Adam Erace loves the fun vibe of MidAtlantic but can’t say the same about the food.

That salad arrived alongside the dry MidAtlantic burger, which came topped with horseradish cheddar, a senseless split link of beef sausage and pickles, which I’d requested on the side. The compact donut roll bookending the burger was playful in theory but sobering in execution, devoid of the airiness you’d expect from a donut.

Coming from Stern, a serious technician whose food normally never looks less than exquisite, this was a curveball. But then again, Stern, presumably occupied with the fast-approaching R2L opening, wasn’t even at MidAtlantic the weekend night I dined. Chef de cuisine Steve Lamborn (the original sous at Gayle) runs the show here, and there are glimmers of Gayle in his cooking: a textbook-perfect fry on the buttery panko and Ritz cracker-crusted Long Island oysters and salsify batons; the cleverness of pan-seared crab “scrapple” cake composed of crabmeat and barley, far better than any traditional crab cake I’ve had in recent memory.

Pass the Dutch [Philadelphia Weekly]
MidAtlantic [Official Site]

16-year old Ben Zauzmer had a goal to eat at all 40 of the food spots in the Reading Terminal. Then he ranked them for the Daily News.

And he even made it interesting.

Zauzmer’s top 5:

1. Dutch Eating Place
2. Dinner’s Bar-B-Q Chicken
3. Salumeria
4. Down Home Diner
5. Herschel’s East Side Deli
   

Reading Terminal Top 40 [Philadelphia Daily News]
Ben in paradise Video [Philadelphia Daily News]

The Secret is salt has the all-too-enticing photos of Pennsylvania Dutch doughnuts from the Pennsylvania Dutch Festival happening today through Saturday at the Reading Terminal Market. Mmmmm, doughnuts….

Best Doughnuts: Amish festival doughnuts [The Secret is Salt]
Pennsylvania Dutch Festival [Official Site]

The 19th Annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival kicks off at the Reading Terminal Market today and runs through Saturday.

Celebrate the traditions, foods and crafts of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Traditional foods including chicken pot-pie, donuts, ice cream, pies and canned fruits and vegetables will be available. There will also be handmade crafts including quilts, woodcrafts, paintings, hand-braided rugs, wooden toys, and cedar chests.

On Saturday, August 9th the festival will include an “Amish barn raising” as Lancaster County workers build a garden and tool shed from scratch on the Arch Street sidewalk beginning at 10 am. Then, at 3 pm there will be a traditional country auction with a live auctioneer, Moses B Smucker. And with a name like Smucker, you know he has to be good. He will auction off the tool shed, plus a handmade quilt, woodcrafts, and other traditional Amish items.

19th Annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival [Reading Terminal Market]