katbert

apparently they're having a 1 year anniversary dinner. Mmm, roast pig. Mmm, roast boar. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, although I live close to Gusto, which is owned by the same family. Text of the dinner details thingy follows: We're Throwing A Party... You're invited to celebrate Mercato's one year anniversary! Join us on Monday, May 22nd, from 5-10 p.m.as Chef de Cuisine Mackenzie Hilton skillfully spit roasts a pig and wild boar. Enjoy a buffet of Italian favorites including an antipasti assortment of meats and cheeses, marinated and grilled vegetables, savory bruschetta, flavorful lasagna, and sinful desserts. We'll supply the champagne, but you B.Y.O.B! Call now for tickets to this event. $30 per person AFTER PARTY AT VALANNI

from the (IN) Center City - May 2006 e-newsletter: "Le Bec-Fin Prix Fixe Le Bec-Fin and Chef Georges Perrier are pleased to present a new $39 3-course dinner menu, available Monday through Thursday evenings. Enjoy 5 Star cuisine and flawless service in a shorter dining experience. Reservations are required, excludes tax and gratuity."

I took their little paper menu with me: Key West Fishcutters Restaurant & Fish Market, Mile Marker 25. Summerland Key, 305.744.3335. They also have a gator cheese steak, a BLT where L=lobster, coconut fried lobster, and po' boy fillers include (fried) dolphin, grouper, oyster and shrimp.

I just got back from 4 days centered around Marathon and thought I'd do the short review. Sorry for lack of due diligence in looking up the mile markers, but I think the restaurant names are mostly correct. Started out at Whale Harbor (upstairs deck with a wide open oceanview, not the downstairs buffet) with a blackened dolphin sandwich- the generous portion of fish was fresh and cooked just right, although one side of the fish was almost too seasoned and the fries were a little bit cool. Conch fritters convinced me that I just don't like conch fritters, which is weird b/c I really really enjoy fried food. They always just seem doughy. Service was barely there, but we followed up with a nice key lime pie. At the Hurricane Grill on Marathon, tried another blackened dolphin sandwich that arrived on a kaiser roll. The fish portion was pretty wussy, but cooked right. Crinkle fries were good. Sliders or mini sandwiches are very cute mini burger/fish/chicken tastes. A grilled shimp dish that arrived with a buttery dipping broth was excellent. Not so interesting atmosphere, but there are pool tables and a funny wall devoted to Elvis. At the Island Grill, I saw the seafood quesadilla which other people liked (I don't like cheese with my seafood), buffalo shrimp, the shrimp tacos (a pair of soft tacos with a reasonable amount of shrimp, lettuce, tomatoes) with taco chips+medium hot salsa. The blackened dolphin sandwich (kaiser roll) was slightly overcooked but tasty, I would go back. Very busy for dinner, but lots of space. At Keys Fisheries on Marathon, we split their Famous Lobster Reuben. They should call it the Famous Gigantic Lobster Reuben. While I enjoyed the concept and I like lobster, and I like reubens, the lobster gets a overwhelmed by the thousand island and everything else. Yummy crispy coated fries. All outdoor seating with a view of a little marina and the water. After lunch, we walked by the boats and watched someone clean and fillet the yellowtail snapper they'd caught- beautiful fish. Probably the best fish sandwich of the entire trip was this garlic grilled snapper po'boy from Fish Cutters (both a market and restaurant, 6 or 7 tables). Grilled long roll, chunks of garlic in the sauce on the fish, juicy and perfectly grilled fish. This is a sloppy hard to eat sandwich which is worth the five paper towels you'll need to clean up with. Homemade thick cut potato chips and a mango coleslaw (mango coleslaw! It was good, even though I'm not a big coleslaw fan) arrive as sides. (We also got the Old Bay shrimp. Don't do it! They were not good.) The success of the sandwich led us to get a slice of keylimepie to go, which turned out to look like crap: but my friend preferred the truely tart flavour of this slice over the smoother limeyness of a slice from the True Art Bakery. On the way up to FLL, went to Snapper's Saloon. Nice waterfront seating, with giant mystery fish swimming around in the water right by the deck. The blackened dolphin sandwich arrived on toast, which was kind of odd, but I found that this actually lets the fish be the focus, rather than the bread part overwhelming the fish. Overall, had a yummy time and I'm looking to go back when the water's warmer for some snorkelling and maybe fishing b/c I haven't been. At one of the state park nature centers, I picked up the fish guide for what's ok/not to eat b/c of overfishing/mercury. It turns out that the entire grouper family is out although it's on almost every restaurant menu in the keys, along with red snapper. !

I'm dogsitting out in the burbs this week (hi Mummer!) and have access to a car, so I stopped by RTM to take advantage of $2 CC parking. $12.25 at Iovines produced cauliflower (for the perpetual roast cauliflower thread over on the cooking board), two of the $1 strawberry clamshells, half a pint of blackberries, a giant yam, a plastic pack of 2-3 lb of new potatoes, some fabulous oranges, two portobello caps (to recreate the roast portobello topped w/ goat cheese studded w/ toasted pine nuts, balsamic+evoo appetizer at Melograno), some bananas and a pair of green mangos (hard as a rock, but I can wait). This blew away my friend from NYC, who is used to arm & a leg prices. Yay for not living at the center of the universe!

off the restaurant week menu last night, we tried: seared skirt steak tostada, refried beans, guacamole, smoky morita chile salsa, crema -- looked like a big chip in that hard taco C shape, filled with beef and topped with a high pile of frisée. yucatan style shrimp, scallop and crab ceviche, roasted pico de gallo, aged tequila, avocado, cilantro, lime -- a lot of hard to identify seafood in a soup of the curing marinade, with a few chips alongside and a giant fried plantain chip on top. Not so attractive, but tasty and bright flavors, and the crunchiness contrasted well with the seafood. One of my friends asked to try something that wasn't an invertebrate. I let her pick out whatever she wanted. *shrug* grilled butterfish, roasted west indian pumpkin and heirloom squash, green pumpkin seed sauce, crispy parsnip -- again the green sauce on top of the fish was not so attractive, but the flavors were great. The fish was just done and the toasted pumpkinseeds added a crunchy contrast to the smoothness of the fish and the veggies. There was another unidentified sauce at the bottom of the plate that involved a lot of butter. Great. a seared beef steak w/ crispy onions? on chorizo mashed potatoes --nicely rare and meltingly tender beef, the mashed was a hit also chocolate “three milks cake”, coffee-kahlua cream, bittersweet chocolate pot de crème, toasted almonds --my friend thinks that there was some chile in the pot, which is totally possible. I'm not a tres leches cake kind of person, although I've only tried it here and at veracruzana, so I wasn't too excited. pecan cheesecake, green meadow farm goats’ milk caramel, dark chocolate-ancho chile crust --I loved this (creamy cheesecake, dollop of unsweetened whipped cream on top, pool of caramel on the plate) while one of my friends found it disappointing- didn't like the ancho burn in the crust, expected more pecanness (there were only a few pecans sprinkled around). There was another dessert choice of crème brûlée replacing the bread pudding on the menu, but we didn't try it. The restaurant was packed the entire time we were there, and they rolled through it pretty well, although the table behind us had an issue with part of their party not showing up or being terrifically late. Service: cheerful and attentive despite the crowd. Noise: loud.

We hardly ever venture across the great psychological Center City divide of Broad street for my lab's happy hours. Any suggestions for places in Old City (not NLibs) with good fries that could deal with parties of 6-10 not eating dinner? I think by that I mean, places with a fair amount of space- in CCWest we go to Ten Stone, Nodding Head, sometimes upstairs at Good Dog b/c they can take groups better than say downstairs at Good Dog or Grace Tavern. Basically, I would like Standard Tap, but in Old City. (Aside: had fries at Monk's last night and they were ehhhh not crispy enough.)

Went to Melograno on Friday night early prime time ~6pm with a 15min wait. While we were waiting, someone biked up and picked up an order for take out. Starters of PEI mussels and the lemony calamari and shrimp w/ beans were well executed and generous. Mains of the mixed seafood (shrimp, squid and scallops?) on a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes and my beet and marscarpone ravioli were terrific. I don't think I've ever bought beets and I have relatively little exposure to them, but they provided a sweet delicate flavor complemented by the browned butter sauce. Service was fine, be aware that it can get a little tight spacewise, and I'm going to reiterate that the dining room can be very loud. There were two tables with well behaved kids, and the kids could have been screaming and you wouldn't have noticed. Still, yummy and well worth it.

When you think of your baguette, do you mean straight up from wherever you got it without a refresh in a heated oven? B/c it's one thing to get the baguette from the oven and another to eat it after it's cooled down. (This is why Sarcone's still-hot-from-the-oven fresh bread is so tempting- even after stuffing myself at Sabrina's.) I haven't been to places other than what's already been mentioned, except for Miel.

Last night I got home late after glazing at the ceramics studio and threw two potatoes in the oven for dinner- one was scarfed last night, and I grated the other today and mixed it up with another raw grated potato for potato pancakes. Fried in canola, in a cast iron frying pan, the pancakes came out a little thicker than I usually make with all raw potato. I think this is b/c I actually formed balls that I squashed into the pan with a spatula versus with all raw potato, I just drop spoonfulls into the pan. I should've put a pancake in each corner of the plate, but I ate them before I realized there wasn't enough contrast. oops.

This week's Philadelphia Weekly (the one in the yellow boxes) is all about food, read online: Philadelphia Weekly Food Issue or pick one up starting tomorrow. The lead story is about the trials and tribulations of opening a restaurant in Philly and includes a lengthy section about Sushi Nation, and Kirsten Henri manages to snafu egullet.org as e-gullet.com, which of course leads to a real sitename that someone's sitting on. Good job Kirsten! Everyone else, try not jump for the geek bait.

My boss loves Tequila's/Los Catrines, although I haven't been there. We're having our lab's holiday party at Taqueria Veracruzana (previous parties have been at Lee How Fook and Evelyn & Shank's in South Philly). I'm not sure if this counts, but I've also been a convert to the Mexi-Cali food truck on Spruce between 36th & 37th (weekdays 10something-2ish, noon rush hour has a very long line). $3.75 for the guacamole burrito (sometimes it's the lighter veggie guacamole, but I prefer my full caloried guac) or the potato+chorizo special is yummy too. Other burrito choices include eggplant, spinach, sweet potato, roasted pepper, chicken, roast beef, tofu (I don't know anyone who's tried the tofu and liked it). There's also a nacho chips option, and a tostadas (more salady) option, but really the burrito or chips are my favorites. Salso comes in hot/med/mild, where the hot & med are squirtable sauces, and the mild involves actual tomato chunks. Rich used to be pretty hardcore about not deviating from the menu, but he's been nicer about it lately (he will do hot & mild salsa together)- he's also been learning everyone's names since this summer. Burritos weigh at least 1lb, so be prepared.

Top Road- Conte's is in Princeton. (Be prepared for leftover smoky barness permeating your clothes.) kt

Next time I'd use some flash for the food pictures. I'm just learning how to use my camera, new toy, sorry about the shake. Pretty much what you see in my pictures is how dimly lit it really was in Top Road and Conte's (and I don't have a dSLR which would make up for low light, but the next time I have $700 lying around...). The pictures uploaded with the most recent first, so start at the end if you'd prefer chronologic order. As a slightly less painful alternative to ImageGullet, I put <a href="http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=r1k9cln.7g5v945b&x=0&y=-z6ikdz">the same photos into this kodakgallery album</a>, does not require sign in (just clicky the link towards the bottom on the right side that says something like view without signing in...) <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=user&user=8386&op=view_album&album=2092">Pizza Club takes Trenton album (ImageGullet)</a> gah, ImageGullet isn't really built for looking through a pile of pix. And the <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=module&module=gallery&cmd=slideshow&album=2092">slideshow </a> is another kind of horrible, at least on my computer. foodwise, we started at the best and ended with the least best. Delorenzo's is worth going out of the way for, seconded by the dozen or so other people patiently waiting at not quite 4ish on a Saturday afternoon- not when you expect a lot of people to be eating. Too late for lunch, too early for dinner. The plain was fabulous, the sausage even better for carnivores, and I'll leave the clam for other people. I like seafood, and the clam pizza wasn't bad; I just didn't love it. Also, I'll be passing on birch beer in the future. I love root beer, but birch beer veers into medicinal for me.

Yes, the Restaurant School is in the middle of the 4200 block of Walnut Street, and the Pastry Shop is just west of the main entrance. They have breads, little snacky pastries and full-sized cakes available that change on a daily basis. The execution varies over the semester (you can tell by the croissants how far into the semester it is, they get more uniform). Thanks for the ideas, I remember Buttercup had little individual danish and pastries. There's also the coffeeshop on walnut past 23rd which has some fahncy chocolates, I'll have to look for the cake.

Is there anything comparable to More Than Just Ice Cream west of Broad Street? I kind of want a slab of cake, but can't think of anywhere to go find one other than MTJIC beyond Miel which isn't open very late anyway. Also, I've been going to The Restaurant School's Pastry Shop lately: giant cream puffs for $1+tax and La Colombe coffee. Fabulous. They also had a sesame honey loaf the other day.

the mailing sent out a blurbio on the new store opening Friday in west center city. This will be bad for my budget. Here's the email that was sent to ppl on the mailing list: John and Stephanie Reitano can’t contain themselves. On Friday, November 11th, CAPOGIRO GELATO ARTISANS opens another location in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square. Housed in a historic building that shares the same architect as that of the Empire State Building, the 30-seat café features the same hand crafted gelato and sorbetto as their Sansom and 13th Street location, in a rotating menu of over 300 flavors as well as the signature daily panini, imported candy, salads and soup made from the best local and imported ingredients. The couple decided to open the Rittenhouse Square location to stop the whining once and for all from all those inconvenienced by the tramp across Broad Street. The new corner location’s design is a progression of 13th Street’s sensibilities, providing a familiar setting that was defined by the space. The gelato will continue to be made fresh on site and gelato cakes will be made available for the first time later this year. The winter features Italian hot chocolates, affogato (espresso poured over gelato), and Italian candy and chocolates. Winter flavors include blood orange, pomegranate, black walnut, and sweet potato pecan praline. Every element of CAPOGIRO GELATO AND SORBETTO is made by hand—we roast the nuts, caramelize the sugar, and steep the herbs. A combination of fruit picked at the peak of ripeness and milk from Lancaster County hormone-free, grass-fed cows, CAPOGIRO GELATO AND SORBETTO is crafted in 1.3 gallon batches using nothing more than pure Italian artisan know-how. Flavors reflect seasonal bounty with absolutely nothing artificial—no extracts and no preservatives—to get in the way. It’s honest food, intelligently served: taste no evil. 117 South 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 Phone: 215.636.9250 www.capogirogelato.com Capogiro Gelato Artisans gelato and sorbetto, featuring exquisite produce procured from Lancaster County Farms, is now also available in Philadelphia Whole Foods Markets - South Street, Callowhill Street, and Wynnewood; DiBruno Brothers; Manhattan Whole Foods Markets - Columbus Circle, Chelsea, Union Square and White Plains; and New Jersey Whole Foods Markets – Princeton, Edgewater, Montclair, Middletown and Ridgewood.

Fabulous this morning: buttermilk pancakes w/ sweet potatoes, topped w/ honey glazed oranges, scotch bonnets and the challah french toast topped w/ pears, fresh figs stuffed w/ something pink & goat cheese. Usually I pick waffles over pancakes but the pair of giant pancakes were fluffy and tender, and I think they come out much better than the waffles, which I think often don't get crisp enough (or maybe it's fruit in the batter that sometimes keeps it from crisping up in the wafflemaker). We also had the veal sausage (from Martin's) in link format and the country sausage as a patty. I think you get more sausage if it comes as a link. The veal was a little dry but yummy, and the country patty was all sorts of caramelized goodness. I believe the omelette was filled w/ stewed jersey tomatoes, blue cheese and maybe cornbread crumbles. The lunch item was a pair of quail. For those who complained about pricing, a side order of sausage/bacon now costs just $1 more on top of the entree (I think it's been this way for a while.)

If a business is located in the midst of an single-language ethnic enclave, then there is at least a tiny reason for the customer to make an effort to communicate in the business operator's tongue. But when a business, by virtue of its location, is clearly going after a broader demograhic of customers (as Ô has by purposely locating right next to one of the busiest food corners in the city), the obligation falls exclusively on the business operator. At least if the operator wants a profitable operation. ← Also Ô is run by a set of late 20somethings-early30somethings (borderline GenX-Y), I think most of whom have spent a lot if not all their lives in the US, so think second generation rather than first gen family run business. (disclosure: One of the partners is an ex's girlfriend).

Recently tried ricotta, which was a lot like a plain sweet cream flavor with a little extra unctuous mouthfeel; three out of the four ppl in my group ended up getting it. I liked it, but not enough to give up on fruity sorbettos. I'm waiting for them to do rice as a flavour, other ppl who've had it at places outside of Philly said it's good.

The cones cost maybe a quarter more, and you can get whatever size/multiple flavors for the correspondingly higher price with them. They'll also give you a cone to stick on top of your cup of gelato if you like. They're very sugar cone like. mm.

Thanks for the suggestions so far; I've already checked in with Holly and he was very helpful esp. about the bbq aspect which is why I was also looking for other food places also. I have this dream about pie, which I've already lived. And you know how nothing's ever as good as the memories. The best pie I think I've eaten outside of the homemade-with-love kind, which is to say pie that you can buy at some establishment with some regularity, was from Moody's motel up in Maine- it was berry season. I'm going to map out some stops for this trip, although it looks like it's going to be less leisurely than previously planned b/c now my friend has some time pressure about getting a teaching job, meaning less ice cream for me. I just went to a bbq place around the corner from me two days ago during the heat wave and I'm gearing up for more. mm. Also I'd like to see some real Cuban sandwiches. More mmm.

Sunday, I'm headed on a roadtrip going Philadelphia-Virginia Beach-Marathon, FL and it looks like we'll be seeing a whole lot of I-95 on the way down. I'm planning a few bbq stops somewhere in the Carolinas, but I'm also looking for good places for pie or ice cream or other local goodness. Suggestions?

hey everyone, that sounds like an invitation to me. Roast pig party at Greg's!

Last First Friday, there was a Hummingbird cake, a triple layer spice cake with a cream cheese frosting, pecans (?) and pineapple inside. There was a cluster of tiny orange red berries on top, along with a little feather It just fit into the plastic container, and we barely finished it along with a chocolate something or other cake/torte. Mmm, dessert for dinner.