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Food News
Mitch Prensky over at Supper (926 South St.) has always got some sort of project going on — sliderizing offal, marrying pastrami and fried chicken. Now the native New Yorker is hopping into a game near and dear to him — proper bagels. Served during brunch, Supper's chewy, substantial housebaked bagels (plain, poppy, everything, salt, etc.) can be found on the Saturday/Sunday daytime menu, both as part of "Mitch's NY Brunch" (a traditional deli platter that comes with Supper's sick pastrami-cured salmon) and as a side.
Photo: Drew Lazor
A precisely jiggered mixture of off-kilter spirits and smirking literary and musical references characterizes the latest cocktail menu at The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Co. (112 S. 18th St.). Masterminded by Franklinites Colin Shearn and Al Sotack, the list has a recognizable fall focus, with new tipples like the A Song of Fire and Ice-inspired Red Wedding swizzle (applejack, El Dorado 12-year rum, lemon, mulled wine syrup, orange, Peychaud's and Angostura bitters) and the autumnally dizzying Samhain (cognac, applejack, house pumpkin syrup, Fee's aromatic bitters, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas bitters). Peep the menu in full here (PDF).
Photo: Doug Keith
When Eric Ripert brought Jennifer Carroll to his 10 Arts at the Ritz-Carlton in 2008, she became a favored chef — of mine, of the city and of viewers of Bravo's Top Chef, where audiences got two looks at the blonde Philadelphian, in both a regular season and its All-Stars session. "From Eric, I definitely learned patience, how to have refinement in my food and how to edit myself," Carroll told me the other day. "But now I have to go. If I don't get out now I won't have the opportunity to see what's out there for me."
With that, Carroll left her post at 10 Arts, but not with a quiet goodbye or even a singularly Carroll-centric meal. Instead, she invited a rogue's gallery of friends, chefs and mixologists to join her in her farewell to Broad and Chestnut, as well as for the Celebrity Chef Tour Dinner that benefits the James Beard Foundation.
The French don't say "brunch" and they certainly don't "do brunch." (I believe you're automatically excommunicated to New Hampshire if you're caught uttering the B-word on Gallic soil.) But, since the desire to get down on egg-based dishes while potentially hung over in the sunlight is steadfast in any language, Bistrot La Minette (623 S. Sixth St.) has decided to roll out weekend lunch service beginning on Oct. 8. Running Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., La Minette lunch features a tight selection of starters and plats principaux — see the oeufs au plat (above), accompanied by a 4-ounce NY strip, red wine sauce and "Peggy's potatoes" (named for chef/owner Peter Woolsey's wife) — plus sides, desserts and proper brunch lunch-with-eggs beverages like Bloody Marys. See the menu in full on BLM's site, and please do not special-request huevos rancheros from the kitchen.
Photo: Drew Lazor
Last fall, chef Jonathan Adams at Pub & Kitchen (1946 Lombard St.) permanently shelved his popular Windsor burger indefinitely in favor of the $18, custom-LaFrieda-blend behemoth known as the Churchill. This month — tomorrow, Oct. 4, to be exact — Adams is working a new brioche-bunned contender into the fray: the Parliament, one of many new options on a completely overhauled P&K menu. We held our own version of Question Time with Adams yesterday to get the rundown on the new beefy legislative body.
Relying on LaFrieda's classic beef burger blend, which combines brisket, shoulder and short rib, The Parliament is an 8-ouncer formed slightly thinner than The Churchill, which remains on the menu. The accompaniments are what helps it stand on its own accord — English-style cheddar from Vermont's Grafton Village, house-cured pork belly (same stuff you miss from the Windsor), big rings of raw white onion, fresh lettuce and, most vitally, an herb- and mayo-based "pub sauce" spread onto the bottom bun. (Side of fries, too). The generous crunch of the onion and lettuce, plus that special house slather, lend it the feel of a classic American griddle-top burger a la In-N-Out or old-school Mickey D's, with each drippy, robust LaFrieda beef bite justifying the $14 price tag.
If you're put off by raw onions — it's a nearly zep-like eating experience — the Parliament is probably not the move for you, but there's more than a few alternatives on Adams' new fall menu. Peep it in full after the jump; the choucroute, fusilli with ragu bianco and roasted marrow bones sound like autumnal grubbing material for damn sure.
Photos: Drew Lazor
Jill Weber's Jet Wine Bar (1525 South St.) has updated its menu dramatically for the fall, fleshing out the food offerings at the vinohead's destination to include more sharing plates, more charcuterie and more vegetarian options. All of that finger-friendly fare jives with Jet's unconventional glass and bottle lists, but the menu (snag a PDF here via Jet's site) also marks Jet's movement into more of a restaurant — they've also made room for seafood (in the form of daily-rotating ceviche and mussel specials), plus regular entrée specials.
Photo: Drew Lazor
With seats are filling up quickly for classes at Cook (253 S. 20th St.), it may prove difficult to snag a spot, but Audrey Taichman is making it easy to get your hands on reads, treats and gifts from local artisans and chefs. The demo kitchen venue features a collection of food-centric cookbooks and memoirs, including tomes from Philly's own Jose Garces, Marc Vetri and Georges Perrier. If you need something more edible, opt for John and Kira's gourmet honey caramel chocolates, or strawberry balsamic jam, orange marmalade and spicy Dijon from La Copine, all made exclusively for Cook. They're also hawking hand-crafted kitchen gadget-inspired necklaces from Maggie Huth's Bathtub Jungle (she's also a server at Audrey Claire), custom screen-printed bags and tea towels from Kaye Rachelle Designs and potted herbs/plants, like rosemary and scallions, from Grace Wicks, owner of Graceful Gardens. Tools like whisks, spatulas, colanders and Cook-branded salt and pepper shakers round out the boutique's stock. The shop side of Cook is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment.
Photos: Nicole Rossi
As of last Monday, Mike Stollenwerk's stalwart Little Fish (746 S. Sixth St.) is under new control, but the Fish and Fathom Seafood House chef/owner didn't have to look far to find his buyer — he's sold the Bella Vista seafood restaurant to Chadd Jenkins, who's been Little Fish's chef de cuisine since before it even relocated to Sixth and Fitzwater. (The BYO, originally situated at Sixth and Catharine, moved a block north early this year.)
"Chadd's been with me for a long time, so we figured it was time for him to step up and own it," says Stollenwerk. "He wanted to keep the name and keep it going. I wish him all the best." A big motivator for the move was Stollenwerk's desire to get back into the kitchen — ping-ponging between Little Fish, Fish and Fathom, to say nothing of Fish's impending relocation and a Brewerytown deal in its early stages, was eating up more hands-on cooking time than Stollenwerk liked. He'll get his chance in a big way come late fall, when Fish reopens in its new digs at 13th and Locust; here, Stollenwerk says, the kitchen alone is as large as his current dining room at 1708 Lombard.
Aside from exercising the freedom to put his personal touch on every aspect of the restaurant, Jenkins has no grand plans to overhaul Little Fish's look, feel or concept. Check out his current menu after the jump (click to enlarge).
UPDATE [7 p.m.]: Jenkins says he does plan on doing some remodeling to the space, but not until after the new year. The restaurant's new website should be live in a few weeks.
UPDATE [27sept11]: More news from Stollenwerk via a released statement: He's also selling Fathom, which he opened in February of this year. We're hearing there are three offers on the table for the business right now and that a new owner should be ID'ed in the next few days.
Konstantinos Pitsillides of Kanella (1001 Spruce St.) tells Meal Ticket he'll reintroduce his Meze Sundays on Sept. 25. For those unfamiliar, once a week the Cypriot chef sets aside a la carte dinner service in favor of a prix-fixe meal featuring an arsenal of smaller plates that just keep coming. You pay $30 a head for an all-vegetarian selection, or $5 more for a food lineup featuring seafood and meat. Besides being one hell of a deal, it's a very smart way to taste through a diversity of Pitsillides' food without being KO'd by overconsumption.
Photos: Drew Lazor
Renaissance Sausage natural-casing ninja Dan Semko sold his food truck in July (it was purchased by Lucky Old Souls), but he's not wasting much time getting back on the street — Semko tells Meal Ticket he's working on launching a cart that will specialize in the breakfast sandwiches that garnered him such a positive following at the Headhouse farmers market and other city perches. Semko, who will set up at Broad and Cherry in the new Lenfest Plaza, will serve handmade pork breakfast patties or veggie sausage topped with organic eggs and local cheese on fresh-baked kaiser rolls. He'll also deviate from his previous approach by offering fresh Lancaster bacon, lunch specials, a variety of baked goods and coffee roasted locally by Cafe L'Aube. No debut date for the Renaissance breakfast cart just yet but keep an eye on @thesausagetruck for updates.
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