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MarketStEl

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  1. You would be appalled, then, to find out that there are dozens of Subway locations throughout metropolitan Philadelphia, where you'd think we'd know better. Truth is, we do. But sometimes, we're lazy. I know I've sometimes patronized a Subway when the price was right.
  2. Sounded good to me. Crab cakes? Old Bay fries? Yum! This is what the students in our undergraduate Hospitality Management program here at Widener were serving for lunch today in the dining room in Academic Center North, the school's home: (The large grass field in front of the building is the site of the old football stadium, built in 1926 and demolished in 1991. The new stadium is about 1/4 mile to the northeast, near the new fitness center. The field is still used for recreation; right now, it's striped for soccer.) Unfortunately, by the time I got to the Heintz Dining Room at 11:55 am--25 minutes into the one-hour window when the students serve lunch on Tuesdays--the place was busier than usual: and they had run out of the crab cakes. And the Waldorf salad. And the pizzas for one. And the hot dogs they had brought out in place of the pizzas. All I ended up with was New England clam chowder in a bread bowl, served with a smile: and fries with Old Bay (season 'em yourself): But hey--if you can't make mistakes in college, how else are you going to learn how to forecast patronage for your restaurant? David Tucker, the professor of hospitality management who runs the dining room component of the undergraduate program, explained that running the dining room was an important part of the curriculum, accounting for 20% of the students' grade for the semester. Generally speaking, students in their sophomore or junior year are organized into teams responsible for planning two themed lunches each semester. They determine the menu, order the food, come up with the décor, and advertise the week's lunch via word of mouth, posters, flyers and notices posted to our Campus Cruiser online portal. They also run the front and the back of the house during lunch and prep the food under the guidance of the kitchen manager, who is always a Hospitality Management alum. (A perk that comes with the job: the occupant gets to pursue a master's in hospitality management on Widener's dime.) Tucker assured me that students don't get penalized for underestimating patronage when it's time to grade their efforts. In fact, he said, teams had been reducing the amount of food they ordered because patronage had been so light that there was still food being thrown away after school employees had a chance to eat. (That was most assuredly not a problem today--Tucker excused himself from my table to go into the kitchen to see what could be prepared for the staff.) It's a shame the patronage hasn't been as good as it was today, for the students produce a good meal--certainly better than Aramark fare and the equal of better chain restaurants. The clam chowder, for instance, had plenty of fresh clams in it and a broth that was substantial enough without using lots of thickeners. In keeping with the theme, the tables were decorated in a casino motif. Service at lunch is buffet style: The juniors and seniors serve dinner on Wednesday nights in the dining room, with table service and wine or beer available at the bar (forgive the blurry photo). The bar area is decorated with vintage photographs of activities at PMC. As the semester is winding down, today was the last Tuesday lunch is being served in Heintz this semester. That too might have accounted for the heavier-than-usual patronage. If you live in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic regions, ask the manager of your country club or hotel restaurant where they went to college. There's a good chance he or she might be a Widener grad. Graduates also go on to work in institutional settings like hospitals or colleges, and some go into the regular restaurant industry as well. Historical background: Widener's hospitality management program came along with Brandywine College, a two-year institution in suburban Wilmington that the university purchased in 1981 to provide a decent home for its (Delaware) School of Law. The two-year program was turned into a four-year course of study and moved to the main campus in Chester in 1988. I'm told that Widener is in talks with the operator of a popular casual eatery in a nearby township to build and run a sit-down restaurant on the site of a local pub right next to campus that was shut down after a Widener student was killed outside it about four years ago. It would be a good thing if this happens--besides, our hospitality students could get more practice that way.
  3. It's "America's Choice" dressing -- the store brand at chains owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), including Super Fresh in the Philadelphia area. I hadn't seen the variety on the shelves at my neighborhood Super Fresh before, and there was a sale on it about three weeks ago. It's got a nice little kick on top of the buttermilk and herbs. (Not-terribly-relevant aside that popped into my head as I typed this: Back when I lived in an apartment in a building that had a rear courtyard, I used to host a cookout every summer. One year I brought a ton of America's Choice hamburger buns for the burgers, which led to many of the guests appropriating the brand name to describe other guests' butts.)
  4. Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone! Before moving on, a few followup notes on my previous post: More on Swarthmore: --I will recommend the Village Restaurant for a reason besides their food. One evening, when I got to Swarthmore, I needed to go to the bathroom badly. SEPTA trains are not equipped with toilets , and most of their outlying stations are open only in the morning and early afternoon--and lack restrooms as well. I walked over to the Village Restaurant and explained my predicament to the hostess, who let me use their facilities. Small-town friendliness lives in the 'burbs! --The borough's Web site, linked above, includes this description of the town: And sure enough, there is not a chain establishment to be found anywhere in the borough's tidy, roughly two-block-long business district. Not even a Starbucks. That is about to change, as the banner draped over the door of the most prominent building in downtown Swarthmore makes clear: Given the chains' relative images, I would have thought the Swarthmoreans would have preferred a Starbucks over a Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins combo if they were going to get a coffee chain. If we're just going on the taste of the coffee, however, I think they made the right choice. But couldn't they have gone after Bucks County Coffee instead? A further comment on food trucks: Not everyone is enamored of them--my former employer (the University of Pennsylvania) took some heat when it cleared a bunch of trucks from a prime, centrally located campus block to make way for a retail-and-hotel complex. But trucks remain a part of the Penn scene too: Craig LaBan, the restaurant critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, reviewed Yue Kee Mobile Kitchen, a long-established Chinese food truck on the Penn campus, a year ago and gave it two bells (a "Very Good" rating), urging readers to order off the menu if they could figure out how to. Now, on to today's business. First, the answer to yesterday's Trivia Question: The building in question is the location of Horn & Hardart's first Automat restaurant. That's right--the icon of New York modernity originated in Philadelphia. Congratulations to the three eGulleteers who PMed me the correct answer: *Deborah*, Nina C. and BeeZee. For Today's Trivia Question, we will look inside my haphazardly organized refrigerator. As you can see, there are lots of leftover goodies inside, about half of which were from Sunday's dinner, including the foil-wrapped ham on the second shelf. (Yes, I used Velveeta for the macaroni and cheese--a pound and a half, augmented by another half pound of New York State Cheddar and a quarter pound of baby Swiss. The recipe on the package produces a wonderfully gloppy sauce that sticks to everything [and congeals into something between paste and cement once it cools], and everyone I serve it to likes it, every bit as much as they do the all-real-cheese sauce I make.) We're also big juice drinkers, as the door shelf further illustrates: But the source of Today's Trivia Question isn't on the door shelf. It's right on top of the Velveeta: Philadelphia Brand cream cheese is one of a handful of truly global food brands, spreading the name of its namesake city to the four corners of the world. Our recent blogger from South Africa, gsquared, had a package in his fridge too, as the photo in this post shows. But as I'm sure many of you know, Philadelphia Brand cream cheese has never been made in Philadelphia. Today's Trivia Question is a two-parter and researchable online: 1. Where did Philadelphia Brand cream cheese originate? 2. Why was it named for Philadelphia? BTW, for breakfast this morning, I varied my routine and had a bowl of this instead: (Those of you who have followed my ravings around various parts of the General Food Topics forum know that I am no brand snob.) Then I got down to assembling the salads, starting with the contents of the spinner--bagged Romaine salad and bagged spring mix from OK Lee in the Reading Terminal Market, augmented with sliced red, yellow and green bell peppers and cucumber slices: To which I added sliced mushrooms: cherry tomatoes cut in half: imitation bacon bits and croutons. Then I made my partner a liverwurst sandwich with lettuce and American cheese, packed everything away and got ready to go to work. Later today:
  5. Good morning! And thank God for leftovers. Last night was pretty rough, what with income taxes and all (yes, I'm a horrible procrastinator; I had actually done the dry run of my partner's taxes Sunday, and this was the evening when I sat down and explained it all to him. Me? I filed Form 4868 at 11:45 pm last night). It started with a missed connection that I guess is fortuitous in this context. If I'm not out the door of my office at the stroke of 5, I run the risk of missing the southbound bus I must catch to make it back into town by 6. I saw both the northbound and southbound buses whiz through the intersection of 15th and Providence as I was a block away. So I waited until 5:30 for the next northbound 109: and while waiting, read an interesting item about another local food institution--Wawa, about which more eventually--that I hope to get around to posting to Food Media & News later today. Then I got off in Swarthmore to wait for the 5:55 inbound R3. tejon, you will no doubt be pleased to know that the Village Restaurant is still in business: and that down the street from it, the local grocery store has nice new digs. It should come as no surprise that in this highly educated, progressive community, the local supermarket is a co-op: But it bears little resemblance to the bins-of-whole-grains-beans-and-nuts places that are often associated with the term. The store is about the size of a 1950s city supermarket but much brighter. I didn't scope out the deli or prepared foods sections while I was there, but let's just say that in the regular grocery aisles, this place was hard to distinguish from an ordinary supermarket. Here, for instance, is the soft drink section: Many of the streets in Swarthmore are named for well-known colleges and universities. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth and Rutgers are all represented, as are Mt. Holyoke and several others. The Borough of Swarthmore just built a new street running past the co-op, and decided to correct a historical oversight in naming it, I guess: (Lincoln University, in Chester County, began life in the 1840s in Philadelphia as the Institute for Colored Youth. It is the oldest historically black university in the United States.) Not needing anything, I made my way over to the platform for the train into town: and got off at 30th Street Station in order to mail a certified letter at the main post office. 30th Street Station is the last of the grand passenger stations built by the Pennsylvania Railroad, opened in 1932 and lovingly restored about five years ago: As part of the reconstruction, a food court was installed in the station's south concourses. It attracts decent crowds, but there's been a fair bit of turnover among the merchants. Bucks County Coffee Co. and Delilah's soul food place are the two oldest occupants, and may well be the only original tenants still there. There are also a couple of Caribbean food trucks that regularly park in front of the post office: Denise's--the pink one in the rear--is the older of the two. I ate there on occasion when I did a temp assignment at Drexel University, which is just west of here, and their food is pretty decent. I can't tell you anything about René's, the white truck in the foreground. In Philly's college precincts, food trucks are quite popular and fill a real need for good, cheap fare. From there I headed home, where I served my partner and my friend Bernard a reprise of yesterday's dinner: Baked ham, macaroni and cheese, and--oops! Roommate and partner's boyfriend must have polished off most of the collard greens, so I steamed some Brussels sprouts for Bernard and myself. After that, it was tax time and time to attempt to catch up with some résumé work I'm behind on (I didn't succeed). Next: Today's Trivia Question and the Fridge Shot.
  6. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority runs the whole show when it comes to mass transit on the Pennsylvania side of the Philadelphia metropolitan area--buses, subways, trolleys, commuter trains, you name it. You aren't supposed to eat or drink on any SEPTA vehicle--not even the Regional Rail trains. This prohibition is honored in the breach often enough on all of them. That's an excellent question, one which I could spend some time answering. As it's getting late here, and I'm getting up early in the morning, please forgive me if I hold off on answering it until later.
  7. Sounds like a good idea to me. So far, I've gotten one vote for Sunday instead, and a post with similar sentiments here. If any of the rest of you who are planning on coming Saturday can do Sunday, let me know via PM asap. Or let me know if you prefer a late start on Saturday. I'd be inclined towards moving to Sunday, but am flexible.
  8. I'm usually a brown-bagger at lunchtime, but since I'm taking all of you on a tour this week, I'm partially suspending my usual routine here. Since I know everybody except Susan expects to see a cheesesteak pop up here, I figured I should work on that for lunch today. I had hoped to go to the place where I got a bison burger last month (see the "Lunch" thread), but alas, Don's has gone out of business, so it's time for the fallback strategy: (Edited to add: Don's is visible in the far distance, on the left side of Providence Avenue.) This little store on Providence Avenue at 17th is a clean, well-lighted place: operated by a Chinese family, as are so many convenience stores in less affluent communities, it seems. Unfortunately, as I had only $5 in my pocket, I couldn't go for the full-size cheesesteak, so I got the 6-inch small size instead. Coupled with a tossed salad, it made a decent meal: or would have, if the salad hadn't gone limp from sitting in the fridge too long. (I had forgotten to eat it on Friday.) I usually pack a salad for lunch every day. It's a token step towards a little more balance in my cheese-laden diet. Someday soon, I will bring gym clothes to work with me and spend some lunch hours in our brand-spanking-new fitness center, which staff can use free of charge.
  9. "What Chester Makes, Makes Chester": I'm awestruck by the level of affection oldtime Chesterites show for their onetime hometown. One of them is a co-worker, and one of the first things she did after my arrival is direct me to a great historical/nostalgia site, OldChesterPA.com, which is full of reminiscences of the Chester that is no longer. I've been on two car tours of the city, and while there are some still-solid neighborhoods (mostly north of I-95) and hopeful signs for the future, the years have not been kind to most of the city. My trip home ordinarily takes me right down the former main shopping street, Avenue of the States (your dad may have known it as Edgmont Avenue), and I spent one Friday walking around the downtown (where I stumbled across a great soul food place that I hope to share with you this week). It's really sad to see this once-bustling district with just about all the life sucked out of it. I'll add that to my to-do list for the week.
  10. 1) Definitely doable, though knowing me, it'll fall through the cracks of the weekend. 2) The Crystal Tea Room on the 9th floor of the Wanamaker Building is intact and used as a function hall. I don't know how easy it is to get up there after 6 or on weekends, but I'll nose around. 3) That's going to be a much taller order, as I work at Widener University, 10 minutes south of Swarthmore on Chester Road/Providence Avenue. I did take a stroll around Swarthmore's beautiful campus (which is also an arboretum) while killing time one afternoon waiting for the 5:55 R3 into Center City, and got a glimpse of their dining hall, which is a fabulous-looking facility dating (it appears) to the late 1970s. Our dining hall is nowhere near as stunning architecturally, nor has there been a groundswell of demand for fresher, healthier food among our students, at least none that I can detect. I do count two current students who I met off-campus in one of the gayborhood clubs among my acquaintances, and they have both complained about the quality of what Aramark dishes out on occasion. But--and this is not meant as a knock on Widener students, who so far have impressed me as a decent bunch--this school, with its military-academy heritage and mainly regional reputation, doesn't draw the sort of high-minded, socially conscious students who gravitate to Swarthmore from all over the country. The two schools now share more in common than they once did--both now make civic engagement a centerpiece of their academic mission--but at Swarthmore, that represents the continuation of a tradition, while at Widener it represents something of a completely new direction. Maybe as the service-learning ethos gets more firmly implanted here, we will attract more of the sort of students who would agitate for better dining hall fare instead of just gripe about it. We'll see.
  11. See the last line in Post 12. I've not forgotten and will not shirk my duty.
  12. So here's what my typical weekday morning looks like. Replay these images in your head for the next four days, for like daytime television, little changes from day to day except the soap-opera storylines. I usually arise at 6 a.m., go into the kitchen of my apartment and unload last night's load from the dishwasher. This usually takes about 15 minutes. However, today, I also had to finish cleaning up the leftover pots and pans from the dinner I fixed on Easter Sunday--most of which is now sitting in the fridge*, because just about everyone we invited ended up as no-shows--so I barely had time to prep lunch for my partner (a tossed salad and leftover "Pasta Jambalaya") and fix my own quick breakfast. Here is the basic morning mise en place: The mixed salad in the spinner will last all week. The other stuff that's out will go into my own breakfast sandwich: Pork roll and cheese on a toasted English muffin. I consume this with a mug of green tea with honey. This morning I wolfed everything down while getting ready to shower, showered, got dressed, and left my apartment at 7:35 a.m., in enough time to take a few pictures of my commute to work, which starts here: We will return to this structure over the weekend, for besides being a convention center, hotel and commuter train station, it is also home to the Reading Terminal Market, the city's finest fresh food emporium and the direct descendant of the public market stalls that gave Market Street its name. Sign design ® Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission But right now my destination is Market East Station, one of the two underground hubs of Greater Philadelphia's regional rail network. That's my train--the 7:47 R3 to Elwyn, 2 minutes late--pulling into the station. About a half hour later, I arrive in Swarthmore, a lovely, affluent Delaware County suburb that is home to the prestigious liberal-arts college of the same name: and walk about a block south, where I catch the bus: that takes me to where I work: My office is in the oldest building on campus, Old Main, the original classroom and barracks building of the Pennsylvania Military College: Once inside, after I drop my stuff in my office, the first stop is the coffee machine: ...and with mug in hand, I'm ready to face the new day. [ *To those of you who asked in advance: Yes, the fridge shot is coming. Real Soon Now. Edited to post higher-quality images.
  13. Okay, I'm all settled in and have most of the trivial stuff out of the way, so I can now do a proper introduction. First, before I go further, to my fellow Pennsylvanians: I hope I do you all proud. We are truly blessed to have wonderful foodstuffs close at hand--thanks in no small part to Lancaster County's bounty, may it never be paved over--and I hope to clue the larger world in on some of them in the course of this blog. I had originally intended to call this effort "A Mess of Good Eatin': A (City of Brotherly) Love Letter," and while you will all note that the title has changed, I hope that I can still share some of the love I have for this greatly underrated city and some of its culinary traditions. But I'm a working stiff with two jobs (one of them as a freelance contractor), a significant activity (which you will see a little of on Wednesday) and a lot of balls/bills to juggle. So I suspect that what is more likely to come out of this effort is A Week In The Life of a Slapdash Food Lover, with some extras thrown in. By virtue of where I work, you will now find out more than you ever cared to know about dining in Chester, a largely derelict little industrial city of some 38,000 souls about 15 miles southwest of Center City Philadelphia, where I live. I've already talked two of my co-workers into coming along with me for the ride at lunchtime. One of the places we all want to visit is a restaurant in the city's West End that was launched by displaced New Orleanians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The opening of this place made the local TV news, and the owners serve up authentic NO fare. I anticipate that my meal will be even more enjoyable than those served at the fancier New Orleans-style establishments in town, if for no other reason than that it will be prepared by people who really know the cuisine. You will also get a glimpse at institutional dining, for while my employer is located in the nice part of Chester, the dining options around the Widener campus are limited. As compensation, though, you will share with me lunch served by tomorrow's restaurateurs, chefs and hoteliers--students in Widener's School of Hospitality Management, who serve lunch every Tuesday in the school's fully-equipped dining room (with liquor license). You will also learn something about shopping for food in Philadelphia. Rocky Balboa didn't stop to inspect the tomatoes on his run through the Italian Market, but if I get down there when it's open, I will. And I will definitely take you to "The Greatest Public Market in America," a treasure all good Philadelphians cherish. And my schedule willing, you will also join me and some of the other eGulleteers from this region as we embark on the first leg of a major undertaking: Revisiting all of the past winners in the pizza category of Philadelphia magazine's "Best of Philly" awards that are still in business. But since this is my life and week, I will also throw in some of my other passions. One of them, as you might have gathered from one of the teasers, is trains and trolleys. I rely on SEPTA to take me everywhere I want to go around town, and whenever possible, I will include directions by public transit to the places I visit. Another is trivia. I thought it might be fun to have you all test your knowledge of Philly food trivia and history (with a few more general questions thrown in). To encourage you to do your homework on the daily questions--the first of which will appear at the end of this post--I've arranged for a prize to the non-Philadelphian (sorry, fellow PhillieGulleteers: I figure you all will have a leg up on the competition) who gets the most answers right: A gift basket from the Pennsylvania General Store in the Reading Terminal Market. If you want to compete, please PM your answers to me--do not post them to this thread. I'll post answers and stats for each day's question the following day. (In the event of a tie, the prize will be awarded based on a random drawing from all eligible players.) So here's the first question, which comes from the earlier teaser for this blog. It has to do with this currently empty building in the 800 block of Chestnut Street in Center City: The question is: What is the significance of this structure in the history of American restaurants? Next up: My morning routine.
  14. Ouch! I now find myself with a schedule conflict, and am asking you all for either advice or forebearance. This Saturday, one of our English professors and her students are running a "backstage with Shakespeare" workshop for Chester and Ridley Township school children. The kids will be able to try on costumes, learn about special effects and try out lines from Shakespeare. (The Ridley kids will also act out a scene from one of his plays.) One of the Delaware County weeklies wants to run a photo from the event, which we will supply. We have no freelance photographers--we take the pictures as well as write the releases and pitches. Which means I've got to be in Chester for at least part of the time between 2 and 4 p.m. on Saturday. I'm thinking I can get some good shots from the first hour, catch the 3 pm bus back to Swarthmore, return to Philly at 4 and meet everyone at 4:30. Would any of you have problems with kicking off the tour at 4:30? If so, do you all want to carry on without me and I'll catch up with you?
  15. Good morning, everyone! I'm in a bit of a rush, as I spent most of the morning cleaning up the kitchen after Easter dinner. Now I've got to shower and get outta the house in time to catch the 7:47 R3 to Swarthmore. I'll catch up with all of you once I'm settled in the office.
  16. The more I read posts like Anne's immediately above, the more I wonder why we don't just pay servers, hosts and maîtres d' a decent, living wage and just raise the prices by 18-20 percent. Edited to add: This has been a fascinating discussion. The practice being discussed here sort of reminds me of that Orwellian phrase, "some are more equal than others."
  17. Que? ← Clickety =R= ← Those look like they'd be really easy to make at home. Anyone have recipes?
  18. I'm surprised no one has brought up the $100 Cheesesteak yet. Which technically makes this a $100 Mushroom Cheesesteak, Taleggio wit. Add lettuce and it'd be a $100 Mushroom Cheesesteak Hoagie, Taleggio wit.
  19. And here I thought the Civil Rights Movement had been reborn! So whose dream is this?
  20. You mean this? What are the "loose meats"? I would have thought something involving corn would make it onto the list for the capital of Corn Country.
  21. Of course, you probably know by now that if you haven't made it down here since then, you're out of luck. Shola has hung up his toque as an almost-private chef. After a sabbatical in Europe, he's returning to Philly as a private chef.
  22. When the Strawbridge family was still at the helm, Strawbridge & Clothier had a very fine Food Hall at its 8th and Market flagship store. Stockton Strawbridge decided to add it to his store's offerings after a trip to Harrods in the 1970s. As I've never seen Harrods Food Hall--only heard about it--I can't say whether he got the execution right, but he certainly understood the concept, and it was one of the real treats of shopping at Strawbridge's main store. (The chain did not put smaller Food Halls in its suburban branches--this was an only-in-Philly department.) Under May management, the Food Hall became an afterthought. It will go away completely when the 8th and Market store closes in two months. Macy's will open in the historic John Wanamaker store five blocks west.
  23. Oh, c'mon, we all did. Can't say I didn't warn you at dinner: Picanha Brazilian Grill 6501 Castor Avenue (at Hellerman) Philadelphia, PA 19149 215-743-4647 Nearest SEPTA service: Bus Route 59 from Margaret-Orthodox station, Market-Frankford Line. The bus stops at Hellerman, right at the restaurant's door. The server was very friendly and made all of us feel welcome. Some other patrons were watching a TV Globo (leading Brazilian network) broadcast of a Central American soccer match on the big-screen TV near our table when we arrived. When it's not crazy, this place is really relaxed, as much neighborhood hangout (nonalcoholic variety) for the local Brazilian emigre population as meat lover's Valhalla. (Aside: Further evidence this isn't the same bland old Northeast we all looked down upon back in the day: A billboard two blocks north of the restaurant--just past the Korean-Japanese restaurant in the next block and before the Korean Presbyterian church--advertising Comcast high-speed Internet service. In Russian.) Edited to add: The buffet food was good. Mostly, I loaded up on the salad. No pretense here: The salad dressings were all (or almost all) the Save-a-Lot house brand. (There's a Save-a-Lot in the 6400 block of Castor, half a block down from the restaurant.) Actually, the opener was sausage--I guess this was linguica. It was fairly spicy, garlic mainly, and quite good. Then came the top sirloin, which opened with a strong salty taste. You left out a cut of beef in between the chicken wrapped in bacon and the pork (which I don't think was pork belly, which tastes almost like bacon; tasted more like pork loin to me). I don't recall which cut this was, though. I think what followed the first serving of pineapple was top round or a similar roast. I do recall that there was plenty of rare beef on this skewer--up to this point, most of the meats had been well done. Then more sirloin. That was followed by brisket. Somehow, I missed getting any of that. I recall the waiter explaining that those were varieties of flan--a mousse-like custard dessert. (I didn't get to tell you about how, on my first-ever visit to a French restaurant at age 12--in New York--I elicited a laugh from the waiter when I asked for a "chocolate mouse" for dessert.) Agreed that the flan was delicious. And I'm not a big dessert eater. This won't be my last visit either. BTW, those were great wines you bought, Jeff--they went well with the meats, though, as you noted, we probably should have drunk them in the reverse of the order in which we drank them.
  24. I just realized I forgot one detail: What time to meet at Marra's. Let's convene this road trip at 2 pm on Saturday 4/22. Katie or Holly -- can you put this on the eG Calendar?
  25. I see I'm going to have to drop by the Old City location soon. They have a "Bar-B-Que Cheesesteak" on the menu--with bacon and mozzarella.
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