Andrew Fenton

How about that? I wonder if it isn't a transliteration issue. ... and googling "Armenian sausage" turns up the spellings soojookh, sujuk and soujouk. Anyway, I intend to eat four times as much, to account for variations and make sure I've gotten a comprehensive sample.

Well, if there's no ganache, I may skip it myself. But it sounds as if we'll have enough people to make this worthwhile. 12:30 at Zep's (9965 Bustleton Ave), then. Two months...

you know, he's been saying that since before we first went there over three years ago, and i don't believe it for a second. i mean, think about the amount of control he has there, and how much cash money he's making every single night (since after all, he's booked from now till whenever). why change a thing? it's way cool just as is. He claims that he's getting bored with the current setup; that he's accomplished what he set out to accomplish. If that's true, then changing things by starting a restaurant would be the logical next step. It'd also be a way for him to get significantly wider exposure: SK is sort of a cult thing right now, but a restaurant has the potential to be huge, huge, huge. No doubt. That's something which would be lost in a restaurant setting. A shame, at least from an amateur cooking nerd perspective.

Different strokes, etc. I think I've been exposed to Philadelphia-style pizza long enough that I've started to fetishize crust; that's just not DiFara's strength. I haven't, but I'm willing to give it a try next time I'm in Brooklyn (which, unfortunately, probably won't be until July 2006 or so.) What do you like about it?

The quantity of cheese is what turns me off about DiFara's pizza. There's so much cheese and oil on the pie that, while it's all top-quality stuff, it turns into a soup (well, fondue). It's okay if you're only eating one slice, but by the time you get to a second, the crust has turned into a soggy mess.

Well, I'll be out of town for my reunion that weekend... and looking at the calendar, I'm pretty much booked through the end of July after that. Eek!

Well, after all that, the need to accomodate nostalgic friends (we were there for my wife's college reunion) won out over other urges. So, no Portugese this time. Instead, we had some decent Cambodian at Apsara. I liked the wonderfully-named "Strange Flavor Shrimp" a lot, and the Cambodian version of summer rolls were solid as well. Plus, it was cheap as hell: like $11 per person for a lot of food. Can't go wrong at that price... Thanks for the recommendation of Flo's; that'll have to wait until the next time we're in RI, I'm afraid.

I think it's time for another PC2K5 outing. This time, let's expand our frontiers, to Northeast Philadelphia and some of the unusual pizza varieties to be found out there. A good place to start would be Zep's, for Armenian-style pizza. That includes both American pizza with Armenian-style toppings (basturma, soujough) and Armenian pizza analogues (lahmajune, ajarski khatchapouri). Rich has recommended Tony's Tomato Pies, with its sauce-on-top, cheese-on-bottom pizza. Maybe that for stop #2? And a final stop at the Grey Lodge would round things out nicely. Whatcha think? How about a date? I'm happy to do this soon: say, this upcoming Saturday, June 4?

I've noticed the same bells thing in the past. I think (but wouldn't swear to it) that the bells only show up after the review has been on line for a week or two. Why that is, I don't know.

Hot spiced Tang. Okay, not really. Well, okay, really.

I had my semi-annual surf n' turf this afternoon. Semi-annual because, while I likes me some Johnny's Hots, I have to drive there, and I hates me some driving. Anyway, it got me to thinking: are fish cakes served anywhere else in the city? I haven't seen them. It's easy to see why fish cakes are something that wouldn't be super-popular, even though they're not particularly strong-tasting. (In fact, that's my major complaint with the cakes: while the sausage is nice and spicy, the fish cake is kinda bland.) Anybody know the history here?

Vinnie Amato's (between 3rd and 4th on South St.) has pretty good roast pork sandwiches. But they're ridiculously overpriced: an Italian-style sandwich (aged provolone, greens) and a soda is like $10. If you're going to Sarcone's, I'd lay money that George's Roast Pork (in the Italian Market) is open. (George's also turns out a respectable cheese steak.) Heck, you could even go to Wawa. For parking in Chinatown, just go to a lot. There's one at 9th (?) and Arch. I've been consistently disappointed by John's water ice. My vote is actually for Rita's: it's a regional chain, with a store on South St. between 2nd and 3rd. Get a lemon/mango. yum.

Welcome, Poffertjes! Can you explain in a little more detail what chipa is? Sounds like... fried cheese, maybe like Venezuelan tequenos? Whatever it is, "toasty" and "cheesy" sound pretty good to me.

The salt-baked shrimp are tremendously good. Be sure to get them with the shell on. Also, pea shoot leaves, as I raved about upthread. Don't know about scallops on the half-shell; I can't remember seeing them.

On Friday, I just ate at Tre Scalini for the first time in a couple of years, and it was still excellent. We called on Thursday for a Friday reservation and had no troubles. Also outside of Center City, but first-rate (and easy to get to from the museum) is Rx, in University City. I know that I'm in a minority on this one, but I find Matyson to be a little over-rated. It's not bad or anything, but I've always walked away vaguely dissatisfied.

Huh. The name made me curious whether there's a Pennsylvania or Philadelphia connection with Rittenhouse Rye, and it turns out there is. From the Heaven Hill website: Where better to get Pennsylvania-style whiskey than Brooklyn, right?

Yeah, this was amazingly good, and blew everything else we tried out of the water. I honestly don't remember what else we tried, but those short ribs were fantastic.

Eeek! If it'd been a tuna salad, I suppose it could have been interpreted as an over-zealous demonstration that the tuna was line-caught and not retrieved from a purse sein. But what's good for the environment can be a little less good for the customer's tender esophagus...

If you take Amtrak, it's an hour and a half or so, but it ain't cheap ($40 or so one-way). You can take local trains (NJ Transit -> SEPTA with a change in Trenton); that's a lot cheaper, but is kind of a hassle and takes 2 1/2 hours or so. Option #3 is to take a bus: either Greyhound or the Chinatown bus is only $15 or so one way and if traffic is okay, takes two hours. You should definitely come to Philadelphia. Obviously, we'll do our best to give you recommendations; you can probably get some volunteer tour/dinner guides as well...

When I was a kid (in the 70's and 80's), my mother would get mad at me for slurping my soup. She'd tell me that it was bad manners anywhere except at a Japanese restaurant. So of course I spun out all kinds of elaborate fantasies about what Japanese food would be like. Flash forward to my first meal at a Japanese restaurant, circa 1981. I don't remember too much about it-- probably just some Seattle teriyaki joint-- but before the main course, we were each served a bowl of miso soup. I carefully lifted it to my lips, and inhaling equal amounts of air and soup produced a mighty SLUUUUUUURP that rattled the dishes, made everybody in the restaurant turn around to face us, and caused mom to flash shades of crimson only seen on fire engines, traffic lights and a few exotic tropical flowers. Good times, good times.

Does anybody ever make goatherder's pie? With some nice spring kid, it could be pretty tasty.

Glad you had a good time. You definitely picked out some first-rate spots. I'm impressed by the seal sweetbreads, too: if that's not a typo, I'm totally heading over there as soon as possible. Nothing I like better than cute li'l baby seals, what with the big ol' melting brown eyes and all. Two Hands, maybe? Their "Angel's Share" is a Shiraz, I'm pretty sure.

Ooh. I'll bet those'll be gooooooood.

All true. TV has the tacos, PG the mole, but LL has the variety (soup!) and kickass outdoor dining: so lovely in the summertime. Probably my favorite summer brunch spot, the more I think about it.

Hmm. By not stunning, do you mean they don't do a good version of Portugese, or that the food is objectively not very good, or something else? If it's one of the first two, I'll skip them, I guess. But I was hoping to try something I couldn't get in Philadelphia: Portugese is one of those things. Erin, if you remember the spot in Fall River, let me know. I'm down for a hole in the wall, and I've got a car and the willingness to travel...