MarketStEl

This sounds delightful! Did you follow Katie's advice and post a recipe to RecipeGullet? Put me down as a big gazpacho fan. I like mine to taste like a sweeter version of salsa. Chilled cucumber soup is great, too, hence the request. However, these are pleasures I don't make that often. Partner has never cottoned to cold soups.

Which leads me to wonder what you thought of "Spengler's" Asia Times essay on "American character" that I posted to this board a few days back. Democratic snobbery is at once the most exalted variety of snobbery and the hardest to pull off convincingly. Should it ever happen that we meet in a charming little BYOB for food, though, I promise not to bring Yellow Tail. Besides, when there's this astounding little white that's on sale for an equally astounding little price thanks to it being a Chairman's Selection, why should I? Mr. Fenton isn't the only language snob hereabouts. Then again, I get paid to exercise my snobbery in this regard, although I have found myself humbled in the presence of the serial comma and chastened for following Associated Press rather than Chicago style regarding this errant punctuation mark. Isn't there a "not" missing from the above quote?

While we're back on soda: I was watching the latest episode of the History Channel's delightful documentary series "American Eats" last night. Soda was the topic. Apparently, at some point during the Second World War, Moxie was the most popular soft drink in America--outselling even Coca-Cola. This I find astounding. The beverage was also promoted as being healthful, as it is derived from a root that was used for medicinal purposes when the soda was invented. This I can believe, for it sure tasted like medicine. And, of course, the documentary noted that "moxie" entered the language as a noun meaning "great courage or determination." How we got from the soda to that usage remains a mystery.

A postscript to something that has had me scratching my head ever since I found out about it, and a mystery solved, sort of: I was over at the Reading Terminal Market at midday today, and as I was scoping out the produce, I walked past the area by the Fair Food Farmstand, where two demonstration kitchens had been set up for something called the "PA Preferred Best Chef Pennsylvania Competition." (If you watch "Good Day" on FOX-29, you may have seen Nick Smith ( ) touting it this morning.) This is a cook-off pairing chefs from the state's best restaurants in "Iron Chef"-style contests, with the winners advancing to regional titles and ultimately a statewide matchup. The chefs--I got to see David Ansill square off against Mike Petriccio (sp?) of Cafe Mosaic in Upper Gwynedd--get "blind bins" of identical ingredients, all as local as possible, and must use all the ingredients in their bins in preparing their dishes, along with whatever else they feel like using from a common pantry area. The contest I saw had the chefs working with center cut pork chops and applewood smoked bacon (both from Hatfield), cremini mushrooms (Kennett Square, natch), Stilton cheese (from the UK) and a broad flat pasta whose name I forget (DeCecco). All the ingredients and the contents of the pantry were furnished by tournament co-sponsor SYSCO Foodservice of Central Pennsylvania. The announcer explained that SYSCO sources as many local products as possible for the restaurants and institutional food service operations it supplies in central and south-central Pennsylvania. I asked the SYSCO corporate chef present at the competition what this meant. What it means is that when it comes to raw ingredients--pork, chicken, beef, fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, and so on--they turn to Pennsylvania suppliers first (e.g., their pork comes from Hatfield or Leidy's). Given that, I'm willing to cut the company some slack on being "out of place" in a program that is designed to promote local agriculture. The analogy would be not with a local grower or local processor that produces foodstuffs, but with a retailer or wholesaler who promotes local products. I will grant that they could probably be more local than they are--for instance, if they were not part of a national company, they might be able to purchase canned tomato products and condiments from local producers rather than having to rely on the corporate house brands. But it's better than nothing, and from an institutional standpoint, it's probably better than we might expect. And as all of the major potato chip producers in the state, including Utz, the fourth-biggest-selling brand in the country, are on the PA Preferred list, I can't get too worked up about a local SYSCO affiliate joining in, I guess. I still draw the line at the H.J. Heinz Co., however.

Not only that, but I could have sworn that was a private residence. In fact, I think it was, up until very recently. Nice adaptive reuse they've got goin' on there.

What's funny, in the best way possible, is that one of those things will happen. Phil would say, "Foodie friends rock." ← Hands down going to Cheesecake Factory after the slow food event, which by the way would only happen if every other restaurant in the tri-state area were closed and I hadn't eaten for 3 days. ← Mebbe we should substitute the Spaghetti Warehouse instead. After all, there's one of those in town.

Minor correction if you decide to try Davio's: It's at 17th and Chestnut. At 7th and Chestnut, however, is a Stephen Starr restaurant that might just please all of you: Jones, his "comfort food" place with the very Brady interior reminiscent of a 1950s Southern California coffee shop, only with a bar, a balcony and a much higher ceiling. The menu at Jones offers a creative twist on all the "Mom food" favorites (roast brisket, smothered pork chops, meatloaf, stuff like that), and on the dessert menu, there's even Duncan Hines chocolate cake with a glass of milk. (Every Stephen Starr establishment I've been in except Striped Bass under his management is part serious dining, part in-joke shared with the diners. [Morimoto and Washington Square are also probably exceptions. Barclay Prime is not, thanks to that $100 cheesesteak.])

In case you hadn't noticed yet, the next Pizza Club outing is up on the eG Calendar. Date: Thursday, Aug. 3 Time: 7 pm Start: Wolf Street Pizza, 2135 Wolf Street, South Philadelphia Itinerary: As described in Post 109. If you can make it and haven't let me know yet, please PM me.

Well, obviously, you're going to have to take her to Raw. I guess the question here, judging from the tone of your initial query, is: Do you want to expose her to something different that she might actually consent to try, or are you looking for someplace that does the stuff she will eat better than the chains? You say she loves chicken fingers. Will she consider wings? Moriarty's (1116 Walnut, next door to the Forrest Theater) has the best wings in Philly, period, and a good selection of decent pub fare to go with it. Lots of good beers for you, too, if you like that sort of thing. Or maybe for lunch, you should just take her to the Reading Terminal Market and let her roam around all the great eateries inside it. (Do not, I repeat, do not take her to Rick's Prince of Steaks for the obligatory cheesesteak, though. You will find much better elsewhere, including the famous places at 9th and Passyunk everybody knows about. Even though Rick's is run by a descendant of Pat Oliveri, the (co-)father of the cheesesteak, his product is not up to the level of the original.) Some places to try with her where she will probably find something she likes or might like include the Dutch Eating Place (homestyle fare), the Down Home Diner (ditto), Franks-A-Lot (name says it all), FireWorks (burgers, chicken, anything grilled), and the 12th Street Cantina (Mexican); for a taste of authentic Philly, you could get her a hoagie from Salumeria or a roast pork sandwich from DiNic's, or for a change of pace (I'm making some assumptions about you by saying this), you could introduce her to Southern style soul food by taking her to Delilah's. (Fried chicken is a staple of soul cooking, and you could take it from there.) As for dinner, I'm assuming you're not doing a big, big night on the town. The old-school, red-gravy Italian places down around South 9th Street (Ralph's, Villa di Roma, Dante & Luigi) might work for her--again, I'm assuming that Italian fare is among her likes--or maybe you could go to one of the Belgian places (Monk's Cafe on South 16th Street, Eulogy Belgian Tavern in Old City), where she could chow down on something more conventional with a big order of fries while you pig out on mussels. (Both have burgers on the menu, for instance.) She might also enjoy the various Copa eateries (Copabanana--the original--at 4th and South; Copa Too! on 15th just up from the Kimmel Center; Copa Miami in the 1700 block of Chestnut), which also have a rep for decent burgers (I believe they have some interesting chicken items on the menu too). If it's chicken fingers or bust, well...back to Moriarty's, I guess. Hope this helps.

MarketStEl, some soups are quick and easy to make. That mushroom soup would be one of them. Cream of cauliflower, cream of broccoli or asparagus are also soups that can be made in 30 to 45 minutes. The escargot are a little more time consuming, but you can do some of the work ahead of time. Make the toasted bread cups the night before. Just use regular white "cotton batten" bread. Cut off the crust and flatten the bread with a rolling pin. Cut out rounds using a biscuit cutter and fit each one into a buttered mini muffin/tart tin. Brush with melted butter and bake in a 350 oven until toasted. You could start the sauce in the morning. Prepare it right up to the stage just before you add the cream. Then when you get home from work all you have to do is add the cream and the escargot and the cheese or butter depending on what you are using. That chicken dish can be made ahead to. These are great for a dinner party because they can be made much earlier in the day. You can stuff them and then refrigerate them until you are ready to cook them. OK, next question: Besides mushrooms, what goes into mushroom duxelles? Ever tried carrots with honey or brown sugar? I'm not saying that will turn you into a carrot convert, but they take well to the sweet stuff.

I'm volunteering from 5 to 7. See you there?

SHHHHHH! Don't say that too loud around here--someone might try to revoke your eGullet Society membership! If you go look at the current Pizza Club thread, you will find several posts--including at least one by me--casting aspersions on Pizzeria Uno too. I wouldn't put it in the same circle of Hell as Pizza Hut, and I will even concede that the style of pizza it offers is unique and not otherwise available locally, but I've had better--lots better. Check out the places on State Street in Media sometime. That's a great little business strip--charming without being precious. It also boasts several very good restaurants--and one eventual stop on our epic Pizza Club "Best of Philly Review Tour," Apollo Pizza.

Looking at the recipes you gave upthread for the escargot appetizers and the mushroom and blue cheese soup, my first reaction is: It all looks so great and it all sounds so simple! How much time is required to do the prep work and actual cooking for these dishes? As I get home right around the time the local evening newscasts begin during the academic year (this month, I'm lucky to make it home in time for Jeopardy!), I'm interested in creative fare that doesn't take much effort to prepare, or to interesting things that I can get a head start on before going to work (aside from dishes you just toss into the Crock-Pot, set and forget). I'm very much interested in turning Hamburger Helper (even though my partner loves it) into a last resort for those days when I come home dog tired and really don't want to cook.

Well, I'm already supposed to be introduced to Jamaican Jerk Hut... Clue: If you've followed the pattern of my posts on the Pizza Club thread, I tend to propose outings after the 25th of the month.

Several comments: 1. I am not opposed to chains just because they're chains. There are good chains and bad ones. In fact, my introduction to eGullet was by way of an essay I wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer two summers ago arguing that the chain invasion of Center City was not A Bad Thing but rather a sign that we've arrived as a place of interest to a wide variety of people. I still don't think the chain invasion is A Bad Thing, as I believe the local dining scene and food community is strong enough and large enough to keep our great independent restaurants going even after the chains have skimmed off the less adventurous, the more cautious, the incurious and the easily swayed by advertising on TV. But I could see the day when all these chains start to choke off the new blood that is necessary for the independent restaurant scene to continue. That is something we need to be vigilant against. 2. On behalf of Kansas Citians everywhere, I offer humble apologies for our unleashing Houlihan's on an unsuspecting world. It began innocently enough, as a play on words, of sorts: a men's wear shop on the Country Club Plaza, Tom Houlihan, relocated to larger digs a few blocks down. The restaurant company that owned the fancy Plaza III restaurant next door, Gilbert/Robinson (then a strictly local operator), took over the space and installed a faux-old-timey, vaguely Irish pub which it christened--natch--"Houlihan's Old Place" (for that is indeed what it was). The place was an immediate hit, and when Gilbert/Robinson was acquired by W.R. Grace & Co., the new owners took it national, with predictable results. I've been known to conflate the name of this chain with that of Bennigan's and refer to restaurants of this ilk as "Hooligan's." I do not in the least mourn the passing of the Rittenhouse Square Houlihan's, but cannot tell you what its successor, the Devon Seafood Grill (still owned by Houlihan's, now an independent firm based in Overland Park, just outside Kansas City), is like at all. I've heard it's not bad. 3. Regarding the cheese: Your description of these places recalls a quip by "Blue Collar" comedian Jeff Foxworthy that will one day grace my .sig: "There is no dish whose taste cannot be improved by adding cheese to it." Unfortunately for these places, it does make a difference what cheese you use. 4. I had a very good burger at a Ruby Tuesday's in suburban Wilmington a while back, and their salad bar was of good quality too. I think you may be right about this chain. OTOH, I don't think the meals I had at Chili's when I worked at Penn were all that bad--I've certainly had much worse (most recently at a chain restaurant outside Harrisburg called Damian's Grill, whose gimmick is that you come there to watch TV as much as to eat. Certainly, the fare served up on the huge TV screens was better than what was served up on my plate). Obviously, people's assessments of various chains are as various as the people and the chains themselves. Except for Olive Garden and Pizza Hut, about which I cannot recall a single positive word uttered by an eGulleteer.

A co-worker in Human Resources (one floor down from my office) lives in South Jersey and has a vegetable garden in her back yard. It's just begun to produce, and just about every day for the past week now, we've had cute little (and nice, misshapen, medium-large) tomatoes, enormous zucchini, mini-cukes and peppers, both jalapeños and those long narrow Italian frying peppers, in a box in the copier room with a sign above it reading "Help Yourself." And trust me, I have. As these fruits (yes, tomatoes are actually fruit) and veggies have traveled at most 20 miles to get here, they're in excellent shape and they taste great. (The tomatoes could use just a smidge more ripening, but I imagine that this will correct itself as the season progresses.) The tomatoes I get in the off-season from Florida are usually hard as rocks and bland as all get-out. The cukes may be all pretty, coated with wax, but often as not, they develop soft spots after only a day or two in the fridge. The lettuce develops brown spots faster. And so on. Yes, the ability to ship wonderful produce halfway across the world is a net plus. I'm not so sure that the same applies to the ability to breed produce to survive a cross-country train ride and still look nice but taste like nothing when it reaches its destination. Never mind the fuel savings, which are real but probably an insignificant part of the total cost of the food; it's the taste savings that matter more.

I guess my response to something like this is that this person could use some education. But I will grant that some people just don't want to venture beyond their comfort zones. Nonetheless, having established that the diner in question likes Italian food, it should be possible to get her to a place where she can experience good Italian fare. Edited to add: --Sandy, suddenly realizing that his current (7/19/06) .sig quote is actually germane to this discussion

I don't believe there are spaces that eat restaurants. I do believe that there are too many unprepared restauranteurs that try their hand at doing a restaurant and subsequently realize their errors. What was that space before Pasta Blitz? ← I think I may be missing an iteration, but the previous occupant of that space that I remember was a Steve Poses operation called City Bites. It actually had a fairly decent run in that space--about five years, IIRC. BTW, it's no longer Pasta Blitz, but it is still a Lamberti operation. It's now called Positano Coast by Aldo Lamberti. Edited to add: Riffing off Katie's post above, it may not necessarily be all the fault of the restaurateur. I can't help but think that one of the reasons the building at 10th and Passyunk may be turning into a Space that Eats Restaurants has something to do with the landlord seeing green after Nifty Fifty's did so well in it. A friend of mine who ate there a lot told me that Nifty Fifty's balked when the landlord jacked up the rent after about three years in business, and rather than pay it, said "See ya" and relocated the place to South Jersey (following in the well-worn path trod by many of its customers).

(runs into closet and strips down to SEPTAman uniform) Wish I had encountered you sooner, before you moved to NYC. After you've braved the traffic and paid to park your car in town, you could have saved yourself time, hassle and probably money too (depending on how large your party was) by parking at Wayne or Paoli and taking the R5 into town or heading to Norristown Transportation Center and taking the R6 from there. Granted, if your were planning to make a late night of it, this might not work, as your coach would turn into a pumpkin right around midnight--but if you parked at Norristown, you would have the backup option of the El (or night owl shuttle bus) to 69th Street and the Route 100 from there. Being able to go out on a whim and not have to wait forever for mediocre food (or good food, for that matter) is still one of the nice things about living in Center City. Oh, the architecture of that place sure looks to me like it's a chain. And sure enough, it is. I hope your job pays you very well. Otherwise, you may as well have simply moved into Center City and endured the very long commute, as it seems a small but growing number of New Yorkers are now doing. Your horizons would have expanded by a similar margin, if only because you wouldn't have to worry about braving traffic, parking your car, or even catching the last R5 to Paoli.

Looks like we have another Space that Eats Restaurants on our hands. There hasn't been a successful restaurant in the Academy House space since Marabella's. OTOH, it looks like the Space that Eats Restaurants opposite the original Ritz on Dock Street has been tamed by the Lamberti family.

The gravy can run into the applesauce for all I care, as long as there's a place where I can taste the applesauce qua applesauce. The cold-mixing-with-hot thing does bug me, unless it's baked Alaska I'm eating. Our dining hall served ground turkey soft tacos yesterday. The ground turkey and refried beans were kept barely warm under heat lamps, while the lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, onions and salsa were all in crocks on a bed of ice. Okay, I get the whole HACCP business that more or less requires these practices. But someone should have taken the crock of salsa off the ice. Ice-cold salsa over warm ground turkey that's not hot enough to at least partially melt the ice-cold shredded cheese just doesn't cut it.

My guess is that Spengler overlooked the displays of Riunite wine in Italian wine shops. (Andrew, back me up here. You can't tell me that this product is produced for export to the US only. BTW, "Riunite" translates into English as "United"--that's right, you're drinking United Wine! Sounds like a conglomerate, doesn't it?)

I said I had a prior commitment on the 27th, so if we had it that week, it would have to be on Friday the 28th. Oops! Posted this before noting Jan's dental appointment. Do you think your teeth will still be aching by the evening of the 3rd? How's the 28th with everybody? Nota bene that it's a Friday. If you'd rather leave your weekends free to follow your own pursuits, let's try for 8/3.

"Status displays" are not necessarily indicators that one is rich. I agree that to a hard-working person of very modest means such as your student, $4 is a lot to pay for what is essentially a frill, but for many people of less modest means who are nonetheless far from wealthy, a $4 latte is indeed a "luxury they can afford." In which case, they purchase the item not so much to show off their wealth as to show off their superior taste and sophistication, much as "Spengler" used prose so acidic you could etch metal with it to show off his (alleged) superior taste and sophistication. Now, we all know--or ought to--that the relationship between taste and money is by no means linear, but there are enough people who confuse the two to make a bunch of companies very profitable, Starbucks among them. (Relevant aside: I'm in the middle of the chapter in Tim Harford's excellent and surprisingly entertaining book The Undercover Economist in which he explains how sellers try to get different people to pay different prices for the same stuff based on how much they are willing to pay. Coffee shops figure prominently in his explanation, which is in Chapter 2, "What Supermarkets Don't Want You to Know." Another part of this chapter deals with the difference between what one pays at Whole Foods and what one pays at a conventional supermarket for many common grocery items--in many more cases than either WFM fans or critics suspect, it's zero or close to it. As this book is not available online, it really can't serve as the basis for a discussion here, but I highly recommend it to all of you, even those of you who don't give a whit for economics.)