lfabio2007

Wow. Someone actually POSTING? It's been... uh, a while.

We've been to UT multiple times and we enjoyed the food and the ambiance - the oysters particularly, though the meat was very good (fair warning, our last visit was >12mos ago). The fiorentina at Osteria is OK, though anyone from Tuscany would laugh at the definition. We did not hit BP yet.

We were here a few weeks ago... a saturday for lunch. And we noticed the same thing: no peppercorns. And the food was ...ok, but not up to our previous visits.

The traditional item is in an intestine casing like salami or sausage. You're not supposed to pierce it and it will cook happily on its own, though you have to be careful because it may break leading to excessive loss of fat & collagen. The plastic casing makes me suppose that these are pre-cooked?

...and I called. Reserved until *November 15th*. As usual the article was fatal.

Aw crud. We wanted to go today. No chance without reservations?

If I may - Bibou may attempt to be at LBF's level of service as described by Holly. But, we were there yesterday and I can say without the shadow of a doubt that the attempt is far from successful. More in the appropriate thread by evening.

It was late may when we went and yes, we recalled that they had split off from DSG. But the dumplings were different and the news about the juicy buns depressed us tremendously. The other dishes did taste very good, though!

Bumping this back up. We were at Sakura a couple weeks ago and they said 'they don't really do Juicy buns any more', but they could make them to order if we were willing to wait ~20 mins for them. Also, their other dumplings didn't seem as good as they were. Did the chef change? With this and the closure of the magic kingdom of dough, we're hoping Dim Sum Garden doesn't go anywhere...

We got there last night. It was not bad, by any means, the appetizers were particularly interesting - with particular mention to the melted-cheese-dish-that-reminds-me-of-xochitl-though-it-was-made-with-a-baby-provolone. Here comes the but: I'm sick and tired of getting BRONZINO (conk!) as a whole fish. Yes, it's great - in the Med, wild caught, over 1kg, swimming <24hours before the grill. Philadelphia is on the other side of an ocean. There are lots of fish. They can come from much closer. They are tasty. And nowhere to be seen. The brOnzino was OK, though. The asado 'mixed grill' I had was.. not bad, but for what should be their piece de resistance, it was just.. not bad. The chorizo sausage was an italian sausage overloaded with fennel, the pork matambre was... a chunk of loin (?!?), the rest was good but great lies elsewhere, even in grilled foods. The tres leche pastel for dessert was lacking the dulce de leche (a cardinal sin!). It was good, mind, just... good.

wkl, gfweb, yes, there has been a downturn and it's been a while. Let's hope it passes. As to the food, we were at Talula's very recently. It's still very good. It was perhaps a little more... refined? Balanced? Had a lighter touch? before but it's still one of our go-to places. And this after I raised hell & high water about their reservation policy in another thread...

Granted: however, in most of the places we've been to a change of chef has brought some change (Matyson is actually the most recent notable exception that comes to mind). Good or bad remains to be seen, but if what Phillymag writes is true, I will personally not deem it good. Still, we'll find out when we come back over on the 20th.

http://www.philly.com/philly/restaurants/20100318_Ladder_15_s_lamb_empanadas.html has anyone been?

http://blogs.phillymag.com/restaurant_club/2010/03/16/first-bite-xochitl/ Sic transit gloria mundi. My usual regret is that we should've gone more often.

Aargh, now you tell me! OK, will squeeze in Koozeedoo before leaving. Thank you sir!