Greg Salisbury

If only there was a way for you to see how vigorously I am shaking my head and rolling my eyes. I have often wondered how it is possible for a place like Butcher's not to succeed just by the osmotic property of being so close to Sabrina's and Morning Glory. Now I know. To do that to any customer, potential or otherwise, gift cert or otherwise, is inexcusable. For a BYOB that needs its neighborhood clientele to piss off two locals so much that they do lengthy posts...what can you say that won't be used against you in a slander suit?

When I saw the thread title, I prayed that someone had mistakenly titled a thread about Lou. Bob, what can you say about the guy? I used to get the PCOM hoagie when I was at Penn in the late 80s. Didn't go back for 11-12 years, until we were doing construction on the restaurant. Walked in, Bob said, "Hi, Greg, PCOM or did you wanna try something different.?" I, too, cannot imagine Koch's surviving without Bob and his photographic memory, bad jokes and slices of meat and cheese to pass around. A great restaurateur, a better friend. Godspeed, Bob. Wow. Wow. I can't even come up with anything coherent or worthy in memoriam. You will be missed by many, many people, Bob. Does anyone know if there will be a public memorial service?

I wouldn't worry about cilantro too much either. I describe Lolita to people as a great restaurant that happens to be Mexican-influenced in the best Diana Kennedy-Rick Bayless kind of way, not as a great Mexican restaurant. That is too narrow a definition of what they do.

Sorry to hear about Studiokitchen; I still hope to get there one day. We could fit you here, even do a special menu if you like. Call me on my cell, 215.275.9229 and we'll come up with something. That said, if you're going somewhere else: I love Lolita - when people ask me for a rec, that's numbah one. Cucina Forte has teh distinction of making both the best gnocchi and the best ricotta cheesecake in the city. And that is all the positive commentmaking I have to make.

Rincon Latino is the preferred restaurant of most Hispanic restaurant workers I know. I have yet to work up the motivation to make it down there, but it must be good for these guys to take up so much of their precious free time to go there when they could do the Golden Mile or Washington Ave.

As someone who has dealt repeatedly with citysearch on the issue of allowing suspect "reviews" written by people with axes to grind, allow me to add a few thoughts on this, especially for Ian, if you are reading this. If you find yourself questioning the veracity of the poster, click on his/her profile to see how many other restuarants they have reviewed. If your restaurant is the only one lucky enough to have been reviewed by the user, odds are you have been targeted for one reason or another (in my case, it appeared to be because I had the gall to open up a place that charged more than $10 for an entree in University City). Reversing the posts is far from easy, but it is possible. If you want to know how, I would be happy to share. The one thing you won't get is the satisfaction of confronting your detractors, because they are allowed to remain anonymous while slandering your restaurant and, quite likely, dissuading potential customers from trying your place. Citysearch is fine for basic info most of the time, although six months of repeated emails still has not resulted in getting my reservations policy correct. As for the user reviews, caveat lector.

Prentice, the owner, has some staffing issues, as he delicately puts it. The restaurant is still open, but on a limited basis. Always best to call ahead to be sure he is a. open and b. in stock of the items you want; he does all the BBQ himself, a tall order for one person.

Ahem, Unabashed plug: Rx does killer brunch on Saturday. I always recommend Saturday because it moves at a reasonable pace, as opposed to the mob scene that is Sunday brunch. I used to love brunch before I worked so many of them. It's a convivial time with friends while sampling the wares of great restaurants at reduced prices.

I'm a little surprised that this topic has more than a soupcon of relevancy in Philadelphia, or any other urbane urban evironment. Without getting too un-p.c., let me just say that without gay diners, many, many restaurants would struggle/go under. I have never been involved in a restaurant where everyone from the chef to the busboy was not aware of how important it was to make non-breeders feel just as welcome as breeders. It's nice when the right thing to do ethically and the right thing to do economically dovetail.

Hey, Andrew, If I were heading out of town for an extended period, I would definitely want to grab a Fisher's pretzel in the Terminal before I left. Thanks so much for your list; never even heard of Bell's, but Tim and I will be sure to check it out this week. Please let us know when you're stopping by the restaurant so we can give you a proper buon viaggio!

As long as you've never had the real thing, it's fine to eat a Cuban sandwich outside of its native habitat. But like so many region-specific dishes discussed here, it just doesn't translate to a different locale. The bread seems to be the most consistent culprit: it is never airy/crispy/yeasty enough. The closest I ever came to finding a decent non-Miami version was on 15th St. and 8th Ave in NYC, little sandwicheria with stacks and stacks of the bad boys in the windows, waiting to go on the press. If anyone wants to place an order, I will be coming back from Miami on 3/1.

Yeah, the potatoes do have that granular "mother's helper" texture to them, but this flaw is more than made up for by the Bigos. Holy Cow, that's some good eats. I never thought about it until I read Rich's post, but it definitely is a Polish version of choucroute. I have been to New Wave and the other Polish place on Allegheny, it's an initial/ampersand/initial name, but can't remember. They're both very good, as long as you stick to the traditional Polish specialties; American food does not translate as well. Bonus for people in the nabe: beyond the great mustard/tinned commodities/carnival of kielbasa offerings at Krakus, you've got Czerws Bros kielbasa makers right there on Richmond St.; ReStore, the world's most affordable architectural salvage store, five blocks away; and La Colombe is about five blocks away as well (if you show up, you can make yourself an espresso gratis).

Good stuff! I will check out Samba - Churrascaria Plataforma was one of my faves in New York, and I have always wondered why the concept didn't take off here. Pho isn't a bad idea, although I was thinking more Nam Phuong - love the food and there's parking!

So I wanted to take the staff and their significant others (around 20 of us) out for a holiday dinner. Someplace enjoyable, good vibe, like to be able to BYO, Sunday night the 19th, keep it around $20++ per person for the food. Was thinking about Tierra Colombiana or Penang (I know neither are BYO, but they come closest to what I'm looking for). Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I believe that Sunbeam is the name of the bread. White white, yeasty, with just a touch of artificial butter flava. One place in town that does serve ribs with bread is the Rosemount on Baltimore Ave in the 50s. Their hours are, how to put this, irregular at best, but a friend dropped off an order for me on Saturday night, and they were really, really good. The bread is just an essential part of the experience. How else are you going to collect the sauce, debris and other various and sundry drippings?

Hmmmm....

Actually managed to go out to a dinner last night that did not involve high chairs, noodles and screaming. That in itself would have been sufficient enough to be deemed a great time . But I'm really here to post about the food. Marcie and her assistant turned out an amazing meal for the four of us: sopes (three different kinds) were much smaller than I have ever had, but so much better; the masa shells were so obviously made fresh that I will never be able to order these again, now that I know what they're supposed to taste like. carnitas with warm tortillas: some of the ebst-prepared pork I have ever had, orangey-chocolatey, with enough guac and salsa to make a nice soft taquito. Guac: good and fresh, but I like it with a lot more lime and chile. Smoked salmon: good, but what's a nice Jewish boy supposed to say about tequila-lime nova? Lamb two ways: really, really, really good. Braised leg, super tender and darkly spicy. Grilled loin: right to temp and flavorful. The star was the huitlacoche stuffing. I love that someone uses huitlacoche and you can actually taste it! Tenderloin of beef: I refuse to ever put filet on my menu because I believe it is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the dining public, so no comment. Duck: excellent, I think it might have been brined it was so moist. Tamarind sauce executed very, very well. Snapper Veracruzana: best version I have had in this country. Margarita mix: only tried the traditional, and it was excellent. I think that to call Lolita a Mexican restaurant is to do it a disservice. Unfortunately, the perception of East Coasters, when they think "Mexican Restaurant," is lowest common denominator fare: tacos, burritos, flautas, etc. There is a nascent movement to change that perception thanks to burgeoning scenes like the one around the Italian Market, but the fact remains. Lolita is to Mexican restaurants as the Eagles are to the Sixers. Just a great damn restaurant that happens to serve Mexican cuisine.

It opened on Thursday. I went to the soft open on Tues. They warmed up the space nicely, menus were laid out in a clever fashion (like a patient record), amazingly fairly priced wine selection (they were pouring Castle rock Cab and Long Chard-pinot grigio by the glass, both ta-stee) and a list of five or six tonics that they create with infusions, juices, herbs, blahblahblah. Tried one, very good. As for the food, it showed promise. It was night 1, so there is no way to say anything credible. But considering the principals - James and Wendy from Metropolitan, Kevin from White Dog - definitely worth checking out in the culinary wasteland known as Old City.

Oh, man, this is such a depressing thread! The only restaurants I can think of are defunct - Deja Vu, Knave of Hearts, Gaetano's...Le Bar Lyonnais is still around, right?! Some areas of Rose Tattoo are weirdly romantic. I remember the Black Bass in New Hope as a seductive spot. Or maybe it was the Golden Pheasant. Obviously, I need to be taking my lady love out to nicer places.

Le Bus no longer qualifies as a chain, even a local one: David Braverman sold it a while back. New owners were able to retain the name "Le Bus," but had to remove "good food" from the title.

Hawaiian butterfish is also known by the monikers escolar and waluu.

This is a tough, tough business, and my first instinct is to always rush to the defense of a brother in arms. And so I agonized for a long time about whether or not to post re: David Fields and his actions, but after reading this thread, I hope that I am just one of many to take him to task. Anyone who would continue to write restaurant reviews for one of the two most influential publications in the region - under a pseudonymn - and after he knew he was going to open a restaurant that would be in direct competition with restaurants he would have the power to break through his reviews (to a certain extent; we know all too well the power of a negative review) is not someone I consider to be part of our band of brothers and sisters. Fields has shown a pattern of stunningly bad judgment, from his decision not to recuse himself from restaurant reviews *and yes, he did bestow a less-than-stellar review upon Rx after work was begun on Salt), to his decision to provide a customer caste system environment within his restaurant, to sending out a misdirection press release that Michael Klein, in good faith, published this week, to locking out his employees. I don't want to come off sounding holier than thou. I have been involved in both foodservice and publishing for a number of years, and it is basicbasicbasic to either recuse yourself or announce full disclosure if there is anything going on that could compromise your ability to turn in the most unbiased piece possible. I have had numerous - not a few, numerous - comments from people who ate at Salt and remarked upon the radically different forms of customer service. There are always a few sides to the story, and I invite Mr. Fields to give his. If I am wrong about anything I have posted, I will only be too happy to apologize.

Hey, Sara, I'm doing a rehearsal dinner this month for a couple who are having their ceremony atr Bartram. I would be happy to try and put you in touch with them (they live in UCity). They seem pretty happy with their choice of venue thus far. Not sure who they're using for food, but I think it's between Feast and Peachtree.

Katie, you are correct - we are open until the week of 8/16, then we re-open 8/24. Sara, I am so glad we'll be able to say Bon Fromage to you in person!

Let me just preface this by saying that I am extremely uncomfortable posting anything on this site that could even remotely be construed as shilling for the restaurant. That said, I am thrilled that Tim has decided to come aboard (sorry, couldn't resist). I sincerely hope you will stop by and let us know what you think of Tim's cooking. I'm really only here to respond to doggonecrazy. I absolutely, positively cop to shopping at Jetro, just like I cop to shopping at Dairyland, Green Meadow, Chilly Philly, Halteman's, Greensgrow, Endless Mts. Cabin, Overbrook Farm, DiBruno, Tartes, TCP, Farm Fresh for Chefs, Country Time Farm, Meadow Run Farm, B&L Farm, Fahnestock Orchard, North Star Orchard, Genuine Bakery, Anson Mills, etc. We only use pork from Country Time Farm; IBP products have come into the restaurant only when Country Time could not deliver. I'm not sure if I understand what it is doggonecrazy is trying to say, or what kind of response he's looking for from me, so I invite him/her to give me a call (215.222.9590) or stop by the restaurant. I would be happy to not only go over my purveyor list and purchasing strategies by the season, but to introduce Paul from Country Time, who is eminently more qualified to talk about what he does with the waste from his broods.