serpentine

For the record, I had the mango champagne at Capogiro this weekend and found it disappointing. Their fruit flavors are usually so intense, but the mango champagne was a miss. The concord grape was excellent, though.

I live on Annin Street, crawling distance from Ricci's. I'm very ashamed to say that I hadn't tried their hoagies yet. Will correct this ASAP. May have to taste the rest of the menu in atonement.

Why am I having a first course of loukomades before foraging in my kitchen for dinner tonight? Because I walked home down 8th Street and was lured into the parking lot of St. George's. Yep, Greek Festival is this weekend. Platters are $10 and look to be substantial and tasty. Anyone been by this year? Any recommendations for choice of entree?

PG also has an menu item called enchiladas suizas, to which I am so addicted that I can't seem to order anything else at Garibaldi as an entree. Mild creamy verde sauce. I've got nothin' at all against heat, but this dish is perfect as it is. Can anyone tell me if the tacos al pastor at LL are true al pastor? (Meat carved off of a big pressed spit basted with achiote/other spices with pineapple juices running down.)

As the official Sud fan 'round these parts, I thought I'd provide an update. As those of you in Queen Village may or may not have noticed, Sud has a sign up noting that the dining room is closed for renovations/menu revamp. (Adding to their are-they or are-they-not-open issues. Sigh.) I ran into to the owner last night, who confirmed my suspicions that he had become overwhelmed. (They really didn't have enough staff, particularly during busy times.) They're doing take-out soups, sandwiches (using Sarcone's rolls), and salads via a little take-out window. According to the menu he gave me, their hours will be 11:30 am-10 pm Wed-Sun. Prices range from $4-11. Happiest of all for me is that their harira soup is on the menu, which try as I might, I can't quite replicate at home.

I was the sole smelt-liking member of Buckethead's table. (Um, I'm going to try to ignore whatever kind of bad pun is lurking in that sentence.) I can't resist adding a few thoughts to his excellent review. I admit that smelts are likely a love or hate kind of thing. If the presentation of the whole fish before filleting is not your favorite part, skip 'em. I thought they were beautifully done, tasty, with perfectly crisp skin, but even I got tired of them before I could finish. It's a very generous portion for an starter, particularly as they are a stronger-tasting fish. I like the beignets, though I preferred them on a previous visit with crab -- the crabmeat made a more delicate, and therefore more beignet-like beignet. The goat milk panna cotta was awesome. It wouldn't be to everyone's taste, but these folks make my kind of deserts -- simple, well-conceived, and not super-sweet. Our waiter was shockingly bad for an establishment where I've received such fine service in the past. I was embarrassed. I'm not much of a complainer, but honestly, I wish I'd said something. I agree that it wouldn't keep me from returning, though.

See, I was okay until you got to this part. Squick. LOVED the condiments-in-love film.

What philadining said. You read my mind. Er, perhaps not, but I'm on the same page as you regarding the review.

Fantastic pictures, cinghaile. Could someone please reassure my usually fearless self about the flavor/consistancy of some of these innards? P.S. Um, I believe we're mildly acquainted. Wayne and Christine's film rocked. (And that was probably the most people Blue in Green has seen...ever.)

I guess our expectations differ quite a bit. I've been to nicer, non-chain fondue place that was a lot of fun -- classy joint, great service, some unusual offerings. But really, I find the Melting Pot awfully ordinary for what it costs, especially since there is minimal effort required in the kitchen. The highlight of our bad service story was a waitress who brought us new sodas constantly, but refused to bus the old ones so that she wouldn't have to pause to explain what on earth was taking our food so long. They had seated us in the basement, and we could get no-one's attention while we starved among a sea of half-drank glasses. When we tried to make a complaint about the myriad of indignities suffered, the staff claimed that there was no-one there who was any kind of manager and that there was nothing that anyone could do about our disatisfaction. We wound up buying a fondue pot and do it ourselves whenever the urge strikes, since it's really a pretty easy meal.

The Melting Pot in Chestnut Hill is the site of my Worst Service Ever Story. [shudder] The food, however, is simply forgettable and overpriced.

I've had the big ol' combo platters a number of times (different location.) The brisket and the chicken are my preferences, actually. The ribs are good to fulfill the knawing-on-ribs craving to some extent, but the quality seems to vary wildly. Corn is always mushy, cornbread is too sweet for my taste. Fries are weirdly satisfying, despite being nothing special.

[sigh] That's what I thought. To anyone who shares my addiction, the aforementioned, Pigman's in Kill Devil Hills, NC will ship. And it's damn fine barbeque.

[moans in memory of North Carolina pulled pork] Have I any hope in Philly? (I try to get down to the Outer Banks once a year or so. I usually just buy five or six containers from Pigman's and freeze 'em. But that only lasts a few months, even with rationing.)

Chevy's or Baha Fresh would be less-gross examples? I put Chi-Chi's in the "truly bad not-really-Mexican" category. After all, there are levels of quality to chains. There's the consistant, boring, reputable, and then there's the consistantly truly lousy lowest-common-denominator chains. Maggiano's is the former, Olive Garden the latter.

Ugh. One of my favorite things about Philly when I moved here seven years ago was the relative lack of chains and fast food, and the effect it had on many people's attitudes about food. (Hey, why go out of your way to get the nationally marketed egglike mcmuffin when you can go to the deli on your block and get the real thing for about the same price?) We need better vocab to distinguish between types of "chains." There's a big difference between corporation-produced-drone-food and a restaurant with multiple locations.

Oh, so you're the reason they were out of fish and chips for the rest of the weekend. (Well, you and everyone else who had a hankering for fish and chips this weekend.) Since they serve dinner until 1 a.m., Royal's my default "it's late and I'm too tired to cook" place in the neighborhood. Their specials are also very much worth checking out -- never had a bad one. (Except the croque monsieur that was really just a grilled-cheese sandwich. It was good, just not a croque monsieur.)

Hear, hear. And rubber gasket olives. Speaking of...we noticed a worrisome change in ingredient quality at Franco & Luigis awhile back. Overall quality seems to have evened out again, but I'm still afraid to order a pizza with sausage -- a couple of times we got big, clumsy chunks of a clearly inferior sausage and shoddy cheese distribution instead of the beautiful pie that we expected. I heard a vague something about sons taking over for the father? Everything okay over there? And can anyone give me a sausage quality-check testimonal?

I second the Jones recommendation, too. I really do not like their lunch or dinner offerings at all. However, in need of a place last summer for an early brunch in that neighborhood (with my usual options all vetoed for one reason or another), I was very pleasantly surprised.

If, like me, you are in no mood to register for another site to read the Rick Nichols article (sorry Capaneus, for dissing your link), here's the Philly Weekly review from when they first expanded, which also explains. No supposedly about it -- they're open for weekend brunch and dinner (and maybe lunch, I don't recall.) It's a shame that the place doesn't get more business, since the food is terrific and not expensive, but it is on somewhat of an odd corner for walk-by traffic, putting the cafe in the vicious circle of "not crowded enough to attract crowds. (The up side is that I can always get a table without a reservation, so I do, frequently.) Anyway, they rock. Go eat brunch and dinner there.

...ceases lurking and joins in. Cafe Sud is fantastic.