KatieLoeb

I've often found that syrah has a smell of a big honking pile of hamburger meat, or even occasionally of raw bacon. That would certainly cover the "bloody" part. I think the phrase leaves a bit to be desired strung together that way. But I also think I get what he meant.

Evan - go drink a BIIIIIG glass of water. You obviously need to cleanse your system a bit.

JJ if you want to come to down to Philly for some "research", I'm sure we can find enough PhilleGulleteers to show you around the various trucks.

Anne, that's just outrageously beautiful. So creative. I love it!

Hurry - click here!! http://www.zymetrical.com/product.asp?3=241&dc=301x4g4ro Evan ←

Hmmmm.... Nuns and spicy food. Not necessarily an association I would have made. But whatever works for you... Glad I could help.

Thanks Brooks. That piece brought back memories of the things I managed to glean from my mama before she passed, and the things I'm still trying to fake out.

Dearest gaf: As a fellow alumnae of UPenn and a fellow lover of all that the City of Brotherly Cheesesteaks has to offer I say: We miss you! Come back any time! You obviously get it!

Thanks for your insights gaf. Very well written and interesting perspective on two of the better dining establishments in our fair 'burg. And indeed Holly is correct. You're hardly "stuck" here. Obviously you've found a way to spend some time, savoring the gustatory delights. Looking forward to your post on the "lowbrow" eats as well.

I worked at a tavern that was definitely haunted. I didn't believe those stories either until I saw and heard very strange things that had no other explanation. The building was the former home of a wealthy Colonial era Philadelphia ship captain (one of whose daughters eventually became Mrs. Aaron Burr, I believe) and after several empty rattling ice buckets, heavy bootwearing footsteps on the stairs when no one was there and shadowed figures that appeared to be wearing a long cloak in silhouette, I started thinking the staff wasn't just trying to freak me out. Interestingly, it has been the same small bar/restaurant for several years now, and by all accounts is doing reasonably well. I stopped in there for a drink not too long ago and had an interesting conversation with the present owner. She's seen and heard some odd things too!

Poor Bat! Poor Marsha! What a great way to <ahem> "introduce" yourself to the houseguest and let the relatively new roomie get an idea of what he's in for! That story is going to get some mileage I suspect.

If anyone still needs a room at the Brownstone for the Pig Pickin' please send me a PM. I have a room reserved I won't be needing so I can try and see if the front desk will allow me to "transfer" it to someone else in our group and retain the same rate. I can cancel anytime, but let me know ASAP and I'll try and make it happen.

Philadining makes a valid point about the Capogiro flavors. Sometimes they're like a sledgehammer (the Cilantro-Lime), and sometimes they build to a lovely crescendo after a few bites (Yellow Plum). Depends what you like. Certainly they're made with the best ingredients, hence the price tag, but worth it if you get something that is to your own taste. I still say Capogiro's Pistachio gelato tastes more like pistachio than the actual nut does! And it isn't food coloring faux green. Good stuff. Try that if you have the chance.

The Mod Squad's coming from Philly. Julie's obvious, but who's Linc and who's Pete? Nice Pickin' shirt! ← I'm going to look a lot more like my avatar than I am Peggy Lipton, but that's OK. Perhaps we should be the Nod Squad. I seem to recall passing out comfortably in the den at one point last time. And there's photographic evidence of it on the old thread too, so I can't even deny it! We've got the car reserved and we're rarin' to go. Philly's in the House!!

I would bet you were looking at the same stuff entered twice. I had a similar experience just this past week. On Friday last we checked the inventory looking for Luxardo maraschino. One place it is listed as an "imported cordial" and is listed as SLO. Under the "imported specialities" it shows as speciality. Each a different code, each a different price. We thought we would have to SLO it. Instead we bought two bottles at the store on Ridge pike. It seems it may simply be once something gets in one way it stays that way and can than be entered another. Someone someplace may SLO something because it is not in a store near them even though it may show up somewere else as a speciality. ← Sometimes it just means that the "Licensee" price (what a restaurant pays) is HIGHER than the Specialty price to the consumer. I've had this happen to me more than once when purchasing for a restaurant. I find a fabulous product that I must order SLO and the price is 1.5 times higher than the very same wine at the Specialty store. grrrrrr.... By the time the restaurant's markup is applied it makes me look like a thief for the lucky consumer that found the wine at the Specialty store at what is now a small fraction of the "retail" price on my wine list. I really hate it when this happens.

Sandy: That Las Brisas white is a kickassed buy from Spain. Bright and refreshing and very light on the wallet. I've been enjoying it all summer too and have turned lots of friends on to it as well.

You're just not bringing the right drinking buddies with you to North 3rd.

Maybe not so lowbrow, but easy and tasty: 1 can Progresso Minestrone soup. 1 large spoonful of your favorite pesto. Stir pesto into hot soup. Voila! Instant soupe au pistou.

Ummm, where?? Clearly I'm no help.

Good Heavens =Mark - that story is insane. That fellow is insane. He's lucky the thing wasn't rabid and went after him like the bunny in Monty Python's Holy Grail. We used to have a racoon that lived in the corner sewer outside my house. Every day at dusk the Mama 'Coon and three baby 'Coons would waddle out and we'd hear the trash cans all over the neighborhood being upended. Strong little buggers they are.

Tonight I made a Black Bean and Roast Pork salad that I had a couple of bites of but decided would be better tomorrow after marinating overnight. I cubed up about a cup of leftover roast pork loin, drained and rinsed a can of black beans, minced a cherry pepper, minced about 1.5 Tbs. of cilantro, minced a quarter of a small onion, chopped a green pepper and chopped one small peeled and seeded tomato. I then took 1.5 Tbs. fresh lime juice, 3 Tbs. of EVOO, and 1 clove of garlic and ran them through the blender with a little salt and pepper and a pinch of ground cumin. Poured the dressing over everything and tossed it up. Tomorrow I'll serve this in a mound and artfully arrange a sliced avocado on it for lunch.

Chris, I'll opine a bit about this. I think many folks are non-confrontational by nature. I tend to be as well, but if you don't complain, then you deny the restaurant the opportunity to fix the problem. Is it really fair to then go bad mouth the place to anyone that'll sit still long enough to listen if you're unreasonable expectation was clairvoyance on the part of the restaurant staff?? Believe me, any restaurant professional will tell you we'd rather have you tell all your friends how your steak was overcooked, but we fixed it right away and then bought you dessert, than have you say merely that your food was improperly prepared. I can't help you and provide any level of customer service whatsoever, without knowing what I'm reacting to. And it's just ridiculous to expect that. All complaints should be handled immediately and to a customer's satisfaction. Writing a letter of complaint should be an absolute last resort. Hopefully if the situation is handled properly, the customer will write a letter saying how professionally their issue was resolved. Well, certainly in a fine dining establishment one should expect nothing less, but really if my hamburger at McDonalds has Rosanne Rosannadanna unpleasant toenail like bites in it, I should be able to send it back there as well, right? And I should be no less polite to the McDonalds counter girl than I would be to a tuxedoed waiter that I was confronting with a problem with my meal. It's not about what you're spending or how nice the table linens are, it's about how welcome you're made to feel and how satisfied you are when you leave, at any level. At least that's what I hope for and strive for.

Back when it was Le Cyclo, I too was impressed at the variety, and more importantly, the quality, of those summer rolls. They were freaking huge, and stuffed with good stuff, including lots of herbs. I thought I had read somewhere that the kitchen was pretty much the same, that they just changed the name, but I don't know for sure if that's true. Has anyone had the summer rolls recently? Are they still good? ← Le Cyclo (or Le Cyclo Bizarro as Southjerseyepicurean and I dubbed it after our one and only visit) was not nearly as well run or pleasant a place to visit as Pho Ba Le. The kitchen staff might be the same, but the waitstaff seemed a lot better versed in what was on the menu. When it was Le Cyclo, they had weird lighting, Vietnamese rave music thumping at high decibels, the Asian customers and Caucasian customers were seated on opposite sides of the resturant like a bad high school dance, and not a soul could explain any of the various exotic drinks that they had examples of lining the counter. The menu at Pho Ba Le is better translated, the staff speaks English, and mercifully they've lost the bad music. Oh, and they seem to have been able to integrate the customers just fine with no ill effects. The summer rolls looked awesome. Big and fat and they come in Shrimp, Jicama, BBQ pork, Shredded pork or Nem (??) flavors. There's also Spring rolls and grape leaf beef rolls in addition to other appetizer choices.

Sadly, my experience has been that those customers that bother to take the time to write an encyclopedic tome about their bad experience with a play by play that rivals any professional sporting event are the very customers that smiled sedately and nodded affirmatively when asked "Is everything to your liking, Sir/Madame?" If you don't speak up at the time of your dissatisfaction, then nothing can be done to fix the problem. Restaurant managers are many things, but we are not clairvoyant. If you tell the server everything is fine, then we assume you are telling the truth. We have no reason to try and read your body language or get into any other more complex forms of non-verbal communication to figure out what you really mean. If you eat the entire meal and then say it was awful I will NOT comp your dinner. You've revealed yourself to be a low rent freeloader and I will most certainly not encourage or reward your bad behavior. You'll just go do it at another restaurant then. If you're really pissed off that I won't give you the freebie, then don't come back. Please. I beg you. Don't come back. On the other hand, a politely phrased legitimate complaint should be handled immediately and decisively. No one should pay for a meal they neither enjoyed nor actually ate. If your dish is cooked not to your liking, please let us know RIGHT AWAY, so we can make you a new medium rare steak. We'd be delighted to do that. If you have a food allergy then PLEASE let us know about it so we make certain you don't accidentally order something with shellfish stock in the sauce. Really - it's not a bother. Let us know. Nothing casts a funereal pall over a dining room more than a case of anaphylactic shock that requires the EMS crew to take someone out on a stretcher. You don't want that, your fellow diners don't want that, and the restaurant most certainly doesn't want that. If you're unfamiliar with a certain menu item, please ask your server for details before you order it. If they're properly trained then they can tell you in advance that the anchovies are hairy and you might not like them if you have textural issues with your food or aren't overly fond of salt. A menu is not an open invitation to try new things and send them back as they don't please you (a wine list is the same way). Educating yourself by trying new things is great, but if you really aren't sure about something, ask first or try your dining partner's. If something is genuinely faulty, like bad fish or a burned sauce, the restaurant should be happy to address it when brought to their attention.

Glad the adjustment is going smoothly thusfar. Is all natural peanut butter without added sugar a good protein on whole grain bread?? There are certainly plenty of no-sugar added preserves that could make a PB&J if that's something your daughter likes already. I personally never liked grape jelly but I still love peanut butter and raspberry or strawberry preserves. How about having some pre-cooked chicken breasts or one of those rotisseried chickens in the fridge at all times for some fast grab-n-go protein?