jm chen

Oysters, he said. But he was still sort of playing around on the first day. My guess is that he realized if he served an oyster the judges would come back with that whole "but you didn't cook anything!" argument they sometimes use. Poffertjes, Lisa was on the winning Team Fire in the elements challenge and was awarded the individual win for her miso bacon. (Angering Dale, although apparently that's not exactly difficult.) I prefer a head-to-head war between two great chefs for the finale, Tiffany v. Harold style, but since I'm pretty darn thrilled with the winner I will take what they gave us last night, happily.

Can't speak to the chairs as we got the corner table and sat on the banquette, but the specials last night did not include the minnows nor pork with honey. There is a pork but the prep is with vinegar, and they had the prosciutto croquettes as a special but we went with regular prosciutto instead and were not sorry. A very indulgent meal, and everything was great, some things greater than others. Would definitely order the prosciutto, the bavette, the escarole salad, the tripa, and the duck agrodolce (the Tuesday dish) again. The ricotta were good but not mindblowing, and I would not order the octopus with ceci again, as the sauce was kind of creamy and I just didn't like the fishy-creamy combo. Texture was great though, for octopus. Both the bavette (with cheese and pepper) and escarole (with walnuts, red onions, and pecorino) sounded, and were, pretty simple, but the flavors were just excellent. Should have stopped at one dessert instead of two but the tartufo and dates were both pretty awesome. Wonderful service. The waitress' recommendations for both food and wine were excellent. Really enjoyed ourselves.

There are two pork buns to a portion and I believe a reasonable person could finish both, then move on to a main. The hanger steak ssam was rockin', and I loved it, but the waitress recommended the poussin and after reading the description above I feel maybe I should have gone with that. Still, left stuffed and happy.

A little lucky magic got us two seats at the bar Saturday night. Sicilian lifeguard calamari, mint love letters, black spaghetti with rock shrimp and sausage, a massive pork chop with cherry peppers, and pine nut crostata. Soooo good.

Extremely helpful, thanks. I'll keep the res, and report after the meal. I do love ricotta gnocchi/gnudi...

[bump] Lupa: past its prime, or just under the radar compared to newer options? I'm looking for an affordable place for 2 to celebrate a birthday. Salumi is a must.

The new pastry chef at Del Posto is Brooks Headley, formerly of Komi in DC, where he was putting out consistently awesome desserts. Here's hoping for more of the same in his new position.

Rehearsal dinners are always murder to plan. Good luck with it, wherever you end up. I've been to a party of this size at La Viola -- they use their La Viola Ouest branch across the street to hold large parties. The food doesn't set new records of awesomeness or anything, but I think it was three courses for around $35 and the service was good.

10 on Sunday for graduation weekend will be tough. Maybe Susanna Foo's? Oceannaire's got room according to OpenTable, but I hear they're pretty expensive for what you get.

Had a nice meal there for two last night. They accept reservations Tuesdays through Thursdays, so we booked a slot, bought a Pinotage, and headed over. The truffled mushroom pappardelle is still on the menu, and excellent. Ditto the bistecca fiorentina, though it's not very exciting: big meat on cool beans. So many things on the menu sounded good (quail with figs, pork with Savoy cabbage, ravioli with beets & mascarpone) we'll definitely be making repeat visits. A number of really tasty-sounding specials, too...

Good news/bad news defined: LaBan finds Dim Sum Garden.

Cheese-and-cracker Combos. Parsnip chips. TJ's hot mustard wonton crisps.

For a good cheap burger, I prefer the Shake Shack to the Burger Joint... wait is about the same and at the Shack at least you're outside.

I've made pumpkin ice cream by substituting pumpkin puree for the sweet potatoes in the book's ube-inspired ice cream recipe... taste was fantastic. (Texture was not good but that was because I overfroze the container... same thing happened on a different ice cream made the same day.) Made my first custard base last night and am looking forward to churning it tonight. My husband brought home some honey from Patagonia so I made the lavender honey ice cream without the lavender, and will mix in some buttered almonds to add texture. Made the sour cream-strawberry last week to use up some leftover sour cream and it was just wonderful. I usually find strawberry ice cream too sweet so the tang was perfect. Also very successful: cheesecake flavor. SO easy.

The cranberry bars are the only recipe I've made from this book (I am an intermediate-level baker at best) and they turned out great. A half-recipe is still massive. I'm still finding tiny globs of bright red in odd spots on my cabinets months later after putting a stick blender in the cranberry puree, but other than that, it's pretty foolproof. Crumbly dough pressed down, puree/egg white mixture poured on top, cook and go. Time-consuming but not at all hard. Might have to make some of the ice creams...

I suppose you could say these roast pork sandwiches aren't what you expect when you think of "roast pork", just like you could say that cheesesteak is not what a person expects when they think of "steak".

I made a meal for 8 almost entirely from this book last night, and I've got to say, these recipes continue to deliver on the promise. The chorizo-potato stew ("potatoes Rioja-style with chorizo") can cook for 45 minutes or three hours or whatever time you need it to. The garlic shrimp recipe works just as well for scallops. The red wine syrup from the Oranges in Red Wine recipe is really delicious, especially if you serve the oranges and syrup over cheesecake ice cream. And although I don't know if I'd make it again given that Idiazabal cheese is about $20/lb here, the marinated Idiazabal is simple and impressive and addictive. Probably almost as good with manchego. Now I just need to figure out what to do with a cup and a half of leftover romesco.

So. Good. Extremely expensive, but we weren't paying, so leaving aside issues of value for money, we were VERY happy with the meal. Service, food, wine pairings, pacing, everything. You know that food, that when you take a bite, you just have to smile? This is that food. Everything from the artichoke salad and foie gras pastrami to the chestnut fettucine and the spinach gnocchi and the sweetbread ravioli and, yes, the goat, and the stinky cheese with the parsnip agrodolce... oh, and that celery root soup and every little detail down to the fennel gratinee on the charcuterie plate... mindblowingly good. What I liked best was the way the tasting menu is a really nice balance of surprises and requests, so I could be sure I'd get to try the three or four dishes I knew I wanted, and still get bites of things I would never have ordered myself (cauliflower flan) that were so awesome I was glad I didn't miss them. They turned "X glasses of wine" and "he likes offal" and "definitely the goat" and "maybe more pasta?" and "both cheese and dessert" into a coherent, delicious experience. I hate to oversell the place because I know inflated expectations can really hurt a restaurant experience, especially an expensive one. But everything we ate, everything we drank, was excellent. So if you're looking for a place to have a sybaritic blowout, you could do a lot worse.

Dinner downstairs at Tinto, dessert afterward at Capogiro. Ooh, the tasting menu at Matyson this week looks like fun: ~ Matyson Deli ~ Reuben Reuben Duck pastrami & choucroute spring roll, Russian dip South Philly Special Sausage & peppers, steamed mussels BLT Butter poached lobster, wilted spinach, confit tomato, bacon vinaigrette Matyson Cheesesteak Pan roasted filet mignon, porcini mushroom, crispy onion, gruyere sauce Rice Pudding Dried fruit

I had some of the dark chocolate this weekend and didn't notice any difference from the usual. I feel like it's always been kind of... chewy? Great new combo: cinnamon and wildflower honey.

I had the quail and sundae last month in what sounds like the same seat at Casa Mono, and man, that was good stuff. Of course, I'm not entirely used nibbling the meat off a quail leg with the whole foot still attached, but it was damn good quail. Very entertaining to watch the cooks from so close up, if you don't mind your hair smelling like paprika smoke after. Keep reporting! This is great vicarious culinary tourism.

It is Chang's business and he is entitled to choose how he allocates seats on any given night. No reservations at all? Fine. Internet-only reservations? Fine. Hand dice out at the door and only people who roll double sixes can come in? That's fine too. His business, his choice. Sure, we'd all like to eat there. He has chosen to require us to run the reservations gauntlet if we do. And the time when we know whether that is/was a good idea is a long way off yet. In the meantime, there are plenty of other places to eat.

Shake Shack is great but with a short lunch break you will probably not have time to stand in the line, especially if your lunch break is at lunchtime.

More than anything else, I would stuff my face between meals with Capogiro.

You might not have time and they might not have space, but if you can swing it, tonight is the last night for this week's outrageously good "Finger Food" tasting menu at Matyson. Flatbread with pears and blue cheese... a Vietnamese beef wrap... lobster mango skewers... truffled potato skins with braised duck and foie... and a little trio of miniature desserts, each more amazing than the next. One of the best meals I've had in Philly. I don't know how they get their citrus sauces so citrusy, but it's like lemon-times-83. Incredible. Can you actually eat all these dishes with your fingers? No. Will you lick your plate? You'll be tempted. For $45!