philadining

hmmm... never heard walkin' used down at Pat's, but they're not a subtle bunch, if they were going to mock you, you'd probably know it! So they probably understood you. I was in the neighborhood today, hungry and in a hurry, so I grabbed a Pat's steak for lunch, and it was not bad, but the meat was a little gristley, the onions not quite sauteed enough. Still pretty tasty, and better than many I've had from various places.

jeeze, me too... that Sulmona is an awesome thing to behold!

I had a very nice brunch at Rx today, nothing earth-shattering, just a good, solid, satisfying meal. I ordered a frittata with nicely spicy chorizo. I was almost a quiche, right down to its wedge shape, but I mean that in a good way. There was a good integration of flavors and cheesey solidity, it wasn't just scrambled eggs with a fancy name, as one gets at some places. It was accompanied by an excellent simple salad. DDP had a mushroom and cheese omelet which looked great, and he liked a lot. He had the same greens on the side. Feeling a need for a little more protein, he ordered some bacon on the side, which was really good: thick-cut and a little sweet. Good coffee, friendly service, nice lazy afternoon vibe... perfect.

hey Kobi, thanks for the post! I've never made it past the pork at DiNic's, but next time, I'm trying the roast beef, just like you had it, it looks great. And yeah, nobody ever believes me either, but I sometimes get an awesomely perfect steak at Pat's. Maybe not every time, but when they're on, they're on. So I hear ya man....

Elisa Ludwig visits this place for The City Paper and seems to like it.

OK, I'll bite (or maybe I won't...) what are "lights"?

Yet another rave review for Majolica, this time from Maxine Keyser in The City Paper

It's probably a little cruel to rave about a long-gone Chairman's Selection, but last night Katie was kind enough to pop a bottle of that 2000 Cakebread Benchlands Cabernet that was offered a while back. I'm psyched that I still have two bottles of this on deck... It was quite lovely on its own, but freaking transcendent with both a buffalo sirloin with apricots, prunes and Barolo sauce, and lamb chops with Calvados sauce. Those dishes were part of an excellent meal at Water Lily just across the bridge in Joisey. Yes, that's right, we brought PA wines to Jersey, we're trying to make up for some of the Moore Brother's flow in the other direction.... So if you happen to have grabbed any of that Cab last spring, think about saving it for a piece of bison, or a nice lamb chop, we can promise you'll be happy with the combination.

In the interest of staying off the roads on the night before Thanksgiving, I took the folks to Desi Village in King Prussia. They were about half-full, mostly with large groups of Indian people. They had a special menu in addition to the regular one, and from that, we ordered chicken mushroom soup that was creamy and vibrant. Also from that menu was a special Kashmiri Lamb dish, which was one of the best things I've had there. Large chunks of lamb were stewed until just barely holding together in a thick slightly sweet brown sauce sparkling with coriander and other spices. I wish this was on the regular menu. We tried the Chicken Bhartha again, which was a big hit at the table. We also got the crowd pleaser Chicken Tikka. They brought Chicken Tikka Masala instead, but it looked and smelled so good I wasn't about to send it back. And indeed, it was really delicious, the mild, creamy, tomatoey sauce complimenting the extremely tender cubes of chicken. There's a reason that people that don't even like Indian food like this dish.... And once again, one of the highlights was the bread, so fresh and hot we burned our fingers on it. And I'll happily do it again! Everything was very satisfying, and portions were so large, three of us barely finished half of what we ordered. Made a wonderful lunch today, and there's still more, so I'm happy...

Still feeling a little thanksgiving-y, I decided on butternut squash and after some debate, pine nut flavors. The squash was a little sweet with nice cinnamon and nutmeg spices. The pine nut went really well with the squash, it had a really pleasing creamy, buttery mouthfeel. Both were great. The (original) place was hopping at almost midnight, the day after thanksgiving.

This is actually a pretty great deal believe it or not... This is pretty much what it would cost to eat a comparable dinner at Le Bec, but then you'd feel compelled to order a decent bottle of wine, or two... which is not going to be cheap. But at this dinner, they not only are serving what looks like an excellent menu, you basically drink for free, with matched wines for every course. This usually adds a significant premium to the meal. I agree, it's not cheap, and I initially dismissed it as you did, but after running the numbers a bit, it started looking better! Sadly, I'm busy that day and can't make it, but I would go if I could!

Thanks! Interestingly, as of tuesday afternoon, it's still not linked from the main dining page, or as the "Latest Review" on LaBan's page. Nor does it appear in their RSS feeds, either for LaBan's reviews or for the more general Dining category. It's possible that they're holding these off for a few days on purpose, it may appear by thursday, when they usually send out a dining update email. They may be quite understandably trying to encourage people to buy the Sunday paper! It just seems to me that in the past I've been able to find the week's review on-line by late sunday, early monday, linked from the obvious sources. It does show up in their search engine if you know what to search on...

I'm somewhat mystified by the review of The Chef's Table, there's no evidence of it on-line anywhere, and LaBan's reviews are usually up before now. Was it in the regular Images section of the print version, or was it in a regional section? I'm feeling pretty confident of it not being on-line, because they do a pretty slick job of syndicating the dining section via RSS, and I don't see it showing up in any of the recent posts, not do I find it by clicking around their Dining pages. Odd...

Glad to hear that you enjoyed Pesto, we'll have to give it a try sometime. Now, do we think the waiter's mom calls him Francesco? (why am I such a cynic?)

One could argue that Nan, at 40th and Chestnut, is an Asian-Fusion BYOB, and it's one of my favorite places in the city. But I'll certainly agree that in the hands of a less-assured chef, that concept could be a disaster.

Oh sure, go ahead, tell everybody, now there'll be none left for us....And yeah, one could buy it ahead of time, but that removes my favorite part: deciding what I'm in the mood for at that exact moment in time. Keeping a pint of everything in the freezer at home gets impractical. Not that I'm not willing to try.

download flash7 ← or if you did get the PL logo, click it....

Indeed, as rlinkind says, give us a few more clues about what you like. Even the fancy places aren't all that stuffy here in Philly... It's hard to go wrong trolling for lunch at the Reading Terminal Market, and it's got plenty of local character. Another edge of our dining scene that's very characteristic of Philly is our array of BYOBs, where you can get a very nice meal for not much money, with the benefit (or annoyance) of bringing your own wine. Current faves with this crowd include Django, Pif, Matyson, Melograno, Radicchio, Marigold, Rx, Pumpkin, Lolita and Nan... there are more... some of them are very hard to get a reservation at on a weekend, others don't take reservations at all, which can work out great for you if you go early or late, or be a big pain if you hit the middle of a rush. Philly has some very good places in Chinatown, but one of the few that seems especially unusual is Rangoon, which serves Burmese food, often hard to find even in cosmopolitan cities. there's plenty of homey Italian, we can recommend specifics if you are interested. Philly gets a lot of press for the flashy, trendy, stylish places owned by Steven Starr, and although I take from your post that you'd probably want to stay simpler than these places, I've always had good meals at Tangerine (Moroccan-ish) Pod (Asian Fusion) and El Vez (Mexican.) Can get pricey, especially drinks, but dinner is usually memorable. We also have some very fine gastro-pubs, with excellent local beers and good food too. I'm personally fond of Standard Tap and North Third, both of which are in Northern Liberties, a short drive or cab ride from Center City. Sandy's right about Philly being very walkable, so to some degree it doesn't matter where you stay as long as you are right in center city, you can probably walk to some interesting places pretty easily. Let us know where you're considering, we'll warn you off any REALLY bad ideas. Again, give us some more ideas of what you like, we'll try to steer you to something you'll enjoy! (edited to add, yeah, what Katie said, listen to her!)

Just for the record, Capogiro is NOT open on thanksgiving day. I'll pretend to be disappointed for the sake of our out-of-state visitors, but I'm actually just bummed that I'm not going to be able to finish off the day with a scoop of pumpkin gelato. You know, I wouldn't be all that surprised if they had Turkey Gravy flavored gelato... But if you find yourselves near 13th and Sansom, or 19th and Sansom, on wednesday or friday, ya gotta go...

wkl and mummer had some great ideas (bringing some Capogiro gelato would make you the hit of the party for sure, if you had some way to keep it cold. I don't know if they'll be open on thansgiving day for you to grab some on your way out. The bigger problem would be that you would be in imminent peril of eating all of it before you got there...) Pastries from Isgro's is a good idea, although the crowds at those great bakeries get pretty nutty right before holidays. The Italian Market (where Isgro's is located) is not really close to where you're staying, but it's not too far, and there are other cool shops to explore as well. DiBruno's and Claudio's are great cheese shops on 9th street. Claudio's makes outrageously good little fresh mozzerella balls at a place next to main store. There's also an awesome DiBruno's store in on center City, on Chestnut street, near 19th, that is SURE to have something appropriate. If you had a cooler or something to keep things cold, a selection of cheeses either from Downtown Cheese in the Reading Terminal or from DibRunos or one of the places in the Italian Market, would go over at a thanksgiving extravaganza, I'm sure. All of those places have other less-perishable food as well. -- As for eating near your hotel, there are lots of restaurants nearby, but most of them in that neighborhood are on the expensive/fancy side. But the Pagoda Noodle Cafe is pretty solid Chinese food, and barely a block from the Sheraton Society Hill. Walk north on 2nd street (out of the main doors of the hotel, take a right) and just a little past Bookbinders, on the right, there's an open area that's a tiny historical park of some sort. There's a parking garage on the far side of this open space, and the Ritz Old City theater toward the back. Under the garage, just before the theater is where the Pagoda Noodle Cafe is. It's officially on "Sansom Walk" but I don't recall ever seeing a sign for that. The noodle soups there are very good (most of them very large for sharing) and I like the fact that you can order individual Peking Duck rolls. Most things I've ordered there I've liked. Or if you continue north on 2nd street up to the next stoplight, that's Chestnut street, and if you turn right there, there are a couple of possibilities. There are two Afghan restaurants, Ariana and Kabul. I've seen plenty of kids in those places, and while not super-casual or super-cheap, it's good, interesting food, and not too weird for the little ones, a basic kebab on rice is usually a crowd pleaser. I think Kabul is a little more formal than Arianna. In that same zone, there's also the Aromatic House of Kebabs on that same block, and that's very casual, pretty inexpensive, and while not the best kebabs on the planet, they're pretty good. Also on that block is the Mexican Post, which serves fairly average Tex-Mex food in a slightly grungy atmosphere, but I'll admit to it being a guilty pleasure from time to time... It's a pretty loud bar scene later in the night, in fact all of Old City is, but earlier in the evening it should be fine for the family. If you continue up 2nd street to Market Street, then make a right, down a short block there's a fantastic retro ice-cream shop called the Franklin Fountain. If you don't take your kids there at least once during your stay, we might have to report you to the authorities. If instead you turned left on Market, there are a couple of sandwich places where one can get a credible Philly Cheesesteak or hoagie. Campo's and Sonny's are between 2nd and 3rd on Market, and while not my favorite in all of Philly, they're not bad at all, and have the benefit of being walking distance from your hotel. They're very affordable, good sandwiches, and the places are totally kid-friendly. A little bit further up Market, there's a nice restaurant called Fork that might be a touch too swanky for the kids, but right next door is something called "fork etc." that has prepared foods, baked goods etc, and a few tables, so it's more of a cafe vibe. You might be able to find something actually gourmet-ish to eat, but in a more casual environment that the kids would groove on. Come to think of it, you might even find something there to take to thanksgiving dinner, so check that out on wednesday! Slightly off in a different direction, at 6th and Chestnut, there's a place called Jones that serves homey comfort food, in an ironic, 1970s setting. It can be a little bit of a mob scene, and ends up being pricey for what's often basically gussied-up diner food, but it IS actually gussied-up, the food is well-prepared, and I've really enjoyed most of the things I've eaten there. Your kids won't get the joke of eating in what looks like the Brady Bunch family room, but they'll probably find something they'd like to eat, and you will too. As you stroll around your general neighborhood, you'll see more, it's one of the denser concentrations of restaurants around town. maybe something will appeal to you. There are a few very well-regarded places in the vicinity, like Amada and Tangerine, (maybe Buddakan depending on who you're asking) but I wouldn't consider any of those great spots for kids. And of course there's lots more to choose from elsewhere in the city, but these places you could walk to, which saves the hassle of moving the car, and burns some energy by letting the kids run around a bit on the way.

I've always assumed that a simple condensation of the review with a "revisited" indicates that he stands behind his original rating. I seem to recall seeing some note being made if a place got significantly better or worse, or if major changes happened in the kitchen. I do not recall if these notes are added to the original reviews archived on-line, or if they only appear in sidebars recommending similar, or nearby restaurants. It's very unusual for LaBan to do a full second review of a place unless it's a pretty major destination AND has undergone some significant change, such as the re-opening of Bookbinder's. So I'd be very surprised to see an new review of Moro, regardless of its location. Do you think that his review of Moro is still accurate? Obviously it's an inherent problem with restaurant reviews, the entity is changing all the time, with churning in personnel, or the same people getting better or worse at what they do, menu evolution, concept shifts, etc. I'm not sure there's a perfect way to keep on top of that, but I do like those notes indicating that a reviewer has been there recently, so one can assume it's largely the same as when last described. And then there's eGullet for up-to-the-minute updates!

I'm not sure the pictures really need any commentary, but if anyone's interested, I crammed-in some words amidst the images for that thursday night SK dinner on the original post.. And just a reminder to folks looking to organize a dinner at SK, there's a thread dedicated to that very thing, pinned near the top of the PA forum. With a little notice, there should be no trouble rounding up enough people to fill-out your table, but do start as soon as you can, believe it or not, it can sometimes be hard to get people to say yes, even to this!

Well you guys already know that I'm out lurking on the sidewalk most nights, holding a sign saying "I need a miracle"

I edited my post to include the menu descriptions, but excellent guesses! Yes, lobster, but carrot gave the color to the sauce. Ahh, why have squab when you can have squab, partridge and quail? One of the guests said it was like a Chunky candy bar, remember those? It was way better than that of course, super-intense but not over sweet, both the fudgy-cakey tart and the espresso-chocolate-chestnut sorbet. I had nothing to do with the wines this time, and once again had my hands full enough that I couldn't take detailed notes, but there was an outrageous array of world-class wines that night, and despite my recent advocacy of modest, supportive wines, these served as extremely enjoyable pairings, complimenting the food beautifully. I'll post details as I can remember them, I need to consult some photos I snapped!

Yo Evan, nice pics! I'm amazed that he's still standing (I guess Ferky should confirm for us that Shola IS standing at the end of friday night!) 4 StudioKitchen dinners in a row means he's been going non-stop. It's interesting to see how he sometimes does variations on a theme, riffing on the same dishes until he's happy with them, but then sometimes does something completely different. I don't think anything on the menu I experienced was on the one the night before. Some elements of the dessert might have been similar, but that's about it. As has been posted here many times, I just don't know how he does it: at each visit you think you've had as good as it gets, but next time it gets better...