Buckethead

I agree with philadining on the Azure recommendation. If you go, get the seitan tips. Their beer list is good, too. Farmicia is OK, but nothing spectacular. I've been there twice and I didn't have anything on either visit that was worth going back for. Also, their wine pours are ridiculously small. If you were at the White Dog in the past few years (excepting the last few months), you were there during the tenure of Michael O'Halloran, who now runs Bistro 7, which is a block or two north of Farmicia on the same street, and is a better restaurant. I was at the White Dog after he left and it wasn't nearly as good as it had been on my previous visit. I don't think he makes any special effort to serve vegetarian stuff, though. If you're in the south street area, there's a little middle eastern place called Alyan's, it's on 4th street across from Jim's steaks. They have great falafel there, as well as other middle eastern meat-free goodies. It's BYO, too, and cheap.

The sushi at the Media location stinks, literally. I've tried it twice and it was pretty bad each time, the fish they were using definitely should not have been used in sushi. They messed up my takeout order twice also (four different visits between sushi and takeout), and the food wasn't even as good as the storefront chinese takeout place a few blocks west in Media. I won't be going back. If you want sushi, head out to Teikoku. If you want chinese/japanese, go to the Peking location in the Granite Run Mall, it's actually a lot better than the Media location. I''ve never tried the sushi at the Granite Run location, so I can't compare that aspect of the two Pekings.

I went there last night, sat at a table in the bar area. The food was excellent, but the service was not. Our server didn't really seem interested in whether or not we wanted to eat or drink anything, we had to call him over just to order, let alone get a new drink or get the check, once we actually had to get up and walk over to him to get his attention. As a result, our meal took forever: we got there around 6:45, and didn't leave till 10. I like taking my time and all, but this was a little ridiculous. I am pretty sure it was just the one server though, a different server brought our desserts out and he was very nice. But enough about that: There were three of us, one who had been there a few times before (I hadn't). We knew that the desserts were good, so we ordered on the light side: three small dishes and one large to split between us. We had the farmhouse plate, the smelts, and the conch beignets, and we split the roasted half-chicken large plate. The farmhouse plate was a mixed bag: the cheeses were good, especially the manchego (may have been romano, I can't tell them apart sometimes), but the bread was a bit soggy. The meats (prosciutto, a terrine, and a carpaccio of some delicious animal) were excellent, the olives were pucker-inducing. I had never had smelts before, and I doubt I ever will again. They're everything I don't like about fish. Same goes for the conch. My two comrades liked them a lot, though, so it's probably just me. The roasted chicken was one of the best-prepared pieces of chicken I've ever had in my life, served on top of some kind of leafy greens and fava beans. There's not much to say about it, it was plain and simple in a way that a lot of other places strive for, but fail at. If you think that chicken is just a tasteless blank slate for other flavors to be laid on top of, this dish will dispel that. Dessert was the best part. We had the butter cookies with fresh lemon curd, the pot de creme, and the goat's milk custard. I managed to fit cookie, curd, and chocolate on my spoon simultaneously, the result was tasty to me and revolting to my companions. As I got near the bottom of my pot de creme, I realized I may need a little-bitty spatula to get the last bits, but thought better of it. I did use my spoon to scrape it within an inch of its life, though. I will definitely go back, I have to have the rest of the dessert menu. I suspect that the lackadaisical service was just the one server, next time I'll make reservations and sit in the dining area, where hopefully he won't be.

There are a lot of places I've never been to, but none of the places I *have* been to have measured up to a place that's gone out of business. That was Shivnanda, down in Old City. It was next door to Kabul, which I think is still around. They made great rice there. This thread got me in the mood, so tonight I tried out Desi Village. It was good, but not nearly as good as my favorite, Khajuraho. For one thing, the service was inattentive, at best. We waited at least 15 minutes after getting our menus for someone to even come back to our table. There was only one other occupied table in the place, and there were several employees walking around who didn't seem to be doing anything in particular. We endured a similar wait to get the check. The food was a lot better than the service, but my Chicken Makhani was in a sauce that was separating as it sat in the dish, I had to keep stirring it to keep the oil in suspension. Not a pretty sight, but it tasted good. The naan was excellent, and the rice was a lot better than most other Indian places I've visited, but also not as good as Khajuraho.

I take it that means that you can only get refills of the same wine, and not try different ones?

Khajuraho in Ardmore has the best Indian food I've ever had in my life. In fact, before I had gone there, I always thought I didn't like Indian food. Turns out I'd just never had it done right. They beat the pants off of Jewel of India (also in Ardmore), the old Shivnanda in old city, Minar Palace, and Passage to India. I have heard that Taste of India in Wayne is also excellent, but haven't tried it yet. I don't know if it's related to the Taste of India that Rich is talking about.

Got a link? I actually have had really good service every time I've been. But then, I've never been to the Chestnut Hill location, only the Wilmington one. Though I've never been to the one in Chestnut Hill, I've heard that its prices are higher than the location in Wilmington, so how overpriced it is may depend on which one you go to. 'Forgettable' is too strong a word in my opinion. The entrees aren't fantastic, but the raw meats they use seem to be of good quality, and the relaxed pace of the meal (due to the fact that you cook it yourself at the table) is something I enjoy, but only once every six months or so. What I really go there for are the cheese fondues and the chocolate dessert fondues. The tray of fruits and goodies you get with the dessert fondue is usually excellent. One thing I hate about the place is that they only have one beer on draft, usually the ubiquitous, forgettable Magic Hat #9. Boo.

There is a third category of chain restaurant: corporate-produced food that is actually good. Of course, the only chain I can think of that fits this category is Don Pablo's. I would not go there over Tequila's or Lolita or half a dozen other good Mexican places, but put Don Pablo's up against just about any other chain restaurant and I'd go there. There is the other good effect that bad chain restaurants have: they attract people who would otherwise be taking up a table at a place I actually want to go..

If Philadelphia has its own pizza style, I haven't eaten it, though I've had some really good slices. The tomato pie, sauce on the bottom, isn't indigenous to this area. I can understand what Katie is saying about the water and the dough, but I don't think Philly has a distinct style from NYC in the way that, say, Chicago-style or California-style are different.

Does the Standard Tap still practice their ridiculous 'no reservations, no hostess' seating policy? I had been there for drinks before, but tried it once recently for dinner, and not only did they not take reservations, they also did not have anyone there to seat you. We had to just roam the two floors until someone left a table open, which is bad for everyone: I felt like a jackass hovering around the dining room, and I'm sure the people eating felt uncomfortable having me (and several other groups of people) wandering around waiting for one of them to leave. Unfortunately we were meeting someone and had to stay, otherwise I would've gone somewhere else. Anyway, if they still do that, stay far, far away from the Standard Tap. Some other good places in that area: For sushi, try Kisso, 4th and Race. Tangerine, on Market between 2nd and 3rd, is expensive but very good. I've only eaten at Ludwig's once, and it was so bad that I haven't been back, at least not to have dinner. Maybe they were just having a bad night, or maybe the food was just a little *too* authentic, but there are too many other great places out there for me to try it again. I think Monk's food is better than Ludwig's, but you can forget about going there for dinner on a weekend night, you'll be waiting an hour for a table, and Monk's doesn't take reservations. Ludwig's has a draft beer selection that's almost as good as Monk's, and it's not as popular, so you have an easier time getting in. Another place that I've come to like a lot is Ten Stone, their beer selection is great and the food can be better than Monk's, depending on what you get. But at 21st and South st., it's kind of far from Panorama.

I'm not entirely clear on how the bad server experience is related to the drunk manager experience. Do you have any idea why they were giving you dirty looks when they hadn't even given you the check yet? Seems fishy. A drunk person in the restaurant who is bothering the other customers should be escorted out of the restaurant, whether he is the manager, the owner, or just some guy having dinner. The only experience I have that roughly compares as far as the bad service goes is one time at the Adobe Cafe in Roxborough (I don't know if it still exists). I ordered fajitas, the tortillas were ice cold from the fridge, too cold to even roll into fajitas without cracking them. I asked to have them warmed up a little. 15 minutes later they came back to the table at room temperature, my dinner buddy was almost done eating by then. I left a $50 bill to cover the $24 tab (it was all I had). The server came around to our table, looked down at the $50, and kept on walking. She did this 3 times over about 20 minutes, she never picked up the check. I guess she figured we'd get tired of waiting and just leave her a 100% tip. Instead, we left with my $50 in hand. And that's the only time I ever skipped out on a check.

Widmer Bros. Hefeweizen is pretty good, and it seemed to be everywhere in Portland, Ore. when I visited there a while ago.

If you're not a margarita fan (which I am not), you are also welcome to bring a bottle of wine or whatever to Lolita. Has anyone ever had dessert there? I've heard they make good desserts, but with Capogiro right across the street I've never been able to find out.. Have to disagree about Next. I was there when they first opened, it was just slightly above-average. I had a salad with steak on it, the beef was about half fat. Maybe it's improved since then. I did like the individual french presses that our coffee was served in.

I've been there twice, once for the preview night and then again about a month later. The salads are all good, the apps and entrees are hit or miss. I had a vegetable 'pot pie' on my second visit that was not a pot pie by any means, but a bowl of below-average vegetable soup with a biscuit on top. I did have an arctic char/lentil dish that was pretty good. In my two visits there, nothing I had knocked my socks off. The TV (Totally Vegetarian) dinners are good, as well as reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the wine. All the glasses I tried were great, but the portions are *ridiculously* small. Normally I can get through a split appetizer and an entree with one glass of wine, at Farmicia I had to get two, and I was really making those last. I hate to sound like a cheapskate, but with so many great BYOs around, the wine portions are reason enough for me not to go back there. Desserts are OK, but nothing spectacular. In all, I would rather go back to Bistro 7, a BYO a block north of Farmicia, which also happens to be run by an ex-White Dog chef.

Went to Bistro 7 for dinner last night, Saturday 2/26. Some thoughts: Atmosphere: We were seated at the rearmost table in the place, right next to the bathroom door. So close, in fact, that the toilet was about 10 feet away from us, with a direct line of sight. Not something I want to look at every time another diner goes to the john. The lighting back there was also not good: ambient light in the place is way too dark, but the kitchen was right there, so we were flooded with light from there. We asked to be moved to another table and the server obliged, so no harm done. If you go, ask to sit closer to the front of the restaurant. The menu changes once a week. At the time of our visit, they had been open for about 3 weeks, I think. Apps: I had gnocchi and butternut squash, my friend had a salad with heirloom apples and walnuts. The gnocchi were not among the best I've ever had, they could have used more salt, but their texture was right, and the accompanying butternut squash was much better than I was expecting. Overall, not as good as another gnocchi dish I had recently, the venison gnocchi at Verge, but better than most. Entrees: Duck for me, some flaky white fish for my friend (can't remember what it was, sorry). The duck was a little fattier than I would have liked, but duck is a fatty bird. It was served with a black bean/citrus concoction on top that was really good at first bite, but the acidity of it got to me by the time I was half-done with the duck. Underneath was fried jasmine rice with cashews, which was a much better combination with the duck than the black beans were. I ended up pushing most of the black bean to the side and finishing the duck with the rice. I was a big fan of the chef's duck dish at his previous restaurant, the White Dog Cafe, and this dish was not quite as good as that one. I only had a little bite of the white fish, which was served atop mashed potatoes. I don't really get excited about white fish as a rule, and this one was no exception. The mashed potatoes were excellent, though. For dessert, we split the jasmine coconut rice pudding and the cheese plate. The pudding could have used some cardamom or something to spice it up a bit, but it was good. The cheese plate, though, that was spectacular. For $12 we got 4 very nice size portions of cheese that couldn't have cost much less than $10 at the Reading Terminal cheese shop, which is where they came from (we asked). The king of the plate was the Cashel Blue, holy cow was that good. For a place that's been open less than a month, Bistro 7 is really promising. I'd go back there before I'd go back to Farmicia, a block down the street. I just hope they have the lights turned up by then.

I have to get over there too. I was at the White Dog recently and it wasn't as good as it was on my previous visit, and the next day I found out why: O'Halloran wasn't there any more. Seems like he and Kevin Klause are starting up a little ex-White Dog enclave over there in old city...

I have to respectfully disagree. I think their hoagies are just ok. Same ballpark as Wawa. Maybe I got the "just as good as Sarcone's bread" (yeah right). I also think Hatfield meats aren't as good as D&W. On top of that there are the insulting names for some of the sandwiches. I wouldn't put much cred into Philadelphia magazine's "best of" either. ← I have to respectfully agree with your respectful disagreement. Planet Hoagie is doing their best to imitate Primo Hoagies, even down to the stereotypical mob-related sandwich names, and they fail miserably. They also failed to get my order right on the two visits I've had there: the first time I ordered a dry hoagie, it came with oil. The second time I ordered one without red peppers, it came with them. There won't be a third time. Primo's makes the best hoagies I've had in the city, but I have noticed that the sandwiches at their Ritner St. location are better than the ones at their Chestnut St. shop.

I am new to Egullet, one of the reasons I signed up was for the EGCI classes. Anyway, I use a lot of College Inn chicken stock during the wintertime for soupmaking and am going to try making my own, but one thing I didn't see mentioned in this segment is the ratio of chicken parts to the other ingredients. What's a good starting point for total weight of the chicken compared to total weight of the aromatics?

There is a great Japanese restaurant on Rte. 3 in Newtown Square called Teikoku: http://www.teikokurestaurant.com/ It's run by the same people who run the Mikado and Thai Pepper restaurants. The building itself is cool enough to warrant a drink at the bar. Their sushi is fantastic, even better than my previous favorite, Kisso (4th and Race in Philly). It can get a little pricey if you go all-out, but it's perfect for sushi and a beer (or sake, they have a big sake list) before a movie at the nearby theater.

The Number Nine is their only good beer, in my opinion. As others have said, if they spent as much time brewing as they do marketing and creating swirly logos, they could probably do better.

Just over the PA/DE border, off I-95 in Delaware, is a Total Wine & More. They sell individual bottles of a lot of different stuff, you can mix and match a 6-pack, case, or whatever. They carry at least a hundred different beers, as well as many 750ml bottles. The Foodery, at 10th and Pine streets in center city Philly, is also a great place. Everything there is refrigerated, so you can try them right away if you're going out to dinner at a BYO. They are also the only place I know of in the city where you can buy individual bottles.