herbacidal

Stopped by Alma last night. I had: Alma Colada: Bacardi Silver, Myers Dark, passion fruit juice, coconut milk, shaved coconut I enjoyed this twist on an old school favorite. It wasn't as cloyingly sweet as the pina coladas I remember, but I would have preferred if there was less shaved coconut. A little more than the standard garnish would have been ideal for my tastes. Initially, it seemed like half the coconut shaped glass it came in was filled with the shaved coconut. cassava flatbread with blackbean puree This was a nice warmup to what was to follow. The puree and flatbread were great contrasts and stomach liners for the food yet to be digested. Paella Ceviche: calamari, shrimp, scallops in a saffron lobster sauce This mix of Iberia and Latino was quite tasty. The saffron was subtle as always, while the lack of raw citrus juice made the overall effect much more rounded. The peas were a nice addition for color, but what overshadowed everything else was the dish. Served in a container approximately 1/2 inch deep, 1 inch wide, and 15 inches long, attempting to transport food from plate to mouth was a trying task indeed. The spoon I was given wouldn't even fit in the container deep or wide enough to grab enough to make the trip up worthwhile. Vaca Frita: twice-cooked skirt steak served over black beans, white rice, and tomato escabeche and onions This tasted superb. The flavor combinations were right on, with skirt steak as soft as brisket and onions retaining much of their natural sweetness. Almost better than the taste was the presentation: great color contrast and linear placement of the different parts of the dish. Port Wine Flan with honey goat cheese ice cream When I first gazed upon this, I thought of polenta. It didn't have the grainy texture of cornmeal, and it was a much brighter shade of yellow. I imagine it was nothing more than a similar shape to polentas of a past life. Great flavor, especially the flan. Not overly sweet, with a slight kick in the aftertaste, resulting from the port wine, no doubt. Service was professional and knowledgeable on all fronts, from waitress to hostess to everyone in between. As my first time in the space, I can understand past diners' fondness for Alma de Cuba and its predecessor, Le Colonial. It is very well laid out, with a lounge and bar area on the ground floor and a mezzanine level with 20 foot ceilings up one flight of stairs, I dined on the next level up, a smaller more intimate dining arena.

Gotta admit, I've had the roast pork sandwich there, and it is pretty good. But I much prefer the chicken cutlet with rabe. Anyway, I agree on TL's. Slight change on the order: screw the fries Cheesesteak (I'm trusting everyone that theirs is pretty good) Roast Pork with aged provo and spinach (getting rabe below) Chicken Cutlet with rabe If you can fit it after all that: Italian hoagie from Chickie's sausage sandwich with peppers and onions, either Chickie's or Shank & Evelyn's

That sounds ideal as far as my concerns with regards to restaurant financing, except for the fact that the investors' percentage doesn't go below 49%. I'd prefer starting at a rate of 50-60% and going down to 20%. Of course, that may be unrealistic. Ah well, on to creating other financing structures for starting my restaurants.

Let me supplement Katie's response. I don't believe he has ever come out with a guide explaining his criteria, viewpoints, decisions, etc. His most recent reviews are kept up afterwards; currently, while this past Sunday's review is not listed on his page after clicking on "columnists", the previous 7 are. He has a year-end summary of reviews, but that is probably somewhat standard among periodicals. A weekly Q&A similar to Sietsema would probably be quite popular. Perhaps we should contact Amanda Benett, the Inky's new editor, and suggest it as an option that would help enliven the Inky's standing and improve its readership.

I know most people here are wondering what the clawback structure refers to.

I'm not that cynical. You think it's already there?

And to answer the thread title: BYOBs for the most part will not charge corkage. Establishments with liquor license more often than not will. These statements apply to the Philly area of PA. I have minimal experience with the rest of the state.

I think there are 3-5 states that control all liquor and wine sold. PA being the one with the largest population, it is the largest single buyer of wine. IIRC (probably from a thread here previously) WA is worse, although I don't recall the particulars. Can anyone who has experience with both systems comment further? I understand Utah has an even worse system, with drinking not allowed unless a member of a particular establishment? I know there's a previous thread somewhere, just too lazy to look it up. I imagine the surge in quality BYOBs in Ohio is a reaction to the problems with liquor selection and possibly liquor license acquisition problems. Philadelphia metro's ever-increasing crop of quality BYOBs is no doubt because of this. But Jonathan Newman is, step by step, improving PA's system.

So DD now has lattes, according to the latest commercial. Trying to think if this means the world is going to hell in 5 years, or 10.

Not necessarily, although it depends on how liberally you want to define it. I've done Jewish shivas where the entire selection was cold. salmon and filet sandwiches are what I remember most. Anyway, the soup is a good idea. Charcuterie is another good option. To be even more infamous, you can always get a whole roast pig for people to pick away at. With 20-25 people, you will have some left over. Gravlax or smoked salmon with toast points cheese tray with figs, grapes, bread, etc. fruit trays crudite OTOH, If you actually want to cook things: you can still do filet sandwiches, grilling off your meat ahead of time, stuffing the meat into rolls, with mustard and horseradish dips soup of choice (to keep it cold: gazpacho) Sorry, that's all I can remember now. Been a while since I catered much.

actually, they're northerners, so it probably should be more like: gong xi fa cai (pinyin spelling) GONG SHEE FAA CHAI (pronounciation) And that's only Mandarin Chinese. We haven't even gotten into Shanghaiese yet.

Too many Internet acronyms. LOL, ISTR, IIRC, LMAO, ROTFLMAO, IMHO, BTW is just about what I can remember right now.

Just curious - what do you think is "threatening"? There are some Chinese things I don't like - like sea cucumber - but I don't think that a sea cucumber has ever threatened me .

I agree about the wait. I waited 10 minutes, post-lunch rush. I know they replaced the lunch truck with the counter. I don't know the reasoning behind it. What does ISTR mean? From my vague memories of Mad4Mex food, which are vaguer than my vague memories of Mad4Mex drinks, I thought their food was okay. Edible. Don't recall thinking it was microwave equivalent. I never said I liked it. The last time I ate there had to be at least 6 years ago. I must be out of date.

Ah, memories. Seems like just yesterday. I actually preferred off-premise because: there was more variety in events, and more things for me to do. Good catering tips. Especially the cinder blocks. But we always had ovens. Either the client's kitchen oven that was used once since they put it in, or rented. Never had a server take a box like that though. Cres-cor, is that what's it's called? Never looked at the brand name. With sterno in it, it's a hot box. With ice in it, it's a cold box. Coffee always sucked if you had someone who didn't know what they were doing. Like me. Why I always hated pantry duty. Anything is better, even buffet setup. Actually, in my experience, the convection ovens for hors d'ouvres were more likely to blow fuses than the coffeemakers. Thanks for the rant. It was fun. Clifford, you were a party chef and a prep chef? I was floor staff.

Don't pout Al -- I'm sure heracidal was referring to HIS post, not your blog....we're all enjoying it. Uh, yes I was referring to my post. It was my punchline, if you will. Obviously, I am still reading this.

Beg to differ. How much? Should I just take out the "very"? Is Billybob's still at 40th and Spruce?

try whispering "C-note" Actually, yi bai kuai qian would be better.

First, are you sure the locality of said Egulleteer is Whitehead? Second, are you sure all of the Yukon is the same temperature right now? Third, are you sure the Yukon wasn't at a lower temperature earlier? Fourth, are you actually bothering to continue reading this?

Stephen's right. Chinese that drink will drink beer with their food. There was an emerging wine industry in China as of 1997. Cantonese (as observed by me), other than beer will drink: red wine, cognac, scotch

Its -25 C here! Isn't there somebody here in the Yukon somewhere? I think it's Dejah if I'm not mistaken. Not that confident in that though. The Yukon's gotta be colder than Toronto, right?

What does HSF refer to? Where is it?

The one time I was there was a year or so ago and was after significant alcohol consumption. I enjoyed it and thought the food was superb. I'm disappointed your experience wasn't similar. All I can say is I'd give it at least one more chance before dismissing it entirely.

I think Loews is a very nice hotel with very nice rooms. If you got a rate that was pretty good, I'd consider it. I also think it may be too far away, if for instance you may want to wander back to your hotel sometime during the 9-5. Or if you want to go back there before going out for the night. Or if you want to sleep a little later before going to your first class/workshop/etc., assuming you actually care about making it to that first class/workshop/etc. Therefore, I'd probably consider the best price/amenities tradeoff you can find between the Sheraton, Inn at Penn, and Penn Tower. I don't know nearly enough about the hotels in the University City area to comment further on those. If you would rather stay downtown, the Latham is a wonderful boutique hotel conveniently located, as mentioned, on a busy bus route to Penn. West Philadelphia lunch: In the bottom of Houston Hall (NW corner 34th and Spruce), there is a food counter preparing made-to-order crepes that are quite good. White Dog Cafe has very good American cuisine. Mad4Mex does very respectable tex-Mex food. New Deck Tavern does quite good bar food. All three are located within a hundred yards of each other, White Dog and New Deck on Sansom just west of 34th and Mad4Mex on the small alley/street south of Sansom, right next to the aforementioned abominable food court Moravian Cafes. RX and Penne (never been to the latter) are both good choices; RX has superb inventive neighborhood cafe food, and Penne (in the Inn at Penn) makes their pasta at the counter in the dining room. Side Note: What has replaced Palladium? University offices?

Congee, and the fried dough accompaniments, along with soy milk and a few other random things, are popular Chinese breakfast items, as Pan is sort of implying above.