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Archive: September, 2011
A few more details are trickling in about chef Mike Stollenwerk's plan to move his restaurant Fish from its current home at 1708 Lombard to the former Bump at 13th and Locust. The transition, which is tentatively slated to be complete by Nov. 1 (but y'all know how these things go), will double the restaurant's capacity to around 70 seats and dramatically expand the bar scene (always our perch of choice at the current Fish). New features, in addition to a larger raw bar, will include outdoor seating (both along Locust and in a courtyard setting), a separate wine room and an indoor growing operation to produce herbs for the kitchen. Since it's on the ground floor of The Independent, Fish will also be providing breakfast and room service to the boutique hotel's 24 rooms. They'll do lunch, too, to capitalize on the 13th Street corridor's wealth of foot traffic. No final dinner date has been set for Lombard just yet, but expect them to keep on cooking as close to the debut date of Fish 2.0 as possible.
A new food-centric social networking tool is launching in Philadelphia in this month: Grubwithus is aimed at those who enjoy connecting over food. The site is working with local restaurants to host family-style, prix-fixe meals that diners sign up for online. The catch? No one at the table has ever met before, which should make for an interesting experience (at least that's the aim). Each individual pays ahead of time on the site and the cost includes tax and gratuity to avoid annoying check-splitting after dessert. Some Philly restaurants that Grubwithus is currently working with are Distrito, Nan and JG Domestic.
The founders of the company came up with the idea when they realized how hard it actually is to meet like-minded people in places like bars or clubs — they've always felt that friendships are best made over food. Also, one of their investors is Ashton Kutcher, who would be happy to come and awkwardly take pictures of you with his Nikon COOLPIX during your meal.
In this week's food section I talked a bit about zha jiang mian, a popular northern Chinese dish that resembles bolognese in appearance (meat sauce over noodles) but definitely not in taste. (Swap that tomato base for jarred soybean goop, mmm.) As noted in the piece, there are a million variations on this dish, but the principle is steadfast — mild meat base (ground pork) flavored with pungent fermented bean pastes that, when mixed in smart proportion, produce a sauce with that distinctive, satisfying ability to warm you the hell up. This is a sticky-chinned slurping dish through and through.
Hearing there's still a bit of space for tonight's Louis Guntrum wine dinner at Pub & Kitchen (1946 Lombard St.) — chef Jonathan Adams and crew are pairing up five late-summer dishes with five wines from the German producer, four of which are Rieslings. (P&K has been an enthusiastic local Summer of Riesling participant, after all). Full menu, with pairings and tasting notes, after the jump. The dinnner is $55 a head and tables are being taken any time after 6 p.m.; call 215-545-0350 or email events@thepubandkitchen.com to reserve.
Love this spot.
UPDATE: Tougher than I thought? Those sausages featured in the poster are very indicative of this joint's specialty ...
Honoring the why-don't-more-people-do-this tradition of giving away delicious food to mark restaurant milestones, David Katz of Mémé (2201 Spruce St.) has announced that he'll feed the first 50 people who come through the door on Thursday, Sept. 29 with free fried chicken. Katz opened his rustic American joint in 2008 and started his once-weekly fried chicken lunch shortly thereafter.
Photo: Drew Lazor
- The 43-year-old Happy Rooster is in Adam Erace's sights this week as he tests out grub from the bar's new 23-year-old chef, Matt Savastano. How's the kid stack up?
- Zha jiang mian, a northern Chinese specialty consisting of ground pork stewed in soybean paste, is one of those dishes that sticks with you. We experiment with making it at home; recipe will appear on Meal Ticket a bit later today.
- In Feeding Frenzy: Details on the brand-new Tashan, plus quick hits on Barbacoa, Isabel and Tsingtau Lokal.
- In What's Cooking: Word on this weekend's South Philly Food Co-op fundraiser and A Full Plate rib cookoff, plus a bunch more in food/drink events.
- In Icepack: A.D. Amorosi juggles a few fun food-ish tidbits, including Lucky Old Souls' new food truck and a nice cookbook look for Delicatessen chef Ali Waks.
Photo: Neal Santos
A recent walkthru of Vedge, Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby's vegan eatery in the former Deux Cheminees (1221 Locust St.), found the space poised for a final push. Most everything has been framed out; they're just waiting on a handful of big steps (kitchen equipment, electrical, etc.) before it really starts to look like the next real live restaurant for the former owners of Horizons. It should be open by the end of September.
Since the building is a historical property — built in 1895, the Frank Furness-designed real estate was originally a club for Princeton men; there are still Ivy League traces here (original stained glass; a wall marked up with racquetball smudges) — Landau and Jacoby have not been able to execute any drastic structural changes, but they're still making it their own.
Mike Stollenwerk is taking the one-night-only Little Pig pop-up he ran last month at Little Fish (746 S. Sixth St.) and making a day of it this Saturday, Sept. 10, from noon to 8 p.m. Head to the intersection of Shackamaxon and Girard — home to Stollenwerk's Fathom Seafood House (200 E. Girard Ave.) — and drop $35 for access to unlimited food (four whole roasted pigs, smothered blue crabs, steamed mussesl with sausage, mac 'n' cheese, etcetcetc.) and drink specials ($2 Gansetts, $4 ROOT and lemonade, $3 Sweet Tea Svedka drinks). For insatiable slurpers, Fathom will be shucking and shelling bivalves inside (not included in $35 price).
There was once a time when getting your picture on the wall at The Palm (200 S. Broad St.) was something you listed on your résumé. Now, the fusty honor is likelier to elicit eye rolls. So feel free to not care that the steakhouse chain is hanging a caricature of designer Nicole "My Three-Year-Old Son Eats Beluga with a Spoon" Miler this weekend. But here’s something you should care about: The Palm just turned 85 and Miller’s appearance coincides with a complete refresh for the brand. New leather-bound menus. New name-embroidered tan blazers for the servers. New salumi boards and housemade gelato, 18-ounce strip and warm doughnut. Good for them, better for us. We might even get DL's mug on the wall.
Photo: Michael T. Regan
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