Archive for the 'Food' Category

We’re all about gilding recently. Friday it was in reference to the Pub & Kitchen’s Lobster BLT with truffle mayo and today it’s about gilding a pair of mirrors for Alison two. [Alison's New Restaurant]

Living On The Vedge makes it over to get some takeout from Minar Palace and found the tastes of the paneer and paratha flattered each other. But for now loyalties remain with Girard Avenue’s Ekta. [Living On The Vedge]

Mac & Cheese hadn’t been to a Jose Garces restaurant until the weekend when she tried out Distrito. Unsurprising to the the Jose fan club, she found it “wonderful.” [Mac & Cheese]

Philly Food and Drink enjoys the “lovely and tasty” sushi at Old City’s Zento. [Philly Food and Drink]

Phoodie.info snags an interview with Jose Garces regarding his new cook book, Latin Evolution. [Phoodie.info]

Brunch for ten? Jones fits the bill for Mac & Cheese. [Mac & Cheese]

The Clog has tasting notes from a Russian River tasting at Monk’s Cafe. [The Clog]

Once upon a time, a really strange and inexplicably appealing bar named Jolly’s lived in the semi-subterranean ground floor of the Latham Hotel on the corner of 17th and Walnut Streets. A few doors down, still within the structure of the Latham, there was another bar, a piano bar, called the Redhead Lounge, also owned by the same person, also strange yet appealing.

One day, both of these bars up and moved to 19th Street where they promptly sputtered and died. Without knowing the nitty-gritty of the owner’s financials, etc., we can only speculate that the mojo of these two spots was intimately related to their location within the Latham and they couldn’t survive the move. Same owner, same names, basically the same neighborhood and still they couldn’t survive.

This is a cautionary tale of sorts, of how carefully a restaurant owner needs to heed the three words: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. This is also a Restaurant Yenta musing, as in: what, in a perfect world, should go into that ex-Jolly’s spot? The space has been empty (despite an orange liquor transfer sign) for what amounts to an eternity in such a primo location – it has an entrance on heavily trafficked 17th Street and a row of windows (stupidly tinted) on the Walnut Street side. We can only imagine that the Latham is desperate for our help, but afraid to ask. Don’t worry, Latham! We live to serve and we’re here to help – take our advice before you open up something lame.

Is it time for a craft beer bar on Walnut? A second Good Dog? A Monk’s, even? Something fancier? How about sushi by day and karaoke at night? A Distrito in the Center City Distrito? Or maybe this is the spot for the elusive barbecue joint in Philly?

Your thoughts?

We know, we know. You’re all such foodies that you would never dream of dating someone who wouldn’t plunge headfirst into a plate of organ meat with great gusto. Or would you? There are exceptions to every rule and sometimes those exceptions are totally hot and you want to marry or maybe even just have sex with those totally hot exceptions. Which begs the question, where do you take the dreaded Picky Eater on a date? The answer, after the jump.

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Call soon (215-232-3232) to reserve as seats are going quickly. The Home grown beer dinner at Bridgid’s featuring local beers….Stoudts Oktoberfest, Legacy Euphoria, Philly Brewing Rowhouse Red, Sly Fox Phoneix, and Lancaster Milk Stout….only $25.

Interesting, Table 31 has plenty of reservations available tonight on OpenTable. We might call first to make sure you can get the Restaurant Week menu and heck, what’s on it.

For more Restaurant Week tips check out our Restaurant Week Guide.

Table 31 [OpenTable]

Marigold Kitchen is now serving their late-summer menu and it has us atwitter especially this desert: watermelon soup with sugar-roasted lemon sorbet and basil oil.

Also, starting Sunday, October 5th the West Philadelphia BYOB will be offering Sunday Brunch.

Late-summer menu after the jump.

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Phoodie.info proves we’re not the only ones going overboard about the Pub & Kitchen. Today they declare the P&K’s Windsor Burger, the one with the homemade bacon and English Cheddar to be the best in the city.

Chef Johnny Mac starts with slaughtered-ordered-cryovacced-and-shipped-same-day Painted Hills Natural Beef, and makes magic. He says he’s been perfecting this burger since leaving SnackBar, and uses percentages when creating his patties. The consistency of the meat is the best we’ve ever experienced: fluffy yet dense without crumbling under the pressure of being exquisite. The portion is perfection. Tall enough, strong enough, sans oafishness. The lightly butterkissed onion roll is a great vehicle, the homemade maple bacon and Brit Cheddar are worthy sidekicks to the King. Top it off with the Best Tomato Slice We’ve Had This Summer and crispy greens, or go au natrual and bench ‘em.

Pub And Kitchen: Pabbit Perfection [Phoodie.info]
Pub & Kitchen [Official Site]

Act quickly, there’s a table for two at 8:45 available tonight at Amada for their Restaurant Week menu. We guess someone decided they couldn’t miss watching the Eagles.

Restaurant Week Reservations for tonight [OpenTable]

We’ll be back every day of Restaurant Week with a noonish last second suggestion. Check out our guide to Restaurant Week here.

We haven’t heard from Sloth Street for awhile but the site gets our attention with talk of a secret society of Gluttony and outlandish behavior like ordering a lamb osso bucco sandwich At Ansill Food + Wine for dessert. We salute you Sloth Street.

Our main courses were really dominated by the aforementioned osso bucco sandwich, which might be one of the best dishes in Philadelphia. It’s got a meaty richness that gets better with every bite, including the final ones, where the slice of brioche bread has soaked up all of the juices and creates an intense taste that, well, might cause a man to order a second helping for dessert.

The Society of Gluttony: Ansill [Sloth Street]
Ansill Food + Wine [Official Site]

Rick Nichols visits several spots north of Center City for his piece in yesterday’s Inquirer. He starts off with praise of Cafe Lift, crosses his fingers for Cafe Estelle, stops off to slam Root and ends at Zhi-Wei-Guan, a new restaurant in Chinatown that doesn’t really excite. All-in-all, an odd spin around that section of the city.

New cuisine heard from [Philadelphia Inquirer]