Philadelphia Food Media

[Vadouvan]

and the RW Apple award goes to mainline magazine ?

if I didnt know better I would think it was a brochure for the American cosmetic surgery association.

[Rich Pawlak]

and the RW Apple award goes to mainline magazine ?

if I didnt know better I would think it was a brochure for the American cosmetic surgery association.

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Youre confusing mags, Vad. Ours looks like a brochure for overpriced Main Line homes! Now get your glorified brochure jabs right! Harumph! Now I need another gin and tonic, old boy.....

[Mummer]

The bad news is that we have too many plastic surgeons and overpriced homes (and glossy magazines) but not enough good restaurants.

I was thinking about a strip steak tonight...there's been a lot of buzz about a local place.

Edited June 22, 2007 by Mummer (log)

[Capaneus]

The sun is hot in july is an "undisputed fact".

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Except in the southern hemisphere.

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No, I'm pretty sure the Sun is still hot in that instance. About 6000 degrees Celsius, if I recall correctly.

[Rich Pawlak]

The bad news is that we have too many plastic surgeons and overpriced homes (and glossy magazines) but not enough good restaurants.

I was thinking about a strip steak tonight...there's been a lot of buzz about a local place.

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Use the name "Laban" when you make your reservation; it should get you a great table!

[MarketStEl]

Jeez Rich...can this discussions go on without being sublimated into  folks spinning things into personal offenses ?

It ruins the board.

You write for a MAINLINE publication, last time I checked Philadelphia stopped around lancaster and cityline aves where the mainline apparently starts?

The thread says "Philadelphia food media".

Now that's just hair splitting, V.

Must we explicitly put "Greater" in front of "Philadelphia" in order for a discussion about local topics to extend beyond the Philadelphia city line? There's a discussion board on Phillyblog about "The 'Burbs." I would hope that if someone wanted to diss a restaurant review that ran in the Bucks County Courier Times, we could do so in this topic.

AND the original point I made is this...

This tendency of projected inferiority complex that makes food writers describe people they dont know as "Philistines" simply because they may be having trendy cocktails is absurd.

I am simply pointing out that if you want to make social statements on refinement, you might not want to write for a newspaper with a substantial investment in pornography.

I am not attacking journalism as a whole.

Chill out.

The issue of editorial and advertising isnt at all the issue, it's about content.

Both are under the same banner of newspaper.

It has a uniform voice which is the amalgalm of it's contents.

Edited to add: Philly Mag and STYLE also have good food writers.

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I'm pretty sure that the editorial staff of the latter are also encouraged to write about advertisers. I think the point everyone is trying to make is that even though publishers or the ad sales staff have leaned on the editorial staff to cover advertisers [positively] in the news columns, the gold standard is for the two to be separate -- and if that is the case, then both of the following are true:

--Just because someone advertises in the paper doesn't ensure favorable coverage;

--The ads a newspaper carries are not a reliable guide to the editorial content.

BTW, I' not sure that it's insecurity she was expressing.

[Vadouvan]

Now that's just hair splitting, V.

Must we explicitly put "Greater" in front of "Philadelphia" in order for a discussion about local topics to extend beyond the Philadelphia city line? There's a discussion board on Phillyblog about "The 'Burbs." I would hope that if someone wanted to diss a restaurant review that ran in the Bucks County Courier Times, we could do so in this topic.

That's cute, and you wonder why I dont reply to your PM's.......

The Philadelphia city line is the Philadelphia Line.

Excuse me but when you live in St Davids, Ardmore,Rosemont and Villanova, who do you send the check for your real estate taxes ?

[MarketStEl]

That's cute, and you wonder why I dont reply to your PM's.......

The Philadelphia city line is the Philadelphia Line.

Excuse me but when you live in St Davids, Ardmore,Rosemont and Villanova, who do you send the check for your real estate taxes ?

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And if they work in Philadelphia, who gets their wage taxes?

And when they travel to, say, San Francisco, and someone out there asks where they're from, where do you think they say they're from? If they use their actual community, the following exchange will likely ensue:

"Where's that?"

"Oh, it's outside Philadelphia."

I think this issue cuts both ways. The whole city-vs.-suburb thing IMO has hobbled this region for decades. If I object to the (formerly?) widespread attitude among suburbanites that their lives wouldn't be affected one whit if an H-bomb were dropped on Broad and Market tomorrow morning, then I can't just let the notion that mediawise, city is city, suburb is suburb and never the twain shall meet, pass unchallenged.

Hundreds of municipalities, five counties, one Greater Philadelphia.

[Vadouvan]

"Oh, it's outside Philadelphia."

I guess that says it all.

I'm out.

[cdh]

Look... it's not as though any of the burbs have food criticism getting widely published that is either controversial, perceived as crucial to market success, or in any way superior to what we generate here on eG, so the sniping between V and everybody else about what is worth discussing here is moot.

I imagine Rich is best situated to enumerate the competition, if there is any, for western suburb food writing... Up here in the distant northlands, I've found nobody worth reading, though there are some pleasant spots to eat.

Chester County has its own restaurant thread, where relevant comments on published criticism probably should go... Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties probably deserve their own similar threads too... But then again, PHL embraces its metropolitan area... after all, the Fuji topic is on the PA board rather than the NJ board... and it belongs there.

[Tim Dolan]

Seems like a whole lot is going on ...

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment...tml#recent_comm

[MarketStEl]

Seems like a whole lot is going on ...

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment...tml#recent_comm

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Ahhh, we got a bad pun right around the corner from me:

Joe Pesce. Pompeii has reconceptualized (fresher, less-formal Italian) under brothers Joseph Tucker and Robert Liccio; a second location is in the works next month for Collingswood. 1113 Walnut St., 215-829-4400.

I assume the menu is now heavy on the seafood too.

I also see the roundup gives Michael Klein another chance to mention the Wood brothers' new place in my building. I can tell you that the bar crowd (mature division) has found it; we're waiting for you diners....

--Sandy, who plans to watch the season premiere of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" tonight

[jm chen]

Triada. Old City lounge with global small plates.

"Triada"? Are they trying to confuse us?

Edited September 19, 2007 by jm chen (log)

[MarketStEl]

Now that I'm reading the Daily News regularly, I wonder what folks' opinions are of the "Chain Gang."

Like the Mystery Muncher in the Inquirer "Wknd" section, the Chain Gang are completely anonymous, and as their name implies, they focus exclusively on chain restaurants.

This strikes me as a very People Paper thing to do.

And they don't lower their standards, either, except to the extent that they judge chains relative to one another on a scale of "links". But in their assessments of chains such as Maggiano's Little Italy (3 links out of a possible 4, FWIW), they make clear that they consider the chain places a world apart from (and in most cases inferior to on an absolute scale) independent restaurants. As many chains are more large-group and family-friendly than some independents, I guess this column does readers a service, especially when it warns them away from The Olive Garden (one link: "you may as well eat at home").

[cinghiale]

Didn't know quite where to put this item, spotted in Sunday's Inky:

Food without fear Adventurer and chef Anthony Bourdain is the tough guy of cuisine, unafraid to travel to the ends of the Earth and eat whatever is on the menu there. He discusses his new book No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach at the Free Library's Montgomery Auditorium, 19th and Vine Streets, at 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. Call 215-567-4341.

[cinghiale]

Favorite quotes from this aft.'s Bourdain love-fest, which packed the audi as well as the first-floor video-feed seating, w/many standing:

1. During 20 min remarks-cum-bio, riffing on the dying dream associated with going Hollywood (envisoning the short story writer w/aspirations): "Yeah, and five years later, your face-down in the shag carpet getting rear-mounted by Ron Jeremy."

2. In response to a very cool query from a vegetarian, who's gonna prep for an overseas voyage ("like my of my friends do") by eating meat, so as to be able to meet a celebratory meal w/out reservation: "Start with bacon: that's the gateway protein."

3. In response to a query whom he'd favor in a Rachel Ray-Sandra Lee death match: [declining to pick favorites] "It's like choosing between syphillis and chlamydia."

[TarteTatin]

Bourdain was really bothered by the question from the girl going to New England Culinary School -that wanted to get into "food media". Being in the industry, I was really bothered by that question too. Do you want to cook, or do you want to be a personality?

He's got a great sense of "all around guy" and brought up the fact that Julia Child never ever endorsed a product.

I think he perhaps, looked up to her and her dealing with the media, as opposed to what he sees on TV today.

He's very funny and quick and smart, and gives very honest opinions, although he knows they are his, and he won't win Mr. Congeniality for it all. He doesn't care. He's having fun, and I like his point of view.

We enjoyed ourselves. There were a few other great lines, I have to try to remember some...

His agenda was to get home to his new daughter. Which is totally understandable! However, he could have been anywhere in the US, giving a talk, being in Philadelphia meant nothing to him.

I felt the same way when we saw him at the Book & The Cook, years ago at Bleu Angel.

[Tim Dolan]

I stopped by just to see what it would be like since I was in the area, and had NO idea it would be as mobbed as it was. I was all of about 25 feet from the main entrance and stayed for maybe 25 minutes before it got too annoying. Bourdain's story about his friend who produced foie gras, how some vegan freaks video-taped the guy's wife and child and warned him to quit his business, that seemed pretty relevant. Talk about taking a silly cause too far. I didn't stay long, but he seemed like a completely normal dude to me. Who wouldn't be humbled by traveling the world and doing stuff they never thought they'd do? Especially on a TV network's dime? I wonder how the Philly turnout compared to other places he's been. I might be naive, but it seemed like there was an AWFUL lot of people there today.

[philadining]

[TarteTatin]

Great pics, as usual, Jeff!

One girl in the audience commented, "I'm over 50, and I think you're sexy, Tony!"

Loved that. He is. It's not just his looks, it's his point of view. Enthusiasm. Passion.

About food. About life.

[rlibkind]

I stayed for the book signing and he signed both the copy of his new book, and (though he certianly didn't have to) my copy of the 30-year-old, out-of-print "Provincetown Seafood Cookbook" by Howard Mitcham, the dude who hired him in Provincetown. Yippee!

However, he could have been anywhere in the US, giving a talk, being in Philadelphia meant nothing to him:

True, but it's had to expect much more of an author at the rump-end of a grueling book tour. He's basically been on the road for three weeks and this was his last stop on the book-tour gig. I mean, how enjoyable can it be to answer the same questions every time, then sit and smile for 75 or 90 minutes signing books? When he was asked a Philly-centric question, he was up-front and honest, saying he really didnt' know enough to have an opinion (other than a love a cheesesteaks; the poor boy really needs to taste a roast pork italian).

[KatieLoeb]

I heard a rumor from a few of my bar guests on Friday night that they saw Tony having dinner at Supper. Wonder if he enjoyed it and if that changed his indifference toward our city's food culture?

The City Paper article listing Must Visit Spots for Bourdain while he's in town was amusing, but I think they only stuck to those things that would make viewers squirm if a show were made out of it. I think a visit to RTM, in addition to the market or a stop at Shank's & Evelyn's would have been right up his alley. No eyeballs or offal, but I think he'd have left with a far better impression than he currently holds.

[philadining]

He was asked where he was going to have dinner, and said he was going immediately back home to NY to see his family. So I think it's unlikely he had supper at Supper.

[KatieLoeb]

It was FRIDAY night that he was spotted at Supper, not after the event on Saturday. It's certainly possible he stayed overnight so as not to have to travel too early Saturday or perhaps he had a meeting or some other obligation here on Friday. Jussayin'...

The customers that told me said they were about 80% certain it was him, and I don't think they knew about the book event on Saturday, as they seemed a bit surprised to hear about it. Bourdain just sort of came up in conversation.

[zeffer81]

I love how real he is. He talks not just about food but politics and issues of international importance. He extols the virtue of not just eating at but visiting some of the lesser-known countries (mostly Asian) and does so with an enviable passion.

On a side note, the line for the book signing went down two hallways, out the door and all the way down Wood Street. WOW!