Scoats

Hey Guys, I hope you are doing well. It's always a pleasure running into you. I hope someday we can hang out when I'm not actually working. My question is, regarding pubs, what things have you experienced that really appeals to you, and what revolts you?

I like Ocean City on 9th Street and Golden Pheonix on Race. I'm not a big fan of Joy Tsai whatever; it's OK but seemed a little lesser and a little pricer than the other two. I like Ocean Harbor on 9th. as well Thinking on it, I probably give the nod to Golden Pheonix. Lakeside is supposedly the best Dim Sum in Chinatown. I have yet to go there, though I'd like to. From my experience "Best of" is usually disappointing, but I still want to get there.

There's an extention of Pennypack Park that runs to the river and has massive parking at Rhawn Street, right near where Sweet Lucy's is now. That could be a good place for it. The city is usually pretty laisse-affair about such stuff as long as no one is complaining or calling 911.

I thought the mole at La Lupe was excellent. I had always disliked Mexican food until I sent some time in the Southwest and got some of the real thing. La Lupe on the whole seemed to be to be light years better and more authentic than most stuff that historically has passed as Mexican around here. I do hear great things about the Veracruz tacos, and they are on my list.

Danga! The time is 1:30pm.

DDC DIM SUM BRUNCH We consulted the Oracle about when and where to have the DDC Dim Sum Brunch (DDCDSB). He said "Answer hazy. Try again." So we waited, then asked the Oracle again. He said, "Cannot predict now." So we waited, then asked the Oracle again. He said, "Orange". While that answer may indeed be profound and may indeed be prophetic, its meaning was lost on us. So we consulted a Magic Eight Ball. It said, "Cannot predict now". So we waited some more, then asked the Magic Eight Ball again. It said, "Outlook good". While definitely a promising answer, it still didn't tell us enough. So we waited some more, then asked the Magic Eight Ball once again. It said, "2:30pm Sunday, October 12th at the Golden Pheonix. Price $7". So there you have it, DDC DIM SUM BRUNCH Sunday October 12th, 1:30pm at the HK Golden Pheonix 909 Race Street Second Floor Philadelphia PA. Please RSVP to scoats@greylodge.com by 7am Monday October 6. Rich says to give a phone number, so I will, but e-mail is the BEST way to RSVP. If you absolutely have talk to a machine, leave a message at 215-333-4184. The price will be $7. The service will be family style (but with less guilt and nagging). There will about 14 different things on the menu, and we don't expect everyone to try everything (which is how Herb came to the $7 price). A Voluntary Donation for Philabundance Will Be Collected After the Meal. Thanks and sorry for the delay, Scoats and Herb

It is called the Harmonia Club.

Brynes is a great tavern; I haven't had the crabs there, but I'm sure it will be reasonable. The crabcake sandwich at Byrnes is great. And be sure to get the potato logs if you go there. Don't miss the potato logs! I have been to Bonks for crabs and it is quite a unique treat. They boil the crabs at Bonks I believe. Bonks is my first choice as a place to get crabs. Chickies and Petes, very famous for their crabs, is also another very good choice.

Hey Herb! Business people don't run non-smoking bars for a reason. The market is speaking; I can name only two non-smoking bars in Philadelphia, Brigids (which is more of a restaurant) and McNally's Chestnut Hill (which has very strong food business). Two out of thousands, the market has spoken. There is a nitch for non-smoking bars. Brand new establishments should consider being non-smoking, but few existing bars are going to throw away some of their most loyal customers for the possiblity of new non-smokers. Having separate bars in the same establishment would destroy the interactive social dynamic. Smokers may be a minority overall, but in the bar business they are the majority, which I suspect is due to social smokers, who only smoke in bars or similar environments. As a non-smoker, I'd love for bars to be non-smoking. As businessman I know that ain't happening voluntarily; I also know there will be serious, serious short term pain. Another concern is do I invest $5k in air purifying equipment only to find it obsolete in a year if an anti-smoking bill is passed in Philly? That would be a double loss, out $5K and a serious, serious drop in business. There is an irony here that the potential of an anti-smoking bill may keep certain bars smokier in the short term. Good bars are social experiences. Losing smokers causes a domino effect in the business. Fewer friends and acquaintances in the bar will result in current non-smoking customers leaving sooner, which causes others to leave sooner, which causes...

Wow. So many great tips and those cooking links really helped. Duck at a decent supermarket? That's what I get for shopping at the Sav-A-Lot. I'll check my local markets; I just never thought they'd have it. The Korean market on Castor Ave might be worth checking out too. Thanks for the great responses everyone.

Man, oh man, do I love duck. I want to start making and eating duck at home. I am looking for tips on where to buy duck in Philadelphia (Chinatown is one obvious answer) and how buy it. Most of the ducks in Chinatown shop windows seem precooked, though I assume they would sell a raw duck if one asked. How hard is to cook raw duck well? Is it better to get a cooked one and work with recipes that use cooked duck? Quack! Quack!

Unless it is seeming to operate as a speakeasy, I have never heard of the police telling a restaurant it can't allow people to consume alcohol there. But the photocopy would seem to indiciate otherwise. In the biz, if you don't want to do something, it's easy to say "it's against the law". Most folks don't know the law (there are a lot of laws) and will accept it. Definitely very strange. There is probably something else going on there.

For a mass produced canned lager, I quite like Coors Extra Gold. Here are some less easily found favorites: Dock Street Amber (my favorite) Yuengling Traditional Lager (quite nice for the price) Victory Dark Lager Victory All Malt Lager Shiner Bock Yuengling Lord Chesterfield Ale (it's actually a lager) Saranac Chocolate Amber Lager Victory Prima Pils there's a very nice schwarzbier from the Midwest, think it's Sprecher Black Saranac Black Forrest Anchor Steam Dixie Blackenend Voodoo (but not regular Dixie)

From my experience a regular hoagie and an Italian hoagie are two rather different things (the Italian is much better). Lemme see what I can recall from my college days: American Hoagie: American cheese, balogna, ham, salami, shredded lettuce, tomato, chopped onion, oil or mayo Italain Hoagie: Prov cheese, cappicola, Italian salami, ham, shredded lettuce, tomato, chopped onion, oil, oregano So major diffs are the cheese, and cappicola rather than balogna (baloney). I don't know about American hoagies, but Italian hoagies are best if they've sat rolled up for at least an hour.

Skip the spuds and they are good low-carb, high protein meal. Plus if you live alone you can cook up a pan and reheat all week. Since they are an all in one food, I didn't serve anything else. (all little bit of frittatta with a handful of nuts as dessert is a very satisfying meal). The recipes call for it to be served with salsa and/or sour cream, but I didn't put any out (seemed unnecessary to me) and no one asked for any. I did however serve beer with them. It was a Groundhog Day Beer Breakfast thing. The combos are endless. It's a great dish that it allows you to be spontaneous and/or creative and/or to use up stuff in the frig. A seafood one would be interesting, though would probably need an experts touch to figure out how much if any cooking of fish should be done prior to baking.

I made frittattas for a few dozen people last weekend. People seemed to really like result, so I thought I would share. It is a dish that is relatively easy to prepare, can be prepped the night before, reheats nicely and tastes great. I'm not a gourmet chef (or the spouse of one - hi Barbara!). I try to make things that taste great and are relatively easy to prepare. Somehow I stumbed on doing both with the frittattas. Depending on your audience, you may want to call them just "ttattas". There are a lot of very different frittatta recipe variations on the Net. Never having had frittattas before I had no idea what they should taste like. Unlike a wiser person, I did not allow that to stop me. The first recipe I tried, which I followed to the letter called for corn. It was good but the texture of the corn was very unpleasant. My buddy Lou raves about his wife's Frittattas, so I e-mailed her for advice and she says that it is basically a fridge clearer outter sort of thing. This gave me the liberty to pretty much wing it. To make an oblong Pyrex pan worth of ttattas, you'll need 10 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 4 to 5 cups of assorted shredded cheese and some meat/vege fillers. To make it Mexican I add fresh green chilis chopped up. Here are the three versions I made: Chicken/Onion/Red Peppers - I sauted cubes of chicken and diced onions (with no seasonings) in a little oil until cooked. In a big bowl I mixed the eggs and sour cream, adding some chili powder, ceyanne pepper and a little baking powder. Then I added the chicken and onions, uncooked sliced peppers, 2 to 2.5 cups of shredded chedder and 2 to 2.5 cups of shredded mozzerella. Mixed it all up good. Poured it in the pyrex, sprinkled liberally with the green chilis and baked at 350 for one hour. Ham/Spud/Onion - I sauted the onions and spuds until cooked on the stove. The ham was aready cooked so didn't need any frying. In a big bowl I mixed the eggs and sour cream, adding some chili powder, ceyanne pepper and a little baking powder. Then I added the potatos, onions, and ham, 2 to 2.5 cups of shredded chedder and 2 to 2.5 cups of shredded mozzerella. Mixed it all up good. Poured it in the pyrex, sprinkled liberally with the green chilis and baked at 350 for one hour. I also made a version with cut up bacon and diced onions, which I sauted before adding the common ingredients listed above.

Wow, only there once and you know what the hair ball is called. I'm impressed. BTW how did you like the taro ball? Sounds like you had some excellent dim sum captains at your table. Your list includes some things I haven't had yet.

My favoirte place for Dim Sum is HK Golden Pheonix, 913 (or so) Race Street. As far as must gets or must avoids, for newbies I recommend NOT ordering anything and letting the experienced dim summers guide the experience, since the whole table will sharing everything. Sit back, watch, eat and enjoy. After a couple of dim sum brunches under your belt, you'll be ready to be a captain. I always get Shui Mai. Don't avoid anything. Lately I have come to enjoy what I call the hairball. (I long ago gave up trying to understand the waitresses when I ask what things are called. Learning "Shui Mai" took me years). The hairball is some sort of meat ball (I think) covered with orange hairy stuff. Shrimp ball and shrimp toast are always great. Herb, could you tell me what the hairball is called? For two people, eating as much as we want, the bill with tip is never over $20 total.