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Archive: February, 2013
Today on Afternoon Snacks, we've got macarons and other gorgeous Valentine's Day goodies, dessert picks from Meal Ticket's founding father, and a great vertical tasting event tomorrow at Devil's Den!
Metropolitan Bakery is showing off their Valentine's Day treats, and—no surprise here—they look pretty delicious. Above are ridiculously perfect-looking macarons in "red hot" cinnamon and white chocolate coffee flavors (thanks, don't mind if we do have a dozen or two!). Drop in for a visit and you'll also find tons of other perfect V-Day sweets, including strawberry and raspberry coeur a la crème, brownie bites topped with whipped ganache, chocolate cherry bread, raspberry linzer cookies, and pâtes de fruits.
Well folks, Valentine's Day is merely a week away and we've got another profoundly romatic/kind of ridiculous dinner option for you. Confirmed oyster enthusiast Dave Magrogan is offering up six dozen oysters and a a bottle of bubbly for $100 at both locations of Doc Magrogan's (3432 Sansom St. and 117 East Gay St., West Chester) in honor of V-Day. Yes, that's 72 half-shells to slurp with your special someone. The Doc is dubbing this Valentine's Day oyster extravaganza a "challenge" but we'd like to think of it as an intimate evening of bivalve enjoyment.
On the latest episode of Dude Food Jeff Michaud and Brad Spence are heading into the sausage corner of Amis (yeah, we totally love that there's a sausage corner) and grinding their own. As per usual the six minute tutorial is chock full of helpful tips for home sausage making like keeping your pork shoulder-fat back mix ice cold to avoid an undesirable crumbly link. Head on over to Tasted's YouTube page to check out the sausage action and while you're there you might want to get in on some other totally worthwhile videos like the Japanese mayo-topped pizza or a very useful list of 5 cocktails for when you have the flu.
Man, modern news works fast. Marky Marc dropped the Twitter bomb yesterday that he's opening a pizzeria at 1939 Callowhill, and we've got a few things to add from the man himself: "It's in the Granary building ... a small 1400 [square foot] place with a liquor license," he says. "We'll be serving pizzas and some salads. Very small menu...just great products. Really fun." Asked whether the pies would be crackly crisp Osteria-style or the doughier Neapolitan variety, he responded, "Osteria-type but with a little different dough." Different in that we won't eat three in one sitting? Guess we'll see.
Back in November, we told you about the first in a series of guest chef dinners at Heirloom (8705 Germantown Ave.), where chef Al Paris would invite those chefs he sees as most influential on the Philly dining scene to cook with him in his kitchen. He kicked things off with an appearance by Georges Perrier; now, he'll welcome Aliza Green to come in for a one-off Pugliese feast on Tue., Feb. 19.
To those Philadelphians that remember the city's fine dining boom in the '70s, Green will need no introduction. She made her name cooking at spots like Ristorante DiLullo and the White Dog Café; in the '90s, she teamed up with Perrier to co-author Le Bec Fin Recipes (Running Press, 1997). Since then, among other pursuits, she's continued on as a prolific cookbook author: most recently, she published The Butcher's Apprentice (Quarry, 2012), and is also well-known for her encyclopedic series of "Field Guides" to, well, just about all things produce.
For the dinner on the 19th, chefs Paris and Green will team up to put out a four-course Pugliese feast that will set you back $75 a head. There will be four seatings, ranging from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. (the last collaboration proved very popular, so of course, an early reservation is not a bad idea). The menu (click through to see it in its entirety) kicks off with burnt-wheat foccacia and a spread of antipasti, then offers options including tiella—a celebration of carbs that you might think of as Pugliese paella—and handmade cavatelli with lamb ragù. Dessert is an offering of regional sweets that might be enough on its own to convince you to head out to Chestnut Hill.
Looks like Jersey isn't the only place getting a new Vetri joint. According to this twitpic Vetri is opening a pizzeria at 1939 Callowhill right around the corner from the Whole Foods and the Barnes. If the pizzas at Osteria (we're looking at you, Lombarda) are any indication, Pizzeria Vetri is going to be turning out some serious pies.
High-class candy hearts, new specials at Jake's, a blast from the past apropos of not much, and "beer-powered beer," all on today's Afternoon Snacks!
Conversation hearts! They're the candy corn of Valentine's Day, which is to say, they are a seasonal candy that can be bought by the sackful for about 25 cents the day after the holiday they represent, and that I will happily eat until I feel queasy while dozens of people around me squinch up their faces and are all, "Ugh, how can you eat that, they're not even good."
But if you find yourself in that latter camp (i.e., judgmental onlookers' camp), maybe a fresh, homemade version of the candy made by an actual pastry chef will be more your speed. In which case, cast an eye toward Davio's (111 S. 17th St.), where pastry chef Thomas Heck is customizing his very own hearts for dinner service on Valentine's Day. You can even suggest some messages for him by tweeting your ideas with the hashtag #candyheartsphilly (direct them @daviosphilly), and if yours is chosen you'll win a $50 gift certificate to the steakhouse.
February specials, a PB&J how-to, and a smart use for spent grain, after the jump! »
Thursday, two of Team Meal Ticket's favorites things are coming together: Dogfish Head and Scott Shroeder. The off-centered brewery and off-centered chef are doing a four-course, family-style, beer-paired feast at American Sardine Bar (1800 Federal St.) starring Country Time pork ragu with polenta and DFH's newly released Sierra Nevada collab, Rhizing Bines. (Burton Barton, Indian Brown Ale and the rare casked 75 Minute IPA will also be poured.) Call or pick up your tickets ($70++) at ASB and peep Scott's full menu after the jump.
On February fourteenth, you might want sensual fare dished up in the privacy of your home or unveiled in a dimly lit restaurant.
But if you favor the bizarre, you might want something different. Maybe Valentine’s Day makes you feel weird. Maybe it just makes you want to laugh.
If you fall into the second camp, then boy oh boy, do we have a treat for you. Meal Ticket has mined the Valentine’s Day archives to find two really odd food-related traditions, one past and one present.
Last night’s Beyoncé concert Super Bowl kicked off a month that’s all about the brewski.
Lebanon’s first and only craft beer – dubbed 961 in reference to the country’s international dialing code – arrives at Bryn Mawr’s Garrett Hill Ale House (157 Garrett Avenue) this Thursday at 6 pm. Rub shoulders with banker-turned-beer guy Mazen Hajjar and try his featured creations, including a Hong Kong International Beer Award-winning lager and a Middle Eastern spin on the English IPA that smacks of sage, anise, and mint.
Having gotten your fill of worldly libations, head to Devil’s Den (1148 South 11th Street) for something local. At 7 pm they’re hosting the Weyerbacher Vertical Insanity Tasting, where you can sample a flight of four robust Pennsylvania beers: the 2011-13 renderings of Weyerbacher Insanity, plus a dose of Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot.
Last but not least, mark your calendars for February 20th, when the Den brings you another booze-filled evening, this one dedicated to Fourplay, Stoudt’s new limited release IPA. Stoudt’s drafts and flights are a dollar off after seven, and the first twenty-four to order Fourplay score a free Stoudt’s pint glass.
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