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]

Trey Popp steps back into another time at Village Whiskey where he finds the burger is king and the drink mark-ups most unkind.

Even the $9 version [of the burger] is among the best in a town with a lot of good ones. Village sources beef from “sustainable farm-raised” cattle in Maine and grinds it themselves, allowing for a loosely packed half-pound patty that gushes with juiciness. Of course the $24 specimen is what’s gotten the most attention. The main upcharge derives from its crown of seared foie gras, but that’s one thing a burger outfitted with thick slabs of smoky bacon, maple-glazed cipollini onions and a mound of Rogue smoky blue cheese doesn’t really need. If I had it to do over again, I’d nix the organs and let that unholy trinity of sweetness and pork fat and mold work its own dark miracle. Even just the cheese itself — which is cold-smoked over hazelnut shells and tastes faintly of toffee — would make for a decadent lunch.

Big Whiskey [City Paper]
Village Whiskey [Official Site]

Trey Popp ventures out to Bala Cynwyd to try out Avril, a French restaurant that he feels lacks some focus.

When not hampered by lapses in execution, though, Gatti’s cooking is full of fresh ideas. His curried carrot mousse, whose cloudlike consistency found playful counterpoint in a crust of walnuts and whole-grain farro, was a show-stealing revelation next to a simple grilled rack of lamb. The deep meatiness of his very tender wine-braised brisket got a welcome lift from more of that cherry sauce.

Firing Blanks [City Paper]
Avril [Official Site]

Trey Popp is disappointed by the pizzas and parathas at Tiffin Etc and he isn’t even sure if the pizzas are worth trying to fix.  At least there are the kati rolls.

The kati rolls are Tiffin etc.’s best bet. The marriage of griddle bread and fried egg gives you something substantial to bite into, and caramelized onions played a pleasantly sweet supporting role to spiced minced lamb and chicken kebabs in the two versions I tried. Yet I wished for a little more zip from the underapplied chutney in the latter — especially since pickles and chutneys are one of my favorite things about Tiffin. Both kati were also too small to be a meal on their own.

In a Tiff [City Paper]

Trey Popp tries to cut through the buzz to review P.Y.T. this week. What he may have done is crank up the hype and bluster meter to 11. But first the review:

Popp refers to P.Y.T.’s burger as “a juiceless nugget on a grocery-store bun with mass-market potato chips on the side.” Ouch! He wasn’t much more impressed with the fries or veggie burger. He did however call the onion rings a “title contender” and to his own surprise, he enjoyed the $10 “adultshakes.”

And if you thought Tommy Up would stand idly by while Popp smacked his Pretty Young Thing you haven’t been paying much attention. The first comment on Popp’s review was of course from Tommy Up. Within two hours of that, an e-mail was sent out to Up’s mailing list highlighting the positives and critiquing the critic’s take on the burger. And being the master of promotion that he is, print or tear out Popp’s review between now and the 10th and you can get a free PYT Burger to try for yourself.

Hype Beast [City Paper]
P.Y.T. [Official Site]

Trey Popp visits Smokin’ Betty’s and finds the menu is trying too hard to be all things to all people.

What drew me in to begin with was its tur-duck-en burger, but this was the first of several disappointments. Ground turkey and chicken overwhelmed the core of duck rillette with a blandness that an oversweet cranberry relish only called more attention to. Perhaps it’s foolish to hope for much from a derivative of a dish that’s a gimmick to begin with, but then again, rooting out fruitless ideas is part of what a restaurant ought to do.

Not So Smokin’ [City Paper]
Smokin’ Betty’s [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]

Trey Popp is a Southerner and doesn’t bestow BBQ praise lightly but Bebe’s Barbecue has him singing.

The pork is moist yet deeply smoky, dressed with a zippy tomato-based vinegar sauce, and piled on a toasted hamburger bun in such a heap that a single pre-airport sandwich kept me going for 16 hours of sleepless and snackless travel. The fresh collards, flavored sublimely with liquid smoke rather than ham hocks, are tender but not at all mushy.

With meat this expertly smoked and hospitality this genuine, Bebe’s is set to become my biggest temptation on a street teeming with them

Right on ‘Cue [City Paper]
Bebe’s Barbecue [Official Site]

Trey Popp goes to Ladder 15 and gets beyond the bubblegum cocktails and into the food but finds its execution equally sophomoric.

The “chowda” flatbread was as dry as its namesake is creamy. Chewy chopped shellfish shared space with bacon and sliced potatoes, some of which could have used more cooking. The flour-coated crust was neither crispy nor chewy — more like a big cracker that had been left unwrapped on a humid day. Underdone crab and corn hush puppies were mealy in the middle, and bland all the way through. Root beer-glazed pork ribs were tender, if one-dimensionally sweet, but “glaze” really wasn’t the right word for those dull gray crescents, which made me think of cafeteria food. A side of roasted beets hadn’t been roasted enough.

Rung Turn [City Paper]
Ladder 15 [Official Site]

Trey Popp dines at Chifa and finds the flavors outweigh any complaints about price or a few misses.

[I]t is a mouth-watering ride from first cocktail to the last crumb of dessert. It is also the rare kind of restaurant that demands evaluation not just as a culinary enterprise but as a cultural and political statement.

Commander in Chifa [City Paper]
Chifa [Official Site]