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We're Here to Help
Chipotle is holding its annual "Boorito" Halloween promo today. In the past, the Mexi chain has encouraged patrons to dress up like menu items to get free food, but this year they're doing it a little differently — show up at any Philly location between the hours of 6 p.m. and closing dressed in a costume inspired by "the family farm," and you'll get a burrito, tacos, a salad or a bowl for two bucks. Come as a humanely raised animal (a jolly pig perhaps?), a farmer or a locally grown vegetable for access to a cheap dinner; the idea is to drive funds and attention to Chipotle's Cultivate Foundation, which shows support to family farms and promotes sustainable agriculture and food education.
In addition, there’s an online costume contest. Take a photo of yourself dressed in your farm-inspired costume at a Chipotle today and upload it at chipotle.com/boorito, or text “COSTUME” to 888222. The grand-prize winner will get $2,500, five runners-ups will get a grand each and 25 honorable mentions will receive a burrito party for 10 friends.
Today, Krispy Kreme is partnering with Devil's Den (1148 S. 11th St.) for an all-day special doughnut/beer pairing to support the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). An event that's bound to draw a few Homer Simpson-esque characters, the collab is offering a three-beer/three-doughnut combo for $10, with a portion of the proceeds directed to PAWS. Coupling up on the menu is a dunkable combo of classic glazed Krispy Kremes served with Philadelphia Brewing Co.'s Joe Porter; cinnamon bun style doughnuts paired with Yards' malty Thomas Jefferson Ale; and season-suitable pumpkin spice cake joined by Weyerbacher's Belgian-style Verboten.
Meal Ticket reader ME checks in with this super-grainy query:
Quinoa is my new favorite food. And by the grace of the food gods, it's actually good for me, unlike everything else I like to eat. I have pages and pages of quinoa recipes (quinoa lasagna is much better than you'd think), but I'm sure actual chefs can rock it better than I can. Please aid me in my search for the best quinoa-centric dishes Philly restaurants have to offer. (Links to other awesome quinoa recipes are welcome, as well!)
Help out our quinoa-fixated friend in the comments, won't you?
Bar AIDS, a national initiative supporting the fight against AIDS, is back in Philly for its second annual citywide fundraiser. For today and today only, dozens of area bars, restaurants and coffee shops, from West Philly to NoLibs, are donating a percentage of their sales to local charitable orgs like ActionAIDS, The Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia FIGHT and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. To support the cause, be sure to purchase your morning caffeine, lunch, cocktails and beers (go ahead and splurge) at one of the many participating locations, which include Café 12, City Tap House, PYT, Woody’s and XIX. For a complete list of donors visit the Philly Bar AIDS Facebook page, and see the site for more information on donating and volunteering.
Meal Ticket reader David checks in with this query of the late-minute-dinner-plans variety:
Tomorrow is my birthday and my girlfriend is taking me out tonight. I have never been to Modo Mio and I may be going tonight. Any recommendations? Also, any idea if there are any high end restaurants that just happen to offer a wonderful deal on Tuesday evenings, or just today in particular?
Happy birthday dude! As far as Modo Mio (161 W. Girard Ave.) goes: We can simply recommend you get the $34, four-course "Turista" tasting and stop right there. That's the move. If you see sweetbreads in any derivation, though, get them. Other Tuesday deals? How about $20 "Thali Tuesdays" at Bindi (105 S. 13th St.), or the recently launched Tuesday-night "Dump Dinners" at Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.), where $19 gets you a bucket of shrimp, crabs, mussels and clams with taters, kielbasa and corn?
What other suggestions do y'all have for David? Please leave them in the comments.
10 Arts (Ritz-Carlton, 10 S. Broad St.) has teamed up with Philabundance to introduce new permanent-fixture lunch and dinner tasting menus that benefit hungry people in the Delaware Valley. The three-course lunch tasting runs $22 a head and includes a Victory beer; the five-course dinner tasting, meanwhile, is $59, with a wine pairing option that bumps it up to $95. (Both tastings feature local meat, fish and produce, in keeping with Eric Ripert and Jennifer Carroll's cooking philosophies.) One dollar from each tasting ordered goes directly to Philabundance. If this doesn't sound like a lot to you, remember that the non-profit's access to wholesale food distribution, in addition to its cache of donated foodstuffs, means that they can provide an individual with a full, healthy meal for as little as 50 cents.
The Philabundance fundraiser officially launches this evening, and Ripert is in town to see it off. (He's also cooking a super-classy Perrier-Jouët dinner with Carroll tonight.) Check out the current lunch and dinner tasting menus after the jump; courses will switch up in accordance with availability and seasonality.
Save the date July 17 for a BYOB(lanket) picnic with Philly Stake at Bartam’s Garden (54th Street and Lindbergh Avenue). Don’t know Stake? It’s a recurring nomadic dinner party at which diners are presented with proposals for community-engaged projects over cheese plates, whole-grain salads and potato-leek soup with optional bacon. At the end of the meal, everyone votes, and the winner gets the proceeds from the dinner to enact their endeavor, say, a creative workshop for veterans or a community garden for Burmese refugees, both previous Stake victors. It's like Shark Tank, with artisanal pickles.
The 10 proposals for the July 17 picnic range from letter-pressed matching games for autistic kids to yellow-bus transportation for a zombie dance troupe. See the whole list here, then order pre-sale tickets here. (You can also buy tickets in person at Shot Tower Coffee or at the door.) The Stake dinner is $20 and goes from 5 to 8 p.m., with an optional pre-dinner twilight tour of Bartram’s with curator Joel Fry for an additional $5 to $10. Sneak-peek the menu at phillystake.org; we hear there might also be tamales.
Remember my monster watermelon dilemma last summer? History repeated itself last week, only this time with pounds upon pounds of sour cherries from Three Springs Fruit Farm. Thirty-five of them to be exact. After pitting a few pounds (about two hours of hard, sticky, finger-staining labor), I set out to make a sour cherry pie.
Esteemed Meal Ticket commenter molls to the wall checks in with this restaurant etiquette query we'd like your feedback on:
So I really want to take an out-of-town buddy to Percy Street Barbecue next week but they close at 10 and we won't be able to get there until, like, 9:30. Is it douche-ish if we show up then? Should I just tip 'em a lot as a thank you?
What do you think, Meal Ticketers? Please share your takes in the comments. Meanwhile, here's our two cents: There's a huge difference between showing up at 9:30 and showing up at 9:55 or 10:01. Plus, Percy Street has the distinction of having most everything on its menu ready (or close to ready) to serve the second you sit down, so it's a far different situation than showing up to a restaurant, reservation-less, with 30 minutes to go and ordering a multi-course chef's tasting. We'd advise calling ahead and explaining the situation just to be considerate. All that being said, Percy 'cue is very takeout-friendly, too, so that's always an option.
Really want burnt ends now.
Photo: Neal Santos
Taste of the Nation, the annual restaurant event raising funds for Share Our Strength, is happening tonight at the Loews Hotel at 1200 Market. We already went over the particulars in the latest What's Cooking, but know that tix, no longer available online, will be sold at the door this evening ($95 GA, $145 VIP). Head right here for the full rundown on who's participating; beer drinkers should note that the Belukus importers are providing a bunch of Euro brews (Lefebvre Blanche de Bruxelles, Wells Bombardier Ale and Banana Bread Ale, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, etc.) rarely, if ever, seen in the States. Lastly, you can still show your support for SOS even if you can't make the event tonight. Check Meal Ticket tomorrow for a photo recap of the cheffy fun.
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