Eat This Immediately

EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: Summer gnocchi at Pub & Kitchen

POSTED: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 10:38 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately

Photo | Drew Lazor

The gnocchi at Pub & Kitchen (1946 Lombard St.) has always been good chef Jonathan Adams and crew do it like the French do, whipping up pate a choux (we've been talking about choux dough lots lately, no?) and piping it into hot water to form delicate little buggers in the parisienne style. Their latest ode-to-summer rendition, though, is so sun-kissed it requires your attention. Adams starts with a blue crab jus he reduces, then folds into whipped butter kicked up with togarashi; this rich, spicy base then meets the gnocchi, plus halved cherry tomatoes, crisp, sweet snap peas and delicate chunks of peekytoe crab that are difficult to distinguish from your dumplings past dusk. Take one bite and you're outside. Take another and you're wearing flip-flops. Take a third and you're concocting an excuse to wriggle out of work the next day so you can skip down to the shore and feel the breeze curl around your ears. They do this in their slumber, summer. Eat this immediately!

Tweets that mention EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: Summer gnocchi at Pub & Kitchen :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-07-28 18:15:18

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philadelphia Places, Deva Watson and Deva Watson, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: @chefjonnymac's summer gnocchi at Pub & Kitchen http://bit.ly/9m2Rce [...]

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 10:38 PM Permalink | Post a comment

EAT THESE IMMEDIATELY: Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews

POSTED: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 7:06 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately

Photo | Drew Lazor

Holy hell are we are obsessed with Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews. They come in what looks like a fat cigarette pack (one point), feature great fake fruit flavors like blue (two points) and are infinitely mix-and-matchable (six bajillion points). This might be sacrilege to admit, but we prefer their chewy, juicy texture to overly sticky Starburst. Best thing about these, though? They feature all the gnawing appeal of an adult chewable supplement with none of the pesky vitamins or minerals. Eat these immediately!

Matt

Posted 2010-11-04 16:51:58

They look like Now And Laters

Michelle

Posted 2010-07-13 14:13:11

I'm not a big candy eater, but these are truly amazing!

Nick

Posted 2010-07-13 15:52:44

damn, must cop.

upma

Posted 2010-07-13 15:59:00

I won't believe you if you tell me they're better than Hi Chew (or, as I like to call them, Japanese Bonkers).  Are they?

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-07-13 16:06:00

Good question, Upma. I would say between the two that I prefer Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews, if only because I think they take more like fake candy fruit than real healthy fruit. I applied the same logic as a kid, when I enjoyed Hi-C Ecto Cooler juiceboxes better than 100 percent fruit Juicy Juice..it's that fructose!

upma

Posted 2010-07-13 17:45:30

Alright.  If I see any, I'll give it a go.

Jackie

Posted 2010-07-14 05:11:39

send some to meeee!

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 7:06 PM Permalink | Post a comment

EAT THESE IMMEDIATELY: Summer specials at Sycamore

POSTED: Tuesday, July 6, 2010, 6:37 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately

Stopped by Lansdowne's Sycamore (14 S. Lansdowne Ave.) over the long weekend to grab a peek at some perfect-for-summer dishes Sam Jacobson has going the British-born chef was kind enough to cook up a sampling of his stuff for us to share with all you city types who don't make it out to the DelCo hamlet with any regularity. Jacobson's lineup rotates frequently based on what's available, meaning he won't be cooking all these dishes every single day, but it's most definitely worth giving a ring to see what's on the menu on a given evening if he's doing even one of these on your night, you're good.

Photo | Drew Lazor

For his "wild mushrooms on toast" starter, Jacobson sautés up a mix of meaty porcini, chanterelle and royal trumpet mushrooms, dresses them with a bit of Green Meadow farm garlic chives and plates it atop a buttery, pan-fried crouton wearing a big, runny truffled duck egg. Messy in the best way and super-shareable.

Photo | Drew Lazor

One dish Sycamore's been doing in surprisingly high volume sounds bizarre on paper Jacobson pairs a crispy caramelized octopus tentacle with a tangy blueberry gastrique (!) and cumin seed sourdough toast. It doesn't sound like it should work, but it really, really does just ask professional skeptics like the Inquirer's Craig LaBan, who was wowed by the dish in a May review.

Photo | Drew Lazor

Here's our favorite: Jacobson's lapin a la moutarde, a juicy Lancaster rabbit leg (plus some pulled meat) braised in sweet Riesling, Dijon mustard and creme fraiche and served on a bed of marcona almond-studded basmati rice alongside crisp Green Meadow Farm carrots and beans. What's nice about this dish, aside from the deep flavor that braise lends to the meat, is its great texture, a result of attention to detail it wasn't just lazily stewed to death for 7,000 hours, then tossed on a plate and sold as "fall-off-the-bone tender." Pour one out for your fallen brethren, Hip-Hop. Eat these immediately.

Tweets that mention EAT THESE IMMEDIATELY: Summer specials at Sycamore :: Meal Ticket :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-07-06 13:58:29

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Drew Lazor. Drew Lazor said: RT @mealticket EAT THESE IMMEDIATELY: Summer specials at Sycamore http://bit.ly/cPVZTR [...]

poncho

Posted 2010-07-06 22:10:13

The food at Sycamore is truly wonderful and I hope more people try it.  I grew up in Lansdowne and it's great, for so many reasons, to have a restaurant of this caliber in town.  So everyone go eat at Sycamore!

Memeza

Posted 2010-07-19 17:18:26

I definitely agree. Sycamore is a must visit for anyone in the Philadelphia area.

Meal Ticket’s 2010 in pictures: July :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2010-12-31 18:22:43

[...] - EAT THESE IMMEDIATELY: Summer specials at Sycamore [06jul10] [...]

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 6:37 PM Permalink | Post a comment

EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: Dry Pepper Crab at Han Dynasty

POSTED: Tuesday, June 15, 2010, 8:01 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately

Photo | Drew Lazor

Perhaps it's a bit barbarous of us to give this dish the ETI treatment as it's a recurring special that isn't available every day, but it's so good we'd feel guilty not talking about it. Last night we genuflected at the altar of the dry pepper-style crab at Han Dynasty (108 Chestnut St.), and we're still thinking about it. It's served whenever owner Han Chiang heads to Chinatown to pick up a big order of seafood, which is to say it could be available anytime. It's a hell of a task, this dish ($15.95): Chiang's chefs portion up hard-shell crabs, lightly dust them in flour to provide a salty crunch, deep-fry them and then stir-fry the suckers with peppers in hot pot stock, which the crab meat engulfs in an embrace, like two people in love who haven't seen each other in a year. This painstaking process turns out shells hard enough to provide the fastidious glee of digging out the tender meat inside, but soft enough to crack between your thumb and forefinger; this Marylander approves. Soft-shells prepared identically appear as a special from time to time, too, but as you might imagine they're snapped up crazy fast. Eat this immediately.

poncho

Posted 2010-06-15 15:11:16

I recently ate at Han Dynasty recently & really loved it!  I think my favorite dish was cucumbers in chili oil and sesame oil.  It's an appetizer but i could eat that as my meal everyday!

Shao

Posted 2010-06-15 15:40:28

Can't believe I haven't tried Han Dynasty yet. This looks great. Nice photo too. :)

Tweets that mention EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: Dry Pepper Crab at Han Dynasty :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-06-15 19:38:49

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Drew Lazor and Sean Kaplan, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Eat This Immediately: dry pepper crab at @handynastyphila http://bit.ly/cJMyhS [...]

Daniel

Posted 2010-06-16 12:19:08

That new camera and you are taking some ridiculously nice pictures.  Also, I need to go here.

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-06-16 13:23:58

Thanks, Daniel! I'm trying my best. Still have so much to learn.

Foobooz » Around the Web: Eat This Now Edition

Posted 2010-07-08 08:27:05

[...] Photo by Drew Lazor, Meal Ticket [...]

Foobooz » Year in Review: July

Posted 2010-12-31 10:01:35

[...] Dry Pepper-Style Crabs at Han Dynasty [Han] Chiang's chefs portion up hard-shell crabs, lightly dust them in flour to provide a salty crunch, deep-fry them and then stir-fry the suckers with peppers in hot pot stock, which the crab meat engulfs in an embrace, like two people in love who haven't seen each other in a year. This painstaking process turns out shells hard enough to provide the fastidious glee of digging out the tender meat inside, but soft enough to crack between your thumb and forefinger; this Marylander approves. – Drew Lazor, Meal Ticket [...]

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 8:01 PM Permalink | Post a comment

IN SEASON: A.T. Buzby strawberries

POSTED: Monday, May 3, 2010, 3:49 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately | Field Trip | Product Placement

A.T. Buzby Farm

Fruit worth fighting over

The Headhouse Market opened on Sunday, May 2 with a bang of fresh produce, hand-made sausages and cheese, flowering plants and a heavy dose of farmer worship. Three Springs Fruit Farm rolled out crates of overwintered apples and gave away cool reusable bags to folks who signed up for the mailing list; Aimee Olexy herself presided over the onion jam and lamb sausage with golden raisins Talula's Table had on offer and that irascible Tom Culton of Culton Organics showed up with another funky headdress, as well as freshly-dug ramps that sold out immediately. However, none of these worthies drew the elbow-jabbing swarms that A.T. Buzby Farm commanded; and the reason is red: strawberries. The New Jersey family farm had boxes of the ruby fruits on sale for $5.50 each or $10 for two, and once you bit into the perfectly ripe flesh, it was truly spring. Red all the way through, these first juicy achenes of the season smack you in the tongue with sweet summer taste memories. In addition to boxes of the fruits, Buzby also had strawberry hanging baskets on offer for $22. Properly cared for, these plants will yield fruit all summer long. Get it before some yuppie takes out your knees for the last basket.

Posted by Felicia D'Ambrosio @ 3:49 PM Permalink | Post a comment

EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: The Slate Stuffed Burger

POSTED: Monday, April 19, 2010, 8:54 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately

Photos | Drew Lazor

Chef Matthew Hartnett, who's been cooking at Slate (102 S. 21st St.) since this past December, has a foreal-foreal best-burger candidate on his hands with this unapologetically delicious beast, which we tried for the first time on Friday night. Slate's signature burger, at $14, is a hair more expensive than your average bar snack, but it's so very worth it here: Hartnett stuffs his burger patties with a mixture of tender short rib and mushrooms, which creates some savory textural trickery upon first bite. (Imagine eating a silky soft-serve cone and finding a bunch of Twizzlers tucked into the ice cream. OK, now imagine a beef-fat-laden version of that.) Finish it off with a heap of melted bleu and a side of truffled fries and you've got a serious contender. What's most appealing about the burger, flavor bombasticity aside, is that it's really easy to eat — there's no seared foie or heirloom tomato or frisee or pickled rhubarb shotgun-spraying in every direction every time you sink your teeth in. It's interesting enough to stand out from the bunned pack, but traditional enough to grub on without feeling like you should be wearing dry-clean-only slacks. Eat this immediately.

Marie DiFeliciantonio

Posted 2010-04-19 16:25:27

that's the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

poncho

Posted 2010-04-20 15:30:29

I, too, recently ate at Slate and had the MOST delicious fried chickpeas.  Eat those immediately Philadelphia!

jason

Posted 2010-04-20 15:55:07

this looks most delicious, i'm getting a food boner.

big d

Posted 2010-12-13 17:35:18

I just had a food ejaculation.

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 8:54 PM Permalink | Post a comment

EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: Market Day fleur de sel Caramels

POSTED: Monday, April 5, 2010, 5:59 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately

Photo l Gil Ortale

Market Day canelÃ© (standard and mini) and fleur de sel caramels

If you read the Philly Market Cafe blog, you know author Gil Ortale worked on his recipe for the traditional Bordeaux pastry canelÃ© for months before offering them for sale as Market Day CanelÃ© (say cahn-eh-lay). "I cried gallons of tears over them," said Ortale in a telephone interview. The notoriously fickle pastries, which unite a crunchy, almost burnt shell with a yielding custard-like interior flavored with vanilla and rum, require recipe adjustment for humidity, different flours and maybe even the phase of the moon.

This hard-won fight left Ortale unprepared for the instant success of his new Market Day fleur de sel Caramels. The soft candies, made primarily from butter, sugar and heavy cream, come in caramel and chocolate caramel versions sprinkled lightly with sea salt. The first individually-wrapped $2 piece I tasted was rich, creamy and sweet, with the salt adding complexity and bringing out the pure flavors of the butter and sugar. The chocolate version was just as lovely, with the subtly dusty, slightly bitter cocoa taking the edge off the sweetness.

Ortale will partner again with Joe Coffee for a stand in the Headhouse Farmer's Market this season (opening Sun., May 2); the duo have been hitting the Piazza at Schmidt's Saturday market since its inception. Ortale's oft-referred-to "ladyfriend" mans the Market Day CanelÃ© sales at Clark Park's Saturday market, where a recent customer bought out her supply 20 pieces at a time.

Stationary retailers stocking the caramels include Pumpkin Market (1609 South St.), Quince Fine Foods (209 W. Girard Ave.) and Green Aisle Grocery (1618 E. Passyunk.).

Eat This Immediately.

Market Day Caramels on Meal Ticket « Green Aisle Grocery

Posted 2010-04-05 15:13:49

[...] Meal Ticket’s Felicia D. suggests you eat Market Day’s salted caramels immediately. The soft candies, made primarily from butter, sugar and heavy cream, come in [...]

Cara

Posted 2010-04-07 14:16:41

I've had both and are utterly delicious to say the least. Gil's hard work and superb culinary skills and embodied in both recipes. 

The lovely lady that mans the Clark Park's Saturday market is lovingly referred to as "Little Lady," not "Ladyfriend."

Notes from the Weekend: May 24 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2010-05-24 14:36:09

[...] sedate Headhouse Square farmers market (blame it on the drizzle), where we copped a dozen-plus Market Day CanelÃ© (above). If you want people at a party to like you, show up with a box of these things. [...]

Posted by Felicia D'Ambrosio @ 5:59 PM Permalink | Post a comment

IN SEASON: English peas

POSTED: Monday, March 29, 2010, 4:20 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately | Vegan | Vegetarian

Photo l Michael Persico

Just hitting markets now are the very first signs of spring -- favas, fiddlehead ferns, rhubarb and lovely English peas. Encased in a fibrous inedible pod, the legume must be shucked by hand before preparation. Once you strip out the tough thread that edges the pod, six to ten perfect peas are revealed.

On sale this minute at Whole Foods Market (929 South St.) for $2.99/lb., English peas can be enjoyed a myriad of ways. Boil them for three minutes in salted water and lash with butter for the most traditional prep; or toss lightly cooked peas with parmigiano, prosciutto and a raw egg over fettuccine for a luscious carbonara variation. Though the pods are too stringy to eat, they make a nice addition to vegetable stock. Do buy in quantity -- a pound of peas in the shell yields only about a cup of the little green guys. Viva Spring!

Posted by Felicia D'Ambrosio @ 4:20 PM Permalink | Post a comment

EAT THIS IMMEDIATELY: Jicama ensalada at Distrito

POSTED: Monday, March 22, 2010, 4:30 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately | Vegan | Vegetarian

Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio

Breakfast sparkle

Our usual Eat This Immediately picks veer unhealthily towards the rich and fatty (like foie gras scrapple, 12-year cheddar, this insane burger), so we were shocked-- shocked-- to fall in love with this entirely vegan jicama salad on Distrito's (The Hub, 3945 Chestnut St.) brunch menu.

Served parfait-style in a flaring glass, chef de cuisine Tim Spinner layers brunoise jicama and Galina melon with orange supremes, pomegranate seeds and pepitas in a lemon vinaigrette, topping it with a perfectly tart quenelle of lime sorbet.

Sweet, tart, bright and crunchy, this salad was a tour de force of flavors, and certainly the maximum fruit alchemy $7 can buy.

Eat this immediately.

Neal

Posted 2010-03-22 11:43:41

Sounds incredible, perfect for a warm sunny spring weekend. Doesn't sound too hard to make at home either. Bing!

erik

Posted 2010-03-22 11:50:07

oh man. i had that the first time i went there...memories. it was so amazingly fresh and delicious.

i must have again. now.

Posted 2010-03-23 07:20:06

Check out this informative and inspiring video on why people choose vegan: http://veganvideo.org/

Also see Gary Yourofsky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bagt5L9wXGo

Posted by Felicia D'Ambrosio @ 4:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Testing: Deep dish pie at Garces Trading Company

POSTED: Monday, March 1, 2010, 5:00 PM

Filed Under: Eat This Immediately | Testing | Weird Regional Foods

Photos | Drew Lazor

Jose Garces' iteration of Chicago deep-dish pizza at his new Garces Trading Company at 11th and Locust has few counterparts here -- Philly just isn't a deep-dish kind of place, and we're guessing the same can be said for pretty much any city that ain't as Windy as the Iron Chef's hometown. (NYPD Pizza, just a block away from GTC off 11th and Walnut, has a deep-dish pie on its menu, but we have yet to try it.) This hyper-regional style tends to elicit hisses from the pizza cognoscenti, mostly because it in no way resembles the traditional Neapolitan or "Brooklyn-style" slices that seem to be analogous with "proper" pie. The crust shoots up roughly 2 inches all the way around, forming a cracker-like corral for chunky San Marzano tomato confit, murderous mounds of mozzarella and whatever "toppings" (more like fillings) you'd like. (For this pie, which GTC kindly treated us to on Friday, we added meatballs; other options include eggplant, chorizo, artichokes and cipollinis. Full menu here.)

A deep dish is really more of a casserole than a pizza, and that means you eat it with utensils. This is a good casserole. The sheer volume of ingredients means your fork transforms into a sort of medieval trebuchet, heaving deadly/delicious cargo into the besieged castle that is your mouth. The chunky sauce is sweeter than you might expect; the mozz is gooey and generous; the mild, crunchy crust maintains its crisp as you steadily decimate it. There are two things that may make you wary about ponying up for the deep dish. The first is the wait: The beast requires 30 minutes of bake time, meaning it's not an ideal choice for a quickie lunch. The second is the price tag: $24 is the base cost, and toppings run $5 to $8 (the ominous "market price" for crab). This sounds pricey to those of us accustomed to spending no more than $12 to $15 on a pie, but keep in mind that it's enough grub to coma-tize three, maybe four. (To be fair, you could probably say the same about a traditional pie.) All told, Garces' deep dish will probably grow to become more of a now-and-again group indulgence than a weekly Wednesday night pizza-and-DVD affair. But it's quite an indulgence.

Brett

Posted 2010-03-01 12:05:05

Good looks, i've been wondering about this pie since i saw the menu a few weeks back.. Looks tasty

uberVU - social comments

Posted 2010-03-04 19:33:55

Social comments and analytics for this post...

This post was mentioned on Twitter by mealticket: Testing: Chicago deep-dish pizza at Garces Trading Company http://bit.ly/bn6Q2Z (cc @slice)...

Mary

Posted 2010-05-29 21:28:26

The picture looks good, the pie was not.  They brought it out super hot, the second we cut it the cheese ran all over the table.  Too much cheese, not very fresh tasting, not worth the wait.

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 5:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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About this blog

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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