Andrew Fenton

Welcome, Megan! Yeah, that can get frustrating. I'd like to say that I just slow down and operate in a mode of Zen-like flow, but in reality I tend to operate in a much ruder way, darting between slow-moving rubberneckers, aiming for wider patches between stalls, smashing little old ladies in the eye with my elbow, etc. (But then, I'm made of pure evil.) Was that snapping turtle live or cooked? Because he was showing off a live, dangerous-looking snapper at the South & Passyunk market one day last fall. (And yeah, those paw paws are crazy good...)

If you don't have a cherry pitter, they're pretty easy to pit by using a small sharp knife to cut a little hole at the stem end, then just squeezing out the pit. I've been buying pie cherries for the last couple of weeks: I made a terrific cobbler, and a cherry cake. Cherry muffins are also really good.

Tinto is now serving lunch. They've duplicated the lunch special from Amada: the "Bilbao Express" is soup or salad and a sandwich for $16. I had the chilled white asparagus and truffle gazpacho, which was outrageously good, rich and refreshing and chilly. And the "mixto" sandwich, with serrano ham and cheese. A first-rate sandwich, but not as unexpectedly, out-of-the-ballpark, good as that soup. Yow. It wasn't crowded at all, whether because the lunch is a new thing (I think it started this week) or just because, I don't know. But I walked in and got a seat, no problem.

Yeah, jellyfish is one of those dishes that sounds a little queer, but really tastes great. It's an ideal candidate for trying before you know what it is... And eat up! Soon jellyfish will be all that's left in the seas!

I think that this is the thread.

I didn't intend to go to Four Rivers on Saturday. We were meeting friends at Shiao Lan Kung, but there was a wait (around 30 minutes) and our friends had movie tickets. So we went next door to Four Rivers, and had a terrific meal. First up: it kills me that I couldn't remember just what the super-good pork dish was. I told our waitress that, hey, a friend of mine says you have the best pork dish in the city here and, um, what do you think it is? She thought it might be the twice-cooked pork belly, so we ordered that. It was good-- less greasy than Szechuan Tasy House's version-- but I wish I'd had a direct line to this thread. Ah well, next time! Next up, I learned something. If you're at a Chinese restaurant where you know there's some good, authentic stuff on the menu, but you don't know what to order, start by ordering something like the whole steamed fish. We did, and it was great: light and slightly spicy. But more importantly, when we ordered it, the waitress made a comment along the lines of "oh, you're serious about good food", and at that point, helped steer us toward some good dishes. Salt-baked shrimp (heads-on) were the best version of that I've had in Philadelphia; small shrimp, both crispy and juicy. Even the missus (who's often distrustful of dishes that involve heads) loved this one. I'd had a hankering for pea shoots (one of my favorite dishes at SLK), but they were out, so we had water spinach instead, which was also very good. We also had the crystal wonton, a dish that sounds like a stripper's name, but tasted great. Nothing all that exciting about it: they're just dumplings, but they were tender and flavorful. All in all, it's nice to hit up a new place and find it to be so good. I'll be back; next time to try the pork...

Funny, I went back to Osteria for dinner last night. As James mentions, it really is a lovely, pleasant space in there, and I enjoyed my meal. As with my previous visit, the food all fell on a range from okay to outstanding: - the pizza margherita was a little underwhelming. The cheese was great, and they used enough good basil to get a nice perfumed steam going. But the crust was soggy everywhere except the very edges. - Gnocchi sardi with peas and prosciutto was fine, but kind of unexciting. - the stuffed baby lamb was quite good, with a terrific spiced, sausage-y filling. - I really liked the sweetbread and spinach salad. They know how to fry up a sweetbread there, that's for sure. Some snails in there, just to make it even nicer. - The pistachio and olive oil gelati are both very good. But the king of their desserts has to be that polenta budino. I really think that it's the best dessert in Philadelphia right now. It hits all the right notes of texture (smooth, with a little roughness) and flavor (sweet, and a little salty), all bound up with buttery unctuousness. It's just terrific stuff. Oh, and they still have the same issues of too many servers all trying to do the same things; for example, we got our check twice. Individually, all of the servers are fine... it just seems disorganized. Not a big deal, really; just odd.

No, as far as I know it's only the moderators who make the big bucks...

True. But to get paid for it?

It's not hair-splitting. Newspapers aren't monoliths; the writers don't-- or as Holly says, shouldn't-- speak with the same voice as the editorial board, who don't speak with the same voice as the advertising staff. There can and should be disagreements between the parts of the paper. And given the difficulty of breaking into print as a food critic, it's a little unrealistic to suggest that a critic ought to quit because of a (perceived) inconcinnity between the parts of the paper.

Isn't that what the eggs are there for, to aerate and lighten the cake? Meh, what do I know? Not much, that's for sure...

Hmm. Almost every pound cake recipe I've seen calls for using butter, not shortening, as its fat. You know, "a pound of butter, a pound of flour, a pound of sugar..."

Neapolitan friggitorie (fry palaces) are a little piece of heaven. After hitting up a couple on trips to Naples, I fantasized about opening one up in the US. (Cf fxcuisine's post on that thread as well). Pizza fritta is only the start; deep-fried zucchini and eggplant are also wonderful. Neapolitans know from fried food!

I don't want to be a buzzkill, but it's worth pointing out that many species of seahorses are threatened or endangered:

I imagine that, if I had to take hundreds of orders every day, I'd probably want to follow a script, too. And as a customer who's primarily interested in getting quick, accurate service, I'm happy to follow that script rather than insist on ordering my way...

From what I understand, he usually doesn't eat alone. So the credit card isn't a problem: he just gets one of his dining companions to pay, then the Inquirer reimburses them.

Presumably the Coke stuff would be connected with restaurants, and not produce vendors? At least, that's what menu boards, seat cushions and clocks imply to me. I don't know where OK Lee or Downtown Cheese or whoever would even put Coke materials...

I was shocked to find some absolutely wonderful Rainier cherries at the 9th St. market this weekend. Produce there is so often... iffy; but these were perfectly ripe and firm, and only $1.50/pound, which is just ridiculous. I'm hoping that Livengood's will have some pie cherries at the farmers' market today, though.

I'm resurrecting this thread to ask if anybody has more ideas about good Chinese delivery in Philadelphia. Our go-to Chinese delivery is Szechuan Tasty House. They're fast and reliable, but at this point I pretty much have their menu memorized. I'd like some variety. Any recommendations?

Seeing this thread last week reminded me, again, that it had been a long time since I'd eaten at Little Fish; so we headed over there last night, and had a very nice dinner. The Sunday night prix fixe menu (now $28) consisted of: - a rich mussel chowder, with little flecks of red bell pepper that brought out the sweetness of the mussels. - a crabcake with a mango/watercress salad and black bean puree. The weakest dish of the evening. The flavor was fine, but the texture was sort of tuna fish-y. - a refreshing baby frisee and feta salad. - a choice of four fishes for the main course. I had halibut, which was served with a really lovely green pea spaetzle and a scallop cream sauce. The missus had escolar, which came with orzo and a little asparagus salad. I thought the halibut was really outstanding, but they were both good. - for dessert, bread pudding and peach crisp. It's a lovely, casual place; the food was good, and $28 is quite a deal.

This is a very good suggestion. When I was last at Rx a month or so ago, Greg specifically mentioned that he's happy to have families in there (this'll soon be an issue for us as well). And it's the sort of casual place where people wouldn't get all clenched at the sight of a nipper. If I remember right, Sara, you liked Rx a lot when you lived here, and the food is as good as it ever was. So not a new, hot place; but an old favorite...

And when he says he had Szechuan Tasty House for lunch... man, HE HAD THE WHOLE HOUSE! ba-dump-dump! seriously, though, it was good stuff. You missed out...

Yeah, that lotus root was really tremendously good. Actually, all of the banchan was really first rate, but the lotus root stood out for me; it was really rich and meaty-tasting. The seafood pancake was another standout. I'd skip the dumplings, though; they really just didn't taste like much. I agree with Diann that the pork belly was underwhelming. Maybe if it had been marinated or cured or something; as it was, it didn't have all that much flavor. The kalbi, on the other hand, was really great. I think we were the only people in the restaurant grilling over charcoal; everybody else was using propane. We weren't really sure why: that charcoal isn't especially smoky. (Nor did it taste especially smoky. But it was good.)

It would be nice, just once, to see a thread like this stay on-topic and relevant to Pennsylvania, rather than spin off into the same old bloviation, fear-mongering and politics. Too much to expect, I guess... Anyway, it's an interesting article. A couple of thoughts: - A foie gras festival would be interesting. (Though how much foie can anybody actually eat at one sitting? Well, maybe I don't want to know the answer to that.) - I'm glad that David Ansill is holding out. Still, as much as I love that shirred egg dish, the foie really doesn't add much to it; it's such a small piece that you don't get much texture from it. Now, the foie gras pate at Pif-- that's really something special. - "Hugs for Puppies" is the most awesome name for a political group, EVER. Hooray for non sequiturs! And puppies! I hereby decree that any political action group I found, whatever its focus, will be called "Kisses for Kittens."

Indeed. I really enjoyed brunch there on Mother's Day.