Adam Erace enjoys the details as he eats and relaxes at Snackbar.

As a former sous chef at Zahav, 27-year-old Taus brings a clear culinary focus that has eluded snackbar. The menu feels very American, very loose and likeable, with a collection of plates that are neither small nor large. Taus’ food is suited to grazing, but fortunately the servers don’t get all mathematical about your order. Start slow and order more when you get hungry again, seems to be the practice here, echoed by Makar, who says he actually encourages staff not to turn tables.

Eyes on the Guise [Philadelphia Weekly]
Snackbar [Official Site]

Adam Erace tries out the pizzas at Tiffin Etc. hoping for a food epiphany like he had the first time he tried Tiffin’s Vindaloo. Unfortunately he finds that pizza and Indian toppings aren’t the amazing partners he had hoped.

I can respect appetite outreach programs. But I wonder if it isn’t better to charm virgins with introductory-level dishes like murg makhani, rather than recasting the recipes in an adulterated form. On one pie, the butter chicken—Tiffin does it 
extraordinarily well—mingled with mozzarella and subcontinent-spiced tomato sauce shining with ghee. On another, cilantro-mint pesto was a green lawn for gingery minced lamb interspersed with more mozzarella and peas. The ingredients worked, and the crust was fine if a bit oily, but with each slice it became more evident: Pizza just isn’t the best vehicle for these flavors.

Tiffin Etc. [Philadelphia Weekly]
Tiffin [Official Site]

Adam Erace manages to incorporate “whorebath” into his largely positive review of Miga, the smokeless Korean barbecue on 15th Street.

The menu describes belly as “unseasoned,” which you should read as “bland.” But it’s okay, really, as the salt-and-peppered sesame oil and intensely savory Korean bean paste take care of that. You’re meant to dip each piece of pork before bundling them in frilly red leaf lettuce cups with sliced garlic and chilies. Dip, wrap. Dip, wrap. United, the ingredients in this leafy Korean burrito brought real balance. Fresh and rich flavors, working in tandem, totally worth the wait.

Miga

Adam Erace visits the new Meritage and says the Asian inspired menu and booze-friendly bites are ready to step out of Pub & Kitchen’s shadow.

Meritage’s wine program has become more approachable and affordable, with 14 by the glass (all $8), fun flights and 50 bottles under $50.

So bring on the alcohol sponges, fair bartender! Fat, tempura-fried jalapenos, like addictive poppers filled with hoisin-kissed house-ground pork and cellophane noodles in a ginger-soy glaze. Tight, pan-fried Hudson Valley foie gras dumplings tossed in butter browned with Burgundy truffles, cilantro and scallion. Silky Lancaster chicken liver pâté crowned with black plums macerated in brandy and five spice. All $6 or less, all tasty.

Meritage [Philadelphia Weekly]
Meritage [Official Site]

Adam Erace visits Brauhaus Schmitz and finds plenty to love and a even a bit to criticize at Philadelphia’s only Teutonic brew house.

Blandness is another German cuisine stereotype Brauhaus Schmitz enforced on occasion. The pork shank, schnitzel and dense potato dumpling all so severely lacked salt, I found it hard to reconcile them with Nolen’s other, wonderfully flavored items like the extraordinary bratwurst and sweet-and-sour cabbage that got its dynamic twang (and vivid magenta hue) from red wine vinegar and red currant preserves. A slice of brat, cabbage draped about it like garish pink garland, a smack of the hot German mustard from the quaint ceramic pots on each table … I don’t know a more perfect bite. Nolen knows his way around these classics, having cooked at Reading’s utmost private German clubs.

Brauhaus Schmitz [Philadelphia Weekly]
Brauhaus Schmitz [Official Site]

Adam Erace visits Sonata and if he has one bit of advice for chef Mark Tropea,  it’s go easy on the sauce.

At times during my dinner at Sonata, it was like Tropea couldn’t help himself, that add-more reflex that afflicts lots of young chefs. It’s a real shame, since mostly he’s doing fresh things with quality ingredients at friendly prices. His pan-crisped pork belly, brined for 24 hours and cooked sous-vide for 12 more, came correct with opposing textures, and I loved the little spheres of compressed Fuji apple and the deeply autumnal calvados molasses—even if the latter tattooed the plate in passé diner-dessert squiggles.

Sonata [Philadelphia Weekly]

Philadelphia Weekly delivers the shake, boon and drag of eating at P.Y.T., SquareBurger and Elevation Burger.

Burger Smackdown [Philadelphia Weekly]

Adam Erace heads to Max Brenner hoping to discover a chocolate lover’s paradise, unfortunately this nirvana  is only skin deep.

If I had kids, I’d take them to Max Brenner. (Nurse Jackie took her rugrats to the Union Square location in episode nine.) But I’m a grownup, darn it. My tastes are sophisticated, and I won’t be swayed by complimentary mirrors and cute, cool, adorably awesome chocolate-drinking apparatuses … No! I’m going to Naked or Golosa, where the chocolate caters to adults. Just as soon as someone wraps up an Alice glass for me to take home.

Max Brenner is Better for Kids [Philadelphia Weekly]
Max Brenner [Official Site]

Adam Erace visits Sam Mink’s Oyster House and finds the food to be “shucking good.”

With oysters as good as these, any ostentation further than classic mignonette would be like covering a grass-fed filet mignon in Heinz 57. Or so you’d think. It’s ironic that chef Greg Ling, last of sushi den Raw, showed real finesse with the cooked oyster dishes. Let the purists scoff; you and I will be tossing back the roasted ones Español style, having the last laugh through mouthfuls of Delaware Bays electrified by fiery, finely diced, house-made chorizo and cilantro-lime butter. Here was the injection the Delawareans needed, the sausage grease and melted butter enrobing each one in a crimson aurora of liquid fat (in a good way) balanced by the citrus and herb.

Oyster House [Philadelphia Weekly]
Oyster House [Official Site]

If we asked you what the most happening corner was east of Rittenhouse Square and west of Old City what would you answer? A year ago we know you wouldn’t have said 10th and Spruce. But on a recent evening with the bustle of Kanella on one side and the buzz of Varga Bar on the other, we were convinced. Adam Erace noticed the same thing in his review of Varga Bar. He also noticed the sliders on R. Evan Turney’s almost All-American menu.

The memory of those sliders is still vivid. Turney added Boursin, bacon, caramelized shallots and tomato and packaged them neatly in fluffy LeBus brioche. All good, but the beef … damn. Each patty came with cores the color of bubblegum, perfectly medium-rare, surrounded by a trim brown seal. The attending bangle bracelet onion rings also happen to rock.

Varga Bar [Philadelphia Weekly]
Varga Bar [Official Site]