guzzirider
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Posts posted by guzzirider
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You know... I lived most of my life in WNY (moved to PA 10 years ago this week, actually) and I've *never* eaten at Charlie the Butcher's. I'm going to have to rectify that one of the next times I head back.
With that said... last time I was there I had a Beef on Weck at the Buffalo Brew Pub, and it was definitely one of the best I've ever had. Cherie and I have to make a mandatory visit to BBP every time we go up. Best wings around, as far as I'm concerned... and now I know their Beef on Weck is awesome. Plus, great beer... and they insist that you throw your peanut shells on the floor. I miss that place. I had my own personal mug there, too... in fact, I'm drinking from it as I type this! So, if anyone find themselves in the Buffalo area, be sure to check out the Buffalo Brew Pub for some Buffalo standards, and by all means... try a hunk of their beer bread. And I'll check out Charlie the Butcher's.
But I digress... sorry about the Buffalo tangent in the Hoagie thread!
__Jason
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I stumbled across a surprising sandwich at the West Chester Restaurant Festival: a Beef on Kimmelweck
This was a very good version, featuring better-quality beef than most I've had up around Buffalo NY, where they originated, but it was otherwise very authentic: wet with jus, served with horseradish.
They were being served up by The Whip Tavern in Coatesville. The chef said he gets his rolls from Wegmans, after a smaller, independent baker couldn't keep up, but they make a pretty good version of the roll, so that's no problem. It's on their regular menu, both lunch and dinner, and the chef says he's selling a ton of them.
All in all, an excellent sandwich, and perhaps not native to this area, but it's great to know one can get one around here.
More "Beef on Weck".
So... here I am, holding onto some "ends" of the prime rib I made for a New Year's Eve dinner party and wondering what to do with them. Well, I'm from Buffalo, so it didn't take long to work this one out.
Stopped off at Wegman's for some kimmelwecks, and bingo... there you have it:
The meat could have been thinner, but I don't have a slicer, so that's hard. You may say, "Hey... not as much meat as on philadining's photo," and you're right... but I made 2 of these! Also, my jus was made with red wine and rosemary... I think it had a bit more flavor than the typical WNY offering. I suppose the fact that it was aged prime rib didn't hurt either!
__Jason
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I also like Panorama. If you go, I'd suggest a table in the bar/lounge area in stead of the dining room. But, then again, I just like to watch the cruvinet in action...
http://www.pennsviewhotel.com/
__Jason
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Yeah... I don't quite get the irrational fear of tofu... it's one of the most innocuous food items out there. At worst, I guess it could be described as "bland". But when prepared properly, it can be fantastic. Hell, even water can be horrible in the wrong context, but how many people are afraid of that?
OTOH, my wife is allergic to soy, so I guess she gets a pass. Actually, now that I think of it, even she will sample a tofu dish on occasion, even though she knows it will induce great personal suffering. :-/
__Jason
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Don't hold me to this, but I'm almost certain I've seen country hams in BJ's and/or Costco.
__Jason
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you want inexpensive le creuset? find a Tuesday Morning. trust me.*
* i've never been to costco so i can't compare prices. but trust me anyway.
I bought a 15 qt LC dutch oven for 223.00 at Tuesday Morning. They hae them in that size all the time. It had no box but was in pristine condition.
I stopped by the TM in Maple Shade yesterday (my first time) and all they had was 1 small-ish enamelled steel pot for $40. I thought it was a pretty good price, but if I'm going to buy another pot that size, I want it to be cast iron.
__Jason
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Taquitos de Puebla got a mention in LaBan's "scary food"article. Yeah, they've got eyeball tacos on the menu.
I didn't have those last night. I had tacos suedero, which were lovely. And I discovered tepache...which is pineapple cider. I am so a regular.
The eyeball taco thing intrigued me, so I did a google search. I'm guessing this is *not* an accurate representation of the real thing?
__Jason
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For the sake of trivia: "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" was co-written by a Penn grad, Jon Hurwitz (class of 2000.) I'm going to send him a link to these White Castle posts, I'm sure it'll make him smile.
In that case, Jon, thanks for that cheetah-riding scene... I'm cracking up just thinking about it!
__Jason
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Now I’m really embarrassed! I guess I should be used to the memory errors, as I get older and older. It seemed like a week ago I was sitting in there stuffing my face and then racing back to Medford before the grease took control of my stomach. My apologies for causing the inconvenience of searching for something that’s no longer there.
LOL! White Castle on the brain... very understandable!
BTW, I vividly recall my very first White Castle experience... about 12 years ago, I spent a few months working outside of Detroit, and a guy I was working with introduced me to WC. Wow... I loaded up, including "clam strips" (bad idea for a noob?)
Anyway, I felt *so* sick after eating there! But, about 3 or 4 nights later, I woke up at about 3am CRAVING WC, and there was one not far down the road from where I was staying, so I got up and went.
I've never had anything that made me so ill, make me want to come back for more. I'm convinced that they lace those burgers with nicotine, or perhaps simply crack. Etiher way, I was hooked. And I also noticed that the WC around Dearborn, MI were spaced perfectly, so if you went through a drive-thru and ate while you drove, by the time you were swallowing your last bite, there would be another WC right there for you to pull into in case you needed an "after dinner slider snack!" LOL!
When I drove back to Buffalo, the last thing I did before I left town was pick up a couple "sacks" to sustain me on the drive. Bittersweet...
__Jason
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I know this will probably result in my banishment and drummed off the BB, but I sometimes secretly stop at the White Castle on 73 and pig out on a bag of their grease burgers with fried onions. I don’t know if I should be in a twelve-step program or check myself into re-hab.
Two things:
1. Dont' feel too bad. After all, they did make an entire movie about getting to this White Castle in Cherry Hill. White Castle, although not "gourmet", do have a certain magic to them.
2. The White Castle you're referring to has been closed for while. I don't think there are any left in the metro Philly / South Jersey area, so your rehab may be mandatory at this point.
__Jason
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Snack Bar? So what can we expect here... "Mike & Ike" entrees, and Juju fish prepared table-side?
Just curious...
__Jason
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I'm spending a few days in State College in early November for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. Any recommendations for great pizza, or does one have to trek to Philadelphia for that?
Sorry, can't answer the State College question... but generally speaking, you wouldn't want to trek to Philadelphia for Pizza. If you got that desperate, you'd be better off heading due east to NYC.
With a few notable exceptions, Philadelphia is sort of famous for *not* having good pizza.
I'm sure someone will give you some local options, though.
__Jason
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Does that thing taste as good as it looks?
Lets see... take a pretty good cheese steak, and then add the one ingredient that seems to make everything taste even better - truffle. What do you think?
This tartufo/arancine combo is one of my favorite guilty pleasures anywhere. Has been since Rustica added the sadwich to their menu a while back.
EDIT: BTW, they also put a tartufo pizza on their menu... white pie w/steak, carmelized onions and truffle cream. I haven't tried it yet...
__Jaason
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Got my "usual" from Rustica (Northern Liberties) today... Tartufo cheese steak (w/truffle cream) and an order of their arancine risotto balls...
Although I'm not 100% positive, I think they use Sarcone's bread for their sadwitches. It was a good way to forget about the Eagles game
__Jason
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I watched the show and I got very, very hungry.
So did I. Although I've had numous pork italians, I've never had a steak italian from TL's. On Friday (the day after the show premiered) I had to leave work early to take care of some things, and was able to stop by TL's around 2pm. Now, I've been there in the afternoon on a Friday before... no big deal, but on *this* day, the crowd was nuts... complete with an entire busload of photo-taking tourists, who I can only imagine were sitting in their hotel rooms watching the night before.
So, after waiting for the 25+ people ahead of me to get served (this is the *only* joint where I'll actually wait in line... sometimes) I had my hands on a steak italian. And now that I've had one, I think I may actually like it better than the pork italian. Whod'a thunk it? Good stuff.
And Holly, while I can see your point, I kinda think a wiz-wit against Bobby's sandwitch would have been one-sided... sort of an apples/oranges comparison. It's a darn good thing Food Network decided to use Tony Luke rather than Pat's or Geno's... if Bobby would have gone up against one of them, it would have made for a very boring show!
__Jason
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I started out with some "rice balls" (I don't recall the exact name for them, and I don't see them on the online menu), but these are sort of like cakes of sushi rice, with a bit of fried onion embedded in the center, and nori wrapped around the outside. With just a touch of soy, these could be summed up by the phrase "elegance through simplicity". Very simple, very delicious!
I think those are called onigiri, and if they have them, I *must* get over to this place soon. I've been longing to find a place in this city that serves them!
Yes... I believe you're right! I have a coworker that said the same thing... he hasn't found them anyplace else around here. The first time I tried them was after my conversation with him, and wow... they are good!
__Jason
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Ah, OK... I see your point.
__Jason
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I've always wanted to eat there.
I had reservations for brunch a couple years ago and got there to discover that it wasn't quite "brunch" as a NY'er would understand it. We ended up leaving (feeling embarrassed but a giant spread wasn't what we were looking for at the time)...it's too bad because if I had been prepared for it...it looked wonderful. Glad to hear it's still the same.
OK, I'm curious... what does a NY'er expect brunch to be?
__Jason
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over on phillyblog someone mentioned a $20 or $25 tasting menu thing they're doing.
Yeah... I read that, but haven't seen any of the flyers myself. Apparently you have to call ahead and book it. I'm not sure how they're getting the word out, but I hope it draws in some business for them.
__Jason
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Pardon me for blowing the dust off this old topic...
I stopped by Goji on my way home from work yesterday for a solo dinner (Cherie's out of town for work). We've been there a number of times, and the food has always been wonderful, and last night was no exception.
I started out with some "rice balls" (I don't recall the exact name for them, and I don't see them on the online menu), but these are sort of like cakes of sushi rice, with a bit of fried onion embedded in the center, and nori wrapped around the outside. With just a touch of soy, these could be summed up by the phrase "elegance through simplicity". Very simple, very delicious!
Next was a spicy cruncy salmon roll. This is one of their "simple rolls". I was by myself, and only in the mood for relatively simple fare, so this was perfect. We have had some of their specialty rolls, though, and those have been delicious as well... albeit a bit on the small side, especially after you've experienced the special roll extravaganza that's put on at Raw.
For an entree, it was the traditional Kasane Soba Tempura. I'm going to cheat and copy this description from their menu: "3 tiers of Japanese imported buckwheat noodles (served cold) with a time honored recipe soup, called Otsuyu, accompanied with shrimp and vegetable tempura."
Very good. The tempura is light and crunchy. This is one of our favorites, and it seems that either my wife or myself will always get this when we go.
Accompanied with a carafe of sake, and it was a perfect meal for my gullet.
If you haven't been yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. I think this is a very unique place in Philadelphia... run by a family with a long cooking tradition in Japan. I get the feeling that they may be flying under most people's radar, and struggling for business a bit. It seems in Philly, Japanese is only popular if it's some sort of Japanese-Chinese-French-Inuit fusion. Gogi is something special, and I hope we don't lose it...
__Jason
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Cherie and I have our first anniversary coming up, and I considered giving Nineteen a try. I'm not one to normally write off a restaurant based solely on internet chatter, but I want this dinner to be something a bit special, so it seems Nineteen is out for now. I really hope they can smooth out whatever rough edges are there, becase it really looks like it could be a wonderful place. I still want to check the place out myself, but I'm not about to risk our anniversary dinner on it!
Decided on Vetri instead. I'm reasonably confident that will be nice...
__Jason
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Anyway, it's pretty bad; makes both Sless-Kittain and the editors of Forbes look awfully dumb.
To us in Philly, it makes them look dumb. To everyone else on the planet, it looks like we get our rocks off on Jell-O.
__Jason
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Cheriev and I finally made it in to Bar Ferdinand yesterday, and I have to say I basically agree with the rest of the comments. Some things were very good. The Cerdo Frito - I really wish I could get that in a 12" version, for instance. The seared watermelon was good, and the cheese plate was... well, a cheese plate. It's hard not to love the cheese! They had a gazpacho special the we enjoyed, but personally, I would have gone for a bit less acid, and a touch more heat in the flavor... but that's just me.
Oh, and kudos to the service - everything seem to come suprisingly quick.
I think that if the Croquettas de Bacalao remain the same, however they should change the name to Croquettas de Limon, for the reasons already discussed.
I'd like to go back, because there were a number of items that I'd still like to try that looked good to me. Next time, I'll pass on the sangria, though... it did nothing for me, and I love sangria. They need to use sweeter (and more) fruit or something... n ot sure.
I hope they learn to accept criticism, though. I would say that all things considered, it is good now, but it has the potential to be a really wonderful place, but whether they want to admit to it or not, some things need a bit of polishing.
__Jason
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The pasta dishes I've had at Panorama have always been excellent, and I believe the pasta is all freshly made on premise. I confess I've neither noticed whether there is gnocchi on the menu nor sampled it if there is, but I'm certain if they make it, it is excellent. Plus you can't beat the wine selection!
La Famiglia also has excellent pastas.
Either of these might be a tad too fancified for what you had in mind, but the food definitely fits the bill.
I'll join the chorus singing the praises of Chef Adamo's fresh pastas at Penne. They are really good.
I almost always try to get the gnocchi at Panorama... very good. Its always on the menu, but they regularly change up how they serve it. I've had it in a butter sauce w/clams, baked in a ragu, and also with their excellent pesto. And they do either small or large portions. Man... I haven't been there for a while, and now I'm craving it...
__Jason
The Garbage Plate
in New York: Dining
Posted
I was back in Buffalo to visit family for Thanksgiving. The wife and I made our requisite trip to the Buffalo Brew Pub, and for the first time, I got their Beef on Weck. Perfect. As I recall, it was quite similar to what was described... maybe not blood rare, but it was decidedly pink, and shaved "Arby's thin". Without a doubt, one of the best Beef on Wecks I've ever had.
On top of that, I'll take the Brew Pub's wings over the Anchor Bar any day of the week. Consistantly good size, perfectly crispy, and just the right amount of sauce... so the last one at the bottom of the pile is just as crispy as the first one. Awesome.
__Jason