brescd01

My wife and I went to Chinatown in search of interesting food and we found a new and fascinating restaurant, Hanzhou Dumpling House at 925 Race. The restaurant specializes in Hanzhou style cooking, which is a sub-type of the Zheijiang style of Chinese cuisine, one of the eight principle varieties of Chinese cooking. The soup dumplings they served were as good as Joe's Shanghai in NYC, if slightly different. The menu is restricted: the restaurant is not even one month old and the owners trimmed the menu when no one ordered the elaborate dishes. They have to be ordered in advance now. We did not begin to explore the menu but the flavors are clearly differentiated from the kitchen's Cantonese neighbors. I highly recommend this place, if only for the wonderful soup dumplings.

There have been several helpful discussions on where to find quality beef and I learned a lot about the various pools of beef available to consumers. But were I to want the "hors concours" grass-fed beef of the sort that the Argentines are famous for, where could I find it? I know that several posters have suggested RTM in the past for frozen grass-fed. RTM is difficult for me, because it is closed on weekends (?), it closes in the evening, and there is no parking. Are there other options for grass-fed beef?

I called the owner of Chung King Garden and asked her to fulfill an old promise, that she could prepare a Hunan style dinner to order (since I have never tried this style of Chinese cuisine). She made lamb and fish filet Hunan style. Hot and sour and steamed dumplings (though I ordered boiled) were the usual style, as was snow peas. The entrees were superb, much more delicate than szechuan food. I also urged to compete with Szechuan Tasty House with delivery and she promised to consider this.

I think that nothing was outstanding, but everything I had there was very good, and prepared Shanghainese style, with those unique flavours you cannot find anywhere else in Philly. Plus, their menu is stripped down to accomodate their lack of gas lines.

G-d bless you G-d bless you G-d bless you G-d bless you. Took friends to Dim Sum Garden yesterday and I found religion. PS: They will deliver in several weeks and their menu will be expanded.

We were there for the third time: this is no fluke. Provided you have Ken choose for you or you read Chinese or are extremely knowledgeable about Chinese cuisine (we used method #1), I guarantee excellent Chinese food. Mixed seafood with yellow onions, steamed scallops with X/O sauce, and Chinese snowpees with garlic (none on the menu) were all wonderful. A meat dish from the menu, beef ribs in pepper sauce (or something like that) was good but not great. You know, last night was the first time I realized just how ignorent I am of Cantonese cuisine. I have always ignored this in favor of the more exotic and hard-to-find varieties, but it is complex and I need to learn its possibilities.

I tried this 3 year-old restaurant between 8th and 9th on Race. Ubelievably fine Cantonese. Warning: we ordered off the menu with the help of our waiter Ken. The best Cantonese meal I have had in Philadelphia. $30/person with driniks, tax, and tip.

We who love Chinese food know that delivery of a "Chinatown style" food is nearly impossible, even in NYC (though there may be new options there in the last few years with the expansion north of Canal of a few big names). Exceptions are Szechuan Tasty House and Banana Leaf (though the latter will no longer deliver to the Graduate Hospital area because we are "too far") A new option: Taste of Asia on 18th and Washington. They have gone through several owners and now specialize in Indonesian as well as Chinese. They deliver. I rate them a 4/10. To put things in perspective, I rate the best Chinese in Philadelphia 7/10. Szechuan Tasty House in my mind is a 6/10, Chung King 7/10, Rising Tide 7/10 (the last two do not deliver). Every place that delivers Asian I have tried rated 1/10 or less. So this makes Taste of Asia a find.

I met an Egyption in Trenton who claimed there was a hangout for Middle Easterners, an authentic Egyption restaurant in Center City with "a green awning." Any ideas what he was referring to?

I am talking fantasy here (I mean the one that DOESN'T involve playing doctor and chearleaders) but there should be some squad that goes around and beats up Chinese restaurant owners to make them unify their Chinese and English menus into one, bilingual menu with ALL their dishes. I just enjoyed two kick-ass Chinese meals (one at Rising Tide) and one at the Taiwanese place at 10th and Arch (the name escapes me), but what a wrestling match to get "what they are eating!"

Hmmm, we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one: soft shell crabs are not that exotic, and don't forget I got the Mao Po Tofu as well, and that was even worse, and that is as routine as General Tso's. But I am glad they don't make you sick....

Holy mole you are right, that is LeBan's favorite! And I have never disagreed with the man on ethnic options, never! But I am not sure you are appreciating the horror, the awfulness, the inhumanity, of what I ate, I have not eaten such execrable Chinese food since Lee Ann Chin in Twin Cities (a laughably bad but ever popular chain of Chinese restaurants there). Of course, one wonders whether the restaurant might have done better with Chinese American favorites like General Tso's or egg fu yung.

Sorry, delirium from the intoxication...20th street....must go to ER......must get charcoaled.....seriously, to turn this from a mean-spirited thread to something educational, is there any edible Chinese food OUTSIDE Chinatown?

I didn't know take-out Chinese could be this bad. I had soft shelled crabs and szechuan style bean curd. Really awful. Really.

Good luck and G-d bless.

Just an update: I ended up giving up on getting restaurant-grade stake, just too expensive. Even $20/lb seemed too pricey to me from the sources that have been suggested. But I did check out Lobel's web site, which has some clear cooking instructions for steak (idiot proof) and I followed them and I made the best steak I have ever grilled. So I am focusing on the method, which does make a huge difference. We stopped by Wegmans yesterday on the way back from Fuji in Haddonfield, and I picked up beautiful rib eyes for $8.20/lb, which I think is an incredible deal. They had the aged sort but thse were really expensive, I think $30/lb. The price I paid is close to what I paid at BJ's shopping club, which has no service and besides its steak price (I think $7/lb), was nothing special.

My wife and I tried Fuji and we were very impressed. I do not think I ever tried excellent sushi until tonight. Plus the owner is a real charmer. We sat at the bar and spent $45/person without drinks.

Surtidos, de pato, chipirones, cordero, piperade, habas, merluza, marmitako, txangurro. The menu is here: http://www.tintorestaurant.com/menu.php

Well, I went to the Lobel's web site where there are clear instructions on how to cook steak. I think I got them right for the first time tonight, on two steaks from BJ's and they were fabulous, the best I have ever prepared at home. I highly recommend learning how to cook steaks before wasting any time or effort on getting the expensive restaurant-grade meat. The next step is to find out what that grass-fed stuff tastes like....

Well, I didn't say Tinto was the best Spanish food on the East Coast! And I am SUPERBLY unqualified to comment on any restaurant, which is why I get paid absolutely nothing for my opnion and post on amateur fora like this! In any event, my lack of knowledge of the NYC Spanish restaurant scene does not detract from Tinto, which was nevertheless excellent. But I swear, before 2000 there was not a single high-end Spanish restaurant in NYC!

That's it, I'm calling you out, let's fight...just kidding! Funny to note that those restaurants all appear to be recent additions to the NYC scene, which I do not know at all after 2000. New York is very populous and it has a vibrant and fascinating restaurant industry, and I think that these two characteristics are only indirectly related. Spanish is still a fairly exotic continental cuisine and I am happy that we can have two excellent representatives in such a small space (Center City). And that doesn't count Apamate, which has a limited but tasty and authentic-seeming menu. But Tinto dazzled us while Amada merely impressed us.

Uh, no. A search of the NYTimes (the best source of restaurant criticism in NYC) uncovers only one comparable restaurant, by Bobby Flay, Bolo. Remember, most restaurants listed as "Spanish" in most places, include "Hispanic" food, which is obviously not the same thing. I think Tinto can be comfortable that it is serving something unique and extraordinary.

My wife and I had dinner there tonight and we were dazzled. $75 per person with wine, tax, and tip. 9 plates. Absolutely fabulous. I think the meal was above us, so good I am sure we missed a lot of what the chef was trying to do. I am especially proud because I do not think NYC has even one fancy Spanish restaurant.

What is Livengood's?

Thank you Townsend for resolving that mystery! Your luster has been enhanced I think, and of course, I am no longer interested in Wolfe's Neck steaks unless you prepare them! And thank you for the "insider offer!" I have learned a lot from this exchange, I did not understand that there were basically two supplies of meat, the consumer supply and the restaurant supply, and the latter is not available generally. I never had a problem with the cost of entrees in restaurants, given the difficulty of preparing meat exactly right and the quality of the cut, $30-40 always struck me as reasonable. But home has its own comforts, particularly in the warm weather when I can enjoy my lovely garden, and I would like to enjoy some steak at home. At the same time, I don't want to spend restaurant prices at home. I know this is a whole different discussion, but what about the grass fed beef? Argentine meat is famous for being very flavorful, though not especially tender, is any of this sort of meat available in Philly? Also, why didn't the tasting include Wagyu? I think this is what Sonny calls "Kobe" at his butcher shop in Italian Market.