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Archive: October, 2012
John Mariani of Esquire and Bloomberg fame is weighing in on the Philadelphia dining scene over at Virtual Gourmet and he's got an eclectic round up of picks. He's got nothing but good things to say about the wallet-friendly prix fixe at Sbraga, one of his top restaurants of 2012 for Esquire. He's calling high-end chain Davio's "a template for what a steakhouse in 2012 should be." Although the Fountain restaurant at The Four Seasons doesn't get much attention, Mariani is loving it as a lunch spot for a lobster chopped salad and Amish chicken matzoh ball soup. The modern Greek fare at George and Vasiliki Tsiouris' Opa gets a nod along the fairly priced selection of Greek wines and ouzos. Unfortunately things got a little salty for Mariani's tastes over at Rittenhouse Tavern. For the full Philly report head on over to Virtual Gourmet.
We're overdoing it on beers and sweets, on today's Afternoon Snacks!
Today, Brooklyn import Barcade (1114 Frankford Ave.) turns one, and as you might expect, the celebratory tap list is something to look at. Actually, it's almost a little too much to look at. But you should, or else you can just go, because the celebration began at 2 p.m. today and will go on until close.
With less than a week to go, it’s probably time to get serious about your Halloween plans. For your consideration: Cantinas Los Caballitos and Dos Segundos can always be trusted to go all out with their Halloween and Mischief Night parties. Together, they’re putting on two straight days of thematic food and drink specials, with DJ sets and some other bonuses each night. Here’s how it breaks down:
Cantina Los Caballitos (1651 E. Passyunk Ave.) takes on Mischief Night on Tue., Oct. 30, from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. On the specials board, you’ll find options like guacamole with chipotle, orange, and pumpkin seeds, camarones a la diabla, and beef heart skewers. In addition to pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest beers, they’ve got a few special cocktails planned: a Witches’ Brew of vodka and grape juice spiked with warming spices; cider made “sinister” with tequila, lemon juice, agave syrup, and a black sugar rim; and a Vampiro, which blends chipotle-infused tequila with hibiscus water and lime juice. (They’re also setting up a photo booth to immortalize your costume choice—for better or worse.)
Cantina Dos Segundos (931 N. 2nd St.) will take over for Halloween proper, with Fright Night on Wed., Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. until last call. They’ve got their own slate of special dishes, including fava bean and charred corn hummus, beef tongue tacos, and skewered sweetbreads. On the cocktail front, Dos Segundos will be serving up a frightful-sounding shot of peach schnapps, Bailey’s, blue curaçao, and grenadine called The Chupacabra, plus a few twists on classic drinks: the Blood Punch is a Long Island iced tea plus Sprite and blood orange puree, and we think you can sort out on your own where the Bloody Scary finds its inspiration.
This afternoon Cynthia Nims, author of Salty Snacks will be at Alla Spina (1410 Mt. Vernon St.) signing copies of her newly released cookbook. Pairing perfectly with Alla Spina's beer-centric menu, Salty Snacks is a how-to guide to making your own chips, pretzels, crisps, puffs, crackers, breadsticks and dips. With recipes like Cumin-Lentil Crackers and Five-Spice Duck Skin, we're pretty sure that picking up a copy of Salty Snacks will ensure that you'll think twice before picking up another bag of Lays and a can of sour cream and onion dip.
During happy hour (4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) Nims will be autographing copies of her book. $35 gets you a copy plus a selection of snacky offerings from the book and pours of a few of Nims' preferred pours.
In this week's edition of the South Philly Review Phyllis Stein-Novack is not to impressed with La Petit Dauphine (2029 Walnut St.), a newish pastry and light lunch spot in Rittenhouse.
At a lunch with her faithful dining companion/sister Sandy PSN was served a travesty of a wild mushroom soup so salty that "no human could eat it." Tomatoes on Sandy's salad were "so anemic that they needed a blood transfusion " and the salade Niçoise was missing both Niçoise olives and haricots verts.
With subpar pastry offerings and no baguette on hand, La Petit Dauphine earned single tip of the toque from Stein-Novack who only seemed to be pleased with a perfectly brewed cup of Illy coffee.
This week Adam Erace checks out The Mildred where chef Mike Santoro is transforming the former James space from a destination to an elevated neighborhood spot.
The Food Lovers' Guide to Philadelphia goes way beyond cheesesteaks, pretzels and water ice with plenty of out of the way picks like South Philly Javanese, smoked Port Richmond Keilbasa and an Uzbek outposts in the Northeast.
If you're uncertain about your Wednesday night future head on over to Le Virtu (1927 East Passyunk Ave.) where Angela Ranalli, our favorite multitalented pastry chef will be telling fortunes with tarot cards, wine sediment and coffee grounds. LV chef Joe Cicala is promising that Ranalli will be sporting some witchy head gear all night long. $20 gets you a sweet glimpse into things to come.
Between Stateside, Le Virtu, Capogiro, Green Aisle Grocery and the newly opened Will BYOB, we've been pretty stoked on East Passyunk edible happenings as of late. And not it's looking like there's going to be another exciting addition to the stretch. Passyunk Post has brought it to our attention that Joan Verratti, the country's first licensed female distiller is planning on opening a shop selling her Pollyodd Point Breeze made spirits.
Her purposed storefront at 1908 E. Passyunk Avenue would sell her full line of 18 after dinner drinks including limoncello, as well as chocolate, lime and orange flavored liqueurs. The operation would be takeout only but samples of Verratti's wares will be on hand to sip.
A few flavors of Pollyodd are available at the state store, we're looking forward to being able to pick up a bottle straight from the source. Good luck at the zoning meeting tonight, Joan!
Today's Afternoon Snacks has cute cupcakes, cheap sandwiches, free cake, and a cram session for coffee geeks.
The best part of Halloween is, of course, how flat-out adorable everything becomes. Case in point: the special Halloween cupcakes (above) from Sweet Freedom (1424 South St.)—and of course, like everything at the bakery, they’re suitable for people eating around any number of food allergies or restrictions. Varieties pictured are Boston Scream, Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin, Candy Corn Vanilla, Boo-stess, Sa-monsta (that's a Samoa cupcake - a vanilla cupcake with chocolate and caramel filling, with vanilla frosting and green-tinged toasted coconut) and Eyeball Chocolate; they’ll be available at the bakery through the 31st.
Lining up perfectly with the eighth season premier of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia The Insider is reporting that Mac and Dee, er, real life husband and wife Rob McElhenney and wife Kaitlin Olson are opening up a companion bar to their Old City drinkery Mac's Tavern somewhere west of Broad.
If you've missed out on the first two episodes of this season's hilarity head on over to A.V. Club and check out our own Emily Guendelsberger's recaps right here. Spoiler: there's some really gross soup involved.
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