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Archive: October, 2008
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What's the best way to promote a fledgling coffee roasting business? You could pour free samples in Rittenhouse and hope La Colombe doesn't notice. Don a sandwich board and try to fit through the doorways of established cafés, sacks of beans in hand. Hire a PR firm to get all the espresso nerds salivating.
Or you could open your own coffee shop.
That's exactly what Jean-Luc Fanny, who's French by way of Cote d'Ivoire, has done with Cafe L'Aube ("the dawn"), a bright and cheery café that's taken over at the long-empty Jouvay Java spot at 1512 South Street. Open for about a month now, L'Aube serves as a neighborhood launching pad for Peregrine Coffee, the Tacony-area bespoke green bean roaster that Fanny (a statistician by trade) recently founded with Kevin Lawrence. (They specialize in single-order coffee beans roasted to order.)
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| Click to enlarge |
A joint venture with wife Fanny's wife Rachel, L'Aube has all the caffeine needs on lock, but there's also a surprisingly extensive selection of eats (click thumbnail for full menu). Savory crepe choices include ham, swiss and mushroom; gouda, turkey and herbs; and ham, mushroom and béchamel sauce. On the sweet side, try out brown sugar, Nutella and assorted fruit varieties. Croques monsieur and madame say bonjour, as well.
Yet another specialty: Brussels waffles, which are lighter and crisper by design than what people normally understand to be a Belgian waffle. L'Aube tops theirs with anything from fruit and honey to creme fraiche and chocolate. When I stopped in, Fanny shared loads of information on regional Euro waffle differences — did you know Brussels irons crank out 3-by-5 gridded waffles, whereas their thicker, heartier Liege counterparts (what Bonte serves) come 6-by-4? I did not know that. Start slinging fresh siroopwafelen and I'm moving into an apartment upstairs.
Café L'Aube, 1512 South St., 267-614-2109.
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| Hey kids! Who wants blob?! |
| Photo | Felicia D'Ambrosio |
- Meal Ticket's own Felicia D'Ambrosio takes on kombucha tea, the purported miracle drink that celebrities love and accredited medical institutions hate. I bet Flea would give you a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) to make your own kombucha if you asked really nicely.
- In Feeding Frenzy, we've got details on two South Street newcomers (Novità Bistro and Café L'Aube) as well as Caffeination, a concept-y coffeehouse coming to 21st and Chestnut. (Check back here a little later for even more on L'Aube.)
- Want a new take on Jovan's Place, the Eastern Euro bar/restaurant that's been comforting stomachs for more than a decade? David Snyder's got it.
- What's Cooking guress Nikki Volpicelli graces you with info on the Southwest Center City Rock 'n' Run, a "big ass beer" dinner at Monk's, an espresso workshop and more. Wondering what event merits the sentence "pair a little Howard Zinn with seitan, koniaku and yam 'shrimp' with tofu skin"? Read on, why don't you.
- If you are Jewish, you're probably kinda hungry right now. Don't worry: Gary M. Kramer has a list of five local places to break the Yom Kippur fast.
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| Bacon, meet bourbon. You two are perfect for each other! |
Kurt Wunder has been pouring drinks for a long time. He's heard it all.
But when a rumor of a cocktail so wrong it's right � The Bacon
Old-Fashioned � crossed his bar, the owner of the 700 Club didn't waste
any time worrying about spiritual morals. He just knew that he loved bourbon and he knew that he loved bacon. And now the twain should meet.
All
good rumors can be investigated on the Internet, and that is where
Wunder found a simple method for infusing bourbon with bacon fat. The
pig-enhanced potion became the basis of a modified Old-Fashioned that
included maple syrup in the role of sugar cube. Wunder admitted to
enjoying the resultant cocktail, but doesn't plan on serving it at 700. "This is a little heavyhanded for me," he says. "I'm
more into classic cocktails. Besides, I can only assume it's legal."
Bacon
is a short infusion � you can render it with your breakfast and and
be drinking bacon bourbon by happy hour. Make your own with a bottle of
cheap booze and a package of the nicest bacon you can afford. Bacon can
also be infused into vodka for a much stronger smoked-pig flavor,
though "nothing about bacon is subtle", commented Wunder, "but the bourbon
did take on a subtle bacony flavor, which dissipated in just a few
days."
Step by step instructions after the jump.
Getting a Pig Inside a Bottle, or, Bacon-Infused Bourbon
adapted from PDT, as published in New York Magazine on April 7, 2008
Step
One: Cook five strips of good bacon over low heat to render out all of
the fat. Keep the heat low; you are looking for maximum melt without
burning anything.
Step Two: Pour the bottle of bourbon (Kurt
used Heaven Hill) into a large, freezer-safe container with a lid.
Set aside the bacon strips; pour the hot fat into the container with
the bourbon.
Step Three: Lid the container tightly, and then
give it a vigorous shake. Allow to infuse on the counter for at least
two (and up to six) hours.
Step Four: Place the container in
the freezer. After half an hour, the bacon fat will have hardened on the
surface of the liquid and can be scooped off. Store the fat in a jar
in the fridge to saut� onions, mushrooms, croutons or mirepoix in
(assuming your cholesterol levels will tolerate it).
Step Five: Strain the baconized bourbon through a cheesecloth- or paper towel-lined funnel back into the bottle.
Check out PDT's recipe for the Bacon Old-Fashioned here. Drink, marvel, oink, repeat.
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| bettereatingthroughchemistry.blogspot.com |
Every Wednesday, we poke around the food blog world to see what's simmering.
- Josh Homacki, chef at Rittenhouse's Snackbar, has launched Better Eating Through Chemistry, a blog about his molecular meanderings in the kitchen. Look at that cheese plate!
- beXnlog offers up mini reviews of three slightly under-the-radar spots: Mustard Greens, Cedars and Almaz Cafe (a Meal Ticket favorite).
- Yes, it's October, but don't tell Foodaphilia, who's clinging onto summer with this delicious-sounding gazpacho tilapia with avocado recipe.
- Alexandra Harcharek of Le Petit Cochon has a new blog: A Food Coma, "aimed at twenty-somethings and those interested in cooking fabulous semi-gourmet food on a minimal budget." Welcome!
- David and Johnny, aka Two Guys on Beer, hit up the 23rd Street Armory for Philly Oktoberfest. Heidi wigs and Yards' prez Tom Kehoe are involved. Prost.
- Chicago Sun-Times via Serious Eats: Top Chef champ Stephanie Izard is steamed that a Cook County, Ill. GOP-er is using her likeness in the logo of a public access cooking show called What's Cookin' with the Republicans! "That really is the girl who won? I'll make her famous," the show's Republican producer (who claims he had no idea who Izard was) is quoted as saying. "Also, I love enforcing blanket stereotypes," he added. "Now go check on that roast, pick up my dry cleaning and pour daddy some scotch, angelface."
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| This baby better live in St. Louis |
| beeristheanswer.com |
Fall is officially in the air, the Phils are primed to beat down on the Dodgers, and Wednesday is the perfect time to start sucking down local suds. Philly is rife with wicked good breweries, so please, stop pretending you like Pabst and glom onto a well-made native creation (and our hero Cali beer, Sierra Nevada).
Wed., Oct. 3: Dark beer fans: You have a sacred duty to help pasty Northern Libertarians fortify themselves by draining a cask of Troeg's Dead Reckoning Porter at the Standard Tap. The firkin is tapped at 6 p.m. and flows until it's dry. This unfiltered seasonal offering from Harrisburg is brewed with heaps of pilsner, caramel, chocolate and roasted malts and finished with vanguard and chinook hops. True to porter style, Dead Reckoning is a smooth as that one slick bartender at the Tap. You know which one. The Standard Tap, 901 N. Second St., 215-238-0630.
Thu., Oct. 9: Philly beer scenesters are hopping for joy at the the long-awaited opening of Mt. Airy's Earth Bread + Brewery, owned by former Heavyweight brewer Tom Baker and his wife Peggy Zwerver. With licensing red tape requirements finally satisfied, the brewpub will be lighting up the wood-fired oven and turning out the flatbread pizzas alongside their four new brews. Check out the beer page for a complete listing of house-made and local craft beers on draft, as well as thoughtful bottle selections. Earth Bread + Brewery, 7136 Germantown Ave., Mt. Airy, 215-242-MOON.
Fri., Oct. 10: if you work in the corporate wasteland that is Conshohocken, drag your secretary spread to Flanigan's Boathouse to agonize over the Phils and suck up free samples of Sierra Nevada's uber-limited Chico Estate Harvest Ale. The seasonal is brewed entirely with hops grown on Sierra's brewery grounds, which are added immediately after harvest — they must have heard how we love bitter buds fresh and not dried. Sierra reps will be there armed with company money, so flap your lashes at Patrick and maybe he'll buy you a pint. The event kicks off at 8 p.m. Flanigan's Boathouse, 113 Fayette St., Conshohocken, 610-828-2628.
Sat., Oct. 11: For hardcore beer nerds only (and those who like to mock them): Iron Hill's North Wales location is hosting a simulcast of the Great American Beer Festival's awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m. While every brewer, beer writer and classy pub owner of note (and various groupies) descend on Denver for this epic blowout of bad behavior known as the GABF, notebook-toting aficionados at Iron Hill will be finding out which beers they will be claiming to have heard about first this year. Iron Hill has entered a stable of their micros, including Munich Dunkel, Norse Nectar, Bourbon-Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Porter, and Vengeance (a Belgian-style Imperial IPA) which North Wales head brewer Larry Horowitz is confident can medal in the Belgian/American category. Samples of competing beers will be on offer, and the first 50 attendees get a pretzel necklace. Just don't let any junior brewers drunk on glory chew on it. Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant, 1460 Bethlehem Pike, North Wales, 267-708-2000.
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Welcome to Meal Ticket, City Paper's brand-new food and drink blog. There will be much more here very soon.
Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews here � those are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to drew.lazor@citypaper.net. Also, follow Meal Ticket on Twitter: twitter.com/mealticket
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A word on commenting on Meal Ticket: Your comment may be placed in moderation prior to appearing on a post.�Comments containing racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise offensive material, and/or ad hominem attacks on individuals, can and will be removed. If you submit a comment and it is wrongly flagged as spam by our moderator, please alert us by e-mailing drew.lazor@citypaper.net.
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