mrbigjas

it doesn't seem to have its own topic, so a quick question for those of you who have been there: inappropriate for a one year-old if we're going for an early dinner (like 630 early, not like 5 early)? i don't have a sense of a) how bar-like it is, and b) how upscale it is.

franci's recipe for puglian focaccia here.

i got the same answer from the manager at the TJs here in philadelphia.

we were in gettysburg in june. we stopped by el costeno, but the place was empty and kinda dark and uninviting from the outside, so we didn't bother. so we went up to appalaichan brewing co. i've had their beers plenty of times, and consider them mostly pretty good but not memorably so. for some reason that evening i really enjoyed them, though. the food, not so much. it was edible, but not good per se. kinda the standard brewpub fare. good coffee the next morning at the ragged edge on chambersburg st, though.

i would too, since we're heading down there next week....

sometimes we stop by tortillas on york road in willow grove. which, you know, looks like a cheezball tex-mex place from the menu, but i've seen the mexican ladies making the tortillas in the back, and the tacos are the real deal. order carnitas tacos, go to the salsa bar and heat them up, and you're good to go. ok i know that isn't the kind of fancy place we usually discuss on here. but still.

i stopped down for lunch at osteria yesterday, and had a dish of the spaghetti 'carbonara with parsley and mussels.' it tasted good, but was insanely oversauced. like, villa di roma style saucing. when i finished, there was a big ol' puddle of sauce in the bottom of the bowl. i mean, i guess it's kinda crazy to expect lunch to be as consistent as the dinners i've had there, but still it costs enough that a mistake like that seems weird. i still like it though. the place, the food in general.

today at the terminal i had yet another instance of 'if you can find it somewhere else, dibruno's will always cost more': amore tomato paste. you know the stuff, it's the usual tomato paste you see in all the markets. at salumeria: $3.99. at dibruno's $6.99. i mean, come ON, dibruno's. it's tomato paste. also had a pretzel from fisher's today, which i haven't done in a while. hot out of the oven -- like so hot you could barely hold it. fantastic. the boy scarfed a bunch of it once it cooled...

the food trucks at penn usually had gyro meat in boxes, pre-sliced (and actually i assume pre-cooked as well, considering how long they grilled them) that they used to cook on the grill. i wonder where they got them. mighta been from parthenon, but i don't know who the retailer would be in town. (edited to change link to what i was actually looking for)

look at the pic again, cap -- it's spanish chorizo.

there are always several babies at apamate at brunchtime.

i demand an apology for his 'lighten up' comment. i don't think i've posted seriously on the internets since approximately 1995. expect my lawsuit, with a demand for a photographed, in-person deposition, forthwith.

OMG ARE YOU FEEDING THAT TINY BABY CURED MEAT?

it was one of the saddest days of my beer drinking career when i learned -- i think from the bartender at black sheep at the time -- that yuengling was no longer making chesterfield on tap. it was my go-to beer at tangiers for years, and at standard tap when they first opened, and at black sheep when they had it. it's one of those big business tragedies, never thinking of the little guy--what about MY needs?

hey i had a roast pork with broccoli rabe at dinic's yesterday. FANTASTIC. the bread is back to the kind i like too. it's been a couple months since i had a sandwich from there and it's even better than i remember. jtnicolosi, if you're still around, thank you!

totally -- maybe you can revive this thread right here where we talk about what restaurant is good at what dish...

that's a real bummer. i hate it when things work out so that it's not that you're afraid to speak up, but it never seems like the right time to do so, and then the meal's over and you end up pissed off. maybe a letter to management would help in some way? we were there last night as well, and had a really nice time, including a comped appetizer when they were about 15 minutes late with our table.

not on page 2

all i know is that if i got a steak and it had the marbling that steak has on the first page here, i would be seriously freaked out.

hm, good point. i wonder what the capacity of mine is. but it's OK, it's always half empty anyway. and having even less space would be good. more frequent shopping. maybe a separate drink fridge for beer and wine. i still think it's neat.

very cool tangaloor, thanks! that definitely wasn't the company i was thinking of in #2, but it looks more along the lines of what i'd like.

that was what i tried to order -- pho dac biet. i'll head back there soon and figure this all out...

1. when i was in spain a couple years ago, i noticed these great refrigerators--they were basically taller and narrower than most american refrigerators. just right for someone like me who lives in a house that's about 1000 sq. ft. and i said, someday when i replace my fridge, i'm getting something like that. so i'm not really in a fridge replacing mode, but i'm in the early stages of kitchen planning, so i'm googling around for something like that and come up with this: http://www.conservrefrigerators.com/conserv.html which is shaped like that (only 24" wide, but nearly 7 ft tall), and is also supposed to be super energy efficient and all. any of you seen these? 2. several years ago here on eg, i remember a fridge thread where people were discussing these fancy schmancy fridges that look like cabinets, including having glass doors and nice latches and everything. but the key thing i remember about them was that the compressor is a separate unit that you can mount outside your house like a central air conditioner or something--again, an interesting option for a small house, when it comes to noise and heat issues. anyway, all my googling on eg isn't turning up that thread, nor is it turning up a website. i must be losing it, because it wouldn't seem that this would be that hard to find. anyone know anything about these, or similar things?

yeah that was my point, really: when you make pho, you buy the noodles, you slice some crappy beef (really is there any other use for eye round?) and throw it in raw, you put in tripe that's pre-cooked, you put in tendon that's pre-cooked, you put in slices of the brisket and bottom round you made the broth with--none of that is the responsibility of the pho place, and none of it makes any difference to the quality of the soup. only the broth is what's important. and truly cafe diem rocks the house. really the clarity of it is what caught me off guard -- i'm used to pho being a little cloudy. it's probably one of those things where you make it with whatever's there that day. out of star anise? well, we'll get it for tomorrow. yeah they were like bun bo hue noodles. i gotta get back down there, see what happens when i'm not getting end-of-the-day leftovers. pho is one of those things i always debate making, but haven't because, why should i?

well i happened to have a little time to myself today so i stopped down at cafe diem, and got the pho dac biet. today though, i was a little late, and she told me they had no pho tai. no beef, she said. i said, do you have anything left for the dac biet? she said, sure! and i got a bowl with a nice pile of the crunchy flank and pieces of the bottom round or whatever they used to make it in it. just no raw eye round added, which is fine with me. no tendon or tripe, either, though. i don't know if that was an assumption on her part or what. too bad, though. anyway the important part of any pho is the broth, since anyone can slice some raw beef and tripe, and this was indeed really good, and pretty darn spicy. it had a great beef flavor, and also wasn't cloudy like pho can be. that is awesome, and shows care in making it. on the other hand, i think i like a little more anise to it though, and i didn't like the kind of noodles they used. i like those skinny slightly chewy almost translucent noodles; they use the the thicker softer noodles that always remind me of overcooked spaghetti. didn't stop me from scarfing the entire bowl and part of the mrs', though. either way, i liked it. i'll be back, earlier in the day. but i've been kind of off the pho trail lately and i can't think of what i like best. i always liked pho ha, but like one of your earlier posts, dagordon, the filth of it kinda turned me off last time i was there. i enjoy pho 75 and viet huong, but i can't picture the differences between them in my mind now. the place on the corner of 10th & arch i wasn't thrilled with. i like xe lua; it has a real strong flavor of the spices to the broth, but i haven't even had that one in a while. time to get back on that i think. pho places are some of the few that i can always take the boy to.