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In Print
- It's a mellow hello at the new Sawatdee, which critic Adam Erace believes is too comfortable in its neighborhood-Thai-BYO role to branch out and take risks with bold flavors and dishes.
- When you think fried chicken, you don't necessarily think about Pakistan. But West Philly's Wah-Gi-Wah can easily help you out on that front with its sick rendition of Lahori Chargha, deep-fried bird with South Asian spices.
- In What's Cooking: a local not named Jose Garces battling on Iron Chef America, a 13th Street food/booze fest, one pumpkin extravaganza to rule them all and more.
- In Icepack: A.D. Amorosi chats with Jennifer Carroll, who's stepping away from her gig at 10 Arts next week. He also has early notes on Arts Bar, developing in the Wolf Building.
- In Agenda: Word on this weekend's RiverCity Festival, which will feature grub from Bubba's BBQ and Hinge Café, plus a volleyball tournament that will pit local bar staffs against one another.
Photo: Neal Santos
- Somebody call a doctor: Adam Erace has fallen hard for Santucci's. The long-running local pizzeria recently relocated from Juniata to the Italian Market, revamping its approach along the way, and Erace discovers there's much more to woo on the menu than just their sauce-on-top, cheese-on-bottom pies.
- Port Richmond Pour House owner John Boswell has a rather unique set of house rules he uses to keep order in his shot-and-beer bar. Find out what is and is not permitted at his taproom.
- In Feeding Frenzy: The new Sabrina's in West Philly is now open, Adsum is now closed (and becoming something else), plenty of food truck movement and word on an open challenge submitted to Man v. Food's Adam Richman.
- In What's Cooking: Ryes to the occasion at Khyber Pass Pub, Oktoberfest at Brauhaus Schmitz, get corny with Matt Levin at David Katz and Mémé and more.
Photo: Mark Stehle
- We all know about the growing relevance of Philly's "third wave" coffee houses — but what about those roasting and retailing their own beans right in the city? Brion Shreffler chats with fledgling roasters (ReAnimator, GreenStreet) as well as stalwarts (Old City Coffee, Chestnut Hill Coffee) who see the process through from green bean to hot cup o' joe.
- Adam Erace picks up a little Spanish during his visits to La Marqueza, a Mexican truck on CCP's campus that cranks out tasty and accessible classics en espanol.
- In What's Cooking: holler at challah at Cook, pancakes for supper at Morning Glory, Bibou's chef back at Le Bec-Fin and more.
Photo: Neal Santos
- 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
- Adam Erace falls in the beau monde at a.kitchen, the new Bryan Sikora-helmed restaurant in the AKA Rittenhouse Square. From breakfast through dinner, he finds plenty to eat from the former chef of Django and Talula's Table.
- Also reviewed this week: The Man Who Couldn't Eat, a new work by James Beard-winning writer Jon Reiner. The candid opposite of the self-indulgent epicurean memoir, the book deals with Reiner's violent struggles with Crohn's disease. After being debilitated by complications, he's barred by his doctors from eating or drinking anything by mouth — a cruel and ironic ordeal for a passionate lover of food.
- In Feeding Frenzy: The debut of Cook, the pending Pitruco Pizza, renovation details for Sidecar and Garces Trading Co. and more.
- In Agenda: A.D. Amorosi chats with lauded documentarian Ken Burns, whose new film, Prohibition, will be boozily feted at Penns Landing tomorrow night.
Photo: Neal Santos
- Recently released in its latest unabridged English translation, legendary chef Auguste Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire is as close to a holy text as it gets as far as cooking is concerned. Can a quasi-capable amateur cook pick the book up off a shelf and make an amazing meal? No, the answer is no (see above). But we tried super hard!
- Adam Erace visits My Tho, the Vietnamese crawfish joint in Wing Phat Plaza, to get down on some noodle soup and Southeast Asian-style mudbugs.
- In Feeding Frenzy: The particulars on Tryst, the new subterranean hang in Le Bec-Fin, Percy Street's new location, Turney and Safran's upcoming Jamonera and more.
- In What's Cooking: Nicole Rossi with details on a honey-sweet Fourth Friday at Cookie Confidential, brunch at The Twisted Tail, Oktoberfest (early!) at McGillin's and more.
Photo: Neal Santos
- Adam Erace discovers that the name is only the tip of the zany iceberg at Llama Tooth on Spring Garden. Between the Asian-inspired "Bonsai Mac" and the Photoshopped camelid art that carries "all the seamlessness of an AOL-era celebrity nude," it's a strange place — but it's got some pretty good food.
- Nicole Rossi profiles local beekeeper Don Shump, who's started to sell wildflower honey through his Philadelphia Bee Company imprint. But retail is just one part of the equation for the apiarist — it's as much about education as it is about eating.
- In Feeding Frenzy: MilkBoy is open, Noble is closed and there's plenty to talk about with Tria Wine Room, Ramen Boy and more.
- In What's Cooking: Details on next week's birthday party at Dock Street, the fast-approaching Bar AIDS fundraiser, a canned beer dinner at Percy Street and more.
Photo: Neal Santos
- Adam Erace stretches his wings at Rotisseur, Aaron Matzkin's rotisserie chicken joint at 21st and Chestnut. He finds that the poultry here is "absolutely perfect."
- I vant to stew your bloooood. Here we chronicle our experimentation with dinuguan, a traditional Filipino stew with a slightly squeamish major ingredient: pig's blood. What's that, you wanna skip straight to the recipe? Here goes!
- In Feeding Frenzy: We've got word on openings (Twisted Tail, Yummy Lan Zhou), restaurants to come (Grill Fish Café) and more tidbits.
- In What's Cooking: Nicole Rossi shares details on Reading Terminal Market's Pennsylvania Dutch Fest, a new happy hour at Tinto, a Le Bec-Fin dinner featuring guest chef Kevin Sbraga and more.
- In Agenda: Clare Foran has more on the PA Dutch festivities, and A.D. Amorosi shares some restaurant news in Icepack, including word on the new owners of NoLibs' Homeslice.
Photo: Neal Santos
In this week's food section I wrote a little about my recent experiment cooking dinuguan, a traditional Filipino pork stew whose scariest ingredient — pig's blood — miiiight come off slightly off-putting to some. Look, I get it — it terrified (and fascinated) me as a kid, and it's not uncommon to hear Filipino cooks perform some adorable misdirection on children by telling them that muddy gray-brown color is derived from chocolate. (Ha!) But just as Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan wrote in their book Memories of Philippine Kitchens, one of multiple sources I used to develop the recipe below, the dish sounds totally fucked up but it's shockingly accessible and middle-of-the-road. I understand if you're skeptical, but hear me out. Wait, where are you going?! Wow you can run so fast!
On the real though, pork blood and pork liver are the only two quote-unquote "peculiar" elements of dinuguan. (The name derives from the Tagalog word "dugo," meaning blood.) The characteristic funkiness of both ingredients is present in each bite of the stew, but a handful of other important additions do a hell of a job of slicing right through it, and rather dramatically at that. The most prominent non-porky member of Team Dinuguan? Vinegar, specifically rice vinegar. Added in the same stroke as the blood and liver, late in the cooking process, its sour, cleansing personality is imperative. The aromatics of the stew — every recipe's different, but my batch included bay leaf, ginger, lemongrass and long hots — also serve as vital flavor foundations, especially since this recipe requires patience to coax the best out of it.
Look, this is all you need to know: Yes, dinuguan has blood in it. Yes, you'll be able to tell that it has blood in it, but it's just one of many ingredients. No, it's not all you taste. Yes, it is delicious. At least it is to me.
- Adam Erace jogs through the menu at The Piazza's Gunners Run to find out what the NoLibs pub has to offer Philly.
- Erace's pulling double duty this week: He also checks out Stephen Starr's Fishtown beer garden, Frankford Hall, to find out what food and drink goes best with ping-pong and Jenga.
- In Feeding Frenzy: Santucci's, Enzo's, Chicken.Org, Honest Tom's and more.
- In What's Cooking: Details on Varga Bar's impending crab bake, a new all-day happy hour at The Corner, where to get free-range chickens this weekend and more.
Photo: Neal Santos
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