mrbigjas
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Posts posted by mrbigjas
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thanks for the review, vigna--i'm going tomorrow night with some friends for dining out for life. while i'm not sure that a restaurant's performance should be judged on big nights like that, i still have high hopes.
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Especially when Rich Pawlak, whom I know and whose opinion I respect says he had two terrific dinners there. A restaurant is just not capable of such a wide a spectrum of experiences. McCutcheon, “Really bad.” Twice. Pawlak, “Terrific.” Twice.
you think philadelphia weekly paid for two dinners at bookbinders?
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ross dress for less very often has things like this for practically nothing. i think i paid like $5 or so for a set of four there a while ago. i use them for other things besides creme brulee, though--individual servings of mac and cheese, for instance.
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Fantastic pictures, cinghaile. Could someone please reassure my usually fearless self about the flavor/consistancy of some of these innards?
honeycomb tripe needs to be cooked for a long time before it's tender enough to eat. it is precooked, i suspect in a seasoned broth of some sort, although i could be wrong about that. when you grill it just till it gets a little char on the edges, it intensifies the flavor--there's more, uh, tripeyness to it; kind of a barnyardy flavor, for lack of a better term. with a little kimchi and rice and rolled up in a lettuce leaf it's truly great.
bookleaf tripe doesn't need to be cooked beforehand. when you grill it, it tends to stick to the grill and pieces of it just char right up and fall off. it tastes like nearly nothing, and is kinda like eating rubber bands. i don't like it as much, although i do prefer it in pho.
the chicken intestines are intensely chicken-y. they're very lean and tough, very similar to a gizzard. in fact, i suspect that some of what was in that container was gizzards. they taste good, but they have a problem where there is a silverskin of sorts on pieces of them, and when you get a piece like that it's nearly impossible to chew. so watch for that.
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A $98 porkroll! They are good students but they are not that good
i bet someone here could mail you some for a whole lot less than that.
i hadn't had pork roll for a while and then had it again recently. holy salt, batman! i mean, it's still great, but it's way saltier than i remembered.
Ah, it's hard to give them the full experience. The full experience is wandering out of Franks or Doobies or god help us Oscars Tavern after last call,there's a last call at oscar's?
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I'm almost ashamed to ask, but what is a sweetzle wafer. Oh wait, the candy?
sweetzles are basically kind of a molasses/cinnamon flavored cookies. kinda like a ginger snap. but different. because they're sweetzle's.
I definitely can't find tastycakes around here, but I was thinking of trying to make a Butterscotch Krimpet-style cake. If anyone has an idea how that works, let me know. (Maybe I should check the pastry & baking forum.)a web search turns up a lot of hits for that. also there's a book called 'top secret recipes' that claims to have it--but i bet you're right, the bakers here could fake it, i bet.
but back to the sandwiches: bulgogi would probably work--but the better steak places all claim to use ribeye. i thought bulgogi was usually a different cut. but i could be wrong. and i suspect once you get cooking it, it won't matter all that much.
you know, you don't have to roast up an entire pork shoulder to give people the idea of a roast pork sandwich. if you buy a piece of pork loin with enough fat on it, you can make a reasonable facsimile without too much trouble. we could go into it further if you want--roast pork is one of those things that is easy to do pretty well; it's hard to do perfectly, of course, but easy to give people a concept of the sandwich.
but anyway, since you're making the rolls already, it would be a shame to go without the pork--get yourself some nice aged provolone, and by all means use that broccoli rabe you're cooking up on the sandwiches.
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last time i was at nam phuong i ordered the bitter melon soup, and the waiter took my order and walked away, and then came back a few minutes later to make sure that i really wanted it.
it's excellent btw. i mean, it is indeed bitter, but not overwhelmingly so. so good. i want some now.
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so do you read chinese, or do you think anyone can get the super secret menu?
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The LCB is the exclusive retailer and wholesaler of wine and spirits in the Commonwealth. Beer is sold by private industry in Pa.
how about that--i thought y'all controlled the whole shebang. you learn something new every day!
The Kane Report, which chronicles alcohol beverage consumption nationally, pointed to Texas and Souteastern Pa. as the two markets where beer sales are dropping most dramatically. I think we are doing a better job marketing and making the PLCB more consumer friendly.you sure are.
a followup question, which is kind of related to your whole plan to further educate your employees about wine: have you considered going beyond tastings and offering wine education 'classes' of sorts for the public? it would seem that if you're developing a curriculum to give your employees a broad range of knowledge about these sorts of things, that the public could probably benefit from a similar program. and it would seem from the sheer size of the lcb, the economies of scale might make it feasible to do it for a reasonable price.
i know, for instance, that if i had had the opportunity to learn more about these things when i was younger, i wouldn't be in the situation that i am, playing catchup in my 30s.
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While you can probably find lobster that's $1 or $2 cheaper per pound, I don't think it's worth it. The RTM vendor has decent turnover compared to most other sellers of lobsters in these parts. However, it might be profitable to take a stroll through Chinatown as long as you're in the neighborhood.
chinatown! of course you're right. duh, i knew i was forgetting something obvious.
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Devon Seafood Grill sells 1lb. lobsters at cost, $9, for Happy Hour 4-6PM Monday thru Friday!!!
That's about as cheap as I think you'll find them anywhere, and cooked for you as well.
wow, that IS cheap--even though i wouldn't end up with the shells to make lobster stock for soup/risotto/etc afterwards, nine bucks is totally worth having a little lobster snack now and then on my way home from work. hmm.... i wonder if i left work in time, if i could decimate a lobster and then head over to sansom st. to wash it down with a dozen oysters and some pink wine before happy hour ends? well, there's nothin to it but to do it, i reckon.
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ok then.
the 'restaurant lobster' thread has me thinkin i need a lobster or two. but i'm not a rich man, so here's my question: where can i get good fresh live lobsters for the most reasonable price?
--there's the place in the terminal where they're about $11/lb for chicks
--i've never noticed any of the places in the italian market having them, even
anastasi's--have i missed it?
--i know ippolito's has live crabs; do they carry lobster?
--somewhere else?
thoughts?
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hi there mr. newman--thanks for doing this q&a, and for all you've done to improve the lcb. it's been extremely impressive and gratifying to see all this happen over the last couple of years.
my question is regarding beer distributorships. i have loved the sunday hours at the wine and spirits stores. as someone who works a regular 9-5, it's good to have the stores open when i have time to shop.
but i've noticed that beer distributorships are not open on sundays. my question: is there a different set of lcb rules for them, and they are still not allowed to be open on sunday? or is that just up to them, and the owners of the distributorships have decided to remain closed on sunday?
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the only reason i didn't respond to the jack's suggestion was that i was still a little annoyed with them for yesterday, b/c of some service issues that made what was supposed to be a normal tuesday lunch take an hour and a half.
but just a little--things happen, and i'm far too addicted to it to stay mad for very long. i'll put it on the list for her.
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i'm right with ya on not liking brunch, for the same reasons. plus there's the sweets thing--i don't like them much, and i'd prefer a big ol bowl of pho or a dish of chilaquiles (con huevos) to any sugar-loaded, syrup drenched gigantic waffle or stack of pancakes or three-inch thick brioche french toast. but that's the subject for another thread, i suppose.
anyway mixto is a great idea, and might be perfect. i suspect la lupe would be a bit 'gritty' for her mom...
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no, i like caribou fine. well, except for their fries, which seemed to be battered. i like it quite a bit, actually.
(edited to say thanks for the suggestions y'all, and feel free to keep them coming)
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hi all--
we've discussed sunday brunch on here a bunch of times, but i had a friend recently ask me about saturday brunch for her and her mother, and a quick search didn't turn up much. anyone got any good suggestions?
her mother is in her 70s and kind of quiet and conservative, so although it immediately came to mind as a saturday brunch option, i'm pretty sure that carman's would be a bit much for her.
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millennium?
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I'd be more interested in the converse. Are there Center City restaurants that are less than gay-friendly?
i'd like to know about that too. because after all, while i have zero problem patronizing gay-friendly establishments, basically i would be much more inclined to specifically avoid gay-unfriendly (or really intolerant in any way) establishments than to specifically seek out gay-friendly ones.
Two of my best and most regular customers were of the stiff lipped, prim and proper Delancy Street ilk. They chose my place to celebrate their only son's 21st birthday. He chose his 21st birthday to come out to his parents. A memorable scene ensued in our small, intimate dining room. Alas it was the last time I saw those regulars at the restaurant.too bad you didn't have the sign out; maybe they would have been slightly more prepared for what was coming.
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schweet. and closer than edison. i'll be heading out sometime soon.
If you're into vegetarian, here's another place to check out in Bensalem, also closer than Edison...
whoa, now that i did not know. that's the closest to philadelphia that i've seen that cuisine. i'm going very very soon.
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i discovered desi village last year during a weekend at a conference at king of prussia. after a couple days of out-of-towners feeding me all the pizza and steaks and whatnot i could eat, i was jonesing real nutrition and on a whim stopped in there, which we had seen while going to buy wine, and we had a really great meal. it IS a little fancier and pricier than some indian restaurants, but well worth it. get the mustard greens if you go. oh also it's BYOB.
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we stopped by the manayunk location of tommy gunn's for a bbq snack this afternoon. had a couple of delicious ribs, which could have been a little smokier--i would say another 45 min to an hour--but they were damn good anyway. and the greens are still awesome. i think i read somewhere here that they're vegetarian, and i definitely notice the lack of pork/smoke flavor. but that's not necessarily a bad thing, because what they taste like is a spicy, vinegary concentration of greens flavor. man oh man do i love them. but then again i have a borderline unnatural affection for greens in all shapes and forms.
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yeah, the gasket is practically new... but you have a point. i'm wondering if, since it's a bigger pot, i haven't been tightening it enough. i suspect that, combined with a higher flame, might solve the problem. more experimentation tomorrow...
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schweet. and closer than edison. i'll be heading out sometime soon.
A Chat with Jonathan H. Newman, Chairman PLCB
in Pennsylvania: Dining
Posted
thank you for having this. we really do appreciate it.