RX

[viejo majadero]

Please advise.

Thanks

Viejo

[KatieLoeb]

Viejo:

Very cute place. Interesting preparations and fresh seasonal ingredients. BYOB so you could probably bring something really nice from your cellar, if you were feeling so inclined. Service has been friendly, if occasionally harried, but never so much so as to ruin the visit. Very reasonably priced for the quality and care of the ingredients and preparations.

If you're considering this for the upcoming graduation weekend I hope you already have reservations. There isn't a reservation to be had anywhere in this city next weekend. What about your standing reservation at Striped Bass??? I was hoping next time you were in you'd ask the hostess to call me so I could introduce myself. I'm upstairs in the office fairly late sometimes, although I am trying to avoid weekends for the summer. Thanks for your kind words regarding Easter brunch. I printed your post fout or the manager and she was quite pleased.

[viejo majadero]

Katie

Thanks.

Actually, I have reservations at the "other place". But I did send her a thread and she thinks she has met you where she works. She thniks she knows Sara also.

As for Rx, my daughter asked me to check in the forum for her. She is diligently working on a paper due soon. Place sounds cute as does Django. I will post this and then E-Mail her.

Viejo

[herbacidal]

rx is a solid place. within the confines of philly,

you could probably call it a poor man's django, or django's little brother.

they do have a new chef, i hope he's holding down the fort well, as

i believe he was a year below me in grade school.

[cinghiale]

I've only been once, and it was the Slow Food Event last month. But: very disappointing. Someone overbooked -- dunno if it was the restaurant or the organizers -- leading to some very harried servers. OK, can deal w/that. Food, though, was forgettable. Of the three courses, nicely paced over 3.5 hours : one, I can't remember; a second was a dry, flavorless, spanakopita-like thing. But the main course was dumbfounding: ribs still bearing the thick rind. While I admit to knowing next to nothing about ribs, proper cutlery should, I think, be provided to carve through this monster. All diners had ... regular, cafetria-style, dull knives. When one neighbor's dinner when skidding across the table and others had taken to using their hands, I asked the owner (I believe) for steak knives. He grudingly departed in search thereof and returned with ONE knife. I told him that I guess our table could share the proffered knife. Taste-wise, the ribs were OK, but they were paired with teeny, tiny clams. Weird. I didn't stick around for dessert.

I did chat briefly with the chef while outside killing time between courses. He seems like an enthusiastic young man. With the emphasis on "young". IMHO, he has a ways to go before getting into Django territory. Bryan Sikora is one of Phila's dining assets, and, again IMHO, he is destined for greatness (together with Aimee, of course). It is laughable that Rx should be compared in even the remotest fashion to Django. In the spirit of other posts, I'd call Rx "A Guy Still Learning to Play Guitar."

[herbacidal]

I've only been once, and it was the Slow Food Event last month.  But:  very disappointing.  Someone overbooked -- dunno if it was the restaurant or the organizers -- leading to some very harried servers.  OK, can deal w/that.  Food, though, was forgettable.  Of the three courses, nicely paced over 3.5 hours  : one, I can't remember; a second was a dry, flavorless, spanakopita-like thing.  But the main course was dumbfounding:  ribs still bearing the thick rind.  While I admit to knowing next to nothing about ribs, proper cutlery should, I think, be provided to carve through this monster.  All diners had ... regular, cafetria-style, dull knives.  When one neighbor's dinner when skidding across the table and others had taken to using their hands, I asked the owner (I believe) for steak knives.  He grudingly departed in search thereof and returned with ONE knife.  I told him that I guess our table could share the proffered knife.  Taste-wise, the ribs were OK, but they were paired with teeny, tiny clams.  Weird.  I didn't stick around for dessert.

I did chat briefly with the chef while outside killing time between courses.  He seems like an enthusiastic young man.  With the emphasis on "young".  IMHO, he has a ways to go before getting into Django territory.  Bryan Sikora is one of Phila's dining assets, and, again IMHO, he is destined for greatness (together with Aimee, of course).  It is laughable that Rx should be compared in even the remotest fashion to Django.  In the spirit of other posts, I'd call Rx "A Guy Still Learning to Play Guitar."

the new chef is greg ling, i believe. should be about 26. yes, quite young, but some can hack it. i have faith, he'll be able to catch up, in time.

i dined there with katie loeb last summer, i believe, and it was quite good.

much more along the lines of what katie said above.

disappointing to see that things have changed in the past year. especially disappointing that the owner wasn't more accomodating+hospitable.

[Allie D'Augustine]

proper cutlery should, I think, be provided to carve through this monster.  All diners had ... regular, cafetria-style, dull knives.  When one neighbor's dinner when skidding across the table and others had taken to using their hands, I asked the owner (I believe) for steak knives.  He grudingly departed in search thereof and returned with ONE knife.  I told him that I guess our table could share the proffered knife.

See, that's why it was SLOW food. They wanted you to take a long time eating the steak. Once you insisted on steak knives, they figured they'd just give you one to keep it as slow as possible. :)

[viejo majadero]

Thanks Everyone for the comments.

Will be in Philly this Sunday and Monday. Should be a Zoo.

Traffic and I don't get along. I should be very Majadero!!!!

Viejo

Edited May 15, 2003 by viejo majadero (log)

[herbacidal]

be sure to tell us how the meals go!

[viejo majadero]

Anyone have address and phone number for RX?

Thanks

Viejo

[herbacidal]

. 4443 Spruce St Philadelphia, PA 19104 Phone: (215) 222-9590.

from citysearch, always a good reference for location, contact and other similar info.

[herbacidal]

forget that first dot.

[viejo majadero]

Thanks Herb

Viejo

[sara]

A friend and I went to Rx tonite to try their new tasting menu. We had a wonderful time! To accompany us we brought two bottles of '2 buck Chuck'--a merlot and a chardonnay, for fun and to try those bargain bottles out (my verdict, merely ok wine, but still, yes, a ridiculous bargain)...

Anyways, there wasn't a set menu for the tasting, the waitress said the chef would send out what he wanted, so we only made a few requests (me, no foie gras, but langostinos please) and he was on his own.

We had:

1. King shrimp w/ beet salad and orange segments--good, not great. The shrimp was yum but the tempura batter could've been crisper. Still, found myself sucking the heads of those babies.

2. Amebi (this was a complementary sushi course, waitress said chef wanted to try out on us)--delicious. Perfectly fresh, I think the wasabi was freshly grated too!

3. a. Foie gras and bbq'd eel w/ fiddlehead ferns (for my friend)

b. Scallops and bbq'd eel w/ fiddlehead ferns---I only tried this one, and really really liked it. Nice combination. The ferns were just ok tho, an acquired taste for sure.

4. Suckling pig w/ sweet maine shrimp risotto and cockles. I felt like this was 3 good things on a plate, nice to have all 3 but they didn't really match. My friend felt the pig & cockles were a nice salty/savory combo but the risotto was odd. All 3 separately were quite good tho.

5. a. Langostinos w/ pasta and greens (me)

b. Lamb chops w/ baby vegetables (friend)

The chef came out at the end of the pig course and asked what we wanted next--seafood or meat--we said 'we don't know'--he brought both! My opinion---the langostinos were the best dish of the night. They were on the menu ala carte--I have to go back for more. (Had langostinos at Rx last fall, were great then too)

6. Dessert sampler--Jewish apple cake (roz), pecan pie, chocolate pot de creme, rhubarb tart, creme brulee, raspberries & strawberries.

Chef asked what we wanted for dessert, my friend is very into dessert & said everything, so that's what we got! (before he asked that he also asked if wanted another course beforehand! god we were so stuffed!) The pecan pie and rhubarb tart were standouts, w/ chocolate and creme brulee close seconds. I love Roz's applecake but this sample tasted a bit stale.

All told, we enjoyed excellent attentive service from our waitress, 2 visits from the chef, great food...all for $45 each before tip! I fell in love w/ Rx when it opened, waited things out when the food declined a few months back, and finally returned for this--and it was completely worth it. This new young (cute!) chef, Greg, is talented and definitely one to watch--and I'll enjoy his cooking only 2 blocks from my home hopefully for a long time to come!

[KatieLoeb]

Sara:

Glad you enjoyed dinner at Rx. It is a very neat place. I shall have to go check out the new chef, ahem, I mean the new menu, myself soon.

Where did you find Two Buck Chuck??? Obviously not in PA, but I was looking at the Trader Joe's website just yesterday to see where it was sold, and it was NOWHERE in the general area. I'm dying to try it just out of morbid curiosity.

[sara]

Katie-- I got it at the TJ's in VA on a recent trip home. Couple of funny things about it--it's not $2 on the East Coast, only the West. Here, it's $3.50. So I was wandering around, looking for a Charles Shaw wine w/ a $2 pricetag and kept walking by the $3.50 display!

Second, apparently some other winemaker is now producing a wine that's actually called "Two Buck Chuck." Sneaky. I bet some people will get confused...

[herbacidal]

glad you enjoyed it too.

i do want to check out the new chef, albeit for different reasons

than katie implied for herself above. refer to one of my previous posts.

[sara]

Hi

Thanks to Katie's nice writeup re: her dinner there for Dining Out for Life, LiamDC and I visited RX last night. I hadn't been in awhile--Greg was chef last time I was there.

We brought an Oregon Chardonnay from Carleton Winemarkers; a nice inexpensive, unoaked, with lemon flavors. So, we opted for the fishier parts of the menu, although the steak, pot au feu etc looked tempting.

We had:

1. White anchovies with escabeche and plantain chips--we enjoyed this dish immensely. It came with a lovely little salad as well.

2. Grilled calamari -- very nicely done.

3. Diver scallops--this was Liam's entree. I got a nibble--very good.

4. Whole bronzino with haricot verts and fingerling potatoes. Slightly spicy, wonderful dish--a real summer keeper!

5. Flourless chocolate cake--homemade, deep, dense. Wonderful whipped cream on top.

6. Chocolate cake with coconut--made by Jenuine (sp?) I really liked this one.

This place is such a good deal--a delicious meal, for around $60, right in my neighborhood. Even if it's not in yours tho, it's definitely worth checking out.

[Yannii]

i went to Rx , a few eeks ago, about 6pm (before a film festival movie at the bridge) and was pretty disappointed.

for drinks we had ginger ale (came in it's plastic bottle with a glass of ice on the side) and i had ginger tea, which was excellent, a little sweet, with actual ginger in the bottom.

my friend and i shared a baked brie appetizer. this was probably the best thing we had, nice salad of thin-sliced apple (there could have been more), sliced almonds, micro greens and a nice sort of sweet (maybe honey) vinaigrette topped with a descent portion of phylo crusted brie. The brie had a bit too much "rind" flavor, but overall the dish was pretty good. it was served, by the owner, to us without any sharing plates. we didn't have any bread plates either (i guess they forgot to set them) so we just reached and tried not to spill to much.

then we had the pan fried trout, and the rib eye. they both were mediocre at best.

i think the trout was not the freshest it could be. i'm not 100% sure, but there was definitely an off-flavor that affected the whole dish. in addition, it was served with undercooked scalloped potatoes and very musty (not always a bad thing, but this time it was) sautéed spinach. in addition, everything on the plate was a bit spicy. i'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the spiciness didn't complement the other flavors at all. also, the trout was relatively "bony". in any case, i didn't love it. the server was busy, and i'm not that aggressive of a customer, so i didn't complain, but i didn't really enjoy it.

As for the rib eye, we ordered it medium rare, it came medium well. now to be fair, it was only 3/4 inch thick, so it's hard to do a true medium rare, but pink would have been nice. the steak came with bland roasted potatoes and significantly underdone green beans (i like crispy but these were raw). the steak itself, while very tender, didn't allow me taste the true flavor of the meat. i think it was over marinated or possibly just over sauced, but there was hardly any "steak" flavor. that being said, the morel mushroom sauce had very little "mushroom" flavor either. in general the dominant flavors were sort of red wine vinegary (like a marinade or something). the dish was bland overall.

we skipped dessert, as the place (7:30) was now crowded and very noisy and difficult to relax in. all in all, the food was not as good as i make at home (well the brie was pretty good), the service was uninspired (our server had a certain insincerity to her attitude which seemed out of place in such a small straight forward kind of place), and the atmosphere was not terribly comfortable either. out of ten i would say, 4 or 5 maybe. i had heard such good things, so maybe this was just an off night?