Andrew Fenton

That's just 'cause you (and I) aren't part of Rae's intended demographic. I think the reviewer nails it here: If I were a lawyer at Dechert and taking out clients on an expense account, I'd probably love Rae. As it is, I'll probably never eat there.

Is it known what sort of food Osteria will be serving (I mean, more specifically than Italian?) I've heard pizza, which is interesting and good. But is Vetri going for any specific regional focus: are we talking Roman style, Neapolitan style, or a more Americanized version? They have a website, but no menu as of now.

well slap my ass and call me Jennifer! I could have sworn... So the Esposito's flava was all internal, then... oh dear... and here I thought it was going to be "Cheesequake." You know, I heard something? about how foie gras is, like mean? to ducks? or something? dammit! first i have to miss the very event i proposed, and now no props. a guy can't get a break around here... haha i kid. i kid because i love. And I give no credit because I love! Well, actually it's because I have the attention span of a hummingbird on meth... well, either way...

That was hilarious. Actually, that reminds me of LaBan's anecdote about that short-lived BBQ place on Delaware Ave., where he discovered that his smoked bologna had a big ol' bite taken out of it. His server, on being confronted with it, blurted out "Well, I didn't do it!" Comedy gold, I tells ya.

The nice part of holding off on comments until the next afternoon is that other people have done the heavy lifting! So here are some random thoughts on our meatstravaganza: I found it interesting that, for me, the steaks fell into broad categories of roughly equivalent quality. - DiBruno's and WF were pretty equivalent in their badness. You could sort of tell by looking at them: the grain of the meat pulled apart during cooking (not enough fat?) and they had a sort of dry, sandy texture (not enough fat!) The WF steak could have been a chicken thigh, for all it tasted. - I actually liked the Ochs steak better than most; it wasn't great, but it was inoffensive. I suspect that it, like the Wells Choice, got most of its flavor from the sear, not the meat. - Then there was another group of roughly equivalent steaks: the Wolfe Neck, Wells Angus and Peter Luger. All of them were pretty good, but I think I liked the Wolfe Neck the best: it had a more complex flavor, with some hints of buttermilk and even fruitiness. - Lobel's was off the charts, of course. I can't add much to others' descriptions of its buttery, smooth richness. - Esposito's was the most interesting of the bunch. As others have said, it wasn't anywhere close to the others in flavor. You can't tell from the photo of the raw, but trimmed steak, but it had a rim of what I guess was mold, that had to be cut off before the steak could be ready for prime time. On eating, it tasted like cheese, or mold, or something I couldn't quite identify for a moment. Then I realized: it tasted like... death. Not exactly as if somebody had sliced a chunk off of a zombie cow as it shambled by, mooing for braiiiins, but somehow close. Presumably, it's intentional-- the steak was fine and all, but it's a flavor that brings you really close to the controlled rotting that's at the core of the meat aging process. And I'll be honest: I'm not a fan. V's comment was that it'd be a good steak to serve with a bordelaise sauce, or in a small amount, in a preparation where it'd pair with other flavors. That is probably right. But it's not a good steak to sear up and serve as we did last night. And it's definitely not a steak for amateurs, or to convert your vegetarian friends! It's meat for the serious omnivore, folks. --- The whole experiment was eye-opening; I now have a good baseline to compare steaks in the future, something I don't know that I had before. Which of them would I buy, if I had the chance? The Wolfe Neck, definitely. And the Wells Angus, if I could. As good as the Lobel's was, I can't imagine spending $100 on a steak. That's just not going to happen, at least in this lifetime. --- Oh, and I can't praise Vadouvan's Buddha fries enough! In and of themselves, they were great fries, but with the aioli, they were stupendous. At first, the ginger and soy flavors gave it a sort of Japanese restaurant salad dressing flavor, but as the hot fries warmed it up, it got more complex. Actually, I dipped some of the steak in it... chock full of decadent-y goodness! --- A steak tasting is good fun, and I recommend it to everyone. Even if the steaks aren't good (ours of course were), it's a bonanza for double entendres. You really can't help it, what with the standing around, staring at pieces of meat... Thanks to dagordon for coming up with the idea! And as always, mad props to Mister V. Adouvan for the execution. And now to my dinner... beans! And salad! And then... a trip to the gym!

Well, okay, let's compare the experience of seeing a doctor and the experience of going to a restaurant. In a great many cases, we accept a lot of bad service and shabby treatment from doctors that we would never accept from a restaurant. Sitting in a waiting room forty-five minutes after the assigned appointment time, or a high-handed bedside manner are just two examples. And let's not get started on all the frustrations and expenses built into dealing with an HMO! Now of course this is comparing oranges with the apples that keep the doctor away. Most of us have much less choice about which doctor we see than about which restaurants we go to. But to return to gfweb's analogy: we might think about the doctor's treatment as being like the food, and the rest of the medical visit as being like service, decor, etc. In that case, even if we're (hopefully) happy with the "food", many or most of us, do, in fact, often put up with a medical experience that is below what it ought to be. Even when visiting well-established medical practices.

Grass-fed vs. grain-fed might make for an interesting comparison, as well as raise the interesting question of whether we ought to privilege flavor or texture in beef. A comparison based on breed of cattle would also be really interesting. I don't know what breeds we were eating last night. The Wells Angus was, well, Angus. But the others... Hereford? I don't know. I'd like to see a national cattle breed smackdown: say, Angus vs. Wagyu vs. Chianina vs. whatever it is they serve down in Argentina. WHO! WILL! WIN!!!

well, this way makes it look a tiny climber planted a flag on the top of the Matterhorn! (Or if you prefer, the Meaterhorn.)

So true. But in my case, I just blame it on a general lack of planning and short attention span. If only my inability to plan out dinner in advance was the worst manifestation... edit: this one's for you, jas:

Yeah, the question of where a civilian can get these meats is something we talked about last night. Basically, the answer to your question is: no. If you want a crazy good steak, you'll have to order it from Lobel's or wherever; bend over your credit card and take it like a man; and then wait for it to be delivered. If you have a connection in the restaurant business, you can get the Wolfe's or the Well's Angus, which are still really good, and are relatively cheap (the Wolfe is only like $10/pound). But you have to have a connection. But if you want a really good steak RIGHT NOW, you're out of luck-- unless you like the controversial "I SEE DEAD PEOPLE" steak from Esposito's, that is. Vadouvan's point here needs to be stressed: There's no reason why DiBruno's should be carrying mediocre steaks from a butcher in New Jersey, when they could be carrying first-rate steaks from a Philadelphia butcher. We should all be writing notes to DiBruno's. --- Anyway, this afternoon I'll add more on our strip club outing; but for now, I'll say that, yow, it was fun. [Andrew's arteries: boo! not for us!] Oh, shut up, you.

I had a cup of McDonald's coffee last week (along with an Egg McMuffin, the shining star in Mickey D's firmament), and it was pretty good. Given that it was less than a dollar, it was very good.

Anywhere? That's a stretch. In Italy, for example, you might see somebody working at a "bar americano" smoking, but anywhere that serves food is non-smoking. And you wouldn't see a cat on the bar. (Now dogs on the floor, sure.) That said, I doubt the cat is a health hazard. Sure, its feet were probably kicking around in the litter box ten minutes before, but presumably they serve the food on, y'know, plates... either way, if you don't like the ambiance, you certainly shouldn't go back!

Breaking news (no pun intended)

This thread-- and in particular, Daniel's comments-- persuaded me to buy a Cameron smoker yesterday. I fired it up this morning to make a couple of Super Bowl snack dishes: - smoked salmon fillet. I cured it overnight, and smoked it for around 30 minutes with alder chips. Wonderful smoked flavor, though not quite the sort of kippered texture I was hoping for. I think it would help to airdry it, and maybe smoke it for a little longer. - chicken wings. Again, I started yesterday, marinating them overnight in soy sauce and five spice powder. Today I smoked them with hickory, and finished them in the broiler. It worked beautifully. No problems with smoke: my apartment smells smoky, but I don't think it's any stronger than when I cook strong-smelling foods. Conclusion: this is a great new toy! I plan to turn it into a sort of stovetop Noah's ark, leading two of every animal through it... Next stop, duck!

Phil's sprouts were indeed fantastic: kimchi and bacon, two long friends, reunited at last! For my money, Percy's dishes won the night, especially the akoori and the dhansak. But everything was great.

I never-- or almost never-- read LaBan. Should I? Am I missing anything?

Now don't be a tease! Bring it on. Sweet! I knew that all those years of singing "Old McDonald" would pay off eventually.

Well, in all fairness, I interpret this not as a "Philly burger" but rather, a "burger that mimics a Philly cheesesteak". IOW, it's the cheesesteak that's associated with Philadelphia, not the burger. And yes, Philadelphia is already associated with that sandwich. Yes, and I note that there isn't a Carl's Jr. located within a thousand miles or so of Philadelphia. I'd like to think that if there were, a "Philly Cheesesteak Burger" would be laughed out of town. (Though I'm afraid that I'd probably be wrong.)

Oh man, that is so true. Hands down, the best eggs I've ever had were layed by the bug-pecking, poop-eating, yard-strolling, early-morning-crowing chickens at a friend's farm. The eggs were bright orange and I'm glad to know that the Omega-3s counteracted the cholesterol, because I must have eaten an entire flock's worth. I couldn't resist taking pictures: Okay, I'm pretty sure that that second one is a rooster. (Hell, the first one might be, too. I'm a city boy, I admit it.) The point stands: I'd feed those ladies a ton of poop if that's the magic ingredient. And if I could find eggs half as good as those in Philadelphia, I'd pay just about any price for them.

Interesting. I read Henri's review somewhat differently. I didn't get the sense that she felt overly challenged by the food (though as you say, others no doubt are). In my opinion, her most trenchant critique is that many of the dishes don't add up to more than the sum of their parts. Take this paragraph: This fit pretty well with my experience. I thought that the pork belly dish was a failure; not because it introduced me to new, unfamiliar flavors (it didn't) or made me reconsider the pairing of bacon and eggs (ditto), but because, as a dish, it was poorly thought out. All three components are good, but submerging the pork and egg in broth didn't add much beyond the challenge of eating it without slopping it on my shirt. As I wrote before, that was my experience with a few other dishes: they had an idea, they were trying to do something interesting, but in my opinion, it didn't quite work. It was telling, I think, that my favorite dish we tried was also the simplest: brussels sprouts with truffles. It's not a combination I'd had before, and it was great. I'm happy that they're trying to do something different-- I absolutely agree with you that there is room in Philadelphia for a wide variety of restaurants-- and I'll probably go back one of these days to see how they've tinkered with the menu. But given the constraints of time and budget (it's not cheap!) before I rush back, I want to make sure that their execution is at the same level as their concepts.

Yes: Connecticut has steamed cheeseburgers. (I don't remember the town in which they originated, and as I recall, there's some dispute there.) Anyway, I agree with the comments about Italian beef being Chicago's signature sandwich. Now that's a fine sandwich.

Good points about alternative sweeteners for pecan pie. But my great-grandmother made hers with corn syrup, so that's what I ought to be using, right? This is an interesting question: I drink a lot of Diet Coke (I'll drink a lot of whatever happens to be on hand), and just about the only time I drink the non-diet stuff is when I'm at a Mexican restaurant, because the Mexican Coke is so much better. I wonder, if a switch was made from syrup to cane sugar, whether I'd end up drinking more sugared soda. But even so, as rooftop1000 mentions, I don't particularly need corn syrup in my canned beans or soup or all of the other products into which it has crept. To the extent that HFCS is an insidious product, it's because of its presence in foods which we don't think of as sweet.

How are you going to make a pecan pie without corn syrup? Mmm, pie.

Empire chickens are pretty common, I think; at least, they carry them at my neighborhood Superfresh (5th and Spruce). Stan, thanks for the chicken season information. Maybe I'll ask about fresh chickens this summer. Pontormo, I liked the small size of the Eberly bird: for one thing, it's more convenient for two people, and of course that's what the Zuni recipe calls for. But I didn't find it to be as tender as the chickens of yesteryear (when men were men, women were women, and chickens were ducks). Ah well.

Oh good, I'll head over to Fair Food next time I'm at Reading Terminal. I don't know about buying unfrozen chickens. My understanding-- but I'm happy to be corrected if this is wrong-- is that they do their slaughtering during one season (spring?), and that any chicken you buy during the year is from a chicken killed then.