Andrew Fenton

Has anybody ever described a new drink as "tasting like vodka"?

I like German food fine, if it's only for a meal or two at a time. But after a week or so, it gets tiresome: I miss vegetables. Nonetheless, the occasional schnitzel goes down okay, and I'll drink the beer anytime. I'd be interested to see what sort of modern German or Austrian cuisine a Young Turk could come up with. (As opposed to the Turks in Germany who cook up kebabs. That's some good stuff, though.) Most of the German food I've eaten has been in the US or in rural Germany; I'm sure that there are people doing interesting stuff in, say, Berlin, but I've never been there...

But as you saw, they're happy to help you out and answer questions. That's a whole lot of DiBruno's (a quality operation if there ever was one) but also not atypical of Philadelphia. Glad you had a good trip.

There was a thread about zucchini blossoms a year ago. They should be available at Iovine's in RTM, but it's maybe too early in the season right now.

Right, the 2nd and Market area is a really good good idea. I can't vouch for Campo's cheesesteaks (not having had one either): in my experience, their hoagies are only okay, and other sandwiches are a mixed bag. Chicken parm sandwich was pretty bad, but I liked their Godmother (?) sandwich: basically a meatless roast pork Italian, with greens, provolone, roasted peppers and onions. If it were me, instead of Campo's, I'd go to Sonny's Famous Steaks (216 Market) which in my experience puts out a solid product. Not the best, but totally respectable.

Yeah, I'm sure we had another thread about this before; I searched for it and couldn't find it. Anyway, I agree that it's not the greatest flavor sensation in the world, but it's not bad, and it's fun to say "poke". Could it be that Livengood's is the only outfit in America that sells poke? Seems unlikely, but it seems like everybody else gets it au naturel...

Is there such thing as "new, interesting German food" anywhere? I don't mean that in a snarky way (well, okay, I kinda do), but I can't recall ever having particularly interesting German food. Even in Germany. (I mean, unless you count beer as food. Which I do.)

DiNic's is in the Reading Terminal Market, in Center City at 12th and Arch. You should also take rlibkind's advice and get a hoagie from Salumeria. I just had one the other day and, man, that's a good sandwich. The house dressing (mayo-based) and artichokes (which cost a little more, but are worth it) make it like no other Philadelphia hoagie, so it's worth trying for that reason alone.

Interesting. Not a very dense area at all, then. Well, I look forward to the pictures, and the results of your expeditions!

Hi Craig, There's not much of anything in the immediate vicinity that I know of. If pressed for time, you could take a cab to the Reading Terminal Market: that's about five minutes from the Inquirer/Daily News building. There's an okay steak place there (Steve's Prince of Steaks, I think)-- though if you want something REALLY good, get a roast pork sandwich with greens and provolone at DiNic's. If you're short on time, you could get a steak from a food truck. Also, there's an old train caboose in that neighborhood which has a little restaurant in it. I've never eaten there, but it looks kinda cool.

It's... so... beautiful... (sniff)

Also, those plots of land where people grow beans.

Fifi, you can add me to the list of people who are looking forward to reading about your wacky adventures as a 21st century techno-hunter-gatherer. Question: where are you going to be doing this foraging? I haven't been to Houston, but can't imagine that there's a ton of wild space there: are you going to have to go far to forage? Or is is my impression of that area mistaken?

Historically, lots of European small farmers grew grapes as well as grain, vegetables and fruit. They'd also raise animals for milk and meat. So does that mean such a peasant wasn't a farmer? Or that the grape (and fruit and livestock) aspects of his land were somehow "non-farm"? I think not; to make an arbitrary distinction is ahistorical and silly.

Welcome, Rich! Thanks for the information, and I hope you'll stick around. It sounds like there's some really good stuff going on out there at Hendricks Farms. I'll bet that there is a market for the stinky stuff: as the DiBruno's expansion shows, the public appetite for interesting cheeses is certainly growing. I suppose it's a matter of marketing...

Cf. Calvin Trillin's comments about "Maison de la Casa House"...

That's a good point. I was thinking tamarind paste, which would accomplish the same goal.

That's right. Eye of the tiger, Herb!

I've never had anything from a supermarket that was worth trying twice. But bakeries and pizzerias will sometimes sell pizza shells (this sounds like what you're talking about with ASDA-- I presume that's some sort of chain?) Here in Philadelphia, Sarcone's-- an Italian bakery that also turns out a very good bakery-style pizza-- also sells shells. The resulting pizza isn't as good as what you'd get from scratch, but it's not bad either.

I don't know how much it'll sooth your broken heart, but the nice thing about those livers is that the recipe is ridiculously easy to reverse engineer. Since I had it at Pumpkin in the fall, I've made it once a month or so. The other good thing is that since chicken livers are almost cheap as free, you can make a ton and eat the leftovers in sandwiches. Which is amazing.

The key, I think, is eating it at the end of an evening of drunken debauchery. Then it's guaranteed to be the best. pizza. ever.

tahini in taramasalata? well i never! Eh, well, maybe nobody ever. Anyway, I stand by the main point: this was basically onion dip topped with caviar. i find zucchini fritters are always like that. it's kind of the beauty of them--when i was a kid zucchini was one of my least favorite things in the world, but fritters i'd eat right up. can't go wrong with fry! You know, zucchini was the one thing that I wouldn't eat when I was a kid. I hated, hated, hated it; wouldn't even touch zucchini bread. (I still don't like zucchini bread, though I like the vegetable in other forms.) I don't know if I'd have eaten these, but I'd eat them now. Anyway, what's the origin of zucchini fritters? Are they Italian or what?

(FYI, Lula isn't BYOB. But since it's new, it'd be EZ to get a table.)

Ye olde tapas place on the same spot-- Pamplona?-- was the second Philadelphia restaurant at which I ate. So for that reason, as well as because of general pleasure at seeing tapas return, MacArthur-like, to Center City, I was glad to have the chance to go to Lula. The service was friendly, and we were happy to start off with a bottle of prosecco. One of the reasons we wanted to eat there was that we weren't starving, so thought some little plates would go well. We ordered the chip/dip combo, which (pace aliwaks' comments) I thought didn't have much in common with taramosalata other than the presence of fish eggs. I didn't taste any tahini; much more like onion dip with a spoonful of fish eggs on top, served with BBQ potato chips. Sweet and sour shrimp were okay; the sauce was sort of overpowered by tamarind, I thought. I also liked the zucchini fritters: seven marble-sized balls of ricotta served with a nice smoky red pepper sauce. If I'd been served them blind, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that they were zucchini-based. They were mostly cheese; but is there anything wrong with fried cheese? I think not. The other dish we tried was an arugula, blood orange and bacon salad. It was fine, but really light on the orange: only a couple of small pieces. Sort of a bummer.

Here is an old thread about pokeweed. There have been others, but I can't find them... Poke can be poisonous, but I'm not sure just how poisonous it really is. A farmer at my local market sells it sometimes: he raises it in his basement, so it isn't exposed to light. The baby poke is pale, whitish green with a purple base. The advice to serve it like asparagus is about right-- I've steamed it and let it chill in the fridge with some vinaigrette. It's not bad, and has the added thrill of vegetable fugu.