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Field Trip
Caffé Storico, the new NYC venture from Stephen Starr and Jim Burke that we reported on in July, will open its doors in the New York Historical Society this Saturday, Dec. 10. The Venetian-inspired ciccheti, or small-plate, menu will feature several items straight from Philly's James, which Burke and wife Kristina closed in May — think signatures like pappardelle with duck ragu, chocolate and orange and risotto alla Kristina. Other dishes will include a dry-aged T-bone with patata al forno and broccolini; roasted sea bass with cannelloni beans and herb salad; and various Italian desserts. Cicchetti will run between $6 to $20, with larger plates in the $16-to-$42 range. They'll do lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Through the summer, we’ll be running monthly installments of more shore recos from a kid who's been spending summers there since he could crawl: our very own Adam Erace.
We were gone for a minute, but we're back, over the slender ripple of a causeway and a big humpbacked bridge that links Longport at the southern tip of Absecon Island to happy, shiny Ocean City just across the bay. This is where we pretend our delay of the second installment of More at the Shore, O.C. to Stone Harbor, was intentional, so as to synchronize with the new season of Jersey Shore. Convincing, no?
Hey so we're up in Boston for the weekend chillin' in Charlestown with Benfleck and Slaine and the homies, robbing banks while wearing rubber nun masks, etc etc. No more posties today. See y'all Monday. Have some good Notes from the Weekend for us!
In print this week, seaside scribe Jen Miller shared some of her can’t-miss eats by the beach. Through the summer, we’ll be running monthly installments of more shore recos from a kid who's been spending summers there since he could crawl: our very own Adam Erace.
Got an extra $4995 lying around? (And, really, who among us doesn’t?) There’s a seat waiting for you on a six-night food-stuffed journey to Fraciacorta, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, this September.
"Our goal was to design an authentic and intimate culinary experience, with lots of laughter and memories to last a lifetime," say the trip's hosts, Osteria chef Jeff Michaud (right) and his wife, Claudia. So accommodations are at a restored agriturismo — that's a working farmhouse that doubles as a small hotel — and all meals, whether at Michelin-starred Frosio or at Claudia's mama's house, aim to connect the travelers to the people that produce them. All food, wine, hands-on cooking classes with Michaud and day trips (Venice, Verona, Parma) are included in the cost of the trip. Enviously gander at the full itinerary after the jump, and if you’ve got the green, make reservations now — there are only 10 spots available — by emailing cibus.italy@gmail.com or calling 267-693-5313. Then let us know if you need company. Meal Ticket's escort rates are very reasonable.
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| Photo | NJ Monthly |
| the dining room at Luke Palladino in Northfield |
Last we spoke to chef Luke Palladino, he had just traded the glamorous life at Borgata, where he operated Specchio and Ombra since the casino's opening, for a simple 30-seat BYOB in Northfield. This mainland city is just 5 minutes by rickety causeway from Margate, two towns at opposite ends of a marshy bay and turtle sanctuary, but mentally, it's a world away from the resort's summer bustle. It's a quieter life, and that’s what Palladino wanted when he opened his eponymous hermitage Luke Palladino (1333 New Road) last year.
So if a lifestyle change was Palladino's goal, why's he heading back to the casino this summer?
"It's funny," the Italian-American chef says. "Craig [LaBan] is reviewing us this week and he said the same thing to me." It's a fair question, the ink still fresh on a deal with Harrah's (777 Harrah's Blvd.) to install a 200-seater in the space that formerly housed Polistina's, a ristorante whose spelling of tapas ("tappas") is all you need to know about its virtue. "I took a break from casinos," Palladino continues. "I don't know that I shunned them altogether, but this is a nice opportunity. Harrah's is a good company … they're making lots of changes, and we're certainly happy to be a part of them."
Luke Palladino at Harrah's Resort aims to open by Memorial Day Weekend, the chronological finish-line new seasonal restaurants race to reach. (If you don't get open by then, might as well wait till July 4.) Local designer Scott Eccard, who outfitted Northfield in dolphin-grays, compelling monochromatic photos and burlap upholstery is projecting that modern warmth on the Harrah's space, but Palladino points out, "While it'll be the same feeling and style, I don't want this to look like a big Northfield." He doesn't want it to look theme-y, either. "This isn't a 15th-century building. We're not going to put fake bricks in the wall and make people think they're in Montalcino." Plenty of other casinos have that market covered.
For food, expect the regional Italian, Jersey farm-flavored cooking Palladino has always strived to celebrate. If last summer's memorable meals at Northfield are any indication, this season will see a riot of heirloom tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, corn, squash blossoms, soft-shells, beans, berries and more. Dude's pasta is to-die, too. (Sottocenere agnolotti in foie crema? Yes please!) Sourcing from small local farms will be more of a challenge for 200 seats than 30, but with Cookie Till, owner of Margate stalwart Steve & Cookie's and longtime local-ag champion, Palladino is working to form a growers' consortium. "There's a whole group of local growers that are getting better at what they do," he says. "Once summer starts, things grow so prolifically here, I don't think [sourcing locally] is going to be a problem at all."
There will be no changes at Luke Palladino Northfield. The chef, whose presence at the BYOB has been a fixture, still promises he'll be there every night, splitting his time between Northfield and the Harrah's outpost. "With traffic, I'm only 15 minutes away." We apologize in advance for clogging your roads.
I don't know when was the exact moment I decided I hated San Diegoans, but it was probably around the time Mark Lane, proprietor of Poppa's Fresh Fish, a nomadic "shuck 'n' slurp" raw bar and fixture of SD's righteous farmers-market scene, handed me plastic fork and a just-slain sea urchin. "We get them right off the coast," he explained, pointing down the street, where the Pacific glinted just beyond San Diego Bay and Coronado Island. "My friend is a diver. He hand-harvests them for us." Californians, man. What a bunch of lucky fucks.
Of course, I don't really hate San Diegoans — they are, by all accounts, a lovely, disarmingly friendly race — but after spending the weekend in their sun-washed, spit-polished city (a pit-stop before heading down to Baja), I've been quick to cultivate some good-natured envy. True, living in Philly, a killer earthquake will never crush me beneath a plank of highway, but my chances of eating uni that fresh again are even slimmer.
"As soon as the uni hits the air, it begins to disintegrate," Lane explained, getting to work opening a second spiny sphere with a pair of sharp kitchen shears. "They sell these for 80 bucks at Nobu, but it's not as fresh as what we've got here."
"Here" was the Saturday "Mercato" in SD's Little Italy neighborhood, a buy fresh/buy local mecca of 100+ vendors, peddling everything from olive oil and gold chanterelles to artsy-fartsy wind chimes and citrus in fresh, juiced, jammed and rosemary-infused popsicle forms. You think Headhouse and Clark Park roll deep? Mercato makes 'em look like lemonade stands — and it's not even the biggest market in town.
That distinction belongs to the Hillcrest Market, where I gorged myself at the following day. Breakfast consisted of little Hugs of pulpy orange juice kissed with guava; fresh tangerines, passion fruits and strawberries; moist slabs of banana bread from the gods (or a French patissier); fiery shrimp ceviche; delightful coconut pancakes a little Thai lady cooked in a cast-iron griddle; tamales; dried apricots; onion quiche. I tried for another urchin, but Lane was already sold out.
With just one weekend, restaurant action was limited, but I did manage to pop my In-N-Out cherry with a double-double, fries and chocolate shake. Also hit up the Linkery in North Park, a repeated reco where they brew their own kombucha and curate a dreamy Cali cheese plate, as well as the très-charming Cafe Chloe for one perfect prosciutto/cheese croissant (thanks @yournotunique!) and La Jolla's lively Whisknladle (like Mémé-by-the-sea).
If it were feasible, I'd eat all three squares at San Diego's markets. (It is feasible: Except for Monday, there are no less than half a dozen happening on any given day in different districts around the city.) I'll make one exception for Sushi Ota, a hideaway tucked into a Pacific Beach shopping center with a 7-Eleven, where the omakase experience at the low-slung sushi bar lived up to Drew Lazor's glowing recommendation. There was toro. There were oysters. There were salmon bellies and hamachi bellies, giant prawns and giant clams. There was an embarrassing amount of uni (delicious, but not as transcendent as Lane's) and fish I'd never tasted in sushi form: three breeds of halibut (who knew?) and a coral-skinned snapper specimen our omakase maestro, Toshi, hit with a blowtorch. When I said I was from Philly, Toshi got all aflutter: "Charlie Manuel, I watched him play in Tokyo when I was little."
Toshi, you've absolutely ruined sushi for me. After Ota, nothing else will compare. Another reason to hate San Diegoans. And another reason to go visit them again soon.
Very nice! Next stop for you.....Denver! :)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mailcome, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: FIELD TRIP: @adamerace eats San Diego! http://ow.ly/3XKX9 [...]
I'm impressed with your relative conciseness... it took Andrew many more effusive words to describe this all to me when I visited Green Aisle. Regarding uni... it's true. Fresh out of the ocean is pretty much incomparable. At least San Diego is easier to get to than Greece, which is where we plucked the spiny creatures from the bottom of the sea and ate them standing on the beach.
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What exactly has Milk & Honey "done" for west philly again?
I'm with Frank on this one. Did Milk and honey "do" anything other than open a store? Am I unaware of some kind of miracle? Besides, Milk and Honey is hardly a farmers market vibe; they sell grapefruit and pineapple for peet's sake.
Fractured Prune | Lancaster City residents line up for their daily dozen at this Queen Street doughnut shop. The bready loops are fried and dipped to order and come in a variety of unusual flavors, like French Toast, glazed in maple syrup and dusted with cinnamon-sugar.
Black Angus Restaurant & Pub | Thin as a cracker and possibly as crunchy, the schnitzel is the shitzel at Stoudts BreweryÂ’s on-site eatery, and their cheese plate is city-slick. Lunch at the long, old bar, as much a mecca for beer geeks as it is a haunt for bemused locals, then carry out a souvenir mix-a-six.
RicÂ’s Bread | The english muffins you love at Headhouse Square are served warm and slathered with butter and jelly at Michele and Mike StaufferÂ’s sunny cafe and bakery.
Eastern Market | Smaller, but cooler, than LancasterÂ’s sprawling Central Market, indoor/outdoor Eastern brings live musics, student scavenger hunts, Ethiopian curries and Puerto Rican popsicles to the milk-and-eggs farmers market experience.
John J. Jeffries | We think we have it good in Philly? This New American spot in the sexy Lancaster Arts Hotel makes good use of ingredients grown six, not 60, miles away. Peep the recipe for their brined chicken with heirloom tomatoes in Bon Appetit.
Lancasta, Holla! I spent many teenage summers slaving away at my aunt's B&B, preparing breakfast for dozens and wedding reception apps for thousands. Other Lancaster must-hits: Onions Cafe - the first place I ever sampled the delights of banchan and kimchi! http://www.yelp.com/biz/onions-cafe-lancaster Strasburg Country Store and Creamery - ridiculously good homemade ice cream, plus fatty sandwiches and waffle fries http://www.yelp.com/biz/strasburg-country-store-and-creamery-the-strasburg
[...] ICECUBE: Hip-hop edition, featuring T.I., the Black Eyed Peas, Damon Feldman and more Meal Ticket• Lancaster Lovefest• EAT THESE IMMEDIATELY: Scuppernongs• Monk's will reopen tomorrow, Aug. 14, at 5 [...]
Sooooo many top-notch restaurants, lounges and pubs in Lancaster City. I rarely venture beyond the city limits. Nothing too cutting edge out there. It's one of the few things this city does right. (I'm a proud west-ender)
[...] wedding last month, my stomach was stoked. Follow my lead to Lancaster, and eat here: Lancaster Lovefest :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper __________________ "It has shown me that everything is illuminated in the light of the [...]
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| Photos | Drew Lazor |
What? No mention of the tuna?
We ate it before we could take pics... :D
Makes sense. Love that tuna.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Untossed, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: So @mpsteel turned us on to hoagies from Dino's in Margate City. Can you recommend other Jersey Shore sandwich spots? http://bit.ly/bZiFEh [...]
White House isn't as good as people say it is. Sack of Subs in delicious! You should also try the Presto sandwich at Salvo in Longport
I was always a fan of White House tuna... not sure how it compares to Dino's, but it has the same "Already Eaten Before You Even Realize It" effect.
McGowan's in Sea Isle City. Long waits but you can snack on chips in the meantime or call ahead. Breakfast and lunch/dinner menus. It's got that grease-truck gusto without the health code violations.
I second McGowan's. Also, Russo's Market in North Wildwood never disappoints. You'd also benefit from calling ahead here.
Get a cheesesteak from Voltaco's in Ocean City. I've heard many say it's better than any you can find in Philly, and I might have to agree.
Voltaco's is supreme!!!
Definitely check out McGowan's in Sea Isle and Ocean Deli in Avalon- get the Chicken Cheesesteak- I know what you're thinking, but trust me.
barrel's of margate (the take-out side) has great sandwiches. i always go for the chicken cutlet with varying toppings. a great deal, as well, because you get about the same amount of chicken as the entree version.
Phat Steaks in Northfield. Really great cheesesteaks and sandwiches. The barnyard is the best. Steak, chicken and bacon with pepperjack cheese and some sauce ( maybe ranch ) on an ac roll. Bangin
Voltaco's Italian Foods in Ocean City, NJ makes some seriously epic hoagies and cheesesteaks -- all on Atlantic City Bakery bread. http://www.yelp.com/biz/voltacos-italian-foods-ocean-city#hrid:nX7_74LVd4rM0uxhDrt0PQ
Wow, Meal Ticket readers are the sharpest food people on the Internet...thanks y'all!
[...] We’re loving Dino’s in Margate City, but what other sandwich spots down the shore are wo... [...]
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