Tim Dolan

I seriously don't get it. I drive by that square a lot and it seems like there's never more than a relative handful of people there at best. Not to mention that, at least to me, those burgers look dead average. It looks like something I could throw together with next to no effort, espeically since I can grab Martin's potato rolls from the corner store half a block away. If it had to be in a square, why not Washington or Rittenhouse? If either one of those places was a viable option (which I'm assuming they weren't), I'm just confused as to why you wouldn't put that stand in a place with a considerably higher amount of foot traffic. I'm sure it has to do with permits or lack of cool little stands, but really, that stand in Franklin square looks like it was thrown together by 3 Little Pigs Contruction Co. It can't be terribly expensive to throw one of those things together. Also to follow up on what Katie said, Philly isn't Manhattan. Why try and shoehorn a burger stand into a little used, out of the way square? Why not pick a place where a ton of people naturally go? I know it sounds like I'm coming down on this place pretty hard since it's been open for like an hour and I haven't been there, but my problem is just the whole thought process behind it. I hope it works, I just wish it was in a better place. Our squares might not have the viability of a Madison Square Park, so think outside the box a little. Dear SRO, Please strike a deal with Lloyd Hall at the top of Boathouse Row and put your burger shack there. You'll make a mint. Thank me later. Sincerely, Common Sense

Anyone been here since the nice review LaBan gave it? I'm going next Tuesday I believe.

My friends have a place in Sea Isle for the summer, and no one really like to travel any further than Avalon once we get down there. I'm just checking to see if there are any good places that we don't know about. Everything seems to be very middle-of-the-road. I know the McGowan's has good breakfast sanwiches and passable cheesesteaks (they use Liscio's rolls), and that Giovanni's makes a respectable hoagie and roast pork sandwich, but is there anything else? This could cover anything in the area. I think that the two seafood places, Marie's and Mike's, aren't good at all. People love going there to sit out on the deck but the food just isn't all that good, IMHO. Uncle Oogie's is I guess slightly better than all the other pizza places. I really used to like Pastabilities, but I think they're no longer open. Does anyone have any good spots (for anything) that are worth trying?

I like Honey's slightly more than Estelle, but Estelle's coffee was seriously awesome. Still need to get down to Carmen's one of these days.

I was reading this thread when it was in the Philadelphia forum and I wanted to post about just how wicked that storm was. It certainly wasn't just raining, it was a seriously violent storm that materialized in the blink of an eye. Driving home from work on 76, I was looking at blue skies to my right and all the sudden these dark clouds came out of nowhere. That was an impressive display by Mother Nature. As for your whole case, I think you just caught a really bad break. And it seems that you just inadvertently made the case as to why your dog wasn't welcomed inside. As the saying goes; sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the hydrant.

Anyone have a ballpark figure for what a tasting menu for 2 would cost here? I'm thinking about setting something up for my parents' 30th anniversary.

I have not tried either of those dishes, but I have had the curry katsu which was unremarkable. The stone pot bibimbap wasn't on the menu that I printed out a few months ago, but I'll give it a shot next time I go there.

I hit Bonjung occasionally for their udon, which I think is the perfect lunch for a cloudy, rainy day. Today I tried out their sushi bar since sushi is now clearly my favorite food to eat in the world. I had a 7 piece sushi combo with a spicy tuna roll. I'd say it was average. It was clear that the sushi chef had 7 stock pieces of fish that he knew he was going to assemble for such orders. I received salmon, yellowtail, fluke, tuna, striped bass, white tuna, and shrimp. The fish was fresh and tasted good, but some pieces, namely both pieces of tuna, were cut way too large for my liking. I had to eat both in two bites. I now know that this is one of my biggest pet peeves when eating sushi. Also the spicy tuna roll seemed to be a tuna-mousse wrapped in rice. It wasn't my favorite. The place seems like it has potential though. I realize that since I didn't specify anything, I left myself open to get their standard offering. Now I'm starting to learn what many other people have mentioned when they say it's important to strike up a conversation with your sushi chef and let him know what you're looking for, or at least that you're willing to stray away from the standard. This was definitely the case today.

Thanks for the responses. Ironically we didn't drink because we decided that ew simply hop right on over to Eulogy when we were done. We went Friday night around 7:30 and it was great. I can't believe that the place was never more than half full considering that it sits about 20 people. We started with the new style sashimi and yellowtail sashimi as an app, then worked through a trio of nigiri, sashimi and maki rolls. I can't remember exactly everthing that we but but for sashimi I know we had salmon, red snapper, live scallop, and 2 other things. Nigiri was tuna, yellowtail, striped bass and fluke. The roll was a Center City roll, which seemed to have a little bit too much going on but was good nonetheless. Our server was very nice and attentive, although it must not have been difficult seeing as the place was mostly empty. I really like this place. It's a small, reliable, what-you-see-is-what you get kind of joint. Although we sat at a table, I think I'm now confident enough to sit at the bar and let the chef do his best. Fuji is now on deck.

There's a new place near me called Holy Smoke that I'm itching to try, I'll report back when I finally do. I did notice a big pile of chopped wood out back last week, so that can't be a bad start.

This is probably another thread altogether, but I'm heading to Zento tonight and got to thinking; what does one usually drink with sushi? Let me state my usual sushi preface by saying that I know hardly anything about the subject, but it seems to me like beer would be a good choice, preferrably a light, crisp hefeweisse-type brew? I'm thinking anything too hoppy would linger and create some off-flavors. I'm gonna go with the Sly Fox hefe (which rocks) and see what happens. So what do you like to drink with sushi? Does wine pair well with it? Does the sushi purist simply prefer water? Clearly these are some burning questions...

I recently went to a Korean bbq joint with two female friends who left me with all the leftover chicken and beef. I got home from work the next day, noticed that I placed the leftovers next to some flour tortillas and shredded cheese. Eight minutes later I was enjoying some awesome leftover Korean bbq quesadillas.

That would be correct, it is basically her method. I had never heard of the woman until a few months ago when I got the urge to start making my own sauce and jumped on here and the internet for some references. Turns out she basically invented Italian cooking (hyperbole, of course). Her recipe specifically calls for San Marzano tomatoes, which in her opinion are the best for this sauce. I went into this process highly skeptical since I had this preconception that making a great sauce involved some sort of Italian alchemy that my Irish blood would never understand. I was absolutely dumbfounded how simple and delicious this sauce turned out. I added garlic and basil to mine since I'm such a rebel.

Why can you order duck medium rare, but not chicken? Or who do you think was the first person to eye up a lobster and say "hmm, I bet the meat underneath those imposing, armor-like claws is delicious!"

I had never heard of Alice Waters until this thread. I didn't think that the 60 Minutes interview was all that bad. Her thing works perfectly in the bubbles that she creates. She created her restaurant, her edible garden, and her one school project. Would that work across the board? Absolutely not. Not even close. But there's no harm in her setting up her bubbles where she can. I think this is where the problem lies. If she is trying to be all things to all people, well, we all know how that will work out. There is nothing wrong with her pushing her idea. But don't act like that idea will work for everyone.

They gotta stop by Gus' at Broad and Callowhill. Best cart of all time. Baconeggandcheese, saltpepperketchup and a Snnnnnnnnapple! That's kinda how the lady says it.

Awesome, thanks for the recs.

I believe the people who run Ladder 15 are the same people behind Mad River, so I'd imagine that this place will fall into the same set up as the other two places. Which is to say geard toward 20-ish Main Liners who descend upon the city on the weekends.

I want to piggy back on this topic and ask which area of Manhattan would be best for bar hopping? I'd like to hit at least one of the cocktail places that are mentioned a lot on here and noticed that PDT and Death and Co are close to each other, but since I'll be going on a Saturday (tomorrow) night these places will most likely be mobbed, so I need backup. I'm not really looking to waste two hours in line if I'm unable to get a reservation, so I'm guessing that there's gotta be somewhere that we could easily bounce to if we can't get in. What's the best area to roam from place to place to grab a few beers or cocktails? It does not have to be exclusively cocktails, as I'm more of a beer drinker, however I don't really discriminate when it comes to alcohol. We don't have any definitive plans, we're just looking to walk around and find a place or two where we can settle in a catch a nice buzz.

I have always hated "shaker" cheese. That ugly green can of Kraft grated parmesan cheese. Tastes like stale powder.

Went last night to continue my sushi tour. I don't have much time to post but I'll say that everything was good, the fish seemed nice and fresh, but it wasn't very memorable. We didn't have anything that looked as good as the pictures above, and the fish was cut a little bit too large for my liking. I would go back if I was in the area and was dying for sushi but that's about it. The place was packed by the way. Didn't get to sit at the sushi bar because it was booked up for the entire night. Cleary a lot of people like it, but it didn't knock my socks off. Edited to add that I'm all sushi'd out for a while. I can see why it's a "cravings" type of food.

Anyone been here recently? I may be going tomorrow night with a friend who claims this is her favorite place. The education continues...

So I went on Friday night, and in a nutshell I thought everything was great. My dining partner and I each got the $100 omakase, we didn't have any special requests or restrictions. It was my first time there so it was all new to me anyway. We sat at the sushi bar and had a very enjoyable meal. First course was a tuna tartare with caviar in a light soy broth. I thought this tasted very fresh and it had some dry seaweed mixed in to offset the smooth texture of the tuna. It was a nice start. Up next was a few thin slices of some type of whitefish (I forget exactly which kind) with hot oil and yuzu. There was also a piece of sea urchin in the middle of the plate. This seemed simple as could get but was very delicious. It was nice and light, and the yuzu seemed to highlight everything on the plate. 3rd course was some type of micro green salad with a few slices of yellowtail. Again, very simple and very tasty. After this dish we had a small shot glass of some type of ginger soda that served as a palate cleanser. 4th dish was Atlantic halibut wrapped in seaweed. This is where my dining partner and I disagreed in that I didn't care for it very much but she thought it was the best course of the night. There was nothing wrong with it, it was not at all dry and tasted fresh, I just don't think that it was to my liking. This didn't stop me from eating the whole thing anyway. For the next dish, which were lamb chops, I'll echo some comments above in that I was confused about why they were there. They just seemed out of place with the rest of the meal which was comprised of, you know, all fish. As for how they tasted, I thought they were as good as lamb chops can be. They were cooked perfectly medium rare and were off my plate in about 30 seconds. Up next was the sushi course, which was good because we were starting to hit the wall. We each had five pieces of sushi that consisted of chu-toro, kanpachi, and three types of snapper. Each piece was described to us by the sushi chef who had just carved everything up in front of us. I guess now is a good time to mention that although we did have a server, we were talking to the sushi chefs on the other side of the bar for most of our meal. It was hard not to. They seemed to be having a good time and were very enthusiastic about answering any questions we had about what they were preparing, whether it was for us or for another table. My favorite pieces were the chu-toro, which was melt-in-your-mouth good, and a piece of big eye snapper which the chef said was flown in earlier that day and he said was his favorite cut. I thought it was awesome. I thought the chu-toro here was better than the oh-toro that I have had at both Zento and Raw. Not by much, but enough to notice. I regretted not getting asking for an additional piece of oh-toro just for the sake of comparison. The big eye snapper was really killer as well. Dessert was a layered chocolate raspberry cake of some sort. It was more of a fudgy, mousse type of thing. Good stuff. I was more focused on the rest of the meal however. We had a very nice waitress who had no trouble answering any questions that we had and actually seemed happy that we were there without putting on an act. Between her and the interaction with the sushi chefs we had an excellent time. I'm sure that going to another place and ordering directly from the sushi chef is a whole different experience entirely, but we had a good time chatting with the guys on the other side of the bar all the same. All in all I would say that it was slightly pricey but worth it, and I would recommend gong there to anyone.

Drove by during lunch and pulled to a stop just long enough to make out an "Opening Soon" sign still taped to the window.

Also, there's no way for me to pose this question without sounding like a smartass so please don't think I mean it that way, but why keep going back if the food is mostly mediocre? Is the ramen really that great? Or do you have some lingering hope that something new will knock your socks off? Anyway, thanks for the advice.