VictorFiorillo

Anyone have any brunch/breakfast favorites near Norristown or Phoenixville, other than the Black Lab (are they still doing brunch?)... this is for tomorrow (sunday)

Maybe it's just wrong place, wrong time, but I just left Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries (the new one, 1527 Chestnut), where I witnessed another behind-the-counter melee, this one featuring one very large cashier and one very small cashier both of whom were threatening each other with all sorts of mean things. The word "bitch" was uttered several times. The large cashier punched the small cashier, who left the floor. As twenty or so people wondered what would happen to the food orders they placed long ago, the manager told the puncher to go home, that she is not "permitted to punch another employee while on the floor". The fight was over the fact that the little cashier opened the drawer of the large cashier, which seems like a pretty good reason to me to fight. Holly, have you tried THEIR burgers/dogs yet?

Katie/Holly... Overall, I couldn't complain about the food (except for the price, since only so-called "Kobe" dogs were available at my visit)... but the service was absolutely abysmal. From cooks fighting with eachother to cooks fighting with clerks to clerks fighting with customers to customers fighting with customers. What a bad vibe. And I really wasn't pleased when I saw the cook drop my warmed dog onto a cold, raw beef pattie, then pick it up and place it on the bun. I commented about the chaos to the cashier and she said, "This is nuthin'"

uh, because New York's cost of living is higher than Philadelphia's.

Maybe we need an Egullet bus trip to Jing Fong in New York.

My post was simply meant to comment on the fact that there exists a takeout place in Philadelphia where you can spend more than $10 on a hot dog and fries, without even worrying about a drink. Not to comment specifically on the food. I'll leave that to you, Holly.

I just paid over $10 for a chili dog and 12oz paper cup full of fries at the new Bootsie's on 19th Street.

Yeah people, I'm all for critiquing Philly Mag, but sheesh... Whether or not Zoey said "gelatin", which she didn't, someone at Forbes (copy, fact-checker, editor) should have caught this.

For those in Jersey and the Northern suburbs, for whom Exton might be in the wrong direction, Vasanta Bhavan in Hamilton, NJ is my current favorite for South Indian (other than my South Indian mother in law's house). Here is a NY Times piece on the restaurant... http://events.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/trave...045fd50&ei=5070 And down the street is Hot Breads, which serves chicken tikka croissants and masala cookies. Re: Vasanta Bhavan, I went prior to reading the article and ordered the eggplant dish referenced in the piece. I found that it did not taste anything like eggplant. It was completely overpowered by onion. I said something to our waiter, who went back and conferred with the chef. A few minutes later, the owner brought the NY Times review to the table and pointed out to me that the Times loved his eggplant so how couldn't I? All these places are 30m-1hr from me, so I really can't wait until someone opens a South Indian place close to city center.

Our report came down just because we relaunched the website this morning. The original Excel file provided by the city (and sortable by zip code, establishment type, etc) is here... http://www.phillymag.com/articles/food_protection_report

Sorry for the multiple, consecutive posts. I also wanted to add that we pulled the original report from our website as soon as we realized there was a problem - the week before Starr contacted us.

Holly, thanks for the question. I agree with Sfuffy's assessment.

The Philadelphia magazine website has been updated. http://www.phillymag.com And to be clear, this web extra relates to an item I wrote in the current issue of the magazine about the difficulty in obtaining supposedly public information, in this case, health reports. Today, the city decided to make the health reports very public, by posting them on the phila.gov website. (Too bad they didn't do that months ago when I started looking into the matter) But the report that we have posted is easier to use, since the city published a series of pdfs and we have updated our site with the actual excel file the city sent us. so you can take this and sort it by zip code, violation, alphabetically, whatever you want.

I would say it's a pretty safe bet that if a restaurant is not on this report, either they were never inspected during the time period (which should not be the case) or they are not recorded by the health department as having received "critical violations".

Hi, I just wanted to provide some clarity. The document published on the web site is a report generated by the Health Department of all restaurants in Philadelphia inspected in 2005 (and the first part of 06) that had "critical violations" (a term they use).

can anyone suggest restaurants in the studio city area of L.A.? someone at my hotel just said, good luck... any suggestions, no matter the type, price range, ethnicity, appreciated.

trent, aren't your cheeses on the menu at Majolica???

Anyone been to Sansom Kabob House lately?

Made it to Aromatic last night. You are right, the hummus is fab. There was also an excellent eggplant appetizer but not baba ganoush that we had a sample of... But the falafel had such an off-flavor that we could not eat it, even if we wanted to. One of my companions said they tasted old and refried. I feel like the batter was compromised. As for the kebabs, they were fine but not spiced enough for our liking, and the lamb was a bit too lamby for some of my companions. Kabobeesh is a much better value.

Appreciate the feedback. Just to clarify, we did hit best martini, as well as some of the other categories that you mention.

Kabobeesh @ 42nd & Chestnut has never failed me. Avoid the fish. Can't speak for the Temple location.

Check the April 2004 issue of Saveur.

Ali, you beautiful cad. Shouldn't you mention that you are doing PR for them???

So I appreciate the fact that I can get all sorts of foods here that I couldn't get 10 years ago, but after a long weekend in Chinatown NYC, I'm wondering, is there no restaurant here serving those mysterious soup dumplings, the kind where you cut into them and soup spills out? I believe the secret is in an aspic inside the dumpling which dissolves into "soup" when cooked. They are all over New York, and I know that our "Chinatown" pales in comparison, but please, someone, tell me that there ARE soup dumplings here.

Allen & Son sounds like a good bet. I don't think I've ever had Carolina style barbecue, so I'd like to find the place that offers the best example, whether high or low end. But something tells me that the place serving the $100 pulled pork sandwich ain't as good as the little trailer to the side of the road with the big sign that reads "PORK HERE!" Other than that, my only goal is to pick up some boiled nuts for my wife. thanks for the advice