KatieLoeb

Today, June 4 2010 marks the one year anniversary of Oyster House! YAY! To celebrate, we're featuring our usual Happy Hour $1 oysters all day from 11:30am to 11PM. Gilding the lily is the kickoff to Philly Beer Week. We'll be tapping a firkin of Stoudt's Double IPA and there are special Beer Week Oyster shooters too. Stop by and help celebrate! Wheeeeee!

New oyster shooters for Philly Beer Week. Valrhona Chocolate infused vodka with Sly Fox O'Reilly's Stout and an alderwood smoked sea salt rim on the glass. Serrano chile and tarragon infused tequila with a splash of pineapple juice and Stoudt's Heifer-in-Wheat Heffeweisen. Both came out really good. And although they sound gross, I promise they're delicious. The chocolatey stout one is great. Smoky, salty, and sweet all at once. The tequila is tasty enough to sip on it's own. This will likely remain in the rotation minus the beer after Beer Week.

We've been using the El Jimador reposado at work lately. It's pretty tasty. Sadly, the PLCB has raised the price of the Siembra Azul astronomically. At home, I've been working my way through a bottle of Gran Centenario Blanco a friend brought me back from Mexico. It's quite delicious and seems to be available here as well.

Outstanding, Chris!! I work lunches on Friday so I'll look forward to seeing you!

I'll submit the the Oyster House burger is pretty awesome. As the only non-seafood item on the menu it had to be standout. 14 day dry aged prime, low pressure chopped rather than ground so the meat doesn't heat up and the precious fat melt away - cooked to temperature of your choosing with carmelized onions, crumbled blue cheese and topped with a fried oyster all on a brioche bun. Served with house made chips at lunch and shoestring fries at dinner. Super juicy and really delicious. I'm a big fan.

Maggie: As always, you've distilled down something that is common to all our experience, yet left room for it to remain personal and individual. While my mom was never one to cook with classic French sauces, as I began to expand my own culinary horizons, a good white sauce was a common thread throughout many a recipe. And I completely relate to the "common denominator" aspect, though I suspect it's hardly the lowest. The hallmark of brilliant writing is that which crosses the spectrum of experience for every single reader. Nicely done.

Trying to clean out the liquor cabinet. So many sample bottles with just a bit left over in them. Tonight I decided to rid myself of some of the vodkas. Best effort was thus: 2.5 oz Pearl Plum vodka .75 oz Sour cherry juice (can't remember the brand - will check later) juice of a wedge of fresh lime dash of Fee Brothers Aromatic bitters Tastes like cherry pie. The Fee bitters definitely added that clove-like spice that made the drink what it was. The cosmo swilling chicks would be all over this...

Glad everyone liked it. A little bit of lemon juice in with the fruit soaking booze is never a bad thing - keeps the fruit from turning brown and can dial back the sweetness just a hair. My big batch recipe included it, I think, but that file got corrupted and I can't confirm that. Trouble with putting it the wine itself is that is makes things look cloudy and less aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

So how did the sangria turn out? I'm awaiting your report with eager anticipation...

The split and his becoming Corporate Chef for SoDel concepts was reported in Michael Klein's Insider column on March 12, 2010. The news of his joining Daniel Stern's team as Culinary Director was reported in the same column by the same source on May 3, 2010. That's 52 short days by my count. Sound like an employee you'd want to hire? I stand by my comment. Job hopping is rarely seen as a plus by employers in any industry. Especially at that level of responsibility. Regardless of what others may think, it really isn't news every time he farts. I'm over it. I'll bet he is too.

Cool! I've signed up. I look forward to seeing what shows up in my inbox.

A dedicated trip to Bell's Market today for the first time in a long time. $44 got me some garlic marinated smoked bacon, Russian salami, stuffed chicken skin, several varieties of smoked fish, boil-in-bag barley, half sour pickles, prepared manti and stuffed cabbage, several varieties of prepared salads, fat free olive mayonnaise, non-fat Farmers cheese, two kinds of frozen pelmeni, black currant juice, and a few other things I can't remember. Holy crap this place rocks. I need to go far more often...

The Tomato Chutney that I love so much on rotisseried chicken seems to have been discontinued. Boooooooo!

Thanks for that post and photos, Rancho Gordo. I hadn't seen it originally. That's a wonderful project. And now to throw another monkey wrench into this thread, what about Greek oregano?? I've bought that several times and found it to be extra fragrant and delicious, particularly when used in Greek cuisine, of course. Anyone here know if that's a different plant as well?? The stalks are very long and don't look anything like a dried version of the fresh oregano I see at the restaurant or in the supermarket...

Lilija: Some folks like it boozier than others I guess. I do believe that soda water is a proper ingredient in most recipes. My recipe is based on one given to me by the bartender at Sevilla restaurant on West 4th Street in the Village many years ago. I always loved the sangria there, so one day I arrived a bit early to meet my dinner companions and sat myself down at the bar and decided I was going to get that recipe out of the bartender by whatever means necessary. Turns out he was happy to share it. I've been using it as the "skeleton" for sangria variations ever since. It's pretty simple and very easy to vary. Actually the sangria in the photo is a variation with watermelon balls and limes rather than apples and lemons in the fruit and Thai basil syrup in the wine mix. It's quite refreshing on a hot summer day. I learned about keeping the fruit and wine mixture separate when helping to open up Amada in 2005. It's a very high volume restaurant and it quickly became apparent that the fruit staying in the wine wouldn't work for several reasons, not the least of which being it clogged up the spigots on the barrels we kept behind the bar to contain the sangria mixes (both a red and a white). Keeping it separate also keeps the fruit from getting waterlogged and allows crisper fruits like apples and pears to retain at least a bit of their crunch. To this day, they still sell oceans of both red and white sangria at Amada every week, as well as having added a seasonal selection more recently. I comfort myself with knowing that I'll have played some small part in helping send Chef Garces' children to college some day.

If you read the proportions in my recipe, there's a whole lot of booze in that glass. The club soda is both for much needed dilution as well as to "lighten it up" with some barely perceptable bubbles. Don't think I'd like Sprite. Sounds too sweet. But the club soda works well...

Here you go. This is the house sangria at Amada restaurant here in Philly, in a single batch version. You can scale up if you need to. The most important thing is to keep the fruit separate until serving it, so it doesn't go all mushy and putrid. Use the cheap brandy and triple sec to marinate the fruit and the better stuff in the actual sangria. If you're feeling particularly inspired, you can make an herbal simple syrup to use in the sangria portion. Mint, Thai basil or a light rosemary simple works well in this recipe. Salud! Sangria Fruit 2 oranges, sliced into small wedges 2 pears, cut into small cubes 2 Granny Smith apples, cut into small cubes 6 oz. (3/4 cup) Simple Syrup 6 oz. (3/4 cup) Triple Sec 4 oz. (1/2 cup) Brandy Macerate fruit pieces in syrup, triple sec and brandy (at least four hours and preferably overnight). Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. When finished, fruit should be a bit “soupy” from the juices being drawn out. Amada House White Sangria – single 1 Liter batch 1 750 ml bottle dry white wine 4 oz. plain or herbal simple syrup 4 oz. Spanish Brandy 2 oz. Torres Gran Orange liqueur, Cointreau or Combier Optional garnish – Sprig of fresh herbs if an herbal syrup is used. Mix wine, simple syrup, brandy and orange liqueur. This is the base wine product for the sangria. Keep refrigerated until serving. SERVING DIRECTIONS: Ladle 6-8 oz. of fruit and juices into a large pitcher. Fill with base wine product until almost full. Top with 4 oz. of club soda and stir to combine. Ladle a small amount of fruit into ice filled wine glasses. Pour in wine and garnish if desired. This photo is of a slightly different recipe from a different job, but I thought I'd include it so you could see what the final product should look similar to.

Can I merely observe that you are an exceedingly cool parent? Keeping the after-after party under control and feeding the kiddles so well is just a really nice thing to do. I wish I'd had someone's parent in my batch of friends that took care of us that well...

I always hit up either the Mexican market where they're always cheaper than anywhere else (usually about 6/$1) or see if there's any bags of limes in the Dollar Bags at the produce market in Reading Terminal Market if I happen to be there first.

Agreed. But no publicist worth their ridiculous retainer fees would court the sort of intrusive and seemingly negative press that much of this has qualified as. I'm just tired of the over hyped, over exposed and over reported "story" of absolutely anything, no matter how trivial or inappropriate for public knowledge that has to do with the Olexy/Sikora juggernaut. Over it. On every level. For chrissakes they have a child that will some day learn how to work Google. Does this trail of excrement posing as news need to be out there in cyberspace for that poor child to find?? Children of divorce have it rough enough without throwing gasoline on the fire. Leave it the hell alone already. Amy Olexy and Bryan Sikora are certainly newsworthy, locally and regionally if not nationally, but after a certain point classifying them as "celebrity chefs" seems more than a bit exaggerated. Certainly not worthy of the same coverage as the train wreck personal life of Todd English, for example, who owns a small empire of restaurants in Boston, Las Vegas, franchised in various locations, etc. It's just not the same thing. And his personal life matters not a whit to me as long as it doesn't effect my ability to get a reservation at one of his restaurants, if and when I should desire one.

The prettiest as well as the tastiest cakes I've seen are from Ann's Cake Pan in Horsham. Their work is exquisite and tastes even better than it looks. Having worked enough catering events and tasted some pretty nasty cakes, this company really does great work. Not inexpensive, but worth every penny. They will do everything possible to match your decor, flower arrangements, lace trim on the bride's dress or whatever. Top notch. I'll also second Percy's suggestion for Aux Petite Delice. They do gorgeous work too. Their croquembouche is to die for.

Bob: Always a pleasure to see you and to finally get your expert feedback on the aquavit. The anise you sense is a combination of a fraction of fennel seeds and a single star anise in each 2 liter batch. Surprised you found it that prominent, but I suppose everyone's palate is dialed differently and those things we pick up on can be completely different. My next mission is to acquire a used whiskey barrel and start to barrel age the stuff in house. I think the results of that experiment should be quite reportable. I'll let you know when that's going to happen. Meanwhile, I have to start mass production in earnest, so we can put the Bloody Viking on the cocktail menu and start serving those up with no fear of running out of aquavit...

I believe you've misinterpreted my disdain. It is directed neither at you nor at the News-Journal, but more at the seemingly endless column inches the Philadelphia Inquirer food section seems to devote to Amy Olexy, Bryan Sikora and their restaurants/personal life/professional lives, etc. Who cares anymore?? Let's allow them to live their lives, both personal and professional, out of glare of the constant commentary. Jeezus! I'm so over it. I can't even imagine having my life eviscerated for public viewing and commentary on top of dealing with a divorce and the pressures of owning a small business. Leave them the hell alone already. It's no more or less interesting than any of the other myriad folks dealing with their own version of the story. Pack up the cameras and notebooks and move on people. Nothing to see here...

I'll look forward to seeing you another time then. And yes, that Smoked Salmon Rueben is quite delicious. I'd suggest washing it down with some of the house made Aquavit, and pretend you're in Scandinavia!

Obviously you never saw THIS post on Foobooz dated March 12, 2010, following Michael Klein's report in his Insider blog. Seems you're a bit behind on this particular piece of "news". I'm really not sure why a couple's personal life needs to be spread all over a real newspaper in tabloid-like fashion. Not sure this is newsworthy seeing as how the divorce rate nationwide is hovering slightly above 50% these days. If the average couple has less than a coin flip's chance of making it, it's hardly stunning news that a couple that spends every waking moment together can't either. Bryan is already on his SECOND new job since the first report and his career movements have been over-reported to death as well. It would seem to the casual observer that he has a problem with commitment...