Where does Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto like to take his kitchen staff out for beef-stuffed grape leaves? Well, it’s to the Vietnam Restaurant in Chinatown. That of course is the one on the east side of 11th street, not to be confused with Vietnam Palace on the west side.

Secret Restaurants of Celebrity Foodies [Budget Travel via VisitPhilly]

Adam Erace finally makes it to Honey’s Sit ‘n’ Eat and gets the breakfast po’ boy. [blogalicious]

It’s the baked eggplant that makes the difference in Chickie’s veggie hoagie. [Living On The Vedge]

Mac & Cheese experiences the “best enchiladas I’ve ever had. ¡Hola!” at Las Bugambilias. [Mac & Cheese]

Last week Phoodie.info got down with a tour through Chinatown. [Phoodie.info]

Jose Garces cooks octopus in Chicago. [MenuPages]

Highlights from today’s Inquirer’s food section:

For food news nerds, Rick Nichols’ description of his lunch at Vietnam with In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan, will be a thrill. Everything Rick Nichols writes is a thrill!

For cupcake news nerds, the description of Flying Monkey Patisserie’s signature banana-n-buttercream cupcake will be more of a thrill.

For cooking and environmentally-inclined nerds, this feature on eco-conscious cooking might be interesting. Or not.

Vietnam [Official Site]
Flying Monkey Patisserie [Official Site]

Chinatown’s Vietnam is branching out with a West Philadelphia location come January 21st. Vietnam Cafe is coming to 47th and Baltimore Ave.

Vietnam going West [Food & Drinq]

Today Mark and Audrey are on a cheap date to Chinatown. After stops at the Hello Kitty store the couple visits Vietnam for a Flaming Volcano. Back shopping they visit the underground supermarket, Asia Market, where they gaze upon an aisle totally devoted to soy sauce. Later they dine at Mong Kok Station making their own noodle dishes.

Cheap Dates: Chinatown [Philebrity TV]
Cheap Dates [UWISHUNU]

• Many gripe about Philadelphia’s pizza scene but SliCE sounds promising. [Blogalicious]
• Looking for a favorite hotel bar in Philadelphia, perhaps La Bourse at Sofitel will be that for you too. [Finding Philly]
• No matter where you live, Bridgid’s is worth the trip to Fairmount, after all they have a bacon wrapped pork chop. [Foodaphilia]
• It’s a battle on 11th Street in Chinatown between Vietnam Restaurant and Vietnam Palace. But is there a clear winner? [foodzings]
• The favorite dish of the evening at Tria was the Warm Poached Black Mission Figs with Gorgonzola and Prosciutto di Parma and gas•tron•o•my has the photos to prove it. [gas•tron•o•my]
• You’ll be amazed how many falafel balls they can cram into a pita at The Pita Pocket [Metroblogging Philadelphia]

The new MenuPages Blog for Philadelphia is up, operational and enjoying pork across Philadelphia.

Their five best swine-centric eats:

• John’s Roast Pork
• Syrenka
• Caribou Cafe
• Vietnam Restaurant
• Abner’s Authentic Barbecue

If Foobooz had to add a couple we would have to mention DiNic’s and the Rib Stand in the Reading Terminal Market.

A Porcine Tour Of Philly [MenuPages Blog :: Philadelphia]

Gridskipper takes a look at some Philadelphia food classics beyond the cheesesteak, highlighting Foobooz favorites like Butter Cake, we like Isgro’s best, Pork Roll, Taylor is best, and even Vietnamese food, we’ll take Vietnam thank you.

More Than Just Cheesesteaks, Pork Nose For Instance [Gridskipper]
Photo by Nermie via Flickr

Michael Klein has some background info on the team behind Snackbar, the brand new bar/restaurant at 20th and Rittenhouse Place. [Table Talk]

Table Talk also has some more detail on Bleu’s closing, including the name of its replacement, Parc. Incidently Klein had all of the Bleu closing to make way for a Starr French bistro information a year ago. [Table Talk]

Are there cursed restaurant spots? Well 12th and Locust has claimed another restaurant as Lula has closed. The Mediterranean tapas spot was the latest in a long line of failed restaurants that includes Sukhothai and Pamplona, Citron and Dmitri’s. Did we miss any? [Feeding Frenzy]

The popular Vietnam in Chinatown is planning a second restaurant at 814 S 47th Street in West Philadelphia. Vietnam Cafe is being built from the ground up and is still a year away. [Feeding Frenzy]

Tori’s Brickhouse has become Tori’s Restaurant and taken up residence on the 100 block of South Street in the former Mallorca spot. [Table Talk]