Holly Moore

The food critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer picked my restaurant to celebrate her birthday.

Alas I am limited to the first floor of my house for the next 9 days, 23 hours and 14 minutes. Seems I fractured my femur in an attempt to purchase some wings from Phoebe's. My fault, not their's, though I will likely take away a grease stain out of selfish spite. Too bad Don hasn't started up a Center City delivery service. One thinks that until the mutated soft shell crab jumps off the bun grabs on to one's face and claws up the nose into one's brain.

The pic has me thinking of a new Japanese horror film creature

Might have missed it, but I didn't see The Palm listed. A three pounder, though costing as much as an airplane ticket to Portland ME, is as good as I've had in Philadelphia since both Bookbinders closed. Haven't tried the lobster at the newer Old Original.

Second Arnold's for lunch. They aren't open for dinner. I often get the hand carved roast beef, rare. Be sure to try the fried cornbread, too. Off the road (not the interstate) to Franklin - Barbara's Home Cooking. Great southern cooking, home baked dinner rolls and homemade fruit cobblers. Dotson's is a bit further in downtown Franklin - Fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, and excellent sides. If you're in the area on Sunday you really should drive west to the Beacon Light Tea Room in Lyles. Southern style Sunday mid afternoon dinner as good as you'll get anywhere. Back in Nashville, if you like it hot. Prince's Hot Chicken. For the first visit I'd recommend not going more than medium. Rotier's does an outstanding burger. Milk shakes aren't on the menu but they make them and they are good. Nashville doesn't seem to be a great barbecue town. I'd head SE to Martin's in Nolensville. Either Fat Mo's or Bobbi's Dairy Dip for burgers. Got some other places on the Tennessee Section of Eating the South page on my site.

Roadfood.Com Forums has a professional hot dog vendor section that also deals with setting up trucks for vending.

Got in a conversation with a chef about those terms every novice hears. My introductory cooking professor, Vance Christian, admonished, "Don't put anything on a work area you wouldn't eat. ie No sitting on counters. The chef said he had always heard, "Tables are for glasses, not for asses." A McDonald's sayings. "Time to lean, time to clean." Not really adages: No rags, only towels. Fries are cooked in shortening, not grease. Back in the day when special orders were discouraged they were called "grills" so other customers in line wouldn't think they could have their burger their way. What other sayings come to mind?

If you have time for an early morning sojourn on the St. Charles Trolley, and try to make time, consider the Camellia Grill on Carrollton Avenue. Basic southern breakfast, which I consider a good thing. Linen napkins. Maple syrup pourers full of melted butter. A classic and classy New Orleans breakfast joint.

Restaurant ratings grow meaningless over time. They may continue to be valid or things may change either positively or negatively a week or month after the rating was decreed, making the rating totally irrelevant. Ratings are pretty much just a shortcut for readers who don't like to read and an exclamation point a reviewer adds to a review. HollyEats' coveted Grease Stains are, of course, the tongue-in-cheek exception that proves this proposition.

I'm thinking scalloped potatoes with salami. You can always scramble the salami with eggs.

The Alinea Kitchen is on the web now, live Alinea Kitchen Edited to add, not any more but will be back on tomorrow In the meantime this archive of the video should be up shortly.

Where does one put on their resume, "I am an executive chef, but I don't do weddings, rehearsal dinners or anniversary celebrations?"

Parc is really stepping up its charcuterie game since I last had it many months ago. Chicken liver mousse in the ramekin, wedges of country pate, wild boar sausage in front, and other charcuterie including a coarse salami and a nice ham. Heck of a deal at only $16.

Been editing some more pics. Close up of food with an F2.8 17/35 lens. I'm getting depth of field issues between the front and back of a sandwich or tray of fries. I know that means upping the f-stop some - just amazed that it happened within 3-4 inches. Or it might be something else I'm screwing up. Or both.

Bacon Fries From Barb and Suzy's Sausages. If only the fries were fresh cut.

Great info. Thanks and keep it coming. Evidently Photoshop CS4 doesn't even have and on-line manual. Nor does it seem to have indexed help. Looks like it will be fun to relearn.

I learned to check bloggers and others on Twitter and see who they are following. I can pick and choose from their list and adds the ones I want to follow.

No mediator needed. I'll just say I'm you the next time I call.

Next time I call the RTM office with a question I'll use an alias. For some reason, after identifying myself, I got major attitude and the bum's rush from whomever answered the phone. Can't imagine why. Anyhow - I had bacon fries from what I thought was the new S&B Meats. But there was a tweet from the market saying they were from Barb and Suzy's. Couldn't see a sign and it appears to be the same people as run S&B Meats. Then again it's brand new as of today, so I'll credit Barb and Suzy. Nice folk by any name. BACON FRIES!!! Frozen fries topped with bacon, whiz, scallions and sour cream. Very good sausage, pepper and onion sandwich too though the bun could use a bit more gumption. Nice sausage. They are batter frying all sorts of vegetables too. S&B has a wide selection of German sausages though I still miss Sigfried's homemade liverwurst.

I may be stating what most folks already know. I seem to have that knack. The past few weeks I have hooked up on Twitter with the major food blogs and some newspaper feeds. There is no better source for what is happening and what is going to happen in Philadelphia food scene. Openings, closings, menus, special events, cupcakes (we're getting a cupcake truck), pies (we're getting a pie bakery). Mike Klein tweets well ahead of his column. Same with Drew Lazer of the City Paper. Every day there are dozens of relevant and semi-relevant tweets. I'm hooked.

Thanks David, I appreciate the insight. I'm shooting with a month old Nikon D90 that I'm still learning and a new Nikon 17-35mm lens that arrived yesterday (love AMEX points - paid for everything including Photoshop CS4 which also arrived yesterday. I've got a lot of leaning and experimenting ahead of me. But big white plates have been my bane for years. I used Photoshop ? about five years ago. Seems to have changed a tad.

I cringe when a dish arrives on one of those big white plates - wide brim - and ocean of white. Great eye appeal but I can't figure out how to crop them other than going real tight, but that usually takes away the proportion of the food. This is the uncropped image. This is how I cropped it. I'm not really happy with the crop, but try all sorts of approaches and this felt the least objectionable. Curios if anyone else has a similar issue with big white plates and how you handle it. Feel free to use the pic I posted.

I always get a whole muffuletta - half for then and half when I get in well past midnight. Looks like August is the time to hit Cafe du Monde - no lines, empty tables. Great report Bryan

Bistrot La Minette is now open for lunch - and a great value. I had the express prix fixe menu - $14 for appetizer, entree and beverage. A few dollars more includes dessert. I like the water presentation. Others may be doing it, but first time I've seen Philadelphia water served in a bottle. First course - a simple green salad, lightly dressed with a vinaigrette. Entree was oeufs en meurette - eggs poached in red wine. Two eggs on toast sauced with sauce meurette, lardons, mushrooms and onions. I don't recall ever have oeufs en meurette before - I can't speak to authenticity, but no reason to doubt it. It was delicious. Sat outside under an umbrella - a very nice way to spend a summer afternoon.

Philadelphia has its share of diners. Alas diner burgers typically are not very good. You obviously have not shared a table with me if you think I'm sharing anything. What's mine is mine, what's yours I at least get to taste. At one time, maybe twenty years ago, eight ounce burgers were a rarity. The huge burger was a point of difference for places. Until the 80's or 90's most places served a four to six ounce burger. As cars have grown smaller, burgers have become bigger. Humvee-like. Soon some gastro-pub, struggling to find something that someone else has not done, will put 1958 DeSoto-like fins on their burgers. It is a brave new burger world. What has been lost is the Shaker simplicity of a 5 ounce patty, a toasted hamburger bun, a slice of cheddar or onion, or lettuce and tomato. Also lost - the option of ordering a second burger after another beer or two.