Reading Terminal Market (Part 1)

[rlibkind]

veal cheeks and hanger steak are the two things i haven't asked for yet.  oh and beef heart.  as far as lights, that just refers to lamb right?  i mean, people don't bother with beef lights, do they?

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Yes, lamb, but now that I think about it, I imagine veal would work.

[Kobi]

Has anyone ever had anything particularly noteworth at "By George," the Italian prepared foods and pizza stand? Everything always looks great, I have never gotten around to going, though.

Thanks!

KOBI

[rlibkind]

Has anyone ever had anything particularly noteworth at "By George," the Italian prepared foods and pizza stand?  Everything always looks great, I have never gotten around to going, though.

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I think George's has a very decent pizza, and the prepared foods I've tried have been good. The eggplant parm makes a wonderful low-carb lunch! Last week I picked up some of the frozen pumpkin ravioli; declicious served with sage butter. By all means, try it. Same owner also operates Mezze in the center court.

[mrbigjas]

Same owner also operates Mezze in the center court.

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oh! that explains why their slices cost the same...

by george used to sell a potato and caramelized onion pizza that i loved, but they don't have it anymore, and no one knows what i'm talking about when i ask for it. i feel like i'm in the twilight zone or something. i love their pizza. i'd like to get a fresh one made sometime and eat it directly out of the oven--i suspect it would stand up to some of the best pizza places in town--but at this point i've only had slices.

[rlibkind]

Same owner also operates Mezze in the center court.

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oh! that explains why their slices cost the same...

by george used to sell a potato and caramelized onion pizza that i loved, but they don't have it anymore, and no one knows what i'm talking about when i ask for it. i feel like i'm in the twilight zone or something. i love their pizza. i'd like to get a fresh one made sometime and eat it directly out of the oven--i suspect it would stand up to some of the best pizza places in town--but at this point i've only had slices.

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I agree -- they've got the best pizza no one ever talks about in the city. And better than some that are talked about.

Hmmmmm . . . sounds like a definite Pizza Club outing. Perhaps coupled with a quick trip to or from Fairmount for Rembrandts and Illuminare, perhaps.

[shacke]

Nov. 26 visit

Addendum No. 2

Forgot the mushrooms at Iovines:

The mushrooms look neat here, because it was taken shortly after the market opened at 8 a.m. before we customers had a chance to mess them up. The porcini were back at $39.99 a pound.

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While the porcinis looked better than what I found today, they were there nonetheless and I look forward to roasting them tonight. Thanks for the heads up.

[shacke]

Stopped off at Fair Food on my day off looking for brussel sprouts and lamb. Wound up with neither but while there, I went to Harry Ochs for some good lamb, Iovines for my sprouts, little purple potatoes and more porcinis. I inquired about special ordering beef cheeks given the talk about sweetbreads and special stuff on a different thread. I hope to do that one day but would need a sharing partner (min order 10 lbs).

Fischer's pretzel for lunch

Love the $2 parking........ really love the sunday hours coming too. My kids will really like going to see the trains.

Evan

[hathor]

Evan, I would go in with you on some beef cheeks. I'm sure they can be frozen.

let me know.

[I_call_the_duck]

I'd love to try to make beef cheeks. Count me in.

[mrbigjas]

i'm in as well if you need someone else.

there should be a new pinned thread:

ISO: SPECIALTY ITEM ORDER SHARING PARTNERS

[shacke]

i'm in as well if you need someone else.

there should be a new pinned thread:

ISO: SPECIALTY ITEM ORDER SHARING PARTNERS

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Sounds like a good idea. The special order would have to come in on a Monday (according to Ochs) and I would need to be off work unless someone wanted to pick it up. I am happy to order it and float the capital.

When I get back from Cali, I will pm those interested and get a big order once I find out the details.

cool

Evan

[rlibkind]

For photo and generic report on the Market's first Sunday opening, please see RTM Open Sundays In December topic.

As to what I found on this first Sunday, offerings were abbreviated, at least between 10 and 11:20 a.m. when I was there. John Yi's, for example, didn't seem to have a full complement of fish, though Wan's did. Likewise, Harry Ochs' offerings in the display case appeared truncated, though I'm sure if you didn't seen a regular cut they could pull it out of the walk-in box for you; I purchased a pack of Boars Head cooked brats for dinner (I've got the kraut, which I think I'll cook in some riesling and juniper berries).

The white tuna at Yi's may be getting a bit long in the tooth. Price was $7.99 today, down $2. Still waiting for all the holiday seafood goodies to show up.

Iovine's was fully stocked, including the good looking assortment of mushrooms. Larger than normal clementines were $4.99 a box; I tried one when I brought it home and it was deliciously refreshing. Also bought a couple of rather tiny sweet red peppers, priced at 99-cents/pound, and some garlic, potatoes, juice orange, scallions. If you're craving fruit cake, Iovines still has the Claxton brand from Georgia at $3.99; if you like fruit cake (I do) it's quite good, even if it is better living through chemistry. Depending on size, navel oranges were either 3 or 5 for $1; lemons and limes still 20 cents apiece. Florida juicers 4/$1. Haas avocados $1 apiece; the bin had two different Mexican Haas sub-varieties: one very dark green, the other a lighter shade with a very slightly smoother skin. Both appeared ready to eat.

Also picked up some lingonberry preserves at the Spice Terminal (an absolute necessity if you like Scandinavian-style waffles). Spice Terminal fully stocked for your holiday baking needs.

Until about a year ago the Spice Terminal carried my favorite orange marmalade, "Tiptree Tawny Orange" from Wilkin & Sons. Haven't had any luck finding it until I was at the Columbus Blvd. Super Fresh a couple of weeks ago. It's not to everyone's taste since it is on the slightly bitter side and has rather thicker than normal shreds of rind.

[rlibkind]

It's holiday time! That means candy.

Mueller's Chocolates (opposite Termini's) specializes in chocolates molded in various shapes. You can also get marzipan fruit there. Of special interest is their licorice collection: lots of different shapes and styles for the licorice lover. I picked up some chocolate-covered molasses sponge for my father-in-law this morning; my wife calls it "fairy food".

Another candy purveyor of note is Fisher's in the Pennsylvania Dutch section. Great little hard Christmas candies. I'm particularly fond of their orange slices; much more natural taste that most of the jell slices you can find. While it's not paté de fruit, it is good.

Although they don't sell the variety of candies to be found at the other two purveyors, Pennsylvania General Store offers some interesting sweets, including its own "Keystone Crunch", a cracker-jack like concoction. I'm a sucker for the chocolate covered potato chips, as well as the Swiss chocolate truffles made in Lancaster County by a bona fide Swiss chocolatier (Albert Parisi of Neuchatel Chocolates.

Onward to less intensively sweet items . . .

John Yi's is taking orders for holiday fish if you're planning a Seven Fishes feast. Squid, sardines, etc. Today I picked up a nice looking hunk of wild stripped bass filet ($9.99/pound); I'll probably bake it with onions, olives, capers. What's available now at the RTM's three fish vendors is pretty much their standard fare. I'd expect to see the rarer items starting late next week. (Though squid is hardly rare; it's always available. Wan sells some fairly large squid -- I think it's labelled "sepia" -- which I had last June in Douglas, Alaska. It was prepared as a square piece of flesh, maybe 3x5 inches, then sauteed and served as a "steak". Quite delicious with a citrus sauce.)

Harry Ochs still offers plenty of great cuts of beef, lamb, veal, etc., but it seems as if a bigger portion of the vendor's business is in ready-to-cook and/or eat items. The meat loaf, patés and pot pies always look good. A gent next to me bought a stuffed pork chop (small, because he only has a toaster oven). I went for a hunk of tied chuck for pot roast.

Iovines still has boxes of large and refreshing clementines at $4.99 apiece. No porcinis when I arrived this morning, but the rest of the mushrooms were there. I picked up a "grab bag" of domestic whites, which worked out to $1/pound vs. $1.99 pound regularly; I checked them out when I got home and while they need normal cleaning, looks like they are 99% useable. Perfect to go with the pot roast, along with the parsnips I bought. Small red, orange, and yellow bell peppers all selling for 99-cents/pound; I might sautee strips to go with that stripped bass, or add them to the baking dish. Over at OK Lee produce I spied cactus pears for 99-cents apiece; I'll puree them for margaritas tonight.

Benuel Kaufman out of cider today, but should have more during the week. Arkansas Black apples are no more.

Earl Livengood still had chestnuts, which I've put in the 'fridge for roasting in a day or two. Nice variety of potatoes, and cute little cauliflowers maybe 4-5 inches across. Also Brussels Sprouts on the stalks. Earl also had green peppers out of his storage that looked good, though small: three for $1.

Attention mrbigjas: They aren't booze soaked (that's a DIY project I can get into) but L.L. Halteman's offers three or four different types of "homemade" fruit cakes, each priced a $6.29.

Paul Seinke, RTM manager, said the first of the new merchants to open shortly after the New Year will probably be Flying Monkey Bakery, which currently is a wholesale supplier to restaurants and also does retail baked goods catering. This is its first retail venture. Strictly sweets, not breads. (The Jewish deli that will open in the new year will feature breads, rolls, etc. from Kaplan's New Model.)

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Edited to add content

Edited December 10, 2005 by rlibkind (log)

[lancastermike]

We visited RTM this morning, and just like Bob, we were at the candy stand to get chocolate covered pretzels. I was eyeing up the wild striped bass as well, did not make the purchase as we were not heading right home and did not want to keep the fish too long.

We were in early and it was not as crowded as other times I have visited. We did walk oveand see the train exhibit. Just as well as there was no cider as my wife does not like me drinking unpasteurised and neither of us are crazy about doing business with Amish for reasons I won't mention here. Well, maybe I will. Ask them if they or any of their family members sells dogs. Puppy mills, a real big Amish business, are a horror in Lancaster Co.

I did tell Maggie when we left that if I lived in Philadephia we would eat alot better and I would weigh alot more.

Enjoyed another trip to Philadelphia and to the RTM.

[mrbigjas]

today i was at fair food and my wife asked what kind of meat sales they had going on. they didn't have any but mentioned that liver is always on sale. so i asked what else they had of that nature that wasn't liver, and ended up with three lamb's tongues, reasonably priced at $2 a pound. it's a little over half a pound, so now i just gotta figure out what to do with them. i reckon fergus henderson's recipe for lamb tongue with bacon and turnips will do...

and i bought one of those fruitcakes from haltemann's. i'm psyched.

[philadining]

...neither of us are crazy about doing business with Amish...

Mike, I don't want to get too far off-topic here, but I'd encourage you to step back a second and consider the implications of not liking to do business with "the Amish" because some Amish families run puppy mills.

I'm just saying that it's dangerous to generalize about any group, be it ethnic, religious, national, regional, whatever. If you don't like the practices of a particular individual, by all means, you're within your rights to not do business with him. But avoiding others because they share a religious or cultural background seems unfair.

I've known some Amish families and I'm distressed by the implication that they are to be avoided because of the behavior of some of their neighbors.

I don't mean to come down on you Mike, I can see one would get the sense that the community as a whole is engaged in some sort of practice if you see a lot of it around you, but I just think it's important for all of us to try to remember not to stereotype and assume that all members of some group, whatever that group might be, are the same.

I don't mean to imply that the Amish are beyond reproach, if you can show me that the specific Amish vendors at the RTM are engaged in distasteful practices, I might choose to avoid them too. But if not, I'll continue to buy from them, just as I will from any other folks who might share an ethnic, religious or regional heritage with someone I don't agree with.

Edited December 10, 2005 by philadining (log)

[lancastermike]

I understand your point and will not comment beyond that as it would not be a food topic and does not belong here. If you want to send me a note I would comment on some things I have found to be true.

[rlibkind]

Fish choices got more interesting today with herring at Yi's and Golden, though Yi's called them "herring" and Golden called them "sardines". But same fish, same size.

That's the "herring" at John Yi behind the cod tails, priced at $2.99 -- same price as the "sardines" at Golden. Yi's also had spearing at $3.99/pound. Golden also had whole bronzino at $5.99 and arctic char at $6.99. One of the fishmongers at Golden told me it was wild char, which certainly is possible, although two-thirds of the char that reaches market is farmed. (If you haven't had it, char is a salmonid, like salmon and trout. Also, char farms are still small scale and are environmentally isolated, so they don't create some of the problems that can accompany salmon aquaculture.) Dry scallops at Golden up to $14.99/pound.

Harry Ochs has started to carry White Marble Farms pork products. Haven't tried it yet, but it's purportedly a fattier, more marbled product. Produced by a consortium of Midwestern farms. I'll have to try it to see how it compares to local Country Time sold by Fair Food Farmstand; the latter is excellent pork. Neither White Marble nor Country Time, however, comes from heritage pig.

At Iovine's, limes down to a dime apiece; lemons 20-cents. Avocados remain at $1 each. And there are still small red and yellow bell peppers at 99-cents/pound; the yellows are up to $2.99. The bulb fennel looked good this week. Hmmm. Pasta con sardo, anyone? You can still get prickly pear (cactus pear) at OK Lee Produce for 99-cents apiece; the margaritas I made from them last week were delicious (equal parts fruit pulp, lime juice, tequila and Triple Sec).

What I did not see on sale at the RTM today was reindeer meet. Guess I'll have to visit D'Angelo has it on 9th Street for that!

[rlibkind]

Fish choices got more interesting today with herring at Yi's and Golden, though Yi's called them "herring" and Golden called them "sardines" . . . priced at $2.99.

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Price update: add $1 a pound for cleaning, at least at Golden. I bought them today, and since I didn't have time nor feel like gutting them at the kitchen sink, I spent the extra $. At least this morning, the "sardines" at Golden looked better than the "herring" at John Yi's.

I was at the Market about 8:30 and by the time I left at 10 a.m. it was crowded.

Benuel Kaufman still had cider, but only half-gallons.

[rlibkind]

Fish galore today in preparation for Christmas. If you consider yourself a fish lover, now is the time to indulge, because you will never find a bigger variety of high quality fish than now.

Smelts, for example. You can get smelts year-round, but they are almost always previously frozen. Not this week. Yes, you can pick up the the formerly frozen smelts. But the tiny fresh ones look absolutely scrumptious, $3.99 a pound at John Yi. I picked up some which I'll dip in milk, flour then fry 'til they are crispy brown. Eat them with or without bones, as you prefer.

BTW, the herring/sardines I picked up last weekend were delicious. I simply oiled the filets, broiled them with salt and pepper, and enjoyed them with beer and good bread and butter.

Lots of other varieties of fish and shellfish to choose from. Yi's had king, snow and dungeness crab legs (all frozen) as well as a variety of lobster tails. Lots of shrimps, too. You could get langoustines (a.k.a. scampi, Dublin prawns and lots of other names) for $19.99/pound at Wan. (They stock them regularly, not just at Christmas.) Looking at the big whole carp in John Yi's display case, I thought it was Passover and time to make gefilte fish, not Hanukah. Golden still had arctic char at $5.99. Among fin fish, John Yi's Spanish mackerel looked good at $2.99.

(The fish bonanza even extends to supermarkets. At the Columbus Boulevard Super Fresh yesterday I saw dry scallops at $16.99/pound, as well as whole frozen octopus and any number of other seafood items not normally sold there.)

Fisher's in the Pennsylvania Dutch section always has nice selection of "penny" candy sold in bags for considerably more than a penny. If you like hard Christmas candy, stop by and pick up a bag.

Jamison lamb is finally in stock at Fair Food Project, though it didn't arrive until this afternoon, disappointing customers who reserved lamb and tried to claim it this morning. In addition to legs (all of this week's stock claimed, except perhaps for one as of 3 p.m. today -- it may be gone by now), this week Fair Food offers Jamison's boneless shoulder, cubes, shanks, sausage and ground. If you have something in mind you'd like to reserve in the future, call Ann Karlen at 610-626-5220.

Both L.L. Halteman and Godshall's Poultry are offering goose this week. These big birds go for about $3.89/pound. (The D'Artagnan whole goose I spied at Super Fresh yesterday was being sold for about twice that price.) If you don't want the goose schmaltz but want a rich tasting piece of bird meat, both sell Muscovy duck, including boneless breasts.

Last weekend at Coastal Cave I picked up a quarter pound of Duck Trap Farms' "Winter Harbor" smoked salmon. It was okay, but it was sliced much too thickly (by machine, I presume) and its "dark matter" left untrimmed. Not a very high quality fish for upwards of $20/pound. I think I'll limit my smoked salmon buying to decent delis (though the Marshall and Acme nova sold at Shop Rite for $9.99/pound are good values).

[hathor]

Wow Ribklind-Bob, you are an excellent marketer and reporter. I might need to come along on one your forays! Its a long story, but we've been spending some time in PHilly and your reports certainly come in handy! Grazie mille!

[rlibkind]

I arrived at the RTM today, Christmas Eve's morning, just two minutes after the 8 a.m. opening. The line at Termini's was already to the end of the counter:

By the time I left at 9:20, the line was around the corner of the counter all the way to the Filbert Street door. By now I figure it's down the block. Otherwise, between 8 and 9:20, while the market was slightly busier than normal for those hours on a Saturday, it was not outrageously so. I suspect that has changed by the time of this posting.

The displays at Iovine's were particularly colorful, and it was conceivable (from a distance) to confuse the citrus and bell pepper exhibitions:

Note the price of the peppers: green and orange still at 99 cents, but red and yellow are back in the stratosphere from a couple of weeks ago. All the citrus was available in various sizes. I picked up one large Indian Rivers priced at $1.49 apiece.

Update on fish: in my last report I said John Yi had the carp. Wrong. The carp (still there today) is at Golden Seafood.

About those smelts I picked up the other day. They were delicious. But I bought way too much just for me (She Who Must Be Obeyed does not eat fish that looks like fish.) So, I consulted Alan Davidson's "North American Seafood" and found a Danish recipe that called for fried herring. Since smelt has many of the characteristics of herring, I tried it. It involves a mild vinegar pickle (1/3 c vinegar, 3 tbs sugar, 2 tbs water) brought to a boil then cooled. Layer the herrings/smelts in a dish, top with thinly sliced onion and pour the cooled pickle over it; a couple of cloves (I used them) are optional. Let them sit overnight, turning once or twice if the vinegar mix is insufficient to cover all the fish. Serve on rye bread which you've slathered with coarse mustard. And, as Davidson advises, be sure to eat the onions! I think this preparation was even better than the smelts served hot from the fat -- the light pickle does a nice job in balancing the fatty fish.

Here's hoping your holiday is a very tasteful one . . . .

[rlibkind]

New item at the Spice Terminal spied Thursday afternoon: dried oregano on the stem. I haven't seem this since I moved out of Hoboken in 1979 (though I suspect there must be some Italian or Greek grocery store in Philadelphia that sells this). Back in Hoboken I bought them loose. The Spice Terminal's version is in a sealed package marketed, IIRC, by Krinos, the Greek foods importer. When I walked by them I smelled them before I saw them!

Limes, which were 10 for a $1 just a week ago, have shot up in price at Iovine's. Today a buck would buy only three. Lemons still five for a buck. The sweet bell peppers also up in price again. Only the greens could be had at the 99-cent price.

Avocados were the big bargain at Iovine's. Two for a dollar. They were soft, and you'd would have had to use them either today or tomorrow at the latest. They were priced to move; it's likely they'll be gone (or tossed) by the weekend and replaced by a more expensive 'cado.

Still a pretty good selection of fish at all three fish mongers, including live eel at John Yi's. Sardines/herring still available. The variety of shrimps bowled over Curlz, who I was guiding around the RTM this afternoon. However, no Pacific salmon seen, though Golden had some excellent looking farmed Scottish salmon.

Fair Food Project sold out of Jamison lamb last weekend, and none to be had this week. Seems they didn't get everything they ordered from Jamison.

[Rebecca263]

Hi! My friend's son is visiting us from Florida this week, and loves the idea of cooking, he wants to be a chef! He's always wanted to make a duck so today we drove down 65 miles to RTM for... a fresh duck! Why a duck? They're GOURMET, of course.

Well, it was my first visit to RTM, what fun!

The Amish booth folks were all so nice, and the kids enjoyed their ice cream cones immensely.

The sandwiches(um, from Rocco's) with sauteed rabe that we ate for shopping energy were great, and the kids had a lot of fun going from booth to booth only buying one item each(they had to make the tiny bits of money I supplied them with last, you know!).

We got a gorgeous ducky at Godshall's. The guy behind the counter was so dear, he even sold us lovely poultry sausages in groups of 3 (one for each diner, you know!)and a bit of beef bacon to try. And, most importantly, he was very patient with my young friend. The duck was just under 6# and cost about $18. And it is gorgeous! We will be roasting 'the Donald' for New Year's Eve!

I only had one bit of poor luck, the woman who runs the cook book shop wouldn't just charge me $10 for some magazines that kiddle wanted so that I could charge them to my card, and my total was a dollar under her minimum. She is NOT in need of business, obviously. My kiddle was stunned after I asked the woman if she couldn't charge me extra for something, just to bring up the total. She told me that she wasn't using isdn's for ringing up, but that she couldn't accomodate me. I was mystified by her lack of friendliness and of service skills, especially after I left her shop. Another vendor informed me that Lady Bookseller sells post cards. Um, offer to add a few to my order next time? She also snubbed a woman in front of me who was looking at a $35 book. Still, Lady Bookseller has lovely skin.

Kiddle was mollified by the nice boys at Kamal's Middle East place, who cheerfully sold her ONE of each item under the glass.

Finally, we bought some lovely seeds, produce and cheeses, from myriad vendors.

I got some amazing goat cheese with ash at Downtown Cheese, I CAN NOT wait to eat it!

And, we got sea scallops for only 12.99 a pound, at John Yi. Lovely things, I'm sure the scallop eaters will adore them.

I almost went evil and bought a cake at Termini's, but resisted, sadly.

Thanks once again RLIBKIND... you are a font of golden information.

[Rich Pawlak]

I think one of the most underrecognized merchants at RTM is Rocco's Italian Hoagies. I had the privalege of working with Carmen and his crew at the food court at The Bellevue when I was the marketing/PR director there, and I can say with complete confidence that I have never met anyone as fanatically devoted to the hoagie ouvre as Carmen. His attention to every component of the sandwich is impressive, from the hand inspection of every roll every day, to his obsession with the quality and cleanliness of the romaine lettuce and his careful handling of his meats and cheeses. Dollar for dollar, I've never had a better "boutique hoagie," and, in a city blessed with some iconic hoagie makers, that it impressive. The Special Italian and Chicken Ala Rocco hoagies, to me, rank among the very best sandwiches in the city, hands down.

I realize that I have been privy to the details of painstaking work and attention to detail that go into the hoagie process at Rocco's, and that when purchasing a sandwich there it may not be readily apparent, but these guys are on top of their game. I miss the hoegies at Rocco's more than almost any food in Philly.

If anyone stops by to test my assertions, please say hello to Carmen for me, as I never seem to get to RTM these days.