Notes from the Weekend: Sept. 20

The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.

options

Notes from the Weekend: Sept. 20

POSTED: Monday, September 20, 2010, 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. Were 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

Cleaning out my kitchen cabinets on Friday, I unearthed a can of Richi jasmine tea. I barely ever drink hot tea, but I can camel through a gallon of iced tea in a day, so I tried icing the jasmine and it came out great. Just fill a deep pot with a tablespoon of jasmine tea and a hunk of ginger, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Re-use the leaves and ginger for three successive steeps. Strain, sweeten and chill. AE Friday I went to Ten Stone (2063 South St.) for a friend's birthday party. We group shared appetizers that were surprisingly wonderful, like hummus with pita bread, cheese fondue, and hot crab dip. I got the "Tuscan chicken" sandwich that was great mostly because it had artichokes on it. Drank far too many Southern Tier Pumkings (for $5! In pint glasses!). RB Friday night, hid inside my house to spare my liver and to attempt not to spend the money I don't have. Luckily, girlie came home with a takeout reuben from The Sidecar (2201 Christian St.), the most bangingest reuben of them all. DL

Photo | Adam Erace

Saturday dinner with the girl's fam in Buxco meant this warm, drippy butter cake from Fritz's (4201 Neshaminy Blvd.), a German bakery in Bensalem that's been around since 1974. Never had butter cake? Imagine lasagna made with butter (or shortening) and sugar instead of pasta and gravy. Yeah, like that. Inside the city limits, Mayfair Bakery (6447 Frankford Ave.) bakes a bang-up butterkuchen. AE Saturday morning, some friends and I tried to ignore our hangovers with breakfast at the South Street Diner (140 South St.). I stuck with coffee, and a bacon/egg/cheese sandwich on a bagel. It hit the spot, but I still stocked up on some Gatorade for the long ride down to Cape May. RB Once we arrived on the Wildwood boardwalk, I got some Curley's cheese fries with a lemonade (that shit cost like $10 too! eeeeek) and had my own little dipping area with every available extra for our table ketchup, vinegar, hot sauce, Old Bay. My thinking with condiments is usually the more, the merrier. Played some arcade games and we all combined our ticket winnings to get a bag of candy that included Tootsie Rolls, Nerds and Starburst. A great decision indeed. Stopped by Tucker's Pub (3301 Atlantic Ave.) to visit a friend working the bar and grabbed a pint of Sam Adams Oktoberfest. RB Later in the night, we drank High Lifes and Lancaster Strawberry wheat beers around a fire, and worked the grill hard with chicken garlic sausage, sweet Italian sausage, red and yellow bell peppers, Spanish onions, yellow and green squash, hot dogs and veg burgers, with some sweet basil pasta sauce on the side. It was perfect. Played some Apples to Apples and ended the night by making s'mores. RB

Photos | Drew Lazor

After a weeklong debate over where to eat Saturday night, we settled on dinner at Pumpkin (1713 South St.), where we hadn't been in more than a year. Best decision of the fledgling fall season yet. Chef Ian Moroney is doing a three-course, $35 prix-fixe to coincide with Center City Restaurant Week, but every single one of the dishes is off his regular dinner menu (no lame chicken breast!) and every single one of them is incredible. Beautiful stuff, too from the Humboldt Fog chevre and beet salad (LOOK AT THAT PLATE) to an entrée of Duroc pork, fluffy grits and figs, Moroney is smashing it. Go there. DL Sunday morning we ended up at the Hot Spot diner (4208 Atlantic Ave.). The portions stunk and the food was bland and cooked carelessly. I'd like to give workers down there the benefit of the doubt considering the season is coming to a close, but everything about it was so bad. We made up for it with some mini golf and swimming before eating our sausage sandwich leftovers, then packed up for the ride home. All in all a wonderfully unhealthy weekend. RB

Photos | Drew Lazor

Sunday: Brunch at Cafe Lift (428 N. 13th St.) for a crabby benedict that looked like a poached-egg-topped battleship and a sausage frittata. It was a little slow in there by the time we left, which made my spotting of a gigantic mob outside of Sabrina's on Callowhill all the more perplexing. Try something different, guys! Lift is awesome. DL

Photo | Drew Lazor

Sunday night, played the "what the hell do we have in the fridge?" game and ended up with a quick dinner of shrimp (marinated in garlic and WMD's amazing Spike Scallion sauce), diced-up bell peppers, fresh tarragon and Severino's pasta. Later on I got kinda hungry again so I ordered a "Tremor" stromboli from California Pizza (3231 Powelton Ave.), which always delivers when I want a stromboli (read: close to midnight or later). DL

foodzings

Posted 2010-09-21 11:11:59

had some delicious juicy burgers at sketch on saturday night and then had a kick-ass and cheap meal at dim sum garden on sunday. i've walked past dim sum garden so many times and never gone in, and i'm kicking myself for having waited so long. soup dumplings! everything was great. i'm going to go back again and again... lather, rinse, repeat.

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-09-22 00:28:25

I just went to Dim Sum Garden tonight. Pork/chive pan-fried dumplings, soup dumplings and marinated sliced pork...bestial!

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-09-22 00:30:41

John E., that makes sense re: the Sabrina's crowd. It was massive.

Tweets that mention Notes from the Weekend: Sept. 20 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-09-20 16:02:49

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Drew Lazor, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Latest NOTES FROM THE WEEKEND is live. Check it out and leave your notes in the comments! http://bit.ly/btnm3A [...]

John E.

Posted 2010-09-20 17:34:45

Sabrina's on Callowhill was jammed on Sunday as folks walked over there right after the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.  When you have 19,000 runners and add in their guests, the near-by places are bound to get packed.

Me, on Friday, I had some good beers at Time followed by some always-great tacos at Cantina Los Caballitos.  Saturday, tried out Amis and was thoroughly impressed with the innovative and tasty dishes, including the ravioli and fettucine.  Delightful.  Dessert was at Capo Gira.

Sunday, for brunch after the half marathon, was at Kite and Key on Callowhill, and enjoyed the pulled pork and some good Founders Centennial beer.

tim

Posted 2010-09-20 21:23:06

Friday night I made a BLT at home with homemade bacon, late-season tomato and Wild Flour bread.  

Saturday, I stopped by the Bryn Mawr farmers market for some provisions and rewarded myself with a chicken apple sausage from the Renaissance truck.  Really good.  For dinner, we hit Cantina Dos Segundos.  I had a Mexican hot dog (ridiculously good) and some pork belly tacos.

Sunday was 2 birthday parties with friends and family -- tomato pie at the first for lunch, then burgers and dogs at my parents' house for dinner.  Finished up the evening with Rubicon and Boardwalk Empire.

rory

Posted 2010-09-20 17:08:47

damnit drew, lift is busy but without a major line every weekend. it's perfect--i feel no guilt keeping its glories quiet (the chili spread that comes with the fried egg panino is god's gift to brunch) + no wait.

plus, i walk by sabrina's everytime i go to lift. *evil grin*

Michelle

Posted 2010-09-21 00:57:18

SamJ, that agnolotti is soooo good!

juliana

Posted 2010-09-21 15:02:28

thanks to yom kippur and the sun going down, got to share the rest of doron taussig's funnel cake at the phils game friday. powdered sugar everywhere. afterwards picked up some el jarocho -- not hungry enough for a super torta (still holding out for it though), so i got a chorizo torta instead. tasty but the texture was all wrong. everything was mushy and soft. and i love chorizo so it was semi-upsetting. 

saturday i hate to say that i hit paesano's (was giving my friend the ital mkt tour) and it was (noooo) disappointing. my bolognese felt like it had been pre-made and reheated, the lasagna seemed over-fried? it hurts me to write this. but a paesano's buff friend of mine has a theory that the first time you get one of the all-stars, you're so overwhelmed by the experience that it's kinda like chasing the rabbit hole when you do it a second or third time. thoughts??

the whole poor sandwich curse was broken later that night at the south philly taproom where i got their bacon cheeseburger & manayunk brew's california dreamin' (really into it). the pickled veggies added the perfect kick and that burger was seasoned so well. so much peppery goodness.

Shao

Posted 2010-09-20 18:12:34

I meant Shortcake and "outrageously delicious"! Got too excited about writing my review on Meme.

Shao

Posted 2010-09-20 18:08:23

Had an amazing dinner at Meme on Friday. Ordered the Agnolotti and agreed with SamJ that it was outrageous delicious. It was so good that I wanted to lick the plate. Equally addictive were the Sizzling Mussels with lemon, olive oil, and herbs. Once you eat one, you just can't stop. For entree I ordered the Salmon catch of the day and for dessert I got the strawberry shortcut. Loved the dessert so much that I had to ordered one to go. Definitely will be back later this week!

M.E.

Posted 2010-09-20 16:11:14

My favorite part of being a Philadelphian?: Introducing non-locals to Sarcones. They're always impressed for very little work on my part. My standby is the Sinatra, but I went CC this time, which is pretty much the same thing, but with roast beef instead of prosciutto and provolone instead of mozz. Somehow, later that night, I fit Nam Phoung bun in my belly. Hit up El Camino Real for early dinner on Sunday and was much more impressed than the first time I went, which was just meh. Certainly not the best Tex-Mex ever but it tastes better, minus the disappointment.

Paul

Posted 2010-09-20 16:50:54

Friday Night was the Pavement concert. I cooked up a batch of beer for this occasion simply named Pavement Pale Ale and we all drank copius amounts of the not-so-pale ale, which was tasty. 

Saturday was at Citizens Bank Park. The binge drinking continued with Sloshball, a New Orleans take on Kick Ball where you must have a beer in hand at all times. So if you catch a ball for an out and drop the beer, no out and you must get your beer before you can make a play. The other rule is that you must finish your beer at second place and get a new one before advancing. You can stack second base tho and take a breather so you don't die. There are a few other rules, but not many. I was thankful to gorge on Campo's "The Heater" afterward, which helped kill a possible massive hangover.

Sunday night was cooking at home and recovering from such an epic weekend. With goods procured from South Jersey's Westmont Farmers Market, I cooked up a fantastic flat iron steak on the grill with a side of corn on the cob, potatoes au gratin (sadly not homemade) and a side salad with all locally grown veggies. Needless to say, it was a great weekend.

SamJ

Posted 2010-09-20 17:47:49

Had a great dinner chez Katz at Meme on Friday. Agnolotti with corn, ricotta and truffle was outrageous. So was Spanish mackerel with shaved foie, hanger steak with bone marrow, sizzling mussels, raspberry pannacotta and a very nice pinot noir...rock and roll.

Marc Steel

Posted 2010-09-20 16:40:30

Friday night we hit up Pub and Kitchen. It was good, but we were given a weird table despite the place being empty. The food was fine, I had a chicken breast and my gf the salmon. All in all though, I think I'm over this place, too many new spots to go check out. The rest of my weekend consisted of not eating for a while due to yom kippur and then stuffing my face due to yom kippur and football. My mom's koogle is awesome and of course the obligatory lox, whitefish, herring, bagel, veggies galore combo. OK, here it is, the M.S. bagelwich... bagel>cream cheese>tomato>lox>onion>cucumber>swiss cheese. Nom.

Carolyn

Posted 2010-09-20 21:02:59

Kicked off the weekend by seeing a Fringe show so utterly ridiculously not-good that we had to shove Wawa hoagies down our throats afterward.

Saturday began with Benna's coffee and Cosmi's b-fast sandwiches, but the star of the day was an early dinner at Southwark. Good god, people, go here immmediately. B and I had planned on getting a few apps off the menu (IDK, my BFF farmhouse platter?) ... until our server told us about the specials. Caviar-topped raw oysters? Beef sausage with pawpaw cornbread? CHICKEN LIVER MOUSE PROFITEROLES!!?!??1? Holy crap. Then, after an AMAZING Fringe show we hit up way. Too. Many. Belgians at Eulogy. Saison Miel, you are my new best friend/sworn enemy.

Sunday was a lesson in hungover-osity, so not much of interest was ingested. I will say, though, that honeycrisp apples are still up for grabs at Headhouse. Get there!

danya

Posted 2010-09-21 06:22:29

If you didn't like the table you could've, perhaps... asked for a different one?

Bagel is toasted?

danya

Posted 2010-09-21 06:48:51

Friday, after snagging a generously donated Chemex from Kelly and also a good espresso from Bodhi Coffee, hit up my new favorite bar - Adsum. While I haven't yet tried Chef Levin's delectable edibles (pirogies, you are calling me!), I'm in love with the Head Cocktailian's concoctions.

I almost never name what I want, just switch between "What's new that you're working on?" and "I feel like something with X liquor today." Preston's creations are never too sweet, always full of multi-layered flavor and with just enough kick to beckon a nice buzz.

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-09-22 00:23:12

Wait...you went to El Jarocho and you DIDN'T GET A SUPER TORTA?! You are excluded from Super Torta night!

youre so overwhelmed by the experience that its kinda like chasing the rabbit hole when you do it a second or third time.

Not this guy, Paesano's delivers for me errytime!

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 8:43 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

First Gigs: Jeff Ziga, Little Baby's Ice Cream
If you don't know Nutella is bad for you and your kids, then you are a total idiot and a bad parent.
Bummer: Grub Street Philly shutting down
Notes from the Weekend: May 20
Frozen Drinks Alert: Water ice cocktails at Noir
Afternoon Snacks: Rachael & Guy do improv, Bacon hot dogs, Seasonal cocktails both posh and... less-so
An edible guide to Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival
Now Serving: Jerry's Bar
Spike TV's "Bar Rescue" turns Swanky Bubbles into Sheer
Hell's Kitchen casting in Philly

About this blog

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.

Follow team Meal Ticket on Twitter:

@mealticket | @carolinerussock | @adamerace

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January