KatieLoeb

Chris: I was happy to help! It was fun seeing how one of these things actually comes together. Sort of sucked all the glamour out of it, I must confess. You and your fabulous crew were keeping some crazy hours to get all that film. And it's a shame that both Freddie & Tony's and our own Holly Moore ended up on the cutting room floor.

Chris: Loved the final edited Philly show! You definitely hit some of my favorites and pointed me toward a couple of new places I didn't know about! Gotta go try that gnocchi! Ohmigosh that looked good. :drool: Some of the places you showed have more than one outlet. I'm a very regular customer at the Bitar's in South Philly, since that's closer to my house than the Mt. Airy outlet you showed. Their Lebanese grub is the best. I'm surprised that Mr. Bitar didn't point you to their grilled felafel, which they are well known for. Delicious, fluffy and not greasy, and makes the best felafel sandwiches ever. The combo platters rock. I love those fluorescent pink pickled turnips garnishing the hummos. Capogiro is indeed the gelateria that we PhilleGulleteers wax poetic about. Chris visited the Rittenhouse branch on 20th Street. Most of the photos you all have seen in the PA forum are from the original branch at 13th Street. No matter. It's good at either store. I definitely caught the back of Sandy's head at one point, and a little bit of my hair in another shot over Chris' shoulder. I was hoping you would all see us through the window sitting next to Chris in the last shot as they pulled away from Steve's Prince of Steaks, but I guess our 15 minutes still remains to be tapped. So Chris - when are you coming back for round 2???

There is no substitute for maraschino, unfortunately. However, I think you could use the grenadine-as-blood-red-coloring idea in virtually any cocktail of your choosing. You could even make a simple Electric Lemonade type punch and add lots of grenadine or pomegranate juice for coloring and flavor. Perhaps something like this: Fresh Lemon juice Simple syrup (flavored or not as you wish - Ginger simple might be tasty) Citron vodka (I like the flavor of the Ketel One Citroen, myself) Grenadine or Pomegranate juice

Katie, I have to admit that sometimes my notekeeping takes a back seat to the spirit of the moment. In other words, I don't have a detailed recollection of the wines. The standouts were a fantastic Riesling Smaragd from Prager, a vibrant Blaufrankisch from the Burgenland and one of many stickies enjoyed on the trip from Alois Kracher. The rest, I'm afraid, is a distant blur.... ← The ones you've remembered sound delicious. I've loved all of the wines from Prager and Kracher that I've ever tried. Pichler and Heidi Schrock are two of my other favorites.

The Red Feather Boa: 2 oz. Rye .5 oz. Maraschino .5 oz. fresh lemon juice .25 oz Grenadine (one barspoon) dash of bitters Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel/twist (flamed if you're feeling fancy) Screaming red in the glass and very tasty, even if I say so myself. I don't know what the proportions for a punchbowl would be. I suppose you could just multiply in a linear fashion and then taste for seasoning, as it were. Make a single one first so you know what it's supposed to taste like.

Phila-Foodie: Let me add my welcome to the pile. Hope to hear much more from you. Love your blog! Hopefully you can join us for some of our outings and document them here and on your blog as well.

I just had my first run in with the Rittenhouse bonded last night. Damn it's tasty! Man, was my head feeling it this morning. I had my favorite bartender at Southwark here in Philly make me a Red Feather Boa with it at the suggestion of Jparrott, a DC Gulleteer whom I bumped into at the bar totally at random. It's a tiny eGullet world.

David: That looks fantastic! Do you remember any of the wines that you tried?

Davydd: We're spoiled here in Philly for sure. There's all manner of awesome sandwiches to be had. You need to come visit and give us an excuse to go get one, since we tend to take it for granted that we can always have one on a moment's notice.

This Ben was not Ralph Archibald, the usual Ben that you see at events around town. This Ben was a bit more *cough* gourmand looking than Mr. Archibald, at least at first glance. Who knew there was more than one Ben Franklin impersonator running around Philly?

YAY! Sandy's back! Philly representin'! Wheee! Looking forward to your always interesting view and endless supply of factoids, Sandy. Have a Happy Birthday and enjoy the week. This is going to be fun!

This is more what I was driving at. I know I wouldn't want to have to run through a gauntlet of screaming Eagles fans at the supermarket, so I can't imagine that others who are even less sports enthusiasts than I am would want to contend with that while peacefully attempting to do their Sunday marketing. It's just a bad idea. There are plenty of sports bars with decent menus where one can order almost anything they want while cheering on the Iggles or whomever. The Reading Terminal Market, other than in a fantasy world, does not belong on that list.

It is strange when recipes say "for 6", as when I have bartended large groups have tended to order completely different drinks, so they can all sample the different drinks. Kinda like what people do at restaurants. Is this an un-tapped market? 6 friends, 6 drinks, split the 6 drinks between 36 smaller glasses, so that each person has 6 sipper sized cocktails. All the taste, none of the germs. ← 36 glasses on the table?? Not on my watch. I'd have to kill you myself. Not to mention the danger of having all those glasses around with folks mixing different drinks and liquors as their mission for the evening. Bad idea all around for a lot of reasons. I'd rather give you a pile of straws to taste hygenically out of each others glasses.

I'll second Philadining's suggestions. The Aqua Tofu is one of the best tofu dishes I've ever had. If folks don't like that, they probably ought to write off tofu entirely. Mango chicken is delicious - I had a bite of my dining companion's last time I was there. The Roti Canai is a great starter. My friend that likes neither curry NOR coconut scarfed it down and declared it delicious, completely out of character for her usually somewhat fussy eating habits. The Hainese chicken is pretty innocuous and I think the foodies and non-foodies alike would enjoy it.

Erik: I have a bottle of Laird's Applejack in the house that I've been looking for new excuses to play with. Thanks for the suggestions, they'll definitely be in this weekend's rotation. Do you think the Applejack Cocktail and the Applejack Special would work with the non-bonded Laird's? It's what I've got...

I agree with some of what you've said, Holly. But certainly April White of Philly mag has a well trained enough palate to be a real judge in a cheesesteak competition. Ben Franklin's qualifications, I'm not so sure about... Bobby was the one that started the "gussied up" cheesesteak competition with his overuse of veggies and that silly Provolone whiz. I will say, however, that I've had a Tony Luke's Cheesesteak Italiano and it's seriously the Mac Daddy of cheesesteaks. Imagine the best of both worlds between a cheesesteak and a roast pork Italiano. What could possibly be bad about that? Given that the fancy assed New Yawk City cheesesteak was making Tony nervous, he pulled out the big guns and blew Bobby away. No surprise here.

I'm sure the Beer Garden probably doesn't have a Sunday liquor sales license, so as good as your idea might be, they can't possibly do it without some investment and legal wrangling. Not to mention that the Market may not want to turn itself into a giant sports bar. Great idea. Too many issues.

I think this question was answered previously in the Geno's thread. Speaking of cheesesteaks, tonight's Smackdown with Bobby Flay is cheesesteaks. Bobby is going mano a mano with Tony Luke's. I know who my money's on.

Chris: Congrats on the debut!! Having toted along behind you for an afternoon while you were in Philly (which totally sucked the glamour out of filming forever), it's nice to see the final edited product come out so well. The Vegas show was great and I hope the Food Network website will keep your page up to date as the episodes air so we can all use them as a resource. I totally want to check out that BBQ joint and the Thai lobster when I finally make it to Vegas! Very psyched for the Philly show next week! Lots of my favorite places and people too!

Basil works really well with tequila. A bruised basil leaf, hefty shot of tequila and ginger ale over ice in a Collins glass makes for a most refreshing summer cooler. Horseradish works well with tequila too, since it's sort of part of the flavor profile already. I've done horseradish infused tequila for oyster shots or killer Bloody Marias. Quite yummy.

Excellent news! I'll have to go check this out on my next day off. I've always loved Penzey's so I look forward to the convenience of immediate gratification. Could be dangerous though. Last time I went through one of their catlogs and checked off everything I wanted it was several hundred dollars worth of stuff. Checked the website for exact address. Seems to be closeby one of my favorite little coffeeshops too - Chestnut Hill Coffee Co. And they're open Sundays! Woo-hoo! Penzey's 8528 Germantown Ave. (215) 247-0770

A lot of vintage shakers are oversized by today's standards. Don't forget, a lot of us are used to those little "individual" sized shakers that the bartender leaves with you. I think those vintage ones were for a time when you'd be making a round of martinis for like 6 or 8 people at a time, since no one would ever think to drink anything else.

Lateralus: We'd be there too, if you chose to be more specific. Meanwhile, we have no clue what or whom you speak of...

they would have come back sooner, you know, but business has been dying off.... ... but seriously, there's been stiff competition for their convention. Of course it's tough to schedule anything, since they're always late.... thank ya folks, thank ya. i'll be here all week--try the veal, and don't forget to tip your waitresses. ← I'd love to play bad girl moderator here but it's just too silly...

A slight jab in the ribs from Cachaca Dave made me rethink the application of the Tamarind syrup. Tonight's effort: 2 oz. Fazenda Mae de Ouro 1 oz. Kassatly Ajyal Tamarind syrup 1 oz. fresh lime juice .75 oz. ginger simple syrup Shaken over ice and had on the rocks. The cachaca is a much better delivery system for the tang of the tamarind syrup than the anejo tequila was. A most refreshing libation. I just finished it and I want another. The best recommendation I can think of...