KatieLoeb

Truer words were never spoken...Carman's is as unique a place as I've ever been. And I mean that in every good way possible... Shank & Evelyn's ought to be up and running soon, but I'm not exactly certain of their new opening date. Taconelli's for pizza is a uniquely Philly experience. If you want charcuterie then go check out DiBruno's. I prefer the 9th street location, but the 17th & Chestnut store has much more prepared foods as well as cafe tables at which to eat your purchases. The 9th street store is in the Italian Market, which is about as Philadelphia as it gets. Check out the various farmer's markets around the city. We have some of the best produce available from within an hour's drive in any direction. Just had some Lancaster County strawberries today that were mind blowing. Oyster House will be opening in "early June" so you're welcome to come visit me for some raw bar, house infused oyster shots and cocktails. Shoot me a PM before you come as I am not certain of my schedule yet...

Ur killin' me...Can't wait to try and merely put a dent in your itinerary in a few short weeks.

Since the beer enthusiasts have all weighed in, I'll provide the other perspectives. Sake is the no brainer pairing. It's hard to find decent sake in PA. Get thee to Moore Bros. or Wine Legend in NJ for an excellent sake selection. German or Alsace white wines that possess a hint of sweetness with good acidity are a natural with sushi. Riesling, gewurztraminer, scheurebe, sylvaner or a fat and fruity Oregon Pinot Blanc might all be excellent choices. Sparkling wines/Champagne is also delicious with sushi, as long as it isn't bone dry. The best of both worlds would be 2005 Ratzenberger Bacharacher Kloster Furstental Riesling Brut Sekt available at Moore Brothers. This is hands down my favorite sushi wine to be had in the general vicinity. And of course if you wanted a cocktail, something citrusy and bracing like an Aviation or even a margarita might not be a bad match either...

That's some drink description...

Chris: Will most definitely be giving the Quatroni a test drive as soon as the bar at work is stocked. I might have to steal that and give you proper attribution in return (as well as a few drinks next time you visit, of course, of course). It sounds delicious!

OK - now I know for sure that no one listens to me. I've been saying this for far longer than Ms. Heller. Check my back posts. Go ahead. I've never been impressed by nor been a big proponent of the cheesesteak. It's been Roast Pork Italiano for me from the get go. But no one listens to little 'ol me.

For future reference I'm working on a BLT oyster shooter. Benton's bacon fat washed vodka, tomato water, lettuce gel and an oyster. I'll report back when that's perfected...

The SNAIL dinner this past Sunday was a special menu for National Escargot Day or something like that. I suspect the regular prix fixe price will return next week.

Just went through this exercise in attempting to cost out fresh squeezed juice for the bar. 24 limes from a case of 60 count limes (approx 1.75" in diameter) produces about 3 cups or 24 oz. of juice. In fact, with very minor variation, it was an ounce of juice per lime. FWIW.

God help me. I've just returned from a session of Liquid Lab with Junior Merino and a group of Philly bartenders I put together at his request. If you click on that link and scroll down a bit, you'll see just a few of the metro shelves filled with more spirits than I've ever seen in a really well stocked liquor store. It's insane. And in addition to all that booze, there's all manner of crazy in season fruits and vegetables, fresh micro herbs, teas, purees, syrups, tinctures, bitters, salts, juices, etc. It's a bartender's wildest fantasy come to life. We tasted through 5 examples each of vodka, gin, cachaca, tequila and mezcal and then 8 of us each made two cocktails apiece with the spirit type we'd just tasted. We only made one cocktail each for the tequila and mezcal because it was running late. We passed around small tastes of each new concoction. That's 64 different cocktails my friends. Plus all that we'd tasted. Then had dinner/cocktails at Rayuela and a quick stop for "research" at PDT. I can't even wrap my head around all of it. I'm roadkill from all that's gone down my gullet today. Thank God we had a limo and driver. There was no way we could have done it differently. What a fun and educational day playing around with fellow cocktail geeks. Exhausting, to be sure, but utterly rewarding. My best effort today was a gin drink with muddled tarragon, strawberry nectar and Canton ginger liqueur. I'll have a recipe for it later when it's emailed back to me. Right now it's all kind of a blur, as I'm certain you can imagine. I highly recommend this experience to others if you can arrange it. Junior is a most gracious host and eager to share both his knowlege as well as his passion for the art of mixology. His enthuiasm is quite infectious. I think I shall send my liver to the dry cleaners in the morning...

Other legitimately respected and objective non-hometown voices have had good things to say about the Bluecoat, so I don't think it's just those of us with the Philly roots singing its praises. It's fared well in tastings in Diffords Guide, the New York Times and Imbibe magazine. We aren't just baying at the moon here. It's really tasty gin, if a different style than London dry... The Hendricks Gibson was sort of an accidental discovery when I was trying to convince a customer to use better gin with the good vermouth soaked onions I had on hand for his Gibson. A quick taste with a straw convinced me I was on to something. I already knew I didn't want to sully those lovely cucumber and rose aromatics with something that would stomp them into oblivion. The onion, on further analysis, seems a natural choice with the cucumber, without obliterating it. Gotta have good cocktail onions though. Those common pickled mothballs just won't do. I can't remember the name of the brand of onions we had at the bar at the time, but they were larger and soaked in vermouth. I'm hoping to source some baby cippolini onions so we can brine/vermouth soak our own onions for Gibsons at my new bar. MattJohnson, you'll be welcome to belly up for as many oyster shot variations as you can handle as soon as Oyster House opens back up in 3 weeks or so... edited to add: The cocktail onions I had at the time were the Sable and Rosenfeld "Tipsy Onions". They're definitely worth seeking out.

Sorry - just saw your reply today. I tend to buy the "light" sauces that have less sugar and calories in them to start, so that helps. I carefully read the label and aim for 30% calories from fat or less. Not too much sugar or HFC. Also the "garden style" or "chunky" sauces with tons of veggies tend to taste better to me and usually meet that criteria. I rarely use them alone, but use them more as an additive, if that makes sense. I'll saute up real vegetables, lots of herbs (fresh and/or dried) and canned diced tomatoes (or fresh ones in summer) and just use the commercial sauce as "glue" to moisten everything and hold it together and give it a more saucy texture. A splash of wine (whatever I'm drinking while I cook) helps too. Then the sauce tastes more like fresh homemade and less like commercial ingredients. It requires a small effort, but is less of a Herculean cooking effort than slicing and dicing for hours followed by simmering for hours. I do that sometimes too, and freeze a mess of it so I don't have to do it again too soon, but for everyday, this is quick and tasty. I'm a big fan of doctoring canned/jarred/bottled food, but only if you read the labels before you buy it and definitely not in a Sandra Lee kinda way. My ratio is 70:30 fresh to commercial, not the other way around.

Bloat-tated. That word is joining the lexicon for sure... Sounds like you oughta just install a salt lick in the house. Although it's murder on the bloatated-ness, I can totally relate to the cravings for salty food, chocolate and (for me at least) red meat!

Greg, I so wish you hadn't reminded me that 5 Guys is right around the corner too. What a lousy time to be starting a diet... I think we need to start a new born again OH thread. Greg - wanna post a preliminary menu and I'll post my Philly Mag interview about the bar? Thanks for the vote of confidence Matt! I know I'll be seeing you with some frequency...

They'll be seeing a lot of me, since I'll be so close by at OH. Looking forward to having lunch there at least once a week.... Mmmmmmm....Chicken Cutlet sammies with garlicky greens... :drool:

Yes. One of the peculiarities of Taconelli's (Richman finds it bizarre as well) is that they only make so much dough per day. You call ahead and reserve how many crusts you want and then order your toppings when you arrive. It's a strange system, but I guess they know the limits of their production and keep quality control by not ever being any busier than they can handle. The pizzas are excellent. Next time you're in Philly we can totally go have some Tac's. I'm pretty sure you'd love it. It's good stuff. Old oven lined with bricks made from lava from Mt. Vesuvius, or some such nonsense. Looooong pizza peel to reach into the very back of said oven that's actually on supports to keep it from bending and breaking. Taconelli's has been featured on the Food Network Best of... program on pizzas, and deservedly so. The oven heats up to ridiculous temperatures and gets a really nice blistery char on the bottom of the pie. There were some excellent pictures in the old Pizza Club thread, but that seems to have disappeared. I think the pics were from 2003, but I don't know what happened to those old threads when we updated the site.

He's right about Taconelli's. The white pie is my favorite too, but I usually get spinach on it along with the garlic, and occasionally fresh tomato slices in summer when they're best. Calling ahead to reserve your crusts is a pain, but overordering by at least one pie makes for excellent leftovers. I thoroughly respect the amount of pizza ordered and eaten for this endeavor. That's dedication.

Thanks Mike! I found out this appeared today and just watched it for the first time. Timing was ironic, but it was filmed about 6 weeks ago, and with production time it coincidentally turned out to appear just after my tenure at Chick's. Maria is lovely, and was a regular at Chick's, so I know her heart was really in it. It was really kind of her to suggest us for one of the Philly Dish segments. I love how pretty Chick's looks in the video. It's a beautiful old bar and I will miss it very much. A pretty back bar makes the bartender prettier, you know... My good friend Phoebe has all my drink recipes as well as a dangerously creative brain of her own, so I have no fear for the cocktails at Chick's, nor the folks that might come in seeking a Front Stoop Lemonade. They can still get one if they want. And all the rest of my "secrets" are coming with me to Oyster House, so I'll still be shaking stuff up and being my usual crazy self, just at a different bar. Philly Dish - Chick's Cafe & Wine Bar

After reading the recent Craig Laban review of Que Chula es Puebla, I had a hankering for some good authentic Mexican food. I was meeting a friend for dinner tonight and suggested we try it out and she was game, so off we went. This is a cute, bright and clean little dining room at the corner of 2nd & Master in Fishtown, just a bit north of Girard Avenue. Service is cheerful and the servers English is very good. We tried the guacamole, a ceviche tostada. the mole poblano which came recommended by our server and a mushroom quesadilla. Guacamole was clearly made to order - still chunky and not too heavily spiced. Delicious. Ceviche tostado was great. Next time I'll order one just for myself. Ceviche seemed to be bits of fish and shrimp nicely cured in citrus and very light and flavorful. The quesadilla was stuffed with sauteed mushrooms and cheese and was also very tasty. But the mole was the star and the best I've ever had. Two chicken drumsticks were covered in a dark and smoky sauce and the meat fell off the bones when attacked with a fork. Platter had rice, refried beans and shredded lettuce with tomato and avocado on it as well. The chicken was just right wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla with a little bit of the lettuce and tomato on top. This mole had so much going on I could barely decipher the explosion of spice, nuttiness and deep cocoa notes partying on my tongue. This is the real deal folks. I asked the waitress who made the mole and she said her mom makes it in Puebla and ships it to them! Her mom must be one of the most prized cooks in Puebla, because this stuff was rockin' good! I've been a faithful devotee of the Washington Avenue area taquerias for a while, and I have no doubt I'll continue to eat at my favorites regularly, but the trip to Fishtown is worth the trouble if you want to have some really well made and authentic Puebla cooking. The menu at Que Chula is quite extensive, so there's many more reconaissance missions ahead to try out the various tacos, tamales and seafood dishes on the menu. BYO makes it nice and there were proper wine glasses if you requested them. My friend and I enjoyed a sparkling rose with our dinner (Yellowtail, if you can believe it, and it was pretty good and well matched to the spicy fare) and service was mostly efficient and very friendly and pleasant. Oh, and did I mention how silly the prices were? Our feast came to a ridiculously reasonable $28 before a tip for all that yummy food. And I still have a piece of quesadilla to have for lunch tomorrow. Fantastic and my new fave Mexican haunt...

Deensiebat, those sound good. I have a batch of strawberry-rhubarb syrup saved from a dessert the chef made that I was going to play with. Mojitos sound like a very good starting point.

The mexican grocer across the parking lot from Taqueria Veracruzana on Washington Avenue has a huge box of dried Jamaica that you scoop into a bag and buy by the pound. It's where I've always bought mine for infusing rum for cocktails. It's pretty reasonable too. I think it's like $6 or $8 pound, which is an enormous amount. There's also a big pot on the table outside that same grocery store that usually has elotes for sale, and occasionally has tamales. Yum!

Stuff is pricey, but oh so delicious. It's astonishing just how good, really good hooch can be, isn't it? The rye is very dear, but the Black Maple Hill small batch bourbon is really good too, and much more affordable. Although Ben Franklin quoted thusly about beer, I think really fine whiskey is God's way of telling us he loves us...

Muddle the olives. And shake, don't stir to further bruise them up. Strain. Then the drink tastes like olives and not like salt water. They asked for a "dirty" martini not a "salty" martini. I can't imagine just dumping brine in :shudders:.

Matt: I really like cucumber too. The onion works in the Hendricks because it's a bit of a "salad-in-a-glass" thing to me. The onion and the cucumber notes seem to work together. Plus, as I said upthread, the alternatives just don't work for me in the Hendricks. But that's me... You could also shake the martini with the slice of cuke and bruise it up a bit in the ice and then double strain it. That might be the best solution in between what you did and muddling it and risking turning it bitter. I just made up a batch of cucumber, lemon and dill infused gin for oyster shots. It's brilliant, even if I do say so myself. I think this flavor will sell like hotcakes.

As is predictable, I can't get that in PA. The 100% agave tequilas start at about $36 and up for the handle. Pretty steep for infusing, I think. I'd love to find some decent tequila of known providence in the large format for future batches. I think I'll have to visit a neighboring state to accomplish that.