Tim Dolan

I caught a rerun of the ribs episode of Throwdown where Mr. Flay goes up against Ed Mitchell of North Carolina. Bobby gives his ribs a 6 or 7 hour smoke, keeping with the low-and-slow gospel that so many people are accustomed to. To my surprise, Ed Mitchell put a dry rub on his ribs and then grilled them "for about 20 minutes or so on each side", his words. The only thing I know about barbeque is that I like to eat it. I don't pretend to know much else other than that, but this seems to be heresy to the low-and-slow mantra. Does anyone share (or care to disagree with) Mr. Mitchell's philosphy when it comes to ribs?

After about three earlier attempts to eat here were thwarted by two-hour waits, I finally made it to Village Whiskey over the weekend. It was miserable on Saturday so we were able to get in after only a 20 minute wait this time at around 1pm. Just enough time to run down the street to pop into the Dandelion for a drink (cool main bar, very nice vibe, viciously overpriced. $9 for a Young's Double Chocolate Stout??? C'mon maaaan!). Went with three people, we all got burgers and split the cheddar and short rib fries. Those damn fries are excellent. They took over the whole meal, since we were all basically full after eating them. I ordered my burger with bacon and blue cheese, and it came out perfectly medium-rare. It was a fine burger and I was perfectly content with it, but it was missing something that made me think "this is the best burger in the city". When you bite into a great burger, you know instantly. I'd say the Village Whiskey burger is just short of that. I can't put my finger on it. It was a good burger, but not anything to wait more than 20 minutes for, and certainly never 2 hours for. The fries, on the other hand, I'd wait an hour for. They're that good.

That is correct, by "here" I meant Pho Saigon. She preferred the pho at Pho Hoa to the same offereing at Pho Saigon. I thought that there wasn't much of a discernable difference between the two. To throw an apples/oranges compasrison in there, in my humble opinion the bun bo hue at Pho Saigon was much better than the pho at either place. For my tastes I would order bun bo hue 99 times out of 100 if both soups were on the same menu. I'm shocked that I've been able to keep everything straight up to this point. Looks like Ha Saigon will be the next trip unless I'm near Cafe Diem during their normal operating hours.

Also wanted to add that my gf got the pho here, and she said that she liked the pho at Pho Hoa on 11th St. better. I thought the pho at Pho Hoa was good, but not really worth the trip. I would easily make the trip back to Pho Saigon for the Bun Bo Hue, for whatever that's worth.

Stopped by Pho Saigon in the shopping center at Washington and Delaware Ave yesterday just to roll the dice and see how it was. Had to order the Bun Bo Hue because of this thread, and I thought it was very good. Of course, since I have never had this before I don't have any point of reference to judge it against, so take my word with a grain of salt. The place was very clean, patrons were 90% Vietnamiese, and the soup hit the spot. A giant bowl of hot, spicy (but not too spicy) goodness. The meat was fairly safe, nothing with a bone still attached, and no tendon (I think). But they did throw in some flank, a few pieces of fatty pork belly (I think), and two pieces of grayish porkroll-esque type of meat. They weren't the prettiest looking meat products I've ever had but were tasty nonetheless. Noodles were round, slippery, and chewy. The broth was very flavorful and in the medium area on the spicy scale. A few spoonfuls of chili oil and a few healthy splashes of Sriracha really brought it to where I wanted it to be. Like I said, I thought it was very good and was totally content with it. Add in the fact that they're open from 9am to 9pm seven days a week and they're at an easily accessible location, and I'm a happy dude. However, if there are places out there that are doing Bun Bo Hue much better, I can't wait to try them!

Rolled the dice and went with Pho Hoa on 11th and Washington. It was good but didn't quite hit the spot. Cafe Diem is out unfortunately since I can't get down there before 6. Maybe I'll try that gumbo next week...

Ok, I'm in need of a nice, hot bowl of something seriously spicy. It could be any number of things as long as it's spicy and delicious. I read through the Cafe Diem thread, but I don't think I'll be able to get there before 6pm. I've been to Han Dynasty too often recently and my gf isn't a fan of Szechuan Tasty House. Are there any new front runners for a bowl of fiery awesomeness?

I had a friend refer to his "mise en place" the other week. Dude's a fireman. I told him he was watching too much Alton Brown. Back when I was in high school, the very non-professional kitchens that I worked in would always have one or two guys who went to cooking school out of the 8-10 guys working in the kitchen, and they always got made fun of for throwing around their cooking school terms. Mise en place was a dead giveaway. Then every once in a while you'd have a guy who was intent on explaining exactly what it meant, and since no one cared it would quickly get him labeled as a douchebag. Probably not fair, but definitely funny at the time.

I saw an episode of Food Detectives where they debunked the whole "MSG is bad for you" thing. They grabbed a room full of people, split it in half and gave one half of the room Chinese food with MSG and the other half without. There were a handful of people who claimed that they had headaches and were swollen after eating. Of course these were the people who DIDN'T eat the food that was laced with MSG. Go figure.

Think any of these items might make it onto the normal menu?

Phil is on point, as always. I should add that I have been hearing very good things about a new place called Fork and Barrel right down the road in East Falls. I haven't been yet but some friends have and they have raved about the beer menu. Could be worth checking out if you're like to be ahead of the curve.

Having lived in Manayunk my entire life, I can say that the quick answer is no, there aren't any go-out-of-your-way restaurants there. Jake's and it's next door neightbor, Cooper's, are good, but nothing worth going out of your way for. Derek's is ok, Chaaba Thai and Mango Moon are good, but again, nothing mind blowing. Main St. in general is lined with good-but-hardly-noteworthy bars and restaurants. All this is not to say that you can't have a good time, you certainly can. Flatrock is a good beer bar, U.S. Hotel and the Manayunk Tavern have above average bar food, the Manayunk Brew Pub has some good microbrews. As for breakfast, Bob's Diner is as un-elaborate as you can get and serves equally average diner food, but for some reason I love it. It is the epitome of a greasy spoon. Le Bus does an ok breakfast/lunch and would be totally appropriate for a 17 year old. The two things in my neighborhood that I would say are worth seeking out are Dalessandro's for a cheesesteak (I will argue to the death with anyone that it's one of the best in the city) and Marchiano's for stromboli-type breads. It is important to realize that you can get from Manayunk to Center City in 10 minutes flat if you have a car and 76 isn't backed up. I realize that saying that invites a joke, but as long as you avoid rush hour you'll be fine. I have a question though, where the hell is there a B&B in Manayunk???

Given that Thanksgiving is right around the corner it seemed like a good time to bump this topic. Everyone has to bring a dish at my gathering so I'm thinking that mac and cheese will solidly fill my requirement. Anyone have anything new to add? I have a question about bacon. What do you think the results would be like if I cut up some uncooked bacon and added it to my mixture of pasta and cheese and then just let it cook in the oven? It would have a chewier texture, right? Or even better, what about diced pancetta?

I agree with Holly. I had it last night, it's a damn fine burger. So juicy that you kind of have to inhale when you bite it so the juice doesn't run out onto the plate. I really need to get to Village Whiskey to do a little compare and contrast.

I recently found out that I like raw oysters. I found this out while starting my 30th birthday celebration at the Oyster House. My girlfriend had a very nice evening planned out for us and had the excellent vision to allow for some unplanned stops, which led us to the OH. Ms. Katie Loeb was behind the bar and whipped up some delicious drinks (of course), and also guided us toward some un-intimidating oysters to get our feet wet. After the first trial oyster went down, there was definitely a light-bulb moment where my girlfriend and I looked at each other and said "wow, these really ARE good!" We promptly ordered more oysters, and our night was off to a great start. Thanks to Katie and also her manager who really made everything an enjoyable experience.

Has anyone ever thought (I'm sure someone has) to heat up a grill full of coals and then simply place a cast-iron pan directly on the coals? How hot do coals get compared to a stove top on full blast? Anyone have an instant read thermometer care to try this out? I imagine that this woould work out pretty well, however I've certainly been wrong many times before.

Correct you are. I despise the term "brainfart", but that's exactly what that was.

I just spent the summer buying the Whole Foods brand natural lump charcoal, thinking that it would be better than regular old Kingman's. After all, the bag says that it burns "longer and hotter" than regular charcoals. However, one day I ran out of the WF brand and in a pinch just went and bought some normal Kingman's charcoal. Those normal square briquettes undoubtedly burned longer and hotter than the WF brand I had been using all summer. It wasn't even close really. My grill is a smaller Weber kettle, good for two people, which is all I need. Has anyone else experience anything similar or completely different?

I'm making my way through the excellent braising thread from the eGCI series. I'll probably make them this weekend, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Got some really nice looking short ribs the other day and don't have a clue what to do with them since I've never made them before. So what are your favorite short rib recipes?

Unfortunately I had to give up my reservation on Friday, Oct 8th at the Studiokitchen table. It should be available if anyone here would like to jump on it.

I'm on the other side of the fence on this one. Breakfast is clearly the LEAST important meal of the day. That's not to say that I don't like it. A nice, relaxing breakfast on the weekends is great when you can take your time and enjoy it. During the week, no thanks, although I do occasionally grab a breakfast sandwich from somewhere if I really need it. My main point is, however, that out of the 3 meals, I imagine most people skip breakfast with the most regularity, therefore making it the least important meal of the day.

Quick question though; how does this fare as a leftover? I have some leftover from last night, I wasn't sure if I should ditch it because of the egg. What do you think?

Well, that was easy. And very delicious. I pretty much eyeballed everything and made enough for two people. I started boiling half a pound of spagetti in a minimal amount of salted water. Whole Foods only had thin-sliced, prepackaged panchetta, so that's what I used. I cut that into about 1 inch strips and rendered until just before crispy. Took the panchetta out of the pan and placed on the side. Took the pan off of the heat and added 2 healthy spoons of pasta water to the remaining bacon fat. Stirred a heathly handful each of pecorino and parmigiana. Now we were getting somewhere. The sauce was nice and smooth. Added the panchetta and pasta back in the pan to coat everything. Finally, I took a fresh egg, quickly whisked it together, and added it to the still-very-warm pasta in the pan along with about 20 cracks of pepper and mixed everything together. Silky, smooth, startlingly easy and delicious.

I have a question about the egg making the sauce for the carbonara. Exactly how "eggy", if at all, is it supposed to taste? My problem is I don't like the taste of eggs on their own. I'll eat a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich if I'm starving, but I'd rather do without the egg. I want to try making this the real way at least once so I'm going to do that tonight, but should the egg be a prominent flavor component in this dish? I've never had or made this dish, so I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. If I wind up not liking my results, I'm not above omitting the egg, subbing in some cream and then calling it almost-carbonara-but-not-really for the authenticity police.