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Archive: February, 2012
Notes from the Weekend is a 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. We're 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.)
This Wednesday, Feb. 22, Dock Street (701 S. 50th St.) will be hosting a fundraiser to raise money for West Philly-based Books Through Bars, an organization that puts printed material in the hands of incarcerated men and women. As it turns out, dictionaries are one of the most frequently requested reads from those living behind bars, and Dock Street wants to help prisoners with access. Ten dollars at the door gets you a beer and a slice of pizza, and it gets BTB one bound dictionary. The event gets started at 8:30 p.m., with live entertainment from Sourmash and Cask & Co. kicking off at 9.
Photo: Drew Lazor
- Dosa Hunt is a short film by Stereogum's Amrit Singh in which he gathers a bunch of cool dudes of Indian heritage (Anand Wilder of Yeasayer, Alan Palamo of Neon Indian, Himanshu Suri of Das Racist) to search for good dosas in NYC. Sam Hockley-Smith wrote about the flick for Fader.com.
- Someone gave some guy named Logan Warren a Starbucks gift card, so he thought it would be fun to try to create the most expensive Starbucks drink possible. And he did. For $23.60, he ordered a 31-ounce Trenta Java Chip Frappuccino with 10 add-ins. Peep the article for the list. I promise it'll be gross.
- A man dining at Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas actually suffered a heart attack while eating their aptly-named Triple Bypass burger. The restaurant blatantly endorses unhealthy eating, from the name to the policy of letting people who weigh more than 350 pounds eat free. "I actually felt horrible for the gentleman because the tourists were taking photos of him as if it were some type of stunt. Even with our own morbid sense of humor, we would never pull a stunt like that," says owner "Doctor" Jon Basso. Disheartening.
- For a more lighthearted (ugh sorry) story about beef, Antony Bowness, a butcher from Gloucestershire, has created a meat bouquet. It's made from a dozen sirloin strips curled to look like roses. "I mean if you can make a dress from meat, then why not a bunch of roses?” says Bowness. Looks like Lady Gaga wins again. Dang.
- I'm trying to think of an eloquent way to talk about this Reese's Pieces spec ad, but I can't. It's ... weird? Gross? Inhumane? Just watch it. Sorry in advance, guys.
- Bompas & Parr, "food artists", want to make your wedding day even more exciting. They offer an exploding wedding cake service, which involves an explosives technician putting charges inside your wedding cake that detonate when you cut it. Risk assessment is included in the £800 price tag.
This coming Wednesday, Feb. 22, Southwark (701 S. Fourth St.) will host a guest dinner featuring Zone 7. No, that is not a dubious new fad diet — it's a Central Jersey-based farm-to-restaurant distribution hub (named for its agricultural growing zone) that supplies area chefs with local products year-round. Zone 7's Mikey Azzara will be in the house for the $45 four-courser to talk up his wares, sourced exclusively from quality growers in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. "We are hoping that people realize that even though it's a shitty time of year for produce, you can still have a heavy showing of locally grown goods on your menu," says Southwark's Nick Macri. To knock that message home with industry types, the restaurant will offer the $20 optional beverage pairing for free to all restaurant folks. Full menu is here.
Photo: Zone 7 on Facebook
Monday, February 13
The owners of Hawthornes share details on The Cambridge, their new bar replacing Tritone.
Ramen Boy debuts in Chinatown.
C-Town's Iron Tower has dope prices for banh mi.
Lugo Caffé is just one of many restaurants coming to Atlantic City's Revel.
Tuesday, February 14
Notes from the Weekend is full of cocktail weenie pizzas, doggies named Penelope and lamb tongues.
At long last, there is a rap song about Han Dynasty.
Crawfish season kicks off in Philly at Chris' Jazz Café.
Eat this immediately: the vegan butternut squash stew at American Sardine Bar.
A second restaurant from the owners of Sycamore is coming to Lansdowne.
Wednesday, February 15
The Italian Market's 943 launches Sunday Suppers.
European Republic is open on South Street.
The Korean short rib corn dog at Meritage looks so serious.
Happy Hour Hopper hits up Mixto.
Thursday, February 16
Oops, Ramen Boy temporarily closed due to a gas problem.
Details on Peter McAndrews' latest restaurant, Popolino.
Chestnut Hill is running a Restaurant Month promo in March.
Friday, February 17
Cartoons, cereal and booze at The Trestle's new Saturday-morning brunch.
Iron Hill has created a new collaborative brew with Quebec's Unibroue.
Local coffee roaster GreenStreet has upped its game quite a bit recently.
Ben Puchowitz and Shawn Darragh, who ran a successful inaugural Roundeye Noodle pop-up at Matyson (37 S. 19th St.) on Jan. 29, are doing it again in February — the duo's second ramen party will be help at Puchowitz's BYOB this coming Sunday, Feb. 26. As opposed to the last dinner, which was first-come first-slurp, this go-around will be reservation-only. They'll take tables starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25. Call 215-564-2925 to vie for space, and be sure to confirm your rez when they reach out; if not, your spot will be given up. No word yet on whether they'll run with an identical menu or add new dishes to the mix, but keep an eyeball on @roundeyenoodle for updates.
UPDATE [10:45 a.m.]: Darragh just checked in with word of a few new menu items. The vegetarian coconut curry soup is being replaced by a mushroom miso soup with charred tofu, pea leaves and long beans. Two new starters, too — charred escarole with persimmon, mint, chevre and madras curry; and new potatoes with green apple kimchi, radish and pickled quail eggs. They'll keep the popular broccoli/Viet sausage app introduced at the first pop-up.
Chris Molieri, whose nascent GreenStreet launched in the summer of 2011, is upping his reach considerably in the local coffee-roasting market. (Peep Brion Shreffler's September '11 piece for more on local micro-roasters.) Molieri has bought out Blue Water Coffee, which serviced spots like Ants Pants Café, Hinge Café and Ida Mae's, inheriting that roaster's bean stock, equipment and clients. With the added pull, GreenStreet is aiming to add Whole Foods Markets to the list of locals that carry his coffees, a roster that already includes Café Clave, Rocket Cat Café, Honest Tom's Taco Shop and Metropolitan Bakery. Above's a shot of Molieri checking out beans in El Salvador on a recent trip to visit farms and co-ops.
In October, Unibroue brewmaster Jerry Vietz visited the Del Val to brew with Chris LaPierre of Iron Hill. Jerry Chris Mas, the resulting collab, is being released at the Maple Shade IHB (124 E. Kings Highway) on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 sharp. The Québec-based Vietz will be in the house for the christening of the naturally conditioned brew, which LaPierre describes as a holiday beer ("even though it's well after the holidays") brewed with winter spices and sour cherries. Sounds kinda like Mad Elf to us. "Yup, a little drier, though," says LaPierre. Unibroue Terrible and Ephemere will be on tap, as well, but don't sweat it if you can't get to Jersey right away for Jerry Chris Mas. "We brewed 15 kegs," adds LaPierre. "It'll be on for at least a couple of weeks."
What's better or more nostalgic than settling in with the Saturday-morning cartoons of your youth and a big bowl of sugary cereal? Settling in with cartoons, cereal and bacon-washed bourbon.
Tomorrow will mark the second go-round of the new Saturday Morning Cartoon Brunch at The Trestle Inn (339 N. 11th St.), when they project vintage 'toons (The Flintstones, Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, etc.) onto the walls during brunch hours (11 a.m.-4 p.m.). Last week's debut was strong; they added a second day of brunch service after the success of Sunday's Drag Yo Ass Outta Bed Brunch.
The whiskey/go-go bar has a wealth of interesting a.m. cocktails to choose from, including a bacon-and-egg Bloody, The Breakfast Sour (the aforementioned bacon bourbon, maple syrup, OJ, egg white) and Bourbon Liquid Milk Punch (Old Grand-Dad, whole milk, simple, vanilla extract, Creme de Violette). Food-wise, dig into all-grown-up kids' cereal (a housemade fruit and oat mixture), piggies in a blanket and biscuits and gravy while you watch Fred drive with his feet. Here's the full brunch menu (PDF).
Center City District Restaurant Week is always a cash cow, but Chestnut Hill and its business association will not be outdone — in March, the neighborhood debuts a Restaurant Month boasting prix-fixe deals Sunday to Thursday at 24 different Hill locales. Each restaurant will do three-course meals for either $19.95 or $29.95; some spots are doing breakfast and lunch specials, as well. Participants locations include Campbell's Place, Chestnut 7 Bar & Restaurant, Heirloom, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, McNally's Tavern and Mica, the latter of which just landed on GQ critic Alan Richman's Best New Restaurants in America list. More details at chestnuthillpa.com.
Photo: Neal Santos
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