sockii

I'm sure tomorrow will be a fairly good day, with Philcon going on at the Marriott this weekend, and us Sci-Fi geeks do love to eat (today my hours in the dealers room were made much more tolerable with some cinnamon rolls, tuna salad and kettle chips from one of the Amish vendors, and whoever's open tomorrow will be getting my lunch business as well...)

That would be cool--I've been wanting to check the place out--any weekend other than 17-19th and I'd try to make it (along with David if we can swing it...)

Thanks for the tip, Jeff! You can bet I'll be stocking up at THAT price (even lower than it was before!) I think we still have at least half a case on hand but for $9.99, I know some friends who will enjoy a bottle or two for the holidays...

Vietnam Palace is quite willing to modify dishes to use tofu instead of meat, has some yummy veggie-friendly stuff already...my friend who is vegetarian loves it there (as do I) and never has problems finding something to eat. If your carnivorous group-members are willing, there's always Kingdom of Vegetarians in Chinatown as well. They can handle large-ish parties easily and you can't beat the All You Can Eat Vegetarian Dim Sum special, even if they finally had to raise the price from $10 to $12 a person. It's a lot of fun for a group of folks with big appetites

For Asian, I know my top pick is Vietnam Palace in Chinatown. Awesome incredibly consistent food, especially the stuffed grilled grape leaves and combo/special vermicelli plates. My Thai on South Street is an adorably cute, reasonably-priced Thai place as well. There are so many great BYOBS in the city it's hard for me to pick just one or two, as I can't think of any that I wouldn't gladly go back to at the drop of a hat (provided I can get a table). Matyson might top my list at the moment, but then there's also Mercato, Pumpkin, Audrey Claire, Bronzino, La Casta Diva, Melograno...I think the question is where you can get a reservation more than anything else. Moving away from BYOBs, I like Meritage a lot for a more elegant (but not what I'd call stuffy) dinner; nice for a romantic meal and the Chocolate Meritage dessert is heaven for chocoholics I've never had a bad meal at Astral Plane, either, and that's definitely a funky, unique Philly place to go. Also really nice for a romantic meal. I don't know a lot about the various hotels in town, beyond that my grandmother always stayed at the Rittenhouse when she visits for the holidays and the rooms are pretty out-of-sight and incredibly comfy. It's right on Rittenhouse Square which is definitely a great location to be at for heading out in any direction in the city.

Me too, and I think it's definitely past time I made it there some night. Those pictures were simply incredible and I'm salivating as I sit here, green with envy...

Saw a sign on the door of the former Salt location (on 20th Street) that a new BYOB named "Out of the Blue" would be opening there on Dec 1st. Anyone got any dirt on it? Just curious as to what to expect...

Oh my. Why do I have the sinking feeling a Starbucks will be on the way shorty?

Well, I'm back from my week in Vermont, had some great food, sorry to say I didn't get to try half the places I wanted to though I enjoyed most of what I did sample! It was a little tricky to get around as we were in studio until 7-8pm most nights, and most places in the Warren/Waitsfield area didn't stay open past 9 save the pub/bar places. We were also restricted in our choices as many nights folks in the class wanted to go out for group dinners and keep things on the cheaper side. Which meant no Pitcher Inn or other fancier inn-places I wanted to try, alas (though they probably wouldn't have wanted us to come staggering in covered in oil paint and raggy painting clothes anyway...) What probably ended up being everyone's favorite place was Egan's Big World Pub. In fact we ended up there three times for dinner as it was right down the way from the studio and open fairly late. Yummy wood-grilled dishes--the best I had was a salmon dish with a red pepper aoili sauce, while one person in our group declared their steak with gorgonzola butter the best steak she'd ever had. The lamb chops with orzo was nice as well. Decent wines by the glass, too. Another night the entire group went to the Hideaway Inn, where several folks raved over the stuffed meatloaf. I went for seafood stew which was decent, came with lots of great garlicy bread, and all of it was surprisingly good for what looked like a simple country bar. We were right around the corner from The Den, where I ended up alone with the boyfriend one night. Service was a little spotty (a problem we seemed to encounter at a lot of places, actually--we'd get seated without issue and then forgotten about for quite a time before getting to even place a drink order). Decent enough bar-food, though my steak was a little on the tough side and not as good as at Egan's across the way. Probably our happiest find of the trip was Michael's Good To Go in Waitsfield, a little hole-in-the-wall tropical themed place that ended up being our preferred lunch spot every day. Fabulous Mexican/Thai/California/Vermont fare, if that makes any sense at all. One day I had their Stonecutter's Salad of fresh organic greens covered with delicious fresh BBQ pork. The next it was black bean and tofu chilaquiles; another it was fish tacos and corn & shrimp stew. Absolutely delicious I miss those lunches already! I'm not a big pizza eater but one night the majority voted to go to Bongiorno's (sp?). The menu is basic Italian fare plus subs and pizzas. I stuck with salad and an adequate if uninspiring minestrone; tried some of the other dishes and it seemed like okay Italian for the middle of Vermont, but nothing I would go out of my way for again (though I'll confess I'm an Italian food snob as I cook it so much at home.) Our hotel (the Great Lion Riverside Inn) provided breakfast everyday, except for once when the owner's wife was in labor! That morning we tried Easy Street Cafe, which makes humongous, yummy egg wraps and served excellent coffee (can I just comment on how wonderful it was to not see a single Starbucks the entire week? I came home stocked up on Green Mountain Coffee and was well-caffeinated the entire trip) Their lunch/dinner menu looked like fun so if we go back for the workshop next year we'll have to give them another try. All in all it was a great trip, and a great week's worth of good food. Our car was seriously stocked up on the trip home, full of coffee, maple syrup, jams and spreads and wine and everything else we could take back with us. Hopefully next time we'll be able to try some of the other places in the area.

While I mourned the passing of Midori Mart sometime ago, I've been looking forward to the opening of Miran Korean in the old Midori location on Chestnut Street (near 21st). I love Korean food but usually end up only satisfying my craving for it on visits to New York when I can get over to Korea Way. Miran finally opened around Labor Day and I had a chance to go check them out yesterday for lunch. Was not disappointed! The space is small and the decor simple: dark wood paneling and floors, light yellow walls. All the tables are set up for BBQ (minimum 2 people to use the grill). I went with my basic "test" dish for any Korean place, the Soft Tofu Chigae. It came out bubbling hot, a large bowl of tofu in a red hot oily broth. An egg came on the side to be cracked over the bubbling stew and cook on the spot. The "seafood" in the dish consisted of one large mussel and some small bits of squid, octopus, and perhaps some other fish--not a lot but not really insufficient, though it would have been nice with a little shrimp as well. The dish came with rice and four side dishes: kim chee (very good in flavor but kind of unwieldy to eat, very large pieces), potato slivers in a peppery dressing, and cucumbers and one other vegetable in that kim chee-like red pasty sauce. Would have liked a little more flavor variety in the side dishes, but I barely had room for them anyway. All told it was quite a lot of food for $5.99, and I'll definitely give them another try. The menu isn't too lengthy--mostly just your basic picks of Bi Bim-Bap, BBQ, and some noodle dishes, but it's enough to satisfy my craving when it hits (and from what I tasted, perhaps better than the only other Center City choice I know of, Pastoral...which for some reason I remember as being "okay" but nothing that really compelled me to visit frequently.)

I'm late at posting my comments after the last tasting--David and I were on a plane soon after and just got back into Philly late last night. With the time that passed, I'm not too clear on my memory of every wine, but I did have a few comments to add to Jeff's notes... I agree with all of the above. The Hogue Chenin Blanc was probably the only one I'll be picking up a few bottles of for my reserves; it was pleasant and easily drinkable with a long finish, which I always like. For the reasonable price it seemed like a great deal. I LOVED the Meursault but I doubt I'd be able to afford it more than once in a long while! This was actually my favorite of the reds, save the wonderful Almaviva. I like my reds very, very smooth, and this hit the target for me. Not overly complex, just a very drinkable red I could see serving with a nice meal. Thanks again to Jeff L for hosting--we had a great evening and look forward to the next event!

The significant other and I will be spending the week in the Warren/Waitsfield area for a painting workshop next month. After a long day sniffing turpentine, hunched over in front of our easels, I know we're going to want to find some good places to eat...so can anyone steer us in the right direction? Any kind of cuisine is good, especially with a week to sample around. Places with a good wine list and/or styles unique to the area especially sought. Any suggestions?

Just to play a bit of devil's advocate in this thread... I agree that all of this "OMG restaurant food is EVIL!" hysteria goes way overboard sometimes. Remember when every couple months they were coming out with a new scandalous news report of on how bad-for-you Italian/Mexican/Chinese/etc food is? (And I'd always sit there like, uh, people actually thought Pasta in Alfredo Sauce was a light meal?!) That said, for those of us who ARE trying to lose weight or have difficulty maintaining our weight without consistent effort, dining out can really be an often-frustrating challenge. I love food, I love cooking, I love eating out. I know perfectly well how to prepare lots of healthy AND tasty dishes with limited (not unexistant) use of fats, sugar, etc--not all "light" food is dry wheat toast and plain boiled skinless chicken breast. What's frustrating is restaurants often offer NO truly light choices for diners. Often the things you chose that you think are safe--say a grilled chicken breast--comes out sitting in a gooey oily sauce (and yeah, sometimes that sauce is yummy, but sometimes? Ugh. Not ALL overly rich sauces necessarily taste better than something served plain. There are plenty of places that operate with an overly heavy hand--especially chain restaurants that are all about "the bigger and the greasier, the better!" Using a cup of oil in a sauce does not necessarily make it taste better than using a few tablespoons.) Of course, the solution if you want complete control of what you eat is to not eat out. And I don't, all that often--maybe once or twice a week, and I enjoy it when I do go out, the hell with the calories and the fats (at least now that I'm simply maintaining my weight and not trying to lose.) But I often have to work on the road, away from a kitchen or fridge for a week at a time...and I can tell you that I usually feel like crap after living solely off of restaurant food for a week, and I just can't wait to get home and have some lighter food for a change. And then there's the fact that so much socializing with friends and family often involve "going out to eat"...it's frustrating to not want to give up that socializing, yet having to scour menus and try to guess what you can eat that won't require an extra couple hours on the treadmill to work off. Anyway, I'm not saying chefs are in some evil conspiracy to feed us lots of hidden fats. But I do think that awareness is important if you're trying to limit your fats/sugar/carbs/whatever consumption, and there IS often a lack of choices in dining establishments that really offer a good alternative when you don't want a meal bathed in butter or oil--whatever your reasons for wanting to limit that consumption. Being concerned about these things does not equal having an eating disorder.

I also wanted to chime in my thanks for last night--David and I had a wonderful time. After clearing the cobwebs out of my head this morning, I'd have to say that the Leganza Crianza and Lancaster reds were my favorites. I can definitely see having the Leganza around regularly for a nice smooth dinner wine, and I already picked up a bottle of the Lancaster for the reserves this morning. David said his favorite was the Montes Alpha Chardonnay, so we'll be picking up some of that, and I'm already hoarding all the Byron Chardonnay I can get my hands on. All in all it was wonderful to finally meet some of the fabulous people here on the board, and get to sample so many great wines. And Evan, David was STILL raving about the bread this morning!

I did the dance of joy last night upon seeing the return of the Byron Nielson Chardonnay 01 as a Chairman Selection! Last time it was available, my friends and family indulged mightily in this wonderful bargain, and only regretted not stocking up enough while it was available. Rest assured, we will not make this mistake again. Will we be seeing more Byron wines in the future? We also sampled the 01 Sierra Madre Pinot Noir, which I quite liked though it was a bit rich for some (sadly, I only brought home one bottle to try before it was gone from the shelves! ) Thanks again to Mr. Newman for this wonderful program--I've sampled some truly fine wines in recent months that otherwise would have been well outside of my budget.

I'm with you on that. I had the pleasure of being treated to a meal at LBF last year, and it was absolutely one of the most--if not THE most--memorable meals of my life. Truly outstanding dining, service, and elegance--but WAY outside of what this struggling artist can afford, except maybe once a year, tops (and probably for lunch, at that...)

Yep, especially as those places are all paying for their listings and (if my experience is correct) writing the descriptions themselves. Cab drivers are sometimes good for recommendations, but not always and not in certain parts of the world. If your cabbie takes you to a place he's recommended, and then seems to be lingering around too long or is too familiar with the staff, he just might be getting a payoff for his "catch". I've certainly had this happen in the Caribbean a couple times and suffered mediocre, overpriced tourist food as a result. Also, any place called "Fisherman's Wharf" or similar, probably should set off warning bells. There's a place on St. Kitts named such that used to be a wonderful little local dive--no table service, a grill built into an old fishing boat, chowder served in a tiny plastic drinking cup, always a huge crowd of locals if you didn't get there right at opening time. Through the years it kept expanding and expanding, and soon all 'tourists' were met at the door by a waitress and led to a table with a fancy printed menu, while the locals--the few that could still afford to eat there--still could go right up to the grill to order. We stopped going because the food kept getting worse, too. At least some hotels are making available menu books and samplers--ask at the front desk or concierge if they have one instead of just asking for a recommendation. It's a nice, safer way to rule out potential traps.

This is one of my beefs with them--too much reliance on foods prepared with artificial sweeteners and the like. But because of the flexibility of the programs I just worked around that to my own tastes. Exactly. For me, WW worked beautifully--in fact, in my 33 years, most of which was spent being moderately to heavily overweight--it was the only thing that finally got my weight under control. I was always very stubborn about not wanting someone to tell me what I could or couldn't eat, so the idea that I could eat what I wanted--so long as I budgeted for it--appealed, and it was the only "diet" plan I could ever get to work (I also excercised like a madwoman to earn those "Activity Points" for extra food ) But after a year and hitting my goal, I found I had to step back from the tight WW regimen and figure out how to maintain on my own and not become *completely* food/counting obsessed. Even their maintenance-level programs were too restrictive and I couldn't stop losing weight until I got off plan entirely. Still, it has helped me lose and now maintain my weight and pick up a lot of better eating habits, and realize how sneaky some "bad" foods can be about bloating up your diet with needless calories. Overall it's a program I still recommend to most people looking for a diet/weight loss program, though certainly it won't be the best fit for everyone.

Do you cook, or eat out a lot? I've found that the biggest factor in eating healthy longterm has been cutting back on how much I eat out/buy pre-prepared foods. Because no matter how "healthy" that grilled fish with roasted veggies may sound on my favorite restaurant's menu, it's probably still going to come out loaded with hidden fats, sodium, oils, and all sorts of other stuff much in excess to how I would prepare it at home. (Case in point: when I started going out with my current SO, we were eating out 3-5 times a week. Before then, on my own I was only eating out maybe 1-2 times a week, max. I very quickly gained 5 pounds, after maintaining at my previous weight for over a year. No other factors in my life changed, not how much I excercised or anything, so it definitely drove home to me that if I wanted to keep my weight at healthy levels I needed to restrict how much I ate out.) As far as figuring out appealing ways to make healthy foods, my own answer, really, is experiment. Buy new cook books, try things out, see what works for you. I'd say avoid the cookbooks that go "overboard" on things like meat replacement (I mean, when I look for a book on tofu, I want recipes on how to bring out the best of tofu flavor and texture, not how to try to disguise it to make "mock" beef tacos or something like that.) Look for ethnic cookbooks from regions that have consistently learned to make a small portion of meat last and be flavorful by filling a meal with healthy grains, vegetables, etc. Decide which substitutions work for you, and which don't: can you taste a significant difference using 2% instead of whole milk in that recipe? What about skim? Well, if you don't like skim, go back to 2% or low-fat, it's better than whole milk. Some books I highly recommend for great healthy recipes are Linda Ferrari's "Good-For-You" series (Good For You Soups & Stews, Good For You Pasta, etc). Check on half.com for them. They have virtually become my bible for healthy cooking because there's very little use of fake/artificial ingredients, just lots of flavorful, vegetable-heavy recipes that taste excellent and don't taste "Good For You" at all. I also do a lot of country-style Japanese cooking, which is great for coming up with interesting (and easy) ways to do lots of vegetables. Also, I'd say that finding a good market for the best quality ingredients is really key. There are veggies & fruits I used to think I hated, until I started getting them from a farmer's market or other super-fresh foodstand. Now I know there's nothing like a big bowl of fresh, fat blueberries at the peak of the season--and it's a much more satisfying snack than the bag of potato chips I might have grabbed before. Those are just my first thoughts off the top of my head. I can probably come up with more cookbook suggestions after checking my shelf for my favorites.

I saw and picked up a Wonka Bar a month or two ago--I was on the road traveling and was curious as I haven't seen it locally before. Utterly blah and yucky. Not surprised it's part of Nestle because to me it tasted like a Nestle Crunch with graham cracker.

Oh yeah, ugh. I mean, I don't mind crabsticks necessarily--I know it's used--but I hate Japanese places that skimp on the sushi/sashimi plates with lots of cheap stuff. Load you up with fake crab, egg, cucumber roll, etc. I think that's why I only order a la carte sushi these days because the sushi "dinners" or "plates" tend to be all the cheap stuff, with only maybe 1 or 2 better pieces.

Gotta agree with the complaints against Caesars--at least wimpy ones that skip the anchovies or otherwise bastardize the classic. I like the taste of a well-prepared Caesar but too many places just use it as an excuse for a crappy salad of bottled wimpy dressing over romaine, or--god forbid--throw in things like cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, etc that DO NOT BELONG. I make a point to purposefully NOT eat anything labelled "Low-Carb". Is that fad dead yet or not? Here's one that I don't think has been mentioned yet--Japanese restaurants with the same old, same old boring menu. Seriously. I think you could go to 9 out of 10 Japanese restaurants, swap their menus randomly, and it wouldn't make a darn bit of difference. I love Japanese food but I am so so sick of the same old monotonous choices of tempura, teriyaki, sukiyaki, etc. There is a LOT more to Japanese cooking than that and I wish more Japanese restaurants (at least here in the states) would embrace that.

I second (or third?) the roast pork sandwich at DiNic's. Mmmmmm. Beyond that I'd say in general an eating binge through Reading Terminal would be my pick for a truly Philly experience...with all of the choices there's plenty there plus great selections to take home and sample later.

FINALLY made it over to Pumpkin with the boyfriend last night (I've been wanting to try it for ages, but our schedules are such that it's hard to make a reservation anywhere). We showed up a little after six and were able to get a table without problem. It's a cute, VERY small space, but the hostess was nice about making sure our table wasn't too tight of a fit. We decided to start with the grilled romaine salad (basically a wedge of about half a head of romaine grilled and served with a caesar-like dressing), and the pan-roasted black figs with goat cheese. Both were excellent, though I paid for the garlic-heavy dressing on the romaine later on that night For entrees, we both went for the fish. BF had the whole Poconos trout, which was served with pea sprouts (yummy!), cherry tomatoes, and a sherry-based sauce. Excellent, sweet fish, with a nice sauce that didn't overwhelm the trout. I had the cripsy salmon, which was an absolute explosion of flavor and texture. First it came on a bed of spicy pineapple salsa, then it was topped with a cilantro/onion sauce, then it was covered in crisp little sweet potato crisps. Some might have called it overkill, but I thought it was terrific. Not a bit of food was left on either plate! Somehow we still had room for dessert--BF had the strawberry charlotte with lady fingers. Very light, with some melon-type flavor as well (glad I didn't order it because I'm not a melon fan, but if I was I probably would have loved it.) I had the Chocolat Pot Du Creme, which I declared as the first chocolate dessert I've ever had that I would truly call orgasmic. Total bill came to $82 before tip--not bad at all considering how we indulged. If I had any quibbles at all, it would be that the bread we were served before the appetizers was pretty non-descript (and sparse--only one thin slice each). I *might* also say that I felt the slightest touch rushed, but they also had two larger parties that night, and walking in without a reservation I didn't feel like I had that much room to complain anyway. All in all, I'm thrilled they're in the neighborhood and hope it's a good sign for things to come. I confess I was hesitant to try them for a while because of the bad reviews on the citysearch website, but either they've gotten their act together a lot since then or those reviews were just from some folks with serious axes to grind, for whatever reason.

Vietnam Palace: I always forget if it's the Vermicelli Deluxe or the Vermicelli Combo. But it's the one that's $10 for an overflowing plate of chargrilled shrimp, fried spring roll (best in the city IMO), grilled grape leaves stuffed with beef, and sweet and sour meatballs. Plus of course heaps of vermicelli and salad. MMmmmmmmerslobberdrool. I seriously can't go there and NOT order that dish, and if I go for lunch there is definitely no room to eat anything else the rest of the day. YUM.