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Archive: October, 2008
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| Open your mouth and close your eyes. |
| Photo | Drew Lazor |
When is a hoagie not a hoagie? When it's a hero, sub, submarine,
zeppelin or grinder. And especially when it's a zep. This Norristown creation possesses subtle but crucial differences from lookalike
sandwiches. A true zep contains only one meat and one cheese — and
lettuce is absolutely forbidden under any circumstances.
Eve's Lunch in Norristown, which is often credited with inventing the zep, still turns out the standard-setting sandwich to much local acclaim. Eve
Mashett has operated the business since 1965, when she bought the sandwich
shop Linfante's from Joseph Linfante, her employer of 10 years. In 2001, Mashett's family took over daily operations. The traditional Eve's zep is
stacked with provolone cheese, cooked salami, tomato, thick slices of
raw white onion cut to order, a dressing of oil and a bit of oregano.
The zep entered the annals of fiction in Jerry Spinelli's classic middle school tearjerker Maniac Magee.
When Maniac is in funds (and not living with the bison at the zoo), his
preferred meal is a zep topped off with a round of Butterscotch
Krimpets. Spinelli, who grew up in Bridgeport and mined his own
childhood experiences for the novel, still goes to Lou's Sandwich Shop to lunch on the lunch he immortalized. Meal Ticket traveled to Lou's to feast on the stinking delight — the incredibly chewy "Conshy roll" combined with the substantial onion crunch makes the sandwich. (Note that our zep was modified with ham instead of the classic salami.)
With a pedigree like that, who needs lettuce?
Eve's Lunch, 301 E. Johnson Hwy., Norristown, 610-277-6600
Lou's Sandwich Shop, 414 E. Main St., Norristown, 610-279-5415
Two-parter today.
No. 1:
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
No. 2:
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| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Also: Where did YOU eat this weekend? Try anything excellent? Let's hear it in the comments.
[12:52 p.m.]: I guess this is a tough one! Some clues for y'all: No. 1 recently got a great new chef and they had a nice little jazz trio jamming during dinner service. No. 2 is serving a special menu this month. I ate a schlattplatte.
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| Read A.D. Amorosi's interview with Katz here. |
| Photo | Michael T. Regan |
David Katz of the brand-new Mémé (2201 Spruce St.) likes music. And he likes to play it in his restaurant. "The music will be heard in this joint — no ambient smooth jazz," he told us back in August.
But it seems some diners are not feeling this policy. An excerpt from Katz's MySpace blog:
So. If you are one of the couple hundred people that has dined with us thus far you'd know that we play music in the restaurant. The music is a touch on the loud side, but not too loud. It is intended on being heard and not just background music. the music that plays is an array of good rock like The Smith's, The Police, The Clash, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and even some reggae like Gregory Isaak's and Steel Pulse. Some occasional Bob Marley too.
The reason I'm writing this is because we have seen and heard some over the top complaining about the music from some people so far and one woman on her way out even shook her finger at me saying "shame on you" with sincerety! Like I committed some sort of crime. It amazes me how many people have an idea of what restaurant music should be. Like there is one kind of music played at one certain loudness for every restaurant in the United States! Haven't these people been in any other style of restaurant? Maybe a gastro-pub, a bistro??? We are NOT a formal slow dining restaurant. I just read a review on Zagat's about us and the person says it was "beer swigging bar music". The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me is that offensive? Wow...
I agree with Katz's sentiment that many people seem to "have an idea" of what type of music a restaurant should play. Bottom line: Unless it's a jukebox situation, it ain't up to you. Stop whining. I go out to eat a lot, and I've had plenty of experiences where a restaurant's music was not to my taste. But while solid tunes definitely augment a good time, I never let crappy ones ruin my evening. Like napkin dispensers or ketchup bottles, the music's just there. (Can you tell I eat at classy places?) If you don't dig it, drown your frown in bread and butter and deal. If you can't, you suck.
Anecdotal example: A server I know once told me about a daytime shift she was working at a busy Center City lunch spot. A table of businessmen pulled her aside and requested that the song playing in the restaurant — "BILLIE JEAN" — be nixed because they found it unpleasing. (Management obliged.) Can you think of a single R&B-ish song more acceptable to squeamish, brow-sweating white-collar dudes in dress sock holsters than "Billie Jean"? Now, every time I hear it, I think "Man, those guys were total dicks."
Volume is a completely separate issue. (I'm talking strictly restaurants here, not bars, and strictly restaurant music, not the dull roar of diner chatter, noise from an open kitchen, etc.) I couldn't tell you how loud is too loud, but a threshold does exist. (One particularly eardrum-shattering meal: Grabbing an early dinner at Ashoka Palace while the next-door Whistle Bar tested their sub-sub-subwoofers. My raita quivered like the Jell-O in Jurassic Park. I didn't know raita could quiver!)
I have never felt compelled to complain about music selection or music volume. But what about you, Meal Ticket readers? Have you found yourself in a situation where it was absolutely necessary to say something about a restaurant's music? If so, what was your reasoning? Let's hear it in the comments section. Be as loud as you like.
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| You're so pretty. |
| surlatable.com |
Working at a media outlet means laboring beneath a trembling avalanche of unsolicited information every day.
Snowdrifts of faxes, endless e-mails, stolen Post Office cartons heaped
with paper mail and mystery packages share City Paper's office space
with staffers. Even Batman the Canary gets mail.
But good deals abound in these menacing piles — if you know where to look. When kitchenware catalog Sur La Table landed on my desk, I was helplessly sucked into their tasteful retrograde housewife fantasy land.
Prominently featured are highly coveted stovetop "ovens" (read: heavy lidded pots) from French cookware giant Le Creuset. Prized by home cooks and chefs alike, Le Creuset pieces are cast-iron and enameled in brilliant crayon-box colors. Lidded cast-iron cooking pots
transfer heat evenly and are the ideal vessel for braising meats and creating slow-cooked one-pot meals. But though visions of coq au vin
and short ribs that fall apart at the slightly touch of the fork dance in
my head, a glance at the prices provides the reality check.
A
3.5-quart Round Cast Iron French Oven rings up at a healthy $174.95, but 3.5 quarts is not really big enough to make dinner for six, which
is why you're buying the damn thing anyway (so you can have legendary
dinner parties and make your friends jealous/full). More useful is the 5.5-quart version, priced at $219.95. I
shudder to think what shipping the hefty cast iron cocotte costs.
The "good deal" part arrives in the form of more temptation: Spend $250 on Le Creuset via Sur La Table,
and the'll throw in the $70 Le Creuset 8-quart enameled steel
stockpot. Jesus Julia Child, that's exciting! With a choice of
deliciously named colors (Dijon! Kiwi! Caribbean!), this might be
the ultimate food nerd shopping bonus/holiday gift. The deal is
valid until December 31, 2008.
So dig out your friendliest
APR credit card and invest in a pot you can hand down to your
grandchildren — but not before you host some tres serious group suppers.
Sur La Table, 1-800-243-0852, surlatable.com
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| Divan's Ilker Ugur, with sister Fulya Ugur |
| Photo | Michael T. Regan |
Kebab eaters were chattering in mid-August when this Craigslist post surfaced, offering G-Ho's Divan Turkish Kitchen for a cool $1.4 million. Divan co-owner Ilker Ugur confirmed that he was searching for a buyer to either take over the restaurant outright or join him in a 50-50 venture by buying out current business partner Isil Ozturk. (Ugur has said publicly that he and Ozturk do not see eye to eye.)
Yesterday, we received an e-mail from Ugur that caught our attention, if only for its outright use of the "S-Word": Starr. "[Stephen] Starr's people are interested in being partners with me," the message read. "They may buy out my partner and continue Divan Turkish Kitchen with his signature."
Attention fully piqued, we requested more details. According to Ugur, a lawyer friend of his has connections within the Starr Restaurant Group (SRG), and has brought an identical deal — either 100 percent ownership or half-and-half partnership — to the restaurateur's table. "I am open to either choice they will make, but I would like to keep 50 percent of it with Starr," Ugur wrote to us.
So this is all happening, right?! Stephen Starr at 22nd and Carpenter? Mashed eggplant martinis and all that?
Pump the brakes. Reached for comment on his cell phone, Starr denied knowledge of the potential deal with Divan. "I've never spoken to him," the restaurateur says of Ugur.
Tapped for a response, Ugur says he thinks Starr has not been made aware of the deal yet — the Turk's purported connection with SRG just presented the idea three days ago. "[My lawyer friend] knew that I want to sell half of my business because of not getting along with my partner," Ugur says. "He happened to know people who know Stephen Starr, so [he offered] to get in touch with them. He has spoken to [SRG]."
"I'm hoping that [Starr] is going to be interested," he adds.
OK, so it was a bit premature on Divan's part — there's a very real chance that Starr and Co. will have no interest in the deal whatsoever. But it's interesting to think about — Starr reaching into the fringier residential neighborhoods of Philadelphia for projects — especially considering his recent acquisition of the Broad Street "A Place for Ribs" Diner.
We'll have more details if this develops. And if it does, the first round of mashed eggplant martinis are on us.
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| Produce in plastic is so last century. |
| Image courtesy BYO Bags |
By now it’s de rigeur for eco-conscious shoppers to tote their own reusable bags. Take a huge step toward banishing plastic bags from your life (and from under your sink) with nylon mesh BYO Bags for produce. Ann Hansen of coolhats.biz created the lightweight and washable sacks after becoming discouraged with using hard-to-open and harder-to-recycle plastic bags in supermarket produce sections.
The adorable drawstring satchels come in sets of three. They're $9 per set plus $1 shipping at coolhats.biz, or purchase them locally at Big Green Earth (239 Market St., 267-909-8661), where the set of three is $14. Whip them out to receive your dirty little beets at the Headhouse Farmer's Market for the ultimate in obsessively sustainable chic.
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Devil's Den (1148 S. 11th St.) recently rolled out what they're calling a "tapas" menu, available during happy hour (Mon.-Fri., 4-7 p.m.). Small plates, small prices. And when's the last time you ate a turnover at a bar in South Philly?
- Porcini & Truffle Popcorn $3
- Clams & Spinach $6
- Beer-Braised Pork Crostini $3
- Fresh Oysters $1.5 ea
- Spinach & Blue Cheese Turnover $5
- Pancetta, Celery Root, Fennel Salad $3
- Brie & Fruit $2.5
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Mi Lah's servers were making last-second preparations when I popped by Jason Lay's brand-new bilevel vegetarian restaurant, in the former Pita Pocket at 16th and Chancellor, earlier today. They're easing into their very first weekend of business. (I can't get Pictobrowser to catch for some reason — growing pains — but check out more interior shots here.)
Head chef Tyler Black, a Florida native, started his Philly cooking career at the Four Seasons before becoming head chef at Govinda's at Broad and South. He was last in the kitchen at Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby's Horizons. Black, who's been vegetarian for about three years, says he wants Mi Lah to fill what he feels is a void in the city's mid-range vegetarian dining options. (Prices are appropriate for such a task, with entrées topping out at just $17.)
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| Click to enlarge |
Approach-wise, Mi Lah's menu touches on numerous disciplines. There's Mediterranean (grilled halloumi with tomato confit panzanella); African (sweet potato patties with harissa; a Tunisian chickpea stew called labi labi); Southeast Asian (braised lemongrass, ginger and coconut milk with brown basmati rice and banana leaf; tofu pad Thai); Caribbean (grilled seitan skewers in a housemade jerk made with Barbados molasses), etc.
Black wants to get away from the practice of simply swapping out fake meat for the real stuff and deeming the plate acceptable for herbivores. "Here, we want vegetables to be the focus," he says. "Not a single thing on this menu could exist as a vegetarian option at a [non-veg] restaurant." Almost all items are vegan and gluten-free, as well; those that aren't can be tweaked to accommodate.
Mi Lah's a BYOB, but they're tinkering with the idea of offering premade rum and vodka mixers (see the second-floor juice bar).
Mi Lah Vegetarian, 218 S. 16th St., 215-732-8888, milahvegetarian.com
Open for lunch* Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner, 5-10 p.m.; closed Sun.
* Lunch kicks off next Tuesday, Oct. 14. They'll begin serving lunch on Tuesday., Oct. 21.
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| Chicken Nugget Coop |
| Photo: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times |
Brit graffiti artist Banksy is known all over the world for his subversive street art. His painted works are typically sprayed on buildings, roadways, sidewalks — even boats and sandy beaches — through ingenious stencils. The often life-size paintings force viewers to regard a familiar trope or image in a new (and often disturbing) light.
Scourge of cops and hero of graf artists, Banksy has now turned his saboteur's eye on a new medium — installation sculpture. His first-ever New York City exhibition, The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, opened yesterday. Contained within the storefront is a menagerie of animatronic critters, real pet supplies and strange edibles, like cans of Hormel's Pork tidbits. In her New York Times article "Where Fish Sticks Swim Free and Chicken Nuggets Self-Dip," Melena Ryzik catalogs the creatures populating Banksy's "pet store".
“Open for Pet Supplies/Rare Breeds/Mechanically retrieved meat” says a sign in front of the shop. Bales of hay dot the sidewalk, along with a kiddie dolphin ride, wrapped in a fishing net like the day’s catch. But it is the leopard in one of the storefront windows that stops passers-by first. “Is that — real?” a woman asked on Wednesday, peering at a large furry object perched on a tree branch, its tail swinging.
It’s not: it is an ingeniously arranged fake fur coat. The robot monkey is more lifelike: it sits, breathing, in a cage inside the store, wearing headphones, holding a remote and watching a television clip of some fellow monkeys in an amorous moment.
A rabbit wearing a pearl necklace files her nails in a window; the coop in the next one has chicken nuggets with legs, busily dipping themselves in sauce.
Inside the store, hot dogs and sausages squirm like snakes in sand-filled terrariums, and the floating fish sticks are so lifelike that a visitor tapped on the tank, as if to get their attention.
Ryzik also reported on Banksy's inspiration behind his anthropomorphized pets-cum-snacks.
“I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming,” Banksy said in a statement distributed by a publicist, “but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing.”
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill runs through October 31, 89 Seventh Avenue South (near Bleecker). The exhibit is free to the public.
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| Chicken Nugget Coop |
| Photo: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times |
British graffiti artist Banksy is known all over the world for his subversive street art. He uses ingenious stencils to force viewers to look at a familiar image or trope in a new, and often disturbing, light.
His first official exhibition in New York City opened yesterday, and it is true to his classic style of shock-and-think, but his medium is not spray paint but sculpture. The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill opened in a storefront at 89 Seventh Avenue South, in Greenwich Village. Melena Ryzik of The New York Times describes the animatronic critters that populate the shop in her article, "Where Fish Sticks Swim Free and Chicken Nuggets Self-Dip".
“Open for Pet Supplies/Rare Breeds/Mechanically retrieved meat” says a sign in front of the shop. Bales of hay dot the sidewalk, along with a kiddie dolphin ride, wrapped in a fishing net like the day’s catch. But it is the leopard in one of the storefront windows that stops passers-by first. “Is that — real?” a woman asked on Wednesday, peering at a large furry object perched on a tree branch, its tail swinging.
It’s not: it is an ingeniously arranged fake fur coat. The robot monkey is more lifelike: it sits, breathing, in a cage inside the store, wearing headphones, holding a remote and watching a television clip of some fellow monkeys in an amorous moment.
A rabbit wearing a pearl necklace files her nails in a window; the coop in the next one has chicken nuggets with legs, busily dipping themselves in sauce.
Inside the store, hot dogs and sausages squirm like snakes in sand-filled terrariums, and the floating fish sticks are so lifelike that a visitor tapped on the tank, as if to get their attention.
Ryzik also reported on Banksy's reasoning behind his unusual exhibition.
“I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming,” Banksy said in a statement distributed by a publicist, “but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing.”
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, 89 Seventh Avenue South (near Bleecker) runs through October 31. It is free to the public.
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