Snack Bar!

[alwang]

Can't believe I forgot to mention the cheese course. That cheese course, with the accompanying wine, was one of the best composed cheese courses I've had.

[Dish]

the skate garnish was red pepper-vanilla gelee, tomato compote, fried capers and brown butter cornichon puree. the skate was rolled with fig tapenade.

←

JonnyMac...Your special tasting menu sounds wonderful. I want to come (every week)!

Can you confirm that the tasting is $70 and another $20 with wine? Let's see if I can fit this into my weekly budget

I read that two of my other favorite chefs will be making guest appearances (Michael Solomonov and Marc Vetri). Do you have dates set for them yet?

I think you are so talented! Congratulations on your 1 year anniversary! I will see you soon.

[NaFairge]

little miss dish.....

michael solomonov is slated for monday december 10 2007. tasting price will remain 70/20.

nothing set for vetri yet....sometime in january or february.

hope to see you soon.

[arazi]

chef, what is the best way to request reservations for these events?

[I_call_the_duck]

Chiming in late, so I’ll just ditto the praises already made above. Everything was great, but especially loved the gyoza dumplings, the cheese course and shiitake soil, the white chocolate sabayon, and the friend chocolate. Thank you, chefs, for a wonderful meal.

Happy anniversary snackbar. I'm looking forward to more great meals in the future.

Edited November 8, 2007 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[NaFairge]

the best way to make reservations is via jam@phillysnackbar.com.

however, due to some time conflicts and the nature of the busy season, the solomonov dinner will be posted at a different time. hang in there until further notice.

[Tim Dolan]

the best way to make reservations is via jam@phillysnackbar.com.

however, due to some time conflicts and the nature of the busy season, the solomonov dinner will be posted at a different time. hang in there until further notice.

←

Which leads to another question; is the first Monday tasting menu strictly a guest chef-type of affair?

[Dish]

little miss dish.....

michael solomonov is slated for monday december 10 2007. tasting price will remain 70/20.

nothing set for vetri yet....sometime in january or february.

hope to see you soon.

←

I'll be in before December 10th. Maybe tonight!

[jwjon1]

Holy smokes! Where have I been? Boy am I glad I ran into this thread! I'm pysched to see some modern/molecular gastronomy cuisine coming out of Philly post kitchenstudio, and I'm a bit ashamed this is coming as a surprise to me. I've spent the past month trying to land a reservation at Chef Andres's minibar on a weekend to satisfy my exploratory dining desire when I lo and behold I just had to look as far as Philly!

Bravo Johnny Mac for infusing some creativity into the mix. Can't wait to check snackbar out!

[julastern]

From the pictures and descriptions of the latest meal it sounds like it was great. But I think that the restaurant has a serious problem with its reservations system. Emails to jam@phillysnackbar.com were not returned, and calls to the restaurant went to a full voicemail box every time. There has to be a better way to do this.

[docsconz]

Man, go away for a week and look what I miss! Great pics on Shola's blog.

[BrentKulman]

From the pictures and descriptions of the latest meal it sounds like it was great. But I think that the restaurant has a serious problem with its reservations system. Emails to  jam@phillysnackbar.com were not returned, and calls to the restaurant went to a full voicemail box every time. There has to be a better way to do this.

←

Wow, I cannot believe they still have problems with the voice mail box system. I had the same problem over six months ago. At that time it was even worse as the website had not been set up and you couldn't even find out their operating hours as they were not posted on the door or the website.

These should be simple fixes and are basic elements of running a restaurant.

[NaFairge]

a few things.....

1. the monday night tasting menus will not always be a guest chef. for monday december 3, i will be cooking by myself. it will be a very special dinner. details to follow soon.....

2. sorry about the phone situation. we are getting a new answering service next week and new phones wired in the restaurant (they were in the office before).

3. we WILL get back to you if you email jam@phillysnackbar.com.

4. my direct email is jdm@phillysnackbar.com

5. the website is going to be updated and redesigned soon so stay tuned.

thanks ya'll

[NaFairge]

next tasting....

monday 7 january 2008.

michael solomonov from marigold kitchen.

gonna rock!!!!

unfortunately, we are going to pass on a tasting in december. very busy over here with a lot of holiday parties and so on.

[kretch]

try the 'charbandos' named after our dishwasher. tequila, hibiscus tea, pineapple juice, jalapeno.

←

This is a fantastic drink. Had it twice now. Has a nice little head on it, almost like the collar on a Guinness, but light, not heavy, and served in a martini glass. If you like a good kick, sip it through the jalapeno slice.

Snackbar is doing an ace job of coming up with non-sugary, non-cloying cocktails. (e.g. Pimms Iced Tea.)

Edited December 28, 2007 by kretch (log)

[lfabio2007]

a few things.....

3. we WILL get back to you if you email jam@phillysnackbar.com.

←

Uhm. Mailed there, cc:ed to jdm, on the 21st about the tasting in January. No reply. Help?

[NaFairge]

7 january 2008. tasting menu at snackbar with michael solomonov of marigold kitchen, zahav.

1. falafel. tahini. parsley foam.

2. truffled lebneh. malauch. lamb tartar.

3. mackerel (csv). curry preserved banana. chervil puree. lime-vanilla.

4. roulade of ribeye cap and lobster. fennel. mahleb. chorizo cherry consomme.

5. cashel blue. quince spheres. white chocolate.

6. havlah souffle. salted toffee. pomegranate. bay leaf powder.

to be paired with beer.........

jam@phillysnackbar.com

jdm@phillysnackbar.com

[NaFairge]

so i've been getting a lot of questions about some of these items due to their ethnic background. after some spellchecking (apologies to my friends of israeli descent!!) and a quick chat with mike, here are some loose definitions.

lebneh is a very thick goat's milk yogurt. it is slightly gamey in the way that lamb is gamey.

maluach is a bread that one can fry or bake. it's kind of like really dope pita. mike used to make this at marigold and it was INSANE. he served it with heirloom cherry tomatoes and marinated feta.

best summer dish of '06.

mahleb are cherry pits (stones). they have a slight cherry-coffee flavor.

halvah is a confection made from sesame and honey. we will use those flavors to make a souffle.

hope that does it for ya.

seats are still available.

jmac

[Holly Moore]

I like the concept of parsley foam. Forces the diner to consume the parsley foam as opposed to pushing the parsley sprig out of the way.

One can only expect that spiced crabapple foam will soon follow.

Perhaps, someday, January hot-house tomato foam.

Edited January 3, 2008 by Holly Moore (log)

[jm chen]

Can a lone diner get in on the tasting menu action? Is there an eGullet table a-brewing or anything? PM'd Jmac, but thought some others who've done this previously might know too.

[twodogs]

i would add that mahleb has flavors more similar to tonka beans save the fda disapproval.

ah yes and tonka beans are like bitter roasty toasty vanilla.

dinner sounds like fun.

[jaredrakes]

We visited on Friday 1/4, mid evening.

I was expecting a menu of all small plates, but it's now more evenly split between smaller and larger plates. So we each ordered a smaller plate, a larger plate, and dessert.

I had a fantastic Dark and Stormy, followed by a good cider Manhattan.

While all of our plates were good to great, the one that stands out for me is the brussels sprouts. I don't really like brussels sprouts. And who has the nerve to charge 10 bucks for a smallish bowl of brussels sprouts? These magnificent sons of, uh, guns, that's who.

About 3 seconds into my first bite, I confirmed the fastest unhealthy relationship I ever developed--I was already devising elaborate schemes to get back to snackbar for another hit of the sprouts. Then I realized I had a mouth full of brussels sprouts, bacon, mustard seeds, etc, so I cut the catatonia and finished chewing. My wife laughed at me when I used the last bit of pork to mop the inside of the bowl for flavor remnants. Wow those are good.

Edited January 7, 2008 by jaredrakes (log)

[philadining]

I thought this was a really successful meal, everything was quite tasty, and most importantly, painting with a different palate of flavors than we usually encounter. This bodes well if this is the kind of thing chef Solomonov is planning on doing at Zahav.

The quince spheres that accompanied the cheese were not very popular at our table, not because they were weird, but rather, because they weren't. Ours just didn't really taste like anything. But we really enjoyed everything else, especially the lamb tartare, and surprisingly, the fish and banana.

I've posted a little more play-by-play at philadining.com.

Thanks to Chef Solomonov, and to the snackbar crew, for a really interesting and delicious dinner.

Edited January 8, 2008 by philadining (log)

[alwang]

Looks like a great meal. I find fish and banana actually go very well together across a range of accompaniements.

I'm curious about the fennel puree: I love raw fennel, but I've always found it bland when cooked. How was the flavor and texture of this puree? J-Mac, any tips on how it was prepared?

[jm chen]

Can't speak to the texture because it really blended with the dish, but I definitely found it to have an unmistakable fennel flavor. I'm curious about the preparation too.

You know it's a good meal when one of the topics of discussion is "which of these items could I eat a bucket of." For me, it was the truffled lebneh. Pretty blown away by the halvah semifreddo as well... to look at it, you expect a creaminess, but it's not creamy, really. It's just... melty sesamey caramelly salty goodness.