MarketStEl

That probably won't happen for quite a while, since he has been interviewed by Marty Moss-Coane on "Radio Times." "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" and "Radio Times" both originate at public radio station WHYY in Philadelphia. "Fresh Air" is the station's flagship syndicated interview program, focusing on arts and culture across the country; "Radio Times" has more of a focus (though obviously not an exclusive focus) on Philadelphia-area affairs and airs on fewer stations--though apparently it's on satellite radio now. The two programs have virtually no overlap in terms of guests.

No photos tonight--my roomie brought the digicam, but the memory card filled up after about 20 pix. And my feet are killing me--I've been on them since about 4 this afternoon--but I had a great deal of fun. This wasn't dinner, strictly speaking--it was a cookout/party to which upwards of 50 people had been invited by the host and about 30-40 showed up. I was doing the honors at the grill and smoker. The menu was standard barbecue fare--barbecued ribs, grilled and barbecued chicken, burgers, hot dogs, macaroni salad and whatever the guests brought (which wasn't much--the person who said she would bring potato salad must have gotten cold feet from the intermittent showers during the day). What was unusual for me was the quantity: 30 pounds of ribs (nine racks), 20 pounds of chicken (10 pounds each of thighs and drumsticks), 10 pounds of ground beef, 5 pounds of hot dogs, three grills--two of them smokers. About a half gallon of homemade barbecue sauce--most of it now in my fridge, but I had two bottles for the guests, one regular, one kick-ass. (The regular bottle is almost full; the kick-ass bottle is half empty. For you sriracha fans, it and black pepper were the extra ingredients in the kick-ass version.) A huge bowl of macaroni salad with tuna, made the day before. The ribs are all gone or accounted for. All but two drumsticks were cooked. I have about 15 uncooked two-ounce burgers out of 76, and about a pound of franks left. Everybody left satisfied, and a few people raved about the food. (Including one guest fairly early on who scooped up half a pan of chicken and a heap of macaroni salad, put the stuff in her bag, and left. Taking leftover cooked food with you--or a platter to take home to family, a friend or for later--is a custom at many parties thrown by African-Americans, but swiping food in large quantities before the party's over is IMO boorish. Not that I haven't seen it happen before, though.) Times like this are what make cooking for crowds fun. Next year when I do this party, however, I think I may put out a tip jar.

"...Thank You for Shopping at Genuardi's." Then the parent reveals itself with the Web site address. I'm surprised they let that slip through. Back to the main topic: So, how do they compare to Bell & Evans pricewise? (I guess I could probably answer this question myself next time I'm in Whole Foods, but I'm lazy, and for the time being, Whole Foods is not in my regular grocery shopping rotation.)

This week's recommendation comes from "Wingin' It" columnist Ron Varrial himself, who bestows upon Fox & Hound (15th and Spruce) his "Serendipity Award"--as in, There wasn't a review in hand or a recommendation in the pipeline, but he stumbled across very good wings completely by chance. At a chain eatery, no less. In his assessment of this fact, he sounds a lot like some of us on eG: Think I'll have to try some of these. They're 10 for $6.99 regularly, 35¢ each on Mondays.

"Semi-"? Now I know for sure that Sandra Lee is actually a cookbot (or is that modelbot?) created by a consortium of major food processors and manufacturers. How could this possibly be an improvement over just slapping a slice or two of American cheese between two slices of bread? (If Sandra must have a Brand Name in her recipe, I will allow her the use of Kraft® Velveeta®.)

Would it make you feel any better if she recommended the store brand?

Trivia: You can actually spy three generations of Calder sculpture from the top of the Art Museum steps. The sculptures that adorn Philadelphia City Hall, from the 37-foot-tall William Penn statue atop its tower on down, are the work of Alexander Milne Calder.* Halfway up the Parkway, the Swann Fountain in Logan Circle is the work of his son, Alexander Stirling Calder. Both of these you can see from the Art Museum courtyard. Behind you, hanging from the ceiling of the Art Museum's main lobby, is a mobile by A.M.'s grandson and A.S.'s son, Alexander Calder. Another Alexander Calder stabile is located at 21st and the Parkway, near the site of a proposed Calder museum. The artist's name is Isaiah Zagar, and the courtyard next door to his studio is also a sight to behold. (There was a community uproar last year when the owner of the land proposed building condos on it. I think, but am not certain, that some arrangement was reached that spared the work.) Somewhat food-related trivia: The Super Fresh supermarket in the same block of South Street as Zagar's studio is one of the hottest pickup spots in Center City--especially if you're a man seeking men. (Or so said the readers of the CityPaper last year.) *Edited to add: A.M.'s sculptures on City Hall are wonderful works--and he threw in some playful touches as well. If you walk through City Hall's south entrance arch, look to your left and right at just about eye level--the vine-and-rose band repeatedly features a sculpted cat chasing a mouse.

Great minds (and tummies) think alike -- Bob ← And both of you must have been composing right on my heels. I will note, however, that we managed to recapitulate the Great Cheesesteak Debate ("Pat's or Geno's?") within these three posts, including one "Try Jim's instead!" FWIW, Tony Luke's is justly more famous for its roast pork Italian sandwich--which more than a few PhillieGulleteers have suggested should displace the cheesesteak as Philadelphia's signature sandwich--but the place also makes a mean cheesesteak. At the risk of overloading our visiting friend, since neighborhood eateries were mentioned, let me add a few of my local recommendations--I live in the heart of Center City's Wash West "gayborhood" at 12th and Locust: --Caribou Cafe, 1128 Walnut. They're on their annual summer vacation right now, but should be open again by the time you get here. An authentic French bistro in both atmosphere and menu--great steaks and burgers to boot, plus live music on the weekends. --Moriarty's, four doors east of the Caribou on Walnut, just across Quince Street from the Forrest Theater. See my opening post in the "Metro Wings It" thread for the reason why I recommend this place. The rest of their fare is at least decent, and they have plenty of good beers on tap--though not as good as the microbrews featured at Good Dog (15th between Walnut and Locust), whose burger I hear is excellent but I have yet to try. --Planet Hoagie, 1211 Walnut. Reasonable people will disagree on whether these are the city's best hoagies--I say they are among the best, and Philadelphia magazine gave them top honors in its 2004 "Best of Philly" issue. But even those who do not consider Planet Hoagie, with its chain-like atmosphere, one of the best places in town will agree that these are good sandwiches. --Portofino Restaurant, 1233 Walnut. Not as stylish or up-to-the-minute as new neighbor Pompeii (opposite Moriarty's in the 1100 block), and the front facade is a little tacky, but the Italian fare is quite good indeed, and the prices not too bad for an upscale Italian place. An expansion project is currently under way. Save any of the recommendations you don't manage to visit for a future trip. I'm sure there will be one after this time.

Hi, Ed! Both of you should have a good time munching your way through the City of Brotherly Love. Tackling your questions in no particular order: Your hotel is at 17th and Chestnut, which is not all that far from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The "Rocky steps" lead from Eakins Oval at the upper end of the Ben Franklin Parkway to the museum's east door. Doing a "Rocky run" up the steps has become a local cliche, but that shouldn't stop you or your girlfriend from doing the same. However, once you get to the top, I strongly encourage you to proceed into the museum, one of America's finest collections of art and decorative objects. If you two are into walking, a stroll up the Parkway is a good way to get some exercise in. As far as food is concerned, there's not a lot of it to be found on the Parkway. One of the finest restaurants in the city--the Fountain Room at the Four Seasons Hotel--is on Logan Circle, but this is a very pricey special-occasion restaurant, and as far as those go, there are several that are more interesting. The cafe at the Art Museum serves pretty good food at relatively reasonable prices as well. However, I'd probably eat somewhere else before or after my visit. Oh, go ahead and check out the dueling cheesesteak joints at the corner of 9th and Passyunk in South Philly. Neither of them are the best in town--search this forum for discussions of the places that are; which place deserves to be called the best is an open question--but both put out a good product; my own preference is for Pat's over Geno's. Your vegetarian girlfriend might want to try one of the bahn mi (Vietnamese hoagies) served at O Sandwiches, a new eatery one door north from Geno's; they have a couple of very tasty meatless ones. "Cheesesteak Corner" lies at the extreme southern tip of the Italian Market. Decades of population loss have drained the market's southerly end of much of its activity, though a few businesses--including a couple of Mexican groceries and one of the best places to get Middle Eastern groceries in the city--remain below Washington Avenue. The heart of the "Italian" Market (I put "Italian" in quotes here because nowadays it's a lot more polyglot) is the three-block stretch from Christian Street to Washington Avenue. In addition to cheap produce and really good meats, you will find cafes, the city's best cheesemongers, a kitchenware emporium to die for, and purveyors of Mexican and Asian specialties. Recommended eateries nearby include Taqueria Veracruzana and Plaza Garibaldi, both in the 900 block of Washington Avenue; Pho Ba Le (600 block of Washington) and Pho 75 (1100 block of Washington); Porky & Porkie Korean BBQ Buffet (also 11th and Washington)...there are plenty more like these in the area--take a stroll and see what tickles your fancy. Also check out the current discussion of Ralph's, which also mentions Villa di Roma--both on South 9th--for an assessment of old-style South Philly red-gravy Italian restaurants. The city's best produce emporium, however, is the Reading Terminal Market, located beneath the Pennsylvania Convention Center at 12th and Filbert. Since you will be in town over a weekend, you will be able to visit when the Pennsylvania Dutch stands are open as well. Some of the best hoagies in the city are served at Salumeria in the Reading Terminal Market, and there's a pretty good roast pork stand (DiNic's) there too. You should spend Friday evening in Old City if at all possible. On the first Friday of every month, the galleries in Old City hold receptions and parties that lure good-sized crowds. Old City is also Center City's adult nightlife zone (in contrast to South Street, where the kids hang out), with lots of bars and several excellent restaurants. Restaurant impresario Stephen Starr got his start here with the Continental, a diner-turned-nightclub at 2d and Market; other notable restaurants in the neighborhood include Fork (200 block of Market), Paradigm (300 block of Chestnut) and Philadelphia Fish & Company (2d and Chestnut)--and that's only scratching the surface. One of the more fascinating on-the-map historic sites is Franklin Court, Robert Venturi's "ghost house" on the site where Ben Franklin's residence stood. The museum below the structure delves into Franklin's life and the Philadelphia of his day (middle of the block between 3d and 4th, Market and Chestnut streets--look for the sign saying "To Let, B. Franklin, Inquire within" in the middle of the 300 block of Market). There are a lot of interesting little off-the-map museums as well, ranging from the Atwater Kent Museum (15 South 7th), the city's official history museum, to the Civil War Library and Museum (Delancey Street somewhere around 18th or 19th), to the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadephia (21st Street between Market and Chestnut) with its medical freak show. I'm sure my fellow Philadelphians on this board will have other tips for dining and sightseeing. Welcome to Philly, the place that loves you back!

Does the fact that Rachel Ray included Villa di Roma in her "$40 a Day" visit to Philly tarnish its reputation any? (It was her lunch stop.)

Chinese gooseberry. It was given this name due to the color and because it apparently comes originally from southern China. ← Complete coincidence: I'm watching "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" while perusing this topic. The current contestant was asked this question for $8,000: "What fruit is also known as the Chinese gooseberry?" A. Guava B. Passionfruit C. Kiwi D. Mango She had the computer remove two wrong answers before giving the correct answer ©.

In Philadelphia: Porky & Porkie Korean BBQ Buffet, 11th Street and Washington Avenue. Opened this past spring. Loads o' fun. Great for a group outing. There are other Korean restaurants in town that serve food that you cook yourself on a tabletop grill or burner, but most of these aren't raw meat buffets.

My memory is cloudy on this one--it may actually be an apocryphal story I've hijacked--but I remember seeing a sign on the serving line at the Kansas Union (the student union at the University of Kansas) that was a twist on a restaurant staple: "We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone."

You were going to add a footnote? The Greek Lady is to the Penn food truck universe what Pam's Deli appears to be to UVM--a local legend and a campus institution. Then again, so was Sophie's. and probably the only food truck in metropolitan Philadelphia to get a full-blown Craig LaBan review in the Sunday Inquirer. (LaBan gave Yue Kee Mobile Kitchen two bells out of four--"very good"--and advised readers to order off-menu.) Le Anh--and I haven't eaten at either of them in well over three years. I believe the story about the dueling Le Anhs ran in The Daily Pennsylvanian--or was it the CityPaper? This one I've never patronized, unless it has no name on its exterior and I just don't know I've eaten there. Where is it located? I believe the best Jamaican food truck in University City is parked outside the 30th Street post office on Market Street. It's bright pink--you can't miss it. I can recommend MexiMovil at Drexel to you as well, and that Philly food cart thread referenced in the opening post has some others. BTW, Diann, I worked at the University of Pennsylvania for 18 years, through April 2004, and was the managing editor of its faculty/staff newspaper, the Penn Current. We did our share of writing about international cuisine in University City, including a person-in-the-street feature about readers' favorite food trucks. I was in the Office of University Communications (the PR office, which publishes the Current during the Great Food Truck Controversy in the early 1990s, when the University moved all the trucks off of the 3600 block of Walnut, the 100 block of South 36th, and a few other nearby blocks in order to improve the view from the Inn at Penn. Looking back, there were some unfortunate casualties--including Sophie's, which I mentioned above--but many of the best trucks survived and are still in business. One of them that isn't, sadly, is Jow's Lunch, mentioned in the Philly thread--marital difficulties led to its demise. You haven't lived until you've eaten "crying tiger."

Yet another example of how the geek paradise at the south end of Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge and the geek paradise halfway along the street's route through the city are almost polar opposites. I now see that Harvard is distinctive not only for its lack of fraternities (actually, there is one, which keeps a very low profile) and sororities, but also for its lack of food trucks. I think this has something to do with the school's residential model, which is derived from the elite British universities. (Yale, Princeton and Duke, to name three, also follow this model, in which dining with your classmates and faculty is an important part of the undergraduate experience. Penn recently adopted it, but the food truck culture is too ingrained there for this new model to easily dislodge it.) --Sandy Smith, Harvard '80

So if I want to try some of this chicken, I will have to head out to the nearest Safeway^WGenuardi's. The Genuardi family wanted no part of union labor and therefore built no stores within the Philadelphia city limits. Safeway management so far has stuck to this policy. However: Whole Foods Markets stores in this area (and quite possibly chainwide) carry Bell & Evans chicken, which is produced in Pennsylvania and also air-chilled.

The Aug. 19 edition turns up what may be an overlooked find--La Creole, 775 South Front Street in Queen Village, suggested by readers Joe B. and Lisa K. Ron Varrial's writeup describes the place as "not...where you take a date to pop the big one. Unless that question is, 'Do you want one order or two?' Depending on the answer ('three!'), you may want to have a ring ready." The wings are crispy, seasoned Creole-style, and drenched in "a flavorful hot sauce that's not going to knock you off your chair, but might draw a 'mmmmm' or two." Final verdict: "among the best we've tried." And if they continue their policy from last football season, they will be free when the Eagles play. Metro also promoted the feature back to the top of the "Going Out" page and gave it a title: "Wingin' It" (natch).

And then there is this piece of existential intellectual profundity, modestly titled "A few thoughts on the wisdom of Sandra": And all this time I was under the impression that Sandra Lee was an airhead. My, oh, my, how wrong I was. Guess I'm going to have to surrender my eGullet affiliation and go over to the Dark Side.

Okay if I crash this dinner party? I finally whipped together something that was quick, easy, tasty and attractive enough that I felt I could photograph it and post it here. Last night, I was futzing around trying to figure out what I wanted to do with what I had on hand and seized on nachos with steak strips--or fajita nachos, if you will. I had some flank steak, sliced into thin strips, already in the freezer. I took those and seasoned them with about 1/2 tablespoon cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon each garlic and onion powder and 1/4 teaspoon paprika. Meanwhile, I chopped two tomatoes and simmered them in a mixture of one can tomato paste, 1/2 cup water and about 1 teaspoon basil. After simmering for about 15 minutes, I added 3/4 of a one-pound bag of frozen "Rancho Fiesta" vegetable blend (broccoli, carrots, white navy and red pinto beans, red peppers and peas) and simmered for another ten minutes while cooking the steak strips. I then topped tortilla chips with the tomato-veggie mixture, the steak strips and shredded Cheddar and Pepper Jack cheeses thus: Quick, filling and good.

Ralph's is the genuine red-gravy South Philly article in my book. And no, I haven't ordered anything fancy in my two visits there. It's hard to screw up spaghetti with meatballs in red sauce, though. Ralph's version was perfectly fine, and so was their clam sauce. The place is a total throwback--old-school decor, turn-of-the-century tile walls and floors (though I suspect the tile walls on the first floor are a historical re-creation), huge portions at modest prices, no credit cards. Even if what you've ordered is just okay, I'd say it's worth a visit for the overall experience. I'd have to second philadining here--stick to the basics and you'll have a great meal.

I've done ham in Coca-Cola glaze (really good), in Holiday Spice Pepsi glaze (liked the stuff more as a soda than as a ham glaze) and in pineapple soda glaze (works a little bit better than pineapple juice; must be the carbonation and extra sugar). Haven't tried Coke as a barbecue sauce ingredient yet. Sounds like a good idea, though. Neat story about Jack McDavid, Holly.

Being a barbecue fiend, my preferred version is: Enough Gates' Barbecue Sauce to cover them all Then nuke them for about a minute. (A make-your-own Gates' Sauce recipe exists. PM me if you want it.)

Banner with the pear? What banner with the pear? I get no banners using the actual site name on prettytothink.typepad.com -- and minorgourmandry.com still produces Not Found errors as of Wednesday 8/17/05. In addition, the images, whose URLs are not routed through the domain name mask and thus should load, don't. Clicking on the ALT tags embedded in them, however, displays them in new windows. This help things any? So Lil' Spot didn't float your boat? Okay, I can see that.

umm....what is "meat paste", please? ← Speculating: might this be something like deviled ham? I remember eating this stuff as a kid. I haven't touched it in decades.

Alcohol is a depressant. I took my doctor's advice while being treated for depression. I think I can handle it on occasion now, though. Which, from an oenological standpoint, is A Good Thing.