Andrew Fenton

I believe that Roya now has a hookah bar. Don't know about tea, though they do have a liquor license.

I use mine all the time, but only for those things that it does well. The microwave works great for heating and reheating liquids: I used mine an hour ago at dinner (soup leftover from last night). I use it almost every morning at breakfast for making oatmeal: it's fast, easy and doesn't get a pot dirty. It's good at warming up leftovers, and as Marlene mentions, it excels at melting butter. I wouldn't reheat pizza in it, as that ruins the texture of the crust, but I would reheat sauce for pasta. It's all about picking the right tool for the job.

My favorite food novel! like what Nabokov would have written if he'd subscribed to Gourmet rather than Lepidoptera Weekly. Therese, thanks for the information. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too worried about the effects of the wee baby poke: what I ate was so young, so delicate, and so tender, that I didn't think there'd be too much bad stuff in it.

Two weekends from now will be the Super Bowl, right? That's a reason for Philadelphia right there: with the Eagles playing it'll be right easy to get a good table...

Alas, that was the only reference I could find. But it was part of the USDA Strawberry Improvement Project: you could get in touch with them and ask about black strawberries.

Yeah, it's funny, because when I bought the poke, the guy couldn't stop talking about how healthy and vitamin-packed it was. It was only weeks later when I read an eG thread on it that I learned about its toxicity. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to use lead paint chips as a topping; but I love that crunch, y'know? edit: oh yeah, and dinner? Totally. I'll serve my "Berry Surprise". har har har

From The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology by George M. Darrow (clickity): -Andrew, black belt, Google-fu

Y'know, I bought some poke once or twice in the spring (maybe from the same guy-- I got mine from Livengood's) and I just steamed it for a while and served it with a vinaigrette. It was a little tender, but not mushy, and scrumpdiddlyumptious. And I didn't die or nuthin'. Though for all I know, it may have destroyed my liver and I'll die ten years early. Eh.

How about that. Well, they definitely deserve the good press; good for them!

Soft pretzels are boiled? Not the ones made at Fisher's at the Reading Terminal Market... Okay, not all soft pretzels are boiled. But lots are, as a Google search on "pretzel recipe" reveals. Almost all call for boiling (or steaming); there is one that calls for a dip in water and soda, a la Fisher's.

Yes, I'd never thought salt bagels were unusual. They definitely have them in Philadelphia, as well as in the distant province of Seattle. Seems like there's an overlap between salt bagels and soft pretzels: both are boiled, baked and salted, no?

Yeah, and I always feel bad because I don't go to those restaurants enough. They are good, and damn cheap as well. Maybe I'll make a kebab run this week some time.

As you'd expect: Persians and Afghans aren't Arab, and they're a very long way away from west Asia. It's almost 2000 miles from Beirut to Kabul- that's 500 miles longer than the distance between Paris and Moscow. (Beirut and Teheran are practically neighbors at 900 miles apart: compare that to Paris and Warsaw, 848 miles)

The food is very similar. There are lots of Persians in Afghanistan, and so you'll see lots of basically Persian dishes in Afghan restaurants. But there is also influence from non-Iranian sources: more vegetable stews than I've ever seen in Persian restaurants, and more spicy dishes. If I had to make a generalization, I'd say it's basically Persian with lots of Indian or Pakistani influences. Since I've only been to these restaurants in the US, I haven't noticed any real difference in service or decor, other than that the travel posters on the wall will be from a different country (and in the case of Afghan restaurants, they're a lot older, and sort of sadder).

Thanks for the information, Dave, and welcome! Interesting to hear how things work in Alabama. I'm down in Georgia a lot, and am always amused by how much easier it is to get liquor, wine and beer down there in the Bible Belt. (But that may be because I stick to the wet counties; don't really know...)

Roya on Sansom between 18th and 19th is good. Roya is very good. Maybe even better is the Persian Grill in Lafayette Hill. I seem to remember another Persian restaurant, but am drawing a blank right now. Sansom St. Kebab House is close, but it's mostly Afghan, not Persian. Still awfully good, though.

I've always used canned pumpkin. But now I'm all psyched up to try butternut squash pie: anybody have a recipe?

I've been a loyal customer at Moore Bros.' south Jersey store for a few years now. It's a great company, with a good selection of interesting wines and a superbly knowledgable staff. They're able to talk your ear off about anything in the store, whether it's an $8 bottle or an $80 one, and they don't try for the upsell. Plus, they're the former employer of our own Aphrodite of Alcohol...

Fuel, even: you can burn delivery menus for warmth...

Since I'll likely be watching at somebody else's house, I'll have to make something that's easy to transport. I'm thinking about making a great big muffaletta...

Congratulations, Katie! (this is becoming a habit...) The dishes, esp. the oyster, all sound terrific. And I hope you were rescued from the island...

Yah, that's what I saw too. On this (slightly less crappy) monitor as well.

I had seen a long television piece on Lady and Sons and their exceptionally good buffet ... it looked like something I would add to my list of places to try in Savannah ... Yah, there are better restaurants in Savannah, but the Lady's buffet is a good place to try a whole bunch of your Southern favorites. (Actually, the Savannah Golf Club has a buffet that is-- or at least can be, it isn't always-- better than the Lady's. But you need to know a member...)

A couple of years back, the archaeologists at the University of Pennsylvania Museum reconstructed a dinner held by a Lydian king (billed as "King Midas' Feast" or something of the sort). A local brewery also produced a sort of barley wine to go along with it; it was pretty good stuff. Me, I just want the recipe for that whole loaves and fishes dealie; then I'm going into the catering business, baby!

I've never really understood the "skip the starches, head for the meat" buffet mentality. It's not like most of us are starved for protein, and at a ten-dollar meal, it's not like you really need to worry about great value. Is it just the thrill of trying to pull a fast one on the restaurant? In general, I'm a buffet-skeptic. But there are exceptions: the eGullet NJ pig roast in the fall was a pot luck buffet, after all, and it was great. Wedding buffets have been mentioned, and I've enjoyed some of those. But the only commercial buffet I hit with any regularity is the Lady and Sons in Savannah. The food there (mac and cheese, greens, black-eyed peas, etc.) stands up well to a buffet, and the restaurant is so crowded, with such high turnover, that fried chicken and other more delicate foods are continually being replaced. But that's definitely an exception to the otherwise sorry, sorry world of buffets.