This week in Philadelphia Magazine’s Restaurant Club Newsletter.

• Sneak peek at our June Reviews: Alphabet Soup and Girasole
• Super-thrifty summer drinking and eating deals
• Food for thought: When you shouldn’t order local
• Introducing the RC Snap Squad: Share pics of your restaurant meals

Restaurant Club Newsletter [Philadelphia Magazine]

Jayson Grossberg has his Alphabet Soup Cafe running in Audobon. Look for Alphabet Soup Gourmet, a prepared foods market and chef’s table in Cherry Hill this spring. [Table Talk, Philadelphia Inquirer]

Tomorrow is still the day for Union Trust’s opening. [Icepack, City Paper]

Trend alert! Tiffin has their goods at Temple’s Barns & Noble and now Giwa is looking to put bibimap kits in local supermarkets and cafeterias. [Feeding Frenzy, City Paper]

Blackfish is moving its shore operation from Avalon to Stone Harbor and it will go year round. [The Insider]

Philly Skyline can be proud that they’ve gotten a Philly skyline on next month’s Philly Beer Week pass. [Metro Philadelphia]

The former Roselena’s on  Passyunk Avenue is looking at a March rebirth as Michael’s Cafe. [Table Talk, Philadelphia Inquirer]

Last we heard from Jayson Grossberg he was coming in to save the day at 707. That didn’t work out so well but now the New York Times praised chef is reopening his Alphabet Soup in Audubon, New Jersey. What is different this time around is the cost. Gone are the $60 per person checks, replaced with dishes that should leave something more inn the wallet.

Rough Economy Spells New Chance for Alphabet Soup [Philadelphia Magazine]
Alphabet Soup [Official Site]

Straight from the publicists, shilled for your pleasure:

Buddakan is offering a $14 bento box lunch and will be opening at 4p.m. on Sundays, so your 90-year-old grandmother can also enjoy the Starr experience. Snore.

Read the rest of this entry »

Audubon’s Alphabet Soup turns up in the New York Times and gets and “Excellent” rating.

Flavors were vivid and balanced. Sauces linked the parts to the whole beautifully. Meats and seafoods were impeccably cooked, though portions edged toward retro-size.

Roasted venison approached alchemy with maple-sweet potato purée, mushrooms, the occasional huckleberry, spinach, baby carrots and candied pecans. The seared and slow-roasted strip steak, at $38 the high mark on the menu, was luscious, but after a few bites of beef, I was ready for the trumpet mushrooms and spinach served alongside, and would have liked more of them. Roasted veal rose to a new level with its pickled beets, black grapes and wild mushrooms, all joined with lemon-thyme jus.

Just About Letter Perfect [New York Times]
Alphabet Soup [Official Site]

This week Craig LaBan visits Audubon New Jersey’s Alphabet Soup, an ambitious BYOB that hits the right note.

This bright 50-seat corner room has the casual elegance of a sophisticated bistro, with upturned bowling-pin glass pendant lamps and a whimsical splash of colorful leather chairs that each bear a scripted letter of the alphabet in both upper and lower case.

I was seated as Mr. Xx.

As the five-course tasting proceeded, however, my skeptical Haddonfield companions and I were suddenly muttering Ooo’s and Aaa’s.

Two Bells – Very Good

Alphabet Soup [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Alphabet Soup [Official Site]