mrbigjas

awesome. i haven't even been there yet and i'm insanely happy about this development.

used to be? that place is the best. it's at like 802 christian, maybe? a little tiny tiny place. takes forever though. part of the reason is that he puts the bread back into the oven for a couple minutes so the crust on it is real crusty, and gets crumbs all over your shirt when you eat it... and he's so nice. i do like ba le too. and they have all that other stuff in there as well...

the funny thing is, if you have an upset stomach from a hangover, a big pile of fatty food like that can cure it. and if you don't have an upset stomach, a big pile of fatty food like that can cause one. it's one of life's great mysteries.

whoa

yeah, pasion is a good choice, definitely. if it were up to me i'd go downscale before leaving philadelphia in general, but you said fancy, and that's why i thought of lacroix. my theory is this: you can eat well for a lot of money almost anywhere, and especially in europe. eating great and with so many varieties for cheap isn't as easy everywhere. i'd definitely hit tequila's, plaza garibaldi, cafe de laos, the train, tony luke's, dinic's, pearl's etc. before heading out of town. edited to say: not that tequila's is downscale. it's decidedly not. i'm going next week and i can't wait. man i wish they'd take reservations though.

probably lacroix, for me. it's just stuffy and expensive enough to be special*, and the food is freaking great. i've been meaning to go back for a while. *edited to say: but not so much that it's not fun.

at kreuz's in lockhart, tx, when you order they say 'bread or crackers?' and give you either about eight slices of bread (it might be sunbeam but for some reason i'm thinking it's mrs something, or, like, blue ribbon or bluebonnet or something), or an entire sleeve of saltines. hey how about mrs bairds? i think that might be it. based in ft. worth. http://www.mrsbairds.com/fresh/breads.html anyway, yeah, bread. i'm totally going to the smoked joint, and soon. are they open for lunch?

well, down in texas they have this other kinda white bread they use for bbq but for the life of me i can't recall the name of it. therefore i'd have to say stroehmann, of course. mmm cheap white bread.

aw, you guys are the BEST.

man oh man, i miss audrey's too. the entire block of 40th between walnut and chestnut smelled like a giant bbq pit from that place. it closed my scond year there. so here's what i'm thinkin re the smoked joint: how do you think they'd react if, when they brought you your meal, you reached into your pocket and pulled out a sandwich baggie with a couple slices of wonder bread? would you be hurriedly escorted from the premises? or would it be like that commercial where the guy has burger king on the plane, and people would offer you large sums of money for it? i'm totally taking some bread when i go. byob indeed.

it's supposed to involve tripe, as far as i know. at least that's how i always thought of it. however, the listing on the menu at citytavern.com says 'beef, pork, taro root & greens' and doesn't mention tripe. campbell's still makes their version; available at netgrocer.com, if not in your neighborhood grocery store.

i can recommend something for that weather: silk long underwear. it's warm enough for a lot of weather, it's very thin so it layers under your clothes well, but it's not so hot that it'll kill you when you're inside. it usually costs $30-40 per piece, but you can find it at discount stores for much cheaper. edited to say that i was in paris last thanksgiving and silk long underwear worked great.

i bet they have it at city tavern.

elie, i'm a little late in getting to this thread, but it looks absolutely delicious, and i am going to make it sometime relatively soon. i hadn't heard of it before.

excellent, thanks hzrt8w.

i have this one by classe that's shown here: http://www.kitchen-classics.com/images/line.jpg but i would never pay full price for it, because i agree that spending too much on a bread knife isn't a good idea. it was on a major sale, and that's why i bought it.

ok, in every asian grocery i go to (mostly vietnamese, in my neighborhood) there are always these vacuum-sealed packages of pickled mustard. like tofu skins, green tea, chinese sausages and tofu, there are always big boxes of these. so i bought some, and i'm not sure what to do with it, in part because i don't know what it tastes like. also, today in the store i saw another package of it that said in big letters THIS PRODUCT MUST BE COOKED BEFORE EATING. but this package doesn't say that. and the recipes i've found all over the web don't say that. i know i have to rinse and/or soak it to get some of the salt off, but that's about it. anyway, what do i do with it? what does it taste like? thanks for any help.

i had an amazingly good meal at tra vigne about 6 or 7 years ago. it gave me a soft spot for michael chiarello--his tv shows are kinda precious for my taste, but i watch them anyway still.

yeah really. it feels kinda weird to be in the 5% of any group.

Frankford? It's near the corner of Robbins and Frankford. ← yeah, i guess. it also might be tacony or wissinoming, depending on where the lines are. i don't know that area of town well enough to know what they consider themselves.

that's because eggplant IS plumpy. and watercress is zisty.

that would be the theftway. i'll always remember it from about 12 years ago when i went there, for such handwritten produce signs as 'zisty watercress' and 'plumpy eggplant.'

crabs are done for the season. any blue crabs you get anywhere now are flown up from the gulf. however, it seems to me that blue crabs are pretty much blue crabs and it doesn't matter where they're from. people may call me a heretic, but i certainly haven't noticed much difference between chesapeake bay crabs and gulf crabs (and since i haven't heard that they're in such bad shape in the gulf, it's probably preferable to get them from there rather than the chesapeake, where their numbers are ridiculously low). anyway, another recommendation: chickie's and pete's, up in... (wissinoming? tacony? what IS that neighborhood anyway?) or in the northeast, or down by the stadium, have great crabs.

13th between tasker and morris, too.

i was at django tonight, and it was frickin fabulous. that is all.