MarketStEl

There is a joke I heard many moons ago that shares characteristics with Iowa in August (not, as the song has it, Kansas). It involves a hungry man who walks past a restaurant which has the following sign in the window. "Special Today: All You Can Eat For Only $2.00" The man runs into the restaurant and is seated. After indicating that he would like to order the all-you-can-eat special, the waiter thanks him and soon delivers him a bowl of soup. After some time passes without anything else being served, the man complains to the waiter, "I came for the all-you-can-eat special, but all I've gotten is a bowl of soup." The waiter replies, "I'm sorry, sir, but that is all you can eat for only $2.00."

I would have been distressed indeed if the buffet table at Fogo de Chao had been no better than that at Picanha Grill. For what they charge, they should have at least fancier stuff, if not outright better quality. (Next time you're at Picanha, take a look at the bottled salad dressings. They're a brand you've never heard of unless, like me, you have shopped at Save-a-Lot. There's a Save-a-Lot in the block to the south of Picanha Grill.) Sounds like I need to do lunch at Fogo sometime after the 25th of an upcoming month.

Thought so about Sauce. There's a semi-active ongoing trashing of the place under way in the Food & Drink forum on Phillyblog. I stumbled across the pre-opening open house Spruce Rana threw for the neighbors about three Saturdays ago. The sushi is fast-food quality--nothing to write home about, but not bad either. They also had several Korean (or Korean fusion) salads and main dishes that were really good, and which I was told would be part of their regular offerings, but I haven't seen any of these items (kimchi ravioli, yum!) on the menu. They eat standing up in there? The market has no tables that I'm aware of; I certainly haven't noticed seating on the two subsequent visits I've made to the place. Turkish place? Regardless of whether they pass muster with L&I, this one's new to me. What's it called, and where is it?

Hype? Sure. ← Okay, I don't care if we have to eat at the bar. We. Must. Give. This. Place. A. Pizza. Club. Evaluation. This Saturday, if at all humanly possible.

oops.... No city anywhere except London, Paris and maybe Tokyo has the kind of subway service and connections New York does. Here in the US, Washington is a distant second. But SEPTA actually does a pretty good job of tying the city up in a web of bus routes. BTW, SEPTA's transit maps double as comprehensive street maps--one for the city, one for the 'burbs. That's why they cost $9 and are available only at SEPTA sales offices. It would be nice if SEPTA put out a less costly folding map, say on thinner stock, with less street detail but still showing the bus and rapid transit routes. We're working on the ethnic diversity part. Which reminds me--where is New York's African enclave? (I assume it's in Brooklyn. The nucleus of ours is 47th and Baltimore (34 trolley from Juniper station), and come to think of it, all of the African restaurants I am aware of are reasonably priced.) Back to the subject at hand.... Your neighborhood sounds like my neighborhood -- in fact, it is my neighborhood. There's also Logan's, which isn't open past the early evening unless they've expanded their hours, and Sauce, which must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Shinju -- the sushi place--is right around the corner on Locust. Maybe I need to rethink my original position.

My suspicion is that--if your hubby can handle it--your best bet might be a gay bar that serves food. I don't think that any of the establishments in the Gayborhood are planning formal Oscar Night parties, but I can guarantee you that just about all of them that have TVs (and that's just about all of them) will have their sets tuned to the Oscars. Now as to whether you can dine comfortably: That's another question entirely. The Westbury Bar probably has the best setup for dining while watching the tube, but their food isn't all that hot. Bump has the best food and vibe (though your hubby might not go for the big photos of almost-naked guys on the walls), but I'm not certain that they will have their HD set tuned to Channel 6 that night. (It's usually used only to promote events there and at the other clubs owned by Bump's owners, Woody's and Pure.) Woody's has good food--pub fare--and you will be able to view the Oscars from one of several sets on the downstairs floor. But in all likelihood you will be eating at the bar or at one of two small tables next to the windows in the pub room off the main bar. I don't think that Tavern on Camac has TVs in its restaurant space. I know the Venture Inn doesn't. Neither 12th Air Command nor Uncles are serving food on Oscar Night. I don't think that Broaster® Chicken from Key West is what you have in mind at all. And I wouldn't dream of steering a straight couple to the Bike Stop. Oh, yes, and did I mention that gay bars tend to be noisy? OTOH, that may be exactly what you're looking for.

That doesn't strike me as too bad at all. For point of reference, I spend roughly $70-$90 per week from the household budget, depending on what I am buying that week, to keep a three-person and two-cat household supplied with enough groceries, health & beauty aids and cleaning products for the week. On top of that, I probably spend about $10-20 personally on food eaten out each week. But how much does "the new place" run you two? I gotta second philadining, though -- nice work if you can get it!

History Desk at your service. Approximately speaking; I don't even claim Wikipedia's level of accuracy. Safeway Stores dates to the early 1920s and was founded by the Skaggs family (the folks from Salt Lake City who later acquired American Stores [parent of the Acme Markets chain in the Philadelphia area] and were in turn acquired by Albertson's). Historically, they were to the Western United States what A&P was to the East--ubiquitous. But like A&P, they had a presence outside their core territory. For a while, the company even had stores in the New York City area, just as A&P had a major presence in Southern California. By the time I was old enough to know what a Safeway was, their territory extended from Kansas City on the east all throughout the West, along with an East Coast enclave in the Washington, DC area. (In Kansas City and Washington, as in LA, you could shop both Safeway and A&P.) In the 1990s, Safeway (like many other chains) reshaped itself, pulling out of some markets (just about all of its old territories between Washington and Denver) and entering new ones. But unlike Kroger (and like the shrinking A&P), it kept the names of the chains it acquired, as the Web site indicates. (Randalls and Tom Thumb are in Texas; Dominick's operates in Chicagoland; Genuardi's is one of the leading chains in the Philadelphia market; and so on.) But it did standardize their acquisitions' operations--and that cost them dearly here in Philadelphia, where Genuardi's had a reputation for superior customer service and some very popular private label products. Their mucking with both sent customers away in droves; it got so bad that the chain aired TV commercials featuring store employees apologizing for the chain's slide. As for why US supermarkets have so much quantity on their shelves: It's not just because they can, it's also so that they can support a high volume of business without constantly having to restock shelves. (I'm referring to your comment about hundreds of cans of whatever-that-was on the shelf, Ah Leung. Why US supermarkets have 167 different brands of sugar-coated cereal (made by the same four companies, more or less) in all the colors of the rainbow on their shelves, but only six brands of soup (if you don't count Knorr, which gets its own section), is another question entirely.)

Where were you when we did our South Philly swing late last summer? This would have been the perfect vehicle for our Wolf Street Pizza run.

Except I hear he's not in Philadelphia at the moment. (Corrections to this information welcome.) I've still got Matt as a profile for an upcoming issue of Postscript. Assuming I'm around to edit the next issue, that is. (No, it's not bad news.)

That counts as 'affordable fine dining' in my book. Agreed. See my second foodblog. I'd say that this place probably qualifies as an overlooked gem, despite its historical significance and its location. Actually, now that you mention it, even though their burgers are a bit pricey (but very much worth the price), Good Dog would belong on this list.

What I miss by not reading the Daily News regularly. Gotta run. There's another murder/house fire/suicide/drug bust involving a crooked politician in Darby/Folcroft/Chester/Upper Darby/Springfield on the front page of the Daily Times, I see.

I notice some really good food porn pertaining to the pizzas at Osteria over in the topic concerning Marc Vetri's new trattoria. Which led me to the the following question: What say you all?

Clearly Sandy, you havent witnessed Milton Street Philadelphia Mayoral campaign which started yesterday in New Jersey. Comic relief. This opinion was reinforced by Milton's performance on "News 10 Live at 5" on Monday night after he was arrested. We're less forgiving of politicians, it seems. Probably justifiably so. Another relevant Henry Ford quote: "Never complain, never explain." That said, I think Andrew Fenton's assessment of the real purpose of the suit is equally accurate. And I don't think LaBan's one-liner will hurt this place's business at all if it was well patronized before he wrote what he wrote. Established customers usually aren't dissuaded from repeat patronage by a third party's negative comment unless that comment is about something (relatively) objective and substantive. Taste is highly subjective.

Looks like it belongs in this category, judging from the photos and Holly's review. Pity it's a place where you can only eat lunch every day. Maybe as Center City's conversion to bedroom suburb continues apace, the deli will keep longer hours to cater to nearby residents.

"I don't care what you say about me, as long as you spell my name right." --Henry Ford There's a minority school of thought in my trade that holds that there's no such thing as bad PR. According to them, anything that gets your name out in front of the public works to your benefit ultimately. Ford apparently thought so.

Inqwaster I've heard persistent rumors on the journalistic gossip circuit that Brian Tierney is actually much fonder of the Daily News than he is of the "prestige" paper. I wouldn't say that this little dig in the pages of the Paper With Addytood confirms those rumors, but something tells me that Knight-Ridder management wouldn't have let that slide. Back to the subject, this suit strikes me as more likely to be settled out of court than to go to trial, and if it's not settled out of court, the plaintiff's crazy. I don't think that LaBan's comments meet the three-part test for libel against public figures (statement is false, was made knowing it was false, and was made with malicious intent), and businesses open to the public count as "public figures." --Sandy, who interviewed Tierney for the next issue of Widener Law magazine (he's Widener Law '87) and is looking forward to hearing him speak before the Delaware County Press Club in May

I think I've said this before, but you cook for a living and I write for a living. We do well at our respective callings. Where we are "amateurs," it's presumptuous to have our work in that category judged by the standards of the pros. (Although there was a time, back before the 'Net, when it was assumed everyone ought to know proper spelling, punctuation and grammar. Some people had secretaries who knew that stuff for them. The rest of us just didn't write all that much after leaving school.) Back to the main topic: I think that the only people who would consider those pizzas expensive are those used to standard pizza parlor pricing, where the more you pay, the bigger the pie you get. Judging from those pictures, you're paying for the quality, not the quantity, and with that as a guide, those prices strike me as reasonable. (Having said that, I now need to order pizza from this place in order to determine whether this now makes Tacconelli's a steal.) Osteria is at Broad and Fairmount, right? Pizza Clubbers: Should we make it our third stop on March 3rd? As for the question of value: Pardon me if you feel offended, for no offense was meant, but it is an issue for more than a few people. I know of at least one lurker on this board who posts to some other boards I frequent who confided to me that the reason he lurks rather than posts here is partly because he feels that on his (paltry) income, he can't afford any of the things we're talking about. For these people, who love good food nonetheless, even the Good Everyday Eateries I wonder aloud about elsewhere in this forum may not be affordable everyday experiences, but rather occasional treats. And certainly there are others for whom this is not the case but who must nonetheless watch their budgets. Don't they deserve good food too? Yes, the higher the labor costs, and the more costly the ingredients, the more your restaurant meal will cost, and I understand your point about our expectations for Italian food being conditioned by decades of eating out in so-so Italian-American restaurants. And I especially understand your point about Starbucks in particular and coffee shops like it in general. But I've had really great espresso elsewhere for less than I pay for burnt coffee at *$$, so I figure it should be possible to have really good Italian fare for not a lot of money. That said, relative to what I understand a meal at Vetri costs, this place looks like it actually fits that criteria. Now, the day that a soul food restaurant charges these prices is the day I know that society has come unhinged.

Okay, looks like I'm in need of some education here, or maybe this is just a quirk of language: What's the difference between a green onion ("scallion" in this part of the country) and a chive? Those are clearly green onions pictured on the box. But both the English- and French-language text on the package says that these are chive-flavored crackers. I'd like to buy a clue, please. (I'd also like to buy a box or two. Maybe one of the Asian supermarkets on Washington Avenue stocks them.) This is a quirk of language, nothing more. "Tea" in English also refers to both the plant and to beverages made by extracting oils and flavors from various dried plants that may or may not be tea plants. Usually, teas produced from plants other than tea plants take an adjective in front of them telling you what plant or family of plants were used: "herbal tea," "dandelion tea," "chrysanthemum tea". Of the Cantonese syllables above, which one corresponds to the English word "tea"? BTW, your food photography is fabulous; I see I'm missing some great work by not hanging out on the Chinese cuisine board. What sort of camera do you use? Have you considered professional food photography as a sideline?

The year of the dog is before year of the pig. So you were born in 1959? Every year Chinese New Year (which is based on lunar calendar) lands on a different date in the solar calendar. If we have access to the lunar calendar back to 1959 we'll know. ← My 48th was last October 22, and I was born in the year of the dog. According to that same Wikipedia section, these are my traits: A friend of mine said to me recently, "You're a very patient person, but you hold grudges, and you don't let them go until you feel proper atonement has been made for the wrong." I guess this fits with this sign. Interesting, given where my birthdate falls on the Western zodiac, that the analogous sun sign to the dog is Libra.

I think I have a good shot at the position, though it is a little weird to go through a group interview that includes both one of your colleagues and the person who hired you to your current job as part of the group of interviewers. (The position is in a different department within our division.) And I forgot to break out the lumpfish caviar on Sunday. I didn't forget the cheese, though: Top row, left to right: Pesto and Abruzze cheese spreads from DiBruno's. (The pesto spread is a new addition to their line of spreads, though the salesguy on 9th Street insisted they had been making this variety for years too.) Middle row, left to right: Kaukauna horseradish Cheddar and vegetable cream cheese spreads. On the cheese board, top to bottom: Herrgårdsost and Morfars Brännvins Ost ("Grandfather's Style Snapcheese"). Neither of these cheeses are terribly complex, but both are good eatin' for those who like semi-soft cheeses. I particluarly liked the "snapcheese" -- the aquavit added a pepperminty flavor to the cheese (though not too strong of one) that was interesting and complimented the cheese's own sharpness. As for the Herrgård: Does it taste more like Cheddar or more like Gouda? "More like Cheddar," said my friend Gregory. "More like Gouda," said I. It has a tang that I've encountered in really good farmhouse Cheddars, but otherwise, I'd say that this cheese is fairly mild and somewhat creamy, like a young Gouda, rather than somewhat salty and crumbly like aged Cheddar. But given that there were at least two opinions here, the one-word answer to the question above has to be "Yes." All of the friends who were on hand for this tasting will be back again sooner or later, and I'll break out the caviar then and see if anyone feels a sudden urge to belt out "Dancing Queen."

This may be something that's just my own personal issue, and if you all think it is, I'm sure you will let me know, but after lunch with Dean Nick Hadgis over in our School of Hospitality Management dining room today, I realized that I'd been bugged by this enough to ask whether anyone else shares my puzzlement. I had said to Nick, as I had said to several other people over the course of the past few weeks, that one of the things I liked about Manhattan was that just about anywhere you went in the city, you could find blocks (or zones) chock full of restaurants that served good, solid, inexpensive fare--the kind of places you could eat at every day if you so chose. Nick agreed and went on to describe a recent visit to New York where he and his son went to an Italian restaurant near where his son lived. As Nick explained it, the restaurant was packed to bursting, and you could tell both from the conversation and from the interaction between the patrons and the staff that just about everyone there was a regular. My impression is that such places are far less common in Philadelphia. This may sound odd when one considers that I could identify three such places within a block of me--More Than Just Ice Cream, Moriarty's and the Midtown II diner--and that the recently reopened Doc Watson's Pub may even qualify, though I think that it may not in the same way the Irish Pub across from Moriarty's doesn't. (I think the Caribou Cafe is just a little bit on the expensive side to make the cut, though it certainly has the same vibe as that Italian place Nick Hadgis and his son went to.) But it seems to me that this is the case nonetheless. I have some theories as to why this is so. One is that the abundance of such places in New York is because so many Manhattan apartments have kitchens no bigger than the pantries of many Center City apartment kitchens (and apartments no bigger than the kitchens themselves). This forces their inhabitants to "live in the street," as an acquaintance put it when I floated this notion past him, and turns restaurants into extensions of one's dwelling, much like Paris cafes are reputed to be. Another has to do with the amount of money New Yorkers shell out for those apartments. After you've handed your first born over to your landlord each month, that doesn't leave a whole lot of money for dining out, and since you have no kitchen worthy of the name, you're going to have to eat cheap. The Big Apple obliges by providing so many cheap real restaurants (I use the word "real" here to distinguish these places from bars-with-menus like the Irish Pub or fast-food joints). Sure, Philly's BYOs are affordable by fine-dining standards. But I still wouldn't consider most of them affordable in the you-can-eat-there-every-night sense. Maybe the hoagie shops and pizza-and-steak joints have usurped the territory that might otherwise be occupied by restaurants of the type I have in mind. Or maybe there are more of them than I think there are, and I'm just overlooking the "acres of diamonds in my own back yard." Convince me that I'm mistaken. Or agree with me if you think I'm not. But don't be shy about expressing your opinion.

You can too sit down at Pat's! There are tables under the canopy on the 9th Street and (I think) Wharton Street sides of the building.

I finally broke out those Swedish varieties Sunday night. Photos and commentary to come sometime later today (Tuesday). It's been a long day and I really need to get some sleep--I have a major job interview tomorrow.

Last question first: Don't go to the place across from that "English Only" place either unless you're in the area anyway. Any of these should satisfy: Steve's Prince of Steaks in the Northeast Cosmi's at 8th and (Tasker? Morris?) Tony Luke's at Front and Oregon -- but if you go there, you really should order the roast pork Italian instead; you will be very pleasantly surprised Craig LaBan liked John's Roast Pork at Water and Snyder, but I can't tell you whether he's on target or off base. Is Holly still hanging around here? Of which speaking: Take a look at the recommendations on HollyEats.com. You won't go wrong with any of his 4- or 5-grease-stain-rated places. As for really great restaurants, let's see, where to begin? Money no object, or do you have a budget to watch? (For instance, I've heard Amada is absolutely fantastic, but I haven't been able to swing the cost yet.) I think I will have to leave this to the really hardcore fine foodies on this board--but I will say that if you enjoy both great jazz and decent food in the same room, Zanzibar Blue (Broad and Walnut in the Bellevue basement) should be on your list. I wouldn't say that it ranks among the really great places food-wise, but its food is good enough and the jazz more than makes up for the rest. Further down the scale, you might want to give Vintage near me (13th between Sansom and Walnut) a try, especially if you would like to experiment with good, reasonably priced wines and good, reasonably priced food in a convivial atmosphere at the same time. As for lunch: Reading Terminal Market. Take your pick from any of the prepared-foods vendors. Nothing further need be said.