philadining

Tommy Gunn's has just shot to near the top of the list of my favorite places, even though the brisket in my sandwich was a little dry.... It was still very good, with a solid smoky taste, if not quite as tender as the brisket I've had at TSJ. The kaiser roll might not be authentic, but it stood up better in the hand than squishy sliced bread. Staff was really enthusiastic and friendly. But the reason they rate so high with me is that I was able to get this sandwich at well past midnight. They're open until 3am on friday and saturday nights. The prospect of getting good barbecue at 2am has cheered me immensely. I think they're open until 10pm other days. I'm looking forward to heading back for a more expansive test, but my quick drive-by sandwich was a good start.

Yeah, and it's WAY more entertaining to watch people try to squeeze by your gigantic pie cantilevered out into the aisle! We got nervous once and just pulled the thing onto the table, and although we had to give up on plates and juggle our beers, it worked in a familiar eating-over-the-sink kind of way. A (large, of course) pepperoni pie I had there recently seemed to have been affected by the Delaware River oil spill, if any environmentalists had seen me by the time I was done, they would have thrown me in a tub of soapy water and scrubbed me like an oil-slicked duck. But it was worth not being able to grip the steering wheel on the ride home, it was a tasty pizza.

I hear ya, although ironically, the most vivid expression I've had of that recently was at Lombardi's. And oddly, although I love Mama Palma's, I don't think their crust has that distinctive flavor. I'll agree with that, it was sloppy at best, and in the end not saying anything helpful about the local scene, other than that old cliche that it doesn't compare to NY... But what I was getting at above is that although I've been eating entirely too much pizza from Mama Palma's and Marra's (as well as Lombardi's,) when out of town friends or family come to visit, I don't take them out for pizza. I might get them a cheesesteak or a pork sandwich or a taco or duck soup, so, simple, cheap stuff is on the agenda, but I've never felt like showing-off our pizza. Check our threads here on eGullet: when somebody's coming to town and asks for recommendations of great Philly food, do we ever tell them to get pizza?

I went a couple of years ago after a long break, and those mussels (red) were still really good, the gnocchi was pretty enjoyable too. But it was indeed both smile and shudder-inducing to see the band again. After Dusty died, Tony the drummer took center stage for the whole set, and what used to be a hilarious surreal break from the old-standard crooning, had turned into a surprisingly X-rated revue (still funny at times, but more and more creepy as the night wore on.) Whenever The Triangle came up in conversation, especially with someone from South Philly, they'd always say "you don't go there for the food". But I actually did.... It's too bad the kitchen is closed.

I don't know... I'll agree that both of the lists were rather weird, but I think the idea that "philly pizza" doesn't have a real solid image has some merit. I had been doing my own informal survey of friends and associates, and discovered that whenever i asked about pizza, I just got a lot of equivocating and qualified lukewarm recommendations, hardly anyone declaring that they totally loved one place, or that there was any single gold standard. That's actually how I first found eGullet, in trolling around the web, i came across pizza club postings here, which were very informative, but I think if you review those topics, some of the claims in the Inky will be borne out. IS there a "Philly Style" pizza, like one can say NY style, or New Haven style, or heck, Trenton style. and indicate something? If so, what is it? (If it's a matter of ubiquity, it would probably be oily greek-"style" pizza....) I'm not trying to say that there's not good pizza in Philly, I've had lots of really good pizza, and thanks to tips here, there are some more I'm getting around to trying, but it's all over the map stylistically. And as a strong proponent of Philly food, it pains me to say that I haven't had any that were really mind-blowingly great. (I don't think you can blame them for leaving out Trenton when writing about Philly pizza, even if it is good, and not that far away...) I think what the "lack of iconic status" comment was getting at was that most people in Philly have an opinion about who makes the best cheesesteak, or think that cheesesteaks suck, or can tell you a story about one they had once. My informal, anecdotal experience is that nobody engages with pizza like that around here. They'll tell you that they like this one or that one, but the discussion doesn't inspire the same passion as one might expect.

I ate a LOT of Roost pizza, and liked it, especially their whole-wheat crust, but my memory is just barely good enough that I have a strong suspicion that we wouldn't like it much today, it was pretty doughy and dense... or perhaps we would just take it out of the category and judge it as a comfort food that just happens to resemble pizza. I always liked the idea of Troy's more than actually eating there, but it was a life saver from time to time. And Rich, I love that Pat's story. I wonder if that still happens? I wouldn't be surprised if it were some South Philly rite of passage, and the grill guys are still just sick of it and feel obliged to chase the offenders down the street. I'm going to be in the neighborhood today... hmmm....how good are my running shoes?

I was browsing this thread to see if someone already mentioned Walt's. We used to really dig those mussels. Had really good fried oysters too. Nice fresh sub rolls to dunk in that mussel broth. I remember watching the guy cook the mussels in a huge pot. He added what appeared to be frightening amounts of chopped garlic and dry crushed red peppers but they came out great. ← Those bowls really did seem to have more garlic than mussels, but man was that a tasty concoction. I discovered to my horror that one's body emanated garlic from every pore for a couple days after a trip to Walt's but hey, friends understood. I liked the crabs too: simple, not overspiced. It was indeed a basic, no-frills crab joint, but that was just fine with me...

Sorry, this is a little OT, but thanks to your posts here rlibkind, I grabbed some Weimer Gewurtz while up near the finger lakes this weekend. Hope some of that trickles more regularly into the stores down this way! Couldn't find Frank Gewurtztraminer anywhere I went, just plenty of empty space behind shelf tags. Settled for some more of his dry Riesling, which I love. Looking forward to trying the Weimer.

I'm really surprised to hear this, I've ordered this dozens of times and it has been, well, crispy! As one of Rangoon's enthusiastic supporters, I'll offer my apologies on behalf of them and our crew here, I really do think you must have caught them on an off night. I really can't count the number of times I've eaten there, dating back to their old location across the street, I honestly think it's over 50, and I've experienced some variation of quality and spiciness, but never an overwhelmingly grease-soaked meal. As noted above, a few things are just inherently oily, like the thousand layer bread, and one of my faves the Kung Pau Beef, but most of the fried stuff I've had has been fine, no greasier than anywhere else. I'm sure we can't talk you into trying them again on your next visit, but your experience really was unusual based on my meals there. Sorry about that!

It's South Philly, park wherever you want! the median in the middle of the street, sidewalks, in traffic with the blinkers on.... Sure, it ain't legal, but you got a problem wit dat?

http://www.lostdogcafe.net/directions/ (careful, top map is for Ithaca)

A displaced Philadelphia foodie friend concurred that the restaurant scene in Binghamton is fairly bleak overall, but she likes the Lost Dog Cafe for good sandwiches and simple stuff. They seem like they have a hippy/crunchy vibe (there's one in Ithaca too) with live music in the evenings, etc. At least it's not a big franchise place, and has fairly creative and well-made food. I'm reluctant to pass along recommendations from a friend of a friend of a friend, but she's heard good things abut a Thai-French place called "P.S." down the road in Vestal. P.S. website here. The links to menus and wines weren't working when I tried it, so there's not lot's of info, but there is a phone number and directions. Looks semi-fancy and pricey. I'm a little worried about their mission statement that begins "Our basic philosophy at P.S. is from the moment you walk in our door you are a guest in our restaurant." Uhhh, yeah..... But it seems like they're trying. It's odd, I had always assumed that there were great spiedies to be had on every corner, but it seems like the only really good ones are homemade! (Just follow Rich's recipe upthread.) I had some passable ones a few years ago from a little takeout place just at the exit off 81 to go north toward Norwich, fine as a quick bite on a roadtrip, but not worth a special journey. Don't recall the name, it' wasn't THAT good.... But the best ones were made by friends' moms. So I guess the solution is to make friends fast and get invited over to someone's house.

This place was more of an aside, but Pica's is in Upper Darby right on Westchester Pike, just a little west of the terminal. I quite like their pizza, it's not so special that it warrants a big gourmet hoopla, but it's satisfying in a homey way. They do a square (well. rectangular) pizza with the cheese one the bottom and sauce on top. I don't know Paisan's or Piccolo's that are the main subject of this topic.

Article says David is keeping the cookie business. I'm hoping they will still be available at 4th Street. While David always maintained that the cookies were exactly the same at both locations, I'm of the opinion that the ones at 4th Street were way better. ← I'm with you, Holly, I had always guessed that they were fresher on 4th street, but i can't prove that... Either way, I'm relieved to know the cookies will continue. I liked their corned beef well enough, I'm generally in that thin-sliced, cold corned beef camp. I always liked Koch's better, but sometimes you don't have 3 hours to wait in line! I'll be curious to try the new incarnation, and glad to know it will be open later.

Is there an omakase solely devoted to appetizers? ← There's something they call "Zensai Sakizuke" which is a multi-piece "Japanese antipasto". Is that what you were referring to Daniel? Or did you just get the $80-120 omakase as a starter?!?!

Rabbit cacciatore... anyone else serve this, do you know? I don't think I've had this since I ate coelho a cacadora (the Portuguese take on this dish), as a kid... ← I had it at Gnocchi (on Passyunk near South) a couple years ago, but i don't recall if it was a special or on the menu. Or if that place is even still there!

I'm going to guess the mangos are sliced REALLY thin. The term that amused me was the "farm egg". As opposed to? The phrase "bacony potato foam" made me feel all warm and happy. And hungry.

I gotta say the concept of saving $174 per bottle is blowing my mind....

I trust Daniel's judgment, he was down doing a cheesesteak tour through Philly not too long ago. Unfortunately, he executed an illegal double-cheese maneuver and was expelled from our fair city. But as many of us on the Philly boards have been promoting for some time, and as implied above, the really good philly sandwich is the roast pork italian. Get one of those at Tony Luke's and it's going to be really hard to think about cheesesteaks from then on...

I've always liked it there, it does have that feel of a timeless institution with waitresses that aren't doing schtick when they call you "hun", they mean it.... Staff is friendly, but there's still enough south philly 'tude that it feels real. But I've never been thrilled with their food. I love simple diner fare, and theirs is OK, but I've never really loved anything I had (sorry, even the hash browns!) Desserts are better, indeed the cakes and pies always seemed really good to me (although most of my late-night pie runs may have been made with impaired facilities.) Philly Mag did an Apple Pie survey a couple months ago, and the panel seemed to pretty universally hate the Melrose pie, but I say, drip some of their hot vanilla sauce on there... it's transformed, it's one of my favorite desserts anywhere. So I hope the Melrose is there forever, and I'll keep going, and liking it, but I'll never think of it as a culinary destination.

Capaneus, thanks for the great write-up. Between Studio Kitchen, Marigold, Tria, and the north Jersey restaurant "Melt", are we witnessing a renaissance of the grilled cheese sandwich? Hope so.... I had a different preparation of sweetbreads at Marigold back in the fall, and I really liked that, glad to know some version is still on the menu. I'm glad to know that Saintsbury Pinot was a good companion. I've been using that same tactic: bring a light-to-medium bodied Pinot everywhere, it will probably go just fine. The only problem is that at the last couple of meals, my buddy, who leans more toward Rieslings, has been pointing out that a nice sweet white would have matched better. He doesn't know lots about wine, but he's been right.... BTW - If you're having trouble with posting images, you can upload them to "imagegullet" (it's a link at the top of every page here). Once it's uploaded, there's a button for displaying the absolute URL for the pic. Copy that URL, then come back over here to a forum, click the "img" button in your post and paste the URL into the dialog that comes up. That's it.

And that's surprising, he was an early supporter of that place. Some of these omissions could be oversights, but also, there are mundane pragmatic issues, sometimes stuff gets chopped in editing purely for space.

That is a major bummer, I just had a truly excellent pizza there a few weeks ago.

That sounds like a pretty disturbing episode, I can't blame you for not wanting to go back. It's probably safe to say that your waiter and the on-duty manager didn't anticipate that the guy was going to come annoy you, but then, if they have a raging drunk in the house, it seems like they might want to keep an eye on him. The fact that the other nearby waiters didn't intervene on your behalf is reprehensible. I presume that the manager was apologizing as the explanation and gift certificate was being offered, and it's your call to asses their sincerity. If they really did seem contrite, I might give them another chance. If they were trying to excuse it as "the guy had a bad day so lighten up," I think I'd never return. The larger issue of the disappearing waiter is a bit more common. I'm always amazed how often it's a problem to get my check. I appreciate not being hustled out of a place, but one ought to be able to find the server within a few minutes of finishing. It shouldn't be too hard for them to asses whether you want to linger or are eager to get going. A good friend of mine was so annoyed by this phenomenon, she'd insist on just getting up, putting on her coat, and heading for the door if we couldn't flag down our server within about 10 minutes. I can testify that the server and check always magically appeared before we got to the exit. We weren't sprinting for the door, so we couldn't be mistaken for trying to skip out on the check, but it did get close a couple of times.

typical starr restaurant training .... you'll experience this at pretty much all his places... in addition to their attempts to "educate" you on their menu and "chef recommended" methods of dining .. ← Yeah that can get a bit annoying, but I almost see the point of it at some spots, like Pod, that really do work better as big group-sharing meals. Letting people know that the entrees are designed to be shared is probably helpful. The folks at Lacroix do a similar explanation of the somewhat unconventional pick-any-courses-in-any-order thing, and it helps... That being said, I didn't get that talk at Striped Bass, and given that the food's not plated for communal sharing, and nothing about the menu is too different than any conventional restaurant, I can't imagine what that "here's how it works" talk could be! (OK, this is a fork, we recommend this for most of your food, soup however...) I generally just cut them off right as they start into the "have you eaten here before?" and always say yes, even if it's a lie. I just don't want to hear it.