Trey Popp visits Paul, the Pine Street BYOB from sisters Effie Bouikidis-Schweich and Christina Jimenez. The restaurant is named for their late father, Paul Bouikidis. Popp finds that the cooking of chef Joshua Noh would make the daughters’ father proud.

There’s a lot to like about Noh’s cooking, in particular his willingness to impart some chili heat to dishes where you might not expect it. The biggest surprise was a perfectly cooked entrée of seared skate. The fish got a speckling of fennel seeds to go with the standard browned-butter-and-caper treatment, but the revelation was in the flanking potato hash. Noh touched it with just enough habanero “to open up the tastebuds,” as he told me later on the phone. It was like a master class in walking the line between assertion and nuance with capsaicin. Within a European-American menu, I can’t think of anyone who does it better.

And don’t forget there’s a three-course tasting for $20 on Tuesdays, $30 Wednesday through Sunday.

Father’s Day [City Paper]
Paul [Official Site]

In presumably the first case were Adam Erace excused himself from reviewing a restaurant because of a potential conflict with his forthcoming Green Aisle Grocery, we find Dan Packel visiting East Passyunk’s Fond. It’s a shame for Erace as Fond delivered again.

Entrees were just as impressive. In a technique borrowed from Perrier at Le Bec Fin, [Lee] Styer cooks his chicken breast in the oven on the bone, with the whole carcass. After the breast cooks through 80 percent of the way, he debones it then tosses it in a pan with butter to crisp up the skin. This execution, applied to an air-cooled bird from Canada’s Geanone Farm, ensured a tender breast and a soundly brittle exterior. The piperade of green pepper and onion added the welcome snap, both in texture and in flavor, that was becoming a pleasant routine.

Fond [Philadelphia Weekly]

A Foobooz operative recently was able to snap these camera phone pics of the upcoming Daniel Stern project, R2L.

Under Construction

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We have also found that Daniel Stern is looking high-and-low for help. A tipster recently directed us towards this New York Craigslst ad for line cooks.

As for an opening date, playing with OpenTable yesterday revealed that you could reserve a table for December 7th. Checking back today finds the online reservations system offline for R2L, so take for what it’s worth.

R2L [Official Site]

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]

Craig LaBan reviews Mt. Airy’s new bistro, the Wine Thief and despite a shaky first visit he finds enough improvement in subsequent visits to award the spot two-bells.

The “Thief Roll” is one of [Chef Jared] Cohen’s most addictive dishes, medallions of tuna maki that wrapped ruby-raw fish inside a ring of seaweed and the flash-fried crisp of a sesame crust, over spicy streaks of wasabi cream. The halibut ceviche was so zippy in its citrus marinade, I only wish there’d been more of the fish tucked into the martini glass of citrus and lacy peppers.

There was an outstanding fried chicken, whose tawny crust crackled with the unexpected savor of lemon and celery. It came with a pudding of crumbled corn bread, niblets, and peppers that was decadently ribboned with custard set oh-so-barely to order.

Wine Thief deserves a reprieve [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Wine Thief [Official Site]

Square 1682 is the new restaurant at the base of the Palomar Hotel at 17th and Sansom.The name is inspired by William Penn who founded Philadelphia in 1682 and his plan for a “green countrie towne” comprised of five squares.

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Craig LaBan heads to Bethlehem this week, not following a star but towards Bolette, a New American restaurant in an old Inn. A restaurant that really impresses LaBan, likening Lee Chizmar’s and Erin Shea’s local-focused endeavor to an early Django.

And then there is the food, which is as skillfully dedicated to local ingredients as any I’ve tasted lately. What beforehand was the relatively untilled resource of the Lehigh Valley’s artisan farmers – many of whom have sold to Manhattan’s finest restaurants for years – has proved to be Bolete’s gold mine of inspiration.

Three Bells – Excellent

Bolette [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Bolette [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]

NoVi at 20th and Hamilton is now open. The former Tiedhouse is an upscale yet casual spot with 3 big plasmas for sports staring and 10 standard sounding taps pouring.

Thrillist has all the nitty-gritty.

NoVi [Thrillist]

Craig LaBan has plenty of good things to say about the interior and the service at Noble American Cookery but feels the food needs to tone it down a notch.

There’s so much to like about this restaurant in concept, from the airy, contemporary look to the unique tulip-shaped wineglasses to its mission of redefining modern American cooking with local, seasonal inspirations. And the plates are so artfully done, I expected to love Noble until the moment my fork put that art into action, only to find so many of the dots just didn’t connect. This restaurant certainly has the ability to improve its disappointing rating in my year-end revisits. But for now, the great ingredients and good instincts don’t add up enough to culinary success. This may simply be a case of a talented cook trying too hard. It can’t be easy to live up to the pedigree of a place that so self-consciously calls itself noble.

One Bell – Hit or Miss

Noble American Cookery [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Noble American Cookery [Official Site]