mrbigjas

so you think i could drag the boy there after work for a good bar food dinner?

you don't say.

i still prefer ocean city. and the upstairs room is definitely big enough to host your party. they always seem to have crepe paper and banners and whatnot up there, so they're used to having lots of people. in fact the front of the room is kind of separated, and has a stage and everything, and a whole bunch of tables. i bet you could fit your 100+ people in there. sounds awesome.

as the owner of a 9 month old, and as someone who used to go out a couple of times a week but has spent the last 9 months basically not going out except to big ol mexican or vietnamese or chinese places, i've been thinking about this very thing a lot lately. and like the smoking thing, or the 'god i hate it when people do X or Y' things, the argument has been hashed and rehashed a thousand times. and it still comes down to this: allowed: well, what are you gonna do? people who have a lick of sense, like i like to think i do, aren't going to come in. people who don't are gonna come in and be a pain in the ass somehow anyway. you can make and state a policy, but then you'll have to turn away the people who show up anyway, or show up with out knowing. and then they get on message boards and start all kindsa shit, and next thing you know you have a bunch of helen lovejoys yelling WILL SOMEONE *PLEASE* THINK OF THE CHILDREN? encouraged: no. going out is for people who can behave in public, which babies of that age just aren't able to do. you have to learn sometime, and i don't believe in sheltering your kids forever, but there's a time when things are appropriate and a time when they aren't. and like senator whatshisname with the porn, i can't define it exactly but i know it when i see it, and a baby in tinto ain't it. somewhere like standard tap, though, where it's gotten bells but is more neighborhoody and less sceney and incredibly loud anyway, is less of a big deal, although we still made sure it was way on the early side before real diners came in.

don't forget the always fantastic deal at oscar's: order a cheesesteak, get a cheesesteak and a half. it's not GOOD, but it's a lot!

he dead. he was the leader of the group, but it wasn't till the 70s when teddy pendergrass was the lead singer (but the group was still called harold melvin & the blue notes) that they really took off. then teddy was like, dude i'm the lead singer why isn't my name on the group? and he bailed. anyway, harold melvin died about 10 years ago from a stroke. and yesterday they were a lot of fun. baby buddy slept through the entire thing. don't know how he did that. that's the attitude! why even take drugs if you're going to try to make yourself not need them? better living through chemistry and all that... we had a nice time sitting with some members of the esposito family for a while, getting fed chunks of nice camembert and a young manchego and a really aged parmigiano from claudio's. then i had an elote. the mrs wasn't too enamored of the giant tub of mayonnaise sitting out in the sun, so she didn't partake, the grump. a nice espresso and a bottle of chinotto (and a leaden piece of baclava) at rim cafe. good times. that's a real party, lemme tell ya. what festival is next? isn't there a puerto rican festival down at penn's landing sometime soon? oh and capaneus: all the mango vendors i saw had chili and lime available. maybe they were reading the board... ok maybe not.

they're never out there. i mean, not that that changes much, but i've been going for a few years now and they're never out there. mozzarepas! for a better version hit up sazon at 10th & spring garden, assuming it's still open. i haven't been there for a while. that's much more a venezuelan than mexican thing. but it's a FESTIVAL, ya grump. bummer. i hope there are more tomorrow.

three bells from laban. he says the pizza transports him to naples. you guys wanna correct him? did i ever tell you about the pizza i had in rome that had, i think, mayonnaise on it? not so good. i was gonna hit it up for lunch with a friend on thursday. we'll see, i guess, if i can.

i don't know about griggstown at fairmount, but i can tell you this: i picked up some tomatoes at the rittenhouse square farmer's market today, greenhouse-soil-grown early boys or girls or early big girls or boys or big earlys or whatever that variety is that everyone grows this time of year. and you know, they aren't peak-of-season summer tomatoes, but they are actually brought to market ripe, and are red inside, and are flavorful. a hint of things to come, and a damn sight better than most anything you can get at the stores right now. i also got a couple pints of strawberries. the first one i tasted might have been the best single berry i've ever had. the next few? not as good. i mean, they're good, but that one...

that's excellent news, mike! i've been wondering why they don't carry that for a while now -- i mean, if you carry the bourbon, why not the rye? i like a manhattan made with wild turkey; it's got a rough edge to it that takes some refinement out of the drink and makes for a nice change some nights. it's still showing up as an SLO item on the website though. i wonder why that is. is pikesville actually available anywhere BUT maryland?

Uh, hellooo... I always suspected it would be a good pizza, but it's hard to focus on proscuitto/arugula/parmesan (which I've had before at other places) when you've got ramps and clams and octopus and egg/bitto to think about. ← and the cotechino. other people go on about the egg and whatnot, but that sausage made the pizza for me. all nutmeggy and cinnamony and clovey and whatnot--not the kind of thing i expect on a pizza.... i wish i could buy some. omg i'm dying. i might have to go there for lunch today.

because sporting events generally run from about 7-10 p.m. (except for NFL, and day baseball games, and the occasional nationally-televised afternoon game in NHL or NBA). add in travel time and for many people the whole thing runs from more like 6-11. that's the whole evening, no matter how you slice it. gotta eat something. (edited to add: unless you're one of those wussy fans who leaves in the 6th to make a 9 p.m. dinner reservation or something. i mean, not you specifically, JohnL, but the general 'you.')

for food goodness, i rank it on pretty much an equal footing with the other two. they're the three big players in town. the menu is more extensive at nam phuong, though, and there is a little more variety in how they serve things. examples: --if you get the duck and bamboo shoot soup, for instance, they're using these dried bamboo shoots which have a really funky flavor. --they offer a great bitter melon soup, with the pieces of melon stuffed with pork and shrimp, which i haven't seen on the menu at the other two. --on the herb plate they serve with the grilled beef in grape leaves, there are several herbs i haven't seen at the other two, including rau ram and fish mint, the latter of which tastes like an old fish soaked in used motor oil. nasty. i keep eating it hoping i'll develop a taste for it but it hasn't happened yet. decor-wise, i still think vietnam wins the race, obviously. vietnam palace has done an upgrade but it's still not quite as nice. nam phuong comes in last. it has that banquet hall feel: two sections of dining room separated by a short wall topped with fake plants; an outsized service bar over on one side of the room, with the swinging kitchen doors next to it; a section of dimly lit and never full tables and chairs in case they need to serve 700 people some day.... it has a vague air of strip mall dinginess, although it's by no means dirty, probably in part due to its location. i love nam phuong. hey you know what else is good down there is cafe de laos. you might want to scout it out once or twice, but they have the space, it's nice and the people are nice, and the food has been really good every time i've been there.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO last time i got one of them at shea i was sorely disappointed. the sausage didn't taste like much, and definitely wasn't spicy. the peppers and onions were barely griddled till soft. the same thing happened to me in colorado, and here in philadelphia, and in boston too. you know i think i'm sensing a trend here. one would wonder why i continue to order them.

perhaps you'd like to come out to the suburbs and meet my parents' compost pile.

osteria in the philadelphia weekly this week. she sounds smitten. what a funny word, smitten.

i have the same problem ian. btw welcome!

you thought aramark had stopped gouging at ballparks? what on earth would give you that impression? do you hate america? hahahaha ok also, i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those dollar dogs are a promotion that they only do 5-6 times a year, and never in the summer when their attendance is high enough anyway. they're usually like $3.50 or something. if you're worried about paying too much, next time you go to a phillies game pick up a hoagie beforehand. get it dry, so the roll doesn't get all soggy, with oil/vinegar on the side. edited to add: there's already a ballpark food thread here, in which i do a lot of overspending on crappy food and drinking and whining about it all -- but also a tip where supposedly you can find a dollar dog every day. i haven't been down yet this year (first home opener i've missed since 1994, so sad) to confirm that.

is the problem with lee how fook that it's chinese, or that it's a small byob? because if the problem is the size and not the food, what about vietnam or vietnam palace or nam phuong or something? they could accommodate you. hey doesn't marigold have several separate rooms upstairs? could you book one of them?

hahaha or chemical. what is the best pot for a self-heating MRE?

i haven't seen it around except for there. other places to look are at salumeria in the terminal and claudio's down in the italian market. my general theory, which i've posted before, is that if you can find stuff elsewhere that dibruno's carries, it'll generally be cheaper elsewhere. for instance that giuseppe cocco pasta, which is pretty good, is a buck cheaper at rittenhouse market than it is at dibruno's (if dibruno's is still carrying it, even -- i don't know that i've seen it the last couple times i've been there). (my other theory has always been that if retailers want to get a sense of whether they're gouging the public or not, they should just compare their prices to rittenhouse market. if your prices are higher than theirs, it might be time to take a step back.)

it is true. livengoods in the terminal has it when it's in season (when is that? like, early spring?). about $3 for a little dime bag. i don't know about shipping but i doubt it.

i don't know why i feel compelled to do this every time it's mentioned, but for anyone looking, blue moon acres microgreens are available at sue's produce, 18th & sansom.

dallas has central market, aka the greatest supermarket ever (including wegmans). (snipped for brevity) wait, you're from kansas city? why have you never mentioned this before? hahaha i don't think your comparison holds: a midwestern city with under 500K population isn't really analogous to a large city in the northeast corridor with three times that many people. i mean, it's just... not. re the article, i like that she stepped beyond the cheesesteak/pork sandwich that seems to dominate every article. the interesting thing to me is that even without that, there was so much else left out of it. that says there's a lot going on here, and i'm pretty happy about that.

that's a nice price point. judging from the atmosphere would we have been ok dragging a baby in there? it's definitely not that kind of place for dinner.