Rick Nichols details the Fair Food Farmstand that aims to take over Rick’s Steaks location at the Reading Terminal Market.

So by spring - if Fair Food nails down its end of the financing - it will move from the market’s deepest interior to its big-windowed “front door” along 12th Street, its baskets of potatoes and parsnips and fiddlehead ferns reminding passersby that, yes, though an Amish rib stand and Golden Bowl Chinese, Pearl’s Oyster Bar and Bassett’s Ice Cream counter look out on the sidewalk here, this is still - in its DNA and best aspiration - part farmers market, and not just a place to eat lunch.

Making a stand [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Rick Nichols checks out the cheap and fancy grilled cheeses at Chick’s Cafe & Wine Bar.

Our favorite of the ones we tried was a diced dried fig, dulce gorgonzola and caramelized onion (with a dash of balsamic) job that toggled nicely tangy and sweet.

Tuesday Blues Plate [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Chick’s Cafe & Wine Bar [Official Site]

Rick Nichols scoops us all, with word that Aimee Olexy and Bryan Sikora of Talula’s Table will be opening a 60-seat cafe at the shuttered Kennett Cafe, just a few steps away from Talula’s.

It was in a handsome sandblasted brick building (circa 1810) with a peak-roofed second-story porch that gives it the aspect of something far more Southern: “Were you thinking New Orleans?” Sikora asked, clearly thinking that himself.

It was gutted inside, the subflooring dotted with pigeon droppings, burly, rough-hewn rafters exposed, windows covered with flimsy plywood. But in Olexy’s rendering, there was a wall of wine bottles at one end, a whirl of tables and counter seating looking in at Sikora sweating it out in the open kitchen.

In the basement, the concrete floor would be broken out and lowered six inches for a cozy wine bar.

To further whet the appetite here’s another recent rehash of dinner at Talula’s Table.
Coming Together: An Evening at Talula’s Table [Best Food Blog Ever]
Talula’s Table [Official Site]

Rick Nichols scolds Stephen Starr’s retro-chophouse Butcher and Singer over its Caesar Salad.

The cart was wheeled out, wooden bowl poised. A little cheese was grated on the eager greens. A few croutons were administered. And - our faces fell in incredulous unison - a creamer-sized pitcher of Caesar dressing was poured over the thing. Poured over the thing.

“Skillfully prepared tableside”? Hardly. Which must have been a typical reaction. The menu now says “Caesar salad, plated tableside.” (To which I say, “What’s the point?”)

Pale Caesar: A salad wilts [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Butcher & Singer [Official Site]

Rick Nichols is drawn to the Loft District’s Prohibition Taproom by three glowing letters, B-A-R.

The place had me at the BAR sign. On a commercial strip, who’d ever notice it? But here in the dark, not a mouse stirring (well, maybe a mouse) in the Loft District, it is something of a beacon and a safe harbor, as straightforward and direct as that hospital H.

Just three little letters [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Prohibition Taproom [Official Site]

It’s been a while since we professed our undying love for the masterful work of Rick Nichols, but after reading his lyrical analysis of the Italian Market situation in today’s Inquirer, we wanted to make our deep and abiding love for him public once again.

Seriously, people who call yourselves food writers, pay your respects to Rick! He is the direction in which all worthy pendulums swing, blog or otherwise.

And now, on to a discussion of the Italian Market! First of all, it looks like Signore Emilio Mignucci has been reading Foobooz, since he’s planning for the wine and cheese shop we suggested for Butcher’s Café and the super-awesome craft beer store of our dreams. So, you’re welcome, Brothers Di Bruno! No charge.

Second of all, can the Italian Market be saved? Does it need to be?

Read the rest of this entry »

The First Person Arts web site wraps up the Rick Nichols led food tour of Passyunk Avenue that happened last night.

First Person Arts Storms East Passyunk Ave! [First Person Arts]

Yes indeed, sushi has sprung up on Passyunk Avenue. Enjoy Rick Nichols’ look at the “hip sushi cafe” named Izumi.

Sushi comes to East P’unk [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Izumi [Official Site]

Rick Nichols is loving Jonathan McDonald’s fish and chips at Pub & Kitchen.

Johnny Mac is now turning out perhaps the city’s finest, crispiest, tastiest fish and chips, applying the care that only true affection can confer.

He uses fresh, hand-selected pollack (the flaky white, environmentally correct substitute for stressed-out cod). He cools it on parchment, covered with more paper or towels and ice packs (not ice!), the better to keep its surface dry to create traction for the batter. He uses amber lager for the batter, simply adding flour and seasoning, but taking care not to overmix it, which cuts down on its desire to adhere to the fish. He lets the batter ferment, at 125 degrees, over the hot line above the stoves. He dusts the pollack with flour. Batters it. Drops it in hot, clean vegetable oil, cranked to 375 degrees to drive out any greasiness. He blots the fish, twice, for 30 seconds on paper towels. And hits it with a grind of black pepper and a flick of kosher salt.

It’s a tour de force! It is why God invented the gastropub. Welcome back to earth, Johnny!

Froufrou-free fish and chips [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Rick Nichols details the rise/fall and changes of Manayunk and its newest eatery, Cooper’s Brick Oven Wine Bar and while doing so, he draws the ire of Jack Curtin.

Perhaps demographics will be destiny: Cooper posits that the $100,000 rowhouses that were converted into apartments for college kids five years ago are climbing in value and becoming owner-occupied; and that, regardless, the 21-year-olds of that era are now 24, 25 and 26, more grown up themselves - with better jobs, broader tastes, and a bit more income.

In other words, they’re ripe to join the adults at Cooper’s Brick Oven Wine Bar. He spotted four of them the other day, sharing a $35 bottle of malbec and a cheese plate at one of his sidewalk tables.

They were still watching the girls go by. But in a watershed moment, Cooper noticed what they weren’t doing; they weren’t drinking beer.

Jack is peeved by the allusion that beer is for “lowlifes” and wine, well that’s a sign of sophistication.

What do you think? Rightful indignation or over-reacting?

Little sister for Jake’s [Philadelphia Inquirer]
This is pretty sad [Liquid Diet]
Cooper’s Brick Oven Wine Bar [Official Site]