Archive: November, 2010

Notes from the Weekend (and one from Thursday): Nov. 1

POSTED: Monday, November 1, 2010, 9:53 PM

Filed Under: Notes from the Weekend

Notes from the Weekend is a Monday feature that sees the members of Team Meal Ticket compiling all the food/drink highlights uncovered during prime eatin time, Friday to Sunday. Consider this a place for good deals, great dishes, wicked cocktails, recipe triumphs (and tragedies), bizarro conversations and more. Were eager to share our notes, but especially excited to read yours.We encourage you to leave notes from YOUR weekend in the comments. Have at it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)

Rachel Burgos: RB Adam Erace: AE Juliana Reyes: JR

Thursday the boyfriend and I tried Barbuzzo (110 S. 13th St.). That place is mad narrow and dark I would never want to be a server there but I was really into the food. Highlights included the roasted brussel sprouts (a vegetable I was previously, embarrassingly, afraid of) and the new sheep's milk ricotta ravioli. So killer. JR Friday night I made Trader Joe's frozen turkey meatballs with some pasta, crappy jarred sauce that I doctored up with red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic and some Parmagiano-Reggiano from Whole Foods grated on top. For a cheap quick and easy meal, it was fantastic. RB

Photo | Drew Lazor

Friday, had a late and huge lunch at El Jarocho (1138 S. 13th), where we thought that maybe we could both eat burritos and their tripe soup (or, officially "Pancita Res"). Had cactus in my pork burrito and it was alright, but once boyfriend said it was like okra, I was immediately turned off. Weird how suggestion works like that. The pancita was good (but the Filipino version, callos, is way better in my opinion), but lacked something. The broth was too thin and not flavorful enough. Anyway, it came in a giant bowl and we'll probably be eating it for the next month. JR Putting the 'yum' in tom yum since 2009, Circles (1516 Tasker St.) did it for dinner Friday night. Read all about in our food section, a week from Thursday. AE Put my Halloween costume on and ventured to the Crazy Leprechaun (3589 Richmond St), a bar in the Northeast, to hear friends' bands play for free. Took a sip of a Guinness that was so bad, a friend and I were convinced it might just kill us. (Hey, Crazy Lep, time to change the tap.) RB Saturday morning stopped by Ultimo (1900 S. 15th St) for a cup and a cheddar and apple sandwich, which was very yummy. RB

Photo | Adam Erace

File under weird: I also had an cheddar-apple sandwich this weekend at Ultimo ... R.B., are you following me? I wouldn't blame you; as Sen. Clay Davis would say, the Four Worlds baguettes Ultimo uses are the sheeit. And the cappuccini are just so pretty. AE On Saturday I had leftover pancita with hash browns (and a dash of Sriracha). Might sound weird but it actually filled the soup out really well. Ordered broccoli rabe and sausage pizza for Franco and Luigi's (13th and Tasker) for a quick lazy pre-Halloween dinner. I like that place, you can count on 'em. JR Saturday night went to a friends' house to get ready for Halloween parties, etc. and ordered a FEAST from J and J Pizza (1177 S. Ninth St.). We got a plain pizza, a cheesesteak with fried onions and hot peppers, mozzarella sticks and some hot wings for good measure. Chased em down with a Philadelphia Brewing Company sampler beer case. RB Much love to Drawing for Food's Kris Chau, who was kind enough to share her sack of Artisan Boulanger Patissier (1646 S. 12th St.) goodies with me on Saturday morning. Apparently Artisan makes these very-Vietnamese meat pies you have to know about to ask for. Sweet, anise-scented beef and pork tucked into endless layers of flaky pasty? Yes please. AE

Photo | Adam Erace

I should probably mention that I ate this meat pie about an hour after housing an Artisan bacon-egg-and-cheese. #fatkid AE Three things you might not believe about my Saturday night: 1) I wound up at the Buxco Pizzeria Uno. 2) There was shrimp tikka masala on its menu. 3) It was actually pretty good. AE Sunday morning I grabbed a Gatorade and a bag of Herr's cheddar horseradish chips from a kiosk in the Gallery/Market East to hold me over until I got to my parents house in North Jersey. Those chips were awesome, will definitely eat them again. The Gallery and a long train ride, not so much. RB Sunday OK, is this really embarrassing? had (hickory-smoked!) Spam for breakfast with fried rice and egg. A super Filipino breakfast. Don't hate on Spam. It was really good. Then we tried to recreate this roast beef sandwich we saw on Best Thing I Ever Ate. Needed a better cut of meat but it was still tasty. Boyfriend made sweet potato chips and I made the horseradish mayo (with a spot of miso paste, real good). Mmm. The sauerkraut was such a mess though. JR I ate so much Halloween candy Sunday night (Tootsie Rolls, namely, but I didn't discriminate against the Kit-Kats either) that I dinner-detoxed with v8 tomato soup (solid) and Weaver's Way-sourced salad involving arugula, textbook balsamic vinaigrette and what were likely the last yellow tomatoes of the season. AE

Testing: The Wishing Well’s homemade scrapple :: Meal Ticket :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2010-11-09 17:17:48

[...] I’d never tasted it before. Though I’m not one to discriminate against mystery meats (I’m a shameless fan of Spam), whenever scrapple comes up on a menu, people always seem to be wrinkling their noses. [...]

Tweets that mention Notes from the Weekend (and one from Thursday): Nov. 1 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-11-01 22:52:33

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eric Smith, Eric Smith. Eric Smith said: Notes from the Weekend (and one from Thursday): Nov. 1 http://bit.ly/bDlw3J [...]

Michelle

Posted 2010-11-01 19:25:12

Ants pants is always great.  I order the dill scrambled eggs with feta every time! I loooooove their honey wheat toast

rachel

Posted 2010-11-01 19:04:04

Ants pants! Their sweet potato fries with sour cream & thai sweet chili garlic dipping sauces are AWESOME

Posted 2010-11-01 17:22:22

Screw Northbowl and Lucky Strike. Erie Lanes is where it's at, mainly because they have those huge gumball machine-lookin' beer dispensers that hold something like 140 ounces of brew for $17. They're only $15 at Locust Bar, but they don't have bowling there. Followed up that up with the flatbread pizza at Swift Half, which I'm sure would have been better if I had actually read the menu and learned that it was fancy pizza, opposed to the normal pizza that I really wanted. Saturday had several jello shots made to perfection from recipes off My Jello Americans (myjelloamericans.blogspot.com). Recovered from said jello shots (and a lot of ill-advised Jim Beam) with The Greatest Hangover Cure of All-Time: the egg, ham and brie sandwich on a croissant from Ant's Pants.

ltguerintee

Posted 2010-11-01 17:11:19

Momofuku Noodle bar! Amazing ramen and smoked wings. Also had the great lardo pizza at Barbuzzo.

danya

Posted 2010-11-01 17:05:18

Does solid tomato soup allow you to perform the same tricks as solid potato salad? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mVpGmoES3w

Midnight Toquer

Posted 2010-11-02 16:43:36

Fried and true, I'm crazy about the fryer my wife got me for xmas a couple years ago.

Jule

Posted 2010-11-02 09:57:34

This weekend we bought a deep fryer. So that's what we ate...deep fried everything in the grocery store. The highlights were the wings-huge juicy, super crunchy pieces that were twice coated in a flour and spice mixture. Sauce was your typical hot sauce/butter combo doctored with cayenne, paprika, and garlic. Unreal. We also made mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, and fried ravioli. I feel disGUSTING but oh so satisfied.

Posted by Adam Erace @ 9:53 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Space remains for Garces Trading cheese and wine class

POSTED: Monday, November 1, 2010, 9:18 PM

Filed Under: Food Events

Photo courtesy of Garces Trading Company

the cheese case at Garces Trading

Tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., Garces Trading Company (1111 Locust St.) premieres a new series of wine-and-cheese pairing classes. (Get a load of that sexy queso case!) Tomorrow's session gets participants a dozen cheeses and dozen wines paired by G.T.C.'s A-class staff. Cost is $65 a head and there are still seats available. Hit up the restaurant (215-574-1099) for rezzies.

Tweets that mention Space remains for Garces Trading cheese and wine class :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-11-01 16:43:23

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ProfilePR, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Seats remain for wine-and-cheese at Garces Trading http://tinyurl.com/27njago [...]

Posted by Adam Erace @ 9:18 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Meal Ticket don Drew Lazor on WXPN tonight

POSTED: Monday, November 1, 2010, 7:08 PM

Filed Under: Food News

upenn.edu

Penn's Kelly Writers House

Tonight at 8 p.m., tune your radios to 88.5 FM for WXPN's monthly installment of LIVE at the Writers House to hear Meal Ticket's own Drew Lazor talk food and read an excerpt of his work with host Michaela Majoun. The segment was taped last week at the Kelly Writers House, a converted cottage that has harbored ~~Hansel and Gretel~~ Penn's writing community for the past 15 years, and will also feature readings from Philly Mag's Kirsten Henri, PW's Brian Freedman, Grub Street's Collin Keefe and Yelp duchess (and former Meal Ticket scribe) Felicia D'Ambrosio. When you get this many food writers together, hijinks are certain to ensue.

Posted by Adam Erace @ 7:08 PM Permalink | Post a comment

After crash, Melange Tea Cart reopens today

POSTED: Monday, November 1, 2010, 3:20 PM

Filed Under: Food News | On Wheels | Tea

Melange Tea Cart (33rd and Market), which we told you about recently, was involved on a crash on the 21st that left the truck in the repair shop and the mobile tea business closed indefinitely. "At 10:50 a.m. this morning, a truck decided to make a very late left turn directly in front of me at 18th and Washington," owners Boris and Yumiko Ginsburgs wrote on their blog. "To avoid being hit, I was forced to swerve, and the cart rolled over. [...] The cart has sustained major damage that, to be brutally honest, we can not afford to address." Tough stuff. Fortunately, repairs were completed ahead of schedule and Melange is back in action on a test-run today, pouring their select menu of exotic teas and tisanes. (Try the new white teas, like shou mei or bai mu dan.) The cart will be around on Drexel's campus until 2 p.m.; stay tuned to their Twitter to learn when they resume regular hours.

Ticket Stubs: Meal Ticket Weekly Recap, Nov. 1-6 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2010-11-08 08:32:07

[...] West Philly’s Melange Tea Cart reopens after a crash. [...]

Tweets that mention After crash, Melange Tea Cart reopens today :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-11-01 10:50:59

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Best Of Food.com, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Crash into tea, yeah. After accident, @melangetea reopens today http://j.mp/apoP88 [...]

Posted by Adam Erace @ 3:20 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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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 caroline@citypaper.net.

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