Jeff L

We were lucky to get in at 7:30 last night as someone cancelled. I really liked this little place. We started by sharing a plate of roasted artichokes. Done perfectly in good olive oil and garlic, little else that I could detect, perhaps a hint of lemon. Well executed and delicious. The server said as it was our first visit we should really try them and they aren't on the menu. Glad we listened to him (off topic, his cousin owns John's Roast Pork) Next came an arugula salad with shaved reggiano for my wife which was pefectly dressed with a white balsamic vinaigrette. Tasty dressing. I got a homemade pappardelle with shrimp in a fresh roasted tomato and garlic sauce that had a nice kick to it with the addition of some pepperoncini. This was really an outstanding yet simple dish with concentrated flavors. For entrees my wife had the sauteed chicken breasts with pancetta, rosemary and white wine. It was very good. I had the special of a good sized veal chop with serveral different mushrooms in a veal demi glace. It was great except an unusual amount of fat was present. At this point I got a jones for that meyer lemon/greygoose vodka gelato from Capagiro when the owner stops by and talks us into having his wife's homemade desserts. He stayed at the table for over an hour talking with us, real nice guy, David. His wife is indeed a talented pastry chef. We got the arborio rice pudding and the best piece of marscapone cheesecake I've had in more than 10 years. The place is tiny but the staff are friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. Will definately be getting back here soon. By the time I looked at my watch, our daughter's flight had landed!

Look upthread to p 53, Mike Volker thought highly of this one, enough so that I will trek to Newtown/Yardley and pick up a few on his rec

I'm pretty sure this is what I want as opposed to the less expensive clay/ceramic versions. http://www.korin.com/product.php?pid=419&c...mnum=KON-109/31 Does anyone know of any company in the US that sells these less expensively or perhaps steer me to a less expensive version of this grill?

In most places I've been, specials are almost always more expensive that regular menu items, however your server should have mentioned pricing. I think it's the right thing to do but in my experience, some servers tend to feel somewhat awkward reciting prices to a table. Of course, you could have asked I guess.

Got some bad news for you Rich, Tattoni's has closed. No doubt due to Trenton's ever rising gang/drug problems. This is the 2nd of my favorite places to go after Sal De Forte's closed. Before having pizza at Delorenzo's yesterday, made a quick stop for some cheese at Porfirio's where I was given the news. Really sucks, I loved that place

Percy, if you can put this on your expense account, I'd get me some http://www.korin.com/product.php?pid=1677&df=korin

I'll most assuredly second this rec. A truly lovely, if crowded place. You should really go there and they do in fact care about everything that's put in front of you. It's byo and you will need to get a reservation, as I said, small space...you might learn more about the people next to you than you planned on.

Wow, you must have been reading my mind about Tatoni's Rich. My favorite in the know burg joint. I've always likened it to Chick and Nello's as the owner Dom used to work there. As to Rossi's, not what it once was by any measure imo. I'll add the Guatamalan place discussed in another thread, Quetzal at 1122 Anderson Street.

Anyone been lately? We've got some time to kill before picking up one of our daughters at the airport this Saturday night

can you be more specific with respect to the type of food you'd like?

I'm kicking this thread up again to report another really outstanding meal there last night. My wife and I did the unthinkable by arriving at Mandoline without a reservation around 7:00. The place was jammed and I was prepared to wait for sure. I must say they handled this beautifully and we ended up going next door to Amada for a drink and were seated by 7:30. I've never shown up on Saturday night w/out reservations before, not sure why I didn't make one this time. We were both really hungry after walking the flower show for 2 plus hours and dug right into the warm dinner rolls right away. For starters, I had the always excellent lobster truffle mac and cheese and Gale got the beet salad. Her salad featured a blue cheese I've never seen before but was amazingly good with the beets and balsamic dressing. She had the European Chicken Breast with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and haricot verts in an apple brandy reduction. Really quite an elegant dish we both enjoyed a lot. I ordered slow-cooked veal breast with caramelized salsify and vanilla infused pear compote. This might have been the best dish I've had here and I've had my share. It was rich and flavorful leaving me wanting more. In between apps and entree, Todd sent out two plates of venison in an amazing cherry sauce with nice pieces of black cherries in it. It was really excellent and the venison was perfectly cooked. Nice touch Todd - well appreciated indeed. We had some type of bundt cake and the meyer lemon/absolute vodka gelato from Capagiro. This was the best I've had of their stuff to date. Perfect way to end the meal. Another nice touch happened when our waitress arrived with a bottle of dessert wine. It was a nice moscat -forget the name. Todd's got a really great crew with him and I do like the way he gave credit to Jeff, his sous chef when I complimented him on the veal breast. Todd, if you're reading, next time I promise I'll make a res!

Try decanting and letting it sit for an hour or 2. Amazing invention the decanter

I agree with that. Sandy, at the risk of being politically incorrect here, it seems that you do tend to gratuitously insert gay-centric commentary. I think I am far more interested in your obvious knowledge of food and restaurants in the area and your well written food blogs than I am to know where a certain gay bar is.

Yeah, you're right it is pretty clear isn't it? I think WHT just needed a more direct take on my feelings about wine made in NJ and PA.

I don't think I was clear in my previous post. I really don't like the wine made at Crossing Vineyards at all. I haven't found any wine made in NJ or PA that I can even get down let alone enjoy. I've been to many of the local vineyards and just can't get past the whole idea of NJ or PA terroir for growing grapes good enough to make palatable wines from. The absolute worst of the lot was Cape May Vineyards. It was really awful stuff. What made it weird is that I was sampling wines in the winemakers house and tried really hard not to offend him. It was just foul, really bad.

Really just a nice casual lunch, nothing too high end.

Lovely place, the only problem is you have to buy and drink their sorry excuse for wine. Really, PA wines or for that matter NJ wines?

I just had a bottle of Liberty School the other night and it reminded me of how nice this little wine is. I used to drink a lot of it when I think Caymus produced it. Can be had for $10 at Total Wine Cherry Hill according to wine access. Might even throw in a 10% discount for full cases.

My wife and I are making our annual pilgrimage next Saturday morning. She liking the flowers, me just looking for another opportunity to eat lunch in a great or even good restaurant near the convention center. She's not real keen on the Reading Terminal places and we'd like to try somerthing non-chinese (although I'd love to take her to Schezuan Tasty House) that would be open for lunch on Saturday. No particular requirements other than those stated, suggestions?

There are indeed and I've tentatively settled on a place Rich may know of called Piccolo Trattoria http://www.piccolotrattoria.com/ We're big fans of these places and go quite often. It's really the only place I like in Newtown/Holland that has consistantly well executed and tasy if simple dishes. I know the owner, Fami pretty well and he can in fact accomodate 50-75 people expected. As it's on a Tuesday, he'll pretty much devote the entire space to us. I've been in touch with Marnie Old (Katie, she says hello!) to see about her doing the tasting/pairing part. I'd been to a few tastings with Gregg Moore a few years ago and he was my first choice, but he has his hands full with the 3 stores and is really not doing these any more. Marnie was extremely professional and does have a great rep but her engagement prices are somewhat lofty shall I say. So, I'm still looking for another person (s) who might have the proper creds to do the wine pairings in case my client doesn't want to foot Marnie's bill. If I had my druthers, I'd hire her in a minute! Any suggestions?

Hadn't thought about Rats and agree it would be really great. I just wonder about the end price for this sort of thing. As for Pete Lorenzo's, they are on my short list of places never to go back to. Quality is way off and I haven't been for years. I used to have a personal account here years ago as we went a few times a month. Their price for food is bad enough, but get into some of the mid to higher end wines and fugetaboutit.

Bumping this thread up, in today's Bucks County Courier Times, Conti speaks to PA House lawmakers publicly for the first time. He was "bubbling" about his new position. Who wouldn't be? The article goes on to say he will make changes to better brand the 633 stores, distinguishing the premium stores from the non-premium ones. He plans to slash advertising, especially the Chairman's program which will be kept, but the $2 million ad budget will disappear. Conti says the program is popular in eastern PA but accounts for less than 2% of sales statewide. I guess time does heal all wounds...Stay tuned.

Thanks for the posts. I think I will pm Katie for her suggestions. Oh and I forgot to add they plan on spending between $50-$75 per person which should more than cover appetizers and wine tasting/flights at most places.

We had dinner tonight and it was really quite good. Based on Rich's suggestion, we had the "hen soup" and the flavor was really amazing. Frankly, the hen had seen better days. I wish I had gone with my initial idea to order the weekday special hen soup for a measly $3.00 without the hen and rice. The flavor of the broth is what made this soup..outstanding indeed. We also ordered two appetizers, one was the crunchy something or other and the other was Tacos Quetzal. I loved the tacos and their wonderful filling. There was an indescribable lovely hot sauce that was at once rich and piquant, lovely. We shared an entree of a combination platter filled with great grilled pork, marinated skirt steak (dead on with this one Rich) and grilled chicken. It was wonderful and Id order it again in a heartbeat. It came with plenty of great yellow rice and the most fantastic plantains I've ever eaten anywhere. I had 2 of the local lagers and my buddy had 2 vodkas which translated into 5 shots somewhow. Without booze, total food tab was under $50 which is quite a great deal. We should have just had the broth for $3.00 saving almost $10 bucks and one less appetizer. We'll sort out the booze thing next time. Speaking of next time, I spoke at length with the chef/owner, Victor who would love to have the DDC group in the next 3-4 weeks. I asked him to provide a menu of 3 appetizer choices, 3 entree choices and three dessert choices plus, get this...one drink too for $30 pp. He was cool with that. This might be the best DDC deal yet! Let me know who would love to try this place and I'll host. In light of the fiasco at the recent DDC dinner at the Korean place in Cherry Hill, I feel confidant the owner speaks English well enough to pull this off. BTW, they've been open for 9 years.

That urine smell alone is worth the price! I'm not a huge fan of their hoagies and agree with you about Chickie's, but that bread...now that's from heaven dude.