Andrew Fenton

I tried to go to Snackbar for brunch today: showed up a little after 11, but the place was shuttered and dark. Does anybody know the story there? Are they still serving brunch?

Be careful. I hear those things will try to eat your brains...

Orion described it, a few posts upthread. It's pickled daikon, I think. What? No Pocky? Pocky is fine. But chocolate-filled tubes called "Colon"? Who could possibly pass that up, I ask you? (Fortunately, it turns out they're actually really good: crunchy, with a nice cocoa flavor.)

I spent some time avec le Monsieur this afternoon. Here's the six piece fried chicken, with a little dish of seasoned salt and a bowl of moo in the background: Six pieces sounds like a lot; this is basically a wing, leg and some random bits (part of a breast, a small chunk of back) cut into near-bite-sized bits. They fry it up fresh for you; a little slow, but a nice touch. It's good chicken, for sure. It didn't knock my socks off-- it wasn't noticeably lighter or less greasy than good American-style fried chicken, though it does have less of a coating-- but I enjoyed it. It's easy for me to believe that fried chicken from a food court isn't going to be the best example of the genre, though, so I'll be happy to give it another try. --- At any rate, I'd never been to H-Mart, and it was worth the visit. It's clean, there's lots of good stuff for sale, and the shoppers out at 69th street are an interesting mix. Waiting in line, I was behind a Dominican woman and her young daughter, who were buying plantains and mango juice, and in front of a middle-aged white guy from the neighborhood, who said he hadn't been on that block (about four blocks from his house) for years. He was mightily impressed with H-Mart, though, and told everybody (including the manager, me, and the other folks in line) all about it. Since I had a train ride home, I didn't get anything bulky or perishable, but I did pick up a couple of items of odd Japanese food. First, curry (comfort food for the missus): Because nothing is more associated with "curry" than Vermont! And next, some chocolate cylinder-shaped cookies: I find these HIGH-larious. But then, I am very, very immature.

At least that suggests that maybe an actual blueberry was involved in the manufacture of the ice... My vote for worst water ice flavor is cherry, which always tastes like something that came out of a chemical vat.

Hmm, I really ought to try Italiano's. If only I had a working bike; it's way out of walking range, and driving (or bussing) for water ice seems heretical. John's has consistently disappointed me. I know lots of people like it, but I've always found it either underflavored and icy or super-artificial flavored. I'm a fan of Rita's, at least their lemon and mango (which is all I get there). It doesn't hurt that there's one near my house, either.

Interesting, because I've always liked Tony Luke's sandwich better, but for the opposite reason. I thought that John's ratio of cheese to meat was too high. Go figure...

It's baaack! This weekend, in fact: I'll have to check the dates, but I think the festival is running from Thursday to Sunday.

He didn't ask us. Fortunately, we're all omnivorous...

Yes, I'm always serving my cats quail eggs. (They're so picky! Like Morris, they are...)

Really? So what does the restaurant do when they bring out a dish and it turns out that one of the diners is allergic to it, or can't or won't eat that dish? I suppose you could take it back and replace it; but then the customer is sitting there waiting while the others are eating.

I'd say the Center City location quite literally competes with Wendy's: it's like four doors down...

I also had a great dinner at M, on Friday night. The folks were visiting from out of town, and I wanted to impress them: it did the trick. Unfortunately, it was a little chilly that night, so we had to sit indoors, but the food didn't need a special setting; it more than holds its own. We let Katie pick our cocktails; she nailed it, of course, with... er... I totally don't remember the name of what I drank. But there was strawberry involved, and tarragon syrup and Pernod: probably the Strawberry Smash rae describes above. A terrific spring cocktail. The tasting menu was a beet salad, then a little quail leg, a really extraordinary piece of halibut, and finally, Wolfe Neck steak. Everything was great, and at $55, a bargain. The one odd issue was with service: the waiter didn't want to tell us what was on the tasting menu, claiming that the chef chose it spontaneously. I don't mind being surprised, but I thought it was sort of weird. First, I just don't believe that the chef is back there improvising: I guarantee you he knows at the beginning of the evening what's going to be on the tasting menu. And more importantly, what happens if somebody is allergic to a dish? Do they go back and make something else, or is the diner just out of luck? It was strange, and a little precious for my taste. But hey, I eat anything; and I wasn't disappointed. Good stuff.

Linky-poo to the article. Not too many shocks there, I guess. Good Dog's burgers reign supreme? I can buy that. The honorable mention list was interesting, too. I was glad to see Grace Tavern: that's an awfully good burger. And Tangier? Who knew? Some places come in for unexpected ripping ("low-grade pastrami" at Snackbar? Ouch.) And I think he under-rates Five Guys: they're competing not with Good Dog, but with Wendy's.

Right on! Bookmarked.

Yow. Ten bones for a steak and onion rings is a great deal. And perfect for those times when I'd rather have a small steak for a small price than a $30 monster steak. Small is beautiful!

Unless they have a time machine, nobody and nothing; it's next weekend...

A lady in the same general neighborhood as La Puebla (maybe 40' south, but I don't remember for sure). She was also selling mangoes, but had a garbage can filled with water and corn cobs. Easy to miss, but keep your eyes open, 'cause they're really good.

Ah, you missed out on the... whatchamacallit-- Elote, I think? Corn cob with mayonnaise + cheese + chili and lime, onna stick. That was awfully good. Puebla's tacos were as good as ever, but yeah, they didn't quite have the portability thing down. Still, I had to get them; my folks are in town, and they needed to try one. The "mozzarepas" were strange; sort of the inverse of the spaghetti at Acapulco, if you know what I mean. My momma bought one; sort of bland, and I'd recommend skipping it. (But $4, not $6). As for the rest, I was surprised that the only porchetta was Cannuli's; in past years, I remember seeing lots of roast pigs out there. I shoulda asked for the extra skin: you did well to do so, sir! Anastasi's mussels won't make the best-of thread anytime soon. Get the soft-shell crab (which I didn't try), or the oysters. The cannoli inna cone was fine, and hey, free! I didn't have enough room left to get the sausage and greens from DiBruno's, but it looked good. --- Agreed that most of the stuff wasn't too different from what you could get on a typical Saturday. But most Saturdays you don't get to groove to the Soul Survivors, or Elvis... Plus it's a people-watching bonanza. Philadelphia in all its glory.

I bought the biggest, most beautiful head of red-leaf lettuce EVAR from Livengood's. Sam was showing off his lettuce; it's been a good spring. Also, more rhubarb! Going to stew it up a la TT's method, which sounds great. And one of Livengood's NY steaks. Yum!

I actually thought the scrapple was pretty good. The missus (who ordered it) didn't, but I think she had never had scrapple before, and didn't know what to expect: it was too cornmeal-y and not meaty enough for her. On the tater tots: they know that they need to be deep-fried, but (as it was explained to us), they've been having structural issues with getting a deep fryer working. Once that's in, I imagine they'll be rockin' the tots. Speaking of tots: James, you definitely would have been fine bringing the boy along. Hell, he could have had a table to himself. I think that even if and when it's more crowded, brunch would be baby-friendly; much more so than in the evening.

I haven't been to Little Fish for a year or two, but I always liked it. It's small, funky and low-key, but the fish is good and not expensive. That might work, too.

Sorry, $20 prix fixe, plus tip and tax and whatever extras you order.

Sheesh! I've been waiting seven hours for Phil A. to post some photos of our brunch at Snackbar, but no such luck. The guy's slipping, I tell you. Anyway, we went and at $20, it is a great deal. The snackburger on brioche with a fried egg was terrific, as was the bloody Mary. The cheese grits were, I thought, another real high point: sort of the breakfast version of their taleggio polenta. It wasn't perfect: I'd avoid the tater tots until they get a deep-frying station set up (they're doing it in the oven at the moment, which just doesn't get them crispy enough). And the custard eggs had a great texture, but were only lukewarm when they got to us. But there are a lot of great dishes on the menu, enough that it'd take a lot of Sundays to try them all. We were also dumbfounded to see just how crowded it wasn't. I don't know whether it's because they don't take reservations, or because people don't know about it yet, but we had the place more or less to ourselves. Give it a try.

Here's a recent Sushi in Harrisburg thread with at least one suggestion.