philadining

Sorry to hear about Pacific Rim, I'll especially miss the newsletters which were primarily accounts of what a disaster his last trip to wherever was, how much he got ripped-off, and for god's sake will somebody buy some of these wooden tulips?!?! But back to food: it's interesting, I never think to go to Manayunk to eat anymore, it just never enters my mind. I'm sure there's still some good places there, but it's not a destination. I had brunch at LeBus within the last year, and it was good, but it was a back-up to some other place that we intended to go. I guess it's a cyclical thing, a neighborhood booms, it becomes such a pain to deal with the crowds that people stop going, or the next "cool" neighborhood draws attention away. But I really do need to get back to Jake's, I haven't been there in eons.

Some friends and fellow eGulleteers are going on thursday, I had posted an offer for some open seats, but as you might guess, they went pretty fast! We'll write reports, we promise...

I think the folks at Django would have enough sense to ask, but the one trick to BYOB wine service concerns multiple bottles. If you've brought more that one, to have some options, or for multiple courses, whatever, overzealous servers have been known to open all of them immediately, even if one of them might have been a back-up. Again, most places will ask. The problem at Django is that the tables are pretty small, there's not a lot of space for multiple bottles. But if you just put the bottle you're going to drink up on the table, they'll know what to do with it! I like Andrew's original idea, if you do have a particularly nice bottle, try parading around the room with it, sticking it in people's faces and shouting "how 'bout DAT?!? Prem-yay crew, baybeee!!!" They'll remember you... If I lived around the corner, and had some really outstanding wine that would clearly be improved by ideal stemware, I might think about bringing something with me, but I've never been all that bothered by less-than-ideal glasses, even the little juice glasses at Farmicia were fine for the level of wines I was drinking. It's a nice touch when they have nice glasses, one thing I like about Marigold, but not all that crucial unless you're drinking something really swanky.

Returned to Desi Village in King of Prussia with a couple of friends tonight. Aloo Choley, Dal Makhni, Sarson Ka Saag, Onion Kulcha, Aloo Paratha. All of it, really good. We skipped apps, and this was just the right amount of food, got out of there for $15 each including a good tip. We were walking on the veggie side tonight, which probably saved a couple of bucks. The breads were especially good.

I'll agree that the Chinatown veggie places are not the apex of fine cuisine, but I've found some good stuff at most of them, the sucky dishes have tended to be the lame impersonations of lemon chicken, or whatever. I didn't recommend the regular chinese places, reflecting a paranoia of some of my veggie friends about how truly meat-free your plate ends up by the time it moves through the kitchen.... Of course the same could be said of any kitchen. One friend tells a story about being in a South Philly Italian place, and explaining that he wanted his pasta with just sauce, no meat, because he was a vegetarian. He later discovered some meat in the sauce, and the waiter explained that there was just a little, you know, you had to have SOME, for flavor... And I'm a huge fan of Rangoon, but we found it a bit of a challenge with strict vegetarians, there's a lot of sneaky shrimp powder in many of the dishes, even the ginger salad. There are some things, but be careful.... The same is true with Penang, there's shrimp paste in lots of veggie-looking offerings. It is of course possible to assemble a good meal at many of the places in chinatown, it just takes some caution, and faith. Tria is an excellent idea. The menu at Dmitri's is not too big to start, so there's not LOTS to choose from, but Katie's right, what they have is great. And as you eat your octopus, you'll find yourself not really caring if they're satisfied! Mama Palma's has been a common stop lately with our veggie friends, it's not plain-old pizza, they have very interesting, high-quality toppings. Alyan's is indeed a good place for falafel for them, kebabs for you, but it's pretty casual, not a place for a nice dinner with the folks. Tasty though.... And as Buckethead said, if you go to Azure, the Seitan Tips are usually the hit of the night. Who knew seitan had tips?

I'll defer to your more frequent, and surely more recent, experiences. I wasn't even trying to claim that one is better than the other, simply that some of the flavors at Capogiro can give me that same kind of rapturous flavor immersion that I can only compare to Berthillon and a few other places. It's a similar proximal phenomenological experience on my particular tongue (which is now tied from trying to say that out loud.) I won't claim it's exactly as good, just in the ball park as my nerve-endings record it!

This is actually something I run into with some regularity, dining-out with vegetarian friends, but not wanting to stick to purely vegetarian spots all the time. The White Dog is always the place to start, but even when it's good, one wants some variety in life... While I've heard mixed reviews of the veggie fare at Farmicia, there is a nice variety on both sides of the divide, not just one or two obligatory vegetarian offerings. A vegetarian friend really liked Azure at 931 N 2nd, just a few doors up from Standard Tap in Northern Liberties. We omnivores thought it was pretty nice too, with a good selection for all of us, a decent beer and wine list, nice vibe. The food wasn't mind-blowing, but it was enjoyable, and offered several interesting vegetarian dinners, not just just a sullen pasta or two. I'd go back. Northern Liberties might be a little scruffy for the folks, but the restaurant itself is pretty nice, casual but not dumpy. Of course, here in Philly, Italian is the easy default, there's almost always plenty of good vegetarian offerings at any Italian place. They're probably tired of Indian, but it's not always common to find stylish places, so Cafe Spice or Karma could be a change of pace. Than on the other side of things, the full-on veggie places in Chinatown: Harmony, Cherry Street, or Kingdom of Vegetarians, have decent food, it's not too hard to find something good without meat. I steer clear of the meat-simulations, the vegetarians like them and keep insisting that it's "just like the real thing" but that's only because they haven't had the real thing in a long time.... but there's nothing wrong with sharing a few good vegetable dishes at one of those places. They're a little on the funky side, but the West Philly Ethiopian places have a good selection of vegetarian food, along with meat-based dishes. You might need to make sure they serve the two types separate, not running into each other on one big piece of injera. That tends to keep both parties happy, if eating spicy food with your hands is cool with the folks. I like Dahlak at 4708 Baltimore Ave. Not the swankiest neighborhood in town, but it's not too rough. There's also a Crepe place at 6th and Bainbridge called Beau Monde, that's got an elegant feel. You can choose your own fillings, and they have good salads, and a nice selection of wine and ciders. That South Street area is a bit nuts on a weekend, but it's worth a shot earlier in the day. Hope that gets you started, hopefully some others here have some more ideas...

I'll second Chris' "wow". I have to wonder if you experienced an unfortunate late-night phenomenon where all the most intense stuff happened to be gone... or by an odd coincidence, the flavors that happened to be there were on the subtle side. Not every one of their offerings has been a home run, one of the things I like about them is their tendency to just try flavors and see how they go. But vividness of flavor has rarely been a problem, even in the ones that didn't quite work. I've been to Berthillon, and while it's hard to filter the greater experience of wandering the Ile St Louis on a sunny day from the ice cream in the cup, I feel like I can remember the actual taste sensations. I LOVED it! But I'd say my experience from many visits is that Capogiro generally compares favorably to Berthillon, while not being exactly the same thing. Actually, the best ice cream I had was in Paris, but not at Berthillon, it was from a little cart outside the chocolate shop of Christian Constant over in St Germain-des-Pres. I assumed they made it themselves: the chocolate was outrageous, but the mango might have been even better. In any case, on a good day, Capogiro reminds me of those experiences... But Gelato and Ice Cream aren't exactly the same, each has its strengths.... And recollections can be faulty, and the pride of place and thrill of discovery could be clouding our judgment here in philly, so it's helpful to have your reactions as a visitor. And next time I'm in Massachusetts or Montreal, I'm checking out those places you mentioned! Thanks for the tips! (edited to fix a typo that was sure to have have caused the Parisians to sigh disapprovingly in a very French way.)

I had a similar reaction to the Bishop's Collar a while back on a sunday, early afternoon, I guess it was officially brunch. Nothing wrong with it, but no big thrill. With Brigid's just up the street, and Rembrant's around the corner, I never saw any reason to go back. Not that I wouldn't, it's just that I prefer those other two. At Brigid's the beer problem is the exact opposite, it can take hours to read through all the Belgian beer available. I usually stick to what's on draft, simply to make the decision easier.

I was wondering what that was going to be, the renovations look kind of nice. I would guess, and it's only a guess, that you could do fine amidst other sushi restaurants, that there's something about the format that you're pursuing that makes it a specific destination. A conveyor-belt place is going to be fast, less-expensive, less formal. I love that kind of thing, I can't even count the number of movies I've missed because the meal dragged out longer than I had planned. In your research, does that seem to be the case, that a place like you're planning can coexist with other conventional sushi restaurants by serving different niches?

You've already got a spot right? 1100 block of Walnut? I think that will be an excellent location. And if a noodle house pops in nearby, even better for reminding people to go to that neighborhood for Japanese food. The only downside of that location, like most of center city, is parking, but it's a great walk-up destination. oops, you answered my question while I was asking it! Were the other spots you made offers on in the same area? If not, why were you leaning toward those spots?

Welcome! And thanks for sharing your experiences here. I'm sure we'll find them interesting, and I hope in turn we can be of some help too. Your restaurant should be a nice addition to our scene here. I thought the conveyor-belt sushi places I saw in Tokyo were really cool. I was a little surprised that Pod's version wasn't really successful. I think there were just too many other options there, so not everyone at the sushi bar was eating sushi, leading to less turn-over of the plates. I would think that would be the biggest challenge, balancing the selection and freshness at the less busy times. But I think you'll do better if you're focusing on that one thing, if most or all people sit at the belt and eat from it. Best of luck, and thanks again for sharing your insights.

A friend and I had an outstanding meal at the Bar Room at the Modern on Sunday night. Everything we had was delicious and well-presented. Service was (for the most part) good and it’s a lovely space. I’ll agree with the above posts that this is an extremely good value, very high-level food at quite reasonable prices. Many thanks to previous posters, especially Jason and Rachel, for helpful tips. A few new menu items and personal preferences enticed us to try some things not previously mentioned, but we couldn’t resist sampling a few things described/pictured in this topic. Oysters with American Caviar: not much to say, two good oysters, good (relatively mild) caviar, good dish. Not much evidence of the billed leeks or cider. Cucumber-Mint gazpacho with crab croquettes: loved the cold cucumber soup, loved the little crabcakes, didn’t love them together. They didn’t clash, they just didn’t amplify one another to be more than the sum of their parts. And I’m not sure that chilled cucumber soup has ever cried out for a warm croquette, or a panko crunch. Nonetheless, each element of this was so good that I was quite happy with it, I’d get it again in a minute, I just think they should keep the croquettes on the side. Even better was the mushroom soup with chorizo ravioli. It’s been appropriately lauded in previous posts, and I’m not sure I have much to add, except to concur that it’s terrific. We chose to toss the raviolis into the broth, and the crunchy fat-bomb was a perfectly complimentary escalation of the deeply intense soup. They’ve tweaked the tagliatelle: what we had wasn’t over-rich, and it’s now served with crispy pancetta, sweet peas and earthy morels, combining beautifully with the delicate pasta, little overt evidence of cream, cheese, or other sauce, although something was holding it all together elegantly. I don’t think I could eat a huge bowl of it, but I happily wolfed-down probably two-thirds of the ample portion and lived to tell about it. As mentioned several times in previous posts, the octopus was superb, wonderfully tender, a light liquorice tang from micro-tarragon lifting the flavors above the comforting potato. I found the Horseradish-crusted Wild Salmon to be quite tasty, and I don’t even like salmon. This portion looked a little small, but was ultimately just the right size as one of seven dishes shared between two of us. I’ve made it a point to eat duck confit whenever it’s offered, and this version is unquestionably the best I’ve ever had. The falling-apart tender meat had an almost buttery texture, and just the right level of seasoning. I barely bothered with the sweet (balsamic?) drizzle around the plate’s perimeter, the duck was so moist and full-flavored. The accompanying pan-fried potatoes would be unremarkable except that they were absolutely perfect: tender, crusty, addictive. I could have eaten a whole plate of those. A glass of light, summery Guner Veltliner was a good foil for some of the early courses. A Gewurtz was sweeter than I like it, I should have asked… . A Riesling paired well with the Salmon, a no-brainer give that it was in the sauce. Our waiter suggested a stout, spicy Australian Syrah (yes, he called it a Syrah, not a Shiraz, but sadly, I’ve blanked on the maker….) which was indeed an excellent match for the duck. For dessert: a Pannacotta layered with fruit in an elegant glass. A tiny ramekin beside contained sliced strawberries atop an intensely gingery fruit compote, a couple of tuille cookies bridging the two. Their Chocolate Tart is dense and dark, with a crunchy, praline-ish topping. The vanilla ice cream was a little vague, but that might have only been in contrast to the intensity of the chocolate. Both desserts were quite good. An espresso and cappuccino finished us off. We enjoyed all of the food, and would order any of it again, although we probably won’t, there’s too much else of interest. We had 7 dishes (2 from the first section, 3 from the second, 2 from the third), 2 desserts, two coffees, and 4 (generously-poured) glasses of wine. The tab came to $180 before tip, which we felt was a bargain for the quantity and quality of the food we received. Service was generally good. Our waiter made some helpful suggestions and was generally available. But we didn’t get a basket of the excellent bread until we asked for it, and all food was delivered by runners, none of whom ever knew who got which dish. I’m actually not all that annoyed by this, but it’s a table of two, it’s not THAT hard to keep track... The one major gaffe occurred when one of the runners picked up my (used) soup spoon and placed it in front of my dining partner, as his soup arrived. I retrieved it, explained we needed a new one, and he apologized profusely and promptly provided one, but that would have been an odd move even if the spoon was clean. The two-tops in the middle of the room are spaced a little tightly, close enough that we couldn’t help overhearing that our neighbors were fellow eGulleteers, referring to this very topic as they scanned the menu. (BTW- Nice to meet you guys, looking forward to your reviews.) And while I’ve found Bruni’s recent bathroom obsession to be a little weird, sure enough, I managed to walk-in on a gentleman who hadn’t latched his cubicle door properly, creating an uncomfortable moment, and the automatic toilets weren’t flushing automatically for me, requiring a manual prod. Neither was a huge crisis, but put a thin haze on an otherwise polished experience. Nobody made fun of my coat. All in all, this was a very enjoyable meal. The food was uniformly strong, service almost as good, the prices more than fair, the setting comfortable yet elegant. I’m eager to go back.

Dropped in to the "Szechuan Tasty House" at 9th and Arch tonight. It's only been there a little over a week, and things seem a little slow. In fact I was the only person there at about 8:30 on a saturday night. As much as I liked having a private restaurant, that really ought to change, there's some good, and more important, different, food here. It's a small space, maybe 40ish seats, on a tough corner, it feels really out of the flow, even though it's not actually very far from everywhere else. I wish them luck, I liked it a lot. Dumplings in a spicy sauce: small dumplings soaking in a red oil. These are freaking great. Dan-Dan Noodles: thin noodles with ground pork and a thin, moderately spicy sauce. Really tasty, comforting with a subtle kick. Shredded Duck with Ginger: thin slivers of duck, snowpeas, celery, red bell pepper and ginger, no sauce. This was not spicy (it wasn't supposed to be) but was very tasty in a simple, straightforward way. I've been really liking that many of the Szechuan dishes I've been getting haven't been swimming in goopy sauce. The entree section of the menu is a little too conventional-looking, even the "house specials" seem a little same-ish, but the starters are more unusual. But given the tasty stuff I had on just one visit, I'd bet that there's more good stuff to be found. Gotta get back for some more of those dumplings! Szechuan Tasty House 902 Arch Street, Phila,PA 215-925-2839

I think you and I might have been the only ones who tried this, the pan was looking pretty full at about 9:30pm.And I agree, it was a little weird, I don't think I would have wanted more than half of a small cup, but paired with the Rosemary Honey Goatmilk, the combo was actually quite good! Herby, earthy, yet sweet.

I've been curious, what exactly is that?And yeah, the Rendang is great, forgot about that...

Penang: Roti Canai, Chicken Satay, Penang Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry), Beef Chow Fun, Coconut Rice (Note: probably 80% of Penang's menu includes shrimp, which I can't eat, so I'm sure most of their best stuff is likely not on my list. But I go often just to get the Roti Canai, a thin pancake with a chicken curry dip)

Rangoon: Spring Ginger Salad, Thousand-layer Bread with Chicken Curry dip, Festival Rice, Northern Burma Fried Noodles, Kung Pao Beef.

And just to get things rolling, Sang Kee Peking Duck House: Peking Duck (duh!) Roast Pork Noodle Soup, Steamed or Fried Pork Dumplings, General Tso's Chicken.

Let's try to keep general Chinatown questions in the other topics, hopefully this can be a lean-and-mean guide to what dishes we strongly recommend at our favorite places in Chinatown. Please share what you always have to get, what you specifically go to the restaurant for, what you drag friends and relatives into a place to sample. I guess I'm curious about both conditions: when I go to X, I always get Y; or if I'm in the mood for Z, I always go to N. I get stuck in ruts, ordering the same few things at the same few places, so I'm eager to hear about peoples' absolute fave food in Chinatown. Of course it's all subjective, but if we report only our top picks i think there's a decent chance of developing a good list. or at least a roadmap for packing on a few pounds....

Sang Kee does this with their take-out noodle soups too, noodles in one container, broth in another, so that the noodles don't get soggy. I've gotten the General Tso's like you describe too, and discover that it's irresistible car food, like gourmet McNuggets: pull a strip of chicken, dip it in the sauce....I've never made it home with an order intact.

I love the Roti Canai at our outpost of Penang here in Philly, and the filled Roti Telur is pretty good. The Roti Canai was decent at Melati in (London's) SOHO, but I haven't seen Roti Jala at those places, nor at a few spots I've forgotten the names of on the West Coast. But now I feel like I too must find it! I'll look forward to you folks finding a good version in NY, and running up there to try some.

I think the roti jala is supposed to be lacier, with holes in it, like a two-dimensional funnelcake. Roti canai is more solid, like a crepe. But I wouldn't bet large sums of money on that actually being the distinction...

Made another stop at Tifco's China Bistro tonight, and got some more really enjoyable food. Again, couldn't resist the cold chicken in spicy sauce. This is quite assertively hot, but with a really pleasing, deep chili flavor. My guests and I ate most of it on the spot, because the last time I got this, I learned the hard way that it does not really keep well. I pulled leftovers from the refrigerator a couple days later, and they had morphed into an ill-tempered, nuclear-hot beast that beat me over the head, kicked me in the teeth, maced me, stole my car keys, and laughed about it the whole time. Much better-behaved fresh on the table... A scallion pancake was ordered as a defense against the heat, and it was OK, but a little too flaky and greasy, not scalliony enough. A minced chicken lettuce-cup thing from the regular menu was quite tasty with some hoisin slathered on, but then almost anything is good with hoisin slathered on. We were warned that the spicy shoftshell crabs were REALLY spicy, but they weren't. Regardless, they were delicious. Quartered crabs were dusted in a light salty coating and fried crisp. I'm never sure what I think about softshells, and I loved these. Lamb with Cumin looked rather terrifying, more whole dried red chili peppers than lamb by volume, with some onions and scallion. The slices of lamb looked a bit dessicated, dry-fried with cumin and the peppers. But it was really tasty, the lamb heading toward jerky, but with just enough juiciness to avoid that level of chew. It was spicy, but not overwhelmingly so, as long as you avoided the abundant peppers. The softshells were a little pricey, about $18 I think, but a good value, there was a big pile of them. I'd say 4 to 6 medium-sized crabs. It was hard to count, as they were chopped-up. Everything else was pretty inexpensive. Really good stuff.

I notice in the online review, there's no bell rating (usually depicted online with stars), nor was there for the previous week's. i don't know if that's an oversight, or some weird web-edition thing - if you want to know how many bells, buy the paper! You'd think if he were dropping the bell ratings there would have been some noise about it. I assume there were bells in the sunday print edition(?)