KatieLoeb

Not true, our new friend! There's fabulous Cubano eats to be had at Tierra Colombiana, which features both Cuban and Colombian items on their menu. Mixto at 12th & Pine is an offshoot, but the food is pricier and not nearly as good as it is at the original location on North 5th Street in the barrio off Roosevelt Blvd. Portions are enormous and they make a great Cubano sangweech, I'm told. I usually go for the aranitas, little shredded plantain fritters with an addictive garlic sauce to dip them in, the black beans and rice, the ropa vieja, picadillo and the batidos. It's the best Cuban food north of Miami and south of NYC. And welcome to eGullet and the PA forum! We look forward to more of your insights.

Gerhard, thank you so much for the time, the care and the effort. Clearly this comes so easily to you, and your guests are the beneficiaries of it every day. We've all had the rare privilege of being your guests this week as well, and I feel as forlorn right now as I do at the end of any vacation. I wish you the best and much continued success in your little corner of paradise. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Great article - I'll Take Manhattan, in the latest Philadelphia Weekly about the classic cocktails, the fabulous rye selection and the old school vibe at Southwark. Congratulations to Kip Waide and the staff at Southwark! Praise that's well deserved. I've tucked back a fine rye Manhattan or two at their bar more than once and concur completely.

I'm with everyone that finds this insulting. It's even more insulting than thinking we're drawn to labels with critters on them or forms of transportation and colors.

Try an Andalusian Sidecar: 2 oz. Spanish Brandy 1 oz. Torres Gran Orange 1 oz. fresh Lemon juice Shake and strain into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

Nice job Gentlemen! Great writing Rich. Love the article, love the quotes and I still have to make it over to Johnny Hots one of these days. I haven't had a Surf n' Turf since Levis' closed. That's a looooonng time.

Dear Rabbi, Can one properly sit shiva in a deli? Signed, Forlorn in Flushing ← But of course. You order the cold cut platters "for here".

I must confess, I was never fond of this stuff myself. Too salty for me, I guess. An odd savory flavor I couldn't wrap my head or tastebuds around as refreshment. But there's a long list of my family members and acquaintances that will be mourning this actively. And my condolences go out to them and the legions of others that won't know what to do without a Cel-Ray to go with their deli sandwich.

All in good booze and good cheer, my friend.

Must... have... ratios.... ← I hope David will correct me if I'm wrong.... Weeski 2 ounces Irish whiskey 1 ounce blonde Lillet 1 teaspoon Cointreau 2 dashes orange bitters Stir with ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. A tasty libation marrying those tough flavors together seamlessly.

Aw shucks. I'm flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as the esteemed Mr. Rogov.

Slightly off-topic, but the way to do this is to make watermelon gin. The problem (okay, my problem; maybe I don't know how to make it) with watermelon puree is that it tends to separate out, and you're left with this sludge of little pink cells at the bottom of your glass. But gin and watermelon work beautifully together: cut up the melon into cubes (maybe 1" x 1" x 1") and cover with a decent-proof gin -- Beefeater works well. Let sit a day or so and strain. It will pick up some sweetness, so check before deciding how much syrup to add. ← Dave: You could get more watermelon flavor and cut down on time by whirling the watermelon and gin through the blender, letting it sit overnight, shake it and then strain it through some cheesecloth (be sure to squeeze the last bits) to get the cellulose out. Voila! Watermelon Gin overnight. Might be really tasty made with some Hendricks. I suspect this concoction should then be refrigerated.

Sounds delish, Katie. Is there specific (or specific-ish) amount of rosemary used to flavor your rosemary simple syrup or do you wing it? Kurt ← Kurt: I have to confess. The kitchen makes it for me so I don't actually know the exact proportions they're using. I'll try and find out. I can tell you that I made Rosemary simple syrup at home once and I minced the rosemary and boiled it briefly in the syrup. Came out WAY too strong. Like sweetened PineSol! Blech! I suspect merely bruising the leaves with a rolling pin perhaps and not allowing them to steep for too long is the way to go.

Thanks Melissa. It keeps reappearing this time of year. I'd be happy to send a PDF file of the article via PM to anyone that wants to read it without all the formatting crap in it. I think that happened when we changed software - it didn't used to look like that.

Minar Palace for great Indian food. 1605 Sansom. Little Pete's diner. 17th & Chancellor. Hey - it is what it is. Sometimes when I don't know what I want, a big old diner menu is what I need to decide. Food Court at the Bellevue at Broad & Sansom. 12th Street Cantina was always a fave of mine in there. There's a really good soup joint too. Pad Thai Shack on 18th above Walnut. Really good Thai. Marathon Grill - several locations. Misora Japanese - cheap lunch boxes that are really pretty good. The tonkatsu is quite good as is the teryaki salmon. They also do a great salad if you're feeling so inclined. 1511 Chestnut. Ditto on Rich's suggestion of Sahara Grill.

For drinking, silly wabbit. The Horseradish is for Bloody Marys and Oyster Shots, the Basil for cocktails (try some in Ginger Ale or as a savory martini) and the Rosepetal I'd need to work on, but I suspect it would make for a nice martini with a fragrant accompaniment like Lillet or Martini & Rossi Bianco.

I'll take a bottle of undoubtedly better quality vodka on the bar and the scorpion in a jar of formaldehyde where it oughta be as the Halloween decor, thanks.

WHY do you cook? Is it for the artistry? For the recipients of the food? What is the thing that validates it for you?

Olive Garden and Buca di Beppo have to be the absolute bottom end of the food chain, so to speak. FG is right about the overly sweetened sauces. There was a Buca di Beppo in the bottom of the complex where I parked my car at my old job. Every single day I had to stomach the smell of what I imagined to be enormous bubbling cauldrons of horrendous sugary tomato sauce cooking away and wafting all over the street. Blech! It still makes me gag every time I'm in that neighborhood. :shudder:

Can I just say - EWWWWWWWWWW! What a stupid gimmick. There's nothing even remotely interesting or "authentic" about this. It's pure gimmickry. I'd be personally quite cautious about this stuff just because I'm pretty severely allergic to other sorts of insect/critter venoms (bee stings, spider bites, jellyfish) so this holds less than no appeal for me.

Evan, thanks for posting this! The Feudi Falanghina remains one of my favorite wines. I hope they are serving it for your dinner. I think you'll love it too!

My Charoset recipe would qualify if you left out the honey or substituted some demerara sugar instead.

Tony Luke's on Oregon Avenue. Best place for both a Roast Pork Italiano and a Cheesesteak so you could have both. The Italian Market which is different than Reading Terminal. There are things about an outdoor market (and there's that whole Rocky thing too) that Reading Terminal can't emulate. DiBruno's new store at 17th & Chestnut. The closest thing Philly has to Zabar's, etc. in NYC but still with a distinctive Philly flav-a. The Grey Lodge, Monk's, Royal Tavern or Standard Tap are gastropubs like no other, There are more places for a really good beer and a really good bite to eat here than you can shake a stick at. Tacconelli's Pizza - that's all I've got and all I need to say. If you feel like driving further then check out DiLorenzo's Hudson Street in Trenton. Or Rustica on North 2nd Street next door to Standard Tap. We gots us some ass-kickin' 'za. Rouge, London Grill or Good Dog - you'd be hard pressed to find a better line up of burgers anywhere.

Well this is good news. At least I won't have to drive as far for the abuse...

He definitely needs to work on his delivery . . . Brian Talley told us a charming story about when they switched to screwcaps, and part of their glass order from their bottle vendor were traditional bottles sent in error. With no time to correct the delivery before the scheduled bottling date, they ended up doing some of both. Somehow one restaurant received a case that was half Stelvin and half cork closures. The waitstaff used the Stelvins for by-the-glass pours, and traditional cork closures for bottle-to-table orders. Eventually they got down to 2 bottles, one Stelvin, one cork. A table ordered the Talley pinot, and the cork closure bottles was promptly displayed and served. They liked it so much they ordered a second bottle, which threw the waitstaff into a considerable dither, as they didn't want to upset the client. A brave waiter volunteered to present the bottle with a flourish, towel, etc. Naturally the table asked about the change, and the waiter blithely (or desperately) replied, "All the better to serve you quickly, sir." ← Great story, Mary! Actually, this is kind of what I was talking about upthread. If the staff is well trained enough to explain the closures (or bullshit extremely effectively like that guy ) it seems to be a better expenditure of energy than using little symbols. Let's face it - Stelvins and synthetic corks aren't going anywhere so we might as well get used to it and educate the staff AND the public about it as we go along. The need for little symbols will go away completely by the time folks get used to the new fangled alternatives.