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Archive: March, 2011
Touched base with Gordon Dinerman, a vet of Buddakan, Barclay Prime and most recently City Tap House, to get the particulars on Birra, the craft brew/pizza joint he's working on at 1700 E. Passyunk Avenue.
The Philadelphia Science Festival (April 15-28) isn’t just about Dow Chemicals and the Space Grant Consortium. The fest will also feature several "Science Cafés" with the likes of Yards, The Continental and Kite & Key in collaboration with the Monell Center, Philly's internationally regarded center for smell and taste research. Last weekend I was invited to a preview of one of these public tasting events — "Flavor Tripping: The Magical Miracle Berry," scheduled for April 18 at The Continental. The idea behind the experiment was to see what you might be predisposed to in terms of taste and how certain chemicals (including those found in the infamous "miracle berry") can heighten or alter one's perception of flavors.
Benjamin Shyong and Arthur Kuan's story could easily come off as a shady undertaking — they started a business in Shyong’s dorm room, ordering supplies from overseas and taking orders via cell phone. They delivered product on bicycle, sometimes as late as 3 in the morning. Customers clamored for their stuff, and sometimes they received 100 orders per day.
We were surprised to hear the other day from a very reliable chef source who told us he'd been offered a walkthrough of the former Deux Cheminees at 12th and Locust — a space that has long been earmarked for Starr Restaurant Organization corporate executive chef Chris Painter's restaurant Il Pittore. That, coupled with this job posting for, well, Starr's corporate executive chef (also passed along by a tipster), got the gears turning a little: Could the Italian restaurant we just updated about the other day be off the table? Not the case, according to Painter: When Il Pittore does open (in late summer), the chef will "no longer be in the corporate role. That is why you saw the ad." Ahhh, makes sense. But what about that walkthru? As we understand it, the deal for the space is not yet official, so there's nothing stopping ownership from showcasing it to interested parties, just because.
You work really hard, you're so sleepy, and your morning coffee is the first and only thing on your brain upon rising and shining. When dinner is through, do you reward yourself with another hot cup of joe? How about letting your beloved beans showboat through the whole meal? Matyson (37 S. 19th St.) is offering a five-course tasting menu centered entirely upon coffee in realms both savory and sweet, showcasing intriguing combinations such as foie gras wrapped in coffee-infused ravioli dough and a coffee-sprinkled diver scallop accented with celery root and sweet vanilla bean.
The $45 tasting menu is going to be short-lived — it ends this Thursday — so make your reservation (215-564-2925; don't forget to mention the coffee menu!) soon. Peep the caffeinated menu in full after the jump.
Earlier today, ?uestlove shot out a video indicating that he's on the hunt for a chef to whip him up a private dinner — one we're assuming will go down in Philly.
The Roots drummer requests that those who wish to nominate themselves as potential cooks qooks should shoot a 90-second (or less) pitch clip to questlovesfood@gmail.com, and/or tweet it to @cook4quest. No official word on what the selected chef(s) will earn, or on the timeline/endgame of Questo's contest, but we're quite intrigued by how this Twittered-up experiment might turn out. We've always been fans of his food-centric commentary.
UPDATE [23mar11]: A few more details per the contest's Twitter — the deadline to send in your 90-second vid is this Friday, March 25, at 5 p.m. And it looks like the cook-off — the winner (there'll be five finalists) will serve as Questo's cook at the June 4 Roots Picnic — is going down at an undisclosed location on April 3.
I love Wawa and I love prime rib, but I'll be honest — the thought of the former offering up the latter made me a little queasy. But since I'm such a devoted fan of the Thanksgiving-themed Gobbler (turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce and stuffing all packed into one convenient sandwich), I couldn't help but think there was some promise here. Optimistically, I ventured out to determine whether Wawa's prime rib was DELICIOUS OR SUSPICIOUS.
Shola Olunloyo's gastronomic temple Speck isn't open yet, but that doesn’t mean Speck sous chef Akiko Moorman is living a life of leisure. The March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan spurred Moorman to do more than just cut a check to the Red Cross: on Mon., March 28, she will cook a five-course, Japanese-inspired menu accompanied by cocktails devised by mixmasters extraordinaire Phoebe Esmon and Christian Gaal.
The We Heart Japan benefit will be hosted by Aaron Matzkin and Dean Kitagawa of soon-to-open Rotisseur at 21st and Chestnut; 100 percent of the $75 tasting and subsequent $30 menu of cocktails, plus raffle earnings, will be donated to the earthquake relief effort. "Dean is also half-Japanese," says Moorman, who has run a supper club wryly dubbed Hapa Kitchen. "The sit-down dinner will be at 7:30; then we’ll open it up at 10 p.m. for people who just want cocktails. There’s also amazing raffle items: Mutter Museum passes, artwork ... chefs have donated restaurant gift certificates.”
Sponsors include proteins from Baldor Specialty Foods, produce from Blue Moon Acres and Farm Art, Japanese groceries from Narberth's Maido and potent potables from St. Germain and Majestic Wines. Gift certificates to Han Dynasty, Noble, Bar Ferdinand and Friday Saturday Sunday are all up for grabs in the raffle.
"We’re very excited because our friends in Japan have agreed to do matching volunteer hours," Moorman says. "So our cash donation will also translate into actual work in Japan."
Hit the jump for Esmon and Gaal’s Eastern-inflected cocktails; Moorman's menu to come. Email RSVP@weheartjapanevent.com to secure your ticket.
Hi everyone! It's Drew Lazor, your friendly neighborhood Meal Ticket editor. First off, I'd like to thank everyone for bearing with us here at City Paper while we transition our web presence over to this spiffed-out new site. Like any major shift of this nature, there are plenty of unforeseen wrinkles we still need to take care of moving forward. We're making some sweet progress so far, but there's still much work to be done.
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. 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.)
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