rlibkind

The best beets I get are red, but not the normal bulbous shape. Instead, they are cylindrical, about an inch in diameter and four or five inches long. Don't know the variety name, but they are sweeter than any other beet of any other color I've ever had. I get them in the spring from Benuel Kaufman's stand at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market, but I can't help but believe other farm stands might have them. Generally I prefer the taste of red beets to golden and stripped varieties, but the different colors adds nice visual variety.

An update just to let everyone know that George's is no more. Never opened for this season, and the building is up for sale. Even if it had a good, long run (close to 30 years), I'll still miss it.

Last time I did that I just mixed the thumb slice into the salmon mousse.

Thanks for the link, John. Very nice article (even if the writer doesn't know that belly lox isn't smoked). And that's quite an ambitious tour you've got planned. Good choice hitting Tommy's and Jerry's. Too bad you can't expand the content to include pizza at Spirito's! Rich, all I can say is: De gustibus non est disputandum.

Everyone else beat me in recommending the Reading Terminal Market, but defnitely go there. I concur in Sandy's caution about Rick's Steaks -- it's acceptable, but there are much better examples. Instead, go to Tommy DiNic's for roast pork with greens and cheese (he also offers beef, veal, chicken, brisket, pulled pork). Fireworks Grill has been gone for about two years; in its place is Proffi's Creperie, which is to be avoided. Rittenhouse Square is a great urban space with people watching potential galore. Mattyson is nearby, but facing the square is Rouge where one can obtain an excellent upscale hamburger. Also close by is DiBruno's Chestnut Street emporium.

Which Best was it? There's Best Kosher of Chicago, and there's Best Provisions of Newark. I've seen both in East Coast supermarkets. In any event, the Best Provisions hotdog in the supermarkets is the same mixture as served by Syd's and others EXCEPT I've only seen the skinless dogs in supermarkets; Syd's and others usually seve the natural casing dog. I'm hard-pressed to fathom the "oil, greasy meat taste" you found; that hasn't been my experience, even with the supermarket skinless version from Best Provisions.

Salumeria was one of my stops today, supplying some of the fixings of a summer sandwich dinner: speck (think smoked prociutto), mortadella, aged provolone. It will go with some tomato from Fair Food Project, lettuce from Earl Livengood (purchased last Saturday), and baguette from LeBus (Metropolitan was sold out). Today was "Third Thursday Producers Corner" at the Reading Terminal Market, with "summer grilling" the theme. Harry Ochs dispensed tastes of marinated flank steak, Foster's a summer salad, honey-grilled chicken wings from Bee Natural, baguettes with spreads from Metropolitan, iced coffee from Old City Coffee, wine from Blue Mountain Winery, and hot spicy pickles from Fair Food Farmstand. Cactus pears are in abundance at OK Lee; the price is down to 79 cents apiece. I'm going to try making a sorbet from the puree, but they make excellent margaritas. What looked like local canteloupes were selling for 99 cents apiece. New Jersey peaches 79 cents/pound, Hass avocados 99-cents each. Lemons three for a buck, limes four for a buck. Iovines' lemons were pricier at 50 cents apiece, and limes went up in price again to 20 cents each, vs. 10 cents last week. Their Hass avocados were $1.49, as were the Califoronia donut peaches. Both Jersey and California yellow peaches and California white peaches priced at 99 cents pound. Jersey blueberries $1.99/pint. The bell pepper survey: green 99-cents, all others $3.99. Frying and hot peppers 99 cents. L. Halteman's peaches and plums still selling for $1.99 ($1.89 if you buy three pounds or more), blueberries $2.89/pint, $4.99/quart. Canteloupes $2.19 apiece. Over at Fair Food project I picked up some plums ($2 a half-pint) as well as the tomato. Ann Karlen was pushing the Meadow Run lamb this week -- 10 percent off. A.A. Halteman has closed down, opening the way for Charlie Giunta to start building his natural meat stall opposite Iovine Brothers. No visible action yet on the LeBus and Spataro moves. Over at today's Fairmount & 22nd farmers' market, Sam Consylman of Earl Livengood's stand was bragging about the celery, the first of the season. The stand was jammed with patrons when I stopped by about 4 p.m.; most were going for the corn. Also at today's market, Carol Margerum and an Amish vendor selling baked goods and produce.

Was unable to find story on nj.com, the star-ledger's web site. Can anyone provide a link? Watson bagels are still produced (last time I checked) at Elmora Bagels in Elizabeth.

Ditto what Jason said. Syd's uses a 5-to-the-pound dog from Best, which I think is a great size -- a full quarter pound is too much, and usually too fat in diameter -- but the 3.2-oz. dog, with a long length, is spot on. Especially when accompanied by a kookamonga.

Center City District. If you entered the "win $X in restaurant gift certificates" promo, or whatever it was, during Restaurant Week, you're on their IN Center City mailing list. ← And if you didn't enter the promo, you can sign up here

Received the following today from Paul Steinke, RTM manager:

I checked and that is the case. George sold it a couple of years ago, but the new owners maintained it pretty well. But I noticed last year that they dropped their membership in the Chamber of Commerce. I enjoyed a meal there last September, but after checking by phone with a local contact, confirmed that George's is no more. It had a long run, at least 25 years, by my reckoning, but it's still a loss.

Yeah, it does look like another good stone fruit season -- other than the cherries, which caught caught in the torrential rains, but those rains, followed by our sunny, hot weather, has been good for the rest of the stone fruit. The early plums have been exceptional (I've never had sweeter sugar plums) and the apricots are pretty good, too.

Early varieties of both yellow and white could be obtained at the Reading Terminal Market this past Saturday (July 15). Benuel Kaufman offered three varieties: white and "pink" flesh peaches at $2.49/pint or $4.95/quart, yellow at $1.99/pound or $3.95/quart. Among other fruits available at his stand: sugar plums, $2/pint; organic blueberries, $3.95/quart; apricots, $2.95/pint (or two for $5); and halved cantaloupes or "honeylopes" at $2 or $2.25, depending on size. I brought home the latter, and it was perfectly ripe. Over at Earl Livengood one of more colorful items was the "Fairy Tale" eggplant, a small Japanese variety with white-streaked light purple skin. It sold for $1.50/pint or $3.50/quart, vs. $2.95/pound for regular eggplant. Earl was the only vendor selling local blackberries, $2.50 for a halt pint. Red raspberries were plentiful at $3 a half pint (two for $5.50 and four for $10). He also had chiogga as well as red beets. Organic tomatoes at Fair Food Farmstand were priced at $3. Mixed pint boxes of yellow and sugar plums, $2.50. Organic blueberries $3.50/pint or $6.25/quart. Apricots $1.50/half pint; gooseberries $3/half pint. When I arrived well before 9 a.m., they had no mirai corn. At Iovine's the South African clementines, this time with a Sunkist label, selling for $3 a box. New Jersey yellow peaches, 79-cents/pound. Corn from their contract farmer, Shadybrook Farm, three ears for a buck. Local raspberries $1.99/pint. From further afield, black figs coming down in price at $2.99/pint, while Haas avocados up to $1.49 apiece. Limes remain cheap (10/1), lemons dear (3/1). On the fish front John Yi offered a good price on dry scallops ($11.99), an item they rarely carry, vs. the $14.99 price at Golden, which always has them. Also at Yi's: a nice pale king salmon at $12.99, sockeye $11.99; halibut $10.99; softshells $5 apiece. Golden still has sardines ($3.99) but had run out of wild salmon when I was there Saturday morning.

The Tait Farm Foods website offers shrubs. I buy mine at the Pennsylvania General Store at the Reading Terminal Market and have enjoyed both the traditional raspberry at the ginger. Haven't tried the others . . . yet. A couple of weeks ago the weekend Wall Street Journal featured an article on shrubs featuring the Tait product. The example of a boozy shrub they gave mixed it with rum, which would have been traditional in colonial and early federal times given that it was among the most plentiful of spirits. They also make a good starting point for a salad dressing; I top a beet salad with the raspberry shrub straight.

Union still has a significant German population and a number of wurstgeschäfts: Union Pork Store 2702 Morris Ave, Union, NJ (908) 688-2628 Fritz's Pork Store 550 North Ave, Union, NJ (908) 353-0650 Lutz's Pork Store Inc 1055 Stuyvesant Ave, Union, NJ (908) 688-1373 Gaiser's European Style Provisions 2019 Morris Ave, Union, NJ (908) 686-3421

SuperFresh on Columbus Boulevard seems to be making subtle shifts in its offerings. Could the center city condo boom be driving this? The line of baked goods has expanded and includes a much wider range of bakery-style cookies and cakes. Also new is bulk chocolate from Belcolade, a Belgian producer owned by another Belgian firm that serves the bakery, patisserie and chocolate industries, both industrial and retail producers. I haven't tried the chocolate, but if it's at all decent it's a bargain at $7.99/pound; SuperFresh had both milk and dark versions, though the cocoa content of the dark was not specified. I try to stick to seasonal fruits, but the bagged clementines at SuperFresh tempted me yesterday. The three-pound bags from South Africa were selling for $5.99.

Went to Ralph's this afternoon. Very good lemon ice. Not too sweet. Bits of lemon zest in the mix, no pits. A little bitterness and lots of lemon flavor. Makes what I had yesterday in Madison look like something that came from outerspace. Ralph's Italian Ices, 498 S. Livingston Ave., Livingston (973)992-2441. ← So, how duz it compare to DiCosimo's in the Burg?

At my local SuperFresh in Philadelphia I spied a new (to me) brand of bulk chocolate: Belcolade. Web research showed this to be Belgian produced by Belcolade, a division of a larger Belgian firm, Puratos, which also has US plants and serves the baking and patisserie industries as well. Anyone have experience with the Belcolade Belgian chocolate? How is it? It was a relatively bargain at $7.99/pound in the supermarket, assuming the quality is decent.

Summer was in full swing at yesterday's South Street Market. Paul Hauser was back, offering both white and yellow peaches. I picked up a basket of five or six medium sized yellows ($3.25, $3.50 for the whites) and while they are ready to eat, based on the one I tried at breakfast today, they could use another couple of days ripening. The whites were a tad greener. Over at Rineer's eggplants and zucchini are a buck apiece. I picked up a canteloupe ($3.50). They also had plenty of kirby and regular cucumbers. I also bought up another pint of blueberries ($2.50 per half-pint, pricey compared to the RTM vendors where they go for $4 or less a pint). I pureed and strained the blueberries yesterday afternoon and mixed it with sugar syrup; tonight it becomes sorbet. At Earl Livengood I picked up some more tomatoes ($3.95/pound) and what was labelled as escarole but more closely resembled a not-so-curly curly endive. Either way the escarole/endive made a great base for my dinner salad (leftover medium rare rib steak from Harry Ochs, anchovies, beets, leaf lettuce, provolone, carrot, bell pepper, cucumber; I forgot to add some tomato). Had I needed some protein I might have tried something from John Marshall, who was selling veal and other meat products as well as goat cheeses. Tom Forest was among the missing. And I was looking to buy some more lamb pepperoni for my breakfast pizza.

Your rant is well taken. And the idea of "local" is, shall we say, elastic. (Does West Virginia count as local? It does at Whole Foods.) The key is whether or not the product is tasty and represents good value. A lot of "local" is, and a lot is not. If you are buying produce, for heaven's sake look at it, smell it, taste it. Regarding Iovine's, some of the produce they get from their contract farmer is excellent, some is not worth buying. When it's good, it's an absolute bargain and almost always less expensive than conventional supermarket produce. Make a judgement based on the quality, not the reputed provenance. I don't buy a lot of produce at Fair Food, for example, because most of the time I don't think it represents good value, though there are always exceptions. But I regularly buy the Country Time pork there, and the angus chopped beef. I'll pay the small premiums because they are superior products. I'll also pay premium prices for some of Earl Livengood's and Benuel Kaufman's offerings; again, that's based on the quality of the individual items vs. what's available elsewhere. You're absolutely right about transport and storage handling. But all things being equal, local in-season produce beats non-local. I'll take Benuel Kaufman's blackberries over Guatemalan anytime.

There are a couple of very good South Asian food stores near Penn. Yup. And you can get Branston pickles there, too.

South Jersey and LI actually share the same geologic formation, i.e., the sandy soil. Not quite the same climate, but very similar, especially in Atlantic, Cumberland and Cape May counties. None of this, however, explains NJ wines.

True, but how about a Rutgers Beefsteak? Can't think of a more Jersey tomato than that!

Actually, Sandy, you can be frugal and still support local growers. Just go for the items supplied by the Iovine's contract grower. A lot of the late summer produce will come from other South Jersey commercial farms, i.e., eggplants, peppers, squashes, etc.