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Archive: April, 2011
- Honest Tea has done something good. Not that their line of iced teas aren't good, but they've one-upped every competitor out there by adding chocolate. Their CocoaNova line better live up to my expectations, as tea and mint and chocolate should blend harmoniously, right? Serious Eats seems on the fence. I can't wait to get my hands on these YooHoo-y beverages.
- Chinese researchers have found a way to genetically alter cow's milk into a near-exact replica of human breast milk to help mothers who have trouble producing. The product even includes some of the hormones that aid in infant immunity and development. I thought this was an April Fool's joke, much like the Camembert lip balm that Whole Foods promised. It's not. What does everyone think of this?
- Ew. A young man from Washington finished his Monster Energy Drink, only to find that the can still felt "heavy." Disgusting. Ew. Someone's getting hit with a lawsuit. I'm saying nothing more. Click here to see what he found.
- Have you seen what happens when you salt fresh frog's legs prior to cooking? Totally weird and creepy ... but intriguing? Absolutely!
- Monks in Germany have a centuries-old practice of consuming solely beer and water to cleanse. An Iowa man has decided to take this as his Lenten sacrifice, and he is almost finished with his month of living entirely on a diet of beer, which he justifies as "liquid bread." Keep up with his progress on his blog.
- The salt tastes like bacon. This lip balm tastes like bacon. These envelopes taste like bacon. THIS AIR TASTES LIKE BACON EVERYTHING TASTES LIKE BACON. You can buy so many different things that taste like bacon here.
Photo: Robyn Lee | seriouseats.com
Gretchen Fantini's Sweetbox Truck just started slingin' scratchmade cupcakes two days ago at 3500 Market Street, in front of the Monell Chemical Senses Center. The truck (above) is not yet wrapped/branded — that's because it's been selected for a custom design job by the Mural Arts Program, which was responsible for the badass looks of Honest Tom's and other mobile operations around town. The Monell spot will be Sweetbox's permanent digs; they're feeling out business this week before setting a permanent schedule. Check the truck out on Facebook and Twitter, and peep a sampling of Fantini's cupcake varieties after the jump.
One of the few reasons to celebrate subsequent Hump Days: Koo Zee Doo (614 N. Second St.), which has operated Thursday to Monday since opening in late 2009, is now open for dinner on Wednesday evenings, starting tonight. David Gilberg and Carla Goncalves' Portugese BYO now accepts online reservations, as well.
Photo: Neal Santos
When you go to Doobies (2201 Lombard St.), you go to drink, and maybe play a buzzed board game or two. But if you go regularly enough, you know that the kitchen is capable of cranking out some simple, solid grub — and if you hit it on the right night, there's a chance you'll get down on some home-cooked Trinidadian dishes, courtesy of owner Patti Brett's Trini husband, Preston.
In his latest opinion piece, New York Times food policy columnist Mark Bittman visits Philadelphia, where he tours town with The Food Trust and talks to Mayor Michael Nutter about his work securing whole-food access for Philadelphians on lower economic planes. "Philadelphia," he writes, "is figuring out its residents’ food needs and demonstrating that government and non-profits can lead the fight against diet-related diseases by putting real food into the hands of people — especially children — who have trouble finding and affording it."
Bittman goes on to detail several examples of local programming — the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, Philly Bucks, the state-spearheaded Fresh Food Financing Initiative and the controversial proposed soda tax among them — designed with Philadelphians' long-term health in mind. Read the entire column here.
For more with Bittman, check out our recent Q&A with him in Cowbell magazine.
Photo: cowbellmagazine.com
The Stephen Starr/Aimee Olexy collab Talula's Garden will debut on Washington Square this coming Monday, April 11. The 102-seat eatery (66 of which can be found in the outdoor garden area) will start out serving dinner daily from 5 to 11 p.m., plus Sunday brunch. Chef Michael Santoro, whose background we ran down in March, will cook dishes like a veloute of sweet peas with cuttlefish "ravioli"; a spring salad of herbs, flowers and lettuces, with almond milk dressing and croutons; and braised halibut with new potato gnocchi, Meadowset egg, raisin puree and mushroom jus on his opening menu. A few weeks in, Olexy will roll out a 12-course tasting option, somewhat akin to the experience Talula's Table, that'll run around $100 a head; cheese will be a huge focus here, as well, as they've got an expansive program in the works. More info on the restaurant soon.
Now that we're well into mudbug season, chef Paul Martin at Catahoula (775 S. Front St.) is dedicating one day a week to real-deal crawfish boils. Every Tuesday, swing by the Louisiana native's bar and order up one of three boil options — a one-pound bowl ($14) with potatoes and corn; a two-pounder ($25), with potatoes and corn, that also includes your choice of gumbo, bisque or side salad and an Abita beer; and a three-pound helping ($35) that'll also feature the requisite corn and taters. (The two-pound deal sounds like the jam to us!) Catahoula will continue this weekly through about Memorial Day, and Martin plans on ending the season with a big blowout barbecue/boil.
Photo: Catahoula on Facebook
Vasiliki Tsiouris, who owns Opa (1311 Sansom St.) with her brother George, has not tried her chef Andy Brown's rendition of kokoretsi just yet. It's not that it's not good — on the contrary, it wouldn't be getting our ETI treatment if we didn't think it was well worth ordering — it just ain't for her. That she'll readily admit as much should tell you all you need to know about the reputation of this very traditional Greek delicacy, various organs (in Brown's case, a lamb's sweetbreads, liver and heart) bound by lamb's intestines.
Wait, where are you going?!
This summer, Nikki Hill, former sous chef at Barbuzzo, and her girlfriend, vocalist Claire Wadsworth, will launch La Copine, a roving supper club, catering service and prepared-foods line.
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.)
- 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
