rlibkind

I concur with Chris. Until we know the price, seek out a backup plan. That's more likely to be an issue than construction delays, since work is due to start immediately after labor day and be ready by end of February ... so it can almost twice as long as scheduled and still be ready in early August. That said, there's no such thing as a certainty. I don't think cost will be.a deal-breaker if we're just using it as a seating area while everyone goes get their lunches from various vendors. I do think cost might be an issue for an after-hours event that would entail kitchen use, extra security, etc. Let's wait and see how RTM prices that.

Spoke to RTM GM Paul Steinke today and it will be no problem to handle 50-60 people for table seating in new kitchen/multiple-purpose room. Expanded kitchen should also be able to accommodate a dozen cooks. They won't be setting use fees until early next year, but he'd love to have eGulleters use the facility.

I'm waiting to hear back from the RTM on costs, kitchen use, etc. I'll post when I've got something more definitive.

I can ask to reserve it as soon as the date is set. The design is finished, but construction won't begin until later this fall, with completion in first quarter 2012 (hopefully before March, when the Philadelphia Flower Show opens at the convention center; that week is the single busiest of the year for the RTM). The multi-purpose room and demonstration kitchen will be adjacent and are specifically designed so they can be used together, the multi-purpose room providing additional seating space for kitchen demonstrations as well as being a group dining and meeting venue. (The kitchen itself will also be home of a cooking instruction business now located in a small space within the market.) But pictures (two) are better than words: This is a rendering of the demonstration kitchen and its limited seting area. Below is a view (from center court) of the multi-purpose room (named for retired Phila. Inquirer food columnist Rick Nichols) with the kitchen located to the far left of the room.

RTM's "Avenue D" renovation will be complete in late winter. The relocated demonstration kitchen and adjacent multiple-purpose room have been designed to accommodate group gatherings, so it would be an ideal location for both a group lunch and/or potluck. For lunch everyone would get whatever they wanted from the vendors, then bring it back to the group room--that is precisely the type of function the design criteria called for. Might I add Zahav as a possible group dinner site? I would imagine this group could go thru a couple of lamb shoulders. I'm hard-pressed to think of another restaurant in the US that does what it does: modern Israeli cuisine.

Simplest easy no-cleanup fish recipe I use is a variation of en papillote. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Cut plain white flesh filets into 4-5 ounce portions. Measure thickness of filet at largest thickness. Cut aluminum foul into sizes suitable for each portion when folded. Oil foil. Place one filet on each foil. Add a couple tablespoons of julienned or small diced aromatic veggies you have on hand (any combo you like of, for example, onions, carrots, bell peppers). Add extra olive oil or butter if you like. Season as desired (fresh or dried herbs always welcome), fold foil securely so there's no leakage, leaving just a little headroom. Place on baking sheet or pan and bake for 10-minutes per inch of previously measured thickness. (This 10 minutes per inch method is known as the Canadian method.) There are plenty of veggie possibilities for the packets. Tomatoes are good if you just use just the meaty part, since you don't want to use anything too watery. For example you could use summer squash if you pre-cook it, but that messes up another pan. Other possibilities: leeks, shallots, fennel, mild peppers other than bell, etc.

Haegele's in Mayfair/Tacony has it. Not quite the same as St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, which has lots more sugar-inflections atop the cake. Haegele's version is closer to original German version.

There is a food safety issue with any meat that has been stuffed, raw or cooked.

There's a lot of regional variability. Maybe the commercial West Coast cherries have been blah, but I've had excellent sweet and pie cherries from one Lower Susquehanna orchardist who sells at Phila. Farmers markets. In reporting on this topic, please remember to state the geographic source of the fruit. Otherwise it isn't too helpful.

yes, if you do not like Viennese food, you will not like Dano's. But if you haven't tried it, you should. Wonderful spreads, salads. I haven't been for a few years but found the "Bento" box funny and tasty. If it wasn't four hours from Philly I'd be a regular.

Enjoyed cart service dim sum Sunday at LuLu Seafood on Olive, only a two minute drive from my sister's University City home. As good as what I've had in Phila., Vancouver and London (alas, I've yet to make it to Hong Kong). Wide variety, well prepared. Best chicken feet I've ever had . . . of course, I say that each time I eat chicken feet at a dim sum parlor. We also stopped at a very old school Italian roadhouse, Frank & Helen's, also on Olive. The "broasted" (actually pressure fried, but that's the tradename the equipment manufacturer/seasoning supplier requires) was quite good: moist, tender, crunchy exterior. The pizza looked to be typical St. Louis Provel, which I avoid, but the red gravy basics appeared to be decent. I went with the Wednesday special, country fried steak (can't find one I won't choke on in Phia.), my sister the broasted chicken. Plus toasted ravioli (not greasy) accompanied by a fine red gravy. Overall all, a cheap meal, filling, tasty. They are what they are and what they do they do well. Just don't expect anything hifalutin'.

For collards I'd stick to fresh (ditto any other cooking greens). And they don't take up much space if you cook them immediately after purchase, since they shrink so much. You can then store in fridge for up to four or five days, simply reheating in frypan with fat of your choice, refreshing in boiling water or even nuking.

From today's visit to Tower Grove Park Farmers' Market, St. Louis: My purchases: a pound of bratwurst, four fresh spring onions, half-pint new red potatoes, half-pint sungold tomatoes (hoop house grown), half-pint blackberries, one musk melon (cantaloupe). The only price I recall is $3 for the blackberries. The tomatoes are deliciously sweet and real. I sauteed the onions and potatoes to go with the brats this evening, all were yummy. This was my first trip to this particular market, since I'm visiting St. Louis for the first time in about six or seven years. It's located in the middle of a pleasant urban park, near this city's renowned "The Hill" district, home to Yogi Berra, Joe Gargiola, Volpe's Italian cold cuts, lots of Italian restaurzants serving toasted ravioli (which is really deep fried), and bakeries selling both Italian breads and pastries and St. Louis's version of German butter cake, which has a variety of available extra sweet toppings and is therefore known locally as Gooey Butter Cake. The market had about a dozen and a half vendors, very little in the way of artsy-craftsy stuff (thankfully), a couple of dairy/cheese vendors, a couple of pork and beef vendors, a few bakers, four or five produce vendors, a chocalatier, and a handful of prepared food stalls (breakfast tacos, grilled cheeserie, lemonade, etc.). All-in-all, a well-rounded market, though it could use poultry and egg vendors (unless I missed them).

I'll toast a so-so bagel, but definitely not a warm from oven one. With decent bagel I'll frequently place in hot toaster oven (unsliced) since few bagels are baked sufficiently (or have enough malt syrup in boiling water) to create crackly crust. It's rare these days to find a good bagel with a thin crackly crust AND chewy interior. And even fewer are properly sized...most bakers seem to think bigger is better. Not true.

In summer I take whatever soft fruit looks best, chop or purée, add sugar and heat. Right now in Philadelphia my choice would be either blue or raspberries. Or I'd pit some pie cherries which have no more than one or two weeks more before the season is over.

Where are you and where is the market?

Seems like variation on Jalapeno poppers, a popular bar food. But rather than smoked, they're battered and deep-fried, without bacon.

As I think I noted way up in this topic, the ICE-20 works great for me. This year I've been making soft fruit sherbets with success: 1-1/2 to 2 cups pureed fruit (before straining), 1/2 cup superfine sugar (I whiz regular granulated briefly in mini-processor), more or less depending on fruit sweetness, 1/3 to 1/2 cup regular (not high fructose) corn syrup, 1 cup whole milk or half & half. The tart cherry sherbet I made last night came out tasty and smooth after a day's ripening in the freezer.

Calling it one of the "worst kept 'secrets' in the market" RTM General Manager Paul Steinke put out his regular market newsletter to merchants yesterday confirming the moves reported here a week ago: Dinic's to Ochs' vacant space, Spataro's to Dinic's, and Flying Monkey to Spataro's. The only change is Spice Terminal's location. Instead of moving slightly to the east so Flying Monkey can get the larger space it needs, it will move to where Steinke originally intended for the cupcakerie: on Avenue D in the space now occupied by refrigerators, behind the wall displaying photos of markets from around the world. Steinke's newsletter also reported that market traffic -- the number of visitors entering its doors -- for the first five months of 2011 is four percent head of last year. The May numbers were 6.3 percent ahead: 533,680. Expect big crowds beginning next weekend when 20,000 teachers descend upon the Convention Center for the June 26-29 meeting of the International Society for Technology in Education.

Summer's bounty of berries and cherries could be found at most markets this weekend. Over at Beechwood Orchards at Headhouse I purchased $5/quart pie cherries, which I'll transfom into sherbet and/or cobbler. Beechwood also had them at Rittenhouse yesterday. Another stone fruit also made a Beechwood appearance, apricots, at $3.75/pint. Dave Garretson didn't have many, but expects more in coming weeks. Beechwood's sweet cherries (red or the yellow-pink Rainiers) were $7/quart, compared to Three Springs Fruit Farm's $8 (two pint price) for reds. (Over at the Reading Terminal Market Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce sold reds Saturday for $6.99/pound, which translate to about $9/quart. His Queen Annes were pricier, at $7.99/pound.) (Garretson said he sells Rainiers rather than Queen Anne's because the latter are easy to "fingerprint," i.e., they bruise as soon as you pick them with your fingers.) Blueberries from local growers are also in season, whether they come from the commercial (but nonetheless quite tasty) South Jersey growers ($3.75/pint, iirc) or farmers market vendors (about $5/pint). Raspberries, both red and black, could also be purchased. Beechwood's cost $5 for a half-pint box. Some vendors still feature strawberries for $6-$7/quart. Asparagus has disappeared for all practical puposes, but there are lots of other veggies to replace them. Summer squashes are abundant, and eggplant is now available, too -- $1 apiece for Sicilian or regular at A.T. Buzby's Headhouse stall today. Green and yellow string beans, sugar snap peas, sweet or English peas (shelled or still in the pod), garlic scapes, cucumbers (regular "garden" cukes, kirby cukes for pickling and "seedless" varieties. The last type makes fantastic "quick" Scandinavian style pickles to serve alongside cold salmon. Boiled new potatoes (also abundant at local markets) makes another excellent accompaniment to that salmon. And you've got lots of choice in greens for both cooking and salads. Beets and turnips are also widely available. Leafy herbs -- parsley and cilantro among them -- are also easy to find now, as are spring onions. If you can't wait another month, corn is available but you'll pay dearly. Buzby had white ears today priced at 75-cents apiece. I'll wait for peak season when even Tom Culton will occasionally sell his (including the mirai variety) at less than half that price.

Since whole fish is 50 percent trim, $8/pound ungutted translates to $16/pound filet.

These days I don't consider sea bass a cheap one, though it's certainly less pricey than wild salmon or halibut. I love blues, but because they deteriorate so quickly I rarely but them. Do you have a good source? Or do you go fishing?

A little bit more on Otolith vs. John Yi at the RTM. Otolith sells sockeye at $17.50. It's normally $15.99 @ Yi, though they had a sale last week at $14,99, iirc. The halibut at Yi is usually $21; Otolith $22. Alaskan spot prawns (U-30) are $19 at Otolith; I don't recall Yi's price, it may be about two bucks cheaper, but it's for farm-raised shrimp, not wild. Now, I think John Yi does a pretty good job as a fish monger. And the Alaskan salmon and halibut I've purchased there have been pretty good. But it's gone through a lot of handling to get there, and any additional handling is not good, especially if its fresh fish, not frozen. Blast-frozen, vacuum-packed fish (assuming it is kept at the proper temperature when shipped) is frequently better than "fresh" that goes from boat to processor to wholesaler to retailer. At Otolith, you are also paying a small premium for "sustainable" seafood. And you also can grab some species you won't easily find at most fishmongers in town. Here's a link to their Spring 2011 price list.

Otolith sells halibut for about $22/pound, about a buck more than at the RTM. Sockeye is also priced about a buck or two more per pound. When Yi @ RTM offers wild salmon on sale, you can save a couple bucks more. And you can't find sable there at any price.

Enter the Sunday Headhouse Square farmers' market from the Lombard Street side and find yourself enveloped in an over-populated mass of humanity, squeezed between Blooming Glen's pristine display of greens, squashes and radishes on the left and Wild Flour Bakery's baguettes and brioche rolls on the right. Wander just a little further down and join the line where they must be giving produce away. Oops. No, it's Tom Culton and Matt Yoder's lengthy stall, filled with exotic produce you never knew existed. And they are definitely not giving it away. In manoeuvering through the Times-Square-on-New-Year's-Eve conglomeration you've also got to contend with double-wide prams and dogs on leashes threatening to trip passersby flat on their derrières. But keep on walking. As you draw nearer to Pine Street the crowd thins, making shopping at Headhouse almost pleasurable. Vendors at the far end of the Headhouse market suffer from their location. Just ask Dave Garrettson of Beechwood Orchards, who saw his sales increase when he obtained a slot nearer the center of the Shambles. So if you want to insure a variety of producers at Headhouse, be sure to patronize vendors near the Lombard Street end for more than tacos, lemonade or a sausage sandwich. You'll find great purveyors of produce and protein. Like Otolith Sustainable Seafood, the peripatetic Alaskan seafood purveyor. Their blast-frozen frozen vacuum-packed seafood is usually no more expensive or within a couple of dollars per pound of the price you'd pay at retail fish stores. And if you buy prawns, rockfish, pacific cod, or sablefish (a.k.a. black cod) from Otolith, you'll be making your purchase from the same people who caught it: Amanda Bossard, Otolith's owner, and her husband, Murat Aritan, who fish Alaskan waters for those species on their 65-foot long-liner. The other fish they sell, primarily salmon and halibut, are purchased from other harvesters who "share our commitment to sustainability," says Bossard Also closer to the Pine Street end is Happy Cat Organics of Kennett Square. You won't find the masses of produce that some other vendors offer, but what you will find is choice. This week Tim had lots of different onions and plenty of radishes, among other items. Savoie Organic Farm is the place to go for potatoes, though that's hardly all Barry and Carol Savoie offer. This past week they had plenty of fresh greens and radishes, but the new potato harvest is getting underway, too. They typically produce 10 different varieties of specialty potatoes, including Onaway, Red Cloud, Rose Gold, Carola, All Blue, Cranberry Red, Butte Russet, and Rose Finn Apple fingerlings on their South Jersey farm. Root Mass Farm in Oley offers all the good produce we expect this time of year: garlic scapes, salad and cooking greens, radishes, green onions, snap peas, asparagus, etc. But if you want to learn something about farming, check out , all about how to use a broad fork to disrupt hardpan.