Saturday lunch, Main Line

[rlibkind]

Friends are coming in from upstate NY for a wedding in Villanova, and we'll be meeting them for lunch this Saturday. Since I rarely get out to that neck of the woods from my in-town abode, I'm totally clueless as to where to go. The meal shouldn't be too heavy, since they'll be going to the wedding that evening.

They aren't foodies, so I'm not looking for anything esoteric. Perhaps slightly upmarket Asian (if Japanese, they've got to have yakitori, katsu, etc., something other than sushi to accommodate all palates). I was thinking Fuji Mountain. A decent brunch establishment would be fine, too.

Ideas, people?

[d+d]

Yang Ming

[MisterMax]

We had very nice father's day brunch yesterday at Tango in the building that used to be part of the Bryn Mawr station. Yang Ming is good too, though pretty far from the food in China.

[Rich Pawlak]

I can solidly recommend Ha Long Bay in Bryn Mawr (816 W. Lancaster, just a few dorrs down from the Bryn Mawr Theater), a delightful Vietnamese, with fragrant pho, killer shrimp pancakes and well executed bun dishes (broken rice variations). Very inexpensive and the touch is light, but auithentic.

[Mummer]

Margaret Kuo's in Wayne or Susanna Foo's in St. Davids. Both are easy from the Blue Route and close to Vanillanova.

[rlibkind]

Since my guests were not into Asian today, we tried George's. The on-line menu for lunch showed prices that weren't out-of-sight and offerings that, if not adventurous, seemed likely to please.

This being a summer Saturday in June, no more than three tables were occupied at any time, except for what looked to be a birthday or shower in the Garden room.

I ate much too much fried food. I considered a cup of the melon soup as a starter, but couldn't resist a half-sized salad ($6) surrounded by beautiful little bits of fried calamari. The squid was perfectly and lightly fried, crunchy and tender.

For a main I went with the Grilled Cheese BLT ($13, I think), accompanied by lots of big onion rings. The rings were just a tad greasy and while not the best I've had, they were far superior to what you'll find in most places. The sandwich would have been perfect . . . if . . . . it hadn't been a big soggy on one side. This is not something I expect at Perrier establishment, even a very casual bistro like this one, with wide-screen TVs on two or three of the walls of the lounge room where we ate. Whenever I make a sandwich involving toasting or grilling, once I pull it from the heat I don't immediately put it on a plate and let it sit there. When still hot condensation will form on the bottom if you do. It should have either cooled slightly on a rack, or after quickly cutting for service, the sandwich placed vertically on its crusts. Hell, even a lot of Jersey diners do that with their BLTs!

Our out-of-town friends opted for salads with chicken slices (which they enjoyed) because they were facing a long and rather rich wedding meal that evening; iirc, they were priced at about $10-12. She Who Must Be Obeyed ordered steak and frites ($19). The steak (she thinks it was hanger) was cooked to order and served sliced in a tasty sauce and a dollop of herbed butter. A large portion of frites came in an open-top paper bag. Unlike the onion rings, they were practically grease-less (the bag sopped up any excess); they were among the best french fries I've had in a long time. Put them in a cone and top with mayonnaise and you've got a french fry that could compete with the best in Brussels. (The mayonnaise accompanying the sandwich was a great dipping medium for the fries.)

For dessert, one of the out-of-towners went for the cherry sorbet, which was creamy like a sorbetto and nicely flavored. SWMBO couldn't resist a lemon meringue-like concoction with a light pistachio toasted crust on top. It was yummy.

I had an interesting variation on a gin and tonic which was quite a summer cooler. It was Bluecoat gin, muddled cucumber, a squirt of lemon juice topped by ginger ale in a highball glass.

The service was okay: no errors of any significance, just not as smooth as I expect at a Perrier establishment. My guess is that the lowest servers on the totem pole draw summer Saturday lunches, and ours just might have been a college student on summer break.

Would I go back? Yes. I thought the lunch menu perfect for a casual meal and, except for the soggy bread bottom, well-executed. And it was reasonably priced. Starters and sandwiches, for example, were just a few bucks more than they would have been at Tango and, based on an on-line menu check, the lunch entrees priced pretty mucy the same.

[KatieLoeb]

Sounds like a twist on a Pimm's Cup without the Pimm's...

I think I'd have liked that drink better with Hendrick's, but that's me. I like to save the Bluecoat for citrus and fruity variations. I like the Hendrick's moreso for the savory/cucumbery variants.

[rlibkind]

Since I haven't done much taste-test with gins as you (I'm a rank amateur, you're a pro!) I defer to your wisdom, Kaite.

But, a cucumber, botanically, is a fruit, closely related to melons, though most Americans tend to use it only as a salad additive, as a pickle or, for those with a Middle Eastern or South Asian bent, as an addition to yogurt. Indeed, cucumbers taste like a melon, just less sugary. I once had a white wine augmented with tiny cubes of cuke and strawberry at a now departed Swedish restaurant in Manhattan, Ulrika's. It, too, was a nice summer cooler.