Tim Dolan

I'm giving this a shot tonight. I'll stop back with my results. Edit: I meant to reply to the Batali Carbonara recipe. I'll be trying that tonight.

You're not the only only who was intrigued by that Rome episode. cacio e pepe

I was hoping that somebody here would've brought this topic up, so thanks. I thought that carbonara they had looked pretty killer too. To my eye it looked like both dishes used fresh pasta. I just thought that both pastas looked more absorbant than a dry pasta. Think this makes a difference?

With all the new burger places that have popped up in town, it's good to know that the old standbys are still carrying the torch. Stopped by Good Dog last night and the Good Dog burger is still, in my opinion, one of the best in town.

I have seats for Friday night. Based on all the excellent pictures and glowing reviews, I'm pretty excited.

Han Dynasty is not a chain, and South Philly Tap Room is the proper name. There is no establishment called simply Philly Tap Room. That said, is there anything in particular that you would like to try? That might help narrow it down. For fine dining there is alway Lacroix and the Fountain Room, there are also a number of high end steakhouses. Others may disagree, but Philly's wheelhouse seems to be the mid-range BYOB and gastropub. Many of these places are excellent. I'm talking about places like Garces Trading Company, Matyson, Melograno, Standard Tap, North 3rd, Good Dog, Cochon, Bibou, etc. For excellent cocktails stop by the Franklin, Chick's, Southwark, Oyster House (then run upstairs to Nodding Head for, in my opinion, the best beer in town). We can find you something good. Just let us know what you like! And after you get your water ice, please stop at Capogiro. On the frozen treat scale it is akin to comparing hamburgers and dry-aged ribeye. Both have their merits, but they're just two completely different animals.

I had them for lunch yesterday. Not bad at all. I had a nice, juicy lime wedge too. I'm not saying run out and grab them, but they're certainly not bad if you're in unfamiliar territory and you need a good taco fix.

Damn, those Saturday night seats got snatched up right quick.

Picked up some very nice sushi for lunch today from the glorious, brand-spanking new Whole Foods at the Plymouth Meeting Mall. It was good and convenient enough to the point that I'd rather grab take-out sushi from there than go to Bluefin. Yeah I said it.

So occasionally when I'm bored I'll check out one of these Philly Uncorked shorts from Philly.com. I figure every once in a while I might learn something, since Marnie Old is held in such high esteem in the area. Sometimes, however, it seems that she's stooping for something that she would seemingly never drink in a million years if it were on her own dime. Firefly ready-to-drink sweet tea vodka? Is she reviewing the Kahlua Mudslide mix next week? My problem with this is because these shorts appear on Philly.com, one would think that they are independant reviews since they're found right along side the Craig LaBan reviews and Rick Nichols articles. So my question is, are these legit reviews or are they paid for by the PLCB? I realize that the PLCB has a short ad that precedes these clips, but are they also the ones who dictate what products are reviewed by Ms. Old? At least to me it seems like that would be the case.

This should probably be in the NJ thread but I just wanted to say that I had dinner Saturday night at their new place, the Diving Horse in Avalon, and it was AWESOME. That kitchen has some serious game. Our waitress and the manager seemed thrilled that we asked them for plastic cups so we could take our last bottle of wine up on the beach with us. I guess we stuck out against what looked like an older, bored crowd. It was early on Saturday though so maybe a less-stuffy crowd moved in after we left. None of that really matters though. If you're in Avalon, go there for dinner. Just do it. Food is phenomenal.

Awesome review. And totally deserved. I'm happy for them. Gonna have to stop by tonight to beat the crowds!

Found a very decent roast pork sandwich at Pudge's, which is on 202 in the same shopping center as Pho Thai Nam. It could've been much better, with the pork sliced a little bit thinner and maybe some more jus, but it came on a fresh Conshohocken Bakery roll and the long hots packed adequate heat. The sharp provolone was also good. The gentleman next to me had a cheesesteak that was roughly the size of my forearm, and I'm about 6'1. You certainly won't leave this place hungry.

Ok so here are some observations on recent lunches that I've had... Avoid Sushikazu at the intersection of 202 and 73 like the plague. Just went there, was the only person in the place, and received lukewarm miso soup and a leathery piece of snapper nigiri. The other pieces that came with my 5 pc. sushi lunch were good, escpeically the piece of salmon, but they were cut ridiculously large. Roughly around the size of my index and middle fingers together, and I have big hands. That, in my opinion, is way too big for a piece of nigiri. There was no way to get the whole thing in your mouth in one bite. I won't be heading back there. Charlie's Pizza was pretty good, nothing earth-shattering. Really old-school kind of place. Thai Pho Nam wasn't too bad. Same thing with Thai Orchid. Neither place really wow'd me but they were both serviceable. Gianni's like I said earlier, good quality, strange rolls. Minado was ok, tons of variety, but something about a sushi buffet rubs me the wrong way. There are a team of guys constantly making and putting out fresh sushi, which is somewhat reassuring, however unless you are in front of the guy as he's putting it out, you don't exactly know how long something has been sitting. I guess if I have a sushi craving I'll have to hit Bluefin for a roll, even though I think Bluefin is wildly overrated. I'm a fan of Panera so I'm glad that's around. As it stands now I think it's one of the better lunch spots around. But there's GOT to be better around, right?

That stinks. I stopped working out that way last October, but the owner was a good guy. In other news, I now work in another section of Montco and am now on the hunt for a good roast pork sandwich along the 202/73 corridor. There's a deli called Gianni's in the shopping center across the street from PJ Whelihan's that makes a pretty good sandwich, but I have an issue with their rolls. Their roast pork and hoagies come on a weird ciabatta-like roll. Not the best vehicle in my opinion. So does anybody have anything, not just roast pork, to add about the Blue Bell area?

We did wind up going to Lolita. Very solid and the pitcher of blood orange margarita mixer that we had was fantastic.

I'm going to see Avenue Q at the Kimmel Center on Friday and was thinking about maybe hitting Lolita before the show, but I couldn't really dig much up on them on these boards. Anyone have anything new to add?

I had the burger about two weeks ago. I agree with Percy that it was good, not great. It's a pricey burger too, so I won't be running back for it any time soon.

Hands down, my current favorite things to eat in the city are the wontons in chili oil and any hot pot from Han Dynasty. Also, he told me that he started doing a tasting on the 1st Monday of the month. I think he said it was like $25, and he just sits people down at one big table and he does all the ordering. Definitely gonna try and make it to the next one.

I have it on good word from someone who works in the kitchen at Dos Segundos that they actually put crack-cocaine in their red and green salsas. Ok, so I totally made that up since I don't know anyone who works there. But I wouldn't be surprised. Stuff is delicious.

3rd Villa. Gimme a loaf of bread and I could eat the red or white sauce for the mussels for DAYS.

Hey Bob, do any of the vendors at these farmers markets sell ribeye steaks, and if so, have you sampled them?

Anyone have any particular favorites on where they get thin-sliced sirloin or ribeye for cheesesteaks? For years I have just gotten normal chip steak from a local deli. It's ok, but I usually find that there's too much water content since sometime it's frozen. I realized that I've probably just been settling all these years and that there's gotta be a better place to get thin-sliced steak. Anyone have any suggestions?

Next Tuesday I'll be in Dublin during the day with exactly one priority: get drunk. My youngest brother is getting married in London, and as a gift to us for standing with him, he's taking us to Dublin for the day. So what's the best place in Dublin to knock back as many pints of Guiness as possible?

I was there on Tuesday night, wontons in chili oil and lamb in dry pot were seriously better than ever. Those wontons are truly a little spicy bite of perfection. Han told me that the lamb in dry pot was one of his favorite things on the menu, which makes sense because it's completely delicious. Lip-numbingly spicy, slightly pungent, very tender lamb, what more can you ask for? Szechuan Tasty House has officially been put into retirement in my book. It's that good.