mrbigjas

there's not much to be done about it -- the neighborhood is full of rich people with lots of cars. you just need to drive south a ways. spaces start to open up around catharine -- it's only about three or four blocks.

we went to parc tonight, and had the beet salad, among other things. and really, you know, i think it's relatively appropriately priced considering the location and the expensive renovation and blah blah blah. but the beet salad was $12. twelve bucks? for .. um, basically one beet, and some frisee, and a few tiny crumbles of blue cheese and some candied nuts? it just seems kinda out of line with everything else. like, this one weird crazily overpriced thing. i left a comment card; we'll see if they follow up.

today at table 31 for lunch, I had a dish of sauteed calf liver with bacon and onions, over mashed potatoes, in a very rich raspberry vinegar sauce. the sauce wasn't overly sweet; the whole dish was really good. $17, which seemed reasonable to me considering the location. i'll be back.

one of the places in headhouse had them last week. they were fine. tasted like tomatoes.

i agree. although i had a weird experience there recently. a few weeks ago i got caught in that miserable downpour on sunday afternoon, so i ran inside. their sunday school wine was some south american rose, if i remember right. and when they served it to me it was definitely chilled to like, beer coldness -- the glass was ice cold in my hand, and all you could taste was alcohol and a little tannin. it was weird, because one of the things i always liked about tria is that they usually serve their wine at approximately correct temperature. anyway after about 10 minutes of swirling and warming the glass with my hand it ended up being OK, especially for four bucks, but still, that was a weird misstep by them.

agreed with all your sentiments, including being kinda disappointed that the food isn't better. however, as one of the people who will probably frequent parc because: -even an average bistro meal is better than none -i have a kid and therefore early noisy dinner is appreciated -i live a couple blocks away it's a little more expensive than it should be considering the quality, and really it's a shame to accept mediocrity, but i've had some priority shifts in my life, and basically it serves the purpose. (that said, everything we had there -- beef stew, lamb, oysters, pate -- was all totally fine in every way)

omg sorry i missed this. it's a little difficult adjusting to a stove where each burner is more than twice as powerful as the ones on my old stove. i'm no professional cook but it's funny how you get used to something after using it for like 10 years. i'm a little out of control on the new range...

it's very good. don't miss the sausages wrapped in caul fat.

update on range, for those interested: i got in touch with bluestar for their new 'white glove' service. i mentioned the bent oven knob shaft, and they said, you know that's between you and your appliance store, but we'll come do the rest of the service. hmph. so the appliance store came out and was like, your contractor musta done this, we never would, but we can get you service on it. my contractor was like, appliance store guys are about as trustworthy as used car salesman, i wouldn't wreck your superduper new stove. so then the white glove service guy comes out -- he's from ace appliances, here in lafayette hill, PA, which i mention because they were very cool about keeping me informed, scheduling the visits, and calling ahead of coming, so i didn't have to take time off work or anything. plus they were cool about the repair: i told him the story, he laughed and said, "yeah i've heard that story before. you know, let's not worry about pointing fingers, we'll just order you up the parts and come fix everything up." (there was a cracked ignitor, too) so he did. then blue star gave me a call to let me know the parts had been sent. then we scheduled another service call, which he did today, replacing the thermostat, the knob, the ignitor, and adjusting the oven door hinges. and all in all, except for blue star saying they wouldn't replace the parts, the whole thing went really smoothly and i have a new appliance repair company that i would call for anything. the only problem i have with the stove is that my little stovetop espresso pot doesn't fit over the hole in the burner grate. not sure what to do about that. next up, hoping against hope that kobe sends me the parts they promised for the hood... (edit: here's a picture, and here's another one, for those of you interested in the setup. i know i don't have a backsplash yet; tile is on its way.)

the brightest were the super bright yellow ones at culton organics, though. also at culton, as well as another one. culton also still had those fantastic purple onions i mentioned above. damn they're expensive. but good. those are the people on the lombard street end, whose name i can never remember. they were also selling red, yellow and orange non-heirloom varieties that they had been growing in a removable greenhouse type of hookup to keep them warm in the spring. they were much cheaper and surprisingly good considering the time of year and the varieties. talk to the big guy with the beard, he loves to talk all about how they're growing what they do. they also had good new potatoes in red norland and red gold varieties.

here's the thing about culton organics: dude is kinda nutty. their stuff is really expensive, there's no two ways about that, but this week i got japanese onions, supposedly the same type they use for yakitori. they were incredibly aromatic, and awesome grilled. he also had these purple elongated onions, which are as sweet as vidalias, but have a better flavor. great beets too. and some devil's ear lettuce which is excellent. also this week i bought something called 'lettucy' from north star. i'd never heard of it, but apparently it's some kind of mustard green, but mild enough that you don't cook it. it's just a little sharp, and a little meaty, and a little bitter, and awsome. and tonight, with those purple onions i mentioned and some grated asiago, wiht a dressing of good spanish olive oil, some dijon and chardonnay vinegar it mighta been the best simple salad i've ever had. i mean i can't tell you how good this green is. put it this way, the boy scarfed it, and he's not even two. what kid have you ever heard of who eats salad? know what i mean? he LOVED IT. awesome greens. anyway, lettucy aside, the point is, culton organics dude. talk to him. he's really into what he does.

i didn't hear about it till after the fact or i would have gone. i should get on their emailing list or something.

thanks KM, i guess we'll do an adult reconnaissance before deciding if it's family fare.

that's what my nocino and vin de noix from last year are in. here's a link i wish they came in smaller sizes though; 34 oz is big.

ok so besides the incredible PR machine that got zahav's opening documented in all the newspapers and magazines in the entire western world, i haven't heard that much about it. but i'll probably go check it out soon, and the question is whether it's a jas & mrs night or a family night. so lemme ask a quick question: how formal is it? can i take the boy there, if we go early?

I'm going to look silly if this is wrong, but didn't the Swiss Pastry Shoppe reopen? ← yeah.

i've never been thrilled with anything i've had from flying monkey, but... lard? no one ever uses lard in frosting, do they? i mean, pie crusts, doughs, sure. but frostings? i don't understand the fascination with italian bakery cookies. i've had them numerous times from all the big ones, and they're always nearly flavorless, slightly sweet, bland as hell. i mean, how a cookie can be completely covered with pine nuts and still taste like nothing but vague sweetness is beyond me. waste of calories, if you ask me.

the thing i find interesting about all this is, i've had little bananas and red bananas and regular bananas, but mainly like everyone else i've had cavendishes. and ever since i heard about this thing a few years ago, i've wondered about the gros michel -- every article i've ever read said it tasted way better, and i've never had one. and i know they're still around, so where do i get them?

the original is at 13th & sansom. the second is at 20th & sansom. that's the one across from tinto.

ansill is possibly my favorite restaurant in town. i mean there are others that are more impressive with cutting-edge cooking, or have a fancier atmosphere, or are "better" in numerous other ways, but i can't think of a place in town makes me as happy as consistently as ansill does. if you go for happy hour time you can drink cheap prosecco and eat cheap oysters.

i had an overall relatively positive experience at james a couple months ago, with a few missteps -- their famous duck ragout with chocolate was so undersalted that it didn't taste like much of anything, and in another dish beans were chalky and not cooked enough. but other than that it sounds like it would fit at least part of your bill -- it's not too loud, and dim and pleasant and a nice place to sit and talk over dinner. good cocktails too. amada can be earsplitting. tinto isn't as bad, but it can still get into yelling territory. maybe with their new room it's less so. and as was mentioned, it's directly across the street from capogiro... (edited to remove a random sentence fragment that i have no idea where it came from)

i drink it in PA, but i don't buy it there...

pointing out that market management are being vindictive dicks doesn't equate to calling rick's 'a civic treasure.'

funny, congratulations just for buying something! this is awesome, i'll be sure to post every purchase! as far as the damage, i suspect the warehouse or delivery guys -- the way the shaft is bent is kinda down, as if it was mashed, rather than up like it would be if someone had tried to pick it up by the knob. know what i mean? seems to work though; i'm "burning in" the oven right now and my house is smelling pretty much like burning chemicals. it seems like something that, if i include the info when i fax to get their newly-initiated new install service, they could replace real easily. hope they will. and i did finally make dinner on it tonight. a pot of water boiled ... um, real fast. for ventilation i got a kobe hood, the CH-122, which pulls about 850 CFM. it's... OK. there are issues with it too, but i think they're kobe quality issues rather than damage. i emailed their customer service and never heard back; i'll be calling shortly. it pulls a lot of air and fits the space real well, which was the point. well, part of the point. i live in a really small house and noise is an issue and kobe hoods are rumored to be quiet. on its lowest setting, it is very quiet. next to lowest it sometimes kinda whistles. the two highest settings it makes some more noises i don't like. i've stood outside the house where it vents though, and it is indeed pouring air out of my house.

funny this thread came back up; i just took delivery of a blue star yesterday. pretty exciting. unfortunately the thing that holds the oven knob on got bent in the process -- i'm not sure if it was at the warehouse, or the delivery guys getting it in my house, or my contractor installing it. so the oven knob is not sitting there straight, but kinda hanging off... this should be an easy fix, but i'm interested to see how it turns out. of course i'm on my way out of town for the weekend so i don't even have time to cook anything on it...