Yannii

i went by and read the menu today (it opens to the public tomorrow), IMHO, not that interesting... it does have lots of "small plates" which i like as well, but very little if any Scandinavian influence, and in short nothing that jumped out as very unique. it is, of course, very possible that the menu is written in an understated manner, and that Samuelson has made masterpieces out of the mundane, but the menu reads a little boring to me. the decor as well was a little ordinary by Starr standards. lots of black, very high ceilings, candles, animal print lounge cushions, overly ornate lamp shades. i don't know, if it were the first Starr place i ever saw, I'd be impressed, but now, it's getting a little old. same with the menu. seared tuna and tuna tar tare are like chicken Cesar these days, and if you are aren't the best in town or doing something different with the dish, don't do it, IMHO. i guess I'm feeling a little bitter and cynical today (my 30th b-day is looming), but i was disappointed it wasn't more of a Marcus Samuelson place and less of a Starr place, you know. i will try the food soon and tell you if my opinions are justified or not. PS, they do have a very interesting outdoor seating area.

i, too, find this discussion very interesting. I think at it's core, this discussion is a struggle to define and understand the concept of "the culinary arts". is an executive chef a man of great vision and inspiration, who simply creates fabulous menus and the elaborate systems needed to reproduce that menu on a nightly basis (analogy: mass production artists like Warhol). or is an executive chef a master manager, who deftly manipulates a large staff in order to serve the highest quality food to each and every customer (analogy: great orchestra composers). or is an executive chef a hands-on food expert, who is constantly tasting and adjusting sauces and recipes in order to respond to the freshness and the availability of the products as well as the ever changing environment and audience to which they are served. clearly, i believe that a great executive chef combines all three roles seamlessly, and the so called ,"absentee celebrity chefs" are more like culinary visionaries/ menu creators who don't have the time or desire to properly ensure the quality of the product or the staff on a daily basis. i have found in my life/career that it is extremely difficult to truly give someone else your artistic vision. other people can understand parts of it or whatever, but there is no amount of training that would allow someone to execute Keller's menu and vision as well as Keller. does that make sense? we all eat three times a day (or so) and food is, obviously, as much a useful product, as it is an artistic expression, but in terms of the arts, there is, imho, no substitute for an original! chefs should be in the kitchen!

i went about a week ago, and had a nice meal overall. the standout for me was the steak which came with scrumptous fried yucca and a creamy manchego and corn sauce. heavenly. also delicious was the watermelon and mint margarita mix. we had the carnitas (pork) appetizer, pretty good, not as good as vericruzana's though. we tried the beet, plantain and goat cheese salad. all the ingredients were tasty, but i didn't feel the flavors and textures really complemented each other that well. our service was rushed, akward and uninterested, but we didn't care, i'll definetly be back, that yucca is calling me!

i walked by yesterday, and i must say i disagree with this assessment of the menu. the menu's theme is definitely "classic European" in nature, yet i think the ingredients and their combinations seemed fairly modern, eclectic and interesting. the prices are indeed high (entrées in high twenties and thirties) but who knows, maybe that is the formula for success. i think, like everything else in life, it's a matter of execution. if the place is putting out truly outstanding food, it can overcome it's neighborhood limitations of little old ladies and impoverished Penn students. can someone remind me who the owners are, and why i'm supposed to hate them? thanks

i went to Rx , a few eeks ago, about 6pm (before a film festival movie at the bridge) and was pretty disappointed. for drinks we had ginger ale (came in it's plastic bottle with a glass of ice on the side) and i had ginger tea, which was excellent, a little sweet, with actual ginger in the bottom. my friend and i shared a baked brie appetizer. this was probably the best thing we had, nice salad of thin-sliced apple (there could have been more), sliced almonds, micro greens and a nice sort of sweet (maybe honey) vinaigrette topped with a descent portion of phylo crusted brie. The brie had a bit too much "rind" flavor, but overall the dish was pretty good. it was served, by the owner, to us without any sharing plates. we didn't have any bread plates either (i guess they forgot to set them) so we just reached and tried not to spill to much. then we had the pan fried trout, and the rib eye. they both were mediocre at best. i think the trout was not the freshest it could be. i'm not 100% sure, but there was definitely an off-flavor that affected the whole dish. in addition, it was served with undercooked scalloped potatoes and very musty (not always a bad thing, but this time it was) sautéed spinach. in addition, everything on the plate was a bit spicy. i'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the spiciness didn't complement the other flavors at all. also, the trout was relatively "bony". in any case, i didn't love it. the server was busy, and i'm not that aggressive of a customer, so i didn't complain, but i didn't really enjoy it. As for the rib eye, we ordered it medium rare, it came medium well. now to be fair, it was only 3/4 inch thick, so it's hard to do a true medium rare, but pink would have been nice. the steak came with bland roasted potatoes and significantly underdone green beans (i like crispy but these were raw). the steak itself, while very tender, didn't allow me taste the true flavor of the meat. i think it was over marinated or possibly just over sauced, but there was hardly any "steak" flavor. that being said, the morel mushroom sauce had very little "mushroom" flavor either. in general the dominant flavors were sort of red wine vinegary (like a marinade or something). the dish was bland overall. we skipped dessert, as the place (7:30) was now crowded and very noisy and difficult to relax in. all in all, the food was not as good as i make at home (well the brie was pretty good), the service was uninspired (our server had a certain insincerity to her attitude which seemed out of place in such a small straight forward kind of place), and the atmosphere was not terribly comfortable either. out of ten i would say, 4 or 5 maybe. i had heard such good things, so maybe this was just an off night?

i wouldn't recommend Rx. i had dinner there about two weeks ago and was fairly disappointed with both the food quality and the service. apparently, it used to be a pretty good place, and i had heard good things about it, but i guess it has fallen off somewhat. anyone else have similar thoughts out there? maybe chloe, django or matyson would make better choices.

does anyone know when they are having the KCP auction? can the general public attend? i could use some steak knives...

although mrs. loeb is infinitly more qualified to discuss it, i have heard that most california wineries would use screwcaps if not for public perception. aparently natural corks are just unreliable, and somewhere between 1 and 5 in every 100 corks used have some problem (rot or drying or whatever). plastic corks improve this number immensly but are more expensive or something. all i know, is that the screwcap sort of takes the drama out of presentation, but thankfully, sake comes with it's own set of serving rituals... ps nick, there are a few sources where you can have sake delivered to you from other states (is that allowed in maine?) let me know if you need help locating those sources.

dannyboy, unfornutately you are correct, caviar asouline can't sell them to you directly, however they can sell them to restaurants and such. they represent SSI locally and that link represents most of what SSI (sake service institue) imports iinto the us. does that make sense? if you go to a ar with good sakes (morimoto, pod, anjou, etc...) you can try these sakes by the glass, and then if you like them, you can order them from any state store (SLO). the supplier ships the sake relativelly quickly (often less a week, sometimes more like two) to the store for you. i have seen and bought sake from the 12th street store, the bryn mawr store, and the one by manyunk...i'm sure others carry it, i just live around here so that's where i go (or to NJ when i have time) here is a link to our state store online catalog, http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/Retail/Products/lcb_Default.asp type in "sake" and you'll get a list of most of the ones available. the ones marked "specialty" are the ones i was talking about before...good luck, i love answering questions so please keep asking...

well, nick sake is a really big subject (like beer or wine) but www.esake.com is a wonderfully informative website that would get anyone started down the path of understanding and appreciating sake. Of the mass produced / widely available sakes around, i like the momkowa "diamond" sake ("ruby" is decent as well). and as far as plum wine goes, i like "choya" (which has actual choya or japanese plums in the bottle). And for making mixed drinks and such, i use "fu-ki plum" which is a very simple yet delicousily sweet, mass produced plum wine. Around here, we have a quality plum wine called "ginkobai" which is actually more of a plum sake. just like beer or wine (sake is really more like beer than wine) sake comes in many different varities, i would be happy to sumarize a few of them for you, if you are interested, but maybe i should move to a beer or beverage forum though? ps really good sake comes in bottles with screw caps. i recently bought a 375ml (half size) bottle of sake for around $50 ("yashinorino" an unusual sake that has been aged 10 years! simply awesome!) that came with a screw cap. it's just what they do in japan. they do have decorative bottles made without screwcaps, but the decorative bottles don't, in any way, indicate quality... thanks again!

hey guys, although i definetly dislike our state store system in general, we actually have a descent selection of sakes available to us in this state (of course, nj has even better options) Imported through, among others, SSI's "jizake" (translated roughly as "microbrewery") collection, our state store system recently placed a few of their medium priced choices into the "specialty" category which means they are available off the shelf in specialty stores, versus the other sakes, which are only available by SLO special order only. one of those "off the shelf" selections that i highly recomend is called "yumeakari". It is light and crisp with a touch of sweetness, comparable to a pinot grigio i suppose. they are currently sold out at the "super store" on 12th and chestnut, but would probaly have it in bryn mawr or some other "specialty state store" i am super into sake and have tried several of the ones available in both PA and NJ, so please feel free to ask me any questions you have about them. i love to discuss it (obviously) thanks for the indulgence...

I, too, am sorry to hear about your poor treatment by the owner and staff during your evening there (i have enjoyed myself there a few times and recomended it to others as well). i think you experienced a very common restaurant pratice of "profiling" guests. due to repition and complacency, service staff will often "judge" customers by their appearence or mannerisms. sometimes this "judgement" allows service professionals to better anticipate the guest's needs, but more often than not, it leaves servers expecting (and thus creating) negative situations. it is clearly the wrong thing to do, but it is ussually done behind closed doors away from the sight and sound of the guest and therefore, mostly invisible. at salt, apparenty, it seems to be done in broad daylight and within ear shot of the guest, which is, frankly, unacceptable. you should cut and paste your comments to an email or letter to david, and see if he is willing to accept responsibility for this error. you spent a lot of money (we tend to be more forgiving of the staff at taco bell!) and deserve a much better "after feeling". ps, while it is not in any way required of any establishment, i have heard of restaurants replacing inexpensive bottles of wine due solely to a customer disliking the flavors. just as if someone did not care for their entree, most restaurants would offer to replace the dish without arugument, wine could be treated similarly. the returned wine could be offered by the galss, used to train staff, used to cook with or whatever. this is clearly going above and beyond the call of duty, but isn't that what good service is all about? or maybe just charge the customer the "cost" on the wine and not the exhorbitant mark-up (two hands shiraz is like $21 retail i think).

mrs. loeb i understand and respect your feelings and frustartions but i think you may have misplaced your anger in this case. michael klein is just doing his job (which he does very well) and all of us in the restaurant/food community were awaiting his news. i'm sorry that the decision was made to close on sunday, three weeks before christmas, that is truly insensitive, but it's clearly not mr. klien's fault in any way. i'm sure mr. klein's motivations were more about sharing his hard-earned information with the community he cares so much about, rather than fame or whatever for a "scoop". either way, it's a horrible decision to close and i'm sorry for you and your coworkers' loss. as you were so gracious to offer mrs. waks a drink (or two or three) i would clearly be honored to do the same for you any time. you are cobviously a tremendous assest to this board and the philadelphia food/dining community in general. will you still be employed by meal ticket at all? keep your chin up, and maybe find a way to let the rest of the staff leave in a fair manner (unlike avenue b) and hopefully rehire them all in month or so!

those are all excelent suggestions! i love minar palace and mcgillian's. i also like the japanese fast food in liberty place (16th and chestnut) called teriyaki boy. they have a small shrimp tempura (like 3 shrimp and 5 veggies) that comes with miso soup and a drink for $5. i add a green salad with ginger dressing for $1 (i dump the dressing in the plastic salad container and shake vigorously to coat). it's pretty similar to other places' prices but the newly renovated dining room area is a huge plus. all the beautiful glass windows overlooking the street, awesome. during peak hours itis crowded but a little early or late and you'll definetly get a window seat.

maybe consider tequila's/los cantrines on locust between 16th and 17th. they have a big dinning room and they only take reservations for big parties, so you might be able to get in at a decent time. the food is great (especially if price is not a big deal), the service and atomisphere are awesome. great margaritas and they have seafood and vegetarian options. plus, they do cool things for your birthday (shots and guitars and such). otherwise, maybe devon on 18th and dancing and drinks at loie or denim afterwards? have fun...

hey holly, the "kobe" beef burger at vesuvios costs $11 (i think) and comes with sirachi mayonaise, delicous yellow tomatoes, cilantro, and daikon sprouts, and also some radish and red onion salad on the side, definetly not dry, worth trying but not as good as it sounds...

The "kobe" beef burger at vesuvios at 8th and fitzwater is pretty darn good, half price monday nights makes it even better, and their twice baked potatoes are also worth a try. but my heart belongs to monk's abbott burger (boursin and sprouts) which is very similar to copa too's st tropez option. maybe the new yorkers can come down and try a mcdonald's cheesesteak