Alonna Smith

New location for Tiffin!! See their online announcement: Breaking News: TIFFIN TO OPEN NEW LOCATION! Philadelphia, PA, July 6, 2008 - Tiffin.com is pleased to the announce plans to open its second location in Mt. Airy area of Philadelphia. Located on 7105 Emlen Street (space previously occupied by the Hamlet Bistro), our second location would provide delivery and carry out services as well as a 28 seat dining room. Delivery services would initially be limited to select areas of Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill and would expand quickly to other neighborhoods. “We are very excited about the Mt. Airy location as it would allow us to properly serve a market where we have provided limited services for past six months,” said Munish Narula, President of Tiffin.Com Inc. “Both Tiffin.Com and Tiffinstore.com web sites are being updated so customers in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill can also enjoy the convenience of online ordering as well utilize other valuable resources available on our sites”. The new location would provide the now famous daily tiffin packages, starting at $7.50, and regular all day menu all made with fresh and highest quality ingredients. Tentative opening date is set for Friday, July 18, 2008.

they've been carrying them at sue's lately too, where they're pretty radishy. fair food needs to toss some of their stuff. i mean really, i try to support them, but today their beets and potatoes were all spongy and starting to wrinkle. i mean, yeah yeah local organic this that whatever--i understand the concept of things that don't look perfect but taste good, but i also understand produce, and that's just plain letting things sit around too long. someone needs to take control of product, there. or sales. or something. damn that's a good sandwich. haven't had one in quite a while till today. fantastic. and whatever the issue was with the rolls seems to be solved, too, because this one was right. ← I am a devoted supporter of the Fair Food Stand, in part because my grandfather was a farmer. I too have sometimes been disappointed with the condition of some of the produce and emailed Ann Karlan, who is the Founding Director of the Fair Food Project. What follows is much of her response to me. I think it helps to know that our concerns as a consumer are being heard and worked on: We are, in fact, aware that we’ve been having some quality and consistency issues at the stand. We also know that it’s our own incredibly high standards that have earned us our reputation in the marketplace. We’ve never expected people to shop with us just because of our mission. Unless you’re really interested in hearing them, I won’t go into the challenges we’ve been facing recently. (Although I’m happy to share if you are.) But I will assure you that we are working on it! Quality, freshness, diversity of product will always be at the top of our priority list, in addition to supporting local family farmers. Keep supporting the Fair Food Stand!

We met up with friends at Chick's on Friday evening. Had the pleasure of being there early and catching up with Katie over a Salty Pomeranian and Corpse Reviver 2. That put us in the perfect end of the week mood, met up with our friends and took a table inside. Loved the shrimp and chorizo skewers, Tuscan fries, hummus with toast, and roasted beet salad. My only disappointment was the shortribs. They tasted OK, but they were drowned in sauce and there weren't any satisfying chunks of meat. Loved the Languedoc red Katie recommended with it. (Katie do you remember what you poured me?) The cheese platter was good. Ribiola is one of my new favorite cheeses. I was sorry we didn't leave room for dessert. Next time. Thanks Katie for taking good care of us. We had a great time and look forward to going back when the upstairs room is ready for business.

Comfort food for me right now is a great burger. To that end I went to Rouge today for lunch. Their burger is quite good but I am still on the hunt for my ideal. First of all, it was such a thick patty that I couldn't open my mouth wide enough for a proper bite and wound up eating it mostly with knife and fork. Tasted GREAT though and they managed to avoid my most frustrating scenario: I ask for a medium rare burger and get it well done. Happened to me at London Grill recently and I was really sad. The fries were disappointing though. They needed more salt and they were uniformly limp.

On the last chat he mentioned being "down the shore." I found where they've archived many the restaurant chats. The link above is just for the last one or two.

I called Restaurant M for the 13th and they said they are fully booked already for that night. Hopefully there will be more Shola/restaurant pairings in the near future.

My company is having our annual training convention at the MGM in 2 weeks. We are doing some research on having food delivered to our room at the MGM for a couple of lunches and for one dinner. I am working on the assumption that room service is overpriced and not that great. I did review this website for information on favorite delis, but restaurants that deliver are candidates as well. I would appreciate any ideas you local experts would have, and thank you in advance. When you come to Philadelphia, we will be happy to return the favor.

Our 50th Birthday party for my husband was last Friday at Marigold Kitchen. It was a magical evening. GM Brett and the two servers dedicated to our party of 24 bent over backwards to make sure everything went off without a hitch. 24 people was decidedly a squeeze for the 2nd floor dining room (previously a bedroom), but it created an energy and forced people to visit with each other, so it wound up being great. I chose the 3 course menu so that our guests could choose from several choices for each course. The 5 course menu would have meant that everyone would have had the same thing. We made the right choice with that decision because there was plenty of food. The dessert of Coconut Panna Cotta with Coconut Ice Cream and Champagne Grapes was inspired and I would go back just for that. Everything else was delicious and our guests "loved every bite." We will definitely go back to this restaurant, whether entertaining or dining for two.

Since I settled on Marigold Kitchen for my husband's 50th birthday in September, I wanted to finally get there, try the food and check out their private rooms. We went last Friday with another couple so that we could try more dishes. We chose the 5 course tasting menu and weren't disappointed. We loved everything we had: Corn Vichyssoise with Warm Foie Gras Olive Oil-Poached Salmon with Honshimeji Mushrooms and Pickled Shallots Leg of Lamb with Roasted Eggplant and Turkish Coffee Selection of 5 Artisanal Cheeses Mocha Float with Almond Cream & a fruit tart I am hazy about the dessert details because we came fully fortified with Chairman's Selections and by that time . . . The highlights for me were the corn and foie gras app, the roasted eggplant side was amazing (I am not a big eggplant fan), and the cheese course was fun, with each cheese having an additional accompaniment. My only quibble is that I would offer water crackers or sliced baquette rather than a flavored cracker which competed with the cheese. GM Brett Meier-Tomkins took great care of us and we are looking forward to our party for 24 in September. Thanks to everyone who help me choose this restaurant.

Now that my plans are on the books, I wanted to report back on what I decided, thanks especially to Katie, herbacidal, and everyone else that chimed in. I hit the right solution on my first call which was to Marigold Kitchen. They have everything except easy parking. I wanted a BYO, very good food, a weekend night, reasonably central location, AND a private room for 20, so I am very happy. GM Brett Meier-Tompkins was willing to work with me on a Friday night, so I am looking forward to working with him on a great menu. If anyone has had dishes there that I should insist upon that would make sense in mid-September, please pass on your suggestions. As is turns out, they have the honor of cooking at the James Beard House this weekend, or next week?, so their working on that right now. Thanks again for all your help and I will report back in September, after the "do" is done.

Thanks for the info Jelly. Saves me a call, but it is nice to know for the future and a smaller party. MY birthday? Hmmmh! Better start planning now.

Thanks so much for all the advice. Thought I'd give you my call list based on food, location, byob, private rooms, parking, etc in order of my preference: Pif (Zagats listed a private room?) Marigold Kitchen Mandoline Allison at Blue Bell Ravenna Cin Cin Nan Tre Scalini L'Angolo Cucina Forte Bisto St. Tropez Some of them are a stretch, but the worst thing I will hear is no. Thanks again for all the ideas. I'll keep you posted.

Hi Alonna. Welcome to eGullet and the PA forum. The logistical problem you will run into with this party is trying to have it on a Saturday night. And you're not greedy, I just think you aren't thinking it through. Since most BYOB's are quite small, you'll basically be taking up either all, or most of their seating. A party of 24 people is going to be there ALL night, tying up those seats. No restaurant is going to take even a guaranteed party of 24 if they could potentially turn those seats two to three times and seat 70 people instead. Not on their busiest night of the week. Not on any night do I see a sensible business person choosing to take in 1/3 of their potential business. Most places large enough to have a private dining room also have a liquor license, so the BYO aspect won't apply. You'd have to guarantee the restaurant the same amount of revenue they'd make on an average Saturday night, for them to close for you and only entertain your party. This is what's known "in the biz" as a BUYOUT. The only alternative I could think of would be a larger ethnic restaurant that has a banquet room for weddings and events like one of the bigger restaurants in Chinatown. Herbacidal and I just had a fantastic meal at a Korean restaurant in Cherry Hill last night that has a banquet room and was really reasonably priced and BYOB. But that doesn't sound like what you're after. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. Good luck with the party planning! ← Thanks for the advice Katie. I have never worked in a restaurant, so didn't have their perspective in mind. I will have to rethink my plans. Thanks again.

Welcome to egullet, Alonna! Thanks for clarifying LBF's intent. Regardless of the age of the diners Perrier's trying to attract... it's got ME interested. ← Me too and thanks for the welcome!

I have been lurking since I joined last August and am thoroughly enjoying this forum about my favorite topic: Philadelphia food. I am planning a 50th Birthday party for my husband, ideally on Sat September 9 because we have people coming in from out-of-town. His actual birthday is the weekend before, but many friends are traveling and won't be able to join us. I would love to have this party at a BYOB because people like to bring something, and sharing their favorite bottle of wine would be fun. Also, it will lower my overall costs for the evening. I started with a neighborhood restaurant in Mt. Airy called Umbria. The food is quite good and I like supporting local folks as much as possible, but the logistics didn't work there. Given that I think we will be around 20 to 24 people, and I would love to have a separate room, if possible, what BYOB do you recommend in this situation. I prefer not to travel too far afield from Philadelphia. I also wouldn't mind working with the chef on a special menu. Am I getting too greedy? Thanks so much for your thoughts on this.

Nah... I've been hearing about this thing for a while. It's Perrier's attempt to snag younger diners. Here's the menu: Garden Room Menu ←

Thanks for all the suggestions. Will go to guidelive.com. Alonna

I especially love Vietnamese food. Thai or Malaysian is good too. Thanks for your help!

Thanks planojim! I will watch for that. A M. Pyles restaurant would fit the bill.

My husband and I live in Philadelphia and come to Dallas every Thanksgiving. We will be staying at the Crescent for the first time, as they are running a "promotional special." We would like to take our brother and sister-in-law out to eat on Saturday night and want to make it special, but not necessarily French restaurant special. I have seen a lot about Lola but tend to shy away from "New American" cuisine and gravitate towards ethnic food. By then we would have had our fill of Mexican food, however. I was looking at Banana Leaf, La Duni, and Tramontana. Am I missing an obvious choice, and can I get some feedback on the ones I've chosen? My sister-in-law thought Tramontana might have closed. Thanks so much for you help!