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Andrew Fenton

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Posts posted by Andrew Fenton

  1. Hiya, Jim. Glad you had a good time and good eating here in the city of brotherly love. I gotta say, I'm impressed by the amount of eating you did in a short time: good man!

    One point must be made:

    3:30 Sarcone's Deli: I had the old fashioned italian sub.  Best sub I've ever had.  From the quality of the bread, to the flavor of the meats, to the way the oil, vinegar and herbs ehanced the flavor.  Great sandwhich.

    The best hoagie you've ever had. (And it is, it is! Next time you're in town, get to Chickie's: equally good, and worth a comparison.)

    7:30 pm  Ghigirelli's Pizza in Old Forge.  I've never in my life had pizza that tasted like this. We got a tray of white pizza and a tray of red pizza.  The crust on the red was one of the best ever, and there are just not words to describe the white pizza.  I've never seen anything like it.  Never tasted anything like it.  I don't know how I've lived 36 years without it.  I bought two to go to bring back for the wife.

    I've really gotta make it up to Old Forge one of these days. No excuse for it.

  2. Did I tell you guys that I finally figured out the name of the truck selling bbq at Broad and Germantown? It's called Mr. C's. I know nothing about the actual food, since Nicetown looks nothing like it did in 1875. But I mean to stop by there one of these days, and I'll let you know when I do.

    Hmmm... upon further research, there appears to be one right where Old York Rd. peels off Broad St. as well.

    Yah, there are a bunch of 'cue trucks around Temple Hospital. Also, there is- or I should say was- a restaurant that was supposed to be tremendously good. I can't remember the name right now; but I remember that I found them in the phone book and tried calling several times, but never got an answer. Pity.

  3. Thanks for the welcome, Andrew. I haven't had great brisket in Philly yet, but would be eager to get a recommendation. The pulled pork at Dwight's is quite good.

    Last summer, the Daily News had a piece on a food truck on the outskirts of the city that sold ribs and that was one of their ten finalists in their food truck competition. Does anybody remember the name/location? Did anybody try it?

    That would be Sweet Lucy's, on the 7500 block of State Road. It's excellent; hands down the best 'cue I've had in Philadelphia. Try the brisket there, among other things.

    There's a thread on it; but because I'm a big loser, I can't find it. Somebody else will provide a link, no doubt.

  4. Welcome to eGullet, Greg!

    I've heard good things about Dwights. Oughta give them a try one of these days.

    I'm with you on preferring pork to ribs, by the way. You can't beat a good pulled pork, or brisket. Oh no.

  5. I never had bread pudding, before, but a friend brought a tray of his Mom's beloved recipe to my place for a Bachelor's Thanksgiving. Much drinking and Ken Griffey Jr. baseball later and the guests leave and I crash. I wake up and see the tray of bread pudding on the counter. I eat it.

    Three days of agony. Lying on the couch too ill to watch TV because it would make me dizzy and sick. Shaking, sweating, freezing. Bi-directional vomitting. Complete and total incapacitance.

    I don't get it. Why would bread pudding do that. Was it rotten?

    Andrew, have you ever made bread pudding? Eggs, milk, bread -- the devil's playground, especially if left out on the counter, unrefrigerated, overnight. :sad:

    Oh yeah; left out overnight. Wasn't paying attention. That'd do it, wouldn't it? D'oh!

    Well, here's my own story. I made a peach cobbler for dessert tonight. Recipe? Who needs it; I've made it dozens of times. Got it out of the oven, nice and bubbling: not quite as browned as it could be, but what the heck. I decide to take a li'l nibble of the cobbler, just to make sure it wasn't poisoned...

    Forgot to add butter to the biscuit dough. Yeah, those cobbles could, in fact, be used to pave the street outside my apartment...

  6. Y'all have inspired me to make a gumbo tonight. Looking through the refrigerator, I see the following leftovers:

    homemade sausage (buffalo-bacon-apricot)

    a chicken cutlet

    most of a can of crushed tomatoes

    green peppers, just starting to go

    a mixed-six of bottles of Yards beer (for me, not for the gumbo)

    Once I pick up some shrimp and some okra (if the stuff at the store looks good) I'll be in business!

  7. It's true: Katie was like a twelve-year-old at a Hanson concert, all screaming, crying, jumping up and down and whatnot. With good reason; all the Aussies (and the Jerseyites) were very cool, and it was great to meet them. By the end of dinner there were so many glasses on the table that you couldn't reach for your fork without playing a little tune. Hooray for wine geekery, I say!

    This was my introduction to Me Toujours, and it was every bit as good as I've heard for years now. My bouillabaisse entree was as wonderful a mix of French and Vietnamese as you could ask for: ultra-fresh fish, scallops, shrimp and a lobster tail, with a rich broth, served over cellophane noodles. And the "golden packets" are like little UPS deliveries from culinary heaven ("Why yes! I'd be happy to sign for those packets!")

    Absolutely a lovely evening; who could ask for more?

  8. I do find them lamentable, however, because of their economic impact. You rightly point out that the popularity of chains
    [l]eaves empty seats at good restaurants for the rest of us.

    But if there are too many empty seats, those good restaurants may close for lack of business. Their customer base has been drained away by the chains.

    I can't get too worked up about the "chain invasion". Philadelphia is a big city, with a big restaurant ecosystem, and I don't see any empirical reason to believe that independent restaurants are being pushed out by chains. At the same time that these chains have been opening up in Center City, there have been even more new, independent restaurant openings in the same area. And you know what? The good ones, at least, seem to be doing well. So I don't really see the problem.

  9. I never had bread pudding, before, but a friend brought a tray of his Mom's beloved recipe to my place for a Bachelor's Thanksgiving. Much drinking and Ken Griffey Jr. baseball later and the guests leave and I crash. I wake up and see the tray of bread pudding on the counter. I eat it.

    Three days of agony. Lying on the couch too ill to watch TV because it would make me dizzy and sick. Shaking, sweating, freezing. Bi-directional vomitting. Complete and total incapacitance.

    I don't get it. Why would bread pudding do that. Was it rotten?

  10. I picked up some Boylan's Sugar Cane Cola at Trader Joe's the other day. It's not bad- strong cinnamon taste- but I'm afraid to say that I can't really tell the difference between cane sweetener and corn syrup. (I don't drink enough sugar cola, for one thing.) But at least it comes in a glass bottle.

  11. Well, Calabash is famous for seafood, of course; but I've never been there.

    I had one really memorable meal in Southport, at the Yacht Basin Provision Co. It's a little divey place at the harbor with great, super-fresh seafood and a funky vibe.

    There are some good restaurants in Wilmington. You might think about heading up there as well. (And if you do, make sure you take a walking tour; it's definitely worthwhile).

  12. Inspired by Scoats's post, I managed to make it over to Sammy's for an early dinner tonight. Interesting decor: the restaurant is divided roughly into thirds. The first part is a restaurant with booths and kind of a neat maze-like layout. There's also an outdoor bar area, and in the back, facing the river, a beach, complete with umbrellas, outdoor tables, a sand volleyball court (!) and a fiberglass waterfall; all presumably left over from Maui.

    We sat on the beach. It's the first time I've been able to sit outside and look out on a body of water in Philly. Very nice. We took our shoes off, let the sand get between our toes, and stared off into the distance at Camden. Also very nice.

    Service was okay: somehow we didn't get assigned a server, so had to flag down a waitress and convince her to serve us. After that it was fine.

    The barbecue was average. The Memphis ribs were the best, with a decent smoky flavor (according to the menu, they use pecan wood), but the rub was extremely salty. The brisket was all right, but I really didn't like the pulled pork: it's mixed together with the sauce, which I found actively bad (in Beth's description, "tastes like Bullseye"). As Scoats said, the food is reasonably priced: around $10-15 for a BBQ platter. Beer is relatively expensive, though.

    I'd go back, mostly to sit outside at the bar. They have a happy hour on weeknights (5-7 PM) with half-priced drinks. That's the way to go; sit outside, watch New Jersey painted by the rays of the setting sun, drink a beer and maybe eat a little 'cue.

  13. I roast chicken breasts on the bone, then skin and rip into bite-sized chunks (or cut the meat up for neater presentation). Mix together mayonaise and dijon mustard to taste (I like mine heavy on the dijon), add tarragon and a pinch of kosher salt. Blanch freshly shelled spring peas, shock peas in ice water. Mix chicken, peas, and mayo/dijon mixture.

    This sounds great! And it doesn't hurt that I already have a bunch of tarragon that I need to use up. Also, come to think of it, I've got a bunch of peas that I need to shell and cook...

  14. The menu is amazingly deep and to me Sammys seemed at first to be part of a national chain with years of experience creating "experiences". This place is not an "experience" but a nice real organic place.

    Thanks for checking them out, Scoats. They sent us a menu a while back: it's very slickly produced, which also made me assume that it's a chain. Interesting to see that it's not. I'll give them a try sometime soon.

    Question, to help a nouveau-Philadelphian out: what were Maui and Philly Rock? Restaurants? Clubs?

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