chowfun

I tasted the rosemary goat milk and honey, and the rosemary was too overpowering for me. The butterscotch bourbon is a winner. I tasted the bittersweet chocolate and wondered why I had never ordered that before. It tasted like dark chocolate cake.

I am not an expert at event planning, but for that many people I think you need to pick a venue and a caterer. No restaurant that I can think of would be able to accomodate that kind of crowd and meet your other criteria. For venues I would talk to the convention center, because they have a hall that used to be part of the train station that is beautiful. I'm not sure what they call it, I think it is the train sheds, maybe. You could also try to rent out the reading terminal market. If you were to consider a museum the new Constitution Center would be close by and it is pretty cool. I really like Peachtree and Ward for catering. http://www.peachtreecatering.com/. I think music is a little harder to recommend, tastes really vary widely. Here is a band that I have personally thought about hiring in the near future. http://www.kenumusic.com/ They are fun to dance to.

What town is it in? What type of food is it?

I recently had persimmon and black plum. I enjoyed the persimmon more than the plum. It does have a subtle flavor, but it is delicious.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I skipped looking for Yanni's and went to Miel, it sounded so amazing. I picked out four different desserts to try, and we happily polished them off. I should have written down the names of the desserts while in the store, because they escape me. We had this beautiful apricot pastry that was shiny and bright orange with sponge cake, cream and apricots in the middle, the linzer cookie, the lemon tart and a hazelnut chocolate pastry. Everything was great. The hazelnut pastry was the best, it was not too sweet, with a strong dark chocolate flavor, hazelnut mousse or cream and at the bottom a crunchy toffee layer. I also sampled an almond croissant when I picked up the loot and it was very good. The only other place in the Philly area where I have had a croissant that good was at the french bakery in Narberth.

I am going to head over there on Tuesday to pick up some special treats for hubbys birhtday. Any recommendations? I was thinking about an assortment of goodies we could cut up and share. Can anyone give me the name of the other French pastry shop nearby. I think it may be on Sansom?

We had a delicious omekasi dinner last night in honor of my husband's birthday. We brought the kids and they had it too, except for the raw oysters! We started with sharks fin soup, filled with shitaki, enoki and other mushrooms and lump crab meat, followed by a cold dish of tofu skins in a sweet sauce, then awesome oysters on the half shell (komimoto oysters per the server). Then on to braised shad roe which was very good and a surprise at this time of year. We then had some sushi and sashimi, fantastic as always, followed by quail with some veggies and mashed potatoes. The service was very good in the dining room. The speed at which the food was made was a little slow, but we didnt mind. Itosan, you are a god! I wanted to mention something else on this thread. A while ago Matt told us that he was going to have to take the Jewpanese roll (smoked salmon and cream cheese) off the menu, because he got letters of complaint that this was a slur to Jews. As a MOT as y'all say on this board, I think some people need to find their sense of humor.

Thats impressive Holly, I cant do it, but I know many who can and do! I really like your website, by the way, and I used to love to read your food column in the Welcomat (or was it the City Paper?)

In response to Holly Moore's comment, I will try Red's if I ever have an hour to kill in Wiscasset on my way to Mt Desert, or if I ever catch it with a line that doesnt look an hour long. I have been to Coney Island many times and have purposefully avoided Nathan's, but that's because I was on my way to Tottonno's, arguably the best pizza in the country.

I havent been to Marigold in about twenty years. It had old fashioned comfort food before comfort food was trendy. I remember having roast chicken dinners and ice cream cake roll for dessert.

I would like to second both Dilworthtown Inn and Savona. I have been meaning to get to Deux Cheminees for many years, it has been recommended to me many times for a romantic dinner.

We tried Five Islands Lobster pier on our way up to Mount Desert. It was lovely, what a beautiful spot! I think the lobster rolls were around $13.00 and very good. The setting was idyllic. Thanks for the tip. We also passed Red's on the way to and from MDI and the line was very long, it looked completely not worth it to me. There was a place accross the street advertising 10.99 Lobster rolls, but no one was in line there. We stopped at a little shack in the parking lot at the Camden town pier on the way back home. I'm not sure of the name, may be Jimmy's or something like it, founded in 1963. The lobster rolls were chock full of Lobster and a bargain at $7.75. The crab roll was also great and less than $6.00.

I'm bumping this to the top, because we leave for a two week rental on Long Pond in less than a week. Anyone one with any more recommendations? We have been to Mt. Desert many times over the years and we are always looking for something new and great. Cafe This Way is our current favorite.

Kibitz in the city has outrageously good homemade corned beef and brisket. They serve their sandwiches hot. The sandwiches are expensive, but huge, a la the Carnegie deli. The meats are actually much better than the Carnegie, however. A half sandwich comes with two sides. The matzoh ball soup has a softball sized matzoh ball in it that is light and airy and the broth is a delicous golden chicken broth. They have dinner plate sized black and white cookies that are pretty good and good rugelach. I like their stuffed cabbage that is sweetened with golden raisins. I like their rye bread. It is soft but it has a delicous slightly sour flavor and a nice crust. I wasnt aware that they changed ownership. When did that happen?

How about Sang Kee Peking duck house? The roast pork wonton noodle soup is definately not too challenging, but at the same time delicious and different. Plus you can order all kinds of dumplings there. The fried wontons are delicous. After dinner you can get a bubble drink. My favorite place is the snack shop on 10th street accross from the fire station. They use real fruit in the drinks instead of syrup. I think the authentic mexican places in South Philly may be a little challenging for someone who hasnt had much variety in foods. My kids are pretty sophisticated, but they really dont like the tacos that I bring home from south Philly. Too much cilantro and spices. I have taken my kids to the Standard Tap. It was an unpleasant experience due to heavy smoke, large crowd and loud, loud, loud. We have sat at the upstairs bar sans children and had a better experience. Kibbitz in the City would be a good Saturday breakfast or lunch, although the Reading Terminal is definately better. Another fun place for any meal is the crepe place at 6th and Bainbridge, I think its called Beau Monde.

They definately didnt normally do weddings there at the time and I'm not sure how many they have done since. We contacted the restaurant and I talked to the manager first and then we met with Jack. When he did the wedding, he said it had to cost above a certain amount to make it worth his while to shut down brunch.

Sara, My wedding was at Jack's Firehouse in 1992. The restaurant shut down Sunday brunch that day and we had the whole building. We were married in a room upstairs and had the reception downstairs. We had walking appetizers in the bar, and a sit down meal in the restaurant area. Jack was easy to work with in selecting the menu. The only appetizer that I can remember was a rock shrimp ceviche that was fabulous. The other appetizers were great too. We had a cornmeal crusted rainbow trout stuffed with crab and spinach for the first course, we had a choice of free range chicken or salmon for the entree. At the time Jack had a wine manager named Frederick who helped us select the wines. He also had his own pastry chef who made a grandmarnier cake with chocolate ganache between the layers and marzipan and glaze for the frosting, and that cake rocked! We had about 90 people and we couldnt use the outdoor space because it was raining. It was a little tight in the back where the tables were, but the space worked for us. You might want to think about other restaurants that dont usually do weddings but might be willing to do one at a time that they are not otherwise open or at a time they would be willing to close for a private party. The price wasnt bad compared to our other options. We didnt have to pay a rental fee. We did have to rent chairs for the ceremony upstairs. I think we paid Jack $6000 for everything. I do think that your wish to spend a few thousand dollars on a meal and wine for a hundred people is a little unrealistic unless you are planning to do something ethnic like maybe Chinese. Places like HK Golden Pheonix do weddings all of the time. I have a friend who got married at Kingdom of Vegetarians and the food was amazing, but that space wouldnt hold a hundred people. We just attended a wedding at the College of Physicians catered by Peachtree and Ward. The food was great. The setting is a bit bizarre. I have only attended weddings of physicians at that space. Who else would have their guests tour the Mutter museum and ponder a toxic megacolon prior to dinner? Jennifer

I was accidentally logged in under my husbands' account when I posted about Matt being the iron chef, but he agrees with me. I guess if I would pick another iron chef it would be Dominique Filoni of Savona for mediterranean style food.

I havent tried to buy any in Philly but when in Manhatten we always try to stop at Elk candy company, particularly during New Years so we can pick up our good luck Marzipan pigs. The chocolate covered marzipan logs, that they slice into pieces are so delicious they can probably make a marzipan lover out of almost anyone. There is one typeof chocolate covered marzipan log that has a chocolate ganache swirled with the marzipan, unbelievably good. You can order off of their website, which I have done and they do a nice job getting your order out quickly and shipping it nicely. elk candy

I hope this reply doesnt come up twice. I already tried once. Last weekend my husband and I were at Capogiro. I enjoyed my bing cherry and queen anne cherry combination, they each tasted like fresh cherries. My husband picked the winners, though. The pineapple mint was very good, strong spearmint flavor. The grapefruit campari was by far the best flavor I have had at Capogiro. I couldnt taste the campari, but the grapefruit flavor was delicious.

I really like a product called Zout. It says that it can get out stains that have set as well as new stains. It really works well, much better than plain detergent or spray and wash. I was able to get ink stains out of my leather couch with it.

Was that $450 for dinner for two at Morimoto, Tommy? Yowza!