Andrew Fenton

Helena, if you're ever in Philadelphia, you should check out the Foodery at 10th and Pine. As far as I know, it's the best retail beer store in the city. They have a very large selection, and while they aren't cheap, you don't have to buy by the case (or even by the six; you can put together mixed sixes).

Well, I'm spitting distance from South Philadelphia, and an abundance of Italian butchers. Agreed that if you don't have a good supply then it's better to make your own. And there's definitely a virtue in being able to design the product to your exact specifications.

I like the concept (especially for cookies); but reusing a caulk tube? Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Is that true? I'd heard it before going there, but they don't mention it on the menu. If I were using foie in my burger, I'd shout it to the rafters. Are they afraid of a raid by the PETA commandos? edit: at least, "I didn't notice it on the menu", and I was looking. Anyway, it's definitely a good burger.

Of course, that's just for the sausage horns (two wee pieces of plastic); you've also gotta buy the grinder, which is significantly more. I second Aidell's book; I've made several recipes from it, and they're pretty good. But once you've made a batch or two, it's pretty easy to experiment and turn out some good stuff. What I've discovered is that it's not really worth it to make basic kinds of sausage (e.g. kielbasa or hot Italian); if you have a decent butcher near you, you can get a product that's as good, and as cheap. I'm all about the more unusual varieties (buffalo-apricot, chicken pesto) right now. In fact this: reminds me that I want to do duck sausage next. Do you have a good recipe, andiesenji?

This is a good point. It's legit for the restaurant to ask for your card after you've made the reservation. But if you're not a dummy, you should call them back at the restaurant to give them the number.

A food processor will work fine to make sausage; you need to make sure you don't over- or under-process it, but you have more control over the product. It won't, however, do you a lick of good for stuffing the sausage into casings. If you have a Kitchenaid mixer, the grinder/stuffer attachments work great and can be had for not too much.

Yup, a great thread indeed. And a great resolution; I most definitely don't eat enough soup. So, mushroom soup tonight it is!

Oh man, when I was at Carleton, I always loved the Malt-O-Meal smell: warm and slightly yeasty. The best were days when they made chocolate Malt-O-Meal and the whole town smelled like chocolate-chip cookies. Now, for bad, bad smells, there was the turkey farm outside of town... Yuck. Anyway, I eat a lot of oatmeal. I like it a lot more than I did as a kid (when I would only eat it with a ton of brown sugar, or in instant packet form); I'll pimp it up with some orange zest or dried blueberries or cinnamon sugar.

I didn't notice them salting the sandwich, but they may well have since I ordered it with everything except mayo. I wound up tossing out the peppers and pickles to cut down on the saltiness.

Okay, a good hoagie. I like that they slice the meat right there in front of you. Good quality cheese, and I liked the olives. A little weird that they scoop out the inside of the bread-- hey, those are precious carbs, going in the trash!-- but it makes more room, I guess. But seriously, that was the saltiest sandwich I have ever eaten. It's like an hour and a half later and I've got a huge dehydration headache. Yow.

The wife ate there a month or two back. She said it was pretty good. I'd be willing to give it a shot, if you suggest a date.

Short ribs with quail egg? Holy mackerel.

Are they open on Mondays? Because I'm thinking that that'd be a good lunch in a few hours.

Kewl. Two great tastes that go great together, from two of the great American sandwich cities. Actually, it's a little surprising that there aren't more hoagies that incorporate olives or giardiniera. What's up with that? One note: the street is "Annin". (Mapquest link)

Is White Tower the same as White Castle? Or is it just a constituent part: like, if you had a few White Towers (with White Crenellation), a White Drawbridge and a White Moat with White Alligators, all placed above a White Dungeon with White Prisoners languishing for crimes they didn't commit, then you'd have a White Castle? edit: pojowhosit, now? I just don't understand anything anyone says anymore. Wake me in '05...

I stopped by Ba Le for lunch today and got a couple of bahn mi. I'd intended to take some pictures with my new digital camera, but had eaten my way halfway through 'em before I remembered about that. Damn you, belly! Anyway, the sandwiches were good. I wound up picking out a couple at semi-random: the menu is only in Vietnamese, and the women working there were clearly not psyched about explaining what was what. So I got a "bahn mi pate ga", and a "bahn mi xiu mai". I figured that the former would be, well, pate: it turned out to be shredded chicken. Or maybe pork. It was white, anyway, and pretty good. But no pate that I could see, alas. Xiu mai? Is evidently Vietnamese for "meatball". These were served hot, with an extra dose of peppers: as the Italian chef on the Simpsons would say, "thatsa spicy meat-ball!" Good stuff. Both hoagies were made on feather-light baguettes, with lots of the requisite toppings: cucumber, cilantro, etc. And both of them were only $5.50; can't argue with that.

A year ago we had a 12 Fishes dinner there for DDC. The food was good, but they were clearly overwhelmed by the numbers of us (in a notorious incident, some folks had the soup course recycled as a pasta sauce.) Their bar menu has always looked good to me, and since they have a pretty decent selection of wines by the glass, I've meant for ages to try that. If only I weren't so damn lazy.

A shame about DiNic's not offering rabe. To me, the bitter is what makes the sandwich. (And every time I've been there, they've been out of greens. Weird.) Anyway, is there nobody to stand for George's roast pork? To my mind, it's as good as the best: it's got the slop, it's got the rabe, in general, it's got it goin' on.

Sure; base it around some sort of smoked cheese. I've had Stilton cheesecake that was pretty good- this wouldn't be any stranger. Heck, if you made it a savory cheesecake, the only thing strange would be the name.

That's the same guy. He's chock full of blaspheme-y goodness! Mmm, that's true that Philly pizza-- at least the good stuff-- is thin crust. So if you don't like that style, you're outta luck: try Chicago, I guess. Or maybe the bakery pizzas (Sarcone's tomato pie, for instance), which have a thicker crust.

I haven't been there for years, but as I recall, cool and mellow make a pretty good description. A little bit grungy, as well; mind you, that's a plus in my book.

Ooh, yeah. Throw in somewhere where I can get me a good debris sandwich, and you've got a deal! I had a muffaletta at Nodding Head the other night. It was pretty good, mind you, but not much like what you'd get in NOLA.

Okay, here's the bonus follow-up question: How bad do you want it? What would you be willing to lose in exchange for your desired restaurant? Bonus points for the biggest sacrifice.

First: welcome, Capaneus! (I like your handle: are you part of the Seven against Philadelphia?) I'd partially agree: I'd like a really good Thai restaurant, that does more than just pad thai. My feeling is that pad thai is like pizza: you can get decent stuff just about anywhere. And there are a bunch of okay Thai joints (the eponymous Pad Thai is about the best IMO, and Vientiane-- whether it's Thai or something else-- is good too); nothing outstanding, though. But I haven't seen anything that's close to what you can get in, say, Seattle. Moving on, I can swear we had a thread like this a while back. I'll repeat what I said then: I'd love a good Carolina-style barbecue place. I'll second the sad lack of Spanish restaurants as well.