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urbanfabric

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Everything posted by urbanfabric

  1. Just went last evening for the first time. Wonderful addition to the bar scene. Enjoyed the Doc Daneeka Royale. We sat at a table, but had a server who knew his stuff and was able to recommend drinks (including some off-menu) based on our preferences. It is so nice and cool in there, that it was a welcome oasis after sitting outside at Parc and nearly sliding off our chairs in the heat. I wanted to lay my head on the cool marble tabletops. The only thing I walked away thinking it needed was a bowl of salty snacks on the table. It was interesting to log on here today and see the same comments in the last couple of days.
  2. Can someone clue me in to this "new" trend of frozen yogurt? All I can think of is 1985 and the "new" trend of frozen yogurt that brought a TCBY to every street corner. Are the Pinkberry/Phileo folks the bringers of "new" trends from 1985? Can't we leave that to 18-yr-old art student fashion? Is there more to this trend that I'm missing?
  3. We ate at Kanella over the weekend and found it nice that apps were a little smaller, and, I thought, less expensive than other similarly priced BYOBs. We were tempted to get three apps to split between the two of us, but decided to stick to two and perhaps make it to dessert for once! For the appetizer course we split the sausage (which we both thought had a liver-y taste- in a good way- remniscent of pate, yum!) and the dips of the day. For entrees, I had the quail. Despite philadining's warning of the mess, I dove right in and gnawed on it. It was just too good to leave any of the bird behind. My husband had the rabbit stew which he loved and cleaned the plate. For dessert, I went with the almond and date tart with the namesake ice cream and my husband had the chocolate mousse with the same ice cream topping. I think it was supposed to be lavender, but the cinnamon worked nicely. Overall, pretty cozy seating, but great food and great service.
  4. I keep meaning to post that my husband stopped in two Thursdays ago and had some of Katie's award-winning, bluecoat gin fueled lemonade (it had a catchier name than that, but I've forgotten). It wasn't quite summer outside, but the lemonade made it feel that way. I should probably just sign my stimulus check over to the bar now and park myself there until fall. It was that good.
  5. Went in August and it was wonderful. As has been commented in the past, I preferred the cold dishes to the hot, even though there were some amazing cuts of meat in the kitchen. One of the more interesting from the cold group was a glass of guava juice garnished with a spanish olive dusted in white chocolate. Having also had dinner there in the last month, I think that Chef Levin's work with flavor combinations is really spectacular. I also recommend going early, but if only to avoid the crowds around the food tables!
  6. They've been selling coffee from the right half of the JJ space for at least the four years I've been shopping there (you can also "check-out" there if you just have a couple of items). I don't know how much coffee business they actually do there... but it's really convenient when I'm picking up a car share car from the garage upstairs in the AM
  7. I don't know if something happened on the Jamba Juice end, but the Whole Foods had a sign up that they were moving it out to make room for more prepared foods. Then they proceeded to demo it while the store was open. Lovely. Marathon Grill has smoothies that are more like frozen yogurt shakes, but sometimes that's what you want. They have some that are all fruit too.
  8. If you want dancing that's not in Old City... or the 50ish crowd of D'Angelos... I would suggest L'etage, above Beau Monde. 6th and Bainbridge. Bar's not too pricey and you can even order a bottle of wine.
  9. What about Good Dog? They have a couple upstairs rooms, happy hour specials, and good food. In the past, I've also been to happy hour at Loie where they gave our group either the front area, or the midsection of the restaurant (up a few steps) and arranged drink specials for our group. I would also recommend Sole Food at the Loew's hotel. They can give you one of the large tables in the bar area, or a cordoned off area of the couches. Their happy hour specials used to be pretty decent for cocktails (you may need to check on that). If you want supa dupa cheap... call Tritone or Bob & Barbara's! Or, hey, I hear that Chick's Wine Bar has a new rockin' bartender!
  10. Thanks for your advice, folks. I think we'll check out the scene at both oceans and see what we think. I'll let you know how it goes!
  11. Growing up, my parents definitely went the babysitter route until they thought we were old enough to behave... BUT, I would argue that was also a time when eating out was much more of a special occasion than it is these days. The refrain in my household, when one did an inappropriate thing at the dinner table was, "she's not ready for Jack's." (My family's definition of upscale dining, a downtown Albany old school establishment). Man, when I was "ready for Jack's"... that was a big thing for me and I was prepared to act like a grown-up. These days, not only is dining out a regular thing... it's also the age of "attachment parenting" and "helicopter parents." (That's right, I watch the Today Show) The Tinto scenario is symptomatic of a bigger issue. My parents would leave me with the first 15 year-old that agreed to give up her Friday night. And, they would probably be the first to say I turned out okay. I'm all for giving kids an experience to remember... but really, a 9 month-old? Will he remember anything more than hearing the stories of the time Daddy had to walk up and down 20th street with him as a shreiking baby? Give yourself a night off!
  12. Hi folks, I'm bumping up this thread to ask for your suggestions... My fiance and I are planning an October wedding in Center City. Since neither of our families (or friends from college/high school) live in the area, we will have a lot of out of town guests. We're excited that our (mostly midwest-based) family will get a chance to leave their cars at home and experience Philadelphia like we do on a daily basis. Keeping that in mind, we'd like to throw a morning-after-the-wedding "brunch" and to avoid pricey hotel warming trays of scrambled eggs, and let people see more of the city, we were thinking that dim sum would fit the bill nicely. So, the challenge is to find a dim sum place that could accommodate a party of 100+ on a Sunday morning. I think that the carts are the way to go, and we'd pick up the tab at the end. Our guests will be concentrated in several hotels around 18th and the Parkway (proximity to the wedding venue). We'd prefer to not have to pay for a bus to shuttle people... so if they could walk/cab it easily, that would be best. Our usual dim sum places are Lakeside (too small), and Saigon Maxim (too far... you could take a cab there, but getting back would be tough, especially for out-of-towners). My knowledge of the rest of the Chinatown dim sum scene is lacking... any suggestions of places that would have large enough space or private rooms and have good dim sum? No point in singing the praises of dim sum only to bring people to a subpar place. Ocean City? Imperial Inn? Does anyone have experience in attending a large dim sum gathering in the city? Thanks in advance! We're looking forward to lots of "research" for this event.
  13. I agree that Philadelphia's not a city that generally eats out every night... so maybe our "everyday" places can be slightly more expensive then New Yorks. I also feel like it's tough to find that "everyday" place with service good enough to make me a regular, or make being a regular worth it. But, I certainly find that we hit the same few places on nights that we don't want to cook. And, hit the same places for weekend breakfast/brunch. Square on Square... not in my neighborhood anymore, but they remember us everytime we dine there. And, we order a loooooot of delivery from these folks, so we know that they're consistently good. Royal Tavern... I can fill up on inexpensive sides and a beer, plus yummy brunch. Shinju... Stop at the Foodery, pick up some beers, walk two blocks for a totally decent and well-priced meal. 10th Street Pour House.... Cheap, good breakfast. Over easy, done right, every time.
  14. -Tritone, provided you can get out of there before they start charging a cover for whatever entertainment they're offering. -Royal -Standard Tap -N. 3rd -Deuce -Sidecar ...Dark Horse? I haven't eaten there in a while. There's my list of bars with good food in the vein of gastropubs. With crowds that I wouldn't mind hanging out with.
  15. a quick google search found a M.Klein Table Talk bit from 12/28/06: "Old City awaits 707, a bistro from former Stephen Starr manager Ryan Margolis, at 707 Chestnut St." ETA: this craigslist posting too: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/ret/277644497.html
  16. Does anyone know if they are open on Mondays? I called just now, but no one answered.
  17. I had dinner at Marigold on Friday night and with our bill came flyers announcing Xochitl (and a coupon for $5 off). I'm always up for yummy Mexican food, but reading these posts today... philadining, you had my fiance at sangrita chasers, and mcwein, you had me at ceviche. I would sell my children for good ceviche. Thankfully, I'm not a parent.
  18. I've also heard good things about the wings at Moriarty's, but it gets really busy before and after shows... and, unless they have a back entrance, I don't think it's accessible. I ate there once and when they say they can put blue cheese on something, they really mean a thin blue cheese dressing, not actual blue cheese and that's one of my biggest pet peeves of tchotzke-type places. If you are willing to go two blocks, and your fam likes sushi, there's a great little place near the intersection of 10th and Locust called Shinju. There's also an Italian place on the 11th block of Walnut, Portofino? I've never been but I walk by everyday. And, the pizza place, Top Tomato? Hmm... you'd think after three years of walking down this block I'd do a better job at remembering what's there. Irish Pub is also on that block. Um, food is not their forte. Around the corner, on 11th Street, is Sante Fe Burrito that is pretty casual, but tasty. They have a couple of steps, but they may have a a ramp for them. Other than that... Subway? Wendy's? probably not what you're looking for. It's too bad that 13th Street is probably a stretch, since you could hit Lolita or El Vez. It's rough with Jefferson right there, I wish they'd made more of an attempt to fill the ground floors of their buildings with retail and restaurants. There is a Marathon Grill in the works for 10th and Walnut, but that doesn't help you at all! I'm a fan of Caribou if you end up there again... I would call to make a reservation for a table, though. That will ensure that they have a seat on the ground floor and not in the mezzanine level.
  19. handmc, I wonder if you were presented with a menu there or just read the "specials?" I ate there with a few friends recently while in town and found the food, service, and atmosphere to be fabulous. We enjoyed the warm, cozy, informal environment and felt very welcomed. We weren't given menus, just told what they were serving that evening. Portions were more than ample and that made me a little worried, should we have split them? Just how much would they be? We were shocked when the bill arrived and the entrees were $45-65 each. Apps were reasonably priced at $10-12. We didn't expect it to be inexpensive, but I really thought it would max out at $30/entree.... given the non-descript location, and the fact that it's Pittsburgh, and the fact that no prices are posted. Anywhere. Thankfully it's a BYO, otherwise, I can't imagine what the bill might have totalled! As we had less than nothing to complain about regarding food and service, we picked up our jaws off the floor, paid the bill, and left. Chalking it up to not being "in the know" about the place. My friend and hostess for the weekend felt horribly that she didn't know beforehand what we were getting ourselves into. Looking back, it definitely seemed as though other tables had dishes that weren't on the "list". And, in the research we've done before and since visiting, it seems as thought at one point in time there was a menu with pastas and entrees starting around $15 and in addition they offered a chalk board with a list of the daily specials. This did not seem to be the case. I'm curious about other people's experience there... are there some unwritten rules? Should we not have gone there without knowing the secret handshake to get the menu? I dine out frequently in Philadelphia, and think that I would have been shocked has this happened here too. Thoughts?
  20. Didn't think it was, just realized when I read over it again that I hadn't really drawn many conclusions/comparisons, especially any that would really make someone excited about Lacroix/Levin. And, while I wouldn't say "suspicious," I had no idea that Levin had followers.
  21. Interesting.......As inspector Clouseau would say.....very interesting Indeed. there was no actual review of the "party food" to the degree of rushing over there,was urbanfabric's post edited ? ← Perhaps a better review would be a Chef Lacroix food vs. Chef Levin food comparison? It's not like I've eaten a bad thing at Lacroix under either regime. Outlining that comparison would probably not make you rush over there. I think that I was trying to represent that there had been no decline in quality of food, service, or experience. If you've never been, I feel it's worth the money. If you've been before, I would say go back... the food is different, but the atmosphere is nearly unchanged.
  22. I went to the party last week to debut new menu items. I don't know what I did in a former life to deserve being invited to a party at Lacroix with free food, wine, champagne, and cocktails. They served small plates of the items off the tasting menu and the new ala carte apps and entrees. They had a raw bar area and a carving station as well as the passed food. Everything was wonderful and there were a few stand outs like the venison, squab on a shrimp shumai/wonton hybrid, and a piece of cuban pork belly on a bed of black beans. The new chef, Matthew Levin, was friendly and gracious. The kitchen was the place to be, as that's where most of the food (including dessert items) was, they were cooking, plating, and handing out dishes to guests. What really impressed me was the staff. It was a busy party, people in the dining room and lined up to get in the kitchen, drinking and eating what ever they could get their hands on, and the staff was polite and extremely patient. A woman who was manning the wine station in the kitchen spotted my fiance's empty champagne glass from across the room and made her way towards him to refill it. Empty plates and glasses were whisked away before they could even be left on a table. If I had been plating that food, I would have swatted away the people that were loitering to catch a plate, but instead, the woman in charge would just make sure that folks got a plate the next time around if they were missed. I suppose the purpose of the party was to reassure people that it was still Lacroix, with a few changes by Levin. I was definitely impressed with the food and the service and think that we will probably shell out for another anniversary dinner there this year.
  23. We picked up a menu over the weekend and it was pretty much focused on Mexican, with the exception of the "Pasta" section that consisted of three fairly Italian pasta dishes (I don't remember them all, the last was fettucini alfredo).
  24. Actually in the four years since Rendell has taken office, the state now allows a certain percentage of stores to be open on Sunday (this may have been before his time, anyone remember?) which has increased subsequently, we can buy wine and spirits on election day, and we can now buy corkscrews in state stores. It's still an absolutely ridiculous system, but all of the changes are at least making it more manageable. And, from what I can tell, the Chairman's Selections are an opportunity to bring in new and interesting things more easily. I figure that Rendell's taking all the baby steps he can without meeting much resistance. The real issue seems to be the money. From what I've read, if we sold off all the stores, the immediate payoff would be great, but the long term result would be a huge loss of revenue for the state. All the changes in the last four years have resulted in more income for the state. I've also wondered if anyone was willing to fight the system... how can a state regulate interstate commerce? Maybe alcohol, tobacco, and firearms are excluded? I don't know enough to know the answer.
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