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Food TV
Last night's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was a love-lost flashback episode centered on Frank (Danny DeVito) and his coke-fueled exploits in the '60s and '70s club business with his long-estranged brother Gino (Jon Polito). Their rift, of course, was over a woman — a lounge singer named Shadynasty (SHUH-dynasty), played by Naturi Naughton, aka Lil' Kim in the Biggie movie and the 3LW member who got KFC thrown at her.
Frank opens a nightclub ("An integrated place, where blacks and whites can get along — no Orientals, though") featuring his girl as both headliner and namesake, leading to a quick gag where a patron mistakenly reads the neon sign as "Shady Nasty's." If that sounds familiar, you're likely a fan of Old City's Han Dynasty (108 Chestnut St.), whose Twitter handle (@handynastyphila) and website (handynasty.net) are constantly being interpreted as "Handy Nasty," much to the amusement of owner Han Chiang. (He fond of telling people, including food critics, that it's his porno name.)
Pure coincidence? Sure could be, but it's not unrealistic to think Handy Nasty inspired the joke, as Sunny stars Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson have their Mac's Tavern right down the street.
Thanks to screencap/animated GIF king and "Best of Philly" tweeter Dan McQuade for the image.
In anticipation of the fast-approaching Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays, Larry Rosenblum of Rittenhouse's Spread Bagelry (262 S. 20th St.) has issued a public challenge to prolific television eater/Jewish guy Adam Richman of Man v. Food fame. The terrifying 13-pound sandwich pictured above is known as The Classic Whale — it consists of a four-pound Montreal-style "Everything" bagel layered with three pounds of nova, two pounds of housemade whitefish salad, two pounds of cream cheese and two pounds of tomatoes, onions and capers. Rosenblum is trying to coax Richman into breaking his fast after sunset on Saturday, Oct. 8 by taking on this Hebrew Moby Dick (it technically has a blowhole!), but he's also planning on adding the item to his catering menu, as it can easily feed 10 to 12 people. He's also receptive to the idea of letting mortal eaters try their hand at finishing it as an everyday challenge, though he has yet to set a price or parameters.
Photo: Courtesy of Spread
Tonight at 10:30 p.m., tune into Food Network to catch a "phreakin' phenomenal" Philly-focused episode of the Duff Goldman-hosted Sugar High, featuring Brown Betty and the Sugar Philly truck. If you want to watch outside the house, head to the Italian Market's Rim Café (1172 S. Ninth St.), which will also be highlighted on the show, at 9 p.m. for a free-to-the-public viewing party. Brown Betty will serve Southern rice pudding, Sugar Philly will be passing out their famous milk-and-honey macarons and Rim will be serving a pistachio hot chocolate dessert called the "Magnum Volcano," a trumped-up spin on the Volcano recipe that'll be featured on TV.
Filmmaker Ken Burns, whose dense, infinitely detailed documentaries deal with patently American topics like baseball, jazz and war, is taking on one of our young country's most notorious courses with Prohibition, a three-part work that will debut on public television in early October (more info below). This Friday, Sept. 2, at 6:30 p.m. WHYY is hosting a free partial sneak preview of Burns' doc at the Great Plaza at Penns Landing (Chestnut and Columbus). The doc's co-director, Lynn Novick, will be in attendance.
Naturally, the event, part of WHYY's Connections Festival, will be appropriately wet.
Phoebe Esmon, top boozehound at Farmers' Cabinet and president of the Philly chapter of the United States Bartenders' Guild, tells Meal Ticket she and her USBG ilk will be pouring Philly Distilling-based thematic cocktails at both public and VIP bars. At the main watering station, look out for a timeless Tom Collins or an Income Tax Cocktail (Bluecoat gin, sweet and dry vermouths, OJ, Angostura bitters). In the ticketed VIP, open only to WHYY members, they'll pour tipples like classic 2-to-1 martinis, the Prince Farrington Cup (XXX Shine, maraschino liqueur, Pimm's, lime, ginger ale, Angostura bitters) and Izzy Einstein Punch (Bluecoat, Vieux Carré absinthe, maraschino liqueur, lemon, peach, green tea, soda). For the latter two originals, Esmon shares, the USBG adhered to ingredients and ratios cited in Prohibition-period cocktail manuals.
Via whyy.org:
Prohibition is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed. The culmination of nearly a century of activism, Prohibition was intended to improve, even to ennoble, the lives of all Americans, to protect individuals, families, and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse. But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality. Thugs became celebrities, responsible authority was rendered impotent. Social mores in place for a century were obliterated. Especially among the young, and most especially among young women, liquor consumption rocketed, propelling the rest of the culture with it.
In the spirit of our posts on Tom Haverfoods and our dude Ron Swanson's amazing food reel, here's a sign from a Trader Joe's taking best advantage of Swanson's immortal diner-counter order in the episode where his favorite Indianapolis steakhouse closes. I don't really bangs with Trader Joe's that much but might start shopping there based solely on this.
h/t @LouPerseghin via @KelliMarshall via The Gaping Sarlaac Pit That Is The Internet
Here is an amazing compilation of Ron Swanson, Nick Offerman's steak-loving, bacon-inhaling, turkey leg-gnawing, whiskey-swilling, vegetable- and hippie-hating character on NBC's amazing Parks & Recreation, and his all-time best food-related moments. Right up there with Tom Haverfoods in terms of incredible edible P&R ephemera.
Heat Seekers is a new Food Network program in which Aarrrrrrrón (roll the R, son) Sanchez and Roger Mooking, host of Cooking Channel's Everyday Exotic, travel the country eating stuff that will turn their faces red as an Irishman's. The show premieres on Fri., July 22, at 10 p.m. with an episode that sees the dynamic duo in Chi-town. Later in the season, we’ll see them burning their tongues here in Philly. When they visited about a month ago, they filmed with Peter McAndrews at Monsú — told ya about that here — and also headed to Campo's (214 Market St.) and Q BBQ & Tequila (207 Chestnut St.). See the full description of the Philadelphia episode of Heat Seekers after the jump.
Received a note that Gordon Ramsay's fix-this-extremely-F'ed-restaurant show Kitchen Nightmares is scouting Philadelphia for a new season of the show. (You might recall the last time Ramsay visited Philly, polishing up the now-closed Hot Potato Café in the process.) The production team is seeking nominations for spots that might be good for Ramsay to yell at loudly help — if you've got a suggestion, send the restaurant's name, location and a brief explanation of why the establishment's "qualified" to kitchennightmares@theconlincompany.com, or call 1-866-226-2226.
We've got a Philly representative on tonight’s episode of Food Network's Chopped: Olivier Desaintmartin, chef/owner of Caribou Café (1126 Walnut St.) and Zinc (246 S. 11th St.). A native of Champagne and card-carrying member of Maitres Cuisiniers de France, Desaintmartin first came to the States in the late '80s to work at NYC's Le Bernardin, landing in Philly and putting down roots in 1989; tonight, he'll take on three chefs from New York. The episode, which airs at 10, will apparently feature mystery ingredients like tequila and corn tortillas (what is a Frenchman to do?). Desaintmartin joins local chefs like Eric Paraskevas of Terra, Mackenzie Hilton of Mercato, Jeremy Duclut of georges', Peter Karapanagiotis (formerly of Privé) and Judson Branch of Thirteen in trying his hand on the cook-off show.
Photo: restaurantreport.com
Kenzinger, Philadelphia Brewing Co.'s popular and ubiquitous flagship ale, now has a slick little TV commercial courtesy of local filmmakers Peter Heacock and Woody Pase. The duo, who wrote, directed, shot and edited the spot themselves, rolled camera at various locations around Philly (the bar is Johnny Brenda's) in late March. Look for the ad on television soon. And if that 30 seconds wasn't enough for you, there's also a behind-the-scenes/blooper reel on PBC's YouTube channel.
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