aliwaks

You can come by Delicatessen on 7th & Chestnut, it's BYOB, traditional deli fare like smoked fish platters (nova, whitefish, whitefish salad, kipper salmon or lox), bagels, of course, eggs, also a few twists like The Benny Rubinson, Poached eggs & grilled pastrami over rye toast with Russian dressing Hollandaise or the Monty Cristoberg, eggs over easy, corned beef, roast turkey on Challah French toast with warm maple syrup, there's blueberry kugel and cheese blintzes and latkes too.

My gosh, I have not been on here for so long! Anyhow met these really sweet young guys from Chicago who are starting up a website here is Philly called Dish86, I offered to put some feelers out for them ...the goal of Dish86 is to help restaurants fill their empty seats on off nights while providing diners upgrades, deals etc. Unlike Groupon or Living Social, its a more select database, there are not 10,000 1/2 price dinners on offer, maybe 4 tables at one place, 6 at another. Membership is by invitation-only, they're accepting members during the private beta There's a similar site in Chicago, (http://www.foodietheapp.com/ ) and since this is such a great food city they're trying out their beta here. Lets say you got a text or an email that on Tuesday night (insert a restaurant you love, have been wanting to go to etc ) was offering a 3 course tasting for $30 if you book through dish86 (at no cost to you) would you do it? (if you had no other plans) Y'all are the real target, its for serious diners, foodies, etc. What do you think??? Here's their website http://www.dish86.com/refer/7ebfc1 (this lets them know it's from egullet)

I've been to Wokano on 11th & washington a couple of times, they serve dimsum everyday til 3, Its quite good, they bring around the standards: dumplings, sticky rice etc, and have a menu of "others" some quite adventurous for the western palate (like mine) like duck feet , jellyfish etc. If there is something you want but don't see on the cart they'll get it for you if they have it. LOVED the sticky rice and chive dumplings and the garlicky steamed spare ribs were amazing. The space if HUGE and bright and there's some sort of entertainment portion featuring "Ktv", not 100% sure what that is but it does involve a stage and a few big screen tvs They are me new take out fave for dinner as well, always very fresh and yum. Teh Clams with black bean sauce were especially fabulous. ok have not eaten anything yet today and am considering a walk over for dumplings right now.

Katie, the greens are actually vegetarian, no porkiness in the recipe, though pork-y flavor..hmm chalk that up to Tamara's fabulous ways...too bad the corn was dry, thinking of trying a method where we can keep the husks on. There'll be ribs & pork tomorrow!!!!!!

Bluehen, Come check out Bebe's Barbeque in the Italian Market! Now I am biased, as I've been helping Mark Coates (Owner) out in the kitchen and with some guerilla marketing. That's right Y'all, I'm in the BBQ world yet again! Still opening softly, working out the new smoker, space etc. But I think its good, those Smoked Joint boys taught me alot about BBQ. This is much smaller operation, mostly to go right now till the Lunch counter is finished. North Caroline style, menu changes daily, but the basics are there, Ribs, Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese, Collards etc. Most of the recipes are from Mark's Grandma BeBe, some are from Aunt Tweensy, and a few are his nanny, Lucille's. No website yet, but there's a fan page on facebook 9th & Kimball, Closed Mondays

Hershels has BIALY"S!!! Real bialy's not like the dreck that everyone else has... A Bially tosted well, butter on one side, scallion cream cheese on the other, some baked salmon, a squeeze of lemon, a slice pf jarlsberg and a leaf of boston lettuce = one of the most perfect breakfast sandwichs- ever ..THANK you Herschels. I no longer have to schlep from kossars when i'm in the city,.

admittedly I made mistakes at bella and have since learned from them, also am no longer in the biz, since I maybe wasn't that good at it, I was not able to reach my expections, I was trying to run an underfunded restaurant with ambitions that exceeded by experience and skill level. I made an effort to accomondate unhappy customers whenever I could, sometimes I could not. I tried snackbar 2 more times ignoring my boyfriends remarks, because i wanted to try it out again for myself so not too sure about the irony of my statement about my chef burning the food at bella because she was on the phone with her boyfriend when she should have been watching the food she was cooking, that was a statement about paying attention to your personal life when at work ....not about your significant other having something to say ...i'm not sure who you are but you seem to have something personal against me I am so sorry to have offended you so very much. i didn't taste the escargot becasuee it looked dried out and unappetizing, it was not swimming it butter it had no sheen to it like the description you gave of the escargot at bar lyonnaise, in fact the photo of the dish as served on this site was far more appetizing..it looked like what I said, and I assure you I was not the only person who held a similar opinon that evening. regardless i have an opinion and shared it, read your post on james and it seems you have opinions and share them as well. I sincerely doubt they served you croissant crumbs from the bottom of the bag, many respected chefs in America hollow out croissant and toast just the crust as an accompaniment to cheese. In general, I have always discussed this issue of how people seem to intentionally sabotage thier own dining experiences and blame the chef afterwards. If a chef puts "ESCARGOT" on a skewer, granted not the most attractive object, which you also admit you did *NOT* taste, the comparison to cat litter or more specifically quoting you "bits of catshit with litter clinging to it" is poor spirited and frankly disingenous especially if you have ever had the title "Chef". Imagine if I went to Bar Lyonnaise and I was brought over the escargot swimming in green butter. I assume the dish would be much less appetizing if I say "this looks like cat poop swimming in what looks like run-off from three mile island" what was Georges Perrier thinking ? In my former capacity as a homebuilder who specialised in "glass houses", after each job was finished and we signed over the building to the homeowner, we always encouraged them not to "throw stones". Besides the fact that it was probably two of the most egregiously bad meals I have eaten anywhere, the meals I had at "Bella" now "Meritage" had similarly incomprehensible waits between courses and as you would have guessed.... No Comps. The ironies of this statement are endless. ←

ok here are the ingredients i have on hand for valentines dinner chicken breasts stock cream black truffle butter and oil savoy cabbage bacon potatoes well stocked pantry of lots of stuff. whatcha think..i'm stuck

wow, everyone loves snackbar here's how my first night at snackbar was, and second and third NIGHT NUMBER ONE way back in Nov..relatively new boyfriend and I are returning from seeing La Boheme, we walk by snackbar on my way home, it is finally open hooray, I bat my eyelashes, oohplease lets go here and in we swoop, we are settle by the fire and find ourselves seated right next to George and Evan Turney from Valanni and Mercato ..even better, hadn't seen them since the summer, chat chat hello the notice at another table there are two of my favorite customers from Bella..I get up and say hello..kiss kiss now a server comes over and asks us what we'd like, then tells us they only have beer...so we say ok 1 lager and 1 yards...yes we'd love to check out the menu...our beers arrive we order some Irish blue cheese and red wine poached figs..and settle in by the fire feeling all warm and lovely ...I see yet one more person I know, I wave hi... OOOH I love it here I coo, its perfect. ok now a few more minutes go by lets say umm 10 and I notice the staff seems to be stopping by the other tables , dropping off little bowls, greeting people at the door and handing them treats..I see that the my former customers have a dish of teeny olives on thier table --not on the menu--- and I feel kind of bad...how come we aren't getting any special attention..do we smell...we are all dressed from the opera, we are very attractive people, if I do say so myself..we know 3/4 of the customers in the place...what's up..why don't they like us ok so the BF has finished his beer, its been at least 15-20 minutes since we ordered, someone stops by a plunks a small bowl of spicy popcorn on the table...a few minutes later I am able to get someone's attention and we order him another beer...a few more minutes go by, maybe 10-maybe 15 and I see a freind of mine outside and drag her in, the server comes over to see if she would like something, we remind her that we ordered a while ago..and could I have another beer as well. The server brings the BF his beer --20 minutes after ordering--, and brings me mine and says our food will be out shortly...need I remind you we ordered cheese and poached figs, we continue to chat with my grilfriend, the BF is getting CRABBY, there are lots of staff members buzzing about seeming to be have a great time, bringing guests glasses of champagne hanging out with each other and friends ...it was like being at party you weren't really invited to... finally after another 15 minutes about 45 minutes after we ordered...our plates arrive nice size chunk of cheese, interesting apple paper--think fruit leather--smear of mustard and some old stale croissant crumbs..think..hmmm thats wahts left over in the bottom of a bag when I buy croissants how thrifty they are poached figs w/goat milk and smoked salt...maybe one whole fig cut in to fifths. weird tasteless globules that if you didn't tell me what they were I would have supposed they were the tops of hard boiled eggs... dissappointing after the wait, also they arived with no apology for thier lateness either...the BF is now livid, I attempt to calm him down, I'm like well its like their 3rd night I'm sure they'll comp the second round of beers and maybe one of the dishes, they'll want us to come back. ok they charged 5 dollars for each lager and 6 each for the yards, which is fine if you have other options but if thats all you have, suck it up and try to only make 2 dollars on each of those beers also they charged us for everything, wasn't looking for any freebees but I was appalled, I would never ever consider charging anyone for something they had to wait 45 minutes for our check was about 38 bucks, we felt like we had been had and for some reason like we weren't cool enough for the staff to care out providing us with proper service... rarely if ever have I felt like that not even in Paris. If we weren't in the initial throes of lust and love probably I would have been more vocal in my complaints, but we were still trying to show each other that we were nice people..however the BF walked out sputtering about faux hipsters with intentionally neglectful hair styles and ironic jeans NIGHT NUMBER TWO its 11;30 my girlfriend Holly and I want a glass of wine and a snack I decide to give snackbar another chance, we sit at the bar, try really hard to get the bartenders attention even though she is literally 4 inches from us she is busy staring into space and shining glasses..we finally get her attention order our wine , she forgets what I ordered and has to ask again, we are the only people there...we order food, its ok but I'm not sure I enjoy paying so much money for a chicken thigh, I think we also had squid...I can't remember, I was overwhelmed by ennui NIGHT NUMBER THREE Rittenhouse Row Holiday Party , I go reluctantly, but its a party, people to see and all that. one of the servers t-shirt's had bleach stains and holes in it and he seemed to have forgotten about washing his hair or found a hair product that sucessfully assimilates a lack of general hygeine...maybe its me but I enjoy an air of cleanliness and care in food service worker. nontheless the bartender was fun and nice and kept my glass full ok the food caramelized apple w/wasabli peas f-ing brilliant...would love it aside a pork loin or maybe roast duck butternutsquash madeline, I think it was very good, it was quite wee and immediately got lodged in my back tooth where it stuck till I could get to the bathroom and dislodge it. tuna salad..I think it was canned tuna i'm not sure it tasted like regular old tuna salad beer foam w/pear jam on what seemed like melba toast...HUH..WHAT and the piece de resistance I see the servers holding sticks of something oblongish, blackish and covered with small irregularly shaped pebbly-crumb like things and..I think......I really should've changed the cat litter before I left......turned out it was escargot with crushed almond and walnuts, I am not sure how it tasted. It looked too much like kitty kaka for my comfort level. And I can't help but think, did the chef realize that he made something that looks just like catshit with bits of litter clinging to it...or could he not see that, perhaps he never had cat or maybe he made it and said hey this looks like pussycatpoopoo but no one will care..hmmm its an enigma rolled in crushed riddle and lightly drizzled in cunumdrum that evening the BF called from outside, refusing to come in, made me meet him on the corner, he was still mad about the first night,, he yelled some rather unprintable suggestions out to snackbar as we passed by the way home the other night, he's still pissed about waiting 45 minutes for a 5 dollar lager... he holds grudges so snackbar, I wanted to love you but you've made it sooo hard.

I have a fondness for Criag Laban, as a former restaurnt owner I found him a delight to speak to and though he gave us 1 bell, it was an optimistic lovely 1 bell though unfortunately well deserved since my chef at the time decided that cooking food without burning it was less important than her boyfriend. nonetheless I have always enjoyed my conversations with him finding him extremely knowledgable about food, very charming and kinder than anyone suspects, and in regard to his review of Bella, I was somewhat ashamed to have dissappointed him since he had professed high hopes and was incredibly proud when he chose to highlight the Smoked Joint in a super bowl food review. I can't say that I agree with him 100 percent all the time, but I do trust that I am reading a review by a food professional. hmm re-reading this I seem to react to him just like I do to my dad, weird.

In any event - last week there was an article in the NYT dining section with recipes for lemons. Tried the spaghetti limone - and it was fabulous. You can find it on the NYT website. Robyn ←

donnamarie..to simply perk them up you may want to just add some flavor ideas; lemon, lime or orange zest and a tbls of juice use flavored sugar ..i make vanilla sugar, lavender sugar, rose sugar and kaffir lime suger basically by putting a vanilla been or some drief rose petals, or lavender buds or kaffir lime leaves in sugar sealing teh container and letting it sit for a while..have had my kafir lime sugar sitting for about a month and it is amazingly fragrant plan to make a kaffir lime cookie with white choclate drizzle you could add almond extract also you could dip them after baking in chocolate or caramel and then something crunchy like nuts or crushed candy canes

Have you tried Di'Bruno's? Thier kippered salmon is close to west coast style smoked salmon (hot smoked), also I have a had some pretty decent version that I bought prepacked (gasp!!!) at my local fruit store on 20th & manning, I believe Trader Joes has a verison as well..as does whole foods as an FYI if you are feeling adevnturous you can try to hot smoke salmon yourself..alton brown has a cardboard box smoked version that comes out fantastic..it was the genesis of the now defunct smoked joint's smoked salmon (which I think was the best thing on thier menu) Aggreably none of these comes close to the Pike Street Market version but it will satisfy a craving

Thanks all K8memohis..good tips not really ambitious=s enough to start making my own donuts and not sure abalone fritters would go off so well for a breakfast meeting but thanks!!! Decided to go with Frangellis on 9th & Ritner..they have pumpkin donuts

Hello all...long time no posting..I have a doughnut emergency Clients of mine want fabu doughnuts for a morning event on Thursday and I am at a loss (they refused Dunkin's) Also need they to be accessible within CC for pick-up Thursday am... I turn to you my egulleteers to help me with my freid dough crisis!!!

i am completely head over heels in love with thier cupcakes, i have been waiting and waiting for philadelphia to realize the love of a good cupcakes....did i mention they have pink cupcakes...haven't tried the chocolate yet

They have the best "buffalo" wings I've had in a long time, first they are HUGE with just enough tangy spicy sauce to warrant about 6 extra napkins and served in a lovely pile drizzler with blue cheese sauce and shaved celery....just awesome!

My Italian man froom South Jersey has a penchant for pepperoni ... he recently returned from somewhere where he was not fed properly and upon his return his requested menu was; Pepperoni Cheesesteak Pepperoni pizza Wings (extra hot with blue cheese) Wheat thins with cheddar cheese and pepperoni Pepperoni bread (not what I though it was, I though it was like Lard bread which NYer's should know about a rich heavy pepper-y bread with chcunks of porscuitto added in ..I used to get it in Little Italy..his pepperoni bread is like sliced pepperoni layeredin to pillsbury bread dough...sigh so not my kind of thing) and of course beer, though beer is now out of the picture so much for the tuna tartare followed by goat cheese crusted lamb chops that I had planned on. To be fair he also likes salad...with pepperoni preferably And has recently become attached to buttered toasted bagels with melted cheddar cheese (probably would like them even better with pepperoni) Also he's quite fond of pork roll ( a Jersey thing his Mom says, I am sceptical having never had it and not so fond of "roll" such as chicken roll and turkey roll which I had to eat as a kid) and melted cheddar on an English muffin (would not be surprised if he added pepperoni to this as well) Basically I think as long as we stay in the highly spiced smoky meat arena he's happy or if his Momma makes it. oh and peanut butter ice cream not chocolate ice cream with peanut butter, peanut butter ice cream -..and of course anything I cook : ) However my "I'm eating like a man meal" is straight from Smith and Wollensky.. an ice cold dry Stoli martini with a twist, iceberg wedge with blue cheese, porterhouse a teeny bit past rare, creamed spinach and onion rings and a fab dark rich red, and then cheesecake with raspberries this is what my father and brother used to go out to dinner for back when we were eating without censor.

fresh ground black pepper, parmesan cheese and truffle oil..oh my goodness..and so very very nice with a glass of champagne also sometimes I add a little bit of szechuan pepper oil to the oil ( I pop conventionall in a pan) then top with sesame salt and sometimes I add a spicy zaatar like salt mix of urfa pepper, sumac, sea salt, cumin & thyme my mom likes brewers yeast on hers when I have the mircowave kind I just add a grind or two of black pepper.

Had dinner at Out of the Blue last night..it was really quite nice. The space is calming the fire lovely (though admittedly I nearly tossed half my coat into it...mebbe there should be a screeen or something) anyway it was a freezing walk over there (all of 3 blocks) and the long gray velvet curtains ( I LOOOVE gray velvet) allow everyone a very dramatic entrance..which of course I enjoyed, perhaps more so than others, "I'm Here!" . I was quite happy to be seated near the open flame with an excellent view of 20th street and the door (I am so one of those people who cannot be seated with my back to the door, don't like those kind of surprises) ( I just remembered that in my last reveiw I had nearly been burned as well...perhaps thats why my pro chef career has never really taken off, I am an enourmous klutz) I digress Glassware, plates even wall decor straight out of IKEA, my place was the same . We met the manager/part owner/brother of chef called Evan, he was very nice, and he had explained that the cornish game hen and pork were the most popular dishes to my friend Andrea--who asks questions like that- before I got there, so she had decided that that is what we were getting but I had other plans. For starters I had a hard time choosing between lamb and chive potstickers and pig trotter ravioli with lingonberry & grainy mustard. I was about to get both and forgo an entree but for some reason Andrea got upset by that ( she has weird food issues and I think thinks who ever she eats with has to order the same amount as she does..whatever). I was torn but chose the ravioli, Andrea got the Curried Butternut squash soup. They brought out slightly warmed whole wheat rolls with little triangle of butter sprinkled with sea salt. and we surveyed the scene. The restaurant was nearly empty (it was 6;15 on a sunday so thats fine) I really really liked my ravioli, the came in a wide shallow bowl with a bouquet of frisee perfectly dressed in mustard-y dressing, the pasta was perfect, the filling maybe a little too salty but porky and chewy and the lingonberries where thankfully tart not overly sweetened. it was the kind of dish I would pick at all day long if I worked there The curried butternut squash soup had very nice presentation, they brought you a bowl with a small dollop of creme fraiche & chives then poured the soup from a clear glass pitcher...it was lovely. The soup was ok, I may be one of the few people able to resist the allure of butternut squash soup, it does nothing for me also I am not a huge fan of curry after one cooking stint which involved making copious amounst of curried "chicken" salad (I say "chicken" because it was really deli turkey breast that I had to shred..ooo just thinking about that makes me throw up a little in my mouth) OK for our entrees Andrea had cornish game hen stuffed with dried fruits that came with bastilla and cous cous...it was ok, the presentation was very nice the hen was served as a roulade (?) stuffed with dried fruits with a vaguesly middle eastern-y sauce, a timbale of cous cous with what looked like a dried herb in it and two triangles of b'stilla. It was okay, it tasted like something I would make on a whim, the filo for the bastilla was really dry. I adore real b'stilla it is sooo lucious and sexy, this one..eh.. not so much and the cous cous was cold. I had trout since I could not bring myself to have pork and pork even though braised pork shoulder with pork belly is a wonderful thing: The trourt was a teeny tiny filet with crispy skin (done perfectly) with very butter-ly fingerling chips, over a pool of fennel foam ..can I yawn at foam now? I would so much rather have had purreed fennel that I could feel, it tasted nice enough but I'm over the foam, There was a great little bundle of vegetables under the fish, haricot verts, baby carrots, artfully cut zucchini even a sliver of garlic. I am always so happy to see vegetables on a plate I love them and I miss them when they are not there. Since I had a wee fishy I found that dessert was justifed (thought I should have abstained have a new honey and need to shape up for him) but they had Cinnamon Creme Brulee so I had to get it. (Andrea got the apple crisp, the other choices were a chocolate cheesecake, peanut brownies thing and a cheese plate...I wasn't excited by cheeses on the cheese plate but I'm a cheese snob..also see end bitchy note) Evan brought me a spoon the size of my face which is a reataurant thing I don't get , at home I would never eat dessert with a serving spoon...why do restaurnats think I want to shovel in my dessert..I would prefer an espresso spoon but then again I probably have an eating disorder. the Creme Brulee was nice and big and cinnamon-y, the custard wasn't as smooth and silky as I like ..a point which I made that our Evan must have overheard, because within moments he was at my side explaining that it was more of a custard than a creme brulee...umm okay. The apple crisp was heavy on crisp perhaps too much so, and it was more of a crumble the topping reminded me of Drakes Cakes..not that there is anything wrong with that, it came with HUGE scoop of ice cream and raspberry drizzlies. The Coffee was not good. If you guys read this please please ILLY or La Colombe maybe even Peets something don't buy coffee from Sysco!!!! Ok I'm going to be bitchy for a second. There was a lot of explanation going on about the ingridients, I know what a lingonberry is, I know what spices are in curry and I know what raclette is i found that annoying but not fatal... also Evan dollface, lovely man a Quince is not like an apricot, it is more like a pear or an apple...and annatto is not like tabasco even though it is red. also Gentlemen Please Please Please remove those awful little salt and pepper shakers, FRESH CRACKED PEPPER will do justice to your food, everything was really nice but please put out a ramekin of kosher salt, sea salt, anything but a supid little salt shaker that looks like you swiped it from room service. All that being said, I would go back its a nice addition to the hood pretty, charming . (edited for spellling -- I think I got most of the typos)

its a fab line to use when someone is telling a terrible dull story and yes you did just describe yet again another of my favorites things to eat... i DIDN'T know that Bette Davis line!!!!! you have enriched my life enormously with it! (and try chicken after artichokes, or at the same time. totally awesome! my standard indoors picnic with small children is this: spread a blanket or newspaper on the floor, plop down a storebought delicious room temperature roasted chicken, and a bowl of hot boiled artichokes. Add an empty bowl for the chewed on leaves and bones, and a jar of mayonaise. oh if you want to get fancy, i add capers, lemon juice and a little olive oil to mine. eat artichokes, chicken, artichokes, chicken, you gotta do it all with your hands, and chew on those bones and the meat is so sweet after the artichokes!). i guess you could do this as an outdoor picnic but 1. you have to take the stuff outside, and 2. if other people can see you, you can't act as wacky and wild. and kids get distracted by other things like nature. you want them in an artichoke frenzy, though i don't know exactly why. more fun i guess. i like being in an artichoke frenzy). x marlena ps seriously, it has a chemical that enhances the flavour of other foods, but tends to destroy the flavour of wine. ......tends to, but not always. ←

not to remind anyone of the obvious but on artichokes one of the single greatest lines form a movie is Bette Davis in All About Eve drawliing... "Remind me to tell you about the time I looked deep into the heart of an artichoke" also milk tastes awesome after you eat an artichoke..I don't even like milk except with Oreos and for some inexplicable reason with Spagetti and Meatballs, but it tastes really really good after you eta an artichoke Hmmm Artichoke Spaegtti and Meatballs Oreos Big glass of milk What are foods I don't have in my house right now

hands down greatest drunken meal ever: Time :4:15 AM Place: Blue Ribbon, Soho, NYC Menu: Roasted Marrow Bones, Raw Oysters, Steamed Crawfish, Cheese Fondue, Fried Chicken washed with glasses of champagne 'cause we needed more to drink and what else can you drink with all of that? and finished with a chocolate bruno G-d Bless Blue Ribbon

i have no idea how i am going to get through the night without an artichoke..thanks! i looooove them dipped in homemade mayo...i love a vast multitude of things in homemade mayo. sadly i am not only artchoke-less but i seem to have misplaced the blade from my cusinart so i will be homemade mayo-less as well damn! Mochihead you are most welcome. Come any time. I also adore artichokes. Last year was the first time I went to the artichoke festival and I all I wanted to do was get naked and roll around in the field, except it would have really hurt. We could also eat them three times a day. They are so cheap here. At the height of the season I pay .80USD for a kilo. I went home to visit my parents and artichokes were selling for 1.98USD each! The only thing I don't like that is made from artichokes is the Italian digestivo called Cynar. It is really disgusting. ←

A few holiday seasons ago I made cookbooks for my freinds and family based partially in the healthy recipes I was writing for a website and partially on familiy recipes, so it varied from tofu faux mayo to a thanksgiving stuffing recipe that includes 6 eggs, a half a lb of butter and a sleeve of ritz crackers. My best freind still uses it as a reference. It was great fun, very amateruish, just put them in binders along with a few plastic sleeves so you could take one recipe out and keep it in the kitchen with you I may well do it again one of these days.