dagordon

We like the dim sum at Ocean City very much, but we generally prefer Ocean Harbor, which also has carts. I think the selection is bigger, and they're a bit nicer to us white folks than Ocean City -- for example, when we order stuff from the carts, they actually take off the top few levels of containers of whatever we ordered and give us one of the hot ones. The dim sum itself is excellent. The salt baked shrimp is a particular favorite, I think it's even a bit better than Lee How's, which is itself pretty amazing.

well 1. the list of top sushi places that V gave wasn't in reponse to the op's question about where to have the birthday party, it was part of an explanation of the 'dismay' he expressed over the wide range of so-called 'expert' opinions on sushi in philly, which JasonZ followed up on. 2. i don't see what's 'so funny' about telling the op that he might want to rethink the idea. the op clearly cares about making his friend's birthday party the best that it can be. he has clearly already done research and is here to solicit more opinions. given that he obviously cares about the quality of the food and that his friend `loves sushi', telling him that he and his friend might be very disappointed with a sushi b-day party in philly (and, by implication, that he might find much better food for the price elsewhere around here) seems to me, well, precisely the purpose of this board. furthermore: no one said that if one lives in philly, one can't eat sushi, or that one should move. as always, i was merely relaying my personal opinions. one would think that the "imho" and "ymmv" disclaimers are pretty much implicit in every posting on the board that is a reflection of a person's food tastes. what is funny is that my suggestion was that, up until a couple of months ago, the best sushi to be had in the vicinity was in a run-down area over the bridge right next to a rent by the hour motel in a restaurant whose exterior doesn't exactly scream "eat raw fish here". and the new fuji will probably be the best place around when it opens. that's "snobbery"?

Agreed 100% with Vadouvan. JasonZ, you're clearly right that opinions about what is best will always vary. But I think that sushi is one of those areas where consensus is pretty easy to acheive among people who are very widely experienced. There aren't a whole lot of factors that influence quality with sushi, and once one has had extremely high quality sushi it becomes very easy to see in exactly what respects other sushi compares. I haven't been to Bluefin. But out of all of the places I've been to w/in say a 20 mile radius of Philly, only Fuji is worth returning to, imho. (And, in fact, as I've said in other postings, I've had meals there that compare favorably with places on Yasuda's level.) I've had one sushi meal around here since Fuji closed -- we were having a craving a couple of weeks ago and went to Sagami. Even apart from the food, there is no way I'd have someone's birthday party there. It was an absolute zoo. Even the sushi chefs were yelling. The food was, as V said, acceptable. We had uni that was excellent, that's it. As far as Ajihei in Princeton -- I spend a lot of time around Princeton and Ajihei used to be a favorite spot of mine. The sushi was quite good, until I had one of those meals that will permanently turn you off of a sushi place. I expected to get sick from it but, thankfully, didn't. I haven't been back since, but perhaps should give it another try. As far as Morimoto, the problem as I see it that the quality just isn't at all there. The prices aren't out of line with what top-end places like Yasuda charge, and would be worth it if the fish were nearly as good. So -- I'd probably think of an idea other than sushi for the party.

Terrific, I think seeing that just triggered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In this month's Esquire there's a litlte blurb about Ansill in the "Best New Restaurants 2006" section called "E Awards: Leat Emasculating Small Plates: Ansill". It reads: "At his new namesake restaurant in Philadlephia, chef David Ansill serves some of the boldest food ever to land on tiny china: braised pork belly with spaetzle, sauteed sweetbreads with fava beans, cured lamb's tongue, raw venison, scrambled duck eggs.... The menu's a vertiable checklist of deliciously obscure animal parts. You want more manly? Hunt them yourself?" The description is a bit strange... but it's nice to see the mention.

So far we've had the Dol Sot Bibim Bob, Kimchi Pa Jun, Haemul Pa Jun, Mool Mandu, and Yook Gae Jang (spicy beef soup) It's all been quite good, although the beef soup didn't do much for me. The Kimchi stew was particularly excellent, though, and as mrbigjas said, it's only going to get better as the weather gets colder. This place is a major asset. Oh, and the Aloe Vera juice w/ Peach canned beverage is pretty addictive (it's got chewy aloe pulp bits in it), though I did give my girlfriend a look of disgust when she first ordered it.

MOCHA FUDGE CAKE. The round choclate things in the case on the far left. You can't have more than like 3 bites at a time it's so rich. They're absolutely outstanding.

Hi, I'm looking for fairly late night food recs -- around 11pm -- for both a Tuesday and Saturday in SF. We're staying at the San Francisco Hilton but location isn't crucial, good food is. We've already looked at Slanted Door, Gary Danko, but they close too early. Zuni is a possibility -- any other ideas? thanks for your help! David

the goat was served with polenta -- i don't remember it that vividly, however. i do remember liking it. we were at memphis in may just for eating, not BBQing. this was my first goat outisde of indian cuisine, where i've only ever had it shrouded in pretty intense sauces. it's quite possible that there's much better, cheaper bbq goat out there! although it's hard for me to imagine what it would be like... i mean, i can imagine all sorts of good bbq goat preparations, but vetri's was all about simplicity: allowing the flavor of the goat itself, and the texture of the crisped skin, to shine. again, though, i'm a goat novice.

We had a great meal at Vetri in early August, write up is here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...0entry1246930 we would certainly return. agreed w/ mrbigjas that the goat is spectacular, at least it was when we had it. I don't think the situation re: Italian in Philly quite elevates to the level of a "paradox"... The point, as others have mentioned, is that Vetri is pretty damn expensive. If you get a mediocre meal for that kind of money you SHOULD be upset. Now, it may be the case that the food is SO bad at many less exensive, popular Italian places that, even though they're fairly cheap, the quality/cost ratio is still as low as what the folks who are complaining about Vetri here would estimate its quality/cost ratio to be. If this is the case, then people should be complaining more about the cheaper places. But unless there's a certain threshold of expensiveness involved, I don't think people are going to be as ready to complain. I take it that one of the functions of these boards is to give people as much information as possible before making what are often quite expensive decisions: "Hey, before you drop $500 for dinner on this place, listen to what my experience there was like." This is valuable not only b/c of the money involved but also because, when money like this is involved, it's often a dinner that is marking a special occasion, so the quality of the dinner matters even more than usual.

Just a warning... Lately the vacuum sealed lamb racks from the Cherry Hill Wegmans have had a funky, unpleasant odor and taste. We've been getting these for a while from the Princeton Wegmans and they've never had this property. Luckily, the lamb racks in the meat case are as good as ever. Stick to the ones in the case. i've always suspicious of the obscenely long claimed shelf-lives of the vacuum sealed stuff...

Well, it is with much regret that I report that our inaugural meal at Amada last night was very disappointing. I'm actually VERY hesitant to post about it, but Vadouvan's latest thread has given me courage. And what the hell, I don't really know any of you personally. First, I should say that everyone was very nice. Service was excellent. The design of the restaurant is lovely. The red sangria was delicious (we found the white a bit bland). We opted for the $65/person tasting, as we figured that this would give the restaurant the opportunity to present its best work. 1. Gaspacho w/ the fried cheese ball on top. This was excellent. It was pretty much the only thing that I had that I would have wanted more of. 2. Serrano ham salad with spinach, blue cheese, figs, and some kind of pimenton encrusted nut. This was a fine salad. But the serrano had no taste, and that's, well, a big component of this sort of dish. This was surprising, as I spotted a couple of Redondo Iglesias 18 month hams (same sold at DiBurno's) hanging in the charcuteria area, and that's a fantastic ham, which we have all the time. This didn't taste like that. 3. Creamy tuna dip w/ flatbreads. This was unobjectionable, but didn't really do much for us. 4. Tortilla Espanola with Saffron Aioli. This was pretty heavy, and a bit dry. The saffron aioli was tasty enough. But a couple of small bites was enough to get the idea. 5. Garrotxa w/ garlic dulce de leche. The cheese was good, the garlic dulce de leche was, of course, extremely sweet, and detracted from the cheese, imho. 6. Beef shortribs flatbread. The flabread was very large. And it was very heavy, as cheesy short rib is bound to be. Didn't care for this. A couple of bites was enough. 7. Gambas al ajillo. These were good (how can shrimp in garlic and oil not be?) But I do remember the gambas al ajillo that we had in Spain being more overwhelmingly in your face flavorful. 8. Lamb chops stuffed w/ goat cheese in romesco sauce. We really needed a respite at this point, something light. Some simply prepared fish would have been wonderful. Lamb chops would have been wonderful too, again simply prepared. The goat cheese stuffing here was very unpleasant. I couldn't eat this. The combo just didn't work for me. My g/f managed to cut and scrape off the cheesy part and salvage some lamb. 9. Tenderloin w/ cabrales and foie gras. The tenderloin wasn't particularly tender. The foie was, I think, quite overcooked. The cabrales was a bit unwelcome in this context; yet more cheesy meat (see 2, 6, and 8), and, unfortunately, cabrales essence had leeched into the otherwise ok red wine sauce. 9. Blue foot and another kind of mushroom, in garlic and oil. This would have been fine in another context, but in this context, the mushrooms didn't have enough flavor to prevent the dish from seeming like just more heaviness, what w/ the oil. 10. Lobster a la plancha. Texture of the lobster was good; lobster itself didn't have any taste. The dish seemed to me like yet more garlic and oil. My g/f found it refreshing, but still not tasty. I think a big problem was heaviness, cheesy meat on the one hand and garlicy oil on the other. I like these things just fine in moderation; this was too much, particularly the both of them in the same meal. Even apart from the issue of these dishes in combination, though, I don't think that, with the exceptoin of the gazpacho, anything individually was particularly, well, delicious. So, there it is. Clearly a lot of folks love the food here. It goes without saying that this is merely the report of two people's experiences, with their particular tastes, over the course of merely one dinner. But perhaps it will serve as a warning to those thinking about the tasting menu who might, at the very least, find the above too heavy. (You must understand that I am not a wimpy eater. Can't remember ever complaining about a meal being too heavy.) now, we've spent a grand total of only 2 weeks in spain. but we absolutely loved the tapas that we had there, and that we've had in the us. perhaps what we had here was simply a certain style of tapas, which just isn't our cup of tea. Oh, I opted for the wine pairings, which were, I think, quite good (and quite a good value), considering that each (there were 3 in total) had to be paired with several dishes. An albarino, a rioja, and a third that escapes me.

For a long time my girlfriend has had a similar aspiration (to swim in a vat of chocolate, or, preferably, a river of chocolate), but then we read this: msnbc story apparently it's more dangerous than it looks btw, katie, we're trying amada for the first time tonight (don't know what's taken us so long). very excited.

Ling has asked an excellent question ... does anyone know? If not, I'm in there Saturday ... Regards, JasonZ P.S. Ling, I LOVE your posts in the monthly regional Italian threads ... didn't realize you read Philadelphia as well .... ← The last time we were in there my girlfriend spotted a large container of Guittard something or other in the back, and she thinks she recognized something else as Valhrona, but isn't sure. The classic frozen drinking chocolate is pretty ridiculously good. I'm going to have to limit myself. It's hard to have a milkshake knowing that this exists. The Aztec drinking chocolate is also excellent. Apparently the sipping chocolate is even thicker than the drinking chocolate, which is hard to imagine, as we found that the drinking chocolate really required a spoon. In any case, the owner, Tom Block, one of the Toms of Thomas Sweet, was around when we were there a couple of days ago, and he's very very nice.

Interesting -- did they refer to it as waloo or escolar? I've been puzzled by "butterfish" lately. Apparently sometimes it refers to escolar, but other times it refers to another class of fish entirely. (wikipedia on butterfish). My understanding was that you generally wouldn't be served a piece of true escolar as large as the one pictured there, due to concerns over, well how to put this, anal leakage. I should say that I've had that butterfish dish at Lolita and have experienced no such problem. I just want to get to the bottom of this "butterfish".

Had yet another unbelievable meal at Fuji last night, what will be our second-to-last, at least at its present location. Matt is closing on the 20th, not the end of the month -- it sounds like this is a recent development. We're going back next week. Some highlights of the meal: Bone marrow over a rice cake, served on top of a small cup containing a delicious green soup with a small swirl of cream. There must have been pea in there, but, as sometimes happens at Fuji, I really have no idea what I was tasting. The waitress seemed to suggest that it was fairly complicated, but contained uni, among other things. Seared foie gras over seared scallop, what I think was a soy-balsamic reduction, with mountain berries Oysters -- they looked like Kumamotos, but may have been the Pacific Orchard Oysters others have mentioned. Truly amazing. And, of course, the sushi. Matt was really busy last night so, for the first time, our sushi was prepared by Chen. We've always sort of felt bad when we sit at the sushi bar, right in front of Chen, and Matt has to had our fish to Chen, who puts it in front of us. Well, Chen is not only extremely talented, but also a very nice guy. The sushi he prepared was as good as ever, with many of the preparations echoing things that Matt has done before (he has had a good teacher). And after he saw my g/f having to bite a piece of sushi in half, every subsequent piece came pre sliced in half. Among other things, Fuji continues to have simply the best salmon ever. Matt does cure it -- he said he was surprised when he first came to the US and found people serving fresh salmon, as this is considered taboo in Japan. It should always be cured, he said, if only b/c of the possibility of parasites. Anyway, it's not only the texture of the salmon that is amazing; it has a richness of flavor that's unlike any other salmon sushi or sashimi I've had. So, we've only been going to Fuji for a couple of years now, and I was almost moved to tears when Matt started talking about closing and said something like "27 years, I can't believe it." It sounds like it's been a rough year for him. This is someone who is at the very top of his craft, with customers who adore him, and he's having to close against his will. It makes me never want to eat again. Well, maybe that's a bit extreme...

Funny, we were at Lolia on Best of Philly Day too and also thought that it was a notch below usual, which has always been excellent for us. It was also several notches above the normal noise level, I think.

First, thanks for the responses! It turns out that they were offering pairings for last night's tasting menu, so we jumped on that. We were very happy with the choices. So, the meal. There was a menu of several dishes spanning six courses, and they gave you the opporunity to say mainly whether there was anything that you didn't want; the chef would construct the meal based on the remaining dishes. You also had a choice of six or eight courses. We chose eight, with the wine pairings, and told our waiter that we eat anything. (This is true -- I once ate some craft or hobby foam on top of an artificial waffle display in Brussels, although this was unintentional.) The food: At several points they gave my girlfriend and me different dishes (sometimes w/ different wine pairings), which was great, because with sharing we got to sample pretty much the entire tasting menu for the night. 1. Started of with some Prosecco, and a Tuna and Chickpea Meatballs amuse. They were great -- crisped to perfection on the outside. I'll take these over Maoz or Mama's falafel any day. 2. Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho w/ Cured Halibut, Cucumber Gazpacho w/ Cured Salmon Abazia di Novacella, Kerner 2005 (Alto Adige) The gazpachos were listed separately on the menu; we had them presented in the same bowl (that two soups of complementary colors on either half of the bowl style, which makes for a nice presentation). This was welcome, because the results was better than either individually would have been. Both were fairly thick; the cucumber had, well, pure cucumber essence, the heirloom tomato was exploding with tomato flavor. The cured fish cubes were a nice addition. A whole bowl of the cucumber gazpacho wouldn't, I think, have been that memorable; the combination (especially getting a bit of each on every spoonful) definitely was. 3. Halibut and Cod Brandade on Crispy Polenta Croutons Castelcosa Furlan, Cuvee Tai 2004 (Friuli) Baby Lettuce w/ Sardinian Goat's Milk Cheese, Pine Nuts and Currant Broglia, Gavi di Gavi La Meirana 2005 (Piedmont) The brandade was simply outstanding. The dish was extremely light and delicate. There was a drizzle of very high quality olive oil around the plate. I was happy that they gave the salad to my girlfriend. But when we did the mandatory exchange of dishes I was quite pleasantly surprised with her dish. The cheese in particluar was exquisite; the currants gave the dish sweetness. I have to say that I could happily eat this as a course, although I'd need to go out and buy a Hummer after ordering it... 4. Golden Sweet Onion Crepe w/ Parmesean/Truffle Fondue Chateau Marjosse, Bordeaux Blanc 2003 This was very good, not great. The crepe was very oniony, the texture of the crepe itself was nice; just nothing overwhelmingly impressive. I also found that the onion crepe could pretty easily overwhelm the parmesean truffle fondue, so you had to modify the proportions in each bite accordingly. 5. Spinach Gnocci Robiola Gnocchi w/ Pioppini Mushrooms Tiefenbrunner, Pinot Nero Riserva "Linticlarus" 2001 (Trentino) The texture of both gnocci was other-wordly. Unclear how they were structurally sound on the plate; they just melted inside the mouth. The spinach gnocci, unfortunately, didn't have a whole lot of taste. They were in what seemed to be a pool of butter. Hey, I love butter, but it overwhelmed, I think, whatever taste the gnocci had. The robiola gnocci were another story. This dish was fantastic, bursting with flavor. 6. Skate w/ Spring Onions and Olives Timbach, Gewurztraminuer 1990 (Trentino) This was delicious. But we've had a lot of really delicious skate prepared simply, like this. The onions were excellent. 7. Capretto allo Spiedo (Roasted Baby Goat) w/ Polenta Tenuta San Leonardo 1999 (Trentino) Ah, the goat. We had heard about this, not only here but in the article that prompted the thread. This was, quite simply, mind-blowing. Unbelievable. Each plate had 2 what I take it were ribs and assorted other meat. Whatever meat had been on the ribs had been transformed into pure, crispy heaven. The goat is spit-roasted for 5 hours over mesquite. I know that a lot of bbq pros don't like mesquite because they think that the flavor that it imparts is too strong; this certainly wasn't the case here. An absolutely perfect level of smokiness. And the goat had a unique flavor! This was a revelation. I guess we'd only ever had goat in Indian restaurants, where it had been masked by very robust sauces. Now I know what goat is supposed to taste like. And I want more. (Actually, my gf finished everything but the tiniest piece, which she insisted on taking home, and which is now in our fridge.) We were in Memphis for the Memphis in May "Superbowl of Swine" just a couple of months ago -- this brought those sweet memories pouring out... 8. Papaya Italian Soda At this point in the meal we both felt like we were going to pass out. For one thing, the pours on the pairings were very generous. And so were the portions of food. The Italian soda was perfectly timed. As we were drinking it we both remarked that we were starting to feel much better. It was pretty funny; it really did revitalize us. There's simply no way that we could have eaten the following course without this before it. It was, btw, really tasty. 9. Ricotta Cheesecake with Fig and Black Papper Sauce Chocolate Polenta Souffle w/ Vanilla Gelato Cascinetta Vietti, Moscato d'Asti 2005 (Piedmont) This "cheesecake" was not your average cheesecake. There was a bowl made out of fig leaves, and inside was a kind of fresh ricotta 'soup'; it was thick, but still liquidy. On top were several sliced figs. I thought this was outstanding, particularly because it was so light. In fact, this really could have appeared at any point during the meal and it would have been appropriate. The black pepper was a nice addition. When I first tasted it I was taken aback a bit, and for a second didn't know what I was tasting, as it was so unusual, for the context. The lightness was also a perfect complement to the souffle. The souffle was probably the best chocolate souffle we've ever had. Just indescribably rich & luxurious. Sorry I don't have descriptions of the wine pairings; as poor as my food descriptions are, you really don't want to hear me start describing wine. I will say that the Gewurztraminer, which was described as having 'hints of lychees' really, truly did, it was almost uncanny. The white Bordeaux was another standout, I thought. Overall, we were extremely happy with the meal. Several of the dishes -- certainly the Goat, the brandade, the two desserts, the robiola gnocci -- will join the pantheon of the greatest dishes of all time for us. The meal was, of course, not cheap, shall we say, and, as a result, this isn't quite going to become a regular thing. But I'm very, very happy that we did it, and recommend it highly, for whatever that's worth. Oh, and the entire staff was extremely nice. Zero attitude, zero stufiness. A real pleasure to interact with.

Jeff L, did you ever go? We have reservations for tomorrow for the "Chef's Menu" -- on Saturdays during the year and Fridays during the summer, they do a tasting menu for every table in the restaraurant. It sounds (from the website) like each table gets a different menu -- anyone know if this is correct? Anything in particular I should request? Roast goat? Also, Capaneus -- you mentioned that "Jeff" can recommend wine -- is that the sommelier, or someone on this board who's familiar w/ the restaurant? Want to make sure we get the full experience. Thanks!

Are those English muffins? A bold choice! I salute you. ← Damn, I knew I forgot something. Yes, they are. And they are fork-split, of course, so as to preserve the precious nooks and crannies, which are so easily destroyed with a knife. I think I'll update the description.

Well, I must say, I'm feeling a bit inadequate. Melt of Kraft "Deli Deluxe" American Cheese over StarKist Premium Chunk White Albacore Tuna Salad with White Onion and Hellman's Mayonnaise on Fork-Split Thomas' Original English Muffin Tropicana "Grovestand" Orange Juice; "Lots of Pulp". Exp 8/21/06

p.s. You really can't get good wasabi in Philadelphia? It's actually worse than that (as I'm sure you know, Vadouvan ). Most wasabi, either powdered or in a tube, contains no (or very little) actual wasabi. It's mostly horseradish (which wasabi isn't), mustard, and food coloring. Sometimes the ingredient list will include a bit of real wasabi (listed as "hon-wasabi"). I have recently been using powdered 100% real wasabi, available from www.realwasabi.com. You mix with water, and let it sit for a while. (This is really important -- I neglected to do this at first and was I tasted was vile. It changes dramatically over the course of 5-10 minutes.) They actually sell whole rhizomes as well. Also, perhaps most importantly, my order, at least, came with a RealWasabi.com bumper sticker. Pacific Farms does have tubes of the real stuff. But it's much more perishable than the powder. (Once you open a tube it's only good for 30 days.) Of course, nothing compares to the freshly grated stuff. It actually has flavor.

Brought a botlte of the Modus to Pif recently, turns out it was pretty badly corked. Does anyone know the PLCB's policy about this? Can one get at least a partial refund? Unfortunately I forgot to bring the bottle with us when we left, but it'd be good to know for future reference. I guess I'll have to start bringing a backup bottle, in case this should happen. I have to say I'm a big fan of the screw tops. Nearly pulled a muscle last night trying to remove a synthetic cork.

Wegmans has fresh Alaskan King for $20/pound. It's beautiful, and delicious. OK, I'm going to stop posting about Wegmans for a while. If Jamon Iberico de Bellota suddenly shows up at the Cherry Hill store, you won't hear it from me.

When the South Jersey corn is ready of picking, they'll have it. Probably fresh-picked three or four times a day (in other Wegman's stors I've seen "next delivery" clock facades). ← My point is that it's ready now. I'm having some for dinner tonight. (and tomorrow night. and the night after that...) The CH store doesn't have the same items as the Mount Laurel store. That's a bit maddening. For example, I bothered to make gyro meat from scratch and wanted to get some Kronos pita. ML has it but CH doesn't. CH had other Kronos bread products. ML has Vernor's ginger ale. CH doesn't. If you like spicy ginger ale - but not as spicy as ginger beer try it. ← Did you mention to anyone at Wegmans that you were interested in these items that the Mt Laurel store stocks? Wegmans is pretty well-known for their customer responsiveness, and several people at the CH store in particular told us that they're taking suggestions about what items they should be stocking. In particular, someone behind the fish counter actually wrote down our suggestions for fish that they should carry.