MarketStEl

Hmmm. I'm learning quite a bit here. I tend to eschew salt completely when steaming vegetables--I tend to like them on the sweet side. I suspect that this leaves me open to comments that my veggies are close to hospital food in their blandness. I was also under the impression that one should not salt burgers or steaks before grilling them, as the salt leaches out the juices. However, I often incorporate seasoned salt into the ground beef before shaping them into patties. In fact, I often use seasoned salt in place of regular salt in a bunch of foods, especially since my partner was told he had high blood pressure and had to watch his sodium intake. And yet whenever I do this with mashed potatoes, I feel they're lacking something--and that something is salt.

Oops! I guess Federal Street disappears on my mental map of that stretch of 9th. Ellsworth, Federal, Wharton, Reed...Ellsworth, Federal, Wharton, Reed... Anyway, it's there, right where Andrew told you it was. Modify my SEPTA directions accordingly. Edited because I skipped right over Federal Street again when I posted this.

This stand IS in the market, I do agree that their quality is great and the folks who work the stand are really nice- but it is a bit over priced on certain items. A lot of stands will round down though if you are buying quite a lot. ← Thanks for setting me straight. But tell me--would they round down this much?

Okay, then this wasn't Pike Place. I'm friends with the general manager of Philly's answer to Pike Place Market, the Reading Terminal Market. It too is a big tourist draw--I think I read recently that the RTM is the second most popular tourist destination in the city after the Liberty Bell--but market management regards tourists as a secondary market; the market's bread and butter are the Philadelphians who patronize it regularly. Market management has conducted surveys to gauge what their customers and potential customers think about the place vs. the competition (and RTM management, but not necessarily all the vendors, sees the place as competing against both regular supermarkets and specialty chains like Whole Foods). They find that shoppers give the market high marks for quality and value in produce (where the RTM beats just about everyone else in town); in other areas, shoppers love the quality but think the prices are on the high side. I'd be interested to see whether Pike Place gears and prices its offerings more towards vistors or Seattleites. I would imagine it's the latter. BTW, Henry, did I tell you that last month, our office went through a motivational workshop where we watched Fish!?

Actually, I'm not gonna bust O.K. Lee's chops on not changing his sign when he changed the source of his peaches (last week's peaches did not have those stickers on them, so I will assume they came from where the sign said they did). Besides, if truth be told, what mrbigjas said: The good stuff is of identical quality whether it was grown in Lancaster County or Cumberland County.

Now for the post on local food markets. How many of you out there remember television or print ads in which a price would be mentioned followed by the qualifier "Slightly higher west of the Rockies" (or "Slightly higher in the West," or sometimes even "Slightly higher in the West and South")? That phrase came to mind as I saw the pictures here, which I assume are from Pike Place Market--please correct me if they're not: That is exactly what I would say if I had to pay that much for local peaches in season. And these are conventionally grown, right? No special treatment? Meat prices appear more in line with what we would pay for similar quality in Philadelphia, though those pork spareribs are nearly double what most butchers sell them for around these parts (maybe that's because there are several large pork producers in southeastern Pennsylvania) and the prices for the Angus Beef strips are about 50% higher than what you'd pay for a similar grade of meat from Harry Ochs in the RTM. Is all this due to the cost of taking stuff over the Cascades? Is Washington's peach-growing region that much further from Seattle than Lancaster County is from Philly? (I guess it is.) Is the season shorter? Some other factors come into play? Edited to add: That's not to say that everything is cheaper in Philly. If you look at the latest posts to the regular Reading Terminal Market update on the Pennsylvania board, you will see that Washington State produce is indeed cheaper in Washington than it is in Pennsylvania, and that there are some local products that are just as costly. Peaches, however, are not among those items.

First, my votes and comments. Next, a post about local food markets. I wish I could have tasted all of these--I suspect that if that were factored in, my vote might have tipped in the other direction. But since we're going on presentation alone, I gotta give the nod to Iron Chef #1 by one point (9-8). Both the first courses were nicely presented, and I too liked the peach "foie gras" -- maybe we should suggest this item to some Chicago restaurateurs? -- but the play of color and texture in #1's opener was a little more striking visually. And yes, the fact that #2's main was a sandwich immediately puts him at a disadvantage in the presentation department, though he did a very good job of overcoming that disadvantage with his colorful topping. I'd say the mains were actually a tie. Maybe it's just me, but little blobs of foam or gel look to me like they belong in my bathroom rather than on my plate. That said, there is a certain elegance in the rather simple presentation of that deconstructed dessert. But once again, I go for the interplay of colors and textures.

Forgot to mention: I treated myself to a half-pound of Pennsylvania Noble this past Saturday at the Reading Terminal. (You want pictures, go look at my foodblog--link is in my .sig). I was talking to the cheesemaker about the Brie that Green Valley Dairy has just begun to produce. I was surprised to find out that even domestic soft-ripened cheeses must be aged for 60 days by law. Then again, I guess that makes sense--if we aren't gonna let underage cheese from abroad in, why would we allow it to be produced domestically? What really doesn't make sense to me is that the 60-day rule is still around. What was it protecting us from?

I keep track of time spent on freelance work where I bill by the hour on Excel, but I hadn't gotten to the point where I do grocery lists on it yet. But y'know, it does sound appealing. And I've got to do the buying for a large party/cookout this coming Saturday. It might not be a bad idea to draw up the list on Excel, then print it out and take it to 9th Street with me.

I had no idea what a Pocky was but here is a link that can help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky ← From the Wikipedia entry, in the section "References to Pocky in popular culture": Oh, my! Someone else OD'd on "Hello Kitty"?

I'm surprised no one's yet mentioned that O.K. Lee has white flesh peaches on sale for $0.99/lb. The sign states they're from Lancaster County, but this week, the peaches had little Jersey Fruit Cooperative PLU stickers on them.

Congratulations, Margo! And the definition of a duck is also correct--though, as in the case of the actual duck--a roadside sandwich stand on Long Island--the building calls attention not to its function but its surroundings (when it was built, largely farmland with lots of waterfowl). I will be passing a "decorated shed" in just a little bit as I head to the South Philly Acme. Namely, Geno's Steaks on 9th Street--a garishly decorated shed.

Isn't Peet's a subsidiary of Starbucks or something like that? I don't remember much talk of coffee in that last blog, but as it is to Seattle what cheesesteaks are to Philly, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Seattle coffee culture.

I wouldn't be so sure that the deck is stacked in favor of bacon. Ordinarily, I'd vote for cheese, but you can do so many things with cheese, it's not much of a challenge. Peaches sound like a great idea, and they're in season. Count me as a vote for peaches. BTW, congrats to both of you--I must have sleepwalked through the beginnings of courtship that ended your last blog. And Henry--I owe you an "Anatomy of a Cheesesteak." One will be coming. Sooner or later.

So...an ordinary week with an extraordinary finish! I imagine you're still saddle sore from all that driving yesterday. Great blog--it's given me a powerful hankerin' for a fried seafood platter. That picture-perfect platter you had is etched in my memory. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

seems to me that using the term "philly cheesesteak" is a perfect way of communicating to the customer exactly what the product is. ← In theory, yes. In practice, it has usually been the case that those places that serve sandwiches that are called "Philly cheesesteaks" produce pale imitations of the genuine article. Judging from the photo in post 1, this place in Hoboken is an exception to the rule.

I would characterize America's relationship with alcohol as "love/hate" more than "arm's length"; to judge from some of the descriptions of colonial America and the early US in The Alcoholic Republic, an obscure but well-written history of alcohol use in early America, the country was drenched in the stuff in the Revolutionary era (and here in Philadelphia, we are well aware of the role taverns played in the formation of the new nation and some of its institutions). But I do agree with your larger point, which is that since Americans are not in the habit of raising their children to regard alcohol as part of the meal, and are more likely to shun it completely than Europeans are, we don't get the nuance of beverages as naturally as our Eurocounterparts seem to. Ultimately, wasn't that what the Kitchen Debate was about? I'd go so far as to suggest that even urban Americans were not housed in structures that were designed to keep cool naturally the way the houses you describe above are. But then again, you don't find houses of that type too often in London, either, and there is a more than passing resemblance between older US city residential districts and, say, Kensington (the London neighborhood, not the Philadelphia one). Even so, American single-family houses used to have features--those deep porches, for instance--that also naturally kept them cooler in the summer; these were discarded in the great post-World War II autopian suburban boom. I guess I must be getting half-European in my later years. I find that a lot of interior spaces in the US are overly air conditioned. But I loves me some ice in my drinks!

Knew I should have snapped a photo of the Twisted Treat ice cream stand on Frankford Avenue on the way up to the Far Northeast yesterday! (I could have sworn, though, that I saw a picture of this stand on the Pennsylvania board recently.) Philosophically, it's a sibling of the McDonald's that kicked off this topic, as the structure imitates a product it sells--in the case of Twisted Treat, a frozen custard cone. For you architecture theory fans, both of these structures are ducks. (Bonus points to anyone who can identify my reference. Mad props to anyone who can identify my reference and post a photo of it!)

Jeez, and I thought I was joking...then again, to charge that much for a hot dog, you'd have to do something like that. Obviously, judging from the menu, the $10 is with tax and tip.

You put salt on cheese? Salt is an essential ingredient in so many cheeses, it seems redundant. But y'know, that sweet 'n' salty thing you have goin' on with that fruity cream cheese sounds intriguing.

Boy! They start off with pizza, and judging from how cold this topic went, you'd think that was all they covered! I haven't watched them all religiously--conflicts with other series--but I did catch the episode on hot dogs, and the barbecue episode (no doubt a repeat now) is airing as I type this. Right now, the 'cue experts the History Channel used for the show--including Ollie Gates, Kansas City Barbecue Society executive director Carolyn Wells and Dave Worgul, author of an excellent coffee-table book on the history of Kansas City 'cue, The Grand Barbecue, among them--were reminding people that barbecuing and grilling are two different things. As you might gather from the list of names above, Barbecue Central gets its due--as does Henry Perry, considered the father of KC barbecue restaurants. Texas and the Carolinas also get in-depth treatment, as does the rise of the backyard "barbecue" and the role Henry Ford played in its development. But Memphis gets slighted. Sorry. So, fellow viewer-diners, what about the other episodes in this series? How did they stack up to the initial one? The barbecue episode--that glossing over of Memphis aside--shows the History Channel's usual thoroughness. Edited to add: Forget what I said about slighting Memphis. The last segment of the show is devoted to the big Memphis in May barbecue cook-off, the "World Series of barbecue" (though the organizers of the American Royal cook-off might dispute that title).

I doubt she said it as well, but are you telling me you heard her?

$10 for a chili dog and fries! Good God, Holly, how much more info do you need? Something like "Was the hot dog Kobe beef?"

Nice clan you have there, Steven. That is one mighty fine lookin' fried seafood platter. Glad to hear it tasted as great as it looked. I assume that some of those containers held tartar sauce. A Christmas Tree Shops ad circular fell out of a recent copy of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and out of sheer curiosity--what's a Christmas store doing advertising in July?--I flipped through it. (Seems that one of their stores ran away from its natural habitat in New England and landed in Cherry Hill, N.J.) Lots o' cheap stuff in it, and some of it even looked like it might be good cheap stuff. ("Don't you just love a bargain?" was the booklet's seductive come-on.) I thought to myself, "This must be what they sell when they're not carrying Christmas decorations." Now I find out from you that they don't sell Christmas merchandise at all. (Not even at Christmas?) I'm shocked, I tell ya. Shocked. How did these stores get their name? Was it because they sold stuff you'd put under one? It's been so long since I was last on the Cape--1988, to be specific--that I'm not even sure that any of the places I ate in Provincetown still exist. But let me second the encouragement that you head up to P'town for a little bit. It's a really cute little town, and very relaxing once you're off Commercial Street.

Now that I'm back on the regular 9-to-5 schedule, I have a fighting chance of making it to the Tuesday afternoon farmer's market right across 12th Street from my building. (Yes, that's a singular possessive: the stand is run by the owners of a single farm in New Castle County, Delaware. Not all the products they sell come from their farm, however--some are made by neighboring producers.) Today they had a wedge of Drunken Goat cheese. Never having had any, I decided to buy some. (I gotta remember to take pictures.) I did do something unorthodox with it--I put two thin slices on top of the slice of tomato pie that I reheated this evening. The winey cheese actually went well with the tomato sauce.