MarketStEl

I don't recall you ever reporting in the condiment census I conducted over in Food Traditions & Culture. You do mustard, I do hot sauce. Somewhere between these we should find a happy medium.

Just wanted to add my compliments to the chorus of praise. The area around Santa Fe -- which I never visited during my summer in El Paso; Albuquerque was as far north as I made it -- looks absolutely gorgeous in the winter.* Glad you can afford the outrageously pricey side of Santa Fe living as well. *I did manage to experience a taste of winter during my summer sojourn, though -- on a drive to a Sunday-afternoon activity in Ruidoso, we passed through an elevation high enough that it began to snow around us. Ruidoso itself was warmer, warm enough that I didn't need to wear a coat to climb a hill I'd estimate at about 150-200 feet. (This was the first and so far only time I've climbed a hill in my life. I wasn't a Philadelphian yet, but it was the summer of Rocky, so my climbing companion and I did the Art Museum Steps dance once we reached the top.)

Over in the Pennsylvania board, I report on a discovery I made at DiBruno's in the Italian Market today: Jamón Iberico is now available in Philadelphia. I'm assuming that this means that you can now find it in a handful of other U.S. cities. I had understood that Federal rules prohibited its import. What has changed, pray tell? At the price being charged for it, it's going to be the rare treat indeed.

Popped into DiBruno's in the Italian Market this afternoon for some window shopping, and in the midst of the cheese grazing and search for the name of that Spanish cheese I served on Christmas Eve, I saw something that looked like a slab of bacon with a sign on top of it: "Jamon Iberico "Finally available in the USA!" After describing how it's made and where it comes from, the sign concluded: "One taste and you'll understand and agree that it's worth "$99.99 a pound" Did DiBruno's have to smuggle this ham into the United States? Is it that difficult to produce? Made in extremely small quantities from a hard-to-raise breed of pig? Where's Ferran Adria when I need him? And would anyone be interested in going into a syndicate to buy a pound?

It's expensive, but it's still not as costly as a number of other places here. ← It's the folks from outside driving up the prices, isn't it? My recollection is that New Mexico, while not poor, isn't particularly wealthy either.

Water content and emulsifiers, dear. Velveeta has more of both. That's about it. If you want a versatile, reasonably priced domestic blue, I'd go with Buttermilk Blue if I were you. It has a nice balance between creaminess and bite thanks to the buttermilk and is good as an ingredient in dishes. Point Reyes from California and Maytag from Iowa are both outstanding domestic blue cheeses as well, even better than Buttermilk Blue (especially for eating straight), but I'd consider Buttermilk Blue the best value in good blue cheese. (I pay about $10/lb for it at Salumeria in the Reading Terminal Market. By comparison, both Maytag and Point Reyes run about $15-18/lb.) Now on to my Christmas cheese story, wherein I find out that I have a connection in the business. That part of the story begins with a diversion. While working on the PGMC holiday concert program, I got a call from our Vice President for Production complaining that I had the DiBruno Bros. ad in the program running in black and white. "Mrs. DiBruno wouldn't be too happy with that, as they wanted it in color." Okay, that was a simple fix -- just tell the designer not to convert the image to grayscale. But who was this "Mrs. DiBruno"? Patrick seemed to know her well. I didn't realize I knew "her" well until I ran into both "DiBrunos" at the Chorus' holiday party. "Mrs." DiBruno, it turns out, sings baritone--his real last name is <mumble> and he's a jeweler--and is a really nice fellow. "Mr. DiBruno," in this case, is Billy DiBruno. Cousin Emilio DiBruno and nephew "Billy Jr." DiBruno I also know, and all three work at the Chestnut Street store regularly. (Edited to add: Here's a picture of the couple taken at the party. Billy DiBruno is on the right.) When I went to the store the Saturday before Christmas Eve, though, only Billy Jr. was around. Emilio was at the Italian Market store, and Billy had just left. The staff were just as helpful. They recommended to me a semi-soft cheese from France (Langostolle Vieux? I forget) and a Spanish cheese whose name I also forget; I really need to start taking notes if I'm going to share my experiences with all of you. This is what remains of those two cheeses: But those weren't all I served. I also bought an aged goat milk Gouda, a pound of Buttermilk Blue -- half of which went into a blue cheese dip -- a Rustico with black peppercorns (from Whole Foods) and several cheese spreads. I know that some of you don't consider cheese spreads legit subjects to discuss in a cheese thread, and the cold pack Cheddar spread in the picture is ubiquitous, but DiBruno's own recipe cheese spreads are very good. The Abbruzze -- spicy, with lots of red pepper -- is my personal favorite. Their Boursin is more garlicky than the spread of the same name you find in supermarkets. They also make an herbed spread, a Dijon-horseradish Cheddar spread, a Gorgonzola spread and -- of course -- a port wine Cheddar spread. The goat Gouda, the Rustico, the Buttermilk Blue and the baked Brie (not pictured) remain in the fridge. As the baked Brie has sat there for about nine months, well past its sell-by date, unopened and still in its vacuum-sealed package (it was a gift from a fellow cheesehead friend), I may have to simply give it a decent burial. How long will Brie keep under refrigeration, anyway? (Edited further to add: The pepperoni in the photo is gone. The chorizo is in the fridge. I have a habit of buying too much food for Christmas Eve parties, but I'd rather do that than buy too little.) I think the Buttermilk Blue will find its way into the mac and cheese I plan to prepare on New Year's Day to accompany the ham, black-eyed peas, and greens.

By "Living Butter Lettuce" I assume they mean the Boston lettuce that's hydroponically grown and sold with the root system attached? Does this place grow its own?

Awww, man, now I'ma hafta go! I picked up some smoked kielbasa from Martin's Sausage in the RTM a couple of weeks back, and after eating it, I can't go back to what they sell in the supermarkets. I can only imagine that Krakus' and Czrews' are even better.

Re: your Scrabble addiction: Watch your PMs for a link to crack for Scrabbleheads. Margo got the architecture question answered with an assist from you, and you answered my coffee question in your reply to mizducky, but there was another food question too in my last post; I'm guessing you missed it: Funny, I usually associate hot climes with spicy foods, not rich, heavy dishes. How did this linkage manage to bypass the Arabian peninsula? ← I'll just assume that the resemblance between the Emirates and industrial New Jersey was purely coincidental. Edited to add a comment I forgot: A $58 Kobe beef burger with the works? Not quite a $100 cheesesteak, but it's pretty darned close. (I don't know if this sucker-bait sandwich is still on the menu at Barclay Prime.)

I wouldn't take the Market-Frankford Line such a short distance, especially on a visit to Philly, but the closest station to the RTM is 11th Street. From the westbound platform, you just head through the doors across from the turnstiles (marked "Gallery/Market East Station" or "Aramark Tower"; I forget which, and it may be all three), walk up the passageway, and turn left where the main Gallery concourse crosses your path (food court on the right). Go through the glass doors leading to the Pennsylvania Convention Center and up the escalator. At the top of the escalator, turn right; to the right of the new sports bar is a passageway marked "Through to Reading Terminal Market and Filbert Street." The RTM is directly across Filbert at the other end of this passageway. Or you could get off at 8th and walk the length of the Gallery's lower level to this same point. (You will pass through two food courts en route. Just keep moving; nothing to see here....) Gordon: If you could use a dining companion, I might be available depending on my schedule. I live nearby and pass through Market East Station twice a day. I even take the same train I took in my first foodblog, only in the opposite direction.

1) Who slipped that photo of Exit 13A on the New Jersey Turnpike into your blog? (The lower photo, not the upper one.) 2) Are you telling me that all three of those emirates look like this? Uggh! No wonder you left! At least New Jersey has the Delaware Water Gap, the Shore and its northwest corner (a chunk of New England that got lost and wandered there) as redeeming features. So: Nothing about Fujairah? (Did I spell that right?) (And: I assume no one confuses the restaurant for the satellite news channel -- so named because (AIUI) its owners saw it as an "island" of free reporting in a sea of state-controlled media.) Funny, I usually associate hot climes with spicy foods, not rich, heavy dishes. How did this linkage manage to bypass the Arabian peninsula? What kind of special equipment is needed to make the coffee passable? Does it increase the air pressure? That looks like something Moshe Safdie might have built if he worked in adobe or stucco. What is it? Do you know who designed it?

Sorry I'm late. Blame SEPTA -- that's what it's there for. (What? You thought it existed to move people around Philadelphia? I'm sorry if I left you with that impression.) Anyway, I'm looking forward to the rest of this blog! I spent the summer of 1977 (between freshman and sophomore years in college) selling dictionaries door to door in El Paso, which is really a city in extreme southern New Mexico (or extreme northern Chihuahua, depending on where you want to redraw the line). Our merry band of college kids spent enough Sundays traveling into New Mexico for me to get a taste of the place, and it lives up to its nickname ("Land of Enchantment"). Unfortunately, those tastes didn't include habaneros, which I learned about only after leaving the area. I can't wait to see what you have to show us about New Mexico's culinary heritage. Please do! And I'd love to hear your take on living in a place where money apparently can buy anything, including love. The only things I found redeeming about New Haven on my several visits there were the pizza and Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges (Yale's two Modernist undergraduate colleges, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1961. Edited to modify my description of these structures as Modernist -- while Saarinen is one of the lions of modern architecture, the inspiration for these two very handsome conjoined structures is actually Gothic). I'd say you made the right move in forsaking southern Connecticut for northern New Mexico. I will withhold comments about Yale itself beyond those made in this paragraph out of respect for the Member Agreement. Adorable pooch, BTW. Might we be able to see some shots of the Canyon Road? Are the local coffee roasters in Santa Fe other than Ohori's lacking in some way? I mean, it's not like Allegro is overroasted like Starbucks or anything like that, but I wouldn't necessarily put it above good local roasters in most of the places I've been, including local roasters that have become regional/national chains like Peet's (Berkeley, Calif.) or Bucks County Coffee where I live. Who was this Stamm fellow? I assume he worked in the adobe style that IIRC is mandatory in Santa Fe? You know, I hadn't thought of it in this way, but now that you mention it, you're absolutely right. I tend to like bright and airy spaces myself. Your place strikes me as in keeping with Southwestern colors and norms, but now I'm curious: are there any interiors in Santa Fe that would be more my liking? Any reason why some kitchen designers confuse the counter for the floor? The symbol on this house should be familiar to rail fans, as it very closely resembles the logo of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, the legendary route that (almost) connects my forever hometown with your current one ("almost" because the terrain proved too difficult to build the Santa Fe main line through Santa Fe; instead, a spur from nearby Lamy served the city). Its use here suggests to me that it is native to one of the peoples or cultures of the Southwest (and adopted by the ATSF for that reason), but I have no knowledge of its origins or significance. Do you? Okay, I'll shut up now. Bring on the food and scenery!

Our resident Reading Terminal Market specialist, Bob Libkind, is quoted in a sidebar article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer front-page feature on the up and down sides of the Pennsylvania Convention Center expansion. The sidebar, "Viewing what the Convention Center has delivered," looks at the positive effects the existing center has had on its environs. In fairness, the Reading Company had already begun to resuscitate the nearly terminal Terminal Market by 1984, when the idea of incorporating its host structure into a convention center was first floated, with some success, and the Inquirer has generally been a cheerleader for the center. But given the subsequent fate of the Reading Company, I think a good case can be made that building the Convention Center on top of the RTM and putting it in the hands of the PCCA at one remove really did secure its future as a vital part of the city.

Is this symposium funded by a grant from Archer Daniels Midland? For some of the language is clearly derived from corn. Sounds like a real hoot. When are you submitting for the poster session?

I thought they called those "bacon-wrapped scallops."

In 2008, I will eat at least once each month at an interesting restaurant within the Philadelphia city limits but outside Center City or South Philadelphia. Preferably, it will be one I've never heard of, not even from someone else on the Pennsylvania board. I've already found a candidate (Zagat-rated, no less) walking down North Broad Street near Girard last night. I will make confit, finally. My Crock-Pot's been begging me to ever since I bought the new one. I will find someone else who shares my passion for spicy foods and hot sauces. I'm dying to cook dinner for that someone. I will learn how to prepare a wider variety of dishes suitable for my diabetic roomie with failed kidneys. I will teach any Philadelphian willing to lend me outdoor space and a smoker (or grill with a lid) how to make bangin' ribs. I will read The Omnivore's Dilemma at last, The Elements of Cooking, and all those issues of Gourmet I've been letting pile up while catching up on The Atlantic Monthly.

*major bump* Remember the fellow that kept us enthralled and ultimately feeling sorry for him with his attempt to open a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in the 1100 block of Walnut Street? Well, there will be a new restaurant going into the space next door: another Philly outlet for Maoz. Progress has been somewhat slow -- the '70's-funky wallpaper went in back around September, and the sign over the door only within the last month. No word yet on when it will open. I plan to check it out when it does.

yes, it was hunter with stilton. we also hade an aged cheddar that just melted in the mouth - a 4 year old cabot. ← Huntsman combines Cheshire, a Cheddar-style cheese, with the Stilton. I love to serve this cheese at holiday parties, along with Cotswold (Cheshire with onion and chive mixed in). Is the 4-year-old Cabot the cheese in the front of the first pic (with the grapes)? Can't say I've had Cabot Cheddar that old yet. That must have been a wonderful treat! I'm now in Week 3 at my new job at a software company in the historic Bucks County (Pennsylvania) borough of Yardley. I've been told that there is a potluck party thrown by the marketing, sales call center and inside sales staff, but I see no evidence of this event happening yet. (Fresser is urging me via IMs to prepare Green Bean Casserole for the potluck if it happens. I am resisting this idea with every fiber of my being, but I may have to relent if for no other reason than to reconnect my WASPy boss with her true cultural heritage. ) What I do know is happening is a catered breakfast tomorrow morning (Tuesday 12/18) in our conference center. The caterer does the food for the VIP seminars we host for customers using our legacy products, and I've been assured they do a dynamite job. I promise to do the eGullet thing and take pictures. The next day, the boss is treating me to lunch at the Yardley Inn, the fanciest restaurant in the borough, right along the banks of the Delaware -- which means every spring of late, it's under water. That shouldn't be a problem on Wednesday.

A specific recommendation in case you like pho but your dining companion is phobic: Pho & Cafe Viet Huong, in the Hung Vuong Plaza at 11th and Washington. Ambience similar to that of a diner, but can't say whether it bustles like one (it didn't the Saturday I went there with our former neighbor). Extensive menu of Vietnamese dishes, several varieties of pho and bun (Vietnamese clear noodle soup). Delicious bun bo Hue. Nam Phuong right next door also has pho on the menu, but I'd go there mainly for everything else. This large restaurant is busy on the weekend. Neither of these will set you back more than $15 unless you work very hard at it. Switching gears: If you're willing to have just one brew, you owe it to yourself to try the Good Dog Burger once. At $10, it's outpriced (and outclassed) in the fancy-burger category only by the $15 Rouge burger, but it's actually a good value at that price. It's a chain, but it's (a) local and (b) a good one: I've had several decent meals at the Marathon Grill, and you can keep your tab below the $15 threshold if you order judiciously. They are in the process of adding liquor service at the locations that don't already have it; 40th and Walnut (Penn campus) and 10th and Walnut (next to Jefferson) already do.

I'm ashamed to say I bought a bunch of stuff that I don't need and/or would never eat simply for the savings. It's a curse, I tell you, a terrible horrible curse. ← Makes three of us. Those crackers I posted upthread (or was it in the other thread Jamie Lee started?) will get eaten, though, most likely during the holidays.

The use of "gravy" to describe tomato sauce threw me for a loop when I first arrived in Philly. Kansas City had an Italian immigrant neighborhood just northeast of downtown, much of it obliterated by freeways, and there were some decent Italian restaurants in town. None of them put gravy on the spaghetti they served--only sauce. Nor do I recall the term either appearing on the menus in Boston's Italian restaurants or issuing from the lips of North Enders or East Bostonians. The first time I encountered it used in this fashion was here. Since you're a Westchesterite, Fabby, I'm guessing that Italian-Americans in NYC and environs use it too?

I also remember Chicken Delight, and those ads, and that jingle, from my childhood in Kansas City. There was exactly one Chicken Delight in the city, at 43d and Main. The location was mentioned in the ads. My guess is that this was also a franchise operation. Sure enough, it was, and still is today -- though it's now a largely Canadian phenomenon.

I've tried some of the all-natural brands, and they're good, but I guess my palate has gotten used to the sugary stuff I've eaten since childhood. Jif smooth, usually on a cracker, topped with cheese.

Oh, no, the infamous "disco fries"! I think we determined these are a North Jersey phenomenon. I don't recall seeing them on the menu at any of the diners on South Jersey's once-numerous traffic circles, now intersections with jug handles. I learned to make a good white sauce in a high school mini-course on French cooking when I was 13. I don't remember having the significance of a basic white sauce explained to me then, either. But from there, gravy was a snap. I've gone from the roux-based method largely to a cornstarch-and-water slurry. My gravies tend to be on the very thick side, so thick they turn gelatinous in the fridge. (As did this year's turkey stock, btw.) But I can still make a roux. I think this must be some deep genetic encoding by way of the relatives in Louisiana I never met.

Slice is hands down the best pizza in the area. (Thanks scase805 for turning us on to this.) The Americana is an awesome pizza in the Trenton tomato pie style -- cheese laid down first in moderation, then chunky tomato sauce on top, in this case made from San Marzanos. In fact, the owner told us that his inspiration to open the place was De Lorenzo's in Trenton, specifically the Hudson St. location, though he's completely forthcoming about the fact that you'll have to go to Trenton if you want the real thing. We've also had the caramelized onion and goat cheese pie, which was delicious. They deliver, how far away I'm not sure. Also, funny anecdote: our server used a can opener to open my drink and then left me to remove the cap from the bottle; she then apologized, saying that she doesn't like to touch the area where you put your mouth, as she handles money, etc. Our kind of people. ← mattohara: The quality of the pizza at the 13th Street Pizzeria improved dramatically when the current owners took over. When the place was called "OK Pizza," it didn't live up to even that modest standard -- the pies were truly awful. Now they're decent. And if you get them late at night, they're fresh because of the high traffic in that place at club closing time. __________ Apparently I live in what passes for Pizza Heaven around here. Of the places mentioned around me, the only one I have yet to try is Zio's. Personally, I'd rank them in this order: NYPD, Gianfranca Pizza Rustica, 13th Street, Top Tomato. I tried to organize a Best Of Review Tour segment that would have included a visit to Slice. Where were all of you when I put that out on the table? Now I guess I'll just have to drop in all by my lonesome on one of my weekly grocery runs instead of dropping in on Rene at Rim Cafe. I'd wondered whether there was a way one could re-crisp a steamed-in-the-box delivery pie. I don't have a stone, however. Would just putting it on the oven rack or my pizza screen work?