herbacidal

Where's that news from? That space is too small for a steakhouse chain. They'd need the whole building.

The Korean BBQ places on N 5th are where the good stuff is. Kim's at 5955 N 5th is one of the only places with charcoal grills instead of gas. A good place to start. There's lots and lots of Korean places up and down there. At this point I know the Korean places I like by location and not name, because many don't have romanized names.

They've changed the chef recently, and added a tequila tasting on the last Thursday of the month that I recall being quite a deal. So I've heard. I'll look into it closer to the last Thursday.

The "lack of thrill" motivation is no different than Stephen Starr, and as mentioned, many entrepreneurs. Starr has more of an organization to support, among other things.

Peruvian fried chicken I have not seen in the area yet. I've read a bit about it a year+ ago in the DC Delmarva threads about stores with people lining up out the door to get it, but never experienced it myself. Korean and Peruvian fried chicken are on my food to-do list right now. Only problem is, my to-do list is stagnant, with no progress made in crossing anything off. If anything it's been growing longer.

There's Porcini, which I didn't like when I was there October 2005. There's the Italian place across from it that I've never been to. They're both on Sansom between 21st and 20th. There's Cafe Habana on 21st between Sansom and Chestnut. There's that restaurant in the highrise at 1920 Chestnut (address right?) whose name I can't think of on Chestnut between 19th and 20th opened by the owners of La Famaglia in Old City.

Was there for a private party a week ago, and their hors d'oeuvres were solid, even above average, for a restaurant. I wish I could remember more about the particular items. I very vaguely recall a polenta cake as the base for one, prosciutto in another. Not that I wasn't expecting that from Osteria, but it used to be that I never really saw good hors dóevures coming out of restaurant kitchens. Perhaps the tasting menu popularity has changed that. The servers definitely knew their place, and how to accomodate guests well.

I was there the other day and it was very good. Not perfect, but very good.

Next Saturday around noon?

China's region bordering Korea is Manchuria. The only cities I would guess you may have heard of near there are Shenyang, Harbin, Dalian. The only country that I think comes close to Xian would be Mongolia, and you'd still have to go through the Xinjiang region to get there.

Assuming you have minimal kitchen help, I'd agree that the wok-prepared dishes are not your best bet. Stewed dishes or the wonton soup sound like the most reasonable.

Could be worth a detour, Herb? ← Yes it is. Next time I'm drinking late in the area, I'm swinging by. Otherwise, it's a lunch place for me when I'm around the area. It's called 3 Points, at 2573 Frankford (corner of Amber, Frankford & Huntingdon). Once you get to that intersection, you can't miss it. They got sandwiches, wraps, pasta dinners, breakfast. And they speak Spanish. I don't know that they'll do enough business there to survive, because I've never seen it mentioned anywhere, and Frankford there isn't especially busy, as opposed to north of Lehigh.

There's a new place I don't think is on many people's radars yet b/c of where it is. Haven't tried it yet but what I noticed is that its menu says it's open 24 hours a day. It's on Frankford, just south of Huntingdon. I forget the name, but it has sandwiches and stuff. I'll edit this post later with more info when I can dig out the menu. Oh, but wait, you said south of Girard. Okay, fuggadeboutit.

not sure. i'm only two years old in Philly. ← Yes, that used to be Amara Cafe, the same owners that opened East of Amara at 5th and Bainbridge, where Cary Neff is now trying to put in some version of NYC's Balthazar, according to Mike Klein. No idea as to ownership of Smile Cafe and relation to Amara Cafe.

Would that be Society Hill Hotel?

We're not even sure it'll be open, period. ← Some (okay maybe one) of us are sure it'll be open for business by the end of the year.

If it is a temporary situation, then it is a smart plan. Garces has so much buzz around him, that the place is bound to be full every night for the first few months, and that'll overwhelm a place that size. Part of me is suprised he didn't get a larger place. The other part of me knows that he was smarter to keep it smaller to limit the risk, especially if Chilango is coming later.

Are we sure that it will be open for lunch?

Ditto. I'm not sure I'd put it quite as bad as others, but it is quite the chaotic scene. Which begs the question, do Temple and Drexel grads not have graduation dinners in the same percentages as Penn? That said, French, Italian and American are probably good choices assuming you're likely to need to please a variety of palates. But you do need to be more specific as to your other requirements. FWIW, Striped Bass is probably the most expensive of those 3, and I'd put Fork and BP in the same basic range, with your total check prices at those 2 to be roughly 50-75% of your check price at SB.

Hold that thought. I know he was at Haru, and but I believe he recently left. Also, Greg ran the hot kitchen @ Raw, not anything to do with sushi. Is Hikaru trying to raise the bar on the non-sushi menu?

Well, in this case, it being a new restaurant, maybe they both decided to wait the same amount of time to give it a chance to shake down. The standard grace period is six weeks, right? How long ago did Xochitl open? ← I agree, more than anything else, I'd chalk it up to reviewing a new restaurant in a certain amount of time, and also trying for a certain amount of diversity in each publication's reviews. Probably mix word of mouth buzz in there to some extent.

I thought it was NE corner 12th and Spruce, where the laundromat used to be. The sign there does say "tenant obtained". Can anyone break the tie?

I've passed by often enough on different nights, and it's always been packed. The most recent time I actually stopped in was late Wednesday night of week before last and it was at full capacity, no people waiting but no additional room for anyone if anyone did show up.

I don't think so, I think it's next to where they were, it's not right on the corner. Perhaps the most important landmark is that it's directly across 20th street from Capogiro. ← I think the location formerly housed a bookstore/art store. Warren Art Books seems to come to mind, but I might be mixing my establishments.

I'm actually not suprised by that. I'd be more suprised if that or something similar with other drinks/liquors/etc. hasn't happened at least a few more times among the many BYOBs around.