KatieLoeb

I think it's a little bit of what Furious Flavor suggests, that Manayunk is just on a downswing in being the "trendy" place to be. With the entire new galaxy of Starr restaurants to visit downtown there just aren't enough days in the week to get all the way to Manyunk anymore. And the locals in Manayunk aren't supporting the local businesses in the same way that I can count on the upper middle class and upper class Rittenhouse Square denizens to keep my restaurant in business. Manayunk is still fundamentally a blue collar neighborhood. Trendy (read: pricey) restaurants and clubs have to rely on potential customers to travel to their location. That's great when you ARE the trendy place to be, but when the novelty wears off, you're doomed. It's also a little bit of the vicious cycle that's created when the customers start to drop off, there's no big demand for high standards anymore, the restaurants start not to care, or begin to understaff and cut corners to make up for the loss in revenue and then everything is of a lower caliber so the remaining visitors see no reason to come back. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Plus it ALWAYS has sucked to park there. That really doesn't help.

Maybe that's where everyone went...

I'd liken this to the world of pedigreed cat breeding. That which is rewarded is imitated until what is now called a Siamese cat looks anorectic and sickly and a purebred Persian cat looks so much like it's been whacked in the face with a garden shovel that it has congenitally blocked tear ducts and can't breathe. It is a grossly inbred and deformed creature. Yet this is what is winning the blue ribbons at shows. Not so unlike wines with HUGE alcohol content and paint stripping tannins but absolutely no subtlety or balance being "rewarded" with high scores. As if you could quantify something as subjective as taste...

Can I just say - YAY!!!! People who really get it revealing the flawed logic that went into this argument in the first place. Hoorah!!!!

I'm surprised no one has made the obvious connection that the "Contains Sulfites" label that exists only in the United States, the most litigious society in this galaxy and the fact that no other country feels the need to place this phrase on their labels. Y'think maybe the wineries and/or the BATF don't want to get sued by an asthmatic or some sulfite-hypersensitive individual for causing a case of anaphalctic shock?

Yeah - that's what I thought. Four blank bells as in ZERO bells/stars. That's more like it.

The relationship between the symbol and the word alinea is very loose and I believe it will remain that way. While the symbol is shown here in front of the word, it is mainly for evaluation purposes and the juxtaposinion is not finalized. We are still working on the font itsef. I recall a post awhile back from chefg that stated the definition of the symbol as being something along the lines of "(a) new thought begins here...." That's got to be the coolest thing about using the symbol and it's definition to embody what will go on within the four walls that define Alinea the restaurant. Do you want that connection to be a "loose" one or is it one you 'd want to etch in stone and shout from the rooftops? I'd lean more toward the latter than the former, but that's just me.

I make a Mexican Chocolate bread pudding that has cocoa, cinnamon and ancho chile powder as well as chocolate chips or Hershey kisses (if being made in single serving potions) in it. It's pretty yummy!

What's curious about that is that even though the review was scathing, the web page gives it a four-star rating (doubly odd in that the Inky gives bells not stars). Which webpage? Whose webpage? Even on a good day 4 stars was a stretch...

The motion idea is an excellent one, and translates well in the current drawings. The one drawback to the more cursive looking symbol is that it reads: Palinea

No surprise here. Manayunk is becoming a graveyard. And Derek Davis' restaurants seem to have some sort of plague that's killing them off first in a long slow agonizing death. The "plague" could be the food and the service. The LaBan review of Carmella's was brutal, but sadly true. You can read it HERE After you've read it, tell me if you're still surprised it's closing, or merely surprised it took this long.

ice beer! Beersicles!

Chris is sooooo smart! That's why we like him!

In fact, they'd just made a fresh batch of horchata (in addition to the melon aguafresca I had) when I was there. They also serve prepackaged horchata (which is quite tasty) when it isn't their own homemade.

I had a taco al Pastor and a Melon Aguafresca as a late afternoon snack at TV this afternoon. Alas, the elotes lady wasn't in yet, and when I came back later they weren't done cooking yet either. I guess I just wasn't meant to have an elote today.

Welcome Rob! We're happy to have you here, and if your post is any indication of the level of discourse we can expect from you, we're lucky you stumbled in!

Oh Herb. HERE it is Aw shucks! Thanks. If only I didn't have this pesky job, I'd have all the time in the world to devote to writing I'll try to be helpful in my copious free time...

Jas: It's no worse than many retailers in Jersey (or other states) that have an entire top shelf of product located right under a heating vent! There's only one retailer in the area that is temperature controlled. But there's other wines and spirits in the world that their small but excellent inventory does not represent.

Hi Mike! Welcome to eGullet an the PA forum! Hope to hear more from you here... You're right about the "Chairman's Selections". Those are the deal the PLCB will cut with a supplier to take say, the last 200 cases of a vintage while they're trying to make room for the next release. They'll buy up a whole boatload of wine or spirits and actually pass the savings on to the consumers! Mind boggling. It also helps that Jonathan Newman is a bit of a wine conoisseur himself. But yeah - he's doing a great job. Not only is the selection better, but the stores more pleasant (remember the days of the "combat zone" PLCB stores where you'd walk up to a thick glass window and ask for what you wanted?) and are better stocked, the help is a bit more informed and it's all around a much more pleasant shopping experience that is more like going to a "regular" retail shop in any other state.

My same feeling about the $17.99 1.5L bottles of Denaka at the PLCB Outlet. Won't but anything else for mixing until that goes away...

Alphaiii: I think it depends a lot on whether the local office of the purveyor that carries it has the item in question in stock or as to special order it for you themselves. Obviously it would also depend on how much you're ordering. Getting four cases of a hard-to-find-in-the-first-place wine will take far longer than getting one bottle of the special high end spirit you want, particularly if there are other customers (like restaurants) in your area that carry it so it would be something they'd have around and keep stocked for the customers that reorder it frequently (like restaurants). The Van Gogh Chocolate is yummy! It's like an instant Chocolate martini with no Godiva involved. Chill and go, no muss no fuss! But you have to really like chocolate martinis. Some might think the "alcohol-y" flavor of vodka overwhelms the chocolate. I think it'd be good for mixing with Kahlua or Bailey's or something like that to make variations on Black and White Russians or things of that nature. Let us know if you like it!

YAY for Carolyn and all the hardworking folks at Ladera!!! 93 points!!!! Yowza!!! Now I can really hardly wait to taste it!!!

Chris: Alas, I don't recall whose cheese it was specifically. I think I got it at Reading Terminal from one of the Amish stands that has cheese and cold cuts. The same folks do a killer Habanero Cheddar as well. Plenty of zing there!

Was there something about my post that wasn't clear enough??

A recent masterpiece was as such: Seven grain bread light mustard horseradish cheddar sliced Jersey Toamtoes sliced Avocado Grilled until oozing. Yum!!!