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Archive: May, 2011
For your reading pleasure, an except from my review of West Philly’s Moroccan quick-serve, Marrakesh Express (4407 Chestnut St.)
"Most of the dishes from the family recipe box, a homeyness underscored by uncomplicated flavors and straightforward preparations. Think everyday vegetables, steamed (carrots) or sautéed (string beans), tossed with garlic, parsley and ras el hanout. With so few ingredients, the normally overlooked rises ascendant. Regulation parsley, for example; It's lemony and bright and key on these veg. Or extra-virgin olive oil swirled through the surface of the creamy, ink-violet lentil soup, the double-dose of richness in this peasant's purée. Olive oil also anoints the hummus, second-best only to Zahav, whose chef and co-owner, Michael Solomonov, is a reported fan of Marrakesh's housemade couscous."
Aren’t you just dying to eat here?! Good luck.
Tim McGinnis, chef at Jesse Spalletta's South Philly prepared-food destination Plenty (1710 E. Passyunk Ave., 267-909-8033), recently launched Artisanal by Plenty, a new line of retail sandwiches he's hoping to market to local cafés, markets and groceries. The first coffee shop to hop on the tasty between-bread wagon is Shot Tower Coffee (542 Christian St.), who's been selling a selection of McGinnis' eats for $8 a pop to complement their Stumptown. (McGinnis says he's open to distributing anywhere in the city, so look him up.) The current lineup of sandwiches, all of which come on Artisan Boulanger rolls, is as follows:
- Ham and Cheese: cured/smoked Country Time Farm pork shoulder, gruyere, house honey mustard ...
- Grilled Veggie: portobello, zucchini, red pepper, red onion, housemade hummus
- Free Bird Chicken Salad: brined/five-hour rotisserie chicken, cranberry, celery, onion, whole grain mustard
- Turkey: brined turkey breast, gruyere, chive remoulade
Photos: Drew Lazor
Chip Roman of Conshy's Blackfish (119 Fayette St.) has expanded his successful weekly prix-fixe tasting — always based around a single distinctive ingredient — to Mica, his new restaurant with Jason Cichonski in Chestnut Hill (8609 Germantown Ave.). They'll kick off the series tonight (it'll be every Wednesday moving forward; Blackfish's tastings are every Tuesday) with a four-course, $45 meal based around lobster. Full coursework below.
1st Course: Carpaccio, Thai Apple Salad, Truffle
2nd Course: Claw, Coddled Egg, Asparagus, Black Trumpet
3rd Course: Tail, Peas, Maitake Mushrooms, Miso
4th Course: Manjari Chocolate, Cocoa Nibs Ice Cream
Like a tentative groundhog, Little Baby's Ice Cream, the tricycle-powered scoop shop we told you about back in February, has poked it aww-so-cute head out its Kenzo HQ a few times. (You’ll actually be able to visit them at this Saturday's Jazz on Colorado Court.) But not to worry if you’ve missed their limited engagements; owners Pete Angevine, Martin Brown and Jeff Ziga have set an official launch date. Meet the guys (and their ice cream, in ridic sounding flavors like birch beer vanilla bean, earl grey Sriracha and coffee toffee made with Blue Bottle) on Saturday, May 21 at the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival and Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby (Trenton between E. Norris and Frankford at York) from noon to 5 p.m. Little Baby’s will also be scooping at the R5 Punk Rock Flea Market on Sunday, May 22. See you there.
We here at Team Meal Ticket are quite excited about the full-color Meal Ticket-themed magazine that's coming out next Thursday, May 12, in all copies of City Paper and all copies of the Philadelphia Business Journal, our media partner for this effort. The publication, which will feature some great longer-than-a-blog-post writing from the likes of Adam Erace, Felicia D'Ambrosio and others, was a chance to harness the oft-frenetic approach we take here on he web and parlay it into a fully realized mag. Can't wait for everyone to check it out.
While the magazine drops on the 12th, there's also a launch event on Wednesday, May 11 that you should know about. From 5 to 7 p.m., come to Trust (249 Arch St.) for cocktails and eats from some of our favorite restaurants, including Delicatessen, Koo Zee Doo, Maru Global, Marabella Meatball Co., Oyster House and more (full participant list after the jump). The food and drink will be accompanied by a panel discussion co-moderated by PBJ BizBites columnist Peter Van Allen and myself. Featured panelists include: Michael Schulson of Sampan and Izakaya, Mitch Prensky of Supper, Moon Krapugthong of Chabaa Thai and Dana Herbert of Delaware's Desserts by Dana, winner of the TLC reality show Next Great Baker.
This week, refined small-plates spot Meritage (500 S. 20th St.) is making meat-free dining more accessible by once again offering its fully vegan Tuesday-night tasting menu. For you vegans, vegetarians and veg-friendly eaters out there: $35 will get you a four-course lineup of seasonally appropriate dishes from chef Anne Coll, including dessert (and usually a palate-prompting amuse bouche as a fifth element). Tonight marks the menu's debut, with dishes like roasted baby beets with rhubarb, mint, and citrus; a rich vegan risotto studded with swiss chard and fava beans; and a hearty chickpea cake with spinach, olive tapenade, smoky tomato chutney and puréed herbs. Menu items are constantly subject to change dependent on ingredient sourcing, and spring's abundance of bright and ever-changing seasonal ingredients is sure to keep what's offered in flux.
Spike TV's new show Bar Rescue — think along the lines of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, except swap out that surly Scot for hospitality consultant Jon Taffer and flailing restaurants for failing watering holes — will be filming in Philadelphia during the second and third weeks of this month. The names of the two establishments Taffer will be flipping in just three days (they revamp the entire shebang and then host an open-to-the-public "reveal party") are embargoed for now, but feel free to venture some guesses in the comments. Think of it this way: If you wanted to find a really shoddily run bar in Philly, which neighborhood(s) would you head to? The show is set to premiere on Spike this summer.
UPDATE [06may11]: The first venue the Bar Rescue crew will make over: Downey's (526 S. Front St.), from Tuesday, May 10 to Thursday, May 12. On Thursday, expect an open-to-the-public "reveal party" to start around 9 p.m. The second location to be made over is in Old City, name soon ...
The Food Trust, which had a crazy hit on its hands with its first Night Market food event held down Passyunk way last October, has announced the second installment in the occasional series: It'll go down Thursday, June 9, from 6 to 10 p.m. at 39th and Market in West Philly. The event, coinciding with 2011's Philly Beer Week, will also provide attendees the opportunity to hit up the beer garden run by the adjacent Blockley (38th and Chestnut). No official word on which food trucks and/or restaurants will be feeding the masses (we're guessing turnout will be just as wacky as Passyunk), but we'll keep you posted; sign up for the Night Market's mailing list for more info.
Larry Rosenblum and Mark Cosgrove's Spread Bagelry (262 S. 20th St.), which Meal Ticket first noted last summer, officially opened for business in Rittenhouse yesterday. They're doing up bagels in the Montreal style, boiling them in honeyed water and baking them up in a custom-built wood-burning oven. (Varieties include the traditional sesame, plus poppy, everything, whole wheat, whole wheat everything and plain.) True to its name, Spread is also offering up a variety of bagel add-ons, from freshmade sweet jams and butters to veggie, roasted garlic and smoked salmon cream cheeses. Sandwich options include "The Canadian" (with housemade "smoked meat," Montreal's signature contribution to the brined deli meat pantheon), the "Spread Special" (housemade whitefish salad, cream cheese, onion, tomato) and breakfast options like the a frittata scramble (cheddar, roasted tomato, Lancaster smoked turkey bacon). Spread is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; on Saturday and Sunday, they do all-day brunch with table service from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (BYO vodka to take advantage of their Bloody Mary mix.)
Radio DJ and budding restaurateur Rocco Cima says a third location for his 500-calories-or-less quick-serve Fuel is lined up for this autumn. "This location will be a little different," Cima says. "It'll be takeout only, no table service, 900 square feet and officially called Fuel to Go." Expect pre-packaged forms of all the sandwiches, wraps, snacks and salads the calorie-conscious clamor for at the Passyunk and Wash West branches, easier for the office workers at FtG's soon-to-be home, 1650 Arch Street, to cop on their lunch breaks. Look for it around "October, November," with more Fuel outposts to follow; Cima has started franchising, with eight already sold.
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