KatieLoeb

Congratulations Glenn! Glad it's working out so well for you. Will definitely make the trek up from Philly some time to check the place out. Initial reports in the press are quite favorable. You should be very pleased with yourself. And all those little "glitches" may be blessings in disguise. Having to print paper menus (I presume you do this on a PC) gives you the flexibility to change things at a moment's notice or to feature something that has a short shelf life or season or that might be a one shot thing (someone's homemade preserves only last until the jar is gone...). Having table service also allows you to develop a better relationship with your regulars - and they're the ones that are going to spread the word. Curlz made several good suggestions too. I used to fax the daily specials to several departments at once (even easier to do with e-mail!) at a restaurant on Temple University's campus. It really got the folks in the door and cut down on the nuisance phone calls about what the soup was that day.

Saturday night - a terrine of roasted Red and Golden Beets and Lemon braised Fennel atop baby Arugula with Pine nut crusted goat cheese on the side. An amazingly earthy and satifying dish that was beautiful to look at as well.

Looks like there'll be quite a few of us at Smoked Joint on 3/18! I'll be there as well with a few friends in tow. I'll undoubtedly be working on the evening of the 19th for the John Uglesich dinner at Oyster House. I definitely want to try some of his food! The dishes in the cookbook, which I've been thumbing through feverishly at work, look great.

thanks for this, katie. it's good to hear someone else's impression of these things. i'm still going to come over for it sometime in the next month or so, because every spring the shad roe shows up and i feel like, being from southeastern PA i should have some sense of whether i like shad roe or not, but i don't. and i can't just buy it and cook it, because since i have no baseline i wouldn't know if i were screwing it up or not. ← Please don't let me dissuade anyone from trying this delicacy. I really think it's just me with the low taste/ high texture thing. I'm not really fond of kiwi fruit for the same reason. I find them fairly tasteless with just a mushy texture. I never really understood why everyone liked them so much.

I finally had the Broiled Shad and Shad Roe Combo for dinner tonight. Having never tried either and having customers ask me about it, I thought I ought to know what I was talking about. The shad itself was delicious. Like trout, but sweeter and a little richer. Only a couple of tiny hair sized bones in it. Really loved it and would highly recommend it. It was great with just a squeeze of lemon. The Shad roe maybe just isn't my cup of tea. I found it sort of bland - kind of like a piece of gritty chicken with a slight fishiness. Didn't really thrill me. It wasn't awful, and I can understand why some folks love it. I like caviar in small doses as well, so perhaps I'm just not a fish egg kinda girl. I dunno.

Looks to be quite similar. I'm wondering if I can find that in PA as well.

There's a Hahn ah Reum at Cheltenham Avenue & Old York Road. If you go right onto 611 (Old York Road) off of North Broad Street, it's about a mile or so at the intersection of Cheltenham Avenue.

Yowza y'all!! Sounds like a great dinner! Shiao Lan Kung is a fave of mine too, but I'll have to put myself in the hands of a capable waitperson next time. Sounds like they steered you right.

My thanks to the Chairman for making the leap into cyberspace to join us and for his kind words. I'm certain I speak for everyone when I say we're all very excited to have him, both here in the PA Forum and for the Q & A session I am arranging with his office for April. Let try and save our questions for then, so we can keep the Q & A lively and active, as I know it will be. I'm certain we've all had a lot of time to think of some things about the PLCB that we've always wanted to know about.

glepore: I'm so sorry. My sincerest condolences for Clancy. I'm certain he lived a long and happy life in your care. I shall raise a glass in his honor as well. (((((hug)))))

I do a five oz. pour. That works out to five glasses per bottle. I base all my calculations on that.

Justin: There's no way for me to guarantee it, but I'll certainly ask the chef/owner if they're available closer to then if you PM me a reminder. I know they're hard to get but I don't know if Ipswitch clams are only available in certain months or not. I'll ask. But I'm certain we can find some other wonderful seafood for your Gram whilst you're in Philly. Just let me know. The shad and shad roe just came in, and I think we'll have that through about Mother's Day, which is the short season for it. We're serving the fish and the roe broiled, either one alone or together as a combo. Good stuff from what I understand. I haven't tried it yet but I'll probably have it for lunch one day next week. I invented a new dish I'm begging to have put on the menu as a special. The "Katie Salad" is mixed field greens, cubed tomatoes, a bit of chopped hard boiled egg and fried calamari. I had it with the mustard vinaigrette we serve with a different salad, but I think it needs a less sweet/more tart dressing. I'm thinking a citrus vinaigrette of some sort like Blood Orange vinaigrette or something similar. As soon as we get the dressing nailed down I'm going to insist we put it on the menu. It was delicious!

One of the best desserts available in Philadelphia is the Molten Chocolate Cake with Bananas at Matyson. It's a standard issue molten in the middle Chocolate cake with sliced Bananas on top that are sprinkled with sugar and then carmelized like the top of a creme brulee. If that weren't enough, they then top it with a scoop of house made Brown Sugar ice cream. Ohmigosh! This dessert is like a party in your mouth. Contrasts of flavors, textures, temperatures, etc. all at once. It's mind boggling. I have dreams about this stuff...

**ahem** <cough> If you're seeking fried seafood I suggest popping in to visit me at Sansom Street Oyster House. Although we don't have them all the time (supply is hard to get), we sometimes have fried Ipswitch Belly clams. They're Holly's favorite and come highly recommended. There's also an Oyster 'Po Boy sandwich, a Shrimp 'Po Boy sandwich and sometimes a 'Po Boy special sandwich. Lately it's been a Popcorn Shrimp 'Po Boy. All good stuff. Menu can be viewed from the link in my signature line.

that is a nice way of storing it for a little while. i use those voss water bottles for this purpose, since they're 375 ml and i can just pour half the bottle in there right away and seal it up for the next day (for when i'm the only one drinking with dinner). ← A well rinsed Snapple bottle is a good vessel for this as well. And then refrigerate.

Hi Diann - and welcome! You've got a good list going. I'll just add a few of my faves: Shiao Lan Kung for dumplings, oysters with scallions and ginger and anything prepareed "Cantonese style". Pho Xe Lua (aka "the Soup Train") for pho in many guises, the Spicy seafood soup, the Beef Satay and Rice Noodle soup, spring rolls, that raw beef salad, papaya salad, and Pad Thai. David's Mai Lai Wah for dumplings with the most amazing ginger dipping sauce EVER, Salt & Pepper Squid, Beef and Broccoli Chow Fun with Satay sauce, Duck Noodle soup. Lee How Fook - Hot and Sour soup is better than any I've ever had. The cure for all that ails me when I have a head cold. From your other post, it sounds like you oughta go get some right away!!

Which leaves them ahead of CC on at least the Saintsbury When I went into 12th St. to pick up my six-pack, they had sold every drop in the store (including *my* drops!!!!) to some resto shmoe (hmmm... Katie? ). Fortunately Corey (who rocks, by the way) tracked me down the *last* six bottles at 19th and Chestnut. So happy ending. ← Sorry - wasn't me this time. I only bought two bottles for personal consumption. I never buy stuff that's listed or available at the Specialty store for the restaurant. Too easy for folks to bitch about the markups and I'd rather show our clientele stuff that's "meant" for restaurants. I do know several restaurant/bar managers that do avail themselves of the great deals and rotate their lists often to reflect whatever they found that week. Corey is very helpful. This is what I'm talking about when I say to befriend your local wine manager. Comes in handy sometimes!

In the manner of Diet for a Small Planet, I've often thought that Mussel farms could be the savior of starving third world nations everywhere. Just throw some sort of floating devices into the ocean with a long rope hanging from them and seed the ropes with mussel "eggs". They'd grow like underwater weeds and require virtually no upkeep. Easy enough to harvest by running one's gloved hand down the rope and detaching the mature specimens. Voila! Cheap and easy protein source for anyone that wants it. Has anyone done this yet? And if not, how come?

Mike: I think you're a bit disappointed that the Collegeville store isn't ranking up there with the Specialty shops in the larger urban centers. Even though the PLCB buys up a lot of wine, someone still has to decide how to divide it up and where to send it. I think it's self-evident that they'd want to send a reasonable majority of product to stores in the urban centers of Philly and Pittsburgh. Particularly for the more limited quantity products. It'll have a faster turnover there and they need that shelf space for the next round of incoming products. I also think you might have come across one really uninformed random website Custromer Service rep. You should befriend the wine manager at your local Specialty shop. I think that will cure this problem you're having. I don't have a problem with the Chairman's Selections making big $$$ for the state. It's a business, not a charity. More power to them if they can offer us high quality products at half off or more and still turn a hefty profit. I'll be happy to keep buying up wines that retail at $60 in other states for $19.99 and never complain about it. The overall quality level of my "cellar" has gone up tremendously since I discovered the Chairman's Selections.

Hi Katie, looks like the inventory of the Ravenswood was just coming in when you checked it. Over 1000 cases were ordered and just arrived. 1218 Chestnut, 1913 Chestnut and the Society Hill store have it currently in Center City. Along with the most Premium Collection stores in the state. ← Aha! OK - so I'm ahead of the curve this time... Tonight I'm drinking the tail end of a bottle of 2001 Fritz Winery Old Vine Zinfandel that I brought with me over to Dmitri's to share with jeunefilleparis who's in town visiting. This is nice wine too, although not as concentrated or complex as the Ravenswood Teldeschi from last night, a pretty hot deal at $9.99. It was delicious with our vegetarian dinner of hummus, feta and olives platter and beet salad that we enjoyed at Dmitri's. Unfortunately the bottle was quite a bit too cold from having sat in my car all day, so the first glass was pretty tasteless. But it opened up as it warmed up and now exhibits some nice dark cherry fruit and a nice dose of spice. It ain't Chateau Petrus, but it's under ten bucks and quite serviceable. It would be a great grab-and-go to BYOB of your choosing wine since the flavor profile would compliment many foods and would probably appeal to a wide range of wine drinkers.

Andrew: I'll be assisting on the Studio Kitchen visit, but let me know when you want to go to Fuji for omakase. I haven't been in a little while and owe Matt a visit. I could ask him to do a proper send off for you.

I'm a big fan of all the Castle Rock wines. They're excellent values. The Castle Rock Zinfandel is my current by-the-glass zin pour and I've sold the Pinot Noir extensively in the past.

Last night - two utterly perfect Malapeque oysters with just a squeeze of lemon, washed down with half a glass of Napa Wine Company Sauvignon Blanc. Greater than the sum of its parts. The briny oysters and the citrus-y wine were perfect together.

Stopped in at Smoked Joint for a mid-afternoon snack on Saturday afternoon with Miss Claire and our own Lisa1349, Fromager to the Masses. We started with the Smoked Baba Ghanoush and it was delicious! The smoking of the eggplants definitely adds an incredible depth of flavor to what can often be a very bland dfip. We then shared the two meat platter with two sides and chose the Smoked Brisket, Pulled Pork and the Greens and Macaroni and Cheese. Everything was fantastic, as always, and the creamy Horseradish sauce that comes on the side with the brisket was really outstanding. A couple of slices of outstanding white bread was included on the platter. It was just enough for the three of us to share and not fill up too much, as we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering about and getting continually aced out of tickets for the Noche Flamenca show we wanted to see at the Kimmel Center.

I'm currently enjoying a glass of the 2001 Ravenswood Teldeschi Vineyard Zinfandel (and nibbling on some sliced Turkey Pepperoni from Esh's Egg Farm at RTM - Yummy stuff!!!). A bit over 3500 cases were made of this wine as it's all site specific from old vines near Healdsburg in the Dry Creek Valley. This stuff is textbook CA zinfandel and at $17.99 will be worth going out of my way to head back to the store and stash a few more bottles away. The surprising thing here is the abundance of vanilla scents/flavors in the wine, something I'd usually associate negatively with many over-manipulated CA Chardonnays. But here it seems to work and give the wine some depth and character. The depth of berry jam fruit scents/flavor and softened tannins are surprisingly not overwhelmed by the characteristic spiciness and peppery qualities of the Zin juice and balance out the lovely vanilla really well. I'm just sipping this wine and it's very pleasant quaffing wine, but I bet this would stand up to Steak au Poivre or Steak Diane or even an Asian inspired duck dish (like the missing link Thai duck dish with Szechuan peppercorn discussed elsewhere in the PA forum) brilliantly. I still have half a bottle left so I might have to investigate that theory if I manage not to down the whole bottle this evening singlehandedly. Deidre - what's the availability of this wine currently? The website is showing ZERO inventory but I wonder if it even hit the radar screen before either selling out or never registering what's actually out there. There were several cases there last week at 12th & Chestnut when I picked up my one bottle. Am I gonna have to hurt somebody to get some more of this?