mrbigjas

it's $4 now

i end up at dos segundos quite a bit lately too; it's more convenient for me. the mushroom quesadilla rocks. last time i was at the south philly cantina, i got the turkey mole, and i swear i got enough food for six. a gigantic chunk of turkey breast, and an entire drumstick and part of a thigh. if there was less than a pound and a half of meat there, i'll eat my hat. it was ridiculous. (also pretty damn good)

Okay, I hope the food is good and all, but this is just about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. ← the comments on that article are hilarious.

sungold tomatoes are back. they still taste like tomato candy. that is all.

you don't say.. been yet?

hit up sketch the other day. if the burger was half the size it is i'd adore it; as it is it's merely freaking delicious, juicy enough to make up for the overcooking (next time i'll order it rare and see what comes out). the people running it are super nice, the whole shop has a great vibe. the fries are ideal. they're fantastic. i'm with holly -- they're exactly what i've been looking for. (i do have a soft spot for the kind of 1/4" frozen fries that everyone serves. i won't deny it.)

fwiw, as far as parking around the square, there's a little street that i don't know the name of buried under the approach to the bridge. it's kinda hard to remember how to get to, which is why there's always parking there. you have to go down to 4th, and up vine, and make a left on lawrence or this one bit of 5th that seems like you shouldn't be able to turn left on it (but you can), and then the street is right there. it's probably officially new st. or north marginal rd. or something, but even google maps doesn't have it named. anyway, considering that the rest of the area around franklin square is either federal or police only, it's hard to park there, and therefore i bestow this wonderful tip upon you all. p.s. i still liked the fries fine; way better than the ones i had at PYT last night, anyway. and i liked my burger fine, but it couldn't come NEAR the PYT burger, either chicken or beef. and that's my comparison of new burger places for the day.

i like the burgers at shake shack too. they're basically what i'm looking for in a burger -- not big steakhouse kinda thing, small and greasy in the right way, good sauce, and under $5. it's good. it's in madison square. it's a good idea at the right time. i won't wait an hour for a burger either (we skipped it on saturday when there was a long line, and went at 11 on sunday and there was basically no line). but yeah, i wish starr had imitated it better. like holly, i'm not upset about the imitation -- like i said, no reason why the concept shouldn't be imitated. i don't know if i share your skepticism about long term though. what is there around there? if you're in the neighborhood as a tourist or something, it's certainly a viable option, cheap enough, good enough even if it's not great, only a block off the beaten path, and in a nice setting. and that's what i mean about it resting on its laurels without having any real laurels to rest on. i wonder if there's an impetus to make it better.

meh. i don't care much about that aspect of things. make a good product and people will come. someone has a good idea, people imitate it. no big thing. if it's good, then fine. if it sucks, it'll die.

you should go to spain sometime. they fry lots of things in olive oil there, and they taste good. i'm convinced that this has more to do with the skill of the fryer than with the oil itself...

nah you were standing over in the service area taking pics while i was waiting in line. too far away to yell, and i never know if you know who i am anyway. i guess the question about squareburger is this: considering that it's the only thing of its kind around there, and it's good enough, is it going to get better? or is it going to rest on the laurels of its mere existence, and continue to be just good enough and not a destination? i noticed the building had windows on the side, and counter areas. i'm wondering if they'll reconfigure the pickup area or something, to make the flow of things better. the line moved slowly today, but i noticed that there wasn't a growing crowd in the pickup area, and they got orders out pretty quickly. so that's a good sign. one definite advantage of squareburger over shake shack: while we were at shake shack, a starling attacked my dining partner's burger twice -- while it was IN HER HAND. the first time we just picked off the part that it looked like the bird had gotten. the second time we gave up. luckily by that point there were only a couple bites left. so yes: lack of insane birds = one advantage of squareburger over shake shack. tastykake milkshakes might be another one, but i haven't tried one to find out.

i was there today (and saw you, holly) and had that same weird thing about part of the burger being oversalted. and it was a little dry toward the middle. other than that it was good, but i'm no burger snob. i like the chopped pickles they put on top with the chopped onion. i'm tempted to get it without ketchup & mustard next time and just put them on myself (and mayonnaise). having had shake shack for the first time over july 4 weekend, it was pretty much what i'm looking for in a burger, and i was hoping for a slavish imitation (except not those crinkle cut fries -- i like the frozen shoestring fries here for this kind of meal). anyway, this isn't that. but it's pretty good. and if the wait's not too long there are a lot worse places to sit around having lunch outside than franklin square (and up until two years ago, that is a sentence you would never ever hear, haha). also, they need to get bags or boxes or something. just getting handed burgers and sodas, your hands get pretty damn full pretty damn fast.

aw sad. it was my favorite restaurant in philadelphia, and probably the place i've been more often than anywhere. i'll miss it.

everyone should try the morcilla salad at xochitl. slices of morcilla, endive with tomatillo sauce, warm pico de gallo. it's awesome. actually everything we had last night was really good. i hadn't been back since it opened, really, but i plan to go again soon.

yeah i was there a couple weeks ago. the food is as solid as it ever was -- they're doing really nice stuff, and every time i go i can't believe i don't go more often. if you go on a weeknight it's not crowded and service is pleasant and efficient. other times we've had service issues. prices are reasonable but can add up pretty quickly if you're not careful. we didn't try the entrees, but stuck with tapas this time around. they had a scallop dish that was great. the oxtail is always good. the morcilla 'candies' are good but i wish they were more morcilla flavored. seriously, our meal was really enjoyable. i meant to post about it before but didn't get around to it.

totes, here ya go:

For two? Really? That's just ridiculous. Okay, I know where I'll be on Thursday. ← well, that's what the email says. i wonder if the boy would like crispy pig's trotters. i suspect he would.

yeah totes - and it's like $35 or something, so cheap enough to bother! edited: $35 for two! even cheaper. i can't afford not to go.

ansill's having some kinda meatfest on march 4 and 5. there will be roast pig. i believe i shall try and check it out.

no, you're right, that's basically what it is. if you roast it longer than they did it gets slightly beefier tasting, but yeah, that's pretty much it.

i certainly haven't written it off. i really like the food there. but i have no idea about authentic stuff, except what i've made out of hot sour salty sweet.

do you guys remember the south park with the underpants gnomes? they had a plan: step 1. steal underpants step 3. profit! (they didn't have step 2 figured out yet) well, stephen starr has it figured out: at parc they have an 'oatmeal brulee', which, i'm not sure what it is, but it's $11. there's not much you can do to oatmeal that makes it worth charging $11 for. note that i'm not complaining about this. hey, if people will pay it, why not charge it? i'm just kinda shaking my head, like, really? $11 for oatmeal?

godshall's carries d'artagnan, for that stuff.

the food at parc is fine; the atmosphere is fun. it's a little expensive for what it is (and my salad last time was weirdly salty), but overall it's just kind of a fun place to go. it's not like, one of those 'if you want to get the unique flavor of great philadelphia restaurants and understand the dining scene, go here' kind of places -- cochon and matyson and lolita, i think, kind of epitomize that. but it's fine nonetheless.

we stopped in on saturday night. 830 res, not seated till 9 -- thanks, dawdling smug larry david lookalike! eat slower! take more leisurely sips of your coffee! sit around gabbing with nothing on the table for another 15 minutes, why don'tcha! we're not hungry! it's cool! i know why restaurants put time limits on the tables, is all i'm sayin. anyway, not their fault. the like, 25 minute pause between apps and entrees was kinda weird though, especially when i looked around the restaurant and no one had any food. when the entrees came, they were great, though. i would say they made up for the wait, but by that time it was like 10 and we were through a couple bottles of wine without much in our stomachs, so we pretty much housed everything in sight, and it's all a little fuzzy. anyway, i assume those problems were due to it being the last nice saturday of the year and the place being packed. things happen. i'll be back for the food, anyway.