philadining

Although I'm a big fan of Wegmans, and am thrilled to have this new store open near me, I have generally found their prepared food to be less than thrilling. I've found that to be true even at their showcase store in Pittsford, NY (although I have not eaten at the full-service restaurant there called Tastings.) The prepared stuff to go is generally not bad, but I rarely find myself craving anything from their kitchens. I even find most of the items on the Asian and Indian buffets to be kind of clunky - too sweet or salty, or over-thickened, or all those things at once - which is kind of surprising, given the effort they seem to put into it. That said, they seem to do huge business in the buffets and the prepared, or semi-prepared, meal-to-go sector, so I guess enough people like it. I haven't tried the Pub, but I find it very interesting that when one dines there, one is encouraged NOT to tip. They say they pay their workers a good wage, and tipping is not necessary. It'll be very interesting to see if this could be the start of a trend. I'm really happy to have a Wegman's conveniently located to me just because I think it's a great grocery store, if not an especially great take-out restaurant. The range and quality of products they offer is pretty amazing, and I've always been impressed with their customer service. While there are still some things that can only be found at the Reading Terminal, or the Asian Supermarkets on Washington Ave, or at DiBrunos, I'm always amazed that I can make one stop at a Wegman's and pick up Panko, Filé Powder, Dry-Aged Beef, exotic mushrooms, and laundry detergent, at 3am on a Wednesday in the suburbs. Plus, sometimes the bakery has Kimmelweck rolls. BTW, if you've only been to the Cherry Hill Wegman's, you really need to check this one out, it's in a whole different league. The Cherry Hill store is a little better than your average supermarket, these super mondo stores are in another orbit.

Octopus and Calamari Appetizer: Pepperoni Pizza:

This is very odd! We went back last night, and our pizzas were very nicely baked, crisp, not floppy in any way. In my perfect world, I'd have them a little more charred, but these were in the ballpark. There were a couple of changes though, that didn't appear to be random variation: the edges of the crust, the "cornicione" were much bigger, thicker, chewier than they were on opening night. This is more like conventional American pizza, and I do not like it in this context. I found myself not eating parts of the outer crust, which were just dense, chewy, rather blah. The other change, equally disappointing, was in the sausage. On opening night, the sausage had a vibrant fennel-seed kick, and a bright sweetness. Last night, the crumbled sausage had a nice enough texture, but significantly less flavor. We also tried a pepperoni pizza, which, other than the cornicione being too thick, was quite good. The pepperoni itself was very good, although I'd love it sliced a little thicker, like they used to at Lombardi's on 18th st. The star of the night might have been the octopus and squid salad, as mentioned above by professor Fenton. Ours was heavier on the squid than the octopus, but that squid was absolutely perfecty cooked, almost alarmingly tender. With its potatoes and a light dressing, it reminded me a bit of a great octopus salad that chef Painter used to serve at Tangerine. It made a great opener to the meal. I don't think I could tell from the menu that it would be cold, but I can't say I was disappointed. We had a glass of white wine, and a glass of rose, which were each good-sized pours, and appropriately chilled. Sorry, should have checked the red wine. It's a little nutty that they're having troubles keeping it at a correct temperature, that's not exactly a new scenario for a restaurant. But, as Sr. Fenton says, we should give them a break, little mom and pop start-ups like this will take a little time to sort these things out...

Interesting side-note to the discussion about comps in The Code - the specifics seem vague, but apparently the FTC has declared that bloggers MUST "clearly" disclose comps or payments from companies that are being reviewed. NY Times blurb>>

I'm guessing gfweb was talking bout Philly generally having edible pizza, although I'd be happy to hear about any highlights in that area if he (or anybody) knows of them. I do the same as you, Victor: I go to Pica's. I find their pizza very weird, and strangely addictive. I'd go more if their phone-ordering system didn't involve some weird automated tree that I can never seem to navigate, at least with my cell phone.

That's a bummer about Zeke's. But if you're in the mood for Q in that general neighborhood, check out Dante's at 48th and Lancaster.

Sorry to see you go, Greg. I liked the take you had on the traditional fish house fare, especially the snapper soup (despite any grumbling from the traditionalists.) Hope they continue with your model. Good luck with whatever's next for you.

Hmmm, maybe that's what happened: the mutant softshell that has taken over my brain is typing good reviews for itself, pretending to be Philadining's former free-will self. Sorry to hear about your injury. It's an important lesson - wings can be dangerous! Speedy recovery, I hope you can get back out and make your rounds soon, I suspect there are a lot of sandwich shop owners wondering if they have offended you in some way!

Holly, you have to stop by, they're worried about you! And yes, the crab is a little scary-looking, but it's more delicious than terrifying.

I was recently on vacation with some friends, and I wanted to make Sazeracs for them, and was intending on getting a bottle of Herbsaint for that purpose, but I was having trouble finding it, and the good old Pennsylvania State Stores happened to be offering a (small) discount on Kubler. And it occurred to me that among this crowd, eventually somebody was going to want to just drink the Absinthe, so I might as well have something decent. I don't happen to have any of the correct equipment to do a proper drip, and couldn't quite justify investing in all of that for what was likely going to be a one-off curiosity among these friends. I actually like absinthe, especially the St George, but I don't crave it often enough to need a home rig, there are bars I can go to and scratch that itch. I figured I'd improvise something if the request arose. And sure enough... it started with a guy who'd just done straight shots of some rotgut while in Europe, and was surprised to hear that it could actually be palatable, then spread to a few others who were at least curious. So we rummaged around, and found some glasses that were just about perfect, a slotted serving spoon that we could balance on the glass, and, well, it's not as pretty as those glass fountains, but hey, it got the job done! I think there may be a couple more absinthe fans now. But I converted many more folks to the cult of the Sazerac...

Take a cab? Bus? Walk? It's a pretty easily-accessible spot...

Weird! Was it very busy when you were there? It had started to slow down when we sat down, so perhaps we were observing a period of service where they had the luxury of being nudgey, and when the orders are piling-up they just need to bang them out faster. To be clear, it's not that they were tossing-out pizzas meant for us because we were watching them (although they did toss one of ours that actually looked pretty darn good to us!) we saw a fair number destined for other tables being rejected for one reason or another. It seemed that the rejection usually came after a tap-test to the bottom, so at least on opening night, they seemed interested in structural integrity of the crust. That said, one of my dining companions mentioned that one of his pizzas had a hole in it, which I hadn't noticed, so I guess even during close scrutiny, some errors get missed, or deemed acceptable. Obviously there's going to be some variation in doneness, that's just the nature of baking in an oven like that, but one hopes that it's within a relatively tight range. There have been extensive discussions on the NY eG board about how a moist center is perfectly appropriate, and very authentic in Neapolitan-style pizzas, but it seems to me that there's a limit, and especially given that Stella is slicing the pizzas in a conventional way, they don't seem to intend for any of the crust to be floppy. I can only imagine that when you were there, they were moving really fast and not checking every pizza, as we saw being done. All of them that we saw were picked-up from the edge, and a floppy, barely-done crust would have been spotted, and rejected, or at least put back in the oven for a little while. I hope that's more the norm than an exception. But we'll see... Bummer about the wine, we got decent pours, how was the temperature of yours? Thanks for the report on the lentils and sausage, there are indeed a few starters that looked good.

It's probably a little cruel to post this now, I think softshell crab season is pretty much over, so I doubt we'll see these again for a while, but just keep it in mind for next spring: whenever Cajun Kate's offers Softshell Crab PoBoys, get yourself down there and have one.

A few of us managed to squeeze into the counter at Stella on opening night. As you might expect, it was pretty busy, but they seemed to have things fairly under control. The short version - is it the greatest pizza on the planet? Well, maybe not, but it's pretty darn good! They've clearly done extensive research, and are getting the feel of the oven, even in the early days. The attention to detail was quite impressive, with chef Chris Painter's critical eye, and finger-taps, resulting in a surprising number of pies being rejected. I guess it helps that it only takes a few minutes to refire a new one in this crazy hot oven, but I really liked the fact that they were being nudgey about it, rather than sending out marginal pizzas and hoping for some understanding that it was their first night of real service. Of course there will always be debates about the right recipe for dough, how bready it should be, how soft, crisp, sour, nutty, charred, etc. But I as pretty happy with how these crusts were coming out. I've had some that had a little more oomph, like the sourdough notes that Una Pizza Napoletana used to feature, but Stella's had a nice chewiness, and a good char, and a light flakiness that I enjoyed. There was some variation from pizza to pizza, even those made only a few minutes apart, but I suppose that's part of the charm of baking in a crazy hot oven with a wood fire. A few milliseconds longer on that side before rotating, a few millimeters closer to the wall, a tiny bit longer toss up near the ceiling.. they all can make dramatic differences, even beyond the variations that can result from the particular stretch applied to one ball of dough. Similarly, there are many opinions on the correct balance of ingredients in a sauce, or how much cheese, or herbs, or other toppings to apply. Overall I thought the Stella crew did a good job. Sure, I've had sauce that happened to fit my tastebuds a little more perfectly, but who knows if that would be the same for the guy in the next chair over? Over all, I thought the ingredients were quite good, the technical pizza-making was being done at a very high level, and the quality control was very impressive. We sampled a basic Margherita, with sauce, mozzarella and Basil; a Tartufo, with Truffle Cheese, a smear of truffle paste, a sunny-side-up egg and parmesan; a Marinara, with just sauce, garlic and herbs; a Pistachio, with nuts, onion and fontina; a Sausage pizza that had good, very fennel-y crumbled sausage. There are some appetizers and salads that looked interesting, and lots more pizzas to try. Wine list is pretty small, not especially thrilling, and a little pricey, except for a perfectly serviceable house wine. I meant to try the gelato, but had another pizza instead... next time. They have olive oil gelato that looked good. Overall, really good. There's room to improve, it'll be interesting to see if they do, and if they can maintain the almost maniacal quality control they were demonstrating on the first night. A little more blather here>>

I have a hard time imagining that I would have the same opinion today, but I vividly remember a particular day when I was a child of maybe 10, staying with my grandparents. My grandfather and I both commented on how my grandmother's mashed potatoes were especially good, but she oddly seemed to get more and more annoyed as we complimented them. She finally explained that she had been in a hurry and had made instant mashed potatoes from a box, Potato Buds, or some such thing. Again, I can't believe that I'd ever prefer reconstituted industrial potato paste to real potatoes, especially ones lovingly mashed by my grandmother, but that day, they seemed pretty awesome. Maybe she'd put a lot of butter in them or something...

Wow, Al, thanks for that tip, those pizzas look pretty spectacular.

Yeah, there suddenly are a bunch of Lobster Rolls in Philly: SPTR as mentioned, also Oyster House and Village Whiskey. As for whole lobsters, I don't regularly order it myself in Philly, so I can't say what's best, but you can get a basic lobster from a tank from a few places in Chinatown. They usually chop it up and sauce it in some way, but would probably be happy to just steam it if you asked. We've had very good ones at Ken's and Xiao Guan. Buddakan has a butter-poached lobster, The Chart House has a steamed Maine Lobster, Chops, out on city line serves whole lobsters, Del Frisco's, Devon Seafood Grill, McCormick and Schmick's, Oyster House has one as part of the Clam Bake (as does Legal Seafood in King of Prussia), Savona, Smith and Wollensky, Snockey's... they're not that hard to find. And I don't know, if it's a place that gets good product and might sell a lot of them, it's not exactly rocket science to steam a lobster. It seems like the biggest difference will be freshness/storage, so if you want a good one, go to some place that sells a lot. If you really want a great one, I'm with Bob, go to Maine...

Dropped in at the Dosa Hut recently. I really like this place, but sadly haven't been in that neighborhood all that much recently (2864, Ridge Pike, Eagleville - between Collegeville and Norristown) I might have to change that, because I really enjoyed my food. I started with Onion Pakora, Who doesn't like fried onions? These had a great crunch, and a nice edge of spice from the occasional slice of chili pepper lurking among the onions. (Sorry about the photo quality, I only had my iPhone with me... ) Then a "Sandwich Dosa" which was filled with peppers, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. This was really good - excellent crispness to the dosa, and the filling, although maybe a little heavy on the onion, was very tasty. It came with coconut chutney, tomato chutney and a cup of sambal. This was WAY bigger than it looked, I couldn't quite finish it, but I look forward to ordering another one soon. Service was very friendly, if a little slow. As always, there seemed to be a lot of workers around that it wasn't clear what they were doing, they were mostly hanging out in the kitchen, but hey, maybe they're there for the random spike in traffic. Although the seating area has expanded, and the interior looks better than when they opened, it's still super-casual: the food's on styrofoam plates, beverages in disposable cups. A couple came in while I was eating, sat down near me, and when the waiter dropped off a pitcher of water and two styrofoam cups, they seemed shocked, said something to each other about that being a bad sign, and got up and left. I wish I'd thought to tell them that, no, it's a GOOD sign! This place is an unpretentious Dosa Hut, like a roadside stand, it's serving snacks and dosas and some basic entrees, it's more stylistically like a diner or burger joint than like a formal restaurant. Thankfully, fancy tableware doesn't correlate with the tastiness of the food! www.dosahutchathouse.com

I finally managed to find myself in the Gateway shopping center, and hungry, and I must thank Percy for the heads-up on Kebab Cafe. It looks a little fast-foody, and indeed there's only counter service, but the food seems to be made freshly to order, at least mine was. More important, it was quite good. I'm by no means an expert, but I've had a bit of Persian food, and this seemed quite authentic, if a bit limited in range. The meat's Halal, if you care... I tried the Kebab Golpaygani, which had spiced ground meat layered on top of thin sliced filet mignon. Tender, tasty, nicely grilled, accompanied by good rice, what more do you want? That was the most expensive kebab, at $15, which seemed fair to me for what it was. While I was waiting, the manager gave me a small sample of Koreshte Goosht, which is a stewy concoction of ground beef, rice potatoes and vegetables. It was very good, I can really picture enjoying a big bowl of that, especially in the winter. Looking forward to trying all the kebabs. Happy to have Persian food closer to me than Lafayette Hill or Old City. And it's nice to have an alternative to 5 Guys Burgers if you're in that area and feeling like a quick dose of grilled meat... (BTW, why does 5 Guys still have a crappy-looking fabric banner rather than a real sign. How long have they been there?)

It was about $80 before tip (for two of us) but I'm not at all sure how much of that was two glasses of Sochu. I thought the prices were very reasonable.

If you have the opportunity to trade some emails with the other attendees, I highly recommend doing at least a little coordinating, so you don't end up with 12 bottles of the same wine... I'm not sure you need to get super hung-up on making perfect matches, that's always a challenge with Shola's food! But if you can cover a range so you have some options to play with, everyone will be happier. And yes, Chardonnays will probably work well with a few of those courses, German whites, like Rieslings and Gewurtzes will go nicely early in that menu too, like with the soup and/or the uni. Head more toward Chardonnay with the polenta and the scallops. Pinot Noir, especially French Burgundies are pretty versatile for later on, maybe a Syrah/Shiraz with the lamb, something sweet for the last couple courses. Looks like a great menu, wish I could make it. Please report back!

I can't speak from direct experience, but a good friend of mine often mentions having an excellent meal at K-Paul's sometime in the last couple of years, I forget exactly when... This friend visits New Orleans often, has eaten seemingly everywhere in the city, and has guided me to great restaurants when I've been there. So K-Paul's has been on my list to try, I just haven't gotten around to it. Of course that's relatively flimsy testimony compared to locals who have been there more recently and/or regularly and didn't care for it. If it's more a matter of it being a semi-famous joint mobbed by tourists, well, that's the amazing thing about New Orleans, sometimes those places are good... That said, I think the correct answer to your original question is Cochon and Cochon.

Couldn't think of a better place for this post, so bumping a dormant topic... A friend had made a note about Umi No Ie a few years ago when it got mentioned in the Times, but we'd never gotten around to checking it out. We finally did over Labor Day weekend, and are regretting that it took so long. It's an appropriately casual little spot, with a few tables and a small bar. They have a pretty deep selection of Sochu, we just asked them to suggest a couple, and we enjoyed what they selected. One was made from dates, the other, I can't recall... But we came for the food. The home-style preparations from the Goto islands sounded very appealing. And of course they offer some familiar standards as well. We liked everything we had, it's all pretty simple and straightforward, but it was all well-made, satisfying and different enough to be interesting. The one thing that has remained rather vivid in our memories is a simple bar snack - Dried Manta Ray Fin. It was grilled to give a nice toasty, roasted edge. It was chewy, but not as tough as some dried seafood snacks I've had. The ridged texture was really nice, and the mild fish flavor worked very nicely with a dab of Kewpie mayo and togarashi. OK, they're not all that exotic, but I am powerless against the lure of Gyoza, and these were very good. They look a little too perfect to be homemade, but they were so tender and delicate that I have a hard time believing that they're a commercial product. Either way, I'm getting them again next time, they were really delicious. We'd forgotten that sometimes Japanese fishcakes cam be pretty bland, but we took a a chance on the Cucumber in Fishcake. It was fine, but nothing exciting. Much more vibrant were the pickles. Again, I haven't got the slightest idea whether these were home-made or out of jars, but they were quite delicious, and different from most Japanese pickles I've had. We ended up getting a second order of these, they were such a great accompaniment to the other things we were eating. The Karaage was a fairly standard preparation, but very good - tender chicken in a nicely crunchy coating. I could really picture just sitting at the bar, going through their Sochu list, snacking on that stuff. But they have a few more hefty offerings as well. They're somewhat known for Pork Belly. I don't think it was on the regular menu, but I suspect it's a semi-permanent special. It presented more like a long-braised pork shoulder, except for the telltale ribbon of fat. It was falling-apart tender, rich, but overall somewhat mild in flavor. The bowl came with a dab of spicy mustard on the rim, which I somehow managed to NOT get in the photo, but a smear of that condiment on the meat made a huge difference, it was a great combination. I'd get it again. I quite liked the Meatballs. They were large-ish, maybe a little bigger than raquetball-sized, served in a flavorful dark gravy, and topped with fried eggs. The texture and flavor both reminded me of Shanghainese Lion's Head. Like most of the food we tried, it was hearty, homey, satisfying. We did not sample their famous Udon, served in a flying-fish broth, but hope to next time. Our waiter had a bowl for his own meal (it was really slow when we were there!) and it looked great. The music was generally pretty terrible: sappy Japanese pop, but otherwise it was a really comfortable vibe there. The space is a little shabby around the edges, but in a charming, casual kind of way. I'm looking forward to heading back for Udon, and more of most of what we ordered. Especially that Manta Ray Fin... I've been really craving that...

Personally, for the circumstance of shooting at a restaurant table, as a customer trying not to cause a scene and get in everybody's way during normal service, I find the wide end of my 18-35mm to be absolutely crucial (on my Nikon D-50, which does not have a full-frame sensor, so, as usual, multiply by 1.5-ish.) Sure, in a perfect world, if one could back up, carefully choose an angle and light placement, get the camera on a tripod, and make aesthetic choices about aperture and ISO, rather than purely pragmatic ones, one might choose a longer lens, or a different angle, or pursue any of a myriad of options. But if you're seated at a table, and trying to get a quick documentary photo and still make it look nice, I think a short lens, high ISO and fastest shutter speed possible are good ways to go. And you often have to use whatever angle and lighting you can get. There's only so much control one can have over background clutter, lighting, etc if you're not staging the shot, just shooting what's on the table. Holly might occasionally have the luxury of setting up a shot for a more perfect photo, but much of the time he'll be stuck snapping things in less-than-ideal situations. Of course, advice for all circumstances is useful, but I'm just saying, sometimes accepting some barrel distortion, odd angles and quirky depth-of-field choices is the lesser of several evils...

Went back to Bark. Chili Cheddar Dog It's good chili. The cheddar is tasty, but I wish it were just cheddar, not cheese sauce, it gets a little too drippy and sloppy. I think this particular style of hot dog works really well as a chili dog. And check the griddled sides of the bun. Awesome. Kraut Dog with sweet and sour onions and dill pickles. The onion rings are very oily. Also delicious. I might like less residual oil, but I hesitate to wish for any changes, they're pretty great. They didn't need salt, but if they had, there are pretty swank salt and pepper grinders on the table. I was wondering how they manage to keep those from walking out the door, when I noticed the label that explained it: shame.