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Archive: March, 2012
With the Roundeye Noodle imbroglio recently besieging Ben Puchowitz, it's easy to forget the guy also cooks at a pretty amazing BYOB you may have heard of named Matyson (37 S. 19th St.). One of the restaurant's hallmarks is its weekly-changing $45 tasting menu themed around a specific ingredient or group of ingredients. This week, Tuesday to Thursday, Puchowitz is putting offal on display for the third time in the tasting's history.
"[The offal tasting] is one of my favorite because I get to experiment with different parts of the animal that I've never worked with before," he says. "It's an experience for both me and the diners."
Cuts will include pig's head and liver, chicken gizzards, rabbit kidneys, duck tongues, even calf's brain, as the filling for ravioli furnished with black trumpet mushrooms and salsify. "I don't think anybody’s serving calf's brains in Philly right now," says Puchowitz. "This menu is about allowing Matyson's kitchen to unlock Philly's culinary chastity belt."
View galleryThe long lines outside the National Constitution Center yesterday had nothing to do with its ongoing Bruce Springsteen exhibition. Once inside, the dense crowds of beer drinkers had zip to do with the continuing St. Patrick's Day preview. OK, not exactly zip.
Tomorrow night, chef Jason Cichonski and Art in the Age will be hosting a "spirited dinner" at Ela (637 S. Third St.). The menu comprises five courses, each matched with a cocktail featuring one of three AITA liquors, ROOT, SNAP and RHUBY.
"I sat down and read the ingredient list on each of the liquors, then figured out what flavors would work well with those ingredients," Cichonski says of the method behind his multi-course madness. He's playing with all sorts of components, from foie gras (served as "carpaccio" with baby Spanish octopus and paired with a SNAP/ginger beer drink) to smoked bone marrow (accompanying a beef shank and smoked ROOT drink). Full menu after the jump. The meal runs $65 per person and there are a few seats left; reservations can be made by calling Ela at 267-687-8512.
If you peek in the windows of Square Peg at the glass-encased corner of 10th and Walnut, it doesn't look like too much has changed since the space was (like two months ago!) part of the Marathon Grill chain. (Designer Owen Kamihira is dotting the bricked-up high-ceilinged room with large-scale photos of locals.) But it's a new week, and the GuestCounts Hospitality team of Larry Cohen and Barry Gutin (Cuba Libre) and executive chef Matt Levin (Adsum) are getting ready to preview Square Peg’s menu, with a two-week test run for dinner starting next Wednesday, March 21 at 4:30 p.m. (Lunch runs begin April 5.)
"You have no idea how difficult this past weekend was," says Yoshi Yamasaki of her decision to not open her sunny Café con Chocolate (2100 S. Norwood St.) for usual business hours. "I'm in the conflict of investing on updating the kitchen and having new management."
Yamasaki, who had to take an unexpected trip to Mexico to care for her hospitalized mother, announced the decision on the café's Facebook page Friday, to the tune of wailing fans. She says service issues, the out-of-the-way location (one of the things that made it so charming), staff turnover — her brother and daughter, once staples at the cafe, don’t work there anymore — and lack of business outside brunch are among the reasons for the closure. "I'm hoping I can get back on my feet again. Something has to change."
For now, we echo her Facebook groupies: We’ll miss you, Yoshi!
Photo: Adam Erace
This was the crazy scene yesterday afternoon at the corner of 22nd and Christian — a fire originating somewhere in the second-floor kitchen of The Sidecar forced the bar staff and guests to evacuate onto the street to make way for Philly firefighters, who swarmed the building and climbed the roof to inspect the output of the hood system. Owner Adam Ritter reports that the scene was much more dramatic than the fire itself — "a small fire, with lots of cleanup." Crap timing on a busy weekend with beautiful weather and plenty of residual Craft Beer Express business, to say nothing of the brand-spanking newness of the second floor and kitchen. Good news, though: No one was injured, and The Sidecar will reopen for business tonight with a limited food menu.
Thanks to Steve Stiefel for the photos.
Back in 2007, the griddle wizards at John's Roast Pork (14 E. Snyder Ave.), usually cooking on weekday mornings and early afternoons only, dabbled in Saturday hours. It didn't last for long, but it looks like they're giving it another shot in 2012: Beginning on Saturday, April 7, the much-admired sandwich mecca will add a regular weekend shift running from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Do you hear that? It's the sound of Ikea despisers across Philadelphia solidifying plans to schlep their significant others down Columbus Boulevard to buy cornflower-blue picture frames, the promise of a beautiful cheesesteak hoagie their grease-soaked carrot on a stick. (h/t @Feliciafied)
Photo: lucindalunacy on Flickr
Monday, March 5
There's a second location of Crepe Town in the works on CCP's campus.
Healthy Bites to Go is closing as a retail café on March 18.
RIP to "Opera James" Colabelli, musician, sommelier and restaurant owner.
A.D. Amorosi reports from the last night of the Perrier Era at Le Bec-Fin.
Tuesday, March 6
Notes from the Weekend is full of Southern fare, murder mysteries and irascible bird-flipping chefs.
Jake's and Cooper's are getting a makeover in Manayunk.
Wednesday, March 7
The all-veg operation Kung Fu Hoagies debuts in West Philly.
Honoring Charles Bukowski's life and death with a marathon day of drinking.
We gave away a copy of The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook.
We've got another Chipotle location in Center City.
March 12 to 17 is Shad Week at Oyster House.
Thursday, March 8
There's an all-star Slow Food chefs' tasting at Pumpkin scheduled for later this month.
American Sardine Bar is working on an outdoor garden (with seating!).
Please share your thoughts on Taco Bell shells made of Doritos.
Earth Bread + Brewery ferments more than beer — they also house-brew their own kombucha.
Bartenders Phoebe Esmon and Christian Gaal have left The Farmers' Cabinet.
Happy Hour Hopper visits the buck-a-shuck party at Stateside.
Friday, March 9
The Monk's crew is taking over Amis Industry Night.
Hot dogs, PBR, chips and a toy — it's the Kensington Happy Meal at El Bar!
The Dapper Dog is back in action in NoLibs.
The spice-cured carrots at Vedge are something you need to eat immediately.
Jar Bar, a new raw-food café from the creators of Catalyst Cleanse, is now open.
Alan Su, a Chinese-by-descent Temple alum with both front- and back-of-house experience in the restaurant industry, is looking to open Nom Nom Ramen (20 S. 18th St.) in the Center City space that was last the Korean quick-serve B.B. Go. Su says he's tested out ramen-yas across the country, leading him to the conclusion that Philly needed more dedicated spaces for the stuff. Shooting for "the first day of spring" (technically March 20, or next Tuesday) for a soft-open, Nom Nom will specialize in rich hakata-style soup (that's the fatty pork-bones broth), though Su also sends along this pic of a spicy miso-based variation that'll be on his menu.
UPDATE [12:45 p.m.]: Just chatted with Su and got some more details. "I've tried ramen everywhere," he says, "and I wasn't able to find anything remotely close to what I've tasted elsewhere in Philly." Nom Nom will be a true hakata-style ramen-ya in that all soups with start with a tonkotsu (pork) base, to be modified with the addition of miso, soy sauce or salt later. Seasonal specials will come into focus once Nom Nom is up and running; expect a soup boasting home-style crab stock combined with tonkotsu broth, among other options. Su won't offer gyoza — he feels it's overdone — but does plan on doing apps like salads and pork and soft-shell crab buns.
- Marilyn Hagerty, a food writer in Grand Forks, North Dakota, was just doing her job by writing this review of the newest and hottest restaurant in town, Olive Garden. The internet seemed to have caught on to the piece and how it reflects a simpler way of life 'round those parts, and Camille Dodero of Village Voice interviewed Hagerty about her new-found popularity. Hagerty is a sassy bitch, ladies and gentlemen, and I like her for that.
- Little old ladies from the Dakotas aren't the only inconspicuous food writers out there — we got rappers, too. Francis Lam wrote this poignant piece on the Notorious B.I.G.'s use of food imagery in his lyrics, from recalling his sparse childhood meals to boasting about the expensive bubbly he drank.
- The creative geniuses over at Molson Coors are coming out with an inventive new product, Coors Light Iced T. Not to be confused with Ice-T, the beverage doesn't actually contain any iced tea, just extra chemicals to give the beer the flavor of the summertime drink. I know you're excited, but it won't be available in America for a bit. They're giving it a test run in Canada first.
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