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Archive: February, 2013
There's always much ado about Chinese New Year, but what about Thai New Year, a traditional celebration coinciding with the sun's transition into the Aries? Alex Boonphaya of Circles is heralding the ram with four six-course $50 collaborative dinners at his Northern Liberties location (812 N. 2nd St.) that we are very, very excited about; they'll feature Jeffrey Power of Dettera, John Taus of the Corner, Ben Puchowitz of Matyson and Peter Woolsey of Bistrot La Minette. No menus yet, but we can only begin to dream about each chef working their respective cuisines into a sophisticated Thai template. Following, the collabos, which will run each Thursday from March 21 to April 11, Boonphaya will offer a special eight-course $60 New Years menu April 12- through 14 showcases dishes from each of the dinners.
Monday, February 18
NoLibs Circles rolls out a cold weather soup menu (with blood!)
Tuesday, February 19
Lots of familiar faces on the James Beard semi-finalist line up.
Please take a moment to watch this totally awesome American Sardine Bar commercial.
Wednesday, February 20
This oyster pan roast is pretty high on our list of to-eat priorities.
Please say hello to guest hoagie blogger Hawk Krall!
Thursday, February 21
Asian snacks and kosher cocktails in this week's print edition.
We're taking March off, there's a month-long pub crawl happening.
Phyllis Stein-Novack can't find a damned thing wrong with Gennaro's Tomato Pie.
Friday, February 22
On today's Afternoon Snacks: some sweet and delicious news before things turn suddenly, viciously sour.
As you may recall, Magpie (1622 South St.) has been running mini-pie specials every weekend, with a different trio of flavors each time at $10 for all three. (You can buy one for $4, but, come on.) This weekend's lineup looks especially good: they're all inspired by breakfast foods. Available on Saturday and Sunday only, you can sample vanilla bean yogurt cream pie with house-made granola and honey, spiced oatmeal pie with caramelized apples, and orange-scented cinnamon roll with a sweet glaze.
Girl Scout cookie season is winding down around here (March 3rd is the last day), but there's still time to get all curmudgeonly over them. LA Weekly's Squid Ink blog has plenty of reasons right here!
Speaking of curmudgeons, Andrew Knowlton's got some things to get off his chest.
And lest Guy Fieri catch all the flak nowadays over corporate swill tied to the Food Network brand, Eater tells us Ina Garten's got a line of frozen dinners coming out. Because when we think "Barefoot Contessa," the next words that come to mind are always "sack of jambalaya from the freezer case at Walmart."
The South Philly Review's resident restaurant critic Phyllis Stein-Novack was long time fan of Rittenhouse thin-crust spot Lombardi's, so when we saw that she was checking out Gennaro's Tomato Pie (1429 Jackson St.) in this week's paper, we had a feeling that she was going to be doling out some pretty serious tips of the toque.
She was smitten with the dining room from the get go and the soundtrack? "The Big Band music put me in such a merry mood I thought the Andrew Sisters were going to pop out and sing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
The antipasto passed muster and the flat bread served with it pleased but it's Gennaro's pizzas that really thrilled PSN.
Husband Edward and she shared a bottle of BYO Italian red and split a large, half tomato-half white pie. On the tomato portion of the pie, sauce was "not at all too sweet." And as far as the white portion of the pizza was concerned: "The white pie was glorious. If you have never tried the mingling of fresh whole milk mozzarella and fresh ricotta, Gennaro’s is the place for you. You will not be disappointed." High praise, right?
There's some talk about a pizza topped with "salad fixings" before moving on to Gennaro's not to be missed grandma-style homemade desserts. After sampling a pineapple upside down cake, a chocolate wafer ice box cake and a chocolate cream sponge cake, PSN said "Forget the fancy desserts served in upscale restaurants. These family-recipe sweets will bring a smile to your face."
Although PSN rarely introduces herself to chefs and owners, she felt compelled to do just that after her three and a half tips of the toque experience at Gennaro's.
An industrycentric art show, Oscar cocktails, and ways to accidentally spend way too much money this weekend, on today's Afternoon Snacks!
Coming up at Metropolitan Gallery 250 (250 S. 18th St.): The Sidework Series, which will open on April 15th and feature the work of people in the restaurant industry. Sounds awesome, but why are we telling you this now? Because they just put out the details for their open call for submissions—you can check out how to get involved right here.
Starting March 1st, nine bars NoLibs are hosting Northern Expose, a monthlong pub crawl in which all of the bars have pledged to serve unique beers (read: you're not going to see the same beer twice) for the entire month. The Abbaye, Bar Ferdinand, Cantina Dos Segundos, El Camino Real, Gunner's Run, N0rth Bowl, North 3rd, Ortlieb's and Standard Tap are all taking part of this monthlong, 100+ beers crawl. To keep track of your beer drinking progress, beer passports will be available for a buck at all of the participating bars so you can collect stamps for prizes but according to Northern Exposure's event page, there's no need to fret, "the immigration police won't deploy you if you act wild."
Much like our own underrated Pennsylvania vinified wines, New York's Finger Lakes region has been producing some good juice for sometime now. The cooler climate of the region is perfect for growing European varietals like Gewurztraminer and Cabernet Franc. If you've never had the pleasure of tasting New York State wines, have a hankering for a fancy-pants tasting menu or just need an excuse to go to Le Bec (1523 Walnut St.), mark your calenders because sommelier Philippe Sauriat is hosting a dinner with Ravines Cellars next Tuesday, February 26.
Ravines makes some of the finest old world style wines on the east coast and Le Bec's kitchen has done an even finer job building a tasting menu to pair with them (think duck egg tagliatelle with sweet breads and romaine hearts paired with a 2007 Riesling and a meritage matched with Morbier, Honeycrisp apples and walnut fugasse). Tickets for this epic wine dinner are running $195 a head for eight courses. Call 215-567-1000 to reserve your spot.
As temperatures continue to drop this week, things at Honest Tom’s Taco Shop (261 S. 44th Street) are nice and toasty.
Candid man and founder Tom McCusker tells us that his buds – chefs Matt Broeze and Aric “Ricky” Danz – want to know whose special is better. Mexiphiles of Philly, that’s your cue to taste and review their work, and stat.
Broeze sets the bar high with his brisket taco. He smokes the meat for six hours over apple wood chips and tucks it into a tortilla with pickled serrano peppers, Mexican sour cream, and iceberg lettuce.
Danz matches Broeze with a shrimp taco that's pumped up with cabbage, carrot, coconut milk, and scallions.
The specials make alternate appearances, so call ahead to learn which is on menu for the day (or live wildly and just wait to be surprised). Also not to be missed: the sweet potato taco (we've seen happy tears spilled over this dish) and Tom’s own breakfast creation (life doesn’t get much better than scrambled eggs, home fries, cheese, guacamole, salsa, and bacon).
Oh, and did we mention that any two tacos from Honest Tom's only sets you back six bucks? Spare yourself the fear of missing out and find your way to these bad boys.
An ambitious pairing menu, the science of junk food addiction, and one of our own actual junk food addictions, on today's edition of Afternoon Snacks!
So here's a thing: 10Arts (10 Avenue of the Arts) is doing a dinner paired not to wine, beer, or cocktails—but to music. They're bringing in the Philly POPS (OK, some of them) to provide the accompaniment to the meal (chef Nathan Volz plans to join in on violin during the dessert course). So what tastes best with classical music? Why, soy pop rocks, of course! Dinner's on Tue., Feb. 26 and goes for $59 a head ($95 if you're more of a traditionalist and would prefer a wine pairing to a string quartet pairing).
See the full menu, plus junk food and dreams come almost true, after the jump! »
- barstool scientist
- Booze
- Brew Revue
- Chef Salad
- Closings
- Coffee
- Contests
- Dealage
- Dirty Dishes
- Don't Front
- Eat This Immediately
- Field Trip
- Food and Art
- Food and Holidays
- Food and Movies
- Food and Music
- Food and Politics
- Food and Sports
- Food and Web
- Food Blogs
- Food Books
- Food Events
- Food News
- Food TV
- Gifted
- Happy Hour Hopper
- How-To
- In Print
- Interview
- Meal Ticket
- Menu Time
- Not So Quickfire
- Notes from the Weekend
- On Wheels
- Openings
- Patio Drinking
- Philly Beer Week 2010
- Photos
- Private Chef POV
- Product Placement
- Recipes
- Snack Time
- Stiff Drank
- SUPPER
- Tea
- Testing
- Ticket Stubs
- Top Chef
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Video
- Weekly Candy
- Weird Regional Foods
- We're Here to Help
- Where'd We Eat?
- Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory
- Pregame
- Ill-Advised Ranting
- The Week Without Meat
- Philly Beer Week 2009
- Real Big
- Where'd I Eat Last Night?
- Top Chef Masters
- The Good Word
- Next Iron Chef
- Arterial Terrorism
- Food and Radio
