spikemom

So what was this mysterious dessert? ←

I cooked one tonight for our Christmas Eve family dinner. Ours was 6.75 pounds, trimmed & tied. I follow the recipe on p. 183 of The Perfect Recipe by Pam Anderson. Very simple: Bring meat to room temp before cooking. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rub roast with 2 T olive oil, 1 T kosher salt, 2 T coarsely ground black pepper. Roast on a wire rack above a shallow roasting pan till internal temp is 125 degrees F....about 45 to 50 minutes for medium-rare. Let rest until internal temp falls to 90 to 100 degrees F. I used an electric knife to slice it. There were 10 of us, and there weren't a lot of leftovers.

Thanks for the RF update, Eliot and others. Is RoxSand still worth a visit?

Roaring Fork isn't on your list, molto e. I have good memories of dinners there a few years back...Is that restaurant still around? I'm following this thread because I'll be heading out your way at the end of March.

Haven't done a corporate thing, but glad it isn't a prerequisite for getting married. Husband does not cook AT ALL. But we've bonded pretty well--been married for almost 20 years.

At continental breakfast, Hotel de Buci (22 rue Buci) serves an unforgettable, buttery, million-layer, just-crisp croissant that shatters with every delicious bite. Or at least they did when I stayed there two years ago. I don't know if it was made in-house or purchased.

Thanks to all who replied. The in-laws have spoken: one dinner at the Ritz-Carlton, one at Marina Jack's. If our stay was just one day longer, I would have done my best to get to Derek's.

My husband and I will be visiting his parents in Sarasota at Thanksgiving. We're looking for recommendations for Thanksgiving dinner. I know the Ritz offers it; any others we should consider before making our reservation? Thanks in advance.

Roll call.... DiNic's uses Cacia's rolls. Tony Luke's claims to bake rolls on the premises. John's Roast Pork uses a seeded roll from Carangi's for large sandwiches, and a kaiser roll for the smaller sandwich. George's on 9th Street uses Sarcone's and Vilotti. Chickie's Italian Deli uses Sarcone's bread for the large hoagie Tuesday through Saturday; Vilotti bread is used for large hoagies on Mondays, and for small hoagies all week. Pat's uses Vilotti rolls for the pork sandwiches.

If you go overboard with your shopping at the Reading Terminal Market (which is easy to do), and find yourself weighed down with too many shopping bags, you can always cab it back to Rittenhouse Square. You can flag one down on Market Street, or catch one outside the Marriott Hotel, which is across from the market's 12th Street entrance. The driver will complain that you're not going to Atlantic City; just ignore him.

Martin's has the best sausage selection at the Reading Terminal Market. Several kinds of Italian sausage (hot, mild, with broccoli rabe, with provolone, etc.), as well as breakfast sausages, chorizo, andouille, lamb sausage, garlic sausage...They freeze really well, so you can stock up.

I talked to Deborah today. They're no longer serving dinner. Saturday and Sunday brunch will continue. Plus takeout panini/sandwiches Wednesday-Sunday.

Debreaux's has a small dining room. I've only ordered takeout, so I can't say if the wait is shorter for those who dine in.

More Spanish than Brazilian, but with lots of fashion models for customers..... El Bullimia

Mescal, Mescaline and Mesculn The Grill from Ipanema Claude's All-U-Can-Eat Feojada Yada Yada

Could your BTR have been Bangkok House, a BYO at 117 South Street?

I might also mention that I bought a very chic pair of reading glasses at a pharmacy in the 6th arrondissement on my last visit (Nov. 2003).

I adore the Taride, but I've noticed that the street name print is smaller and harder to read than it was 25 years ago. Or is that just me? In any case, a word to those over 50: pack your Taride AND your reading glasses.

I'll bet this is the restaurant you're talking about (see Elaine Tait review below, from the Inquirer archives). Unfortunately, there isn't much detail about the duck dish. Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) December 8, 1985 Section: FEATURES FOOD Edition: FINAL Page: M01 Memo:DINING OUT THAI MENU IS SERVED IN ELEGANCE Elaine Tait, Inquirer Restaurant Critic Picture a romantic dining room with expensive, seashell-motif chandeliers overhead, plush pale carpeting underfoot and a soothing color scheme of old rose and gentle jade. Imagine tall pink tapers, silk flowers and artistically folded napkins on each table. Add soft background music. You'd expect such sybaritic trappings in a pricey French restaurant, but at The King and I, the food is the complex, appealing fare of Thailand and the check will probably be no higher than you'd get in a no-frills neighborhood spot. Thai food is new to a lot of Philadelphians, and the menu at the new South Street restaurant doesn't always make it terribly easy to know what you'll be getting. An appetizer called Por Peer Krob, for example, is described as ''shrimp and pork stuffing, bean thread and bean sprout." What the menu should also say is that the stuffing, which is subtle in flavor and pleasantly crunchy, comes wrapped inside the thinnest rice pasta for a deep- fried appetizer similar to Chinese spring roll. There seems to be a similarity among the seasonings in many of the dishes, as well as a light hand with the hot spices. Even the dishes described as spicy were tame, so if you want fire in your food, it would be wise to request it. You don't have to love shrimp to enjoy a meal here, but it wouldn't hurt, since so many dishes are lavished with this popular ingredient. Goong Gabork, another of the restaurant's appetizers, brought large shrimp bundled in thin rice pasta for frying and served with a sweet and mild red pepper sauce. Tomyum Goong had lots of small shrimp and fresh button mushrooms in a spicy soup sharpened with lots of hot pepper and lemon grass. Goong Graree, one of the entrees listed as a specialty here, served up medium-sized, sauteed shrimp in a Thai curry sauce mellowed with coconut milk. A number of entrees are offered with your choice of pork, beef or chicken. Pahd Khing, ordered with pork, brought an abundance of lean, delicious pork slices in a sauce rather gently flavored with ginger and onion. Beef was the meat choice for Gang Garree, a mistake, I'm convinced, since the thinly sliced beef in the peppery Thai curry was dry and woody. More dishes seem mild than fiery here, a surprise to one accustomed to the majority of palate-searing dishes at Thai restaurants elsewhere around town. An appetizer of rotund steamed mussels had an elusive, lemony flavor and a topping in which green pepper was fairly subdued. An entree of chicken, mushrooms and green pepper arrived in a gentle sweet-and-sour sauce garnished with thin curls of cucumber. Most non-seafood dishes are made with small, thin slices of meat. An exception is Pedyung, duck skillfully roasted to keep the flesh wonderfully moist yet make the skin as crunchy as the fried rice wrappings on the appetizers here. The duck is offered with a choice of sauces, including one with black pepper and garlic in which both ingredients had been so thoroughly tamed as to be unrecognizable. Entrees arrive with steamed rice in elaborately decorated "silver" tureens. There is no dessert list and no liquor license, but your bottle from home (beer is perfect with some of the spicier dishes) will be chilled and nicely poured into the restaurant's attractive goblets. The King and I is less than two months old, which may account for fairly sparsely populated dining rooms during two recent visits. Service by the one- man staff was extremely attentive without being intrusive. THE KING AND I 536 South Street; 215 627-8000. Open: Dinner, weekdays from 5 to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday to midnight, Sunday 4 to 10 p.m. Price range: $6.95 to $12.95

What a good e-guide you are, Robyn. I really appreciate that you've taken the time to furnish so many details. The person making our travel arrangements has changed hotels, etc. a couple of times already--so my plans aren't quite firm as to where I'm staying--but I'm also forwarding your great info to some friends from the Philadelphia Daily News who are coming down to cover the week's festivities.

I think we'll be at the Radisson. Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

May be coming to Jacksonville during Super Bowl week. Looking for local flavor recommendations, either casual or fine dining. Thanks.

I just pulled a bottle of Bellino White Balsamic Vinegar from my cupboard. "Ingredients: Wine vinegar and concentrated grape must." A further description from the label: "Made from pure Italian white wine vinegar and sweet concentrated grape must. Use on salads, meat and fish. Contains no added preservatives or colorings." Sounds like sweetened white wine vinegar to me.

I didn't intend to suggest that Morimoto was particularly suited to Chen's style of cooking. No question that Susanna Foo is the proper stage for him. I just thought these two guys with a high-profile shared history might enjoy reminiscing about battles past, like a couple of war veterans. Maybe have some laughs at Sakai's expense. Maybe dish about Chairman Kaga's wardrobe.