philadining

Thanks for that vivid account, I was starting to feel stuffed just reading it! Many of the small touches sound really nice: saffron ice cream with the mussel, two different preps of squid, tomato sorbet, three kinds of baklava... it seems like a lot of food with variety, not just more for more's sake. I know you said it didn't really work, but what was "potato taffy" supposed to be? Your post has got me wanting to check this place out, thanks again.

I haven't been to the restaurant in Napa, but i remember a cooking show Tra Vigna's owner/chef did a short time ago. Unfairly stereotyping from the vibe I got from the TV show, I was a little concerned that the food at Sovalo might be a slick, overbuffed, inoffensive California cliche. And I'm happy to say it's not the case. In fact it's probably unfair to raise the spectre of Cal-Ital, Sovalo isn't really following that trend, but it does have some of that light touch, and non-adherence to strict traditional preparations.

I always question the wisdom of opening ANOTHER Italian restaurant in Philly, and even in this part of in Northern Liberties, there's already Il Cantuccio about a block and a half away. But I suppose there's always room for another good restaurant, no matter the style, and from one visit, I think they'll do well. All the food was consistently very good, and the restaurant itself is a lovely setting, somehow much airier than the old Pigalle, even without any major structural changes. It was surprisingly empty when I went, but I predict that will be an unusual status in the near future, our server said that several print reviews were forthcoming, including Sono, LaBan, and Phily Mag (there are so many freaking restaurants in this town, why do all the reviewers end up at the same places?) If those writers had experiences like I did, they should inspire some (more) crowds to trek down to Northern Liberties . Things started out well with crusty bread with an artichoke and white bean puree, which was a tasty spread, and a nice alternative to oil or butter. A cuttlefish appetizer consisted of tender, yet almost meaty strips of squid-like fish, grilled lightly and served on bitter dandelion greens, with shaved fennel. I'd never had cuttlefush before, and this was good, a little heftier than squid, but same general vibe, prepared very well. A half-order of gnocchi with pancetta and peas served as another starter. Delicate, light, small dumplings were sauced with a smooth tomato sugo, a small dice of pancetta adding depth. The peas were a little starchier than I prefer, and the pea flavor threatened to dominate the this dish, but it just barely stayed in balance, for an enjoyable rendition of this classic combination. Marlin was lightly dressed with a chili vinaigrette, and perched atop roasted fingerling potatoes. The sauce lent the meaty fish a subtle, intriguing tang, the chili flavor imparting more depth than heat. Lamb speidini was tender chunks of marinated lamb, grilled just enough to develop a flavorful crust, yet remain a ruby medium-rare. It was served, along with nuggets of rich lamb sausage, atop an herby, juicy mix of fava and cannellini beans. This was REALLY good. Pannacotta with macerated strawberries, a fine chiffonade of basil cutting the sweetness, was a really nice dessert. Another one had a combination of red currant sorbetto and meyer lemon granita, which were vibrant and refreshing. The Meyer lemon flavor was NOT fooling around, whole-face-puckeringly strong, but still tasty, and tempered by the sweetness of it sweeter companion. There's a nice winelist with a good selection of affordable bottles. We chose a few different tastes by the glass. There are just enough to choose from, with a good variety. A Vouvray complimented the cuttlefish nicely, a California Pinot Noir played well with the gnocchi. Our server suggested a Barbera to match the tricky vinegar-tinged mackerel and the flavors indeed melded beautifully. A hefty Zinfandel held its own with the lamb. The recipes here aren't especially revolutionary or daring, but have enough imagination and sheer skill of execution for the food to rise above the pack. Philly needs another Italian restaurant like it needs another Liberty Bell, but this one is good enough, with enough of a fresh Cal-Ital vibe to make it stand out. This place is going to get crowded soon. Go now.... (702 N. Second St) edited to add address

Before they deleted the posts at that other message board, she said she went twice, all her budget would allow. Someone had questioned whether she could have eaten everything she wrote about, and she replied that she had indeed tried all those things in two visits.

Does the PLCB have an official position on shipping of wines or spirits into PA from small out-of-state producers? I know there are couple of court cases addressing this kind of thing, so I know it's not simply up to your state agency, and I can actually understand some of the arguments for keeping a state institution in-the-loop (although for pure convenience, I'd prefer to have stuff shipped to my house.) But if I stumble across a tiny winery in Paso Robles and would like to buy a case of wine without trying to cram it into the overhead bin on an airplane, I'd love to be able to ship it home somehow. Even if I had to ship it to a State Store, where I later picked it up and paid tax and some handling fee, and proved I was of age, I might be able to live with that. Of course I'd rather send it right to my house, but I can see how that might not work. I've had some really good wines made by two guys in a building not much bigger than their garage, and I can see that it would never be worth it to them to go through the hassle of becoming an official vendor, in order to sell a couple of bottles to people in PA. Is there, could there be, some structure by which i could legally buy a case from some microproducer somewhere out of state, or join their wine club?

Then why did she bother to write about Bookie's if it was so damn bad? I'm tellin' ya, there is an unfair agenda thing going on in that review; she did not describe the restaurant in which I dined, not once, but twice. ← It's a pretty common practice for reviewers of anything, be it books, music, movies, food, whatever, to not bother panning some small project that just wasn't working. It's two things: first, who cares if some critic hates something you've never heard of, and weren't planning on checking-out? Second, it's just kind of mean-spirited. But if a high-profile project is asking the consumer to spend money on it and fails to provide a reasonable value, then critics often get all Consumer-Reports-y, warning people away from getting ripped-off. And of course some people just enjoy being nasty. So it's not surprising that Lauren McCutcheon would skip writing a bad review of some little place she was hoping would be good. And that she would trash an iconic, expensive destination, if she found it disappointing. Rich, I know what you mean. I've had it happen before, some restaurant (or movie or CD) I liked got slammed in the press, or vice versa. I've also followed a good review to a restaurant and sat there mystified about what I was missing. I've gotten a little pissed about dropping $18 on a bad CD that some reviewer enthused about, and irritated if my favorite disc gets shredded in Rolling Stone. So I understand your frustration, I know you know food, so if someone reports something exactly opposite to what you experienced, it's annoying. But I didn't read an agenda in Lauren McCutcheon's review. I've read a lot of her columns, and while I don't always agree with her (or anybody) I haven't detected any tendency toward character assassination. I'll agree that it seems unlikely that they didn't get anything right, but as I mentioned upthread, I once went to a place that got a good review in the Inky and ended up only liking the dinner rolls. And I suppose both experiences can be true. Kitchens shouldn't perform dramatically differently from night to night, but sometimes they do. I happen to think a restaurant should cook everything on their menu skillfully, but it's still possible to order the "right" and "wrong" things at some places. Rich, did you have any of the same dishes that McCutcheon disliked? Or the tuna that was described here as gray and lukewarm? It would be interesting to know whether they can indeed sometimes get that stuff right, or if it's better to just avoid those items. Holly has a point, you don't really go to Bookies for Tuna Tartare, but then again, if it's on the menu it's not really crazy to order it, especially if the chef has worked at Le Bernadin. I'm actually glad to hear you liked it, I might try it. But I'm probably going to pass on the $68 lobsters...

Lacroix Rittenhouse Hotel 210 West Rittenhouse Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-546-9000 http://www.rittenhousehotel.com/lacroix.cfm It's not a great website, just a part of the larger hotel site, but there are sample menus, etc....

Stephen, you're one of the people who hipped me to the second menu, do you remember anything you ordered from it that was good?

I think anyone can get the secret menu, just ask for it. I do not read Chinese, so much of the page remained a mystery, but some of the items have very basic translations typed beneath. As for the untranslated stuff, there's a decent chance that those items are assumed to appeal only to Chinese eaters. I've seen that at some hole-in-the-wall restaurants, especially in San Francisco, with specials posted on the wall that waiters or waitresses refused to translate, just saying we wouldn't like it. I've never been brave enough to challenge that. If I had been with a larger group in Exton I would have asked about more than I did, but this being my first visit, I found plenty to choose from. The people are nice, I'm willing to bet they'll tell you what's what. I don't mean to overstate this cliche, but there was considerable skepticism that I REALLY wanted to order from that menu, but I'll give them credit for not trying to talk me out of it, nor wimping it out for me, the chicken was very spicy. I'm still not sure what happened with the pork, I thought that was supposed to be peppery too, but maybe something got lost in translation. I think it's worth reinforcing that you want it spicy if you do. In the end, they seemed pleased that I ordered and liked the Szechuan items.

Oh yeah, if you're looking for it, it's in Exton, 163 West Lincoln Highway (rt 30) in the Whiteland Towne Center. The easiest entrance is on rt 100, just north of 30, across from the K-Mart. 610-363-1850

Bourbon-caramel: not much bourbon flavor, but dense caramel streaks in what seemed more like vanilla. Still really tasty. Bitter Chocolate, because, well, it had been more than 15 minutes since I had it last.

Yet again, welcome, Chairman Newman. Big thanks for chatting with us here, as well as for all the improvements we've all been enjoying at the stores, and on-line. I applaud the staff training program you've already mentioned, and indeed, nothing will beat the personal experience of the salespeople actually tasting the wines. But salespeople are never going to be able to have a good assessment of every wine on the tip of their tongues, nor the time to chat in depth with every customer. So I'd encourage you to add more shelf tags wherever possible, perhaps created by you folks as you make your decisions about what to carry, or in the course of your training tastings. Even manufacturer PR, can be helpful, I know many of the larger wineries make up descriptive tags, some of which are actually informative, not just hype. That's one of the things I like about shopping in other states, the additional information often available from staff and written guides. One can find a good amount of advice on-line, but sometimes it's really helpful to have it right in front of you as you're browsing. The Chairman's Selections are serving that purpose, I like not only the good prices, but also the more extensive info provided on the descriptive cards on the displays, not to mention the presumption that the wines must be pretty good for you to have chosen them in the first place. Once again, thanks for all the improvements we've seen recently, it truly is a pleasure to shop in the wine specialty shops and outlets now. I would only ask that you continue to provide the consumers (OK, me...) with as much info as practical at the point-of-sale.

Thanks to a couple of tips here on eGullet, I stopped by Tifco's China Bistro in Exton tonight. Something about the name and the location made me doubt there was serious food here (although it's about 50 yards from Devi). I'm glad I was wrong. I was presented with a big glossy, colorful menu, which looked fine, Im sure there's some good stuff on it, but none of the more intriguing things I had heard about. So I asked if there was another menu, and indeed, they brought over a simple typed-up, two-sided sheet, in Chinese, with only about half of it translated. None of the soups were translated, and they were all large servings, so I got a bowl of Szechuan shredded pork and preserved vegetable soup from the regular menu. It was pretty standard stuff, but delicious nonetheless, and with so much pork in it that it was almost a meal by itself. Beyond that, I ordered some stuff that looked similar to dishes I had enjoyed at Grand Sichuan Int'l up in NY. The cold sliced chicken in a spicy sauce was fantastic, every bit as good as the version I had in Manhattan. A couple different servers came by to make sure that I wanted it, checking that I knew it was cold, and very spicy. I also ordered Chinese bacon with long green peppers. This was quite tasty, but a little different that I expected. I didn't detect any peppers, instead it had good thick bacon, scallions and snow peas. The version I'd had elsewhere had scallions, hot peppers, and a spicy red oil. Maybe the kitchen was afraid I'd gotten in too deep and substituted snow peas for peppers! The pork was smokier than I've had at most Chinese places, maybe they just use plain American bacon rather than pork belly, no matter, it was good. And there wasn't really any sauce to speak of, but dredging it through some of the chicken sauce was good. It was tasty on its own, but I expected some more heat. The (owner? manager?) came over to make sure I actually liked everything, saying that the chef was concerned! When I told him I did, he was visibly pleased, and gave me the ultimate thumbs-up, saying I ate "just like Chinese" even though I hadn't ordered anything especially daring. Although this was only a small sample, everything I had was delicious and well-done. Considering the positive comments from others here on eGullet, I think we can safely say this is one of the better places out in the burbs. And I haven't even gotten food quite like this anywhere downtown. The regular menu might be just fine, but if you want some more unusual stuff, ask for the Szechuan menu, although that still might require some help, as much of it isn't translated. This would be a really good spot for a group dinner, to better sample a wider variety. Thanks again to the folks on this list for making me give this a second look. It's going to be a regular destination for me now.

OK, I won't even debate the alive part, but happy? I've always found lobsters to be pretty ornery and ill-tempered, with a sarcastic sense of humor. I'd think freezing would just piss them off more. But then, who knows what makes a lobster happy...

What's Leffland?edit: oh, duh, I get it.... some OTHER food forum... nevermind....

I haven't been there (nor have most of us, passing judgment on whether the review was valid...) so I can't say, but it seems that she had pretty specific complaints, not just "I didn't like it" opinions. Holly's right that an overall attitude can shade our experience of a place, but if she were in some other restaurant, would "Chemical-tasting, sneeze-inducing peppercorn sauce" be expressed as "bracingly assertive spicing" or some other positive spin? I doubt it, it sounds like it tasted unpleasant. OK, too much clove in the snapper soup is a tough call, but most of the other critiques seemed like fair points. I've been in a situation like that, where I ended up having a miserable time at a restaurant just because it was rather expensive, and everyone from the person seating me to the guy who poured my water, to the waiter, couldn't stop telling me how great my food was going to be, when in the end it was mediocre-to-poor. That just really annoyed me, and made me pan the place to anyone who would listen. And I could see the same thing happening at Bookies, we don't know what Ms. McCutcheon's attitude was walking in, we shouldn't assume she was looking for a fight. I never really liked the old one, but I'd go in hoping that a new one would be good, it's kind-of heartwarming to see the old institutions survive. I'm certainly willing to accept Rich's take on the restaurant, and give it a try. But even in our own little topic here we have conflicting advice: Rich says the chef is doing good work, Holly says to only order three things, Marinade says it's only OK. I'll be interested to see if we develop a consensus, hopefully from reporting back about actual meals there...

And ya gotta admit, this is a classic line from a host: "We have a table for you, but it's just still full of people."

You're absolutely right about (either) old Bookbinder's, but the vibe I was getting from early PR was that they got a happenin' new chef who could do some contemporary stuff, in addition to the soup and lobster. I'll certainly want to see some more reviews, and the way it's been going lately, all the papers seem to write about the same places, so I'll bet we'll have some more opinions soon.

The buffet is pretty good, but there are a few things like those pesky dosas, and even bread, that I think are MUCH better made fresh. So I sometimes order from the menu, unless I'm in a hurry, or just really in the mood for a wide variety, which now that I think of it, is most of the time. I have liked some of the food at Sitar's but I often find some of the spicing kind of harsh. I don't just mean spicy, hot is fine with me, but somehow edgy, rough, prickly.... But then, because of that, it's been some time since I went there, so that's an old opinion. There used to be a few more to choose from out at that 40th and Chestnut nexus, but it has thinned out. I keep meaning to try Kabobeesh a few blocks west in the old American Diner, anybody have opinions on that place? Or should we spin this off to a "good Indian in town" thread?

I searched for where our recent discussion of Persian food was, and sadly the topic seems apropos... While trying to jam in yet another Lombardi's pizza before the wrecking ball swings, I walked by Roya and saw that the windows are all papered-over, it looks pretty closed. I'm embarrassed to say it's been a while since I ate there so maybe this isn't all that recent? Still, I'd get there now and then and always liked it. Anybody know the story?

We have to understand the context, Monsignor Fentoni was on the short-list to be the next Pope (the REAL reason he's moving to Italy) so we'll have to forgive the linguistic slip.

In Philly, I'm still partial to Tandoor out on 40th Street: no atmosphere, but good food (including dosas) at a good price. And it's a bit too pricey and crazy on the weekends, (I've vowed to never again go into Old City on a weekend night, until the 20-something scenesters find a new neighborhood to stagger around in) but I like the food at Cafe Spice.

Also, Palace Of Asia, 285 Commerce Dr, (In the Best Western Hotel) Fort Washington, PA. Is very good for Northern/Pakistani.

Well... Kosher and Halal food laws, (or the vegetarian diet of some Buddhists or Hindus, etc) are specific practices determining what an observant practitioner can and cannot eat, and how it can be prepared. It's not a matter of making the members of the religion feel more comfortable while eating somewhere. One can debate how "sensible" religions are, but this is surely not the venue for that. But there certainly are established connections between some religious practices and food, beyond simple social meeting-place issues.

Just when I was getting cynical about all this fuss about barbecue, I had an excellent meal at The Smoked Joint tonight. i had been feeling incredibly caddish about saying hi to Katie, then rudely refusing to eat at the SSOH. It's just that I had barbecue on the brain, and oysters just weren't going to cut it! The sheer thrall of the smoky cue assuaged my guilt, I'm sure she'll understand.... They were pretty busy, so we ate at the bar, which was fine. My buddy and I split a "barbecue experience" which had a little bit of almost everything, and some mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was good, tender and creamy with a nice cheesey crust on the top. Not mind-blowing, but solid. The brisket tonight was just right: tender, very juicy, very smoky. This is the third time I've gotten it here, and this was much better than the other times, which weren't bad, but this was just amazing, really close to what I had in Texas. Ribs were tender, and notably NOT falling off the bone, as they had been on my first visit. They too had a rich deep smoke, and a bit of spice, especially the little guy on the end. Pulled pork was nice and juicy this time, but still benefitted from a little extra sauce. And a pleasant surprise was the chicken leg, moist and smoky with crusty skin. Greens had more spice than I remembered, but it worked. And the baked beans are indeed rather sweet, but I like them. We had to ask for bread, but got a couple of thick slices of very good fresh white bread. And that Virgil's root beer is really tasty, almost liquoricey. The food came out quickly, the staff was friendly, and all the food was great. I believe it when others say they didn't have as good a meal, things were not as consistent other times I've been there. But tonight..... just about perfect.