Photo | Rachel Burgos |
Friday visited a friend working the bar at
Catahoula (775 S. Front St.). The menu looked too enticing not to try, and between the fried oysters, hush puppies, pickled vegetables and oyster shooters (with Absolut pepper and Crystal hot sauce), it made me miss New Orleans
hard. A pal and I shared a bread pudding Bananas Foster dessert that was heavenly. Oh, and heads up to cider fans — they sell
Strongbow for the cheapest I've ever seen in town, and not just during happy hour.
—RB
It's nice to come home to a home-cooked meal, better to come home to pizza from
Cacia's (1526 Ritner St.). On Friday night, I was about to go out to eat, but my self-control deactivates around carbs, so I devoured a pillow of plain white, chased, naturally, by a soft pretzel from
Center City Pretzel Co. —AE
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
Midtown Village Fall Fest in the daytime hours of Saturday. Stuck to a sick-good slaw-topped pulled pork sandwich from the
Time booth, a few beers/cocktails (we poured
one several out for the departed
APO) and an amazing and generous serving of saag paneer and chana masala from the
Bindi/
Barbuzzo/
Lolita booth, where chef
Marcie Turney was doing her thing. She was cranking stuff out faster by herself than I've seen entire kitchen staffs rock before. Be shamed, slowpoke line cooks!
—DL
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| Photo | Rachel Burgos |
Saturday I swung by
The Institute (549 N. 12th St.) for their crazy-busy all-day pumpkin fest. Drank a Southern Tier Pumking and New Holland Ichabod Ale. I tried some pepper poppers with goat cheese pumpkin stuffing and a side of cranberry dipping sauce, but pussed out and couldn't eat the giant hot-as-f**k jalapenos (I started hiccuping!), so I ate the fried goodness around them. I also had a salad that supposedly had pumpkin-chipotle dressing on it (though I couldn't tell), a delightful dumpling with some sort of delicious pumpkin puree inside, as well as a bite of a friend's order of mac 'n' cheese, made with sauteed pumpkin, onions, and Velveeta. It was great.
—RB
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Bar Ferdinand (Liberties Walk, 1030 N. Second St.), which was jam-packed, for an impromptu Saturday night bar dinner. (I always forget that Ferdy is a great eat-at-the-bar spot!) Highlights here were the unbelievable calamare in su tinto (little bits of chorizo mixed into the inky squid layer for good measure) and the clams steamed with morcilla. Winner, though, was Dave Kane's raw marinated flounder, topped with an inexplicably delicious combination of sweet, tart candied orange peel and briny, gritty sea beans. Awesome!
—DL
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| Photo | Adam Erace |
Sky Cafe (1540 Ritner St.) take-out Saturday night! Order up: house salad doused in fiery peanut dressing, featherweight fried wontons and soul-nourishing Medan coconut soup. While checking out, I impulse-purchased a baggie of these house-made Indonesian potato chips. Sticky with sweet soy and crushed chili, they're my new favorite snack.
—AE
Nana Petrillo's in
The Piazza (1050 N. Hancock St.) has a great
Capogiro gelato selection, good coffee and a sweet staff. Try this combo: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale gelato with classic stracciatella.
—DL
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| Photo | Adam Erace |
Hit up
Headhouse Sunday, where I scooped chestnuts from
Tom Culton (who's going to be on Letterman this Friday, BTW, for a segment on giant vegetables), dandelion greens and bok choy from
Weaver's Way, heirloom tomatoes from
Happy Cat Organics and this ridiculous raspberry swirl loaf from
Ric's Bread, which I spent most of the day slicing and eating while watching Red Zone, sticky purple fingerprints all over the remote.
—AE
Made Sunday dinner out of the
Zuni Cafe Cookbook, one of my favorites because the preparations are generally very simple, yet impressive. The Zuni chicken is what the book is known for (
see DL's attempts at it here), but threw together the quail and sausage braised with grapes. Couldn't find quail so used cornish hens, but still great. This line from the recipe is why I love chef
Judy Rodgers so much: "Add the grapes. They with seathe regally as they bubble up around the quail and sausage — a moment to look forward to when making this dish." I love you, Judy.
—AS
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| Photo | Adam Erace |
The reliably scrumptiousÂ
SPTR (1509 Mifflin St.) for dinner on Sunday. Drowned Eagles sorrows in
Stoudts Scarlet Lady on tap, followed by
Scott Schroeder's perfect-every-time fried chicken platter paired with mint-sprinkled watermelon salad, a fresh foil for the rich Southern specialty, plus a side of sweet local zucchini coins splashed in a spicy marinara my grandmother would respect. I love this chalked message in the blackboard-paneled men's room.
—AE
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
You already know my Sunday dinner destination if you saw
our last "Where'd We Eat?" post. Chicken Liver Caruso over spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread, both amazing. Though one of our servers mention that I'd be smart to order the livers Romano-style next time. Anyone had those?
—DL
