Rich Pawlak

Places that really float my boat romance-wise: 1. Overtures (drop dead gorgeous BYOB) 2. Fri Sat Sun (it just twinkles) 3. Inn at Phillips Mill, New Hope (country inn BYOB) 4. Umbria, 7110 Germantown Ave, Mt Airy (like a private little lovers club) 5. Il Bar at Panorama (Katie is right, just an incredible romantic setting) 6. Southwark, 4th and Bainbridge (small and swanky) 7. upstairs at Rose Tattoo, 19th and Callowhill (and their newly added side room, too) 8. Macaroni's, Old Bustleton Ave, NE Philly (tiny little expert Italian, a total hideaway)

Closing the doors next fall, so it wont be our fault (curse) this time. LOL.

Let's hope that a second location doesnt dilute the rare pleasure of a place like Ray's. Ate there this past Saturday, and it was one of the best restaurant experiences I've ever had. Second class treatment indeed. I cant say enough about the quality of each dish sampled and the utterly warm and caring service--on a packed Saturday night no less. It lived up to the hype, it far exceeded the hype. It kicked the hype's ass.

I must say Aruna really outdid herself, a prodigious, bar-raising first DDC hosting and planning. Outstanding food, a brobdignangian buffet if ever I saw one. Killer samosas and salads, awesome butter chicken, incendiary Madras chicken, and vegetarian dishes, and killer syrup balls. I'll just leave it at that. Now, on another note: I've organized the next DDC event, a Chinese New year banquet at Joe Poon, but do NOT want to host it. Volunteers? PM me please.

Grab up a case of Southern Tier Old Man Winter, a terrific winter brew, thick, rich and chewy! You can aslo find them on atp around Philly; found TWO of them on tap at the Flying Pig Saloon in Malvern recently. Damn good stuff.

In the vicinity of 20th and Snyder in South Philly, there is/was a corner luncheonette that claimed to be the home fo the original Panzarotti; in fact I recall the place was CALLED "Mr. Panzarotti"!

Huge congrats,Katester! A great person running a great restaurant, finally. And another place I'll never be able to sneak into.....

Sounds like we should schedule a future Pizza Club outing to the places with the pies...I assume there are places nearby with a broader variety? ← Not really. There may be a few places in NE Philly with decent pies (Gearo's, Lombardo's), but after that, nothing really stands out to me.

wow, I'd never even heard of this place and it's already my favorite bar. It's hard to find a place with good local microbrews that allows badger dancing. ← The Grey Lodge, 6235 Frankford, has fabulous mushroom wraps and tomato pie (when they are available) and an amazing lineup of beers on taps and in bottles. www.greylodge.com, for more info and hilarity. About a block north of the GL are both the original Chcikie & Pete's for crab fries and excellent mussels and crabs; across the street is Tony's Tomato Pies, and excellent version of the pie that is peculiar to NE Philly alone, the cheese-on- bottom-sauce-on-top pie. A few block north on Frankford is Nonno Ugo's an almost hidden Italian bakery of considerable talent. A few blocks north of that is Frusco's for incredible hoagies and cheesesteaks on Sarcone's bread.

I suspect you may be able to find the answer with some of the former mechants at the Farmers Market, two of whom operate stands at The Bellevue Food Court. The folks who operate Full of Soup as well as 12th Street Cantina also had stands in Manayunk back then, so they may be the best start to your search. That Mateos' pizza WAS good; I lived in Manayunk back then, and it was regular stop for me.

KILLER menu, Aruna, really. And we havent had an Indian repast in over two years, and this looks to be an oustanding variety of dishes. Wowza.

Depending on my travel schedule, I'm SO there, if the gods are willing.

Hi Katie - I'm getting down to actually planning travel for 2005. No reason you can't do Philly and Japan in the same year . I was looking at the Book and Cook website - and - although everything was supposed to be up by the first of the year - it isn't. Do you have a schedule yet? Robyn ← They wont make their schedule "official" until the beginning of February, but bits and pieces will be added to their website almost daily and certainly weekly until then.

Actually, they've e-mailed me with a couple of "Special Event" type tasting menus, so I think that might be something they do semi-frequently> Also, I had a thought: in a past life, before everyone I know moved to NY or SF, we used to organize dinners where we would reserve a (largeish) table, agree with the restaurant on a per-head budget, and then have the chef put together a tasting menu - usually stuff not on their regular menu, and on the risque side of the palate. Would anyone be into doing something like that? I figure we would need a minimum of six (on an early-week night, usually, to make the restaurant's logistics work out). ← We do that almost monthly, although not always risque stuff (unless you include some of the conversation after dinner!). We call it the Dangerous Dining Club.

Let's move our discussion of PIZZA CLUB to this new thread, and let the ridiculously long original thread have a rest. SHOUT OUT BROOKLYN! Jan 29, 2005 11AM!

Am I not correct but didn't the Philadelphia Inquirer several years ago note that the White House at Mississippi and Artic (in Atlantic City) had the best sub/hoagie? ("White House Special" with double meat and cheese). I also remember the New York Times in the late '80's claiming that the best french bread in America came from the Atlantic City Bakery where, there is a single bread oven and a 60 year old (or so) man in a "wifebeater" T shirt with sweat on his brow, beats fresh dough before shaping it into a tube and sticking it deep into the 50 year old oven to bake. I am certain that his sweat gets into the dough. I also know that once an hour or so, when he takes several dozen of these out of the oven, he puts them in a brown shopping bag and carries them two blocks up the street, still warm, to the White House. There, after they "scoop" the "meat" of the bread out with their forefinger and middle finger, the still warm loaf is layered three deep with good cappicola, mortadella, genoa and two kinds of provolone along with home grown tomatoes (in season), leaf lettuce, Spanish onion, mild hot pepper relish, oregano, sweet basil, salt, pepper and good olive oil squirted heavily on top of all of this before being tucked inside the roll and sliced. Again, the bread is usually still warm, from the oven. There is nothing in D. C.-or in Philly-that can touch this. Not even the coal fired bread oven just up the street from Pat's at 9th and Passyunk. There IS good bread in D. C. from Catania Bakery whose hard roll is sold by Vace and several others. By the way, I would also argue that the White House makes an awfully good cheesesteak on the same bread but that is another topic..... And, didn't the Beatles in '64, take a limo FROM Philly to Atlantic City to eat a sub? They have a photo of this on their wall by the register. ←

Giolotti's would have been my suggestion; when I lived in Annapoilis, it's the only way I could survive without a Philly hoagie fix. But really, if you want a decent hoagie, ya gotta head to South Philly. Nothing else compares. ← I hear ya on the South Philly hoagies! I like to buy the kettle potato chips and put them in my Italian hoagies. Adds a nice crunch and some extra texture. I have heard several people refer to that as "Philly" style. ← in 29 years of living in Philly, I've never heard of that.

Giolotti's would have been my suggestion; when I lived in Annapoilis, it's the only way I could survive without a Philly hoagie fix. But really, if you want a decent hoagie, ya gotta head to South Philly. Nothing else compares.

Well, he WAS slurring his speech after all.

I hate when that happens......

I continue to be amazed and impressed at the intense quality of the tap lineup at the grey Lodge Pub in NE Philly. Tonight there was the following on tap: Sly Fox Christmas Ale---rich, full oatmeal cookies, a fantastic holiday beer Lancaster Winter Warmer--smoky and peaty, with just enough malt to balance the darkness out Lagunitas Cappucino Stout--wow, deep dark coffee, cream, the whole cappucino experience, but chilled,m and 7.9% ABV! Yards Love Stout--that brief wisp of the sea, and then that malty warm glove, truly one of Philly's great local beers Dogfish Head Punkin Ale--so full of fresh pumpkin flavor, it was a slice of holiday pie. Flying Fish Grand Cru--maybe the classic Philly winter beer, in a big beautiful goblet Just an outstandingly confounding lineup, almost too many to sample in one visit. There were other beers on tap, but these were the highlights of just one night at the amazing Grey Lodge

Well, now that it's been brought up, I'll wager that somewhere out there, some BBQ fiend is right now contemplating how one might go about creating such a thing. ← To me a BBQ cheesesteak is wrong; the taste componenets of the cheesesteak, onions, beef, grease, cheese, bread, augmented by either ketchup or hot sauce or mustard or peppers and such, are, to me, sacrosanct. To add barbeque sauce seems to kill all of the other basic flavors.

And mine was the only non-review! More of a glimpse, really. I saved my chops for the romantic places.

Caribou Cafe is worth the visit, Dave, it really is. Great vibe, beers, wines AND food. Never had a bad meal there.