KatieLoeb

Sorry folks - the bar won't be open before our private event on Friday. Saw a few folks tonight and was happy for it. I hope some of you can stop by on Saturday night and say hello and goodbye. I'll really miss my little eight seat bar. I'm so deeply saddened by all this I couldn't even bear to post until now. As reported, the staff is all looking for new employment. I'll miss my coworkers as well as our regulars. This is just a crying shame...

I didn't have a reaction to accidentally eating the jellyfish at Korean dinner, but remain afeared to eat a whole lot on purpose just in case. The part of the jellyfish you eat is the "body". I'm sure the stinging tentacles are removed, but it's a critter so low on the evolutionary scale I'm still kinda skeered to eat any part of it, just in case. It's the same reason I won't take bee pollen supplements. I'm allergic to bee stings, too. Anyone know how late Four Rivers serves dinner? My coworkers and I will often head to Chinatown for an after-shift munch and the pork shoulder looks too good to resist.

This can be nothing but good news for those of us that have always loved the food at L'Angolo. I hope they can maintain the level of quality and service they've set the bar at in South Philly. I wish them the best.

Megan Kathleen, a hearty welcome to 'ya! Glad you've decided to come out of hiding and play. Looking forward to your future contibutions here. You should try and join us on one of our many eating frenzies that are well announced in advance and generally well attended here in the PA forum. I look forward to meeting you in person when you're able to accompany us...

Since you can speak with some authority, I believe you can tell them how much hard work it is, and they'll believe you, because they know how much time you spend away from home at work, and the kind of hours you keep. Still, I think the advent of the Food Network and the "celebrity chef" culture is a good thing for children. There's nothing wrong with including chef or restaurateur along with the usual choices of policeman, fireman, doctor, lawyer or ballerina in the stable of answers to "what do you want to be when you grow up." Becoming a chef is a lot more realistic and attainable goal then wanting to be a professional sports star or modeling oneself after any of the horrid examples of humanity we have in the Paris Hiltons and Britney Spears of the world. Kids could do a lot worse than wanting to emulate Emeril, Bobby Flay or Rachel Ray.

I have no specific recommendations, but only a general one. A stroll on the Ramblas in the early evening with stops at the local (and perhaps unheralded) tapas bars for a taste of what the natives do. The people in Barcelona were some of the friendliest and most helpful I've ever encountered in my travels. Strike up a conversation either out on your stroll or with the folks seated next to you at the first bar of your choosing. Ask them where to go. I'm sure they'll steer you right. Admire the architechture while you're taking your evening constitutional. The buildings there are just amazing.

Eating jellyfish scares me because I'm highly allergic to their stings. I accidentally ate some in the soup at the Korean DDC dinner at Beawon and lived to tell the tale, but I'm still a little skittish to order a whole plate on purpose.

Toby: Many congrats! Love the name, the concept and the seriousness with which you approach your ice. A new excuse to get back to Chicago some time in the future. I wish you every success, but I'm sure you won't need it. You go, buddy! Looking forward to your many future reports.

Tim, thank you for getting the details for me. I think I'll wait to see if I can find a bottle of the 17 year old at a bar or restaurant and try it that way and see if my personal taste agrees with yours. For now the 10 year old works fine for me. Especially at its current price point.

Can I just say Eeewwwwwww? My flesh crawled as I read that...

In my former days of inebriate youth we'd use the syringe method on oranges for portable screwdrivers. I agree that rum is tastier infused into the watermelon. Now there are so many flavored rums you can get pretty creative with your flavor combinations. I think Mango rum in a watermelon might be pretty tasty.

Ah Leung, many thanks for expanding my horizons, inspiring me and amusing me. Your thoughtful posts, wonderful pictorials and generous spirit will be sorely missed. I always looked forward to whatever you were cooking up next. I hope that we won't lose your voice completely. Best wishes in all your future endeavors.

Let it sit for about a week, then strain well and push all you can through the strainer out of the last bits of peels. This tastes better as it sits, but if you mix it with the simple syrup and more vodka/water to taste it should be fine after a few days. The microplaning seems to expose so much more surface area of peel to the vodka that the infusing goes relatively quickly. Still, I think letting it sit for a week at minimum is good practice. Shake it up every day if it makes you feel like you're doing something. The little shreds of peel should be absolutely drained of color and dead white by the time you strain everything.

Oh yeah. The Eagle Rare 10 yr. old is just delicious. And relatively cheap here in PA (a rarity since everything is more expensive here) at $22.99/bottle. Definitely high on my list of favorite sippin' bourbons. The 17 year old Eagle Rare is also available here in limited distibution, but I haven't had the pleasure of making acquaintance with a bottle yet. At $49.99 I'd love some feedback on it before hunting down a bottle and forking over the cash. My hit the spot drink tonight was a very tasty margarita variation my former coworker invented at his new bar. An Orange Blossom Margarita made with honey, triple sec and muddled oranges and then a splash of fresh lime juice and tequila. Absolutely delicious.

Another one in the annals of the past. Judy's used to make a killer liver plate that I'd get a hankering for once or twice per year. My liver lovin' comes infrequently, but I need to satisfy it when it does. Must be an iron deficiency thing in me... This brings up an interesting question. Does anyone do liver the old fashioned way anymore, or is foie the only incarnation we see? It would seem so from the menus I've looked at. I suspect your best bet might be a really good diner with a phone book sized menu for your liver jones. Maybe Ponzio's or Olga's over the river? I'm pretty sure I've seen it on both those menus before.

Are you listening, Philadelphians? ← We're listening, but the likelihood of something like that finding investors is slim. The amount of space you'd need, the swanky address, big staff/big payroll, the cost of ingredients, etc. makes a liquor license revenue stream de rigeur. Remember when the tiny little space that now houses Snackbar tried to function without a liquor license? Opened and closed in a virtual nanosecond. ← Oh, I was just thinking of a place like about the size of RX, or (the slightly larger and excellent) Ray's the Steaks here in DC. Not the Whole Grand Steakhouse Experience, but a limited menu of the kind of beef it's virtually impossible for the home chef to find, properly grilled, and served alongside (as I believe adegiulio implied) a bottle of Screaming Eagle from your home cellar. ← Ahhhh. That's quite different. And yeah, that would be awesome. I haven't been to Ray's the Steaks but it's high on my list of places to try next time I'm in the DC area. I read "prime steakhouse" and I'm thinking of a dark wood bar, lots of seats, a big staff, etc. The standard Whole Grand Steakhouse Experience.

Are you listening, Philadelphians? ← We're listening, but the likelihood of something like that finding investors is slim. The amount of space you'd need, the swanky address, big staff/big payroll, the cost of ingredients, etc. makes a liquor license revenue stream de rigeur. Remember when the tiny little space that now houses Snackbar tried to function without a liquor license? Opened and closed in a virtual nanosecond.

Corazon Reposado is my fave lately. Siembra Azul is imported by a local restaurateur here in Philly. The entire line is delicious but the Anejo really knocked me out. You could sip it like Cognac. Cabo Wabo is an old standby and Sammy Hagar makes some pretty good tequila.

Howzabout different uses of soy and soy products/sauces in the various Asian cuisines? I always think of tofu in Chinese food and miso soup, but would love some guidance toward tofu in Korean food, for example.

For standard non-Chinatown Chinese food I'm quite fond of Golden Empress Garden on 5th Street just below South. They're extremely friendly, the food is fresh and well prepared, and almost everything is available in vegetarian form as well as standard proteins. And because they have a large vegetarian clientele, the veggie dishes are really good. This is the best Chinese outside of Chinatown IMO, and it's close to home and they deliver quickly and efficiently. It's in your 'hood too. Golden Empress Garden 610 S 5th St (215) 627-7666

Just got back from RTM for the week's produce shopping. Found lots of great stuff in the $1/bag sections of Iovine's and OK Lee. Whole canteloupes, 2 small flats of blackberries, big bag of cucumbers, bags of cherries, and three large early Beefsteak tomatos all were $1 at OK Lee. Found two large eggplant and a bag of parsnips at Iovine's. There will be hummous, tzatziki, and parsnip soup for dinner at my house this week.

Read back through this thread a bit. Send a PM to Cachaca Dave. He's the importer whom you seek.

I do work in a place that is primarily a restaurant with a nice and well stocked small bar. We had a couple come in tonight that joined us for dinner (and had a couple of cocktails at the bar before their meal) and then left to attend the theater (my restaurant is pretty convenient to most of the theaters in Philly) and then stopped back in at the end of the evening for a nightcap just as I was getting ready to close up. The gentleman ordered a B&B. I thought of this thread as I poured it for him... As a more specific answer to your question I've certainly been known to order an Amaretto as a nightcap in one of my favorite local bars from time to time. And this is a place that's mostly a bar (great draught beer, good wines by the glass and fully stocked liquor selection) that happens to have a really good chef and good food. This particular bar carries the Luxardo Amaretto which is my personal favorite. So yeah - folks will order a liqueur in a regular bar sometimes. Sometimes even not directly after a meal in the same place.

God help me, my mother was a cut glass fanatic. I have more vases, bowls, ashtrays and candy dishes than you can shake a stick at. More importantly I have two enormous wall sized mirrors with cut glass edging that hang in my dining room and bedroom respectively. My mom was an Olympic level tchotke collector. Mercifully, she divested herself of a lot of the glass animals and silly figurines before she moved to Philly in 1988. I did inherit all of the beautiful antique barware, two sets of china, the good silver and a few kitchen items that I treasure. The one thing I'll never get rid of is the old wooden pepper mill that sat beside the stove in the house I grew up in. I have several better and far more functional pepper mills now, but I know that one had belonged to my father prior to their marriage. It's one of the only things of his I have. I lost my father at the age of five, and though I still remember him, that pepper mill is something I'll never ever get rid of. Even though it only sits beside my stove now. It's kind of like having him there watching me cook.

Sshhhhhh! The mice are getting paid under the table. They might get in trouble for not paying their city wage taxes....