HD73

Any new suggestions for LBI? This was the most recent thread I could find on the topic. I will be in town next weekend and I'm looking for some place to eat dinner on Saturday. I'm open to anything - casual, formal, seafood, ethnic - as long as it's good. I know that's a tall order at the shore, at least in my experience, but I'm hoping someone here can help me out. Thanks in advance!

This weekend, I'm going to be making a trek from Philadelphia to Tappahannock, Virginia to visit some in-laws. The current plan is to go out to dinner with a small group (5 people) on Saturday night. I was tasked with picking the spot for dinner, with the only qualification that it NOT be Lowery's. Don't ask. Initially, this didn't seem like it would be much of a challenge, and I turned to my usual sources for restuarant knowledge with hopes of finding some great Tidewater joint where we could enjoy the fruits (raw, fried, shelled and clawed) of the local environment. Alas, I have struck out entirely. At this point, I am entirely open to any type of cuisine (great Chinese? Fine!), and to any restaurant within a thirty-minute drive of Tappahannock. Any distance greater than that will probably be a non-starter with the in-laws. Please let me know if anyone out there has a suggestion that might fit the bill. My thanks in advance.

I've got to drive from Philly out 76 to Lancaster and back at some point in the next few weeks to pick up some furniture. Any must-stops in Lancaster or between here and there?

One more place to consider would be Estia. They have a 30 dollar three course pre theatre special served between 5 and 7. Great greek food. Not sure if that is in your price range, but the fish here is superb. ← Estia is great. If you can swing the $30 per person price, the food can't be beat. Good Dog is good but a bit of a hike. If you're really pressed for cash, Argan has decent Moroccan pita-like sandwiches (is it still open?) next to Bonte near the Sofitel. ← According to google maps, the Good Dog is .2 miles from the Kimmel Center on foot. It's well under a 3 block walk. Maybe my perceptions are skewed by living in the city and walking everywhere, but that's not a hike to me.

The Good Dog probably fits that bill. It's on 15th between Walnut and Spruce.

I thought the Hot and Sour soup was good but unremarkable. Better than I'd expect at any old chinese joint, but not even in the same ballpark as the other stuff at HD2. Han apparently agrees, as he told me it was no good when I tried to order it (after having read the reviews on this thread) and gave us something else instead. At the end of the night he gave us a couple of take-out containers, so maybe (probably) I would have enjoyed it more piping hot in a bowl there. I would bet that in a different context, say your neighborhood chinese place, all the standards would be enough to keep even discerning people coming back. It's just that in the elevated company they keep at Han Dynasty, hot and sour soup and friends look pretty bad in comparison. And I doubt that Han actually telling diners that they are eating something bad improves the subjective experience of the dishes. Personally, I love that aspect of the place, and having Han do the ordering is an element of the experience with which I wouldn't want to part. "Entertainingly frank" is an understatement. When we asked if there was anything for dessert, he told us "Not really. I've got some green tea ice cream. From Genuardi's." It will be exciting to see what he does with a place in the city, when he can presumably do away with the concessions to suburbia and really stick to the things he wants to be doing. Until then, though, this place is definitely more than worth the trip.

Sue's has honey-tangerine juice intermittently, and it is indeed delicious. The acid is a bit lower and it really brings the sweetness and flavor out.

I've never had to ask to hear one of those rants. In my experience, they come free with every falafel. Maybe I just look particularly rant-worthy. I agree completely with your assessment - great food, but the dude is nuts. It's mostly benign, although I have seen a couple of ugly scenes unfold while in line at the cart.

There's a good falafel cart at (I think) 20th and Market. It's on the northeast corner. The proprietor is more or less completely insane (I don't think I'm the only person that calls him the Falafel Nazi). He piles on lots of weird stuff (grilled grapes, beet(?) couscous, etc.) but the end result is delicious, albeit tough to eat. Edit: A google search confirms that 1) the cart is on the northeast corner of 20th and Market; and 2) I'm not the only person that calls him the falafel nazi.

Do you still have to call ahead for the chicken? I think I remember hearing that they have a bar, is that right?

Doing a little research? Way to keep some great news about SSOH under your hat! Congrats! ← I'll second that! Can't wait until it opens back up.

If you're going for the heart of the menu (gumbo, jambalaya, poboys) then they'll almost certainly still have what you want on a Friday night. It's Saturday after lunch time when the pickins start to get slim. But you might as well call ahead anyway for ease of pickup and to be safe.

I'll throw in my two cents as well. I was excited to check this place out, and it didn't disappoint. It didn't quite thrill either, but I'll definitely be coming back. Showed up with a friend and we weren't sure how hungry we were, so we just started out with a big order of the fries and some of the wings. I loved the wings at Snackbar, and while these were way more straight-ahead buffalo, they were delicious. The texture was less crispy than my ideal, but these were still quite good. The fries were also great, whether dipped in the truffle mayo/mustard that came with them or in the wing sauce. The first two things were good enough (and we were hungry enough) to order the burger. I asked the server if we could substitute the malt vinegar crisps for the french fries that come with the burger. Answer: No substitutions, except that fries can be substituted for a salad. With no prompting from me, he went on to explain that this was a matter of food costs: bibb lettuce is expensive, potatoes are cheap. I nodded with a quizzical expression and just let it go. I guess it never hit the guy that: 1. I was substituting potatoes for potatoes; or 2. substituting crisps ($3 alone) for fries ($6 alone). Not a big deal, and I didn't make a big deal about it, but it just seems silly. I completely, completely understand having no substitutions in a regular restaurant situation. I also understand rules based on food costs. But you're running, at least ostensibly, a bar. If a substitution is going to save you money, let it happen. And as others have suggested above, if a substitution is going to cost you extra, just pass that cost along to us transparently and we'll be happy to pay. The burger itself was delicious, despite coming out pretty close to medium well after we ordered it medium rare. The meat itself seemed to be very well seasoned, and I think that made the flavor of the beef really pop. The toppings were great. Service was very nice if a little stiff, but I think I'd probably sit at the bar next time. The tables are cheek by jowl (think Lolita or Melograno) and it kinda killed the "bar" vibe. Prices were eminently reasonable, both for food and drink, which was nice considering the fact that it looks like they spent quite a bit of money working over the space. A decent list of craft beers on tap and in bottles, although this isn't a beer destination with food so much as a food destination with beer. Their "house" wine was a Red Head Studios Shiraz(?) that was good and fairly priced, although I didn't look at the rest of the wine list. This place has a ton of potential, and if it relaxes just a smidge and takes its name to heart, it could be a fantastic addition to the neighborhood.

Made a special trip to Cajun Kate's for lunch today and wasn't disappointed. In fact, I might be back tomorrow! I had a softshell po'boy and the cochon du lait gumbo and they were both excellent. I love me some Sarcone's bread, but the softer, lighter roles were a perfect delivery vehicle for the softshell crab (or anything fried, I'd imagine (and hope to confirm)), and the pickles, lettuce and tomato were a great accompaniment. The softshell itself was beautifully fried with just a gentle, crisp coating on the outside. It was well-spiced and greaseless, and good enough to make me wish I'd ordered a whole instead of a half. While the po'boy was delicious, it was the gumbo that was really the mindblower. The depth of flavor seemed almost bottomless, and with a few drops of Crystal (as Philadining suggested) it became virtuosic and really played all over my palate. I don't think I've ever had gumbo before today that actually deserved the name. The cramped space is a pain, and I'll imagine it'll get more crowded soon, as they apparently appeared on NBC 10 today. That annoyance is mitigated by the very friendly and somewhat frenetic staff, who seemed to be working at capacity and still turning out, from what I could see, very well-executed food to all comers.

I'm with you on the White House Cheesesteak. Their Italian and Meatball Hoagies are fantastic, but the cheesesteak really didn't do anything for me. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't in the same league as 1) the White House's other sandwiches; or 2) the top 5 or 10 places in Philly.

Of the three places you mention, only DiNic's is at the RTM. In my opinion, it's also the best by a pretty wide margin. John's Roast Pork makes a good pork sandwich, but their cheesesteak is fantastic. You mentioned above that you weren't sure if Pat's and Geno's are worth the calories. They're not, but neither would they appear on the top ten list of the majority of this forum. JRP is a real South Philly experience. A little gruff and no-frills, but with a lot of love at the core.

I think I might be able to clear up the OP's somewhat heretical statement with a somewhat heretical statement of my own: JRP's roast pork sandwich isn't that good. The pork is a little bland. It's not as good as Tony Luke's and it's not in the same ballpark as DiNic's. The pork in all the above sandwiches is properly roasted. It's just not what you imagined (and, to be fair, what the general population would imagine) when you heard "roast pork sandwich." If you've ever seen the things pre-slicing, you know this is true. Now as to whether or not the post-roasting technique is the right way to go: I'm not sure. I'd love to try a pork sandwich with big, crispy chunks covered by well-drained greens. On the other hand, DiNic's sandwiches are sublime as they are. The juicy wetness is one of their strong points. Part of the problem with this approach would be a volume/surface area conundrum. Meaning there wouldn't be enough of the crispy stuff to go around. There are ways of dealing with this problem; to wit, Sweatman's BBQ has a giant sign behind the counter that says "WE DO NOT GUARANTEE TO HAVE CRACKLIN'S."

I would definitely just call and place an order and see what happens. I don't think that the women who answer the phone have much grasp of city geography (or at least had never heard of Walnut St. when I started ordering), so unless the delivery driver (awesome guy, btw) balks, I think you'll skate by and get your order.

Do they deliver that far away? ← As far as I can tell, they deliver everywhere. The only caveat is that sometimes their weakest things are standards like General Tso's. I go for the super spicy stuff, but my girlfriend sticks closer to the basics, and they've been only hit-or-miss. There's a whole thread about it, but the Dumplings in Spicy Sauce, Golden Coins, Beef Fillet with Szechuan Style and 3 Pepper Chicken are all phenomenal. As to places that can deliver the basics, I have yet to find one in Philly that I like nearly as much as the one I grew up with in the suburbs. Some of that is probably just what I'm used to, but the owner of our local place took a lot of pride in his restaurant. A lot of the places I've tried around here seem like they're just slapping it together because they know people will still order it even if it sucks.

Repeat after me: Szechuan Tasty House. There is no other answer.

I'd never seen that list before. I like it for the most part, but they've got some interesting ideas about the city's geography. Pho 75 (11th and Washington) is in Old City? Even better, John's Roast Pork is in Old City? My favorite, though, is that they list the address of Eclat chocolates as: 24 South High St. West Chester, PA 19382 I really hope no one's ever looked at that list and gone looking for South High Street West in Chester.

To be honest, I think the current situation might just be an unavoidable consequence of having a one table, no turnover restaurant serving great food. To oversimplify, at a restaurant that serves 50 tables a night, a demand spike of 500 parties could be accomodated in a couple of weeks. At Talula's, it would take over a year. Maybe they thought initially that the location and distance from Philly would mitigate the demand more than it has. But it seems unlikely to me to suggest a restarateur would ask a reviewer to tone down his praise or kill a review entirely. When the review was published, they were far from being at full capacity, and any restaurant that doesn't have financial success in sight at all times isn't going to be around for very long. I would agree, however, that after that initial surge I would have managed the PR differently and tried to keep the reservation policies out of the paper. I think the Laban buzz would have died down and they would be booked out for far less time if that hadn't happened. My central point is just that I don't think the current situation is either 1) the result of a PR campaign with a long wait time as a goal; or 2) something the proprietors are particularly jazzed about. So perhaps it is an undesirable state of affairs that could have been avoided with better planning, but it's not the result of an cynical strategy of manipulating the public. That's just the sense of things I've gotten from actually eating there and communicating with Aimee before and after. As to their NCA, if you were buying Django, how would you feel about them opening up a new restaurant anywhere in Philly or the near suburbs? It probably should have been a bit more limited in distance and time, but I'm sure they were paid a hefty price for the business, and basically all of that was just the accumulated good will (they didn't own the building). That good will would have evaporated pretty quickly if they opened a new place anywhere very close.

I've eaten there, and I completely agree that it's excellent (really excellent), but absolutely not worth signing up that far in advance. *EDIT* Because I can't imagine ANY restaurant that really warrants signing up for an 8+ person reservation a year in advance, not because of any imperfections in the food, service, or ambience, all of which were stellar on my visit. I completely disagree, however, that this state of affairs is a choice that they've made. They're not allowed to operate a full service restaurant at that location, per their non-competition agreement with the current owners of Django. They started the farmhouse table dinners as an outlet for Bryan's skills that wouldn't violate their contractual obligations. When I scheduled my dinner, there were tons of available dates. It's only after all the crap in the Inquirer that they've become an impossible table. And, to be honest, they seem somewhat flustered and apologetic about what it's become. When they stopped taking reservations for the second half of 2008, they did so because they thought it was ridiculous for them to be booked so far in advance. The current system has come about, I think, purely out of a series of pragmatic decisions they've made in the face of the hype that's been created. Talula's hasn't come to be this exclusive as a result of some sort of ridiculous PR campaign; they've got a home-made looking website, and not much else as far as I can tell. They deserve the love they've gotten, although I will say that I REALLY wish the last piece detailing the reservation policy hadn't been published. Before that happened, I would imagine that a dedicated person could get a table within a week or so of when they wanted it without too much trouble, provided they were willing to eat on a weeknight. I would bet, however, that a lot of those reservations made on New Years Day are going to evaporate before they come to pass. I'm sure they'll find some way of letting those who really want to eat there pick those nights up.

I think I'm going to attend the Brewer's Plate event. They match up a local brewery and a local restaurant, and then the two collaborate on a single food/beer pairing. It's sort of an upscale version of the Craft Beer Festival at the Navy Yard, in that it's 3 hours long and you just circulate from table to table as you see fit, as opposed to having all the dishes served to you. I've never been, but it sounds like it might be really fun. All the local brewers you'd like to see are represented, and the restaurants chosen aren't universally awesome, but it's a surprisingly good lineup (Ansill, Bar Ferdinand, Fork, Rx, Snackbar, Southwark, Tinto, etc.). The fact that there's a total of 22 pairings to sample at will make it seem like it should be a decent value at 50 bucks, unless they drastically oversell the thing.

I've been there twice in the past year. Still amazing, but one piece of advice would be to go earlier rather than later. I was in towards the end one of those two times, and a lot of the items were somewhat the worse for wear.