Tim Dolan

I'd like to take part in the Philly-area expedition, especially the tour of Fairmount whenever that goes down. I've been wanting in on one of these trips for a while.

I could be 100% wrong about this, but for some reason I associate cry-o-vac with wet aging. Can anyone help me with the details?

I've always been reluctant to head to a place like Django, mostly because I fashion myself a pretty picky eater. I'm not a big fan of fruits or vegetables of any kind, and in anti-eGullet fashion I'm usually hesitant to try anything new (food-wise). As such, I've always been a little worried that I would run into a menu that would be heavy enough on the veggies that I wouldn't be able to find anything that I like. I've been slowly breaking my "I won't try anything with fruits or veggies" mode over the past few years, and my dinner there last night highlighted something about my rationale that deep down I knew all along. Clearly, I'm a fool. In short, last night's meal was excellent. It was easily the best dinner I've had in a long time. We started out with an amuse bouche of calamari and chorizo that was simmered in squid ink. The squid came on a crispy, bite-sized piece of flatbread and was nice and tender. The subtle spicy kick from the chorizo was a solid compliment. This was a sign of good things to come. When I was studying the menu to see which dish had the least veggies, I settled on the goat cheese gnocchi with porcini mushrooms as my app. I figured that the mushrooms would be big enough for me to pick through in a weird, O.C.D. kinda way. The gnocchi were some of the best I've ever had. I've always read about how gnocchi are supposed to be light and airy but I've never had a dish that really delivers that feeling. That is, until last night. Really, my mouth is watering right now just thinking about them. There was one small problem. The more gnocchi I devoured, the more mushrooms remained. At this point, I decided to throw caution the the wind and go after the porcinis. And you know what? I actually liked them. Alot! This was a slightly groundbreaking moment for me. I'm always shocked when I try some new food, no matter how ordinary, and actual enjoy it. Anyway, the gnocchi and porcinis came in a light, creamy sauce that was spiked with the sharp saltiness of good pecorino romano. When nothing was left I went straight for the flower pot for a piece of bread to mop up the sauce, a la mussels in red sauce style. There's no shame in my game. My girlfriend ordered escargot, which were quite good, but I was too enamored with my gnocchi to really pay attention. Up next was the hanger steak. Three beautiful slices of steak cooked just past rare. Being the carnivore that I am, I pulled a David Copperfield on that steak and made it instantly disappear. But what's this underneath? A bed of greens that normally would've sat on the plate untouched, except these greens were mixed with bits of pancetta. Mmmm, pancetta. I tore into the greens like a miner searching for pancetta gold. So, so good. The steak also came with a side of sweet potato somethingorother that was quite enjoyable (potatoes and corn on the cob are the exceptions to my now crumbling no-veggies rule). Even better than my steak was my girlfriend's lamb chop, which came with a little pot of what I believe was some type of pulled pork. She was too stuffed to finish her plate, so the pork was sent my way. It had dice tomatoes mixed in, which usually would've turned me off, but since I was shattering my old rules I dove right in. I was so glad I did. The pork was laced with a wonderfully savory sauce and was so tender it filled my mouth with braised goodness. I could eat that all day and night. Our dessert of a chocolate terrine with almond ice cream capped off our meal perfectly. It was a dense, fudgey slice that would satisfy any chocoholic, myself included. All in all, it was great. Service was attentive and friendly, the pacing of the meal was right on point. The table sitting next to us enjoyed their meal so much that they asked their waitress to pencil them in for another reservation tonight. And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go kick myself for not doing the same.

Some simple math, courtesy of the Inky's numbers... $65,572(Newman's salary) + $47,188 (Newman's travel costs) = $112, 760. $150,000 (CEO Conti's salary) - $112,760 = $37,240. Obviously, there's something here that I don't understand. I'm sure this makes better sense to some people in Harrisburg. If they could only explain it to the rest of us...

I had posted about the unusual split job, but fortunately I was able to get back there and have one all to myself. Obviously it was much, much better than the split version, and I'd have to say it cracked my top 5 list of "best steaks ever". I'm ashamed to admit this, but I didn't finish it. I had a big lunch that day and over-estimated my appetite that night, but I distinctly remember that I was already thinking about taking the leftover steak home and eating it the next day before I even left the restaurant. I would say that it met my expectations, but at $50 a pop it's kind of a once or twice a year thing for me.

The last few posts make WAY too much sense. I'd love to see this go down...

Thanks for the info everyone, I appreciate it. I am more of a dry-aged kinda guy, so thank you for differentiating who serves what.

Just wanted to bump this thread back up to the top. I'll be in Chicago to catch the Phils play the Cubs in August and I'll be with a group of non-foodie carnivores, so a steakhouse will most likely be an ideal dining spot for us. I'm looking for a really good place that we don't have in Philly, so the chains (S&W, Palm, Capital Grille, Ruth's Chris, Morton's) are out. From what I've read above it might be narrowed down between the Chop House and Gene and Georgetti's. Anybody have any recent thoughts?

Can anybody recommend a nice red that would be ideal for drinking in front of a fireplace up in the Poconos? Preferably in the $20-$30 range (or less, of course) if possible. Thanks.

Just want to give a quick update, but I did go to Felicia's last night, and it might have been one of the more disappointing dinners I've had in a while. The food was completely mediocre, but that wasn't even really the problem. It was the fact that I walked in at 8 and the place was damn near empty. I remember that place used to be packed all night long, with waiters hustling all over the place, food flying out of the kitchen, and bottles of wine being passed all around. I started to wonder if that was all just a figment of my imagination. I was actually excited to go there, but instead I felt like a character from a movie who goes back to his old haunts just to find them broken down and beat up. There was also a "for sale by owner" sign hanging up outside, which I must admit made me nervous even before I stepped in the place. The bell tolls...

I used to bus tables at Felicia's back in the day and I'm jonesing for some good, no-nonsense Italian. I'm thinking of heading there tonight. Anybody been there recently? I've been to Villa a few times in the past couple months so I'm looking for something slightly different.

Before I found this site, with all these great threads, I knew as much about wine as a kindergartener knew about physics. Now I'd say I'm closer to an 8th grader starting to learn about algebra. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be like Einstein . Thanks for the help, Chairman.

Well, it's a good thing that Sly Fox has good beer because their burger isn't anything to write home about. Just got back from the Royersford location and I have to say I was disappointed. Being that they offer such a variety of well made brews I thought they would have a better menu to go along with them. I guess I was just expecting more because of the high quality of bar food I'm accustomed to getting in Philly. I went with 5 coworkers to celebrate one of their birthdays. Everyone agreed that their food was no better than average, if that, and I have to agree. I ordered their Black N' Bleu Burger, oh so cleverly named because of the blackening seasoning and blue cheese. Ordered it med-rare, came out a pinch below well. There might have been a speck of pink in there, but it also could've just been the light. I'm actually glad it came out overdone, because the quality of the meat seemed like something that I would not want eat below a medium doneness. Probably the worst part about it was that it was served on a snowflake-type roll, you know, those cheap flour covered rolls that come in bags of 8 from Shoprite. Just my humble opinion, but I hate those rolls. Really the worst part was because we all had to go back to work, I couldn't even wash down my burger with a beer! Just a subpar lunch overall. I hope the Phoenixville location is better. Side note; I think it's weird that they have their locations situated so close to each other. The only other comparison I could think of would be the Chickie's and Pete's in the Northeast, but I at least understand that they were expanding to bigger digs on the Boulevard as opposed to the cramped row home by Harbison. It just strikes me as odd. Oh well it's not really important anyway. The bottom line, their food has a lot of running to do if they want to catch up with their beer. On a completely different note, I did try the marketing gimmick triple prime burger from Ruby Tuesday, and it was actually very good. I definitely would've taken it over Sly Fox's burger today. Now I'm not about to tell everyone to flock to Ruby Tuesday to try it, but if you ever find yourself in unfamiliar territory and get a burger craving, it's worth stopping for.

The Manayunk Farmer's Market. I loved that place. It was always bustling on the weekends and just had a really good vibe to it. Also had the best pizza ever, a stand called Mattaeo's I believe. It is now occupied by a Restoration Hardware and a Pompawhachamacallit Mills. I'm glad to say that my vow to never enter or purchase anything from either of those stores remains intact.

So me and 3 friends went on Saturday night and had a really good meal. We showed up at about 7 and the place looks like it had just reached it's capacity. We were told by the hostess/waitress that we could either sit at the last remaining table outside or wait about 20 minutes for a table inside. Being that it was just mild enough and we were all starving, we took the outside table. It seemed that the inside was really loud, which doesn't bother me, but i thought it's worth mentioning. We started off sharing 3 apps, a pound of wings (you can order 1 or 2 pounds), calamari and veggie spring rolls. I really enjoyed the wings. They were just spicy enough and had a great grilled/smoky flavor to them, and seemed slightly more unique than most places. I always think that it's hard to mess up wings, but some places managed to do it, and I would say these wings are definitely above average. The calamari was good, lighty breaded and fried. It didn't knock anybody's socks off, but I believe it was the first app that we finished of the 3, so it did the trick. I didn't touch the veggie spring rolls but was told that they were solid as well. For the entrees, I was very tempted to take Diann's suggestion and get a burger, but I was jonesing for a steak. I ordered the hanger steak frites med-rare. It came out closer to the rare side which didn't bother me and all, and was accompanied by a heaping pile of fries. This was very solid. It was just a nicely done steak in a red wine sauce, just what I was looking for. The fries were great. Fresh cut fries with the skins still on, and flecked with kosher salt. Why more places don't do their fries this way is beyond me. My girlfriend ordered the salmon, which she said she didn't really like too much. She can be super picky sometimes, and while I'm not a huge fish fan I had a few bites and it seemed perfectly fine to me. She did however say that the mashed potatoes were awesome. Both of my other friends ordered the roasted chicken which they said they loved. Again, nothing too crazy or exotic, but it was all prepared very well. To sum everything up, nothing was great, but it was all at least very good, solid food. My girlfriend not liking her salmon was the only slight misstep. The total for 3 apps, 4 entrees and at least 2 rounds of beers was $120, and we left a healthy tip. I would love it if I had a place like this around the corner from my house. For a casual, reasonably priced, very good meal, I would say this place is very hard to beat.

Find anything Holly? I love me a good rib eye, and I like to stay in casual clothes as often as possible. If you found anything that measured up I'd very much like to know about it.

Anybody been to N. 3rd recently? I'm probably gonna stop by there tomorrow with some friends. I haven't been there yet so if anybody has any info that hasn't been reported I'd appreciate it.

I found my pay day lunch spot, the Columbia Bar and Grill on the main drag in Phoenixville. I've been there twice in the past month, and their burger definitely passes the test. The fries aren't anything to write home about, but twice I've gotten a perfectly cooked, juicy medium rare burger. It comes serve on a soft, fresh multigrain bun with a side of garlic mayo. It looks like they will be getting some serious competition from the newly open Iron Hill Brewery right next door, which only means there's more room for me to enjoy my Daily News while I'm sitting at the bar.

I believe you pondered the idea of having the Beer Garden open during Eagles games, and now that I think about it, is there really any downside to that? I'm not talking about them having the legal stuff such as proper licensing or any of that, I'm just saying image if they DID open the Beer Garden. It would be like going to a bar whose menu included everything from the Terminal. That's kind of insane now that I think about it. There's some serious potential there. They could just clear out a little more space then usual, get some microbrews on tap (my apologies if they already have local microbrews on tap, I haven't been there recently,) and get that projection screen in there. Could you imagine sitting at a table with a few friends and just being like "I'll be back in a minute. I'm going to grab a roast pork from Dinic's real fast." My head is starting to spin. Does this make too much sense? Would there be a more unique experience ANYWHERE then watching the Birds and drinking good beer with access to everything the Market has to offer?

← In the words of Fegus Henderson, 'if you find a good butcher, give him a big hug." Butchers are a vanishing breed, show him the love!! ← Any idea on what the main differences between Giunta's and Harry Ochs' will be?

A Tale of Two Kobe Burgers: I stopped at a bar on the Main Line called Kelly's (an Irish bar called Kelly's? Get right out of town!) for some after work beers and noticed that they had a Kobe burger on their menu for $13. The place looked nice enough that their food should at the bare minimum be average, so I ordered one up. It came out medium rare as ordered and was a pretty good, very juicy burger, but it wasn't the knock-your-socks-off kind of thing that you would expect out of Kobe beef. I would recommend sticking with their normal burger and spending the $5 you'll save on another beer. The other Kobe burger(s) were the sliders from Barclay Prime, which are phenomenal. OK so all in all it's not the most fair comparison, but hey they're both "Kobe" so it's warranted. I'm guessing becaues of the nasty weather last night, Good Dog wasn't as crowded as it normally is. Me and the gf were able to walk in and grab two seats at the bar around 7:30, which are usually taken by then. I'm not positive, but I think they might have slightly changed their menu. I noticed a pulled pork sandwich on there that I don't think I noticed before. Doesn't really matter cause it will be a while before I get something other than their burger. It's still good, and they are currently offering Octoberfish by Flying Fish and Punkin' Ale by Dogfishhead on tap, along with their normal standbys. Aside from that, I was out having some beers on Friday night at this tiny place around the corner from me called the Garage. It's in the same little courtyard as the Ugly Moose (who by the way have an awesome steak sandwich; not a cheesesteak, but thickly sliced filet on a bun). I was sitting next to a guy who ordered their burger, and it looked amazing. I had already eaten that night so I didn't order one, but that place is definitely next on the list. My curiosity is starting to get to me, and I find myself extremely tempted to go to Ruby Tuesday's to try their new marketing fad of the month, the "triple prime burger". I'm well aware I could be stepping on a land mine with this one, but how bad could it be?

What are/are there consequences of letting the wort ferment past two weeks? Will it turn out bad if it goes to 3 weeks?

I revisited the London a few Sundays ago, and I think I found the perfect setting to eat their burger. It was pretty dreary and the crew I was with were all mildly hungover, and nobody could decide on anything (except me). I knew I had to give the burger another shot, and I'm glad I did. A burger on an English muffin is the perfect brunch item. I'm not a big fan of brunch menus at all, but finally this burger made perfect sense to me in this situation. Defintely hit the spot. Coincedentally I've been to the Bishop's Collar a few times as well, and their burger has been subpar recently. The past few times I've had it it's been overcooked and topped with bone dry, crispy-to-the-edge-of-burnt bacon. I'm sure I'll be back to both places in the near future. The moral of the story; everyone deserves a second chance!

I went there as soon as I saw those pictures upthread last Wednesday, and that frozen chocolate is out-of-hand good. That places rocks.

Damn and here I am thinking I had this great discovery. I am so out of the loop .