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Archive: May, 2012
The primary gripe people seem to have about The Food Trust's Night Market series, which kicked off in October 2010 in East Passyunk, is the crowd crush — daps to FT for rolling out one of the city's most popular and prominent food series, but that often translates to long lines, interminable waits and vendors running dry of product. If you ask us, it's shortsighted not to expect as much — toss a bajil hungry people into an annexed area and there will be bottlenecks. Deal with it. But The Food Trust has developed a new bit of programming to introduce a VIP-type element to its 2012 events. For $50, you can become a "Friend of Night Market," which entitles you to beer from Yards, cocktails from Quaker City Mercantile, vouchers for food from various participants and a comfy place to perch, beneath a tent complete with snack spread from Catering by Design. For queue haters, note that FoNM status will not grant you the power to skip lines at vendors and food trucks.
The Food Trust will roll out the Friend program at the first Night Market of 2012, scheduled for Thursday, May 24 at Second and Poplar. Friend tix are available online, and if you purchase before midnight tomorrow, you'll lock in an early-bird price of $45 a head.
The mobile-biz brainchild of childhood friends Joe Cohen and Mike Neal, Gozen Yogurt is Philly's first self-serve froyo truck, traveling the city in a retro-fitted military vehicle. The business started back in October 2011, with Gozen setting up shop at various events and festivals. Once the weather got cold, they closed for the winter, reopening three weeks ago for spring. Now Gozen stations itself at several locations in town — Love Park Mondays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and at 33rd and Arch Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The weigh-and-pay truck serves eight flavors at a time, with numerous toppings options; chocolate, vanilla and original tart are staple flavors, with the other five rotating biweekly. Lately, they've been offering cookies and cream, cake batter and blueberry acai tart. They also feature special seasonal flavors (think pumpkin or berry sorbet). Follow them on twitter at @GozenYogurt or peep their website for menu updates, locations and news.
Photo: Courtesy of Gozen Yogurt
Notes from the Weekend is a 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. We'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.)
- Because everything Ashton Kutcher does is cool, here are some spots he did for Popchips. The ads parody video dating profiles, in which Kutcher plays Darl, a "diva," a biker named Swordfish, a British hippie called Nigel and Raj, a Bollywood producer. Of course, Raj offended everyone so his ad was pulled. In my professional opinion, I'd say the ads are very effective, if Popchips' goal is to not sell any of their products and reinforce the fact that Ashton Kutcher is irrelevant.
- You know that thing when you have a bag of chips and you're trying to open it but you just can't and then finally after tugging on it forever you can but then the chips fly everywhere and the bag rips in half and it's just such a mess and you're so frustrated but then you eat the chips anyway including the ones that fell on the floor because you put in so much effort opening the bag? John Spevacek is the man to talk to about that extremely taxing scenario. Spevacek has written an essay, using words like "variable," "polymer" and "feasible," explaining why bags of chips are so difficult to open. It's all his fault.
Last summer, Philly native Lexi Malmros started dreaming about the marriage of beer and cupcakes. This January, things started cooking, literally, as the culinary-school grad began to experiment with recipes. Out of her trial-and-error and Twitter brainstorming came the "King's Cup," a cupcake with Heath Bar cake and coffee buttercream icing, both made with Victory Brewing Co.'s Storm King Stout. So began Malmros' Beer Cakes project. She's sure to stress that her cupcakes are not just inspired by local brews: "I make cakes that taste like beer!" she proclaims. Her latest recipe sounds good, too: strawberry banana cake with strawberry banana buttercream icing, both made with Lancaster Brewing's Strawberry Wheat.
Beer Cakes are not yet available commercially, but that's the goal: Malmros has a Kickstarter set up, aiming to raise enough to pursue a local storefront with beer for drinking while folks wait for their cupcakes to be baked to order. Malmros' big-picture aspirations also include a food truck and locations in other cities that will focus on cupcakes made with beer from area craft breweries.
Le swanky Sofitel (120 S. 17th St.) has about a hundred new guests: the tomato, squash, pepper and herb plants sprouting in from its new rooftop garden, Jardin des Fleur de Lis. Under the direction of executive chef Jim Coleman, who came on board in March, the garden will supply the hotel’s Liberte Lounge, as well as the employee cafeteria. Coleman will use the garden's crops all spring and summer; lavender, mint and other herbs are already making their way to the bar for frosty glasses of maison sangria.
Photo: Courtesy of Sofitel
Bibou (1009 S. Eighth St.), the culinary child of Pierre and Charlotte Calmels, is turning three, and Brad Spence of Amis (412 S. 13th St.) is throwing a birthday party-themed Industry Night tonight in honor of the French BYOB. Calmels is preparing a tripe-centric dish — perhaps a version of his mainstay braised tripe (pictured above) — and a traditional French stew for the celebration, while Spence is serving his take on French onion soup along with porchetta and house-pickled vegetables. For dessert, they'll have semifreddo in three layers to resemble the French tricolor. Come for the Calmels, stay for the Champagne (and beer and seasonal cocktails and shots, if you want). Standard Industry Night practices apply: free food, drink specials, cool guests, tipping well, restaurant pay stub necessary for entry. Sorry civilians, you're just going to have to stay home watching Amelie.
Photo: Jessica Kourkounis
Monday, April 30
N.Y. Bagel Cafe and Deli opens on South Street.
Lots of food activity in nearby Lansdowne: Argana Moroccan Cuisine just opened downtown.
Tuesday, May 1
Wednesday, May 2
One of those days, sorry y'all.
Thursday, May 3
What's in CP's May 3 food section?
Friday, May 4
A look inside the brand-new Vernick Food & Drink in Rittenhouse.
The Philadelphia Mobile Food Association hosts the first installment of its monthly pop-up series.
Spiga, from the team at La Castagne, is open at 13th and Locust.
Dock Street goes big with 750ml bottles.
The second annual Burger Brawl benefits Meredith Elementary School.
The Triangles on Grays Ferry Avenue Gateway Project is throwing a block party! Scheduled for tomorrow, May 5, from 1 to 7 p.m., Plazapalooza is a celebration of the Grays Ferry neighborhood that showcases local businesses and organizations. Area merchants, bars and restaurants are opening their doors and offering special deals for people attending the 'looza. Vendors will include Sanna's Old Towne, PharmaDirectRX and Bicycle Therapy. Grace Tavern, a Grays Ferry staple, is setting up outside and selling four draft beers (Yuengling Lager, Yards ESA, Stoudts Pilsner and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), fresh-squeezed lime margaritas in honor of Cinco de Mayo and $1 fries with bourbon mayo. Parents are encouraged to bring their children for arts and crafts and other kid-centric activities from Odunde 365. Enjoy live music from Clef Club Youth Jazz Ensemble, Andrew Dalzell of SOSNA and many others. Entrance to the event is free. Peep The Triangles on Grats Ferry Avenue Gateway Project website for updates.
Rob and Maggie Wasserman of Rouge (205 S. 18th St.) are bringing back Burger Brawl for a second year, this time with even more worthy competitors.
On May 6, 20 professional chefs are competing at the Fleisher Art Memorial (719 Catharine St.) to win best burger and help raise $40,000 for Meredith Elementary School. Last year's winner, Jennifer Carroll, is returning to defend her title against the likes of Marcie Turney of Barbuzzo, Robert Aikens of The Dandelion, John Taus of The Corner, Brian Ricci of Kennett and Jason Cichonski of Ela. The discerning palates judging the patties include Meal Ticket's own Drew Lazor, Marc Summers of The Food Network, Michael Klein of philly.com and Grub Street's Collin Keefe. Philly.com/food, which is one of the event's sponsors, has put together a short video of a few competitors showing off their burger entry and talking some smack (above). They've also listed each burger for the public to vote on. Entry to the event is $75 and tickets can be purchased on the Burger Brawl website up until May 5 (no tix the day of). One hundred percent of the money raised will go to Meredith Elementary.
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