Vadouvan

Zucchini grows flowers year round, it isnt inherently a spring or summer product like a local tomato. Consumers just associate the word "flower" with spring/summer. Virtually *all* squash is available year round.... Read and chew on this : http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm

Excellent, then lets stop second guessing each other, it seems more these days any "dissenting" opinions are quickly followed by attempts to clarify "why you did not like it". Suffice to say I am not some rube who started eating complicated food yesterday. The problem with Varietal's desserts is that the more exposure you have had to the individual components (like goji berries, indonesian soy, mushrooms,absinthe )in thier conventional uses, the less you are likely to enjoy the whole. The caramelized mushrooms and tarragon macaroons which arent actually macaroons but possibly meringues were particularly jarring additions.

I guess that is true, the concept of seasonality is complicated due to greenhouses and hydroponics. You can get good tomatoes and zucchini flowers right now. Certainly better tomatoes will be had in the summer but zuchin flowers from greenhouses are virtually indistiguishable. When are we going to james Diann

Let me preface by saying the following detail still do not change my inherent opinion that the conception is genius but the homogeneuos aspect of what creates "deliciousness" was mostly absent or a dying whisper. In english, several elements of of each dessert were excellent but the sum of the whole was muddled. Correct me if I am wrong and perhaps I should have have eaten each component seperately but Like music, I assume composition is about the homogeneous results.

No offense but is "Trey Popp" a real name or pseudonym ? I know the city paper was looking for a new writer a few weeks ago....? Great review nonetheless. I dont get the part about squash blossoms and tomatoes.....?

Good lord, chefs like Sam Mason are "taking short cuts"? I'll tell you what's pretty quick and easy, fabricating a protein, cooking it, serving it with a pureed starch and mother sauce. That's as old guard as it gets. Taking a new direction and incorporating unprecedented techniques requires extensive planning, testing, patience, knowledge and skill. It is NOT easy, quick or any other adjective that defines the phrase "short cut". I won't get into the specifics of "portioning proteins into bags" or other ridiculous misconceptions,however I'll sugest anyone who truly wants to glean an understanding of what it takes to run a sucessful kitchen from traditional to avante garde should try working in one or speaking with a chef about it. I love food-blogging, but blogs in general are a license to publish your words for public consumption without any any qualification, oversight or scrutiny. Take that as you will. Thankfully, the first amemdment doesnt require qualification, oversight or scrutiny by our fellow men.

Amuse Biatch has a funny take on it... http://amuse-biatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Frank%20Bruni

click http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/dining/0...html?ref=dining

The restaurant is definitely poorly designed Its super cold and loud. Starkness is one thing but you walk in to the bar and the first thing you see is a door to the basement and one leading outside, perhaps an exit. Service is good. The bar menu is basically useless, I cant understand why restaurants cannot serve the regular menu at the bar instead of silly fried raviolis with olive oil powder. Controversy may have become the way for young pastry chefs to gain respect and recognition that regular chefs get, unfortunately, form over flavor results in some pretty bad combinations.

As Wkl said, not to dismiss your contribution sandy but not even second hand reports but third hand reports dont exactly fall into the realm of strict accuracy. certainly by legal standards this would be considered exclusionary hearsay. What difference does it make if the couple were lesbian ? Is there some suggestion that same sex couples are treated with bias ? When you call to ask where the restaurant is, I am sure they would have said 640 north broad. 640 north broad is a giant condominium. If you step outside Osteria and look down the street, you can see city hall but not vice versa. I would asume most people can google the restaurant and find its phone number and location, once you find the address and or map, what is the point of asking where they are in relation to city hall. City hall is in the center of the city. One could make the case as using that as a basis of locating businesses but thats completely silly. You find the address, you go there. Anybody knows that the 600 block of north broad is approximately 6 blocks from city hall unless they just moved to philly last night. Cmon these people had nitpicky prima-donna-ish complaints regarding direction That's just pure laziness. The seafood bisque describes on the menu what was in it. Do people not read menus anymore ? Post your own complaints not other people's complaints. Saying my friends went there and sat next to lesbians who had a bad time simply cannot be taken as a serious report.

Your post reminds me of an important point Phil... The word "Foam" seems to have fallen victim of not just Laban but people who are anxious to communicate the fact that they have moved on and are on point with what is current. You frequently hear the phrases "foams are done", "foams are so yesterday" ect ect....... But ultimately most of these people who make these statements are hypocrites. Fact is that there is a structural reason for a foam sauce (provided the flavor is intense enough) that cannot be achieved almost any other way. It provides a flavor in a different medium from a solid, puree or liquid. Thus in terms of flavor delivery, it would be mostly silly and messy to put two liquid sauces in a composed dish without the two flavors being blurred. A foam allows you to layer and suspend flavors. The composed flavor of the dish is thus about flavor delivery. Flavor delivery is different if you put two liquid sauces on the same spoon next to each other as opposed to one in liquid form and the second in a foamy consistency above it. It's a fairly simple experiment anyone can do. Therefore all we are left with is the use of the word "foam". Responding differently to the word "froth" is disingenous and frankly silly. At the end of the day, it is a structural method that has become a mainstay in cooking repetoire. Saying foams are overdone is kinda silly when everyone is running around eating cryptically named compositions (17 so far in philadelphia) that are all essentially ceasar salads. It's hilarious.... "Hearts of organic romaine with garlic croutons and lemon-parmesan dressing" Seriously we are sorrounded by bullshit and no one is complaining about that. People are even serving "grilled" ceasar salads. Arugula pesto Red pepper tapenade tomato confit pumpkin bisque..........

Indeed ! As far as I know MC duff works a Moore brothers and not Talula's table so this de-facto accusation of shilling is unneccessary. The "spelling lessons" are fine, some of us googled it last week and could not find it, now we know why. It's only monday, can we be nice to each other ?

I actually do not think Chef JK makes those desserts for pure entertainment value, I firmly believe he strongly stands by what he is doing, like I said, the logic is evident, it just goes a bit too far for me. We do process tastes differently. I wouldnt say they were outright bad dessert, just not my kind of dessert. It is a good question whether one's response to the dessert is affected by the preeceeding meal, looking at Varietal's dining room menu, probably not but I can imagine the response *may* be slightly better preceeded by a Paul Liebrandt meal or an Alinea meal. I had dinner prior that evening at Degustation and those two meals were solidly incompatible.

I still dont see the point you are making, if you understand the economics, why do you think it's overpriced ? You have only gone once, you siad "nothing was bad" and you didnt like the cannoli, you havent even tasted the best dishes the restaurant makes yet ? There is no such thing as an "Italian Bistro", I think we all agree that Trattoria and osteria prices in Italy cannot be economically viable in America. Osteria is no more expensive than restaurants that do similar food. Is there somewhere in philly that does this quality of food we have missed ?

Had two dessert tasting manus last night at varietal. I will say that how well you respond to the desserts greatly depends on how many flavors you can process at once and how well your brain and tastebuds can convince you that they are all compatible. There are a few facts that you cannot dispute : The pastry chef is talented. He has amassed a lot of skill and techniques that result in fairly unique presentations and concepts. He gets an A+ for detail and effort. His food gets you thinking seriously. However...... Would I ever desire or crave any of the desserts ever again ? Probably not..... The interesting thing about food these days is the question of whether the sum has to be greater than the parts ? Should a mango dessert be better than the best mango ? It should be at least as good. I would say that at the end I left feeling that the quest to incorporate so many savory elements into desserts just really ends up missing the point for me. There were some great textures, good flavors but I did not love any dish as a whole.

The bad review cannot also be blamed on her solely, the restaurant was kinda asking for it, the menu is over-embellished to the degree that culinary neophytes will clearly misunderstand what to expect. Sauces and ragu's that include chocolate should not taste like chocolate, chocolate deepens tha accent. The restaurant should not list chocolate on the menu description. This is similar to the technicalities of the Roderer prosecco incident. Mole does not taste like chocolate but chocolate is used in mole. There are very few reasons to hand cut parpadelle, the more menus are embellished, the higher expectations are.Using the word "Creama" simply because you define yourself as Italian influenced is just asking for it.

The South Philly review has no media clout, that being said it is still possible for the publication to have a knowledgeable writer. Her style is antiquated and doesnt reflect current eating trends or requisite food knowledge so it seems. Critics are only as good as thier worst reviews.

Restaurants dont hire people to justify their prices, it makes no mathematical sense, why add all those payroll taxes and base salaries, the people are there to make sure the patrons are covered. I agree too much coverage is bad but not enough is worse, I am sure it will all be figured out soon enough. They certainly dont have any expectation of what patrons are going to order, asking why you need three waiters, two bus boys and a sommelier to have two appetizers, pizza, dessert and a bottle of dolcetto isnt relevant, the servers are there to serve 90 other people in addition to you .

That was perhaps the worst restaurant review ever written. Here is the perspective I agree with.... http://www.eatdrinkonewoman.com/2007/03/beef_1.php

Basically it seems the concept is denim with tarts. There cannot be any fathomable explanation for using the name penthouse if stripping isnt involved.

Can you believe this garbage ...... http://www.motivationbrand.com/penthousephilly/ Wonder what's on the menu......

Seems like ther are in cahoots with Foobooz..........

Gridskipper is consistently soooooo BAD. Clearly they do no research and piggyback on the reviews of other links just so they have content. Extremely lame... Besides the fact that that they think a bald chef will shave his head, they cant even google his name to spell it right.... Pathetic...

Ever since the Inception of Opt art and Art Culinaire, I have basically purchased two of each copy. I would like to dispose of one whole collection. That would be issue #1 to current #83 for any collectors interested. Pm me for details on cost.