philadining

I'm with you on the Sonic Burger, I recently had my first one and, yeah, i guess it was edible, but I'm not going back for it. I did get the tots, and I agree with Toliver: not the greatest tots, but it's still nice to have them. I had a vague recollection of somebody raving about the "frito pie" so, I couldn't resist. So wrong, and yet... ehh... just wrong. I just wasn't all that impressed. I suppose if I'm going by one on a hot day I could imagine getting a limeade, but I'm certainly not going out of my way for the burger.

Those look really good, thanks for posting!

Wha--?!??! Wow, that's disturbing! Thanks for the update though. I has seemed like I haven't seen the original owners, or managers (who had split off from Dim Sum Garden) for a while, but the food had still been good. But I have to admit that I haven't been there in a couple of months. We'll have to see if we can track down what happened to those folks and/or the chef...

Visited Sake Bar Hagi, and had a good time. Not all the food was spectacular, but it was all pretty good, and perfect for snacking while drinking. We may have stretched the definition of "snacking" a little, but there are a lot of attractive items on the menu... Got a bottle of Sake (OK, I'll play.. nihonshu) although I somehow managed to forget which one. Then, Grilled Dried Skate wing Cucumber with Miso Pickles Squid Legs Wasabi Shumai Gyoza Kara Age Softshell Crab Chicken Skin Duck Washagyu Beef Lamb Chops Deep-Fried Takoyaki Broiled Fish Sausages Sweet and Fatty Pork Shortribs Everything was at least pretty good, some of it excellent. A couple of the items, like the shumai and gyoza seemed to be standard commercial items, probably out of the freezer, not made on site, but that didn't mean they were bad, just unexceptional. The skate wing was great, perhaps my favorite bar snack ever, and at least as good as the versio at Umi No Ie. The softshell crab was very good, with a light crispy tempura batter. The "Washagyu" beef skewers were very good, great flavor and very tender. I liked the deep-fried takoyaki too, the outsides were nice and crisp, the insides contained a good amount of octopus in a fluffy, cakey matrix. The fatty pork doesn't look like much, in fact visually it's kind of unappealing, but it might have been our favorite thing on the table. It was kind of like super-thick bacon, but both crisp and soft at the same time. We were disappointed in the Kara Age, the chunks of fried chicken had gotten soggy under the mountain of mountain yam. Of course, we'd had an incredibly good version the day before at Ippudo, so maybe anything would have paled in comparison. The chicken skin was kind of blah, we'll have to keep reminding ourselves to wait until we're at Totto to get that. And although the sausages were very tasty, the French's mustard that was served with them seemed incongruous. Still, overall really good, and a fun, casual, mellow place. We got there right before opening at 5, and were in line with a bunch of Kabuki-painted teens, but we managed to sit down in the first wave. There was a significant line when we left. We ended up spending a lot of money, but they place is actually a decent bargain if one were to order like normal humans. Sake Bar Hagi 152 W 49th St (Near 7th) - downstairs - (212) 764-8549

Sunday morning (OK, afternoon...) we headed over to Egg, lured largely by Col. Bill Newsom's country ham. There was an intimidatingly long waiting list for a table, but I'm glad we stuck it out. It turns out that a large percentage of the people ahead of us on the list had either given up or wandered off, so what was looking like an hour wait turned into about 10 minutes. It's a pretty minimal space, with very basic tables and folding chairs. The ceiling fans were not really accomplishing much in the fight against heat and humidity, but, much like at Pies n Thighs, it somehow seemed appropriate to be sweating a bit while eating this very down-home food. On each table were two crispy cruller/beignet donut-ish thingies. They're a nice accompaniment to perusing the menu, and would probably be great with a cup of coffee, but a hot beverage was the last thing on my mind at that moment, as we were already wilting from the ambient temperature. A bracing glass of Gruner Veltliner hit the spot. There's a lot of good-looking stuff on the weekend menu which made it very hard to narrow down. The place IS called Egg, so I was glad that my friend decided to get some basic eggs, in this case scrambled, with country sausage and some crazy deep-fried hash browns. There's no milk or cream in the eggs, but they were the creamiest, richest scrambled eggs I've ever tasted. I'm not sure where they're sourcing their eggs, they have a farm that provides many of their products, but I don't think they're raising chickens, at least not yet. But wherever they're from, they're quite good. The sausage was a little bit spicy, and pretty good, but I couldn't help thinking that it could use a little more herbal something... The potatoes were quite good. We'd gotten a recommendation for the pancakes, and watching a few plates go by sealed the deal. The waitress offered to add strawberries, which turned out to be incredibly vivid, perfectly ripe little flavor bombs. Add some good quality, real maple syrup, and you have a great plate of pancakes - light, tender, flavorful. All that really needed was some salty pork. A side of country ham from Kentucky would probably have been sufficient, but hey, bacon sounded good too. There's also candied bacon, which is a strong concept, and will have to be examined next time. I had to laugh when my dining partner declared that the ham stunk! That wasn't a complaint about poor quality, just an observation that country ham indeed is stinky, funky, cheesey-smelling stuff. Wow, it's strong tasting, very salty, and quite delicious. The bacon was very good too, but the ham kind of stole the show. All in all, a really good breakfast. The servers were very friendly and helpful, in fact everyone seemed quite cheerful, despite the fact that I'm pretty sure it was 150 degrees in there. I'm very much looking forward to going back, but maybe on a cooler day. I don't think they're an air-conditioning kind of place, so I'll wait for a more temperate day, but I'll go back for sure.

Dropped by the Dapper Dogs cart, up at 2nd and Poplar a while back. They are open at some great hours - wednesday: 11a-2pm Thursday: 8pm-2am Fri-Sat: 8pm-3am I'm not sure why there aren't more hot dog stands or taco trucks or whatever open after 2am on weekends, but I'm glad these guys are. The hot dogs are grilled, which is a big plus in my book. And they have some very interesting toppings. I tried the Chicago Dog. It's very tasty, but, as much as I hate to be a nudge, it doesn't really come across as a Chicago Dog. Yes, it has many of the signature ingredients, although the relish is not a lurid enough shade of green, and the peppers aren't quite right, but the biggest problem is the roll. Until I ate this hot dog I hadn't realized how important the poppyseed bun is to a Chicago dog. These dogs are served in a good roll, it's actually a nice hunk of bread, but that's not always the right thing for a hot dog. It can kind-of overwhelm the meat and other fillings, and in this specific circumstance, it's just not the right flavor and texture. It's not a bad thing to eat, but it doesn't quite make it to Chicago dog. The Coney Island Express worked better. It has chili, banana peppers and cheddar cheese, which are hearty enough to seem at home in the more substantial roll. I like the level of heat that the peppers added, and it's decent chili, so, overall, this was pretty tasty if you like a chili dog. When I was there, around midnight on a saturday, it was pretty quiet, so I don't know how efficient they are with a big line. It took a couple of minutes, because although there were dogs started on the grill, they split them and finished them to order, which I liked. The staff was very nice. I'm just thrilled that there's a place to get a decent hot dog late at night. I could go for a couple of additional locations... but hey, I'll take what I can get for now! http://www.thedapperdog.org/

Despite being stuffed with chicken and pie (and ramen from not much earlier) we had a powerful jones for Franny's pizza. So we hopped a cab and made it over to Flatbush Ave just in time for... uugh... a long wait. But we finally squeezed into the bar. After rhubarb pie at Pies n Thighs,it seemed like fate to have a rhubarb-based cocktail: The Rhubarb Bridge, with rhubarb juice, vodka and Aperol. While at the bar, we got a couple of small plates to hold us over... Wood roasted pork sausage with braised garlic scapes Freaking awesome. Sugar snap peas with herbs So simple, so delicious. I could eat this every day, as long as the peas are ripe. Head cheese Very good, especially with the grilled bread. When a table opened up, we got the pizzas we'd been craving: Tomato, garlic oregano, titone olive oil. Tomato, Basil Buffalo Mozz They were both excellent, but this place has really taught me to love minimal, no-cheese pies. I know that not everyone agrees, and that's fine, it means more for me, but I love this crust. Despite being on the verge of exploding, some refreshing chocolate sorbet. This is so intense and satisfying that it makes me start to wonder why one would bother with ice cream or gelato. Who'd have guessed Franny's would make me start avoiding dairy products? Or at least not craving them...

Dropped by Pies n Thighs in their (new-ish) Williamsburg digs. The main room is pretty tiny, but there's more space in the back, including some outdoor tables and a covered dining room with big doors to the outside. It was pretty warm and humid the day we were there, and I think the only cooling plan is to open the windows and doors and turn on some fans, but then, there's something about eating fried chicken and pie that makes a bit of heat seem appropriate... We got a couple of the "Chicken Box" combos, each of which were 3 pieces of chicken, a good biscuit, and a side. Ironically, I'm not sure we got any thighs... The chicken was very good: it's juicy, even the breasts, presumably from brining, and the light, crisp coating wasn't too battery, and had a good level of seasoning. The coleslaw was chopped finer than I usually like it, but was very tasty. The watermelon and cucumber salad was awesome. We were a little sad that they'd run out of the Lemon Blackberry pie, but we consoled ourselves with: Apple and Rhubarb The apple was rather assertively cinnamon-y, but I still liked it quite a lot. The rhubarb was really great. Nice flaky crust on both. We've heard some recommendations for the banana cream pie... It's only that they are closed briefly, between 4 and 5, that we didn't get chicken to go on our way out the next day... But we'll definitely be dropping be here again for more chicken, and especially more pie. Plus, it's dangerously close to Dram, where there are seductive cocktails... Pies n Thighs 166 S.4th Street (at Driggs) Brooklyn NY 11211 http://piesnthighs.com/

Who knew Ippudo served ribs? We were a cumbersome group of 7, so we had a bit of a wait (about an hour at noon-ish on saturday) so we were so crazy hungry that we inhaled some pork buns, kara age and wings before I even remembered that I had a camera. They were all good - especially the wings, which were nice and crisp, yet coated with a slightly spicy, sweet, tangy sauce. The ribs are insane. They're falling of the bone tender, with a great sticky sauce, and some fruity accents on the platter if you felt like adding that note. But we were really here for the noodles. Akamaru Modern, of course. The special Szechuan Ramen was also very good A real revelation for me was the Tori Ramen, a mixture of chicken broth and the pork tonkatsu broth. It tastes vibrantly chickeny, as if the pork is amplifying those flavors. It'll be hard to get me off the Akamaru Modern, but this one might just do it... it feels lighter and clearer, might be especially good during the summer. As always, really delicious, and the service was very good - I think they might have thrown a couple extra ribs on that platter...

Next time you go, ask if he has soft shell crabs. The kitchen had run out of them when we were there last, but Han made us some regular hard shell crabs in the same style, and those were great - my dining partners tell me the softshell version is even better. We also had the excellent Dan Dan Noodles, and some snow pea greens. Then we asked Han for something with pork, anything. It's not on the menu, but it's worth asking him if he'll make it for you: Shredded Pork with Garlic Chives It's not especially spicy, actually quite subtle, but absolutely delicious, with the gentle garlic/onion flavors of the chives, a just-right hit of salt, just a touch of chili spice, some cooling cucumber... really good. Nice to see that the food is only getting better, and I noticed Han actually has some staff on the floor, so maybe he won't collapse from running around trying to serve ALL the tables... But it's still worth asking for him, to get some advice when ordering. I know the menu pretty well, but I still want to know from him what to get on any given day.

I feel like there must be another brunch topic around here somewhere, but this is all I'm getting in searches. Anyway, I've had the odd experience of enjoying a few brunches lately while being mystified about why the restaurant was so empty. When I tell the story, people often say: "Oh, I didn't know they did brunch..." So, do yourself a favor, get out of the long lines at Sabrina's and Morning Glory and Green Eggs and Ants Pants and Honeys and all those usual places. You can sit right down at places like Cochon and Supper. Cochon, come on, think about it: leftovers from the week's dinner services are going to make for some great brunch food! They were featuring some great smoked meats on the brunch menu for a little while, but apparently nobody as ordering them, so the menu's been slimmed-down a bit. But there's still plenty of stuff to love. I started a recent brunch with an Alsatian-style Flammenkuche, with bacon lardons, caramelized onions, gruyere cheese, and a drizzle of creme fraiche. And then had Ouefs en Cocotte: baked eggs in a creamy sauce, with ham, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and a little cheese. This was ridiculously rich, but indulgently delicious. There are more restrained things as well, if you don't want to dice fully into such a deep pool of cholesterol. Menu Here>> -- I think people forget about the restaurant Supper in general, but certainly, given its name, at brunch time. But there's a pretty extensive selection at brunch, and cocktails, and at least when we went recently, plenty of open tables. pdf menus here>> Let me just say one thing: Key Lime French Toast. Yep, that's some toasted marshmallow, some blueberry compote, a key lime custard, some toasted coconut, a graham cracker crust. Eggs Benedict was also nice, ennobled a little by the substitution of Serrano ham for the Canadian Bacon. The grits are amazingly creamy and cheesy, I'd suggest aside order if you're having anything appropriate. they also offer their house-made hot dog at brunch. It's delivered in a very good house-made roll, along with fried pickles. All in all, it was a very good hot dog, I especially liked the toasted roll. The texture of the sausage itself was a little loose and grainy, but the flavor was good. The fried pickles were lost in too much batter, but hey, a fried thing is rarely unwelcome. In the end, $10 might be a bit much for a hot dog, even for a large one that's carefully made, but I was happy to have tried it. There's a nice selection of cocktails, we tried one with Honeydew Melon, and a twist on a Bloody Mary. Both excellent brunch drinks, especially that melon one, and I don't even like melons. So, get out of line, sit don and have brunch. Cochon 801 East Passayunk (215) 923-7675 http://www.cochonbyob.com/ Supper 926 South Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 215.592.8180 http://www.supperphilly.com/restaurant.shtml

We also made a side-trip to the Counting Room to see what was up with Maks. It's great to see that the cocktail program is really coming together there, there's a really interesting menu, and of course the improvisations are even more interesting. Maks has been experimenting a lot with salt, especially its interplay with bitter flavors, which has resulted in some interesting drinks, like the Campari Martini. We also enjoyed an Italian Heirloom, which featured Cynar, Laphroaig, Dewars, and, you guessed it - salt. Really interesting, and delicious, at least to me... He also shook-up an unusual flip, with Cherry Heering and Mole bitters. Really nice. I can't for the life of me remember what this one was, I'm going to assume it as built around a crazy proportion of bitters... There's definitely some interesting mixing going on there. Look for Maks at the downstairs bar. Counting Room 44 Berry Street Brooklyn, NY 11211 http://thecountingroombk.com/

Had some more great cocktails at Dram. Nick started us off with a Champs Elysées tweaked with overproof Louis Royer cognac. I'm pretty sure this one was a Mighty Tux, with London Dry Gin and two vermouths. At some point during the night, Tom attacked a fresh young coconut with a cleaver and presented a lovely Tiki variation, based on Scotch and a touch of honey. Later on Nick secreted some spicy chili notes into an otherwise refreshing swizzle. There were several more that somehow faded into the mists of memory... but overall, great drinks, nice place, good people. Dram 177 S. 4th Street Brooklyn, NY, 11211 http://drambar.com/blog/

I hear there's Exstacy in the ribs...

Philly's always had good burgers, but I assume that the ubiquity of cheesesteaks has kept them somewhat on the back burner. But there seems to be a shift in the balance over the last couple of years, and it only seems to be accelerating: Sketch, Starr's burger shack in Franklin Square, 500 Degrees, Bobby Flay, I'm sure I'm forgetting some... The latest entry into the scene is Frög Burger. That might seem like an odd name for a restaurant, but long-time Philadelphians remember Frög from the restaurant renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s, and this is a project from that restauranteur, Steve Poses, who still operates Frög Commissary catering. Frog Burger is located under a small tent, in the front yard of the Franklin Institute, at the corner of 20th and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. There are a few tables scattered nearby, some covered. The main attraction is burgers, grilled on charcoal, although there are other things on the menu as well. There's a basic burger, which can be customized with a few toppings, or you can go for the "Love Burger" which is a burger that uses two grilled cheese sandwiches instead of a bun. It's dosed with "special sauce" just to make it especially over-the-top. I think it was supposed to come with lettuce, tomato and onion, but none was provided or offered. A commenter on my blog linked to a picture that had those accompaniments, and I think some greenery might have helped. But I'm not sure how much - my general impression was just that it was too...everything. It's too much bread, too much grease, ultimately it's too big. It's hard to eat, and the burger actually gets a bit lost in the confusion. The good news is that the burger itself was thick, tasty, and remarkably juicy. They state that they cook the to medium unless otherwise requested, and I decided to see what that meant. And indeed it was a pretty perfect medium, just a hint of pinkness remaining at the center of the burger. Despite that level of doneness, it was still very moist, actually dripping quite a lot, for better or worse. It did not have as much of a deep charred crust as I prefer, and that might just be inherent to the cooking set-up, you really need a couple different levels of heat on a grill to cook a thick burger through, and to also get a nice char. So is the burger going to dethrone any of the current local burger favorites? Probably not, but it's still pretty good. There are a few more things on the menu: a turkey burger, a decent grilled dog, an OK crab roll, fries, and some unusual starters, like fried green tomatoes. For those that remember the Commissary, it's pretty exciting that they sell slices of their famous Carrot Cake, and the infamous Killer Cake, both of which are delicious. There's decent lemonade, sweet tea, sangria and beer, as well as milkshakes made with Bassett's Ice Cream (and chunks of the carrot or killer cake, if you're into that kind of thing.) So it's not too different from Starr's burger/shake thing, or the Shake Shack up in NY, basically a gourmet, not-fast version of the summer burger takeout thing. It strikes me that 20th and the Parkway could really use something like that, so I suspect locals and tourists alike will be happy it's there. Will I make special trips out of my way to get over there? Not sure...

I too made a Thai curry ice cream a few years ago, in this case a musaman curry. It was somewhere between a success and a failure, in that it was interesting, but I don't think we found the right use for it. It didn't really work as dessert, although it was oddly compatible with pecan pie... But most people didn't like it much on its own. I suspect it might have been good as an accompaniment to something else savory, like a meat dish, if we were trying to play with temperature contrasts. I meant to explore it further, but haven't gotten around to it. I've had lots of cheese ice creams courtesy of Shola at StudioKitchen and they can be wonderful counterpoints to a sweet dessert or as part of a savory course. Look around his blog, you will likely find some inspirations. It could also be worth searching through the Ideas In Food blog, they've done some interesting and unconventional things with the concept of ice cream.

According to their website, Fork's back room only holds 35. FWIW, Laban just mentioned in an online chat that he went to Scannicchio's and loved their meatballs, but hated everything else... (Sorry to not have any advice, I've never looked into booking a party that large.)

Sure, I'd be happier if it were 10 or 15 bucks cheaper. But it's the product of a new, small, independent distillery, which I'd like to support. I assume it's tough to get a business like this up and running, and I think the liquid landscape is better for these new small projects. I'm willing to drop another buck or so per cocktail to encourage these guys.

Keep an eye out for the Finger Lakes Distilling McKenzie Rye. I don't know the exact percentage, but I seem to recall hearing that it's made from a pretty high proportion of rye grain, and it certainly tastes that way to me. I've been looking forward to seeing how it mixes, but I've been enjoying it so much straight that I haven't been able to bring myself to make a cocktail with it yet. One can certainly taste the grain, as well as some nice sweet overtones from the sherry barrels they use for aging. It retails for about $40 for a 750, which seems fair for what it is.

I was just dining with some unadventurous eaters and we ended up at Ralph's, and they loved their spaghetti and meatballs. I like the gnocchi myself, and I always get meatballs. But really, I'm not being dismissive, I think you will do pretty well at any of the places you (and Mr Big) mentioned, all of them can do pasta with red sauce, with meatballs, and it'll be delicious. Villa di Roma has waitresses that will call you hun. Ralph's has waiters who will scowl at you, but they mean it in a nice way.

Good to know about the Patois pheasant - thanks! We were so close... To bring this visit full-circle, we woke up tuesday, and I hiked over to Central Grocery to stock-up on muffulettas, while my buddy hopped in a cab and headed over to NOLA Grocery and Cochon Butcher. I bought 6 muffulettas. My friend stocked-up on boudin, andouille, and other sausages that we have a hard time finding back east. We threw those in a duffle bag (a mufful bag?) and brought them on the plane with us. On previous trips, the security people have jokingly threatened to confiscate similar cargo, but they were just hungry, it's not actually a problem to bring sausages and sandwiches on an airplane. We've found that the Central Grocery muffulettas travel really successfully and they last freaking indefinitely, it's actually kind of weird. They're well-packaged, and the fact that the ingredients are all cured, the meat and cheese and olives, are all pretty durable, and there's something about the bread that lets it stay shockingly fresh. After a couple of days in the refrigerator, the bread benefits from a little heat: we've found that taking a quarter section, and zapping it for about a minute in a microwave, then another minute or two in a toaster over at medium heat brings it right back to life, and hey, a warm muffuletta is a beautiful thing. Many of the sausages from NOLA Grocery are frozen, so they keep just fine for a few hours on a plane, and actually help keep everything else cool too. So, not only did we have a great trip, we haven't had to let go quite yet either, we've got sandwiches and sausages to ease the transition. But this visit only stimulated our appetites, so we'll be back... NOLA Grocery 351 Andrew Higgins Drive 302-9928 http://www.nolagrocery.com/ Cochon Butcher 930 Tchoupitoulas 504-588-PORK http://www.cochonbutcher.com/

I was just recently in a nice restaurant in New Orleans, where I was unobtrusively shooting pictures of my food (with no flash) while at the same time being irritated by a nearby table full of doctors shooting flash photos of one another, oblivious to anyone else in the room. As someone who obsessively photographs in restaurants, I'm certainly not a disinterested party, but doesn't it seem like the better question is whether one is being disruptive to others? If I quietly take photos of my food without disturbing those around me, what objection could other diners have? I could understand a no-camera policy, on the grounds that photos disturb other diners or violate their privacy, but that's going to have to include taking snapshots of the birthday girl and her cake, a souvenir pose with the chef, etc. I think chefs and owners could justifiably be frustrated by bad pictures of their food circulating around, but life is tough, people are going to say inaccurate and unflattering things too, and there's nothing anyone can do about that. In general, if people are taking photos of the food, it's because they like it and want to tell their friends about it, either just casually or through a blog, or a site like this. The owners should be happy that people are doing publicity for them. If someone is being obnoxious about taking pictures, it's the same as any bad behavior, one would hope the management could find a polite way to ask the offending party to tone it down, just like they would if the person were being disruptive in some other way. I personally would much rather have a table full of (discrete) shutterbugs next to me rather than trying to eat next to some drunk guy yelling bad jokes at his tablemates, or a shrieking baby, or a doting Aunt taking endless flash photos of everyone's lovely outfits. But I'll admit that I'm biased...

I'd never noticed that there was a Capriotti's in Exton, not sure how long it's been there (in the Fairfield Place shopping center, with the Giant supermarket and the Staples.) It just so happens that a Thanksgiving dinner leftovers hoagie sounded like exactly the right thing. The Bobby: Hand-carved roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mayo. Delicious. I didn't even mind the big piece of bone i found in there, I just figured it proved that the meat was carved from a real bird. http://www.capriottis.com/

After dinner at Clancy's we headed out to Cure for some creative cocktails. Cure's a great spot any night, but we knew that bartender Kirk Estopinal was behind the stick, which means some especially interesting drinks were on the way. Cocktail fans might know Kirk and Maksym Pazuniak from their blog and book, formerly Rogue Cocktails, now Beta Cocktails. Maks has moved to Brooklyn, but Kirk is still at Cure, along with a talented crew. I started to take notes, but between trying to take pictures, note ingredients, chat with Kirk, and actually try to enjoy the drinks, it got to be too much. So, suffice it to say: the cocktails were delicious. Kirk has a knack for mixing concoctions that are complex and mysterious, yet balanced and approachable. So we just let him make whatever he felt like, with just minimal guidance. Kirk is all about rum these days, so my friend had a few rum-based drinks, starting with something vaguely like a rum Manhattan, and proceeding through a few variations, into tiki variations... I started with variations on the classic Sazerac, just riffing on the basic structure, rather than the ingredients. I lost track of specifics, but I do recall that Bonded Applejack and Kummel were employed in there somewhere. There were a few more that were undocumented as my photography skills deteriorated, but that's an inherent problem... We finished up with a very interesting and tasty creation by Nick that employed the recently re-released original formula Herbsaint, which I expect to see turning up in drinks more and more. Somewhere along the line, despite a large dinner, we felt like a snack, and thankfully, Cure's kitchen has some very good offerings. Our favorite is the Crab Roll. At the risk of angering all of New England, I think a crab roll is even better than a lobster roll. It's a classic structure: a toasted hot dog roll, and cool crabmeat with mayo. In a city where cocktails are ubiquitous, Cure is one of the most creative bars, and totally worth a visit if you're interested in cutting-edge mixology. Cure 4905 Freret (at Upperline) 504-302-2357 http://www.curenola.com/

Monday, we couldn't get motivated for breakfast, so moved directly to lunch. We headed to Mr B's Bistro, to sample their Gumbo Ya Ya. We've eaten a lot of good gumbo in New Orleans, but this particular one has been mentioned as a classic, so we figured we should try it. And indeed, it's a classic style of gumbo, with full flavor from a dark roux, and generous chunks of chicken and andouille sausage. Sadly the sausage had given up most of its fat and flavor to the soup, so what remained in the bowl was a little dry. It was a decent bowl of gumbo, but not the apex of gumbo-dom that we'd expected. The fresh, warm loaf of french bread was really good, and an excellent partner for the soup, and along with a couple of cocktails, it made a perfectly pleasant lunch, but I wouldn't call it a necessary stop on a culinary tour. Mr B's Bistro 201 Royal St www.mrbsbistro.com/ Next we wandered a few blocks over to Johnny's Po Boys. There was a bit of a line, but it moved fairly quickly. We'd seen their Roast Beef Po Boy mentioned as one of the better ones around town, so we felt obliged to try one of those. It was, in fact, quite good, very moist and flavorful, but not soaked with dark gravy and debris, as so many of the classic ones are. Perhaps they'll drown it in gravy if you ask for it that way, but I actually liked it like this, it was still plenty wet and messy. If I had a craving for the ultimate roast beef po boy, I'd probably hike out to Parasol's, but if I needed to stick near the Quarter, I wouldn't be disappointed in this one. The Judge Bosetta po boy took a while on the grill. It's got ground beef, Italian Sausage and Hot Sausage, all smooshed together and crisped-up on the flat-top. Delicious. We saw a lot of food go by as we were waiting for that second sandwich, and everything looked great, including bowls of seafood gumbo with various claws and shells protruding from the broth, a very credible-looking muffuletta, a bacon egg and cheese po by's Po Boy that made us consider backing-up to breakfast, and lots of enticing fried things. Johnny's Po Boys 51 St Louis St open until 3pm weekdays, 4:30 on fri-sat-sun. www.johnnyspoboy.com/ It was a beautiful, sunny day, so we walked over to the riverbank and ate our sandwiches outside. Afterward, we decided to bike out Magazine St and see what we would discover. We knew that if nothing else, we'd end up at La Divina and Sucré. Good gelato and sorbetto are always powerful motivators. That's Strawberry-Balsamic Sorbetto and Coconut Sorbetto on the left, Abita Root Beer Gelato and Sweet Potato Pie Gelato on the right. They were all decent, although the flavors were a bit on the subtle side, except for the Sweet Potato Pie, which was fantastic. The coconut-basil sorbetto a few doors up at Sucré was even more vague, just barely a hint of coconut, but it was still pretty refreshing after a bike ride on a sunny day. La Divina Gelateria 3005 Magazine St www.ladivinagelateria.com/ Sucré 3025 Magazine St http://www.shopsucre.com/ It would have made sense to just stay uptown, but we wanted to put on some better clothes for dinner, so we biked back to the Marigny, cleaned up, and hopped a cab back west, for dinner at Clancy's. The restaurant was very busy, so we were led upstairs to a small room in the library. It was a perfectly pleasant space, but as luck would have it, we were a two-top, squeezed between a table of 8 doctors trying to impress one another with their wine selections, and a table of 12, which seemed to be a family get-together of some sort. This most likely accounted for our feeling that we were getting something less than the service we'd hoped for - nothing egregious - just a general sense that they weren't really all that concerned about us, which is just going to happen when squeezed in-between two tables spending lots of money. It was a bit like our Commander's experience: nobody was rude to us, but we'd been looking forward to some of that burnished, old fashioned New Orleans service, and we didn't get much of that... Although, also similar to Commander's, we did get a little bit of it. Again, we had tag-team servers, and one of them was an older gentleman who just had everything under control, knew what we wanted before we did, accommodated a few special requests with great elegance - just handled it. Our other server seemed to forget about us most of the evening, poured the last of our bottle of wine without mentioning it or asking of we wanted another, etc. But that was a minor annoyance, I suspect we would have been happier downstairs in the main dining room, we'll have to remember to ask for that next time. And I do think there will be a next time, because the food was terrific. We started with a couple of cocktails, including a perfectly balanced Sazerac, one of the best I've ever had, and I've been making a habit of having them anywhere I can get them! We also knew things were going to be good when the (excellent) bread was accompanied by a huge stick of butter. I'm embarrassed to think about how much of that we actually went through... We started with another Crabmeat Salad, it always sounds like the right thing, and this one was very good, almost three dishes in one: delicate crab, a nice lettuce salad, and spicy, complex deviled eggs. I'd been reading about the Fried Oysters with Brie. It sounded like an odd combination, and it is. It was very nicely done: the oysters were perfectly fried, seated on some sauteed spinach, a piece of brie cheese melted on top. And I enjoyed it, I'm just not completely sure that I love that array of flavors together. I'm glad I tried it, just not sure whether I'd get it again. One thing I'll certainly get again, in fact I might make a trip back to New Orleans purely to eat this, is the Smoked Duck. This was almost certainly the best roasted duck I've ever eaten, and I have a hard time resisting duck on any menu. There was an unmistakable, but not overbearing, smoky flavor, and the most incredible texture to both the meat and crisp skin. The fat had rendered down to just a faint whisper of richness, adding flavor and moisture and mouthfeel, but just barely... Both the leg and breast were just mind-bogglingly tender, moist and delicious. I' still dreaming of this duck. The accompaniments, some rather plain noodles and steamed vegetables, were underwhelming, but it really didn't matter, the main attraction was so good. With Lamb Chops on our mind from the previous night, we decided to try them here. And they were very good, not as revelatory as the duck, but very flavorful, and well-executed. What knocked us out about this plate was the hash browns. Yes, simple crusty fried shredded potatoes somehow stole the show from beautifully grilled lamb. There's some sort of simple, familiar seasoning in the potatoes that, along with artful griddling to make them so perfectly crisp, turned them into something special. So, my dream plate is the duck, with hash browns rather than noodles. I'm definitely asking for that next time, I wonder if they'll do that for me? A bright, clean Grgich Fume Blanc was a nice companion, perhaps a little light for the lamb, but nice with everything else. I couldn't leave without trying their famous Lemon Icebox Pie. It lived up to the hype: it's vibrant, tart, sweet, cold, refreshing, yet indulgent. Perfect with a cup of chicory coffee. I'm already plotting another visit for duck and pie, and anything else will just be a bonus. Clancy's 6100 Annunciation St. (504) 895-1111 (warning: www.clancysrestaurant.com is NOT them, although it will come up in Google with their address... )