philadining

I got an absolutely spectacular brisket sandwich from Jimmy Barbecue in Malvern this weekend. I don't know if I just got lucky, but it seemed like it was all crusty corners and edges and burnt ends, so the flavor of both the spice and smoke was very intense, but it was still very beefy and moist and tender. i couldn't even bear to put any sauce on it, it was so delicious just plain. The roll, in classic barbecue style, is nothing special, basically a plain-old hamburger roll, but you could probably serve that brisket to me between two pieces of cardboard and I wouldn't notice. Please please please PLEASE don't let that be a fluke! I want another one right now...

I don't think any of those places sells salumi by the pound for take-out. I hope Holly can indeed swing by Fork to ask, they do have a take-out market next door called Fork etc. so maybe they do sell some. Can someone check Pumpkin Market? They might...

Oh I have no doubt that there's some of everything in NY, but unless I've been reading the NY boards wrong, I get the sense that folks are usually bemoaning the lack of either choice or quality in Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Mexican, etc. Although Hardena is a dumpy little hole in the wall, we've run into Indonesians who travel from other cities to eat there. I believe the story is that she used to cook for the consulate in NY before moving here, and people follow her. And there are more - a little storefront on Snyder, which is a few blocks from Indonesia restaurant, which is a few blocks from the Bali restaurant, which, OK, never seems to be open, but hey, we've got the Ramayana snack shop... Oh, which reminds, me, we've got good Cambodian too. What I was trying to get at is that the styles I mentioned are readily available, generally very good, usually cheap, and not hard to get into.

Thanks Brooks, Holly, Doc, Katie... FWIW I was shooting with a Nikon D50 DSLR with a 18-55 VR lens.

That's a good recommendation, and I suspect they're especially good at the market because of rapid turnover, but that stand is run by Taquitos de Puebla, which has a regular restaurant in the Italian Market at 1149 S 9th St. So you can get those Tacos al Pastor, sliced fresh off a spinning trompo at other times too.

Philly actually has excellent charcuterie, and not just plates of store-bought salami. Fork has an absolutely amazing platter usually consisting of house-made patés, rillettes, salamis, etc. Here's one: I had another at a later visit that might have been even better. It comes with a nice chutney and mustard. So yes, go sit at the bar at Fork, have a plate of charcuterie (it's a lot, even for two people.) The rest of Fork's food is quite good these days, but probably not of a style you can't find elsewhere. Fork 306 Market St http://forkrestaurant.com/ Down in South Philly, James makes a nice variety in-house as well. And it comes with some really good homemade pickles too. As at fork, there's more good food there, but if you specifically wanted charcuterie, there's nothing wrong with sitting at the bar and ordering just that. James 824 South 8th http://www.jameson8th.com/ And of course there's Osteria They're concentrating more on salumi, and don't always have terrines, but I've had some good ones occasionally. And the salumi is generally terrific. Once again, plenty of great food there, but it's actually very nice to sit at the back bar, have some wine, some salumi, and of course, a pizza. Don't leave without a pizza. Osteria 640 North Broad http://www.osteriaphilly.com/ There are others, but those are three I've had recently and can say are certainly worth checking out if you're interested in that kind of thing. And a lot of places make one or two things, I was actually getting tired of seeing duck prosciutto for a while... and lots of places do a nice plate of commercial product. Amada, for instance, might not make their own, but the charcuterie plate has great stuff on it. AND I think there are indeed foods you can get here that either you can't find in NY, or at least they're not especially good up there. We have a very good Burmese restaurant: Rangoon (112 North 9th, in Chinatown). We have really excellent Indonesian food: Hardena (1754 South Hicks - get somebody to take you...) We have a good selection of Malaysian: Penang, Banana Leaf, Aqua, Asia @ cafe. As has already been mentioned, we have very good Vietnamese food, which may not be completely absent in NYC, but seems to be rare. It's routine here. Vietnam and Vietnam Cafe in Chinatown are good, but you might want to go down to Washington Ave and either try Nam Phuong or Viet Huong for the big-menu thing, or Cafe Diem for Pho, or Cafe Cafe Nhuy for Bahn Mi. We've got two Laotian restaurants; Cafe de Laos and Vientianne. As has already been mentioned, we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Mexican. I'll assume that you in specific aren't looking to eat Mexican, but just as a general point, we're WAY better off than NYC for that cuisine. There are more taquerias opening up every day, many of them very good, and we've got buffed-up versions like Distrito or Xochitl, gastropub versions like the Cantina Los Caballitos or Cantina Dos Segundos, BYOT fun spots like Lolita, etc. But as others have mentioned, the strongest suit of Philly dining is the casual, inexpensive spot with really good food. It's not that NYC doesn't have any gastropubs, but we have them in practically every neighborhood. Our neighborhood corner bars often have local craft brews on tap, and probably sell something Belgian. We have not one, but several places with phone-book sized lists of Belgian beers. Our small chef-driven BYOB restaurants may not be cooking anything unheard-of elsewhere, but they're doing it at a high level, at a good price, and you can usually actually get a table. Do the weekday tasting menu at Matyson, or pork-out at Cochon, bring a nice bottle of wine and marvel at the money you're saving by avoiding the mark-ups. That's a very philly dining experience. But you certainly should try some of the casual specialties too, we make great sandwiches. Try a Roast Pork Italian from DiNics, or Tony Luke's or John's Roast Pork. Get a hoagie from Sarcone's or Salumeria or Carman's or Primo's or jeeze, just go check the sandwiches thread, there are tons of good ones. As Holly mentioned, go have breakfast at Carmen's Country Kitchen. It's not uniquely Philly, it's uniquely Carmen. There are indeed areas where NY is vastly superior, I make a point to go up there and eat when I can, but we've got plenty of things down here that they don't have up there. Your challenge will be to fit them all in! Good luck, feel free to ask for more details...

Monday morning, rain... we decide to grab a cup of coffee and see if it would lighten up. I'm surprised, espresso in a styrofoam cup isn't that bad. Thankfully it does indeed lighten up fairly promptly, so we head out for brunch at Stanley. I'd been transfixed by this place since I saw the words "Eggs Benedict Po Boy" on their menu. And there it was! And it was... fine. It was actually quite tasty, in the way that Eggs Benedict is, but I think I'd been expecting something a little more distinctive than swapping out the english muffin for a toasted roll. The Hollandaise was fine, but totally routine; the Canadian Bacon was surprisingly pedestrian. The eggs were well-poached, but as a whole, tasty, but something of a let-down. If the eggs benny po by hadn't grabbed me, this one surely would have: Korean Barbecue Beef Tenderloin and Kimchee Po Boy. It's a great concept, and even though it wasn't executed quite the way I would have liked it, it still tasted pretty good. I'm not sure if the beef was supposed to be hot. It wasn't, and it would have been much better if it had been. I'm not sure how rare the beef is supposed to be. This was very very rare, practically mooing. It's good beef, so it was OK, but there wasn't a lot of flavor from the flame, which is one of the appeals of Korean barbecue, so I would have liked for it to have had a little more time on the grill at least for that. And finally, the kimchee was a little tame, but I probably wouldn't have minded that if the beef had been hotter and better charred around the edges. Even with all that whining, I liked it, I guess I'll just have to make one at home more to my specifications! Gumbo was on the thin side, but had a nice dark flavor and was generous with seafood, so thumbs up on that. We might have been a little on-edge from the rather long wait, not for seats, but after ordering. It was well over a half an hour between ordering and any food at all arriving. They seemed pretty busy, if not completely full, but how long does it take to ladle out a bowl of gumbo? Then there were the little glitches that can happen almost anywhere, just on top of waiting so long for food, they irritated more. My water glass had a previous diner's lipstick on it, one half of the Korean po boy had a hair in it so obvious it looked like a porcupine quill. Our waitress was appropriately mortified and immediately removed the charge for the po boy when we explained why we'd left half of it. And it's not her fault that the food was coming out slow, so I can't really complain about the service, but the whole experience was certainly less than what we'd hoped for. Some good concepts, decent food, but I'm not sure I'd go back. Stanley St Ann St and Chartres St stanleyrestaurant.com So we headed off for a few snacks at Butcher. It seemed apropos to start with the Swine Killer: and a Steen's Manhattan Pork Belly Sandwich Boudin Barbecue Ribs These were all very enjoyable, although we felt each one might have benefitted from a minor tweak. The pork belly was very tasty, but the sandwich as a whole was a little austere, just pork, cucumbers and white bread. We tossed on some pickles and some mustard and it really came together. The boudin had great flavor, and we realize it's pretty traditional to just eat them plain like that, but we did find we missed the crunch of the breaded version around the corner at the mothership. We also wondered how they'd be crisped-up on a grill. The ribs were very tender, the sauce pleasingly tangy, but we were hoping for some smoke, or some greater complexity to the flavor of the meat. We've generally been impressed the depth of flavors at Cochon, so it might have been a fluke that these particular items struck our palates as a little plain. We certainly liked it enough to give it another try! The drinks were excellent, and complimented the food very well. And we liked Butcher enough to want to take a big andouille home with us. There were many more meats in the cases that looked great, but we weren't confident they'd survive the transport back home on the plane. Cochon Butcher 930 Tchoupitoulas www.cochonbutcher.com We also dropped-in next door at the Nola Grocery and picked up some frozen sausages that we thought might survive the trip. And I think we might have found the last two Blueberry Hubig's Pies in the city. Nola Grocery 351 Andrew Higgins www.nolagrocery.com And then, we realized we were out of time, and had to get headed for the airport. But on the way, a couple of Po Boys for the trip home. Verti Marte is on the way... A mixed shrimp and oyster Po Boy. Ham Po Boy And that's finally the end. Oh wait, we've still got sausages!! We had a great time, ate some delicious food, had some amazing cocktails, and met some really nice people. Hoping to make a return trip soon!

Sunday morning (OK, it was noon...) we headed back out to continue our explorations. The Cake Cafe was nearby and had a nice looking brunch menu. That's an eggwhite omelet with bacon and ham and sausage. (we couldn't have those egg yolks clogging up our arteries! Actually, there's a reason, but it's a long story...) And that other object is something they claim is the best bagel in the South. I can't comment on the veracity of that boast, but for the sake of you southerners, I sure hope it isn't... Biscuits and sausage gravy, with Andouille. Nothing transcendent, but very good, and a nice start for the day. And it gave us enough energy to get on the bikes. Cake Cafe 2440 Chartres www.nolacakes.com Next stop: Elizabeth's. We might have come straight here, but the guy on the phone had predicted a 45 minute wait, and we needed something sooner! But we didn't want to pass-up the Elizabeth's experience, especially the fabled Praline Bacon. And we're not very likely to pass on Boudin Balls if they're nearby... And to wash it down, a special cocktail, the name escapes me, but it included chartreuse and sloe gin and something fizzy, and was really tasty, a very nice brunch cocktail. Oh, and a Pimm's Cup. That bacon is pretty crazy good, at least if you're one of those people that drags your bacon through the maple syrup when you're having pancakes. And the boudin balls were very nice too, the creamy mustard sauce providing an elegant accent. Elizabeth's 601 Gallier St (at Chartres) www.elizabeths-restaurant.com We did a little riding around, looking for a few rumored locations for holiday crawfish boils or pig roasts, and didn't quite find them, but it was a nice day, and we needed to work-off brunch anyway. We did that largely by riding up to Parkway. A little local flavor while we contemplated our choices... Sweet Potato fries were very crispy and flavorful, even better dipped in some gravy... The hunt for the ideal Hot Sausage Po Boy continued. This one comes pretty close! Their famous Hot Roast Beef Po Boy is a freaking mess! A wonderful, delicious, addictive mess. Parkway Bakery and Tavern 538 Hagan Avenue (at Toulouse) www.parkwaybakeryandtavernnola.com Only a few blocks away is the perfect next course: This place doesn't look like it's changed much since 1905, and that's just fine. The pastries looked great, but we opted for something cold: That's Louisiana Strawberry Sorbetto hiding under the Lemon. Both were intense, but that strawberry is incredible stuff, more berry-like than fresh berries. Zuppa Inglese Gelato on top of Praline Gelato is not a bad way to go either. I thought I'd gotten really jaded from having excellent gelato and sorbetto in Philadelphia, but this stuff was impressive. Angelo Brocato 214 North Carrollton www.angelobrocatoicecream.com We headed back into the Quarter next, first a stop for a drink at Arnaud's French 75 Bar. The Widow's Kiss: A cocktail built around Jameson's whiskey, I thought it was called the Round Midnight, but I can't swear to that... I wish we could have stayed a little longer, Chris Hannah is a very engaging bartender. Not only were the drinks beautifully made, it was a real pleasure to chat with him. He even shared a great description of the Widow's Kiss from a cocktail book that really enhanced our enjoyment of the drink. But sadly, the bar was occupied by some annoying cigar-smoking guys that were creeping us out, and anyway, we were getting hungry... So a few blocks down and around the corner to Green Goddess. This was only day four for them, but they seemed to be pretty up-to-speed, except for not having a liquor license yet. That was not big deal, they have very interesting non-alcoholic drinks, and we were there for the food anyway. The Huckleberry Sno-Ball This was really amazing, based around an intense berry and red-wine granita. Island Sea Breeze A nice hibiscus-based drink, very refreshing, but overshadowed by the Snowball! Crawfish Boil Salad This is a version of a dish chef Chris DeBarr used to make at The Delachaise. This particular one is tweaked a little more than usual: my dining companion had been craving crabmeat, and we'd just asked if they could incorporate crabmeat in anything. They offered to drop some on this salad, and wow, it was really good, I think they should serve it like this all the time! But even without that, it's an excellent salad. The interplay of the warm crawfish tails, the cool greens, the garlicky aoli makes it better than the sum of its parts. Bison and Bacon Meatloaf As you might guess, it's pretty intense! But it doesn't go too far, and with the fluffy, cheesey potato, it makes for a very satisfying update to a home-style classic. Cochon de Lait Wearing Hawaiian Sunglasses Another really nice tweak to a traditional dish. The tropical twists really added interest to what was already going to be a delicious combo: pulled pork, sweet potatoes, greens. The pork had a remarkably tender texture, and full flavor, only amplified by tasting it along with the sides. Chef was nice enough to come out and talk us through the menu, although it didn't help much, we still wanted to order everything! Somewhere along the line he mentioned something about duck-fat fried potatoes they've been serving with something, and he could see the spark of interest in our eyes, and kindly offered to make some for us. Yow! Crispy, soft, fatty in the most luxurious way, these were just unbelievably good. I'd like to apologize to the kitchen in advance for posting this picture, I suspect they may be pestered to make these all the time! This was a really exciting meal. It was fundimentally delicious food, but everything was twisted just enough to make it new and interesting. I really think I could eat the whole menu, even the vegetarian tasting menu looked very appealing. This place will be at the very top of our list for a return visit as soon as we get back to New Orleans. It's a tiny place, 2 or 3 small tables inside, 3 or 4 more outside, and I don't think they take reservations, but they are trying to be open long hours, so maybe it won't be too hard to score a seat. But if there's a wait, trust me, wait! Green Goddess 307 Exchange Alley www.greengoddessnola.com It had been FAR too long since we'd had a drink at Cure, so after dinner we hopped in another cab. Sunday night was fairly calm, so we had the good luck to get a good amount of attention from bartender Kirk Estopinal, who proceeded to amaze us with yet more complex, surprising, sophisticated, and most importantly, enjoyable cocktails. Over the course of several cocktails, I'm confident that I missed a couple of photos, but among the cascade of libations that Kirk shook and stirred-up for us were: The Art of Choke (created by Kyle Davidson of Violet Hour: cynar, rum, green charteuese, demerara, mint) An unnamed improv by Kirk based on a request for something with Steen's Cane Syrup (steens cane syrup, rye whiskey bittered sling with old fashioned bitters and pimento dram) The Vellocet (Kirk Estopinal of Cure/Violet Hour: green chartreuse, pineapple, falernum, lime, swizzle bitters) The Search for Delicious (Kirk Estopinal: Cynar, Punt y Mes, Regan's Orange, Salt, Lemon Oil) Improved Holland's Cocktail Hush and Wonder (Toby Maloney of Violet Hour: Matusalem Classico Daquiri with Violette rinse) The 227 (Stephen Cole of the Violet Hour: w.turkey bourbon, fees old fashioned bitters, egg, lemon flamed bourbon) I think there might have been a couple more. I did my best... As we thought at our earlier visit, they've really got something special going on at Cure. It's a nice space, and they've got some serious talent at the bar. It was especially nice to go at a slow time, and just let Kirk or Max, or any of the other very talented bartenders let their imagination run wild. This batch of drinks was populated quite strongly with "thoughtful" drinks, ones that are unlikely to be crowd-pleasers, but that are very rewarding if you feel like thinking about what you're drinking. That said, a few of them, such as the Vellocet, the 227 and the Steen's thing, were very approachable cocktails, but had enough depth to not be merely quaffable. I'd grown cynical about 25-ingredient drinks with eye-droppered tinctures and oils and mists, but these guys cured me of that. I could really taste the point of the 2 drops of this, the flamed reduction of that, feel the result of the showy shake. (thanks to Kirk for his help identifying the drinks, for some odd reason, my notes were not entirely decipherable... ) Cure 4905 Freret St. New Orleans, LA 70115 curenola.com Again, we'd reached the logical conclusion of the course of cocktails, so we headed home. Oh, one quick stop for a drink at Mimi's Mimi's is a really cool bar, but it didn't seem like the kind of place to whip out the camera and start photographing drinks. I was concerned that the bartender might punch me if I did, although other than that, she seemed like a very nice girl. Besides, we just had straight whiskey anyway, I'm sure you can imagine what that looks like. It was only a little after 3am, but we decided that we'd had a complete sunday, and called it a night. (edited for typos)

A friend and I visited for a little less than 72 hours over the Memorial Day weekend: in at 10am saturday, out at 5pm monday, which is more like 55 hours, but hey, it's close enough. Thankfully, the weather reports were completely wrong, and the weather was great, so we biked just about everywhere, which burned-off enough calories that we didn't go into food comas at any time. And despite appearances, we drank moderately enough that there was no impaired pedaling going on... We returned to a few old favorites, checked out some new places we'd been curious about, and indulged obsessions for boudin and hot sausage po boys. We had a great time, ate mostly fantastic food, and some of the best cocktails we've ever drunk. We hit a lot of places, so I might break it up into a few pieces... After landing about 10am on saturday, we dropped our bags where we were staying in the Marigny, then hiked over to Frenchman street to rent bikes. On the way, we decided we needed breakfast. then we decided to bike uptown to Boucherie for lunch. But along the way, we needed some sustenance, so we stopped at Li'l Dizzy's in the CBD. Gumbo Hot Sausage Po Boy Both were really tasty. We wanted to get more there, but we were saving ourselves. Li'l Dizzy's 610 Poydras, In The Whitney Hotel or 1500 Esplanade Ave nomenu.com listing After a nice bike ride out St Charles, and up Carrollton, we found ourselves at Boucherie We started with a Mint Julep and a Pim's Cup, both very well-made and refreshing, especially after the ride. Blue Crab Claw and Arugula Salad with Tasso Butter Boudin Balls with Garlic Aoli Duck Confit Po Boy with Cinnamon Pickled Carrots and Candied Pecans Pulled Pork Cake with Potato Confit and Purple Cabbage Slaw Fudge Farms BBQ Ribs with Seasonal Greens & Shoestring Shallots we were a little too stuffed for dessert, although it was tempting: Overall, we liked Boucherie, but weren't quite as blown-away as we'd hoped. Everything was pretty good, but ultimately not quite as intense or indulgent or exciting as we expected from the menu descriptions, and from seeing some photos on the web. The crab claws just didn't taste like much of anything, even with the tasso butter. The boudin balls were very good, with a nice level of spice, complimented well by the aoli. We really enjoyed the duck confit po boy, the interplay of the rich duck, the pickled carrots and the sweet crunchy nuts worked really well - but still - we could help thinking that it needed... something. The sandwich was a little dry. We had some extra aoli from the boudin balls and spreading that on the roll helped a lot, so I'm thinking just a touch of something on the roll, or maybe a few more pickled vegetables like on a Bahn Mi, would make it perfect. But it was pretty darn tasty as it was. The Pulled Pork Cake was nice and moist, and had pretty good flavor, especially around the crusty edges, but we were missing a smoky undertone, or a more intense porkiness. Same for the ribs, which were remarkably tender, and very pleasant, but lacked the complexity of a long-smoked meat. The fried shallots were mind-blowingly great. I can't imagine anything expecially complicated was done to them, but they were totally addictive. I got a bacon brownie to go, and upon later sampling, had pretty much the same reaction as I did to the rest of the food: it was good, and the interplay of the elements was very interesting, but it somehow ended up tasting mostly like a good brownie, rather than the genre-defying innovation that it seemed to be aiming to be. Service was very pleasant, and the prices are very reasonable, a real bargain for good food at a nice place like this. I think I'd like to go back, but I hope that as this newish place gets settled, the flavors will get amped-up a little. Its an imaginative menu, and it's skillfully executed, I just hope for a little more... something... Boucherie Uptown/River Bend 8115 Jeannette St. (off Carrollton) 504.862.5514 www.boucherie-nola.com On the way out, we passed a guy selling shrimp the size of Cocker Spaniels, advertising them by doing a marionette show in the street as cars rushed by on Carollton. But we couldn't really haul raw shrimp around with us all day, so I can't tell you whether they were tasty. We biked through Audubon Park to work off lunch, stopped to watch the egrets for a while, and just enjoy the sunny afternoon. Along the way we noticed this: Glad to know they're encouraging folks to keep them on leashes... After a bit of biking in the sun, there was only one reasonable destination: Hansen's Sno Bliz That's a combo of Cream of Coffee and Cocolate, with condensed milk. Wow! While I as shooting this, my dining companion made fast work of a chocolate and coconut, which looked pretty similar to mine, so I didn't make him wait for me to take a picture... We were amazed that since their machine got tuned a bit, the texture of the ice might be better than before! It's so light and fluffy that eating it plain would probably be interesting. I still can't understand how shaved ice with syrup can be this good, but it's pretty amazing. Hansen's Sno Bliz 4801 Tchoupitoulas St www.snobliz.com What's a good follow-up to a sno bliz? A cocktail, of course! So we biked up to Cure, to catch them right as they opened, before the saturday crowds descended. I started with a Creole Cocktail (amaro/benedictine/rye/sweet vermouth - created by Ricky Gomez of Cure, mixed by Michael.) My buddy asked if they could make something with Fernet, and I can't recall now whether it ended up as a Toronto, or just something with Fernet and Rye and some accoutrements... I think it was Max doing the mixing, but whoever made it, it was very tasty. As was the Creole, which is currently on their cocktail menu, and as you might imagine, tastes a bit like a mysterious Manhattan. We were intending to drink more, but out of fear of never leaving those bar stools, decided to hit a few more spots around town, but vowed to return. Cure 4905 Freret St. New Orleans, LA 70115 curenola.com/ On our way back toward the central part of the city, we stopped at Lilette for a quick drink, and maybe a snack. We started with a couple of very good cocktails. The short one is a Ward 8, the other one... jeeze, I thought I had taken notes... it was bright and citrusy and good! And we could resist a few bites of something, so we tried the Sweet and sticky fried beef short ribs with hearts of palm, cucumber and lime-ginger vinaigrette. And a special of (domestic) "Kobe" Beef Sirloin with Duck-fat fried potatoes. (This photo is of a half-portion of the 6-oz steak, the kitchen was kind enough to divide the order between two plates for us.) You know, those potatoes were spectacular! It feels a little weird to rave about the accompaniment to Wagyu beef, rather than about the meat itself, but that's the reaction we had! The beef had a very deep flavor, and was remarkably tender, so no big complaints about it, but we also didn't have the wow moment one always hopes for with this caliber of meat. It just didn't have that unctuous, marbled texture that makes some wagyu swoon-worthy, but somehow, the potatoes did evoke that kind of rapture. They were delicately crusty on the outside, meltingly creamy on the inside, much more satisfying than one would think a potato could be. We had a couple of glasses of red wine alongside the beef, a Burgundy and a Rhone, each perfectly pleasant, but neither an especially perfect match. The shortrib starter was very good: the crispy preparation was an unusual twist, and the sweet and sour flavors of the glaze and dressing offset the rich meat nicely. I'd get that again any time. And I'd really like to come back and have a full dinner at Lilette, the menu was very interesting, and the tastes we had showed serious skill in the kitchen, so, next time... Lilette 3637 Magazine St New Orleans, LA 70115 www.liletterestaurant.com But we had to get going, we had dinner reservations. But first, a detour to the Pere Marquette to have a drink from Chris McMillan. We intended to get here much earlier, because there's nothing we like more than to spend some time enjoying the cocktails and tales spun by Chris. But sadly we ended-up with a short window of opportunity, and only managed one drink before we had to run, but at least we managed that, we would have been very disappointed to have missed him altogether. Chris has been doing his twist on the Blue Train lately, so when we just asked him to make us whatever he felt like, that's what we got! It wasn't my favorite cocktail of the weekend, but I'm always interested in trying something I haven't, and it was certainly interesting. And when someone asked for one later that same night at Cure, I felt very in-the-know! We regretfully excused ourselves from the bar and raced over to Cochon for a 10:00 reservation, the only time we could squeeze-in during our visit, and we didn't want to skip this spot. Cochon was completely jammed at 10pm, and stayed that way for a while, but the kitchen seemed to be keeping up. We started with a couple of Sazerac cocktails, which were terrible, really bitter and unbalanced. You could tell something was off by just looking at them: they were cherry-red from a heavy hand with the Peychauds. When we mentioned it, they were promptly replaced with better ones, and we were back on track. The chef sent out a complimentary order of Head Cheese. I suspect they might do that for most folks at the kitchen counter... Hen and Andouille Gumbo Boudin Balls Cracklin's (not on the menu, but ask, they usually have some) Pork Cheeks Fire-Roasted House-Made Sausage Green Beans with Country Ham The food was mostly excellent. The headcheese was quite good, especially accompanied by a slice of their tasty pickles. We liked the gumbo a lot, even though it was a touch shy on both rice and andouille. The boudin balls were delicious, with that great contrast between the exterior crunch and the interior softness. The cracklin's were fantastic. Most of them were a nice small size, looking almost like fried noodles, which somehow gave exactly the right proportion of surface crunch, or the perfect shape for a dip in Steen's Cane Syrup, or whatever the reason, we couldn't stop eating them. The Pork Cheeks were as good as I remembered them from my previous visit: meltingly tender, their flavor intensified by a heavily-reduced sauce on the plate. The sausage was a little plain - not bad, just not as interestingly-spiced, or smoky from the roasting as we'd hoped. Same for the beans, while it was nice to have something green, and the slivers of country ham added some interest, the white creamy dressing didn't have much character, and didn't add much to the dish. Still, nothing was bad and we liked most of the food quite a lot, so Cochon will always be on our list of places to visit. The only real complaint I have is that while I like watching the action at the kitchen bar, those stools are pretty uncomfortable after a while... Cochon 930 Tchoupitoulas St. www.cochonrestaurant.com It was pretty late by the time we'd finished up there, too late to grab another round of cocktails at the Pere Marquette, so we hopped in a cab and headed back out to Cure. The scene there was pretty hopping, it was very full, but through good luck, or perhaps Jedii mind tricks, we scored a couple of seats at the bar. Max was kind enough to mix up some sophisticated drinks for us, despite the crush. I started with one of his original concoctions, the Black and Bluegrass, while my drinking companion opted for a classic Sazerac. Both really delicious drinks, the Black and Bluegrass was quite thought provoking, multiple layers of flavor unfolding over time. After that, another round of dealer's-choice, two more original concoctions from Max. I had The Fall of Man, which was such a mind-bogglingly complex drink that it made me forget to photograph it, and even made me forget what was in it. And what was in the drink before it. I loved it, but it's certainly a drink for thinking about cocktails, not for lighthearted enjoyment. And perhaps taken even more to an extreme, he also served-up an unnamed concoction he jokingly referred to as "The Awesome Cocktail" that started with an ounce and a half of bitters, and just got stranger from there. So if you want to explore the edges of cocktalian contemplation, you can do it here... To be clear, we encouraged Max to be weird, I'm quite sure the folks at Cure are not going to toss these drinks out to an unsuspecting customer! But it was quite thrilling to experience some experimental mixology that was challenging, yet still quite tasty. There was really nowhere to go after the Fall of Man and the Awesome, and it was getting late, so we headed back toward where we were staying. But we felt a need for one more bite, and although it was approaching 4am, the Verti Marte was right on the way, and they're always open! Hot Sausage Po Boy Roast Beef Po Boy I don't really love the rolls they use, they're a little squishy and too sesame-seedy for my taste, but you know, they were still pretty good Po Boys, and really hit the spot. Verti Marte 1201 Royal St. www.vertimarte.com So as we fiished the Po Boys, about 4:15 am, we realized we'd been awake for about 24 hours, after waking at a little after 5am Eastern time to catch the plane, so we figured we'd call it a day. A pretty good Saturday.

$40 sounds plausible...

I picked-up a pizza for take-out from Daddy Mims the other day. They have a pretty wide selection of unusual topping combinations, many of which sound really good, but I was in the mood for something basic. I also wanted to get a baseline pizza to check out their basic technique. So I got a "Johnny's Pie" which is a basic pepperoni and mozzarella thing. It was a little heavier on the cheese than it needed to be, but it was very tasty, loaded with good quality pepperoni atop an interesting smoky tomato sauce. The crust was nicely baked, not super-thin, but pretty light and airy, with a nice chewy texture. It had a good char on the bottom, which I liked a lot, it really annoys me when places undercook their dough. I'm definitely planning on checking out some of the more unconventional toppings, now that I'm confident that they make a decent platform. I had a standard "shareable" pizza, probably the size of an average Medium pizza, which is the only size they currently serve in the evening. Confusingly, for lunch and late-night (11pm-2am on friday and saturday) they also have a smaller personal-size pizza, but for some reason they won't make those in the evening. I think that's a bad idea: I would be very tempted to get a couple of smaller pizzas with different toppings on them rather than one larger one, and therefore spend more money. But who knows, it's early, they may change their concept a few times. I REALLY hope it works out for them to be open from 11pm-2am on the weekends, I think that's a great idea. I'm a little worried that they may not like being overrun by drunks, as might just happen at that time, but the idea of grabbing a good pizza at that hour is very appealing to me, alcohol or no alcohol...

You know, I can't remember exactly, but I do recall having strangely contradictory reactions to the bill - the most important one was that we all thought it was totally reasonable overall. I seem to recall that the six of us paid about $60 each (including tax and a good tip) for the whole dinner, which I think was very reasonable. We had a ton of food, and it was all really good. At the same time, I remember glancing at the itemized bill and thinking that the special-order stuff, like the heads and the birds, seemed a little pricey. But in the end, none of us cared, the meal was delicious, the whole thing felt like a good value, so there didn't seem to be any point to worrying about the prices of individual items.

A few weeks ago, a few of us dropped by Kanella for a partially off-menu dinner. The plan started as a regular dinner, but started morphing into something more extravagant when one of our party mentioned that he'd noticed some crazy stuff being served as staff meal, and had asked the chef if we could get something like that with a few days notice. Chef Pitsillides offered to make some unusual, traditional dishes if he had some time to acquire the ingredients. About a week later, we made our way to Kanella, and placed ourselves completely in chef's hands, asking him to just send us whatever he wanted. Some of it was from the menu, some of it most definitely was not! WARNING! Following are some graphic photos of animal parts that one might not be used to seeing on a plate, so if you're a little queasy about where meat comes from, you might want to skip this post! We started with a few things from the menu: Warm Middle Eastern Lamb Salad Roasted Shrimp Fried Haloumi Cheese Horia Tiki Salad Grilled sausages And then... the main event: Roasted Lambs Heads These required just rolling up one's sleeves and getting messy, picking off bits of tender meat. While it looks a little like a horror movie when presented like this, we've been enjoying cheeks and tongues and various other dishes derived from the heads of various animals in some fairly upscale settings, so we shouldn't be squeamish about confronting the origins of those meats. The heads had been boiled and then roasted, so it was pretty easy to remove the tender meat from the bones. But, it was a little messy... And we weren't done yet. Next were roasted Wood Pigeon and Partridge Pork Chop Goat Stew with Fried Okra Kanella is a BYOB, and although we probably should have gone with wines from the region, our knowledge of the indigenous wines of Cyprus is a little weak, so we improvised and ended up doing pretty well. Among the highlights: Amazingly, after all that food, we still felt like dessert, and I'm glad we indulged, because they were all delicious. Almond And Date Tart with kanella ice cream Homemade Ice Creams: Kanella, Rosewater, Mint Assortment Of Traditional Cypriot Pastries Galatoboureko: filo pastry filled with semolina custard Lemon And Yogurt Mousse with thyme syrup Warm Chocolate Mousse with lavender ice cream It was a consistently delicious meal, I don't think there was a single course that I wouldn't get again. Highlights for me were the warm lamb salad, the sausages, the goat stew, the wood pigeon, and of course the lamb heads. I'm not quite as fearless as some at our table, so I steered clear of the eyes and brains and some of the unidentifiable stuff, but I quite liked the cheeks and tongue and various little bits of whatever. Another thing that impressed us was that the accompaniments to all the dishes were quite delicious, and we found ourselves raving about the beans, or the chickpeas, or the okra, or whatever the main dish was sitting on. So everything was extremely tasty top to bottom, and we found ourselves mopping-up sauces and eating every last bean. Or at least trying to... Big thanks to Katie for getting the ball rolling on this, to Kenrick for arranging the off-menu stuff, and most of all to Chef Pitsillides for coming up with a really interesting and enjoyable dinner.

We heard a rumor about barbecue ribs at Cochon, so we had to drop by. And, uhhh, what the heck, maybe we'd get a few other things too. Pork Crackling Pickled Tomato, Cornichons Bibb Lettuce Salad Radish, Peas, Lardons, Ramp-Vinaigrette Fried Pigs Feet Frisée, Violet-Mustard vinaigrette Pappardelle Braised Rabbit and Sausage Ragout Pork Polenta Cake Poahed Egg, Frisée, Lardons, Fingerling Potatoes mustard vinaigrette Mains: 24-Hour Pork Shoulder Celery-root Fennel Hash, English Peas, Mushroom Madiera Sauce Cochon Plate Glazed Ribs, House Sausage, Roasted Pork Belly, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet and Sour Cabbage Veal Milanese Celery-root Fennel Hash, English Peas, Mushroom Madiera Sauce And the ribs... I think these were actually a special from another night, but chef was kind enough to replicate it for us. And to finish: House-made Ice Creams: Dulce de Leche, Double Chocolate Pecan, Peanut Butter Poor Man's Pudding Shortbread, Maple-Bourbon Caramel As usual, it was all tasty, and indulgent. But those ribs... they're odd, not like any other ribs I've had, but so good that we had some small skirmishes over the last couple of them... They're tender, extremely juicy, and although they're not smoky, I don't miss that. I'm not swearing-off smoked ribs, but I'm also plotting a return to Cochon for more of these while he's still making them! Other standouts, in a solid meal, were the Pappardelle and its incredible ragout, the salad with its ramp vinaigrette, and the ice cream. Ohhhh that ice cream... We really want them to open an ice cream stand. All three flavors were good, but the peanut butter just about knocked us out of our chairs. Oh, and the onion rings. Youch, I'm hungry again...

We managed to squeeze into Bibou on Thursday, and I do mean squeeze, because the place was pretty full all night, and we managed to score a table because Charlotte was kind enough to give us one she had been holding for friends. And that was indicative of the service we received all evening: consciencious, friendly, charming. And happily this excellent treatment was in service of excellent food. We had some very minor critiques of a few things, but overall we were very impressed, and are eager to go back and sample the rest of the menu, as well as revisit some of or favorites from this meal. I think Matt got better photos than I did, so be sure to check out his Flickr page linked above. We were losing the natural daylight by the time we got underway, and the restaurant is just a bit too intimate there for me to deploy my alternative lighting tricks, so I did my best with available light. We started with the Escargots that Matt described. It's served in a lovely spiral dish that evokes a snail shell, so I'll tolerate the slight inconvenience of extracting all the tiny favas and mushrooms from the swirls. We found the escargots to be sufficiently tender and buttery, but missing a little something - it could be as simple as just needing a little salt. But it was a minor thing, the snails themselves were still very good, and the accompanying vegetables were an interesting spring-like accompaniment. I ended up with the plate in front of me at the end, and couldn't stop sopping-up the sauce with a piece of bread. We also quite enjoyed the Foie Gras. As Matt described, it was served with grilled mango and pumpkin bread, each of which acted as a good foil for the perfectly-seared foie's richness, and thankfully were not overly sweet. Even though it was pretty straightforward, this really was one of the best foie dishes I've ever had. But the real standout for us among the starters ware the Rabbitt Rillettes, served with purple mustard. This as listed as a terrine, and indeed had that more solid texture, rather than the looser, softer consistency that we're used to seeing with rillettes. Regardless of the density, the flavor was very full and earthy, we liked this dish so much, we considered getting another order, and there was even a serious debate about whether we should get an order for dessert. The Lamb special featured a beautifully-rare loin, and a tender braised shoulder, spread over a tasty succotash of tender favas and sweet corn. As so many lamb loins are, this one was very mild in flavor, and sadly had a little line of gristle running through part of it, but it was very tender otherwise, and an intense reduced sauce added some vivid flavor. The shoulder had much more lamb character, and was falling into shreds after a long braise. I could have gone for a big plate of just that! The Porc was a braised pig's foot stuffed with foie gras, seated in a bed of the most perfectly-cooked lentils you could ask for. Most pigs' feet that I've eaten have been crisply fried, or worked into a terrine, so this more unctuous form came as a bit of a surprise. Despite a crisp exterior, that layer was paper-thin, enclosing an oozy, soft, gooey interior. Especially stuffed with foie, it was intensely rich, with a gelatinous texture that was actually quite good, but so intense that we were all thankful that we were splitting it three ways. We felt this could have used a slightly more aggressive seasoning too, to balance the richness, but we were still really glad to have ordered it. Just be ready: a little bit goes a long way! Our favorite of the mains was something that had the potential to be quite dull, and to be honest, we ordered it as a bit of a litmus test. If they took great care with something this simple, we knew this would be a kitchen to trust. And indeed, the Hanger Steak was just about perfect. It had a dark, intense crust, the otherwise medium-rare meat tender and juicy. It had a simple but concentrated sauce that only added to the intensity of flavor. And just to gild the lily, it was accompanied by the most artfully-roasted potatoes we've ever encountered. They were tiny, soft, yet crunchy potato cubes that exemplified everything good about a potato. I'd been thinking that it was a shame that the steak wasn't served with fries, but I'll take these potatoes any day. We somehow talked ourselves out of getting rabbit rillettes for dessert, and ordered a few from the regular menu. The cheese plate was simple, but featured good product and interesting accompaniments. (Sorry, I forgot what the cheeses were...) The Millefeuille with Chocolate was very nice, and in a nice change of pace, didn't explode all over the table upon first attack. Mango Meringuée was an interesting twist on Lemon Meringue pie. Overall, it was a very good meal, and we're very pleased to have a restaurant like this open, especially in this spot. We couldn't kelp but notice ho good some of the other dishes looked at adjoining tables, so we're eager to get back and try more. It's still early, but we learned that the chef will offer a tasting menu, and eventually the bar seats will be only for that. And there will be a set-menu prix-fixe on sundays. I'm sure we'll be checking those out, so stay tuned!

There's a trailer on Hulu here>> Streep looks, and sounds, pretty amazing, at least in these clips. And the movie itself looks more appealing than I would have imagined.

I agree with Peter on the linking thing. Proper attribution is important, of course, and mentioned elsewhere in the code, but linking to a retail source seems more like a polite thing to do for the author, and a convenience for online readers, but hardly a point of ethics. Is it really unethical to acknowledge a source, but not link to its Amazon listing? ETA: with all of the revenue-sharing partner programs provided by retailers like Amazon, it seems that providing a link, could create an ethical problem, unless any (hidden) embedded revenue-sharing programs are clearly disclosed as well.

I like that, but just for truth-in-labeling, how about "deep-fried meat candy that will burn your face off but you won't care" ?

Speaking of barbecue, I made another run by Dante's a couple of weeks ago, and it just confirmed everything I'd already found: the St Louis-style ribs are awesome. The Memphis baby backs are good, but pale in comparison. Pulled pork and Brisket were both really good. I highly recommend asking for the sauce on the side. Hot and mild are both good (and not very different from one another) but I found the meats were a little better left dry, and then dipped or drizzled with the sauce. But that's a personal preference thing... The hot sausage was kind of blah - it had a decent smoky flavor, but it was a pretty pedestrian sausage, it reminded me of one you might get at a hot-dog cart. The smoking helped it, but I think you need a better starting point to make a really good barbecue sausage. Sides were mostly only decent, except for a couple of standouts: the collard greens, mashed sweet potatoes and much to our surprise, the sweet potato fries. They were not only nice and crisp and not oily, but stayed that way. I was shocked to be nibbling on them an hour later, and still enjoying them.

We dropped by Bebe's on saturday afternoon to see what they had. They were just about out of ribs, but we snagged a quarter-rack, just for a taste. They seemed a little over-done, because the meat had pulled pretty far back off the bones, and was on the dry side. However, it was still quite delicious, and even though the rub was pretty overpowering, it gave an interesting flavor, and had created a nice crusty bark. I'm not sure if they'd been cooked too long, or whether it was just a side-effect of being held, we DID get pretty close to the very last rib, but it was interesting that despite any problems, they were very tasty, and we happily gnawed those bones clean. They had a good pink smoke ring, and exuded a pleasing smoky aroma. In fact we were eating them on the street, and someone actually stopped and asked us where he could get some of that! The smoke flavor was overwhelmed by the rub, so we wondered how they'd be a little less-seasoned, but we still liked the whole package pretty well. We also tried a pulled-pork sandwich, which we liked quite a lot. The first few bites showed only sauce, a tangy vinegary, tomatoey concoction that's common in the western part of the Carolinas, we were told. They do have a non-tomato version if you're an eastern-style zealot... So I was a little disappointed with it at first, because although it was a tasty sauce, I wasn't detecting much character from the pork. But a few bites in, an interesting thing happened: the smoky, meaty flavor of the pork emerged, and got in balance. Nick Nichols talked about the roll at Bebe's in his recent column in the Inky and I think it's a perfectly appropriate roll for this sandwich. This kind of basic hamburger roll stays out of the way, and nicely mops up the juices, but has enough structural integrity to remain intact. Plus, Bebe's toasts it, which is nice. That's about all they had left on saturday afternoon, so we didn't get try sides or any other meats, but we did like what we had, so we'll surely be back for more. We like the food, and we got a really nice vibe from Mark and Tamara, they seem like super nice people, so here's some tough-love: You need to be open more. You need to make more food. It's great that you're busy enough that you're running out, and of course we understand that barbecue takes time, but the sides? Coleslaw? You're in the Italian Market! There are cabbages about 5 feet from your front door!! You could probably just yell "somebody bring me some cabbages!" And they'd show up! Of course it's early days, we do realize that it takes a little while to get in a groove, and figure out how much of what people are buying, so we'll be patient... but we really are looking forward to going back for more, I think this place has the potential to be a real highlight in the barbecue scene. And they said something about doing hot biscuits with prosciutto on sundays. I got a little dizzy at the prospect.

Made another stop at the Exton Han Dynasty for my deep-fried shredded beef fix. As I was picking it up they were nice enough to give me a sample of their new duck preparation. It's kind of a variation on the tea-smoked duck that they used to do, in that it's a complex, multistage process of smoking, roasting, resting, frying, a few other secret manipulations, I'm sure! This new twist is that they incorporate oyster sauce somewhere in the chain, and it lends a really nice sweet-salty twist to the crispy skin. I really can't figure out how they get the skin so nicely crunchy, and render-out so much of the fat, while the meat remains so tender and moist. I've gotten two of those things in a lot of places, but all three is pretty amazing. I might still prefer the tea-smoked duck up at Han Dynasty Royersford by a small margin, but this Crispy Duck with Oyster Sauce is a pretty close second...

A few glimpses of the process:

I've definitely enjoyed Wokano, and just for the sake of disagreeing with Capaneus, I've come to prefer Ocean Harbor (on Race) over Ocean City (on 9th). But I'll also agree with Capaneus, and say that none of them are really thrilling me. They're fine, but like him, I find myself happier with the limited, but excellent, offerings at Dim Sum Garden. Similarly, I've had some really nice mid-day dumpling-fests at Zhi Wei Guan that approximated what I might have gotten from a parade of dim sum carts. (Although i also feel obliged to mention that there have been some reports of consistency problems there - but I've been lucky!) Sadly I just don't think there's anyone doing really great traditional dim sum here, but there are some decent places.

Ideas in Food-Studio Kitchen H. Alexander Talbot and Shola Olunloyo Shades of Green, Tastes of Spring May 1-2, 2009 Liquid Lovage blue crab, pistachio Cream of Watercress Ice Cream sake cured steelhead trout roe, croissant croustillant Wild King Salmon pecorino, fava beans Mozzarella Pudding frozen rhubarb, olive oil Russet Potato Gnocchi ramp leaves, country ham, shaved l’etivaz Wild King Salmon grilled zucchini puree, lemongrass sabayon, rye bread Chicken Marsala egg yolk, morels, nasturtium Skirt Steak honeydew melon, rosemary blossoms, fermented vadouvan Langres strawberry-lychee mostarda, red ribbon sorrel Aero Chocolate blood orange infusion, crispy cashews The good news? Although this doesn't exactly mark the return of StudioKitchen as we once knew it, it is indeed the start of an open-ended collaboration between Alex of Ideas in Food and Shola of StudioKitchen, which should manifest itself as additional dinners in the near future. The bad news? Seats at those tables will be very hard to come by! The good news? It's not impossible to score a place, keep an eye on their blogs: ideasinfood.typepad.com/ studiokitchen.typepad.com/studiokitchen/ You could get lucky... The best news: this was an amazing dinner: interesting, surprising, and delicious in equal measures. There were fascinating contrasts, like the watercress ice cream with steelhead roe, or the honeydew melon with beef, that seemed to defy logic, yet were such good matches it now seems surprising that they're not classic pairings. There was some science-lab gee-whiz flash, like the vacuum manipulations of the aero chocolate and the frozen rhubarb, or the shape-shifting of chicken and cashews. But at the heart of it were delicious flavors, sometimes in comforting forms, like simple gnocchi elevated to a higher place by artful collage, or a basic steak (OK, it's bonded to itself with Activa and spent some time in a water bath, but still...) It was a real pleasure to experience the creative work of both chefs, and I certainly hope to be lucky enough to enjoy some more. You can be sure that 'll be watching those blogs more carefully now!

Do they leave the bar seats for walk-ins? If so, the guy on the phone should have said so! I would have taken a chance on bar seats, but I was told the restaurant was completely booked.