Buckethead

you will get the menu in advance. ← and it will have wine pairing suggestions on it, if you'd rather not trust yourself. I followed their suggestions, all worked out nicely. I'm pretty sure they work with one of the Moore Brothers on the wine recs.

I've been there a couple times now, it's great. I still have fond memories of the two or three meals I had at the old Meze at 9th and Catherine (I think? It's Pat Bombino's now), the chef there is the guy who now runs Kanella.

I agree with Apothecary and Southwark, I'd add Xochitl to the list if you like tequila. They make some great cocktails but nearly all of them (or all of them, I haven't been there in a while) are tequila-based.

This sounds great. I don't know anything about what Solomonov was doing at Marigold, but it seems that there is a consensus that it was good, if not great. This "Quarter Kitchen" is only offered on Thursdays? So, it's different than the "Mesibah" ("Party Time") menu offered for $50 p/person in the lower right hand corner of the regular menu (I'm assuming this is something of a family-style eating?)? I love Israeli food. Their regular menu looks great as it is. ← I've been to Marigold under Michael's tenure a few times, and I've been to Zahav a few times, and I have to say that I like the food he's making at Zahav much better. I would skip the Thursday night dinner and just go to Zahav and order off the regular menu. The 'party time' (which I haven't done there yet) is part of the regular Zahav menu, not the same thing as the tasting menu in the private room. James has been a disappointment on each of my two visits, though on the second visit I was just eating the canapes at the bar.

It's too late, but the Palace at the Ben is good and not too far from there.

Found it on foobooz: http://foobooz.com/2008/04/bells-at-sptr/ I couldn't believe it either, the logistics of swapping ten kegs in for one night seems like a problem, unless they just plan to offer those ten drafts until they're kicked. I guess there's only one way to find out, though..

I had the boar burger (with boar bacon), it was pretty good but by the time I was halfway done I had had enough pig for the evening. The fries, which are pretty important to a burger-based meal, were definitely available in your grocer's freezer. I actually think better fries would have allowed me to finish the burger: I stopped eating the fries because they sucked, and therefore I didn't have anything to break up the unrelenting onslaught of strong pig flavor in the burger. The churros were much better than I was expecting. When I was there they were serving bear meat in a dish or two, someone else there had a bear salad and didn't seem thrilled by it. I don't see any bear on the menu that's on their website right now. Their beer selection is really great, and inexpensive! They're charging less for the same quality of beers than similar places mere blocks away. They're actually doing something tomorrow (Thursday May 1) that illustrates this point: they're going to have ten beers from Bell's on draft for $3 each. I'd say as far as the food goes, it's better than 1601, the POPE, and the Cantina on my most recent visit , but not as good as many of my past visits to the Cantina.

Ansill is still fantastic, I was just there a couple days ago and everything was stellar. So are the Good Dog and Southwark. 1601 has taken a steep nosedive in quality recently, I wouldn't go there. The Cantina is also not as good as it used to be, but it's still decent depending on what you order.

Looks like Arbol is getting much more attention: http://consumerist.com/380248/philadelphia...-for-themselves

Ansill would be my choice, though it's not in Center City exactly.

We do the Red Earth Farm CSA. They let you choose what will be in your box each week (within the limits of what's being harvested that week), so you have some say in what you'll be cooking. Cooking all of it can be a pain once in a while, but last season (which was our first in a CSA), we found a few great recipes that freeze well and aren't terribly time-consuming, so if we don't feel like trying something new with our kale or whatever we have a way to put it up for future use.

I had the flammenkuche a while back and had the same experience. It seemed to me that the people working there didn't really care about what they were doing, the toppings were lopsided and the crust was underdone. I liked it, though, probably because the owners obviously care about pizza even if the young hipsters who made it don't. Getting them to pay any attention to us at all (to be seated, get our order taken, get more beers, get our check) was a chore. I did ask about the desserts, they were far and away the best part of my visit. I was told that the vegetarian/vegan ones all come from the nearby Satellite Cafe.

Thanks for the review, philadining. My wife and I had planned to attend but had to cancel due to illness. I have to confess that the $150/person price tag (plus wine!) made it quite a bit easier to do so. Value is something I consider very important to the dining equation, if I don't feel I'm getting my money's worth I can get pretty bent out of shape. Good food goes most of the way towards fulfilling that, and Shola's food is of course the reason we planned to go, but if you are paying $150 pp before wine (I presume tax/tip was included?), you shouldn't have to wait around for a server to notice you. If you were contemplating getting up to track someone down, the service failed you IMO. The lack of wine pairings also made it a bit easier to cancel our reservation. I guess it's due to Blackfish's BYO status, but we went to Shola's dinner at Snackbar a while back, and at Restaurant M before that and those were much more affordable than this one, incredibly delicious, and came with wine pairings. We love wine and all, but we don't have the knowledge to pair a different wine with each course, or the money to spend on five or six bottles to accompany one meal, which is what it would have taken to approximate the same experience as the Snackbar or M dinners, and the Blackfish dinner cost more than either of those! Also, when I made the reservation originally they told me it was a 'wine dinner', which I took to mean that wine would be served. When we called to confirm the reservation a couple days beforehand, we were told that wasn't the case, so we felt a little baited-and-switched. Anyway, from your photos and yours and sundownyellowmoon's descriptions, it sounds like Shola definitely held up his end. I'm sorry I missed that pork belly.

See, I don't think that's a fair comparison. If you want really authentic Indian, then Tiffin is mos' def the way to go. Bindi:Indian cuisine as Lolita:Mexican cuisine. It's not meant to be authentic. It's an interpretation of a cuisine by an American chef. It's good for what it is and is trying to be. It's not trying to be Tiffin. A more balanced statement would be if you enjoy Mexican cuisine and like Lolita, you will enjoy Tiffin if you like Indian food. ← I agree with that for the most part, Bindi's approach to Indian is definitely the same as Lolita's approach to Mexican. I just feel that Bindi is not as successful at it, or maybe Indian food doesn't lend itself to that interpretation as well as Mexican does, or maybe they just need more practice. When I went there I knew what it was supposed to be and was expecting to like it on those terms, but what ended up happening is that the flavors didn't impress, they just reminded me how much I like good Indian food, and that what Bindi was serving wasn't it. That never happened to me at Lolita, I like their food for what it is and I like Los Taquitos de Puebla and Plaza Garibaldi for what they are. I didn't get that at Bindi, it just seemed like Indian food that had been dialed down for a wider audience. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I know a lot of people don't like Indian food because the spices and flavors are so bold. If liking Bindi may eventually lead those people to try Tiffin, I'm all for that.

I've been to Bindi and I agree, the apps were much better than the entrees. The lamb entree in particular (lamb shank, if I remember correctly) was a letdown. The other thing is that you shouldn't be expecting Indian food. It's Indian-ish. The food's good, but after my meal I really just wished I'd gone to Tiffin instead.

Paradiso on east Passyunk springs to mind, the atmosphere is nice, food is good, they're open at lunchtime and it's not much further up Broad than Scannicchio's.

Er, OK, I didn't get a fried sage leaf either. I do as well, but if we're getting the 'fairly focused attention of a celebrated chef', shouldn't all the veal dishes come out with the fried sage leaf and the gremolata on them, and with the sweetbreads crispy on the outside (for example)? Those things make me wonder what else was different that I can't pick out from looking at everyone's pictures. My only basis for comparison really is Shola's guest chef dinner at Snackbar a while back, which was better IMO. I missed Michael Solomonov's gig.

Personally I was a little disappointed with the meal. Everything was decent, but nothing wowed me. I think for $150, something ought to. I did really like the arancini, and the wine served with it. I was particularly disappointed with the veal cheek dish, it sounded really good on the menu but mine was a bit underseasoned, and the sweetbreads were crusted with an unpleasantly soggy outside. From your pics, it looks like mine was also missing the gremolata. Everything else was just OK. Afterwards I wished that I had just gone to Osteria or Ansill (or Vetri, which I've never been to) and saved my pennies for another time. I will say that the wine and beer pairings were excellent, especially the first one (with the arancini).

There is, it's the glazed donut at Frangelli's, 9th and Ritner. Also, I believe we are no longer America's fattest city, though we're still up there..

I'd say the presence of Positano Coast on the list and the absence of Horizons is plenty to invalidate the whole thing. Nothing against Positano, it's OK, but top 50? Above Tinto? And Horizons a no-show?

The po-boy is described on the menu only as 'mushroom po boy' with rabe and goat cheese. From the two dishes we got that had mushrooms in them, it's obvious that someone in the kitchen cares about mushrooms, so I'd expect the po-boy to keep that up. Does a po-boy traditionally consist of fried stuff inside? My only experience with them is from the old Gumbo Shoppe in Aston, they had fried and non-fried po-boys there. There was no horseradish with my beef on wick, Philadining, so if you had to ask them for it and I didn't get any either, I'm not sure what the deal is. The menu says it should be there. Is it supposed to be part of the jus they give you for dipping? I didn't really miss it, I was so impressed with the fries and the sandwich as is (and the biscuits!)

I went the other night and was impressed, it was much better than I was expecting. We started with the turkey consomme, made from broth that had obviously been tended with much more care than I tend my own, it was not cloudy at all. The venison chili was also good, though it could have used a bit more venison and a bit less of its accompaniments. Of course I had to get the beef on wick. I had never heard of it before this thread so I can't say whether the Ugly American's version is true to the original, but it was a damn good sandwich. The kummelweck roll was studded with caraway seeds, but I didn't see any of the giant salt grains that are also supposedly traditional. Anyway, it was great, and they serve it with some of the best fries I've had since the Black Door closed. We also tried the vegetarian spaghetti and meatballs, which were also much better than expected. The 'meatballs' were a delicious blend of wild mushrooms, nicely complemented by the black truffle sauce, which (thankfully) lacked the overpowering flavor you sometimes get when a chef is a little too generous with the truffle oil. I suppose it's also possible they were using actual truffles. The 'spaghetti' is barely-cooked julienned veggies, also very well done. The whole dish was just really well thought-out, something which is often lacking in the token veggie entree at some other otherwise meat-centric restaurants. Next time I think we'll try the mushroom po-boy. It was somewhere in between apps and entrees that we finally got a basket of bread, and I didn't bother pulling back the napkin until I had started the beef on wick. I nearly yelped out loud when I opened the basket to reveal biscuits! I love biscuits, and it's damn near impossible to find a place that serves good ones, even for breakfast. Getting them without even asking, I felt like someone there feels the way I do about biscuits. Unfortunately I didn't get them in time to soak up the consomme. The only slight letdown was dessert, but I'm tough on desserts. Usually when I get something chocolatey for dessert I end up just wishing I'd eaten a hunk of good chocolate, and that's what I thought after this one, a brownie with peanut butter ice cream and banana sauce. The peanut butter ice cream was excellent, if they served that all by itself that would be fine with me. Unfortunately the brownie it was served on wasn't up to the same standard, it was pretty dry. I like a nice 50/50 fudgy/cakey texture in a brownie, this one was 75/25 cakey/chalky. Service was friendly, a little slow but not so bad that it was an issue with our meal. I think they may just be overwhelmed at the crowds they're getting: we waited about 20 minutes for a table and we got there late, around 9:15 or so if I remember correctly, though it was Friday night. Oh, there was one thing that kind of sucked, but they are supposedly going to fix in the very near future: there are no beers on draft. Only bottles. The bottles are good ones (Rogue Dead Guy, Troeg's Nut Brown, among others), but with the food they're serving, there have to be beers flowing freely from taps. As Philadining said, the wine list is kind of an afterthought, only a few reds and whites available by the glass, but we had a couple of the reds and they were good for the price.

Me too. I only had one meal at Django before Brian and Aimee left, it was very good but I remember eating at Southwark a couple times then and liking Southwark better. You have to remember that the scarcity of reservations at TT is mainly due to the fact that it's not a normal restaurant: only ten people (or is it twelve?) can eat there *per night*. Django was a small BYO, but they had way more capacity than that, and could turn over tables a couple times a night. I'm not in the restaurant biz so I don't know approximately how many diners a place Django's size would serve on a busy night, but say they had 40 seats in the place and turned them over twice, they would be able to serve 120 people per night at full capacity. It would take two weeks for the same crowd to all have dinner at Talula's. That year of booked dinners only represents 3600 diners.

I've seen the DTs on tap elsewhere. My experience at Zot was not that great, and the servers were part of the problem. Maybe it was amateur night when I was there but they were mispronouncing wines, beers, and dishes left and right and the servers looked barely old enough to drink, let alone recommend a beer pairing. I had the kangaroo steak, which was pretty good. Other people at my table had the mussels, which were sandy and bland. The fries were also just passable. I think that for the limited menu they have there (basically just mussels, the meats, and the sauces for the meats), everything on it should be excellent. It definitely wasn't. This was quite a few months ago, maybe it's improved since then but there are so many great places in that area I don't think I'll get back to Zot for a long time. I will say that the beer list is good, and the room is very comfortable. If I were going out somewhere else in the area I'd certainly go to Zot for a couple beers first.

Artisan Boulanger (I presume that's who you mean, they're at 12th and Morris) is still open, and the baguettes are as great as ever. Especially the sourdough, yum.. When is the last day for the Headhouse market?