PLAN: "Heartland" Gathering (In Philly) 2012

[Holly Moore]

I'd even go to the major "tourist trap" places so I could pick my own "best"

There are no tourist traps in Philadelphia.

What size thundering herd usually shows up for a Gathering? How do handle small places? Do you usually split into groups for such tours or what?

Cool that you may end up here.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Holly Moore (log)

[jsmeeker]

I'd even go to the major "tourist trap" places so I could pick my own "best"

There are no tourist traps in Philadelphia.

What size thundering herd usually shows up for a Gathering? How do handle small places? Do you usually split into groups for such tours or what?

Cool that you may end up here.

Not even Pat's and Geno's?

At this past Cleveland gathering, we wer about 30 people at each event. We really didn't go to any SMALL places that weren't able to accommodate us either in a private room or a reserved section of a dining room. But you make a good point about really small places that are popular.

[Chris Hennes]

Amish don't have farms, bake their own bread, milk their own cows or have anything else to offer in terms of learning about food?

I guess in my opinion none of that is worth spending a whole day of a three day visit on. If they made food that was notable for tasting good, maybe. But you can learn about Amish farming practices in a book: you can't taste a DiNics roast pork sandwich without showing up at RTM. Obviously if the consensus here is that the Amish visit sounds like a good time, so be it, I'm just stating my personal opinion.

If you look within a six or eight block walking radius of RTM there is a tremendous amount to do and eat: personally I'd love to find a way to swing this trip without a car.

[Holly Moore]

you can't taste a DiNics roast pork sandwich without showing up at RTM.

As luck would have it, one can also taste some representative and good Amish cooking at the Reading Terminal Market either by strolling the Amish section or settling onto a stool at the Dutch Eating Place. Gut it is. And, time it right, there may be an Amish festival at the market such as this weekend's 22nd Annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival

Edited August 9, 2011 by Holly Moore (log)

[boagman]

Philly would be cool, and IIRC, I can get some relatively cheap (at least currently) airfare from Detroit or Lansing to Philly.

I couldn't care less about cheesesteaks (again, it's the complete ruining of perfectly good steak...what'd that poor steak ever do to you to deserve such foul treatment? ), and I, too, am in the "meh" category about the Amish thing.

That being said, several of Katie's "off the top of her head" ideas were pretty compelling. I cherish truly good sandwiches, and would love to give the Philadelphians a crack at the trophy. The cocktail crawl, the Franklin Fountain, and even the distillery tour (I'm not a straight hard liquor guy) all sound quite cool!

The other compelling thing about Philly is that, to me, it's kind of a mystery town in terms of culinary destinations. I mean, seriously: the most I know of the place's food is that they're crazy about those silly cheesesteaks, which I'd loathe. I wonder about mid-to-major cities which kind of "miss" the waves of culinary accolades. Places like Philly, or Des Moines, or Indianapolis...who knows what gems they might hide within their wings?

Philadelphia intrigues.

[gfweb]

Philly, Des Moines or Indianapolis?!!!

Do not group Philadelphia with two flyover cities.

[boagman]

Philly, Des Moines or Indianapolis?!!!

Do not group Philadelphia with two flyover cities.

Well, actually, you're kind of making my point for me. No insult intended to any of the above metropolises, but you say to-may-to...

Come on...you mean to tell me *in all honesty* that you're not a bit intrigued by them? Shoot, I'm intrigued by Des Moines and I stinking *hate* Iowa.

[nolnacs]

This sounds awesome (and I am not just saying that because I live in Philadelphia). Katie definitely has a lot of great ideas for activities/meals. As I am not a drinker, I would probably skip the cocktail crawl, but everything else sounds like a lot of fun. I have a couple of other ideas (as a relative newcomer to Philadelphia) of interesting things to do. Claudio's in the Italian Market makes the best mozzarella I have ever had - I don't know if they would agree to it, but it would be interesting to watch them make some or even get to try it ourselves. On the subject of dairy, Capogiro's (local gelato shops) factory would be another fascinating tour.

In any case, I'm looking forward to it.

[prasantrin]

A visit to Franklin Fountain. Here's your Old School soda fountain. These guys make their own ice cream and real old fashioned sundaes, floats and phosphates. Authentic right down to their handlebar mustaches and arm garters.

I'm totally there! But please let them know to take root beer floats off the menu before I arrive, or I may have to arrange a boycott. "Thou shalt not taint root beer with foreign objects (other than ice and straws)" is in the eG code of ethics, and we all know how rule-governed I am!

Coke floats are a-ok, as are cherry coke floats, so they can still do the float thing, just not with my beloved root beer.

Do they make their own root beer, by the way? And are there any locally brewed root beers that I'll need to seek out?

[weinoo]

I mean, seriously: the most I know of the place's food is that they're crazy about those silly cheesesteaks, which I'd loathe. I wonder about mid-to-major cities which kind of "miss" the waves of culinary accolades.

So, you'd loathe something before you've even tried it? I wouldn't give it such short shrift.

Philadelphia, in addition to its sandwich, cheese steak, water ice, gelato, coffee, soft-pretzel and annoying baseball team reputation, also hosts some excellent Spanish food from a highly acclaimed chef, if I've heard right...Amanda Restaurant.

[boagman]

I mean, seriously: the most I know of the place's food is that they're crazy about those silly cheesesteaks, which I'd loathe. I wonder about mid-to-major cities which kind of "miss" the waves of culinary accolades.

So, you'd loathe something before you've even tried it? I wouldn't give it such short shrift.

Philadelphia, in addition to its sandwich, cheese steak, water ice, gelato, coffee, soft-pretzel and annoying baseball team reputation, also hosts some excellent Spanish food from a highly acclaimed chef, if I've heard right...Amanda Restaurant.

It's the cheese, man. I...I hate most cultured dairy products. I love, love, love ice cream and milk, but once you start culturing the stuff, my stomach turns. It's an almost universal, across-the-board thing with me, but pizza is the exception. And yes: I know that it's a psychosomatic thing. I'm perfectly okay with that.

It's not like I don't try things from time to time, either: not too long ago my g/f's mom made some dip infused with some of her oh-so-wonderful caramelized onions, which I just can't resist. I tried it...and barely got it down. Love those onions like I do, it just wasn't worth it.

I'm not denying anyone the right to call me crazy. I cop to it...but putting cheese on beef is tantamount to criminal to me.

Don't even get me *started* on what I think of cheese being a crutch in American food culture.

[weinoo]

Do they make their own root beer, by the way? And are there any locally brewed root beers that I'll need to seek out?

Just checking out their menu, they do offer a float...

A scoop of Vanilla Bean ice cream bobbing atop a tall frosted mug of our own formula spicy Root Beer.

I'll bet if you were nice, they'd serve you a Root Beer unadulterated.

[boagman]

A visit to Franklin Fountain. Here's your Old School soda fountain. These guys make their own ice cream and real old fashioned sundaes, floats and phosphates. Authentic right down to their handlebar mustaches and arm garters.

I'm totally there! But please let them know to take root beer floats off the menu before I arrive, or I may have to arrange a boycott. "Thou shalt not taint root beer with foreign objects (other than ice and straws)" is in the eG code of ethics, and we all know how rule-governed I am!

Coke floats are a-ok, as are cherry coke floats, so they can still do the float thing, just not with my beloved root beer.

Do they make their own root beer, by the way? And are there any locally brewed root beers that I'll need to seek out?

So, ice cream is verboten, but somehow diluting a root beer with *ice* makes the cut? Color me confused.

I, too, prefer my root beer unadorned (but *cold*), but ice tends to dilute the flavor, no?

[jsmeeker]

It's 108 in Dallas.

A root beer float sounds really good right now. Really, really good.

[KatieLoeb]

My suggestion of an Amish lunch was tied in for a few folks that expressed interest in that, but the highlight of the day would be a tour of Green Meadow Farm and then possibly the dairy tour and cheese tasting later in the day. There's certainly no need to visit two farms. Greensgrow urban farm is great but obviously a lot smaller and more contained and would take less time. I'm no huge fan of Amish cuisine (except for Whoopie Pies and all the baked goods) so no great loss in my opinion. That said, Colonial food isn't that interesting from a culinary standpoint either. With all due respect to Chef Staib, I think there's a ton of other places for a sit down dinner in Philly that are infinitely more interesting. Certainly Amada would be great, but taking up that many seats on a weekend evening would almost constitute a "buy-out" which would likely be beyond our means. However, putting the horse before the cart, this is all moot until we have a decision that this is happening in Philly, actual dates and committed butts to put in the chairs.

Transportation for a large group could be arranged. I can look into a bus and driver and also Holly mentioned maybe getting some help from the Convention and Visitors Bureau for logistics like hotels at a discounted rate, transportation, etc. Let's get a consensus and go from there, yes?

[boagman]

For the record: Philly gets my vote.

[Kerry Beal]

I propose Thursday August 9th to Sunday August 12.

[JTravel]

Did not get to Cleveland partly due to scheduling and mainly due to being WAY out of my depth food wise.

But I already like the ideas of cheese steak crawl, ice creams and home made beverages both of the alcoholic and non types. DH can have the beer, I'll take the root beer. I'm sure I could spend most of a day in the area of the famous RTM. As you can tell, my foodie interests are leaning to the simpler things and I'm big on tours.

The dates Kerry gave should work for us, and I'll do my best to get us there.

[Andrew Fenton]

A visit to Franklin Fountain. Here's your Old School soda fountain. These guys make their own ice cream and real old fashioned sundaes, floats and phosphates. Authentic right down to their handlebar mustaches and arm garters.

Katie's not kidding about the mustaches; they're really extraordinary. You'll dig it, Rona.

eta: also, the ice cream is good! It's a neat place.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[prasantrin]

A visit to Franklin Fountain. Here's your Old School soda fountain. These guys make their own ice cream and real old fashioned sundaes, floats and phosphates. Authentic right down to their handlebar mustaches and arm garters.

Katie's not kidding about the mustaches; they're really extraordinary. You'll dig it, Rona.

eta: also, the ice cream is good! It's a neat place.

Do they have chocolate malteds? It would be a double strike against them to have root beer floats yet no chocolate malteds. Chocolate malteds rock!

[KatieLoeb]

I'll check on that, but I suspect there's chocolate malteds on the menu.

Franklin Fountain is right near a lot of the better historical sites in Philly. Certainly, we could arrange a visit to the Constitution Center and the Liberty Bell, followed up with a cool treat at the end of our educational/historical segment. There's just so much stuff here, it's hard to keep it focused just on food. But no doubt there could be plenty of that. I was hoping that the farm and dairy tours would give us inspiration and an ingredient source for our big Potluck dinner.

So where do these dinners generally take place? Is it a restaurant kitchen that's given over for run of the evening or is it a commercial kitchen space that's used for events? Knowing whose door to start knocking on with vague promises of a large group of foodies descending from all over is a good start...

Edited August 10, 2011 by KatieLoeb (log)

[rooftop1000]

Certainly Amada would be great, but taking up that many seats on a weekend evening would almost constitute a "buy-out" which would likely be beyond our means. However, putting the horse before the cart, this is all moot until we have a decision that this is happening in Philly, actual dates and committed butts to put in the chairs.

Chef Garces, given the chance might want to be the first Iron Chef to "personally" host us LOL

....they also do have a "lounge" that seats 30 to 40 perhaps Sunday brunch

I have seen no mention of pizza...isn't there an old thread about a Philly pizza club?

tracey

[jsmeeker]

A visit to Franklin Fountain. Here's your Old School soda fountain. These guys make their own ice cream and real old fashioned sundaes, floats and phosphates. Authentic right down to their handlebar mustaches and arm garters.

Katie's not kidding about the mustaches; they're really extraordinary. You'll dig it, Rona.

eta: also, the ice cream is good! It's a neat place.

Do they have chocolate malteds? It would be a double strike against them to have root beer floats yet no chocolate malteds. Chocolate malteds rock!

Choclate malts are awesome! I like them more than I like Root Beer Floats. I wish I knew about that place in Cleveland. I think you went there Friday after the food truck? I just went directly back to the hotel and chilled out there.

[weinoo]

Do they have chocolate malteds? It would be a double strike against them to have root beer floats yet no chocolate malteds. Chocolate malteds rock!

As suggested above, there's a menu online. Maybe it should be checked out.

[prasantrin]

Do they have chocolate malteds? It would be a double strike against them to have root beer floats yet no chocolate malteds. Chocolate malteds rock!

As suggested above, there's a menu online. Maybe it should be checked out.

As I did not mention because I did not think it was necessary, I had checked out the online menu before I posted, and there was no mention of chocolate malteds. That is why I asked someone who has actually been there. Perhaps there are many items not on the very annoying online menu that could be shared (though perhaps on another thread, since this is about the potential Heartland Gathering 2012).