oopsies. receipt tracking fail

I realized today that the proclamation I made a while ago to post receipts of meals we have in city ... is a total fail. Haven't posted a single receipt since that entry.

Whoooops.
 

duck, eggs and lamb OH MY

I am determined to attempt healthy living for the next few weeks. Obviously I cannot fully cut out delicious foods, but I look at these posts and through all the food pics on my phone and I realize that full-on gluttony is probably not sustainable - for my wallet or waistline (which has already been feeling the detrimental effects).

Anyway, before launching into a full scale fitness regimen, we thought it only apropos to indulge in one final decadent meal. So, we went back to Garces Trading Company. Our first meal there had been so amazing (full review) and we knew there were still quite a few things we wanted to try.... so off we went.

Since it was just the two of us dining this time, we knew we had to be smart about our selections. Though we wanted to order the deep dish pizza, one of the Plats du Jour and several pastas, that just seemed a tad aggressive. We ended up with a generous, but reasonable smattering of dishes: the duck confit salad, the special lasagna, and the lamb ragu.

Lyonnaise Duck Salad: duck confit + poached egg + bacon lardons + mustard vinaigrette
There is no way I would really call this a salad; it's more of a plate of awesomeness with some greens mixed in throughout. The duck confit and the poached egg were of course perfectly cooked. We salivated with anticipation as I broke the egg over the tower of duck, greens and bacon lardons and gave it all a thorough mix.

A super pleasant surprise was that there were also tiny slices of fingerling potatoes threaded throughout as well. The richness of the egg and duck were cut by the mustard vinaigrette, while the bacon lardons added a hefty saltiness that really brought everything together. If you're expecting a salad, you may be disappointed, but honestly - duck lovers will never be disappointed by this.

Pappardelle with Lamb Ragu: sunchoke puree + piave vecchio 
This pasta dish comes with a very generous portion of lamb ragu. At first bite, it was a bit game-y and we were afraid we were going to regret the decision to order this over a reprise of the gnudi we had so enjoyed the last time. However, we took the time to give this pasta dish a thorough mix as well. Tossing everything together allowed the piave cheese and the sunchoke puree, which was layered at the bottom of the plate, to coat the pappardelle and the shredded lamb meat. What this did was to add a creaminess to the entire dish, which tempered the game-iness of the lamb.

The lamb meat itself was really interesting. It had a hint of mint in it and it really worked well with the peas and the sunchoke (which is apparently like a cross between a rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut, heh) puree. It's amazing how much more we liked this dish after we mixed everything together. It just goes to show - make sure you trust your chef, you know?

Lasagna: oxtail + short rib + baby spinach + ricotta
Sunday's daily special is the Lasagna and this is really the reason we had decided to have dinner at  Garces. The picture makes this look like a huge family-size portion and I'll say that while it's big, it's not enough to feed 4 people. Maybe 3 people... needless to say, we had leftovers to take home.

What I really liked about this lasagna was the baby spinach and the ricotta. The fresh baby spinach seemed to have been blanched and drained before being layered into this lasagna and the flavor was very bright. The ricotta was creamy perfection and a nice complement to the heavier chewier cheese that formed the top layer.

I felt a bit undecided about the meat. It was certainly an interesting take on traditional lasagna... and the meat was... tasty. I am pretty sure it had some lemon notes mixed in, but it still felt somewhat heavy. If I had to say, I think that maybe there was a disproportionate amount of meat in the meat layer, and possibly could have been improved by a heftier ricotta and/or spinach layer. Overall, it was a good dish, but I can't shake this feeling that it's not one that I would rave about or even recommend...

Anyway, it's Garces Trading Company, and I love it here. Plus, we went for an early bird dinner - arriving around 5pm on a Sunday and it was wonderful; we didn't wait at all! And of course, we had a lovely bottle of a Spanish white wine that was already chilled and was such a reasonable $13.99! God, I love this place.    

Beer Oasis in the middle of SuburbanTown

So, last Saturday, I spent the day doing adult things like helping brother shop for a new car and being an awesome person/sister. To reward myself, and the rest of our merry troupe, we ended up at Station Taproom in Downingtown, PA. Which, BTW, is absurdly far from the city, BUT literally across the street from the Septa R5 station, so good for you suburbanites living in this area.

I credit this find to Soopah because he had the handy Yelp mobile app on his BB and once we realized we were starving, he found this gem right away and OFF WE WENT.

:: Station Tap Room :: 
address: 207 W. Lancaster, Downingtown PA
what we ate: wings, fries, mac'n cheese, pulled pork, cubano, beers
So this place apparently JUST opened up and their website isn't even functional yet, but I am loving what they are doing here. The focus is on awesome beer, locally sourced food/ingredients (some of their produce is from Talulah's market in Kennett Square), and great service - all in a clean and spacious decor with a cool open kitchen concept.

First, the BEERS. As you can see, on tap, they were heavy on the Ales and IPAs here, but had plenty of bottled options and of course, wine as well.

We had a few pints of beer that the owner/bartender recommended. Then we saw the "Try a Flight!" message on the board. OF COURSE! How did we not see this previously?!

It turned out that you could get a flight of four 5.5oz beers for $7. Not bad, right?

#4 is the first beer on the left. My faves of this flight were the Sixpoint Righteous Ale and the Founder's Centennial IPA. They are just perfectly hoppy! As a sidenote, I'm really loving Sixpoint Craft Ales and Founder's Brewery. So happy to have discovered them.

When we put our order in (there were 3 of us), the owner was like "uhm, wow- aggressive" because we ordered 5 dishes. I don't think it was excessive; some could be considered appetizers, after all! Plus, obviously we can eat.

Short Rib Eggroll: fried + stuffed with collard greens
We kept going back and forth on whether or not to get this, but in the end, how could we deny ourselves an eggroll with short rib meat in it? It was flavorful, but definitely a bit on the greasy side. I think they have to figure out how to deep fry tender meat without having it retain all of the delicious but decidedly unhealthy oil.

Definitely an interesting dish, but I didn't love it so I doubt I'd get in on a return visit.

Cuban Sandwich: pulled pork + thick cut ham + swiss + spicy mustard + fries
Unquestionably my favorite dish that we ate at Station Taproom. It was just a really great blend of spicy, salty, rich flavors and the bread was just crunch toasted enough to give it the textures it needed.

I mentioned before that the service was awesome. Well, we didn't make it easy for the servers, mind you. Since there were 3 of us dining, I asked him to cut the cuban sandwich into 3 pieces for us. Not only did he do this, but he actually plated all 3 pieces separate so we could each have our own plate and fries.

OMG, the FRIES. The fries here were AMAZING. Hand-cut fries in the "english chip-style" where they were thick and super crispy on all the edges, but still soft on the inside. Totally a winner. Several of our dishes came with fries and we worried that there'd be much leftover, but seriously - we ate every single one off of each plate. Ridiculous feat.
   
Chicken Wings: thai curry sauce + bleu cheese 
Awesome wings. Here again, was another example of service that goes above and beyond - the owner let me sample the wing sauce base before we ordered! I really wanted to try the wings, but was hesitating because I don't usually like thai curry sauces (it's the coconut milk), so he brought us a cup of the sauce and let us try it out first. It was pretty incredible so we ordered the wings and devoured them.

In terms of quantity, you don't get too many - I think it came with 6 wings? I'd be hard pressed to make this a meal by itself. Still, it's really tasty and so worth ordering as a starter.

Pulled Pork sandwich: NC-style pulled pork (vinegar-based) + fries + coleslaw  
I was super excited about this because Station Taproom actually gives you 2 different options for the kind of pulled pork you'd like: North Carolina style with the vinegar-y base or Texas style with a thicker sauce (ketchup, cumin etc). We went with the NC style.

This was just okay. I suppose the downside to having 2 different preparations of pulled pork is that you don't really have pork simmering in the sauce over a long period of time. I suspect that they have pulled pork and then mix it in with one of the two different sauces. What you're left with was tender meat that hadn't really absorbed the flavor of the sauce. But again, the fries were so good!

Mac 'n Cheese: sundried tomato + olives + ? 
I wish I had taken a closer look at the menu to write this down. I had actually assumed I'd be able to pull it down off of the website and didn't pay close enough attention. What I can say is that the mac'n cheese was definitely UNIQUE and interesting; I've never had anything quite like it. You did have to make sure you got pieces of olive/tomato etc in each bite for it to be good, though. Otherwise, it was on the bland/boring side.

The other menu options definitely seemed worth checking out - lamb burger, regular burgers, truffle fries etc. Station Taproom seems like a wonderful option for beer and food lovers alike, that live in the area, and certainly can appreciate that it's a rare find. I don't know that I'd travel to Downingtown to eat/drink here, but I would definitely recommend it to others who live in the area. You can't go wrong with a knowledgeable staff, fantastic craft beer selection, good food and comfortable decor.  

"mmMMmm here you go"

Went to Seafood Unlimited with J. Gigs last night. I actually don't even want to review the food because it was totally unspectacular in every way. They do have a good happy hour special - $5 margaritas, $5 wines, $3 lager, and an array of snacks like shrimp coctail, fish tacos, mussels, chicken quesadilla etc. MEH.

The best dish was the fish and chips and even those weren't very good. The fish itself was good, but the breading was soggy wet so mostly, it was kind of depressing. They did have maker's mark though, so between a few glasses of those and a nice long catchup chat with J. Giggles, the evening wasn't a total bust.

Aaaaanyway, what I really wanted to mention was the super odd server that waited on us. He had this look in his eyes that just totally screamed "I wanted to bring your food, but then I got high."

He brought us our food orders and drinks, basically one by one - the reason I mention this is to really emphasize the frequency at which he was stopping by our table. Each time he dropped something off, he would, almost imperceptibly go "mmMMmm."

"mmmMMm here's your shrimp cocktail"

"mmmMMmm here's your maker's on the rocks"

"mmmMmm here are your fish tacos"

"mmmMMmm here is your mixed salad" 

This went on and on. It was SO WEIRD. And most definitely creepy.

I suppose I should include a picture. So here is one of the fish tacos. Don't get these; they are not good.

Components of this sad little fish taco include: fried tilapia (supposedly), shredded lettuce, tomato, tartar sauce (ick, wasn't expecting that to be in there).

:: Seafood Unlimited::
address: 270 South 20th St, Philly
PS - the website looks super nice, so it's easy to be fooled. But this place wasn't great, seriously. And it smelled like FISH the minute we walked it. So of course, we immediately asked to be seated outside; I would much rather take on mother nature and her neverending mosquito attacks than eat while smelling raw fishes.

The End.

Good Meal but the Death of my Scallop and Risotto dream

Heh. This is mostly a positive review. I promise.

Last night, we went to Mercato. To put things into context, you have to know this about me - Mercato is (hmmm, was, perhaps) one of my favorite places to eat in the city. Admittedly, it had been just about 2 years since I had last eaten there, but prior to that, I had eaten there at least 4 or 5 times in a year's time. Each time, I had ordered similar dishes and each time it had been consistently wonderful.

The dishes we ate last night were mostly wonderful, but I found several things very disappointing.

But first, the FOOD. Soopah and I both had the tasting menu, which at $48 for a full 4-course meal, is very reasonable. What I love about these set pre-fixe tasting menus that are offered at many BYOBs is that there is so much flexibility. You're usually allowed to order off of the entire menu and at Mercato, that was definitely the case. The tasting menu allows you to select one dish from each of the 4 sections off of the menu with very few restrictions (sometimes they do add an up-charge for certain dishes). Take note that this is a CASH only byob so come prepared. If you're forgetful like me, no worries - there is a deli a block away on 13th St that has an ATM for your use.

:: Mercato ::
address: 1216 Spruce St., Philly
what we ate: 4-course tasting menu
We really debated whether or not to partake in this. Mostly because it was super humid hot and we couldn't decide if we were hungry enough to eat 4 courses! The downside to the tasting menu is that they require that all guests at the table participate so it was an all or nothing decision. Because I had always spoken so highly of Mercato and Soopah was finally going to get to try, we opted YES. Also, I warn you - this is a long post. How can it not be since we both ate 4 courses each?!

INTRODUZIONE

Whole Grilled Artichoke: 

extra virgin olive oil + sea salt + zesty citrus aioli

This was delicious AND fun to eat. They take an entire whole artichoke, basically roast it, soak it in olive oil, then grill it to order. What results is an incredibly flavorful dish - with each leaf you pull off dripping and coated with coarse black pepper and olive oil. Add to that a few grains of seat salt that they offer on the platter as well as the creamy citrusy aioli and it's just DIVINE. 

We really took our time eating this and enjoying each leaf before we devoured the hearts at the end. (Hmm, that sounded odd...). 

Grilled Calamari: 

basil pesto + cannellini beans + radicchio + pepperdew peppers + scallion + parmesan slices

We attacked this appetizer all wrong at first. It arrives at your table, plated in a way and separates the calamari from the rest of the bean, pepper and radiccio salad. Of course, in eating it separately, we found that the basil pesto coated calamari was a bit flat and boring, while the salad had very complex set of flavors. 

It doesn't LOOK very pretty, but once we started eating both components together, we found that it tasted delicious. And MAN, do they use good cheese here. The parmesan slices were so nutty and flavorful - I could have just kept eating those all night. I don't think this would be our favorite dish and I doubt I would order it again, personally, but it was quite tasty. 

PASTA

Pappardelle: 

roasted mushrooms + caramelized cipollini + crispy parsnip + pancetta, arugula + sage brown butter + parmesan

We have been tempted by various papparedelle dishes at a bunch of places we've been to - Varga, Garces Trading co, but had always ended up ordering something else on those respective menus that we couldn't pass up. So this time, we were determined to order this dish.

The flavor of the roasted mushrooms were awesome! They completed soaked up the sage brown butter sauce and were extremely flavorful. The crispy parsnips were an interesting topping to this pasta dish - they almost tasted like casava chips and provided a crunchy texture, but I'm not entirely convinced that it added something special here. I was ambivalent about that. If I had to criticize, I'd say the pasta was probably a bit over cooked, but still delicious dish, overall.

Braised Rabbit: 

black pepper fettuccine + grape tomatoes + spinach + pecorino + garlic, white wine basil sauce

I had to order this because whenever I see rabbit or the menu, I feel compelled to give it a shot. I definitely wasn't disappointed. The garlic white wine basil sauce was super flavorful and the fettucini had a nice spicy flavor from the black pepper. Plus, the rabbit was really flavorful and tender and not at all gamey.

CULMINARE
Grilled Petit Tender Filet: 

garlic chive mashed potates + grilled asparagus + truffle butter

Soopah ordered this medium rare and it came out perfectly cooked. Also, apparently this is a newly adjusted recipe for the filet and it was excellent. The sauce and truffle butter work really well together and perfectly complement the meat (as long as you don't take too large a piece of truffle butter with each bite). 

See that huge white thing that looks like a slice of mozzaralla? That is the truffle butter! Crazy, right? But delicious, yes yes yes. 

Pan Seared Diver Scallops: 

wild mushroom and english pea risotto + parmesan crisp + truffle oil

Okay, this dish was so disappointing it was almost enough to mar the entire experience for me at Mercato - not that there weren't several other less-than-perfect factors (which I'll detail later), but all were forgivable except for this one. I have been referencing this particular dish at Mercato as the perfect example of how to do risotto AND scallops well - both in conversations and on this blog. Basically, I had ordered this every time I had been to Mercato and it has always tasted amazingly perfect. Last night, it was far from it.

Where do I begin? The scallops were most definitely overcooked. I know it's hard to cook scallops perfectly, but I expected so much more than this. As for the risotto, it was horrible. It was like they decided that since it was the end of the evening (we were the last table there), they may as well dump the rest of the parmesan that was leftover into this dish and then overcook the risotto itself. The result was a sticky clumpy pile of risotto that had stringy pieces of cheese hanging off with each bite. Way too heavy, wayyy too rich and not in a good way. The mushrooms were barely even noticeable and honestly, neither was the truffle oil - this is what happens when you OVER-CHEESE. 

Even more disappointing still, is when I mentioned to the server that this dish had decidedly gone downhill since I last had it and maybe had the chef changed since then, he basically dismissed it saying it was prepared in the same way it had been 2-3 years ago (and obviously I was just being a pain in the ass). Le sigh.

DESSERT: 

Tiramisu and Gelato Trio 

The tiramisu and the gelato trio (cappucino, dulce de leche, strawberry cream) were both pretty tasty, but nothing especially memorable. Plus, by this point, I was so sad about the state of the risotto dish that I had basically lost the will to eat or enjoy anything more for that evening.

DISAPPOINTING THINGS WORTH MENTIONING
Overall, the meal was good. There were definitely highlights and lowlights, but I found there were a few things that were extremely disappointing/annoying.

• Upon our arrival, we stood around for an excessively long time while the female server walked right by us no less than 6 times. Each time I said "excuse me" I was brutally rebuffed. With silence and not even a sidelong glance. 
• Our wine glasses were greasy and had what I swear was leftover butter smeared all over them.
• Though we asked for new replacement glasses, we did not receive until later when we were ordering.
• My water glass was also also dirty/greasy and they FINALLY gave me a new one, but never took the dirty one away. 
• There were a SH*T TON of mosquitoes hovering around our table and they really liked how I tasted, apparently. So I walked away with 9 new bites - Yes yes this is not Mercato's fault. I'm just saying it definitely detracted from the experience. However, what IS their fault is that we sat outside because the inside of the restaurant seemed like the depths of hell in terms of temperature. I guess they just don't turn on the AC until it's over 100 degrees

DESPITE THESE THINGS, though, we still had a pleasant meal, so I'm not sure if that can be attributed to the fact that we are just awesome and enjoy each other's company, if the dishes that WERE good were interesting and tasty enough to carry us through, or that we're just older and more patient now and recognize that every dining experience can't be a perfect one.... hmmm. Ew. Well, we're definitely not old, so it must be that we're AWESOME. 

hidden GEM of a brunch place

Our brunch adventures continue! Last Saturday, we made our way over to Cafe Estelle. We had been talking about trying Cafe Estelle for some time, so we jumped at the chance to finally visit. This restaurant is tucked away on the ground floor of an apartment complex on 4th street (between Callowhill and Spring Gardne) and somewhat hidden from streetview, so I feel compelled to really talk this one up, because it's soooooooo worth the trip.

:: Cafe Estelle ::
address: 444 N. 4th St. Philly
what we ate: croque madame, french onion soup, breakfast pizza
First, I love the restaurant's way of promoting a "healthy and sustainable way of living" in a simple and non-preachy way. All of their take out and paper products are made from sustainable, recycled and compostable material, and they use local and organic products as much as possible including their organic brown eggs, naturally raised free range meats, hormone and antibiotic-free dairy.

I also really liked the little details here - airy open spaces, simple fresh flower arrangements at each table, mismatched ceramic coffee mugs just like the ones you have at home!

AND, you even have several options of different kinds of coffee at Cafe Estelle - all are fair trade, organic and locally roasted.

All these little things add to a great brunch experience, but ultimately it's of course about the food.

Croque Madame: egg dipped brioche + smoked ham + gruyere + fried egg + potatoes 
This is, without exaggeration, my favorite brunch dish I have had in a long time. The egg dipped brioche, which is baked on-site, was the perfect moist, soft, but with crisp toasted edges consistency. The smoked ham had just the right mix of salty and savory meatiness and the gruyere was a perfect melted layer holding everything together.

Add to that, the fried egg, cooked over medium, and you've got gooey yolk coating everything with the soft egg and you've added even more flavors and textures.

NOTE: the croque madame comes with mixed greens, but being the brunch fatty that I am, I had to request potatoes. And I would definitely do it again, even though the potatoes themselves weren't particularly special (other than the fact that they are crisp potatoes and that is always good, obviously). Cafe Estelle's potatoes are cubed to a pretty good size and have very crunchy edges, but there weren't any other dimensions of flavors.

Breakfast Pizza: provolone + homefries + housemade pancetta + fried eggs
We don't really see many breakfast pizzas on menus, so we were super excited about the inventiveness of the breakfast pizza and gave props to Cafe Estelle for having it on the menu.

The good things about this included the portion size, the perfectly cooked egg, and the fact that the pancetta used is another example of meat that is prepared in house.

Look how pretty it looks with the egg broken over the pizza!

The slightly less awesome things included a dry and somewhat thin crust, barely noticeable cheese and imperfect potato to crust carb ratio. My biggest disappointment was that I had to think about what could have been. I feel like this pizza would have been VASTLY improved if they had used thinly sliced pieces of potatoes, rather than their cubed homefries. Surprisingly, I think that having smaller pieces of the pancetta may have worked better as well - the long strips made it difficult to eat. IMO, the cheese was too mild for this pizza; a stronger flavor would have helped bring these flavors together. However, it was still an interesting dish to say the least. Ultimately, I'm not sure I'd get this dish again, though. I mean, there were just so many other awesome sounding options available and given how good the croque madame was, I'd want to try the other dishes out first.

French Onion Soup: toasted bread + melted swiss cheese
The soup was tasty enough, but nothing special. Soopah thought the broth was a bit too sweet; I thought it was sufficiently sweet to be considered onion soup.

To conclude, I loved Cafe Estelle. There was something just so FRESH about the decor, their ideas, and the attitude here. Plus, the entire staff was very friendly and helpful.

One more note about the little things - many brunch or breakfast restaurants either charge you extra fees or give you dirty looks when you ask if they have a "to-go" cup for coffee as you're leaving their establishment. It's not really required that they oblige with a "to-go" cup once you're on your way out the door, but I have always appreciated the places that do. Cafe Estelle certainly accommodates this request and does so with great cheer and appreciation. Given how tasty their organic fair-trade coffees are - this is such a huge plus!

Keeping it Real

We headed to Varga on Friday night to have dinner and drinks with friends who were in Philly for the weekend. Our entourage of Philly natives and out-of-towners included two of my oldest friends - Shana, Julia H (hi hi hi), Soopah, myself and a couple of Julia's hilarious new friends - an unintentionally hipster Canadian called Matt and a charming Southerner called Mark, whose accent surfaced with increasing levels of intoxication.

Food-wise, this will just be another quickie because I realize I can't review Varga every time I go, given the frequency! However, since I'm always singing never-ending praises of Varga Bar, just wanted to keep things honest and mention when/if I have a less than perfect experience.

Soopah and I arrived first and since we were starving, we had to go ahead and order dinner. We had the Kobe Burger and the Softshell Crab entree special and both were just okay. The Kobe Burger had similar components to the Kobe Sliders, but when it's the traditional burger-size, I guess it throws the flavor ratios off. So, while delicious, it wasn't as notable or memorable as the sliders. The difference could also be attributed to the fact that the sliders use boursin cheese, while the burger has cheddar. Normally, I would think the cheddar has a stronger flavor, but in his case, the boursin definitely has a better flavor.


Kobe Burger: lancaster county aged cheddar + apple-wood smoked bacon + caramelized shallots + organic greens + heirloom tomato + sesame seed bun

As for me, our server really swayed me and convinced me to order the Softshell Crab special. Since the last special we had eaten here (the delicious seafood pasta) had been a winner, I trusted his word and ordered the softshell crab entree.

Softshell Crab: battered softshell crab + spinach + lump crabmeat + tomatoes + capers + crispy potatoes + lemon garlic oil
Clearly, the description of the dish make it sound irresistibly appealing. Doesn't it? Even now, I feel like it sounds delicious, but then I remember how it tasted. Unfortunately, the crab batter was extremely salty and the lemon garlic sauce drizzled over the entire dish was so oil-heavy that it tasted like this overwhelmingly heavy film coating everything.

I love softshell crab, but this was really difficult to finish.

Ick. That is all oil. Don't get this dish~!

But thankfully, when the rest of the group arrived, they ordered the truffled mac'n cheese, a crabcake sandwich and kobe sliders and they thought everything was delicious. WHEW!

Perfectly Styled, but Oversalted

On Wednesday night, while looking for a place to watch the Flyers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals (sadface), we had a chance to drop by Sampan for some food and what we had hoped, were game time beer specials. We did not find any game time specials, but we did find a beautifully decorated restaurant and very gregarious bartenders and waitstaff.

The restaurant was moderately packed for a midweek seating, which we were pleased to see. Sampan is another one of those newer restaurants that has been getting great reviews, and we hope to see it succeed. Rather than wait a few minutes for our table, we opted to sit at the bar, which is located in the middle of the restaurant, in front of the open kitchen, with the two separate dining rooms flanking it on either side.

:: Sampan Philly ::
address: 124 S. 13th St. Philly
what we ate: beer, oxtail dumplings, rabbit dumplings, "cheesesteak" buns, pork shoulder
What I loved right away about this bar is that though they only had three beers on tap, they were awesome ones: Stoudt's American Pale Ale, Flying Fish Farmhouse Summer Ale, and Brooklyn Brewery's Brewmaster’s Reserve Dark Matter. Unfortunately, we had missed the Happy Hour specials, so they were a bit on the pricier side, but at $6-7 a pint, that is fairly standard for good microbrews. Besides, as our very friendly bartender pointed out, the Happy Hour specials would have only knocked $1 off of the price of the pints anyway.

When looking at the menu, we found that there was such a variety of dishes on this pan-Asian inspired menu that we were having trouble making choices. Finally, we decided that we absolutely had to try a few of the dumplings and one of the meat courses.

Interestingly, there were a few items on the in-house menu that doesn't appear on the website, like the first dish we tried: oxtail and kimchee dumplings.

Oxtail &  Kimchee dumplings: diced tomatoes + soy sauce + scallions
These looked like traditional gyoza and the presentation was very pretty with the colorful red tomatoes diced and spread over top. Unfortunately, with each bite, we found that the marinated oxtail was quite salty. The saltiness might have been mitigated by a larger portion of kimchee, but strangely, the tiny negligible amount of kimchee used hardly contributed enough flavors to make its presence known.

From this dish forward, I was a bit confused by the plates that were delivered to our table. It seemed like the actually plates of food that arrived and were placed in front of us were slightly different than the menu had described. It was a bit odd and I couldn't help but feel like I was eating someone else's food that had been accidentally given to us!

“Philly Cheese Steak”: Bao Bun + Shallot + Sriracha
Our next dish was the Philly Cheese Steak dish, which was described to us as a bao bun that had the top half sliced off, toasted and topped with shredded short ribs and shallots. In other words, an Asian play on Philly's signature sandwich. Sounds good, right?

What arrived (and you may be able to see this from the photo) was a dish that looked like cheesesteak bruschetta. While the meat was indeed shredded short ribs, it was resting on top of what looked like slices of french baguette, that had been toasted then soaked in beef jus. Confused, we asked our bartender which dish had just been delivered and he confidently answered that it was the cheesesteak on bao buns...

Hmmm. Okay. So we thought, well, maybe looks are deceiving...

But after taking a bite, we were more convinced than ever that this was just sliced baguette. Also, more of a concern, was that the meat was again SUPER SALTY. Sigh. I almost didn't want to finish this because I found it to be so unpleasant. But we did - only because we were starving. Then we waited patiently for the next dish.


Rabbit Dumplings: Spring Peas + Bacon + Shallot

I had really high hopes for this one. I mean, with rabbit, you always have the fear that it could be game-y, but I've found it is usually deliciously flavorful when it's stuffed in a wrapper like a dumpling or ravioli. Once again, the presentation was beautiful, but the taste fell short.

I know you'd expect the bacon pieces to provide just the right amount of salt here, but the ridiculously salty rabbit meat itself once again made this dish difficult to enjoy.

Pork Shoulder: pickled cucumbers + greens + chojang (Korean-style spicy sweet chili pepper sauce)
Finally, our last dish arrived.This was probably the least tender pork shoulder dish I have ever eaten. Sigh. I did enjoy the Asian-pickled cucumber slices that topped each piece and I found the greens to be a refreshing flavor, but the meat itself was dry and bland, at best. And I didn't think that the overall flavors worked particularly well together either.

So yes, another disappointment.

It seems like the biggest draw for Sampan has always seemed to be their lunch menu - with its wide array of banh mi sandwich options and satays. I feel like I can't truly comment fairly on Sampan's food until I've given those sandwiches a shot, but as for dinner - I would say stay away from the items we ordered. After the final course, we debated next steps - we were still hungry, and thought it'd only be fair to try another dish from the menu (like the Pork Banh Mi), but we ended up just leaving without trying anything else. We disliked everything so much and had already racked up a surprisingly high bill that we felt there was little that could redeem the experience on this night.

Will definitely report back if lunch is any better. But for now, I don't really want to think about Sampan's food any more.

Cupcake shortage!

Brown Betty just opened up their Center City Liberty Place location this past week but as you can see, they are doing incredibly well! SOLD OUT!

The Hammer of God

Not a reference to Thor, but the symbol of Philly's Beer Week. Passed from person to person via wheelbarrow, roller-skates, etc from the northeast to Independence Hall for the grand task of officially opening the first keg of Beer Week.

I read this review by the Inquirer's Joe Sixpack of some of the best beers of Beer Week and this part made me proud to call Philly my hometown...

Cantillon Classic Gueuze. Jean Van Roy, whose family runs Brasserie Cantillon in Brussels, made his first visit to the United States for Beer Week. As he was checking into his Center City hotel, the desk clerk noticed the brewery logo on Van Roy's shirt and launched into unsolicited praise for the tiny brewery's unusual, funky gueuze.

A couple of hours at Monk's Café, where his beer was served alongside lambics from 3 Fonteinen and Boon breweries, Cantillon related the story with astonishment. "All of these years, no one in Brussels ever recognized me," he said. "I come to Philadelphia, and they know me. I love this town."

See the full Tour Itinerary on the Philly Beer Week site.

the Green Monster

I have so many places to blog about before I can get fully caught up, and I'll admit, I may never actually get there, but I did want to post a quickie about this unique and delicious sushi roll I had at Raw Lounge a few weeks ago.

:: Raw Sushi and Sake Lounge :: 
address: 1225 Sansom St. Philly
what we ate: green river roll
This was just one of the most interesting and different sushi rolls I have ever tried, so I felt like it was worth mentioning here.

Green River Roll: shrimp tempura + spicy tuna roll covered in green tea tempura flakes + avocado + spicy lobster + green tea sauce + spicy sauce 

This roll had everything - spiciness, crunchiness, tangy-ness, tender and flavorful fish. Now, at $21 a pop for 8 pieces, it's not cheap, but definitely worth indulging yourself at least once.

As a semi-related aside, Soopah and I were just recently talking about how there aren't too many great sushi places left in the city, and how we hoped that the existing ones survive for years to come. Raw seems to have great sushi so I want people to know!

As another related aside, today, Foobooz posted a list of restaurants in Philly that have closed recently and it made me sad. Just goes to show that just because you get great reviews and your food is well-received, doesn't mean you'll be able to be profitable. Raw may stay top of mind because they have great outdoor space and a separate room where they throw dance parties, but remember, it seems the food is actually quite good too!

only the Kitchen Sink

Thank our lucky stars - we have been brunching more regularly again. There really are few things better than a relaxing Saturday afternoon that begins with a leisurely brunch of egg-y and meaty things with generous helpings of carby things like potatoes and bread!

Though the reliable standby has always been Sabrina's Cafe in South Philly, we have been making an effort to venture to other places since there are so many talked about Brunch offerings all over the city and we want to try them all. Sometimes, these adventures help us find true gems, like Day by Day (omg, I still need to write that review up) in Center City, but sometimes, we are left feeling somewhat unsatisfied - which is exactly what happened this past Saturday at Green Eggs Cafe. 

I had been wanting to go back to Green Eggs for brunch since I had stopped by a few months ago. Based on the croissant I had tried that day, I was concerned the food would just be MEH, and after our brunch visit, I'm not convinced it wasn't. Was that too many double negatives? Heh, I guess you could say, I'm undecided about this place, and I most definitely wasn't blown away.  

:: Green Eggs Cafe :: 

address: 1306 Dickinson St, Philly

what we ate: cheddar grits, breakfast burritos, "the kitchen sink" 

Trifecta made a big mistake on Saturday. Two of us ordered the same dish. Disast. Why would we do this?! I blame hunger, the unbearable heat/weather, and just plain short sightedness. Honestly, the lunch menu here has always sounded much more interesting to me, but for some reason, I felt like since we were brunching, I must have eggs. As a result, Soopah and I both ended up getting the breakfast burrito. 

Breakfast Burrito: flour tortilla + eggs + olives + corn + chorizo sausage + signature potato + tex mex cheese + topped with Pico de Gallo + sour cream + avocado slice + fire roasted red pepper black bean sauce

Looks like a long description, right? On the menu, they actually list all of these ingredients that are in the burrito and I was very excited about this. The burrito sounded hearty and I thought the olives and corn would be nice additions. What they don't tell you is that the "signature potato" includes huge pieces of red and green bell peppers. Which, in my hatred of that wretched vegetable, immediately makes me go EWWWWWW. 

Okay okay okay, I know that not many people agree with the EWWW assessment of bell peppers, but whatever your take on it is, it's undeniably a strong and very distinctive flavor. So, I'm sure for those folks that LIKE them, they add great flavor dimensions to dishes, but for those of us that really have a strong aversion to them, it taints the entire dish. ESPECIALLY, when they sneak up on you, like they did in the breakfast burritos. And, btw, the signature potatoes are in other dishes as well (like the kitchen sink, but I'll get to that later), so diner beware. 

I ordered mine without the black bean sauce and I think that is preferable. Otherwise, with the way it's poured onto the dish, you can't really avoid it if you find that you don't care for the flavors of the sauce.     

I want to say that if it hadn't been for the bell pepper sneak attack, I would have enjoyed this more. But then again, Soopah didn't really love it either and he digs bell peppers. 

I really wish I had stuck to my guns and ordered the Kobe Slider Trio off of the lunch menu, which sounded very tasty and interesting since it comes with 3 different styles of sliders. OR, the crunchy peanut butter stuffed french toast, which I'll be honest, I have been thinking about since my first glance at the menu. What stopped me from ordering them, you ask? Well, it's my goshdarn pickiness rearing its ugly (anti-Foodie) head. The description says that the stuffed french toast comes with a layer of cream cheese and I kept getting stuck on the idea that I'd hate it. It's ridiculous really. I have tried veal tongue and frog legs, but gave up on this dish before I even tried it because of cream cheese. I MAKE ME SAD. 

The kitchen sink: two eggs + cheese + our signature potato (!!!) + sausage + topped + homemade jumbo biscuits + sausage gravy 

If I had to break this down, I'd say the presentation definitely rocks, but the food itself was okay. The eggs and cheese part were pretty yummy - well cooked, but once again, the bell pepper factor in the potato mixture came into play here. J. Giggles hates bell peppers as much as I do, so again, too much sneak attack pepper taste. The sausage pieces were great. If anything, I wished there were a bit more of them throughout - but hey, isn't that always true? More meat, please! 

The biscuits (pretty sure there were 2 of them in there) were decent. They weren't buttery at all, so my guess is they bake these on-site just for this particular dish. I couldn't tell definitively, but I suspect if we had eaten them plain, they would have been on the dry side (like the croissant I had before!). As part of this particular dish, they were really really good. 

The REASON they were really good, however, is because of the decadent, creamy, savory sausage gravy..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The three of us were scooping this gravy up like it was soup. Wow, I realize that sounds gross, but it was really so good. Super rich, but not overly salty or overwhelmingly heavy. Without a doubt, this gravy makes/saves this dish. Again, mmmmmmMMMmmmm. 

Stone Ground Grits: Southern style + aged cheddar + scrapple chips

I had high hopes for this - especially after we had delicious grits at Tap House last week. I was crushed to find that the Green Eggs version were nowhere close to the tastebud jackpot we discovered in U-city. The scrapple was forgettable, at best. Even now, hard as I try, I can't conjure up enough of the flavor experience to make something up about how I felt about it. The grits were cooked well enough, but was too cheese heavy. It is surprising that I say that, but I would guess they used shredded cheddar mixed into the grits, and the result was that it thickened the grits too much. The grits, while they tasted okay, were too dense and thick and piece-y - almost lumpy - and that's not what you want. At least, that's not what I want. 

Sigh. So sad. Cheddar Grits... you could have been so good. Ah well. 

Maybe it was the choice of items, maybe not, but Green Eggs Cafe is not a place I'll be rushing to return to - especially while there is the rest of the South Philly Brunch Belt to try. Or, in Soopah's case, Sabrina's to return to. Or in my case, Day by Day. 

RESURRECTION

It's Philly Beer Week! I'm not that hip so while I have been following the beer happenings about town, I haven't actually visited too many of them events. Last Friday, though, as Beer Week events were kicking off all over this great city, Soopah and I finally made our way to Resurrection Ale House near the Naval Square condo complex.

Resurrection Ale House may (RAH!) be somewhat out of the way for those that don't live that Grays Ferry neighborhood, but other than the fact that they are a locally well-recognized craft beer bar, RAH recently got national acclaim for its Twice-Fried Chicken from Andrew Knowlton from Bon Appétit!!! Kudos of Bon Appetit caliber? YAY! Fried Chicken DOUBLE YAY!! Green Flash Brewing Company Beer Week Specials YAYAYAY!!!

And HELL YES, it was worth it. Worth schlepping to Grays Ferry AND worth walking from the parked car in 100% humidity.

:: Resurrection Ale House ::
address: 2425 Grays Ferry Avenue, Philly
what we ate: IPAs, tomato bread, pork belly sandwich, fried chicken
First of all, I really loved the decor at RAH! I would guess that they converted one of the larger corner homes and it is split level on the first floor, with dark wood and pale green color detailing.

BEERS
This girl loves me some beers - especially IPAs - and the hoppier the better. I found that the Green Flash beers were quite enjoyable. After tasting both the Imperial and West Coast IPAs, we loooooved the West Coast. The Imperial, while hoppy and intense, had aromas from the Summit and Nugget hops that were maybe too strong for us (being the amateur IPA quaffers that we are). The West Coast was apparently a winner of Gold and Silver medals for the Best American-Style Amber/Red in 2008 and 2007. According to the website, it includes "Simcoe for a unique fruitiness and grapefruit zest, Columbus for strong hop pungency, Centennial for pine and citrus notes, and Cascade for floral aroma" and it is AWESOME. Dogfish and Flying Dog are still my brewers of choice, but this was great.

Pan con Tomate: grilled homemade bread + tomato + manchego + sweet chorizo
We started with the very rustic bruschetta-like pan con tomate. Yummers. Pizza-like! Sort of. For me, the shredded manchego cheese was the best part. I don't know what it is about manchego, but it makes every dish taste so much better. I'm pretty sure this grilled bread and tomato concoction would have been pretty forgettable without it.

The sweet chorizo was definitely an interesting addition and added a yummy contrast to the tart tomatoes and greens. Not a tastebud blower, but tasty and well executed.

Hoisin Braised Pork Belly: ginger + radish + spring onion
The thick cut of pork belly came resting on top of a soft delicious ciabatta bread, topped with thin slices of radish and spring onions. Everything was so soft and tender and juicy delicious. I did wish there was a teeny bit more hoisin sauce to add that tangy-ness to the sandwich, but overall it was wonderful.

The hand cut fries were just okay. Unfortunately, they lacked the crispy crunchiness that makes fries so addicting and delectable. They did come with a very cool dipping sauce, though - it was a mix of ketchup, mayo and curry powder.... very memorable, very interesting and I liked it so much that I kept eating more of the "just-okay" fries to keep tasting the flavor. I don't think that it went particularly well with the Pork Belly sandwich itself, but it didn't detract from it.

and........... for the STAR......

Twice Fried Chicken: drizzled with spiced honey + served with warm German-style potato salad
Aside from the obvious raving about the flavors and textures that will commence, I want to say that at $11, for 2 pieces of fried chicken thighs, this is really a great deal. The skin is soooo unbelievably crispy, but very thin and not overwhelming at all. It's like the perfect ratio of batter to meat and because it's dark meat, it's super flavorful on the inside as well as out.

Man, I really wish the picture did this dish better justice, for this I apologize. The spicy drizzled honey added a little sweet kick that worked so well with the chicken.

The German-style potato salad was really like chunky mashed potatoes that had a very tart flavor to them. Our friend  Chau had said he really enjoyed them, and I think maybe the next time I try, I could have a different opinion about them. The reason is, I think we weren't really ready or expecting the flavor to be quite what it was. German style potatoes apparently include tart apples and cider vinegar, which as you can imagine, adds a substantial amount of sour/tartness to them. It was so different than any other mashed potatoes I have had and even further from the more conventional idea of potato salad we had in our minds. You certainly can't say it's boring though. The pickled okra resting on top complements the flavors of the potatoes. Haha, we did not finish the potatoes or the okra, but that might have been partly due to the fact that we had filled up on an appetizer and 2 IPAs each!

I can't wait to go back to Resurrection for the Fried Chicken. I think I'd definitely try something new the next time, rather than get the Pork Belly again, but only because the menu does have several other items that look very compelling (like the Pan Roasted Duck breast with Quinoa)!

COST breakdown
As a final note, we decided that whenever possible, we'd add a copy of our tab as well. This seemed like a great place to start since it was a relatively affordable dinner. 2 entrees, 1 appetizer and 4 beers left us with a sub $50 bill (before taxes). RAH is billed as a neighborhood bar/restaurant, and I'm pleased to say that their prices really reflect that sentiment/theme.

City Tap House - journey to university city

We don't spend too much time in the University City/West Philly area these days - much to Chiho's chagrin (he has recently discovered he has a die-hard appreciation for all things that U-City has to offer). This is mostly because we have so many places yet to try in the rest of the city and frankly, we don't really enjoy drinking with college students because it makes us feel old. Well, it makes ME feel old. Don't judge me!

Anyway, we had heard about the recent opening of City Tap House at 40th and Walnut. Admittedly, although we were intrigued at the thought of a 60-tap draft beer offering, we still needed a bit of a push to get our butts to U-City to try this place. That push came last night when Chau, one of our hippest hipster friends, told us to meet him there for a drink and snackies.

:: City Tap House ::
address: 3925 Walnut St, Philly
what we ate: too many beers, shrimp and grits, mussels with chorizo
The most impressive thing about this craft beer bar is definitely its decor/space. It's located on the balcony floor of the Radian (fancy looking student housing apartments) Building, and both the bar area and the main dining room are wide and extremely spacious, with dark wooden panels and details throughout. Even cooler still are the outdoor terraces, one of which offers long bench-style seating flanking each of the 5 rectangular fire pits. Though we wanted to sit outside, it was ungodly hot last night, so we opted to sit in the AC available bar area.

I really did appreciate how large the bar area was - the bar itself was long and rectangular as well, with seating along 3 sides, but there were also small round high tables along the whole window/wall where you could sit and get service. Which is exactly what we did.

The Beers: IPAs, Belgian-styles and more
The beer list was definitely impressive, but I was disappointed to find that there were several beers (like the Rogue Capt Sig Amber) that were no longer available. We also found that some beers were on the list, but hadn't been tapped yet. Still, the three of us were still able to find beers that we liked and enough variety to keep ordering something different each round.

Here are the downsides. Our server, who was perfectly pleasant and friendly, kept messing up our order. She had to come back and ask us repeated what we had wanted to order, she gave us the wrong beers, then assured us that she hadn't made an error, and generally was very slow tending to any requests we made. I suppose I attribute most of this to the fact that they just opened and the waitstaff still is learning. BUT, I did have a problem with one fact....

Our server was 18. She admitted she had never tasted or knew anything about the beers on the menu, which is why she had a hard time distinguishing which one was what.

I'm not really discriminating here. I worked as a server for 9 months when I turned 18 as well. I know that in PA, you only need to be 18 to be a server. The difference, and to me this is huge, is that I worked as a server in a seafood restaurant, where though they served alcohol the focus was the food. At City Tap House, their schtick is that they are a CRAFT BEER BAR. To me, it doesn't really make sense that your server at this craft beer bar cannot make recommendations, doesn't understand differences in the beers, and potentially can't even tell what beers she is delivering based on color/consistency?

It was just so surprising and disappointing because this sort of thing would never happen at a true craft beer specialty bar like Tria or Varga.

What we didn't get to try, but definitely plan on ordering on a potential return visit would be the Beer Flights that they have available. City Tap House offers 5 or so different types of flight, categorized by beer flavor profiles like Bitters or Wheats, and offer a flight of 4oz beers for $10-15 (depending on the type of flight you order).

Anyway, those complaints aside, the food seemed to be pretty good.  

King Creole Shrimp and Grits: white cheddar grits + smoked tasso sauce
Thanks to my work, I have been fortunate enough to make multiple visits to the South a few times over the last 2 years. Usually, I don't really consider this an event of GOOD fortune, but in the case of tasty food, it has definitely given me many opportunities to try the amazing regional cuisine. During my visits, I would always try to have two things: BBQ and/or Grits. Nobody makes grits better than the South. However, the cheddar grits at City Tap House were pretty freaking droolworthy.

This is considered a starter, so there were 3 jumbo shrimps and the dish was a reasonably priced $12. The shrimp themselves were perfectly cooked and nicely seasoned.

The STAR was definitely the cheddar grits, though - it was likely more the cheddar grits PLUS smoked tasso sauce combination. Tasso sauce is made from tasso ham, which apparently is a specialty of Cajun cuisine, and is a spicy, peppery version of smoked pork made from the shoulder butt. It's my understanding that tasso sauce is essentially tasso ham, butter, cream and flour. Spoon that over perfectly cooked cheddary grits and how can you go wrong.... right?! This is 100% worth trekking to University City to eat.

Pacho Mussels: spicy chorizo + tomato + garlic + fresh thyme, topped with fresh-cut fries
The fries were very good! Crispy and flavorful, plus the accompanying spicy aoli was delicious. The mussels were well cooked and a good plump size. I really enjoyed the salty and spiciness of the chorizo with the mussels, but it did make the broth excessively greasy when we were trying to dip our bread into it later on.

Because the fries are placed on top of the mussels, they will undoubtedly get soaked by the broth at some point towards the end of this dish, but surprisingly they still remained crunchy enough to still be enjoyable.

Ultimately, I think that City Tap House is definitely a bar I'd return to, but mostly for the outdoor terrace seating, the grits and fries. Let's hope the waitstaff education improves before our next visit.