NaFairge

local refers to your "foodshed" or anything within 250 miles of where you live.

heard there is an amazing evening in the works: jean trimbach of the famous namesake winery (known amongst other things for their superb riesling) offering some crazy wines. 7 courses with 7 wines for $250. anyone have thoughts? sounds incredible.

if you have any doubts about the quality of jason's food or his experience, just go eat. he is very talented and his been cooking high end food for a lot longer than one would think. he's had his hand in the pot for awhile now.....

go to apothecary at 13th and drury (between chestnut and sansom). forward thinking, amazing cocktails. no standard issue here. truly original in philly and brand new for us. southwark on 4th and bainbridge. classic, proper, inspired. if you don't have a regular drink they will find one for you. food is outstanding also. and believe it or not, valanni on spruce between 12th and 13th has a great cocktail program. they are a little kitschy and overwrought, but i have found them to be a lot of fun as long as you dont take yourself too seriously.

unfortunately, the pierre robert dinner has been cancelled. brunch also will not be happening until maybe the end of may. sorry guys! its the notoriously unpredictable nature of the restaurant business.

last night was great!!! sorry you missed it. we have some great shots from the kitchen of the food/plating/etc. maybe i will try to figure out how to post photos!!!! it was a really good night. the poussin turned out just like i wanted it to. see you guys next time. j

3 march 2008. tasting menu. $120/pp includes wine, tax and gratuity. menu: 1. mushroom yeast broth. licorice blackberries. beans & lemon. 2. flat tomato round. horseradish. celery vodka. 3. red snapper. mangetout puree. white asparagus. fermented cranberry. 4. teardrop baby chicken. butternut syrup. coffee & pears. 5. reblochon. white chocolate skin. date-tamarind. 6. chocolate creme brulee. banana consomme. peanut butter. wines forthcoming. please email ed@phillysnackbar.com or call 215.545.5655. space is limited! please join us! jmac

for the 4 february 2008: marc vetri. 8 courses. $150 (menu, wine pairings, tax, tip). menu: 1. crispy rice ball. frothy parmesan emulsion. 2. porchetta. charred treviso. arugula. celery in forms. 3. squid ink spaghettini. calamari. hot tomato jelly. 4. braised eel. chanterelle ragu. winter greens. 5. pomelo campari sorbetto 6. veal cheeks/sweetbreads. bone marrow gremolata. saffron artichokes. 7. 'castagnaccio'. chestnut cake. ricotta foam. honeycomb. 8. chocolate-olive oil macaroons. orange cynar marshmallows. wines: 1. franciacorta 2. vermentino 3. blanche bier 4. burgundy 5. barbera 6. vin santo jeff benjamin, partner and sommelier at vetri, will be on hand as well. there will only be one seating, so space is limited! you will have your table for the entire night so it promises to be an amazing evening. many thanks to marc for his generosity. email jam@phillysnackbar.com for reservations. jmac

alwang.... fennel puree: wash and slice the fennel. sweat it out in unsalted butter until super tender. add a small amount of toasted fennel seed and deglaze with pernod. splash with water or stock and reduce. puree very smooth and strain through a chinois. you could also add fresh tarragon leaves with the stock and THEN puree. thats how we would normally rock it out. but for the flavors in this dish we omitted them. j

so i've been getting a lot of questions about some of these items due to their ethnic background. after some spellchecking (apologies to my friends of israeli descent!!) and a quick chat with mike, here are some loose definitions. lebneh is a very thick goat's milk yogurt. it is slightly gamey in the way that lamb is gamey. maluach is a bread that one can fry or bake. it's kind of like really dope pita. mike used to make this at marigold and it was INSANE. he served it with heirloom cherry tomatoes and marinated feta. best summer dish of '06. mahleb are cherry pits (stones). they have a slight cherry-coffee flavor. halvah is a confection made from sesame and honey. we will use those flavors to make a souffle. hope that does it for ya. seats are still available. jmac

7 january 2008. tasting menu at snackbar with michael solomonov of marigold kitchen, zahav. 1. falafel. tahini. parsley foam. 2. truffled lebneh. malauch. lamb tartar. 3. mackerel (csv). curry preserved banana. chervil puree. lime-vanilla. 4. roulade of ribeye cap and lobster. fennel. mahleb. chorizo cherry consomme. 5. cashel blue. quince spheres. white chocolate. 6. havlah souffle. salted toffee. pomegranate. bay leaf powder. to be paired with beer......... jam@phillysnackbar.com jdm@phillysnackbar.com

next tasting.... monday 7 january 2008. michael solomonov from marigold kitchen. gonna rock!!!! unfortunately, we are going to pass on a tasting in december. very busy over here with a lot of holiday parties and so on.

wound up going with godshall's as well. free range, organic, etc. looking forward to it. going to rock the heston blumenthal recipe for perfect roast chicken. i have made the chicken a number of times and it...is...unreal. takes four days to prep but really, it results in an amazing bird. his book is called 'in search of perfection' and it will change the way you look at some of the classics. he is working on a sequel and the first book is based on his bbc show by the same name.

dibruno bros 18th street is offering lancaster organic/free range birds for 3.49 a pound. not cheap but i am sure it is good. anyone have some price info on godshall's birds? i've always loved their chickens.

a few things..... 1. the monday night tasting menus will not always be a guest chef. for monday december 3, i will be cooking by myself. it will be a very special dinner. details to follow soon..... 2. sorry about the phone situation. we are getting a new answering service next week and new phones wired in the restaurant (they were in the office before). 3. we WILL get back to you if you email jam@phillysnackbar.com. 4. my direct email is jdm@phillysnackbar.com 5. the website is going to be updated and redesigned soon so stay tuned. thanks ya'll

the best way to make reservations is via jam@phillysnackbar.com. however, due to some time conflicts and the nature of the busy season, the solomonov dinner will be posted at a different time. hang in there until further notice.

little miss dish..... michael solomonov is slated for monday december 10 2007. tasting price will remain 70/20. nothing set for vetri yet....sometime in january or february. hope to see you soon.

the skate garnish was red pepper-vanilla gelee, tomato compote, fried capers and brown butter cornichon puree. the skate was rolled with fig tapenade.

the menu was a collaboration. i did one thing, shola would tweak it and vice versa. it was very much a combined effort. we let bobby run with the dessert course and the petits; that was all him. the great thing is that i've spent so many years tugging on shola's apron strings that much of my flavor and technique comes from him anyway!! spent many early winter mornings at SK reading old cookbooks and drinking coffee and talking shop. it felt really good to cook side by side again.

yes dave katz was in the kitchen. salt reunion!! haven't had the chance to cook with that guy since 2002. thank you to everyone who came. it was a great evening. by the way, yesterday was our one year anniversary. here's to more years to come.....cheers.

chris you are correct. i cut the butter by 50% for the macadamia soil. you could adjust the flours i suppose. part of it is the overall taste. if you can achieve a more macadamia flavor by removing the almond and increasing the ap flour, then you have a new recipe. a better one at that

it really is a great tool. wylie dufresne has made some really great ones. he did the pea soil on a dish containing a liquid center foie gras torchon and beets. beautiful dish (check wd-50 website). black olive worked very well also but the flavor was soooo strong. red pepper was ridiculous both in flavor and color. working on banana soil right now (using dried banana chips). and actually, just plain old brioche was good. hit it with lemon zest, dried anchovy and parsley. kinda like an overwrought gremolata! macadamia soil is being served on one of our new dishes, scallops with parsnip puree, baby carrots and brown butter vinaigrette. since macadamias have such a high fat content it gets a little tricky. on the other hand, cranberry soil was disgusting. i don't know about almond pieces. i would not recommend skins on. it might be bitter. again, the key is to dehydrate the main ingredient. we use a l'equip food dehydrator. blanched almond flour is fine.

grazie, fabio. mushroom soil: we use dried shiitake mushrooms from an asian supplier, but you could substitute almost any kind you wish. the 'powder' is made from buzzing the dried mushrooms in a high powered blender (vita prep). the recipe follows..... 70g mushroom powder 60g all purpose flour 100g almond flour 8g kosher salt 120g melted butter combine flours, salt, powder. pour in butter and mix well by hand. spread on baking sheet and toast for 10-12 minutes at 300 F. cool. break with hands, whisk, or for a superfine 'sand'....back into the blender. this recipes works for coffee soil, red pepper soil, pea soil, hazelnut soil, etc. just make sure that whatever you use for the flavor is very very dry. the brulee was indeed port wine with apple cider. we used versa whip and xanthan gum to give it a meringue texture. and by the way, the wine pairings in the future are much more focused! got some slammin ones lined up!

for me: albufera=chicken consomme fortified with sherry, foie gras and clotted cream. granted, this is a version from jean georges a friend showed me. i have seen some recipes that are very different than this, however, i feel that this is the basic foundation. of it's spanish connection i would assume that a chef in the region 'coined' it and it has nothing to do with rice to my knowledge.

space is available!! please email jam@phillysnackbar.com to reserve. thanks for all the support guys.