Notes from the Weekend: Sept. 27

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Notes from the Weekend: Sept. 27

POSTED: Monday, September 27, 2010, 9:23 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 Anthony Sica: AS

At the amazing and raucous LCD Soundsystem show on Friday night, I couldn't help but laugh when I noticed tall boys of Narragansett and bottled water both cost sweaty dance-yrself-cleaners five dollars. I spent $15 total. DL Friday: Spent an hour and a half dismembering this 20-pound Cream of Saskatchewan watermelon from Doe Run Farm. I needed deep-tissue massage (and a new garbage disposal) after, but netted enough fruit to last me weeks. Unfortunately, it would be bad in weeks, and I needed to dispatch the melon with serious alacrity. This week on Meal Ticket, keep your eyes peeled for the three-piece saga (with recipes) on how I did just that. AE Friday night I met up with some friends at Cantina Los Caballitos (1651 E. Passyunk Ave.) for a happy-hour margarita. For dinner I saved dough and treated my friends to the bagged frozen delights of PF Chang's Shanghai Beef & Shrimp in Garlic Sauce, both ... decent. Afterward, walked over to Ray's Happy Birthday Bar (1200 E. Passyunk Ave.) to drink pitchers of gross beer and hear people drunkenly sing their hearts out. I did not participate, but I did cheer them on. RB I celebrated the end of Restaurant Week with drinks at Xochitl (408 S. Second St.) before dinner at Zahav (237 St. James Place). The sweetbreads and halloumi were standouts, but the lamb's tongue ... Jesus Christ, the lamb's tongue! Outrageous, simply outrageous. Zahav's Lemonanna is my favorite drink in the city. I wish they sold a mix for it (paging Green Aisle Grocery). AS

Photos | Drew Lazor

Saturday, visited the fam down in Maryland and put a serious shell-whipping on a bushel of blue crabs. Also checked out my mom's climbing upo, which is a variety of Filipino white squash. The trellis-hugging plant looks awesome and provides some sweet porch shade, but momdukes admits that she doesn't much like grubbing on the upo itself it doesn't really taste like anything. Wish the same could be said for her other favorite native vegetable, the soul-incinerating ampalaya (aka bitter melon). Blech. DL

Saturday, under the spell of Target, I almost bought Magic Milk Straws: skinny tubes of chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and cookies 'n' cream flavor beads that dissolve in dairy. They're from the Got Milk people and loaded with all sorts of unnatural goodness. Also, their art department was clearly stoned when coming up with this logo on the right. AE Kept it in the 'hood Saturday night by going to South Philly Tap Room (1509 Mifflin St.), where I eagerly discussed the upcoming pop-up dinner with some staffers. Started off with a Southampton Pumpkin Ale and got guacamole with homemade tortilla/fried plantain chips. I also got their Caesar salad because it's crazy good and, get this, grilled! The plate looks like two pieces of grilled romaine but you start cutting into it and realize there's mad awesome stuff hidden in there red/yellow tomatoes, marinated artichokes, onions, and roasted garlic polenta, their delicious take on the crouton. I usually make fun of people for ordering salads, but this one is great. RB Saturday: Tried to replicate the German potato salad from Resurrection Ale House (2425 Grays Ferry Ave.) to go along with some Dr. Pepper-braised ribs. Ribs were fantastic. I am definitely not German, though. AS You can have Morimoto, Bobby Flay and Cat Cora my favorite Iron Chef is Michael Symon. His book, Live to Cook, strikes a perfect balance between restaurant-quality recipes and at-home do-ability. Made the sheep's milk ravioli with brown butter and almonds for Sunday dinner. AS

Photos | Drew Lazor

The song goes that rainy days and Mondays always get one down, bu rainy Sundays also tend to equal an extra-heavy dose of I'm-not-leaving-this-house-under-any-circumstances. So we got a quick takeout order from the ever-delicious Cafe Lutecia (2301 Lombard St.) tomato bisque (STANDARD!) and a hearty chicken/sausage/veg special, plus one Alesia (serrano ham, plus cheese, tomato, lettuce and olives) and one Lutecia (cheese, bechamel, broccoli, 'shrooms). The sandwiches are great but no one, and I mean no one, can touch their soups. Life-affirming. DL

Photo | Adam Erace

Scooped a heavy spaghetti squash from Tom Culton at Headhouse on Sunday. Halved the yellow beaut, rubbed it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted it for an hour at 400. Next time around, I'll only let it go 45, as the resulting flesh was more mash than string. Still delicious finished with grated mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, lemon zest and delicata squash seed oil. AE

Photo | Rachel Burgos

Sunday I decided to go to Paesano's (901 Christian St.) for a gigantic delicious sandwich. I got the special "Stati-ooch," which was so awesomely wonderful I think it should be on their regular menu. It had smoked turkey, sharp provolone, arugula, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and garlic mayo. My friend got the "Paesano" beef brisket, horseradish mayo, roasted tomatoes, pepperoncini, sharp provolone, fried egg which was equally awesome. RB

Photos | Drew Lazor

Further drizzly weather and current cupboard-is-bare status led us to the West Philly location of Tampopo (269 S. 44th St.), where we got down on a light dinner of porky, eggy ramen and girly's favorite, the spicy teriyaki tofu bowl. Why don't I go to Tampopes all the time? It's cheap and healthy and delicious. DL Went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on more frozen goods, like fire-roasted vegetables in balsamic glaze, roasted corn (for tacos!) and turkey meatballs. I could not resist a jar of pumpkin butter because I obviously love pumpkin goods and the jar had a bunch of suggestions for how to use the product. I will try some out and report back to y'all. RB

Posted 2010-09-27 16:34:07

Rachel, were we secretly hanging out this weekend and I didn't even notice? I, too, hit up both Cantina and the SPTR. The waiter at Cantina said they don't do the tequila & tecate special anymore because of too many shenanigans (sorry, guys!), and while it's a staple, I wish I had saved stomach room for SPTR. Haven't been there since they opened a minute ago but the food looks so much better. Must make another trip for that fried chicken, which looked totally banging.

Doron Taussig

Posted 2010-09-28 10:31:52

Sunday morning we went to the Trolley Car Diner for brunch. Got a mushroom and onion omelette, which came with hash browns and toast. It was not a healthy breakfast. It was tremendous. Was subsequently about three steps slow at Sunday afternoon hoops, and rewarded myself for a poor performance with raw clams on the half shell at a Mt. Airy fair. There was a miniature donkey at this fair, but nobody ate him, thankfully.

Neal

Posted 2010-09-27 16:46:00

Photographed weddings all weekend and was fortunate enough to eat from Talula's Table. Their food is no joke: http://www.talulastable.com/

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-09-27 19:55:32

barryg, it was my first time trying the Tampopo ramen. Definitely good, and filling and cheap too. I'm also really looking forward to see what Todd Dae Kulper's ramen is like at the Iza-khyber, and not just because it's across the street from my office...

juliana

Posted 2010-09-28 16:10:42

oh hey, upo. great photo, can't believe your mom grows that! that's pretty awesome. it'd randomly pop up in my kitchen at home and kids would be like that, what IS that? and ampalaya was always the bane of my existence as a little kid.

i didn't eat anything tasty all friday and cured the ailment by trekking to the free coup de taco entourage fusion truck. the truck had been closed all summer near my house so i was pumped that i finally got to try it. got the medellin & ari-os amigos (lol), the tikka masala tofu (really good, but it would've been ballin if it were paneer instead of tofu) and thai chicken. and they were giving out free honey green tea! night was set. 

saturday was the old faithful #61 at cafe viet huong -- vermicelli with spring rolls & grilled pork. though they served it with noodles that were a little thicker than vermicelli? still really good. poured on the sriracha & hoisin & just killed it.

Jeffrey Billman

Posted 2010-09-28 11:47:12

Saturday night, the wife and I hit up the brand-new Fork and Barrel in East Falls, and it was, well, pretty goddamn awesome. My lamb burger and the wife's skirt steak were both succulent, the potato fingerlings were to die for, and the beer menu  all European, huge bottle variety  was outstanding. The joint has one of the best sour collections in the city, at least from what I've seen. I can't sing its praises highly enough. Not sure about the location though. Ridge and Midvale isn't what I would imagine the ideal spot for a candlelit European beer cafe. But who knows.

Aubre

Posted 2010-09-28 12:10:27

yikes

danya

Posted 2010-09-27 17:22:31

This weekend was all about soup for me. Bo Bun Hue at Cafe Diem. Best. Just don't slurp the broth too quickly unless you want to choke on the intense pepper. Slurp noodles, delicately sip broth. (I never remember this.) And also shared a bowl of curry-like beef stew, a special that the owner's mom makes, very occasionally. Now that was broth you can chug.

Next day made killer acorn-butternut squash soup with Headhouse haul, including a sweet onion and cream cheese. Also a bit of candied ginger from Green Aisle. Good hot or cold.

barryg

Posted 2010-09-27 18:59:50

The fried chicken at SPTR is unbelievable.

The ramen at Tampopo is good--I wish they served it at their 21st St location!  I'd be there 3 days a week.

danya

Posted 2010-09-27 17:07:17

Did you eat from one of their tasting dinners, Neal? Because I was not impressed with the food when we recently went to Talula's. Atmosphere, timing, my friends' wines, all awesome. But food summed up perfectly by one word: meh.

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-09-28 23:48:59

Dude, ampalaya is and always will be the bane of my existence. And now it's sooooooo trendy! People are like "ooh bitter melon is delicious!" Y'ALL LIE. BITTER MELON IS NOT DELICIOUS IT IS SO GROSS

GOT MILK STRAWS

Posted 2010-09-27 18:05:52

Just responding to the GOT MILK?, Magic Milk Straws at Target comments. 
First, the image you are posting here is not a GOT MILK? Straw image and was not created by anyone associated with GOT MILK?. I'm not sure where you got that image; however, you can publish www.magicstraws.com on your site to reference actual got milk? Magic Straw artwork. Additionally, (to set the record straight) the OFFICIAL GOT MILK? Straws are not loaded with "all sorts of unnatural goodness". There are no artificial colors or flavors, they are gluten free, low in calories (compared to other alternatives) and provide encourage children drink their milk. They also help parents who have children with dairy allergies by providing a healthier option for flavoring their dairy alternative milk.

Rachel Burgos

Posted 2010-09-28 13:46:52

well what a coincidence! I end up frequenting both haunts because of its proximity to well, everything south philly. I have (shockingly) not had the fried chicken...yet.

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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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