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Great Chefs, Marc Vetri's totally out of control food happening at the Navy Yard is the most (chef) star studded event in Philadelphia. Last year Meal Ticket rubbed elbows with the likes of April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, the Joe Beef dudes and countless other notable out of town chefs. Plus the food was pretty good. But the real fun happens once all of the chefs have broken down their stations and head to the after party at Amis. Last year Vetri closed off 13th Street and brought in Tony Luke's and Mummers for a real taste of Philly.
This year Vetri is releasing a limited number of tickets to this exclusive event happening at Alla Spina just after the event wraps up. This year's snacks and drinks are coming by way of pit master Adam Perry Lang, Little Baby's Ice Cream, Mac Truck NYC, neighboring Route 6, Victory and Brooklyn Brewery. The price is $525 which includes admission to Great Chefs plus the after party and more food, drinks and celeb chef sightings than you can possibly imagine. There are only 100 tickets available so call 215-735-0200 or email info@vetrifoundation.org to reserve your spot.
Charcutier extaordinaire Matt Ridgeway, who you may have met pimping his various cured, smoked, confited, potted and terrine-molded meats at farmers markets around town under the label PorcSalt, is back in business. His new operation in Rosemont, New Jersey (not too far from Lambertville), The Pass, is a combo restaurant and market, and while the former has yet to start serving, the charcuterie counter at the latter is ready for business. Think Dixie bacon rubbed with brown sugar, black pepper and mustard, bacon washed in red wine, pork pates, smoked bangers and more. The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday 5 pm to 10 pm, or swing by the Rittenhouse farmers market tomorrow; Ridgeway will be there.
In this week's South Philly Review restaurant critic Phyllis Stein-Novack begins her review of the newly opened Metropolitan Cafe (264 S.19th St.) with a brief history of Philadelphia bread. Did you know that Ben Franklin arrived here from Boston munching on a roll? Neither did we.
PSN's memorable meal at Metropolitan began with with chicken pot pie, a dish that she's seen on many menus as of late. "I sometimes wonder how a specific vegetable, fish or ingredient all of a sudden becomes so popular that many restaurants start to serve them up." Regardless of popularity the pot pie was filled with bite-sized bits of chicken, fresh carrots, potatoes and baby spring peas and a perfectly seasoned gravy, "the hallmark of a properly made pot pie."
Next up was a beet and fennel salad over local greens. While PSN enjoyed the salad she wasn't wild about the pumpkin seeds. "I wish they were roasted and slightly salted as it would have pepped it up a notch."
Metropolitan's croissants brought PSN straight back to breakfasts in Paris with their buttery, silky dough. Brownies are rich and sharable and the Green Street Coffee that Metro brews is dark and rich but never bitter.
Aside from an unroasted pumpkin seed or two, no complaints from PSN about Metropolitan, three tips of the toque.
ESPN is not usually where we turn for food news, but then sometimes they talk about pimento cheese and it's just so good. "I am fine with adding the female members, and I am tolerating the belly putters [...] but changing the pimento cheese recipe is taking change too damn far," says a sports guy.
Read on, lovers of ferments, rhubarb, Fishtown and/or Utz! »
Here at Meal Ticket we're certainly not shy about taking a few stealthy shots of what we're eating for all of our various social media followers to like or favorite or whatever. But sometime the food-tography gets a little out of hand which is why we're loving this Instagramming Stranger's Food from The Official Hungry. Most of these folks are surprisingly cool with letting a random stranger snap pics for their 'gram. "What do you think filter-wise: Earlybird or Sierra?" Give it a watch right here.
Friend of Meal Ticket Hawk Krall shared the news that he's having a Passyunk Avenue food-themed art show this weekend at HOME (1815 Passyunk Ave.) Hawk's promising paintings of Passyunk staples like Stogie Joe's meatballs, pastas from Le Virtu and chicken fried chicken and eggs from the P.O.P.E., and of course King of Jeans. Hawk will be joined by local food photog Felicia Perretti. The opening is happening on Saturday, April 13th at 6 p.m. and there will be drinks courtesy of Art in the Age and Ave. appropriate eats like tomato pie and cannolis.
Everyone's favorite warm weather out of doors eating and drinking extravaganza is returning for the season beginning next month. This year's Night Markets are going to be held on May 16th on Fairmount Avenue, June 20th in Erst Oak Lane, South Street on August 15 and our personal favorite, Night Market in Chinatown in October. Head over to The Food Trust's site to sign up for Night Market updates and food truck line ups.
Editor's Note: Hello and welcome to Ask Meal Ticket, a new column were we try our best to answer all of life's greatest food and drink related queries. Got a question? Send it our way and out team of experts will get to the bottom of it.
This week's Ask Meal Ticket query come to us via Twitter from @elliottsharp:
I wonder if @MeaTicket can help me find a radical bar in Philadelphia that has a dart board.
Well, Elliott, you are in luck, here at Meal Ticket we make it a point to only frequent the most radical bars in town. As far as radical + dart boards go, here are a few options for ya: In deep South Philly we're fans of Michael's Place (1142 Mifflin St.), the vibes here are real neighborhoody, drinks are dirt cheap and you're never going to have to wait for the board. If you're in the market for something other than Bud and Coors head up to Bottle Bar East (1308 Frankford Ave.) where you can take your bottle of craft whatever upstairs for darts and foosball. Although the Cherry Street Tavern (129 N. 22nd St.) is in a 'hood that we don't generally frequent, this been-around-since-the-beginning-of-time bar has not only darts but first rate hot roast beef sandwiches. And finally we've got to give some love to Brauhaus Schmitz (718 South St.), they've got a dart league that meets there on Tuesdays, serious business.
Thai New Year or Songkran (translates to "astrological passage," go figure) is happening this weekend and to celebrate Circles (812 N. 2nd St.) chef Alex Boonphaya is serving an eight course tasting menu all weekend long. Beginning Friday you can sample dishes from the collaboration dinners that Circles has been hosting all month long. Look out for guest stars like George Sabatino, Jeffery Powers, Sean Magee, Jennifer Choplin and John Taus. The dinner is $50 a head and vegetarian options are available.
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