Gastro888

Oh gosh, thanks! Um, no, that's not the reason why I asked - I've some mooncakes I need to ship to Europe and I pray they're still edible and fresh. I'd hate to give someone a tummyache unintentionally. And I had my fill of mooncakes this year. I'd really like to try the nut and yolk mooncake next year, though. Yuuum. What the calorie content of a mooncake? Anyone?

Um. Wait. Maria's Bakery had those mini ones out all day long until they're sold out. And I know they weren't crankin' out fresh ones every day. How do I know if they're fresh or not?

What IS the shelf life of mooncakes?

No no no, no basting! You have to blanch the skin with boiling water and it must be in a vertical oven. It cannot be horizontal. If I ever win the lottery, I'm rebuilding my parents' house and putting in a REAL Chinese kitchen, complete with a vertical restaurant oven so Pops can make ribs and duck. Oh yeah and an outdoor wood-burning wok stove, too. Screw having a pool!

Ben, just write the dang book already!

When my dad used to make roast duck in the restaurant (for personal consumption...) he would separate the meat from the fat using an air pump. He'd put the nozzle of the pump in between the skin and the flesh and pump air until the skin was taut. Then he'd go about with the rest of the preparation. I think this made a difference in the texture as the duck skin was never rough. No one makes a duck like Pops does. <happy sigh>

Chow mein with fried sardines and scallions Scallion oil chicken. Whee hee!

Philly, con't: Sunday afternoon We walked back to Chinatown from 17th and Chestnut. We got to see some of the interesting buildings that Philly has along the way. Took some photos and stopped in at the Chinese Cookie Factory and purchased a bag of plain fortune cookies. (Needs more vanilla flavoring.) When we arrive in Chinatown, I made a beeline for Ocean City and purchased my 2 scallion oil chickens. I managed to convince my friend to buy one as well. (Hey, it's good stuff!) We had dinner at Lakeside Chinese Deli because it fulfilled our criteria of fast, cheap and good. You know hole in the wall joints are the best. The owners were quite friendly and the food reasonably priced. We ordered beef chow fun with gravy and duck and cha siu over rice. The food was tasty! The beef was quite tender in the chow fun. I personally think there was too much cornstarch used in the gravy but it was good regardless. The duck and the cha siu were good - we got nice cuts of meat. Most of the time when you order over rice dishes, they tend to give you the crappy parts of the meat (ie: the back). Total bill with one iced lemon tea drink - 13 bucks. And we both had leftovers to take home. I ate them yesterday for lunch and dinner. <burp> Then we meandered over to the bakery across the street. I forgot its name but it has a yellow awning and it's down a block from Ocean City. We purchased buns and bread. They looked good - unfortunately, it wasn't as tasty as I anticipated. But still better than what we have here. It was a great weekend and I'm definitely planning on coming back up soon. Well, after my trip to NYC that is!

I'm sure everything in the States pales in comparison to HK's food! Hopefully I'll be there next year. There is a place in Flushing that makes a pretty good wife cookie. I didn't expect this one to be so dry! It was almost like filo dough. The scallion chicken was/is great. I already ate half of it between yesterday and today for lunch and dinner. (Well, my lunch is forthcoming...) Di Bruno's was a small stop for me - I really would've preferred going to the Italian market. I'm glad I went, though, it's a really pretty store. Next time I'm going to Philly I want to visit the Italian market as well. But knowing me, I'll end up spending all my time in Chinatown. I guess as you get older, you gravitate towards your comfort foods more!

The wife cookies were bleah. Fresh but bleah. The flaky pastry was sooooooooo dry, it was like eating parchment paper. The filling was a bit gummy but tasty. <sighs> Must find good wife cookies next time I'm in Philly!

Oh my gosh, the little boy was *so* cute! His glasses were too big for his face so he kept on pushing his glasses up his nose while he was serving me. So cute! The sushi was good - we had tuna and avacado roll, Cali roll, seaweed salad and some Chinese rice Krispy treats. It was fresh and cheap. (Or I was incredibly hungry and swayed by the cute kid!)

Mile grazie, signore! The store front has Vietnamese and Chinese on the awning and window, if that helps anyone. It's incredibly tiny. PS: Had some scallion oil chicken from Ocean City for lunch today. YUM. Quite good. It's not roasted like I normally like it, it's more steamed with the scallion oil but this is the first one I've had thus far that has a more pronounced scallion flavor to the chicken. Gooood eats.

Hey, um, herbacidal, it wasn't Ocean City where my friend purchased her BBQ meat from - that's where *I* got them. She got them from that little hole in the wall joint that you pointed out the pork intestines to me.

Eh, that's a good point, however I was in sticker shock in general. (Except for the proscuitto - they were priced around what you'd find in the upsclae markets here in DC). I liked their cheese section. I would've like to have brought some stuff home but $20 got me more in Chinatown than at Di Bruno's. (Not that it's NOT a gorgeous store, I am working with limited funds here). In case y'all were curious, I did purchase the following from Chinatown: 2 Scallion Oil Chickens from Ocean City (YUM) 1 dozen buns - 10 pineapple buns w/ no filling and 2 pork buns 2 dan tats 3 Wife Cookies (yum) 1 bag of fortune cookies from the Chinese Cookie Factory (ok, I got suckered when I aimlessly wandered in. Hee hee ) Hmm. Acutally, I didn't purchase THAT much when you look at it.

Ai, I don't remember, unfortunately. All they had were roasted meat and they did offer Vietnamese rice dishes (com) on the weekdays. It was very small and it was Viet/Chinese. GAH! Bad memory.

Philly, con't. Sunday afternoon: After a good dim sum meal at HK Golden Phoenix, we headed over to a local BBQ shop so one of my friends could purchase roast duck and scallion oil chicken to take home. I can't remember the name of the location but the ducks looked gorgeous. (herbacidal, help! ) We split off into separate groups and hung out in CT. We had bubble tea (again, my memory fails me) and meandered around the streets, stopping at local bookstores. My friend's regular bubble tea with black tea was quite tasty - it was very subtle and it almost looked like it wasn't made with tea at all, the drink was almost white. We had a late lunch at David's and ate: Roast pork Ginger and scallion lo mein Sauteed ong choi with garlic Roast duck Ooooh. Yum. Yum. Yum. It was delish. Shoot, we should've gone to David's instead of Porcini! Dang it all! Everything was great. Simple and well executed. We then split off again and I went to Di Bruno's near 17th and Chestnut. It's a lovely store but GAH, so pricey. 2.29 for Honest Tea?!?! Holy moly. Lovely to look at but I didn't buy anything there. Well, I lie. I brought a cup of coffee there. It was the complete opposite of the Wawa coffee I had the day before. 'Twas like battery acid, that thing was too strong for me that afternoon. I could've used it Saturday morning to compliment my mooncake that I had for breakfast. Ok, I admit, I'm like Goldlocks when it comes to my coffee... Still more to come...

Philly, continued. Sunday morning: After waking up from some much needed sleep, we headed from our hotel to HK Golden Phoenix for dim sum. Originally, some people wanted to eat at 10am but we ended up arriving around 10:30. The thing is with dim sum, ya gotta time it just right - not too early and not too late. The dim sum was quite good - better than what we have in DC. I really enjoyed the steamed lotus paste buns and the chicken feet. Wow, those chicken feet were tender and tasty. The service was pleasant and my only complaint is that we should've arrived at 11am when the carts started to roll out. Oh and their dan tats fresh from the oven are good! Good grubbin'! (I would say so far, Kim Phung in Montreal is the best on the East Coast but HK Golden Phoenix is good.)

Wait, wait, wait! I'm not judging Philly based on my @#$! experience at Porcini! No, no, no. I'm judging the restaurant on its own (de)merits and I wouldn't be as ignorant to judge an entire city based on one lousy restaurant. On the contrary, I enjoyed Philly (mostly b/c herbacidal was a great host!) and had a great time there. I definitely want to come back and have a real cheesesteak and a real hoagie.

In hindsight, I should've been a complete b-ach and voiced my complaint and not left anything. I need to erase that gene of humanity I have. Dang it all!

I was tempted not to tip him at all but my foolishness got the better of me and I gave him 10%. Gah, in hindsight, we shouldn't have tipped him. Ack well. (I must learn to be more cruel in the future...)

Yeap, it was! Stay tuned...will write more later. I've got some scallion oil chicken from Ocean City for lunch that I can't wait to try. Oh and I had a dan tat from Saint Honore's (sp?) bakery for breakfast. Yum!

No, we didn't say anything after the meal. One, it would've been pointless as based on their behavior I doubt the complaint would've been well received. (And I'd been up since 6am that morning dealing with coordinating the race, participating in the race and other stressful issues so I know it wouldn't have been pretty if the server decided to say something smart back to me.) Two, I'm not a Philly native so it's not like I have to have that restaurant open to me as an option when I'm dining up there. Since it's a local place for you, I can see the benefit of maintaining some type of relationship or vested interest to improve service but for me, I cannot be bothered.

Capogiro's rules. Love it! Baci and pistachio. Yuuuum. The apple Caldavas is good, too! And the raspberry's mind blowing.

Thanks for your sympathy. The space wouldn't have been an issue if the service was polite, friendly and competent and the food good. For me, having grown up in the restaurant business and knowing what it takes to run an establishment, I was horrified that Porcini continues to be patronized considering how the brothers run their restaurant. To be honest, I was afraid for our table to eat our entrees and drink our water after we got snapped at by the waiter. Yes, the service was THAT horrible.

Hi y'all! So, here's a brief report on my trip to Philly. First of all, major props to herbacidal for being a wonderful and gracious host. Actually, he wasn't going to be our host but he ended up showing all of us a great time in Philly. (His nomination for sainthood should be in shortly...) So here we go with my food tour of Philly: Friday night: Pat's King of Steaks My friend and I chose Pat's over Gino's simply based on the fact more people were eating and waiting in line at Pat's. She commented on how Gino's looks like a casino with all the neon lighting (it's a good thing - made it easier for us to find the location!). We split a mushroom pepper cheesesteak Cheese Wiz with and a small order of fries. Ooooh...I should've listened to you guys and gone to Jim's. The bread was good but the steak wasn't that flavorful, the veggies not really sauteed and they skimped on the Wiz. It tasted like something I could've gotten at Jerry's Subs (a chain fast food sub joint) back home. (Let the flaming begin!) However, the fries were tasty. They had some sort of batter on them, like what you would find on an onion ring. Quite good and fresh from the frier. Saturday morning: Wawa Kenya AA Coffee and a Wing Wah white lotus double yolk mooncake (only way to go, none of that non-yolk mooncake b.s.). Ai, the coffee was like water. herbacidal mentioned that I might've gone to a bad Wawa. For lunch, we were blessed with the help of our teammate's father who did the hoagie run for us. He went to Wawa and got an assortment of Italian, turkey, veggie and roast beef hoagies with the works. I had 1/2 Italian and 1/2 veggie. They were really tasty! I was surprised at the quality. Maybe it was because I was starving but I really enjoyed the hoagies and the pickles on the side. ('Scuse my ignorance as I've no clue what they're called but they were the neon yellow pepper pickles and the sweet bell pepper pickles.) Yum. Munched on Fuiji appled and preserved plums throughout the day as well. Saturday dinner: After some much welcomed help from herbacidal (thank you!) we got the team on its way and some of us went to Porcini for dinner. DO NOT GO TO PORCINI. To paraphase DonRockwell, they suck ventworm nuts. Ai ya. First of all, they were 20 minutes late in honoring our (albeit last minute) reservation. And the place is like a shoebox - tiny and cramped. Second, the service was HORRIBLE. They were so rude and obnoxious and would not and could not do their job properly. Why did we not complain? They were the owners (we think) and it would've been pointless. Also, we were tired and hungry and just wanted to eat. This is the primary reason why I wouldn't suggest this place to anyone. Example: I politely asked the waiter for water and bread (and explained to him that we were incredibly hungry due to racing) he refused to give us either until we placed our ENTIRE meal order. Also, he refused to place the anitpasti order while we were deciding on our entree. It would be that much harder for you why? He also snapped at my friend when he asked for more water ("YEAH, I'm gettin' to it!" - this was after we placed our order). Third, the food was mediocre. I expected better quality food for the prices they were charging. ($15.50 for a verison of pasta carbonara and you're being skimpy on the portion? C'mon!). The antipasti was poorly executed - the only thing that saved the mussels were the tomatoes. In fact, the tomatoes were the only good thing about the mussels, the bruchetta, the grilled mushrooms with cheese and the calamari salad. (They should thank their tomato supplier...) The entrees were better, however, they were incredibly stingy with the portions. I know it's not the norm for real Italian restaurants to serve large portions but Porcini doesn't strike me as a high end restaurant or as an authentic Italian restaurant. So it doesn't have a leg to stand on in that regard. I did enjoy their verison of pasta carbonara - the pasta tasted homemade and was quite light and delicate. The sauce was tasty if a tad heavy on the cream instead of percorino cheese sauce they advertised on the menu. (Don't bother going there. Go to the sushi place across the street where the friendly 8 year old kid will ring you up after you've selected some great prepacked sushi.) Capogiro's saved the evening! Woo hoo! Oh wow, that place is great. Everyone loved the gelato and enjoyed their dessert. Around the table we had: Thai coconut, pistachio, burnt sugar, baci, cappucino, apple Caldavas, lemon, and raspberry. Raspberry was the group favorite. Stay tuned for Sunday's review....