revisiting VARGA bar

Friday dinner: varga bar

i knew we'd go back to varga bar, but i didn't know it'd be so soon. the original plan included a feast of wine, cheese, pizza and other jose garces creations at the garces trading company. but alas, at 8:45pm, with cold rain still pouring, stomachs growling, and a 1 hour wait, we decided to head to varga bar.

the short story is, that after a legitimate sit-down dinner here, the FOOD AT VARGA BAR IS STILL GOOD! the server we had this time wasn't nearly as pleasant as the one from last time, but it was still quite enjoyable.

:: varga bar ::
address: 941 spruce, philla
what we ate: chili cheese dog, mac'n cheese, kobe sliders, wings, crab cheese fries, seafood pasta
dinner was four of us - jeanni, doug, soopah and myself. and as we started shouting out things we wanted to try, and found that we wanted all of the same things, we looked at each other and yelled "varga mini fat tour!"

truffled mac ‘n cheese: bacon + gruyere + fontina + mascarpone + black truffles
i heart truffles (the mushroom and the chocolate candy). i heart mac 'n cheese. so, honestly... HOW could we resist the truffled mac 'n cheese at varga? you're right - we couldn't. taking a bite allowed me to conclude that this dish was one of my favorite mac 'n cheese dishes in philly.

now, don't get it twisted. it's not my ultimate favorite. that title still rests with the mac 'n cheese at silk city. however, this was pretty damn close. the cheese sauce was creamy and the top was crunchy in the best way - with BACON pieces. this tastes like TRUFFLES like WHOA, though. so if you're not a black truffle fan, you will not like this. i don't think you can tell, but this was a pretty generous portion of mac 'n cheese. definitely larger than a side serving. and very rich too. i will recommend you get this to share, and stay away from this as an entree - because that truffle flavor can be overwhelming without anything else to break it up.

jumbo lump cheese fries: fries + jumbo lump crab + white cheddar + parmesan
of COURSE we had to try the crab cheese fries this time. these are the fries that put varga bar on the map. they had won for Best Bar Food in the 2009 Phoodies at www.phoodie.info.

personally, i didn't enjoy these that much. the fries themselves were awesome. they were thin and crispy and, at the risk of angering foodies everywhere, i must say, were similar to mcdonald's fries. even the cheese was tasty. i am a sucker for white cheddar so that is not surprising. the sad part is that it was the lump crab meat that really detracted from this dish. i understand that the crab meat is the gimmick- the thing that makes this so different and FRESH, but... it tasted... CRABBY. maybe it's not like this all the time, but ours definitely had a fishy taste to it that wasn't really that pleasant. i found myself taking fries and avoiding the pieces of crab.

duck confit chicken wings: pomegranate molasses-bourbon-chili sauce + housemade bleu cheese + celery
THESE. WERE. A-MAAAAAZING. serious contender for my favorite wings. the pomegranate molasses-bourbon-chili (isn't that a mouthful?) sauce was incredible - sweet! tart! tangy! they were a bit on the heavily sauced side, but it was such a tasty flavor that i did not mind one bit. and the wings... they were just falling off the bone. you could literally take your fork and pull of pieces! super tender and juicy.

the interesting thing was that the bleu cheese really did complement the wings perfectly. sometimes i find that the bleu cheese, or sometimes ranch, condiment doesn't really add too much to a wing dish, but these flavors really added another dimension when they were combined. PLUS, bonus - they actually give you a good number of celery sticks. in most places, you get three sad little ones. i don't think we ate too many of them though. where was j. giggles when we needed her?!

kobe beef sliders: applewood-smoked bacon + caramelized shallots + boursin + house-made onion rings + smoked paprika aioli
why yes, we did get these again. duh. STILL awesome. something about that soft, creamy boursin with the chewy salty bacon and juicy kobe beef... * drooOOooOOOool * ... okay, i've pulled myself together now.. is SO GOOD. the onion rings were again, a delightful crunchy, salty side to this burger.

this order usually comes with 3 burgers, but since there were 4 of us, we asked them to add one extra slider and they did. the three slider dish is usually $12 and they upcharged us $4 for the 4th one, so very reasonable and nice of them to do so.

kobe chili-cheese dog: beer braised hot dog + house-made kobe chili + shaved pickles + white cheddar + smoked paprika onion rings + poppy seed bun + onion ficelle
wow, right? nah, it was more like MEH. the hot dog was juicy and flavorful, but everything else was totally not noticeable. for those of you chili-cheese dog connoisseurs out there, you know that a chili cheese dog it supposed to be MESSY. it's a knife-and-fork experience. the varga bar chili cheese dog was so not!

as you might be able to gather from the picture, there was VERY LITTLE chili. sad. i suppose that is what happens when you make your chili out of kobe beef, but STILL.

in an optimal chili cheese dog combination, i'd say the serving ratios are as follows:

3 parts chili : 2 parts cheese : 1 part hot dog

unfortunately, this was not. it's not to say this was a bad dish, just not great. and as a result, we'd probably skip it next time. i did like the pickles on this - that plus the poppyseeds reminded us of a chicago style hot dog, but still couldn't save it and make it great.

seafood pasta special: butter poached lobster + rock shrimp + sugar snap pea shoots + trumpet  mushrooms + blush cream sauce
the seafood pasta was the entree special at varga on friday night. it was deeee-lish-us. none of us can remember what kind of cream sauce dressed this pasta, but that is because we were in such amazement about the tastiness of it all. besides, though we asked the server several times to describe the plate to us, he mumbled through the description each time. [SIGH. dude, sometimes i hate my job too, but c'mon man, don't suck so much!] at any rate, if you hear someone ramble off a pasta special resembling this this one, definitely get it.

the lobster and rock shrimp were perfectly cooked tender, and the sugar snap pea shoots added a nice soft texture. the trumpet mushrooms were really good as well, especially since they soaked up all that sauce nicely, but you could still tell yourself you're eating something that is good for you since it's MUSHROOM. soaked in some sort of butter/cream/fatness, of course, but who cares. SO GOOD. it's a good thing we didn't have a basket of bread or rolls at the table, because we probably would have continued to soak up this sauce until someone took this plate away from us.

okay, the caveat here is that we acknowledge part of the reason this pasta was so memorable is that this is a gastro-pub type establishment. is it the best pasta i have ever eaten in my life? no, of course no, but it was solidly one of the best dishes we had that night and i'd definitely get it again. i don't think i'd return to varga bar JUST to have it one more time, but i would definitely keep sampling forkfuls of it if someone else at my table ordered it!

beers
i think i had mentioned this before, but varga bar's beer selection really is remarkable. the four of us represented a wide range of beef affinities - stouts, pale ales, wheats, pilsners - but we could all still find something we really enjoyed off of the list. and the server, dour and sullen though he was, still had great knowledge of the beers available and what we might like.

as a historical sidenote, did you know that VARGA is named for the "Varga Girls," the iconic WWII pin-up girls that were the brainchild of Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez and printed in Esquire magazine? hmmm, i didn't know that. that certainly clarifies the reasoning behind the pin-up girl theme, huh?

oh and btw, this place serves food until 1am!