Andrew Fenton

Hmm... pawpaw festival, you say? Probably a little far for a roadtrip. But I really am eager for some of Sam's pawpaws; they're the best.

If you've read the threads on the Herbfarm, you'll have seen that opinions are divided on the place. But I went in the summer of 2005, and really enjoyed it. The food and wine were excellent, and I liked the spiel and tour that went along with dinner. It's not a dining-alone-with-yer-honey kind of romantic place, but it's well worth eating there, IMO.

Hmm, that's interesting about the entrees at Lampreia, tsquare; I'd never heard that. For what it's worth, I've been to Tilth (back in December); it was fine, but not really what I'm looking for this time around.

I've been to Lark (a year or two ago) and very much liked it. But I'm looking for something that's a little fancier (cuz it's a special occasion) and more innovative. Leaning farther towards Lampreia...

It's a Kurt Vonnegut theme? COOL. Though I hope that the drinks don't come in glasses chilled by ice-nine...

In October, I'll be out in Seattle visiting my parents. The wife and I are planning a dinner out; because it'll be a rare dinner alone without our new baby (hooray for the grandparents' sitting service!) and our anniversary, we're looking to splurge a little. Back in December, we had a really terrific dinner at Rover's; this time around, I was thinking of three Seattle restaurants I've never tried: Lampreia, Mistral and Union. I'd love to hear any thoughts comparing these places... which should I choose? EDITED TO ADD: I'm leaning towards Lampreia or Mistral, as their menus look a little more interesting. But I've heard that the thing to do at Union is get a tasting menu; true?

I spontaneously decided to head to Cafe Diem for lunch, forgetting that they're closed on Wednesday; bummer! Instead, we tried Pho Hoa, which wasn't bad a'tall. They're running a 3-for-2 special to celebrate their opening, so I have a takeout soup for dinner tonight, or lunch tomorrow...

I thought of that. The problem is that there's plenty of juice that comes in plastic bottles, and water that comes in glass bottles. Now that I think about it, I've seen iced tea that comes in narrow-mouthed plastic bottles; but that's usually produced by a bottler that also produces sodas (I'm thinking Lipton here). So in that case, perhaps the issue is consistency for soda machines?

dood, wtf? everybody knows, the internets is serious business!

Yeah, I know the kid isn't technically supposed to eat salami, but she really fusses when she doesn't get her charcuterie. What are you gonna do? I do draw the line at one cigar a day, though. And oops, of course the chorizo isn't Mexican. I don't know what I was thinking, other than it was very different in shape, texture and flavor than the stuff we ate with the cheese. More like a hot dog, really (and I mean that in the best possible way.)

OK, to bring the issue back to bottled-water packaging: I noticed this morning at the convenience store that bottles of soda and water almost all come in bottles with narrow mouths. (The only exception I can think of is Voss, though there are probably a few others.) Bottles of juice and iced tea, on the other hand, almost all come in bottles with wide mouths. What's up with that? I can't think of practical reason for it; is it just a cultural trope, then?

Oh, totally: that's a terrific dish. I also love the fact that they throw some spinach in with all that bacon and sweetbreads and butter and snails so that you can be like, hey! I'm eating a nice, healthy salad!

I did get to try the food, on Friday night. (It was something of an eG party there: we ran into I_call_the_duck, there with Señor Duck, and met mattohara as well.) The food was quite good; I especially enjoyed the sardines with brandied raisins and the shrimp with (what I assume is Mexican) chorizo: The cheese and charcuterie plate is nice, too, and fits well with the wine bar theme. We had three cheeses (an epoisse that I liked a lot, and two others that I don't remember right now), Spanish chorizo and finocchiona salami. Obviously, perfect food for a baby: Oh, if you get there early, there's a free floor show performed by the waiters; a bunch of young, goofy guys. I think they have a good time, waiting for the clientele to show up... All in all, I'll just repeat what I said before: it's a great spot, and I'm delighted that it's in the neighborhood.

I remember reading a description (possibly by Anthony Bourdain) of a paella preparation involving snails. They are starved for a week, then fed exclusively on rosemary leaves for a few days before cooking. The result is a rosemary-infused snail paella...

Bumping up this thread to confirm that Le Bec Fin's risotto with fricasseed sweetbreads is an outstanding dish. It's rich, with an amazing texture: creamy/firm risotto with tiny cubes of crispy sweetbreads...

I heard someone RAVE about this place three years ago, and I meant to explore. Never did. Forgot about it until I read this post. But like, this girl found religion in La Creole's wings. ← La Creole is a place I've walked by for years without going in, but these two raves drew me in last night. Unfortunately, even after the wings, I'm still an agnostic. They were definitely crispy, but on the small side, and with a sauce that wasn't as spicy as I'd like. Not bad, but on the rare occasion when I'm in the mood for buffalo wings (basically, while drinking a whole lot of beer), I'll stick with Moriarty's.

See, that's why I'm starting the girl on Chinese lessons right quick. I figure, by the time she's three or so, she'll be able to order for me. (What else is the point of having kids?) More to the point, I hope you'll post about what you had and liked at your recent meals. I've never been to that Taiwanese place: what's good there?

A nice shout-out to Katie in the current Philadelphia Weekly! Kirsten Henri sings the praises of the Salty Pomeranian:

If you're able to make it to the South & Passyunk market on Tuesday, Rinner's has had rhubarb every week for the last few weeks. It's a little surprising, since as you say, it's past the season: I don't know what the story is. oh, but if you can't get rhubarb, I MAAAAAAY still come in. POSSIBLY...

That's a great tip, Phil! I remember reading about Hardena years ago, thinking it sounded interesting, and forgetting all about it. So I'm glad that you brought it to my mind, and that I thought to pick up dinner from there tonight. Oh, it's totally true that the place doesn't necessarily look open! I got there when it was pouring rain, and it looked dark and shuttered (you can see from that first photo that it doesn't have windows that open). But I tried the door, and it was, indeed, open. I was glad I tried, too: that's indeed some great rendang, and satay, but for my money, the best dish was the collard greens: all coconut milk-y and lemongrass-y. I looked for the fried chicken-- it'd be fun to do a cross-cultural comparison with American and Korean versions-- but they didn't have it. They did have a very good ketchup chicken, though. The only dish that I wasn't crazy about was the lamb stew, which had a nice sauce, but was pretty much all bones. It's probably worth it to get there earlier in the day when there's a little more meat there...

The Rhuby Dhaiquhihiri (sorry, got carried away with my aspirated consonants there) is indeed a terrific drink, and well worth trying: not too sweet, and a great blend of flavors. More generally, Chick's seems like a super addition to the neighborhood scene. More than anywhere else in Philadelphia, it reminds me of an Italian wine bar: a relaxed place, with a good selection of wines, and a choice array of prepared foods, with an emphasis on smaller plates. I wasn't able to try any of the dishes this time around-- I'd just come from dinner-- but am planning to return later this week to give the menu a try.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you encased a slice of bacon, and a raw egg, in a clear plastic box, and let it sit for a year? This guy did.

I didn't sit at the bar, and that could have made a difference. (When I ate at Fuji back in June, I had a great meal, perhaps because we sat at the bar). That might be worth trying, I guess. Interesting point about the nigiri. It's true that the smaller pieces are more bite-sized. Still, when they're the same price as you'd get elsewhere, and not noticeably better quality, it doesn't fill me with happiness...

No, he's been gone for a while now.

Like TarteTatin, I had a disappointing experience at Zento. We just had sushi: the nigiri was fine, though oddly small. But the rolls were really just terrible: sloppy, poorly cut and mushed on the ends. The wife loves spicy tuna rolls, so we had an order of those, which featured almost no tuna, and a huge glob of mayonnaise on each. Sort of gross, actually. They definitely weren't over-busy: we were there early (5:30 or so), and nobody else was in the restaurant yet. I dunno; maybe the sushi chef hadn't arrived yet?