Buckethead

The menu for the upcoming Blackfish dinner has been posted on the SK Facebook group: Chantenay Carrot Soup Miso-Applesauce Aromatic Milk Vadouvan Hiramasa Spicy Yuzu Glaze Peanut-Cauliflower Sea Beans Curry Leaf Brown Butter Veal Breast and Sausage Celeriac-Apple Puree Black Trumpet Mushrooms Hazelnut-Sherry Jus Goat’s Milk Yoghurt Sorbet Berries . Elderflower Jelly Yoghurt Powder I don't suppose any of our resident wine experts can recommend a bottle of wine (or two) to accompany this? The last Shola dinner I went to was at Snackbar, where all the wines were hand-picked for us, so I'm kinda lost here..

I have no experience with restaurant.com one way or the other, buy have read some pretty bad stories about them, from them selling GCs to restaurants without the restaurant's knowledge, restaurants not accepting them, and the company billing customers monthly for no reason (stealing, in other words): http://consumerist.com/5159826/help-this-r...urantcom-coupon http://consumerist.com/5141188/buy-a-gift-...monthly-service http://consumerist.com/201324/restaurantcom-leaves-us-hungry

Ekta is now my favorite Indian in the city and they deliver to where I live (south Philly), which Tiffin does not. Of course, the fact that they deliver may be part of the reason they're my favorite...

Never say never, Shola has a guest chef gig coming up next month at Blackfish: http://www.phoodie.info/2009/02/12/shola-t...one-night-only/

Table 31 is definitely expensive, but I've had some really lackluster food there, if food is your #1 criteria and wine #2 I think you will be disappointed there. I'd go to Vetri. I usually order wine by the glass, so I can't say for sure, but my recollection of Vetri's wine list is that it's at least as big as Table 31's. OK, I just checked Vetri's website and found this about Jeff Benjamin, the sommelier: "Jeff has also expanded Vetri’s wine cellar from a 60-bottle starter list to its current stable of more than 500 labels and 5,000 bottles."

It's not good anymore, the husband-and-wife chef and pastry chef (respectively) left the UA a while ago. I heard the chef went to Bar Ferdinand. I made the unfortunate mistake of eating brunch there soon after they left (November last year), it was terrible, and there were no biscuits. I have heard that they re-hired the pastry chef, which seems unlikely to me. I haven't been back since November to verify that. I had brunch at Cafe Estelle recently, that was very good. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere though.

Shola's blog isn't down, but it is now password-protected. Perhaps he'll reconsider. The next-to-last post I read on it detailed a mildly critical comment he got from a reader, and his response to it, and then the last post said that he was going to make the blog available by invitation only. Apparently if you were getting the RSS feed you should get the password, I wasn't so I didn't.

It kind of depends on the value of the GC. If it's big, I'd go to Barclay Prime or Buddakan. If it's not so big, I'd go to Parc. I would not go to Alma de Cuba, Jones, or Pod.

The crowd depends on the time of day, at least it has when I've been there. I went once at 3 PM and there were only 2 other people there. Closer to noon, all the seats are full and there are people waiting. You can call ahead and order what you want for pickup and they'll set it aside for you, their weekly menu is on their website. They may already be out of things though, on my most recent visit Don said that someone had come in before noon that day and bought every single bread pudding they had on hand.

I saw in Michael Klein's column today that Dominique Filoni has left Parc. No word on why.

Well, I went back to the Ugly American for brunch this morning. I was really looking forward to the sausage biscuits and gravy, which I had there a month or so ago. Much to my dismay, I learned that the chef and pastry chef are no longer there. There are no biscuits, no sausage biscuits and gravy, none of the lovely brunch items that I looked forward to trying on future visits. We got a couple breakfasts consisting of eggs, english muffin, home fries, and meat. Both orders of eggs were overcooked, one strip of bacon out of three was pretty much blackened, and the coffee and home fries were nothing to write home about. They may still be in-between chefs, I guess. The garbage plate and beef on wick were on the brunch menu, though the latter was listed as 'roast beef sandwich' for some reason, maybe they no longer have the kummelweck rolls because the baker left? Anyway, stay away from the UA for a while. I don't suppose anyone knows where the original chef and pastry chef went?

Los Taquitos de Puebla is definitely my favorite tacqueria in the city, but if you'd like to try another, Tacqueria Veracruzana is nearby, on Washington just west of 9th (I think), but nothing there is quite as good as the tacos al pastor at Puebla. There's also Las Bugambilias, which is run by the old chef at Tequila's, and of course Jose Garces' new place, Distrito, in University City.

OK he's back! http://studiokitchen.typepad.com/ Carry on...

Anyone know what Shola is up to these days? His studiokitchen blog has been inaccessible for the past month or so. Phoodie.info did an interview with him in July and he mentioned a couple upcoming guest chef gigs (one at Blackfish, one at Tiffin), but as far as I know neither has actually taken place.

It entails pork belly: http://www.phoodie.info/2008/09/15/pub-and...bit-perfection/ There's a menu here, though it may be slightly different now: http://foobooz.com/2008/09/pub-kitchen-is-coming/

I liked the batter on the onion rings (as you say, it's very much like tempura) but they were a bit underseasoned in my case. But those vinegar potato crisps are awesome! So is the Windsor burger, it's up there with Good Dog as one of the best in the city. Did you get that one or the other one? I love the space, very comfortable and inviting.

I've been to the upstairs and downstairs parts of Maia, the downstairs (the bistro part) would be good for this, especially since it's right near where you're staying. I think they have a private room upstairs but the prices up there are not inexpensive. It would probably help if you could define 'inexpensive'. Their menu is on Menupages here, but the prices look off to me, I've had the kobe pastrami and the burger and I don't remember them being $14. My memory could be faulty though, or the price could have gone up since I was there. Oh, and the food is good. I wasn't a big fan of the things I ate in the upstairs restaurant, but the bistro is nice, and more reasonably priced. There are some photos of the food and the interior at David McDuff's blog.

I visited Phileo a few days ago, they actually have Pinkberry-style tart fro-yo as well as TCBY-style sweet fro-yo. There is a wall full of soft-serve machines, maybe six machines with two flavors in each machine. There were more sweet flavors than tart ones, maybe 8 sweet and 4 tart. If I remember correctly the 4 tart flavors were taro, strawberry, mango, and plain. I tried the chocolate, and the tart strawberry and mango. I didn't like their tart flavors all that much, but I don't really like Pinkberry's either, so there you go. The chocolate was decent, I'd go back and try a few other sweet flavors. I don't recall there being any fresh mango on the toppings bar, mostly it was crumbled candy bars, chocolate chips, coconut, sprinkles, stuff like that. They did have mochi nuggets and some kind of red bean paste, though.

Pinkberry and Phileo (though I haven't been to Phileo) serve frozen yogurt that is tangy, rather than sweet like TCBY's.

Uhh, I wasn't aware that there *was* more than one version of the mac and cheese, the menu board advertised the version with tasso, and there was a piece of paper taped up which said something like 'try the crispy mac and cheese'. My friend just ordered 'crispy mac and cheese', so I'm not sure which version he got. Based on what I tasted it was probably the corn and bacon version, but I only had a couple small bites, so if there was crab or andouille in there I could have missed them. Now I have to go back on Friday and get the brisket po-boy!

I stopped by here for lunch today, it was really good. The smoked brisket po-boy was still on the menu, I heard the guys behind the counter say it was their specialty a couple times, so it seems like it may be a regular menu item now (though it wasn't listed on the permanent menu board). Unfortunately I didn't really read this thread before I went, so I didn't get it, but my jambalaya and alligator po-boy were both great. My lunch companion got the crispy (fried) mac and cheese, which was also delicious. I've had a few fried macs and cheese over the years; usually there's not much to them underneath the fried exterior. That was not the case with this one, I would happily order it again even without it being deep-fried. They also gave us a taste of the gumbo special of the day: smoked duck. A little too smoky for my taste, but good. We sat at the counter and I witnessed a couple other people ask for and receive samples of the gumbo or other specials, so if you go and can't make up your mind, ask for a taste. I had my eye on the beignets too, but ended up going around the corner to the Greek place for baklava and flogeres instead.

I think it's more likely they're just having adjustment problems with the different pace of an a la carte meal vs. a prix fixe. I don't know what the turnover is like there for waitstaff, but if you've spent 5 years serving customers a set prix fixe and then you have to switch to serving some customers a la carte, I imagine it may take some getting used to. I've been there once since the changeover and the food was fantastic, though there were a few service problems. Of course, that was only the second time in my life I've been there, so I don't have much to compare it to. Maybe, but hasn't that been said a few times before?

I don't think it's the Xochitl "people" (who are also the Marigold and Zahav "people") but the chef there and some of his family members. The sign has already said Paxia for a couple of weeks, at least. ← Paxia has been open for a month or so. I don't know anyone who's been there yet, though. I tried to check it out one day but they are closed on Tuesdays, which I wasn't expecting. Tried Distrito recently too, the food and service were both excellent, some dishes (the bone marrow, for example) were noticeably inferior to others though. The hamachi ceviche was incredibly good, so were the carnitas tacos (though the tortillas are way too small to actually eat them like a taco). I'm not sold on the pink-on-pink interior of the place yet, but it's certainly much different than the atmosphere at Amada or Tinto. I'll have to try that jicama salad next time..

Kanella is absolutely worth the trip.

I was there a while ago and had a passable meal, but the high prices were out of whack with the food. I had the burger, and for $18 or whatever it was, I felt like I had been ripped off. The burger itself was not seasoned properly, and the fries were terrible. Perhaps I shouldn't have ordered the burger at a fine-dining establishment, but if they're putting it on the menu, and charging $18 for it, it has to be great, and I've had better burgers and fries at Five Guys, not to mention the Good Dog, which is right around the corner. As Katie mentioned, the drink prices are especially egregious. With all the other great (and less expensive) restaurants in that area, I doubt I'll be going back.