Yesterday the Foobooz Burger Cruise for the First Person Festival set sail and it sure was fun. Thanks to First Person Arts for approaching me for the tour and to everyone who came out. It was an awesome time.

A synopsis follows with notes about the burgers and beer.

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Today in the Metro, “The Bite” takes a look at who is serving up some fall ingredients from soups to pumpkin shakes.

Fall in love with seasonal dishes [Metro Philadelphia]

Noble: An American Cookery is adding brunch starting this Sunday and will add weekday lunch starting Monday, October 5th.

Brunch will be served from 11am to 3pm and will include:

• Fresh Cheese Crepes with grapefruit and thyme
• Scrapple Breakfast of two eggs, hash browns, apple butter and mustard muffin
• Banana and Bacon French Toast with peanut butter sabayon.

Brunch items range in price from $6 to $15, with sides such as Honey and Black Pepper Bacon, Two Eggs Any Style and Sweet Onion Grits available for $2 to $5.

Check out the lunch highlights after the jump.

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While we greedily stuffed our faces with wonderful bites, Grub Street dutifully photographed all of the deliciousness on display at last night’s Taste of the Nation fundraiser.

Among our favorites were, Bibou’s Boudin Blanc sausage with apple puree, Fork’s corn flan with pork and corn salsa, Noble’s headcheese and spiced tuna and Blackfish’s decadent black cherry dipped in foie gras!

A Taste of Taste of the Nation [Grub Streeet]

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]

Noble: An American Cookery goes under the LaBan microsope this weekend. How may bells will LaBan bestow on the ambitious Sansom Street restaurant.

Before you vote, check out these other Noble reviews.

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We were talking cocktails earlier today so why not check out Noble American Cookery for a drink and a burger.

Adam Erace has a moment at Noble American Cookery as the foie gras melts on tongue and the setting sun shines through the front windows. Unfortuantely the moment is killed when he gets his hefty bill. But Erace finds other things along the way worthy of praise, especially the drink program.

[T]he curl of citrus unleashes its essential oils in the Vesper, a martini coined by Sir Ian Fleming in 1953’s Casino Royale . Smooth and subtly floral, the lemon-accented blend of Bluecoat gin, Penn 1681 vodka, Lillet Blonde and orange bitters was as beguiling as its namesake, Bond babe Vesper Lynd, and among the most beautifully balanced cocktails ever to pass these lips.


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

Trey Popp finds that Noble: An American Cookery is more than a trend chasing restaurant built on environmental correctness. He finds it to be an excellent place to eat and drink.

[I]t would be hard to recommend any dish ahead of the grass-fed short rib, braised all day with veal stock and lemons. The outside was so exquisitely crispy and caramelized you’d wonder if someone had gone over it with a blowtorch. Yet beneath that outer eighth of an inch, the interior strands slid apart from one another at the merest prod. A relish of fava beans and parsley attempted to bring some garden balance into the mix, but the sweet onion rice pudding ensured a plate that couldn’t have been richer had it been cast out of gold bullion.

 Ain’t That America [City Paper]
Noble: An American Cookery [Official Site]

Felicia D’Ambrosio profiles unique “bar bon vivant” Christian Gaal of  APO Bar + Lounge and Noble: An American Cookery.

Drink Dapper [City Paper]
APO Bar+Lounge [Official Site]
Noble: An American Cookery [Official Site]