CE Phood

Smoke Truck Rolls Out - Bebe's Killer BBQ in Mobile Form

2011-12-14T19:24:00.001-05:00

After a long absence excellent BBQonce again returns to Philly. This is BBQ so good it makes my wife homesick for good Southern cooking- although I argue that real BBQ is Texas style this slow-cooked pork is good enough to make me forget my Lone Star hangups and dive in.

Follow the twitter feed and see this truck gets around. twitter.com/thesmoketruck. I caught up with The Smoke Truck at Broad and Spring Garden but Mark Coates is covering all bases it seems and has been popping up all around town.

I picked up this lunch spread for $8 - sandwich (pork or brisket) pickles and sweet tea - along with a case of Swine Fever!

Steampunk Style! Steamtable Flavor? The Farmer's Cabinet in Pictures

2011-06-16T23:47:00.000-04:00

Looking for a place to hold a Steampunk Fourth of July Party in Philadelphia?

Must have:

Diverse beer list to impress all your aficionado friends? Covered...don't miss the beers from Denmark and Italy can outshine the Belgian and German stunners.

Top-notch offerings from the bar? The drinks are extensive and meticulously crafted...enough to sway an ardent beer hound over to the other side of the menu.

Atmosphere and character...Live Music? Lit almost entirely by natural sources like candles and kerosene lamps, The Farmer's Cabinet evokes all the grit of a turn-of-the-century hunting lodge and the charm of the majestic railway hotels along the Continental Divide...with period-appropriate live music to boot. Subdued lighting, apothecary jars galore and animals mounted on the wall...like National Mechanics but without the chiptunes.

Great Food? ~~Certainly.~~ I've been dawdling on writing this post up because I really love what the Farmer's Cabinet is doing and I felt like being critical of just one aspect would be unfair to a place that I enjoy frequenting, but when the LaBan one-bell review hit the phood-o-sphere I figured that dredging up some of the dishes E and I have eaten there over the last 3 months would provide some ~~decent quality~~ pictures and opinion around what I thought was a pretty accurate review.

Overall we really liked the variety of ingredients splashed about the menu, which seemed in line with the larger feel of the place. But it was a general lack of seasoning and some misfired concepts that would caution me recommending the food. The cheese, charcuterie and baked goods were delicious though, so there's no fear of going hungry while you enjoy all those great drinks.

The Good

Apricot Bread w/ lard 'butter' and seasonal jam

Nice way to welcome the diner...the bread was fresh baked...the spreads of lard 'butter' and jam was rich and pleasantly sweet. The jams changed between the dinners we ate but they were always delicious and chunky.

Buffalo Short Rib w/ Sunchoke puree and Horseradish Scallion salad

Our dining partners seemed to naturally gravitate towards the tastier dishes on the menu...this short rib was perfectly cooked but the horseradish scallion slaw was what had me begging for another shared bite.

Ground Short Rib Burger w/ Cheddar & Bacon Jam

Another selection by one of our friends...it didn't overwhealm him by any means but compared to some of the other oddities that were arriving on the table, I took his relative silence on the dish to mean that it was a tasty burger that went well with the Belgians that we were washing our dinner down with.

Peekytoe Crab Roll

A really delicate preparation, not overly seasoned so the crab flavors came through. In general most of the dishes we tried at Farmer's Cabinet suffered from a lack of seasoning...a serious lack of basics like salt was noticeable several times...but for this dish the restraint worked.

Pretzel with Smoked Beer Mustard

HERE'S where all the salt went! I wish it was just a joke but we found ourselves pinching off salt from the pretzel and sprinkling it over a few dishes to bring up the flavor volume. The mustard was so-so but the pretzel was delicious. I'm starting to see a pattern emerge...some baked goods, like the cheese and charcuterie, seem to really hit the mark here.

The Bad

Pea Tendril Salad

When eating with your eyes...the presentation was just so rough on this that I'd swear it made the salad taste worse than it really was.

Pan-Fried Oysters w/ Sweet & Sour Cucumbers, Curry Aioli and Trout Roe

This looked great on paper but was a sloppy, soggy mess on the plate. The oysters lost all their crusty, molten unction when bathed in so much aioli...it felt like they had sat out or been cooked in oil that was not hot enough, although the trout roe was a great idea. Why? it was the only hint of salt that we could detect in the dish.

Cast-Iron Tomato Tart

LaBan mentioned the Tart as a highlight and to be fair we tried this early on in it's existence when it was still a tomato tart, but the problem was not the filling but the crust of the tart itself - dry, tough and lacking seasoning. Although the flash of the camera tends to was everything out, the crust really was very white and had none of the flavor you would expect...butter, salt, herbs, or even a spritz of olive oil.

Bourbon Braised Escargot

This was just a big pot of awful. Along with the soggy oysters, I chuckled when LaBan mentioned that his escargot were "doused in something so vividly bitter we pretty much couldn't eat it". Ditto. Although he neglected to mention the Werther's Original Caramel Candy taste that followed the bitterness

Duck Egg in a Jar - Shirred egg with Black Trumpet Mushrooms

This dish could have been really good but it suffered from poor execution - it sat too long in the steambath that I'm guessing it was cooked in. The yolk was hard and the double-cream & egg surrounding dried to a pectin-like glue....although the flavors of mushroom, possibly spiked with truffle oil, were present.

The Dish-No-Longer-Appearing-In-This-Restaurant

Fried Lamb Kidneys & Sweet Potato Biscuit w/ Spicy Greens

Seeing this on the menu re-awakened Ansill's offal stirrings in our heart but it was nowhere near the same level. Lacking salt in the greens, the kidneys were barely fried, tasting like they had seen a saute pan for barely a moment, and the biscuit was a severe letdown (not as bad as the hardtack that we experienced at Adsum though - Southern Science: Adsum...)

Also no longer available...Cheesecake in the Men's Room

Last time I was here I noticed that the pin-up art was no longer gracing the men's room wall..don't know if this was a Beer Week re-decoration or something more permanent.

The Dish They Need to Bring Back

We did have a great dish at the Hitacho Nest Beer Brunch that would qualify for dessert. The picture is lost somewhere on my phone though.

Described as an Okinawan Pancake, imagine a golf-ball sized nugget of sweet, muffin-like dough deep fried so that it was crispy on the outside but custardy-soft and warm in the center with a buttery corn meal batter flavor. They need to put that on the menu

Harissa Faux-Lobster (Prosciutto-Wrapped Monkfish) with Morcilla and White Sweet Potatoes

2011-04-14T19:20:00.000-04:00

Prosciutto-Wrapped Harissa Monkfish with Morcilla and White Sweet Potatoes

One weekday evening I found myself wandering through Reading Terminal after work with a strange urge to buy some Monkfish.

I didn't have a recipe in mind when I bought it, so when we got home and searched the pantry we began grabbing all sorts of leftovers to include:

an excess of prosciutto laying around from the weekend
a 'White Jewel' sweet potato from Fair Food Farmstand
a small bag of hot peppers
a nub of strangely dry morcilla from Garces Trading Co.
half a carton of vegetable stock

Harissa dressing and Morcilla chunks

We created an ad-hoc Harissa using the peppers and diced up the morcilla and sweet potato, which went into the broth to cook until tender. I removed the skins from the sweet potato and baked them in the oven coated in olive oil. I was hoping they would give a little crispness and texture to the stew.

Faux-Lobster...Prosciutto-Wrapped Monkfish

Monkfish has been called 'poor-man's lobster' because the texture can resemble that of a lobster tail. We figured that wrapping it in a pan-fried 'shell' of prosciutto would give it tons of flavor. Sliced into coins, the tail was topped with harissa relish and served with morcilla & sweet potato stew. It was a strange combination of salty prosciutto, sweet potato, spicy pepper and rich cured morcilla...not sure if we would stick with the harissa and sweet potato again, but such is the result of a 'leftover challenge'.

Bloody Good - An Early Look at The Farm and The Fisherman BYOB

2011-04-12T21:48:00.000-04:00

Lately the concept of farm-to-table has been in full swing in the restaurant-o-sphere in Philly - Talula's Garden in the latest in a cavalcade of farm-to-table concepts.When it comes to the The Farm and The Fisherman, a BYOB located on the 1100 block of Pine in the space formerly occupied by Paul, the name is more than just a casual nod to convention.

We had late reservations on a busy Friday and even thought the week-old restaurant still exhibited some of the opening 'jitters' you would expect, we were impressed with the warmth and friendliness of the place.
The menu that was announced during their opening had already undergone some substitutions and revamping. Gone were two of the dishes that I had looked forward to most - a Lamb Sirloin & Neck dish and a sunchoke & lobster knuckle soup. There were still lots of seasonal offerings spread across the three sections (Appetizer, Mid-Plate, Entree).

Fresh Warm Rolls and Housemade Butter

Although the service was holding up admirably for an opening, there were a few noticeable gap. However we were plied us with some delicious, flaky and just-from-the-oven warmed rolls while we settled in, a real treat.

Pancetta Wrapped Egg with Russian Kale & Mushrooms

This was my favorite dish of the night, a Pancetta-Wrapper Egg served over Russian Kale with bits of pancetta and mushrooms flavoring the sauteed greens. Kind of a brunchy dish, but very delicious and gooey with lots of savory elements to soak up the sauce.

Bloody Beet-Steak - split, smashed and sauteed crispy in pan-drippings

This was the most cleverly simple dish of the evening - a smashed beet that was sauteed in pan drippings. The beet's skin crunchy and rich, similar to a baked potato...and to think I've been peeling these things all along. The richness of the drippings transformed the earthy sweetness of the beet into a satisfyingly 'meaty' dish.

Roasted Celery Heart, Creamed Rice Grits w/Parsley and Roasted Red Quinoa

Elizabeth giggled when this plate hit the table. "An over-sized kiwi fruit exploded on the plate!", was how she summed up this dish's look. We had ordered it because the thought of roasting a celery heart whole seemed like some sort of vegetarian homage to offal, sort of a nose-to-tail approach to the part of celery that usually gets trimmed away or under-utilized. The creamed rice was flecked with toasted quinoa which gave each bite some textural interest.

Pig Ear Salad w/ pine-nuts & sherry vinegar

Speaking of offal, the Pig Ear salad was an odd mix of elements - the ears were somewhat tender but piled on to the point that the overall chewiness of the ear took over all of the more delicate elements of the salad.

Sweet & Sour Pork Belly w/raisins & celery root

I think I've been affected from the excess of crispier lacquered preparations of pork belly that I've been having lately - I found the softer braised belly somewhat lacking in flavor and rather flat...perhaps the sweet & sour flavors were too much, but it seemed like the melted belly fat disappeared under the whammy of raisin & vinegar.

It's been about a month since we dined there and I after scanning the latest menu I see lots of changes. The fact that the beet steak is still on the menu confirms that the things we really enjoyed are a hit and, while seasonal, hopefully will be on the menu for a little longer.

Overall we really enjoyed the Farm & Fisherman's approach and clearly the more creative ingredients signal that there is plenty of worth checking out here. Add to the fact it's a BYOB and the service was excellent, Farm and the Fisherman will keep us coming back for a taste of the seasons.

Greek Wine & Octopus @ Opa

2011-04-12T21:04:00.001-04:00

Pulling this article from the pile marked DRAFT articles that we never seem to get around to posting on our blog...

We stopped into Opa last month to grab a small plate and a glass of wine during happy hour. There's been alot of press recently about the beautiful interior and we enjoyed sitting at the bar and drinking in all the detail.

The wine list was (obviously) biased towards Greek wines, which is unique and makes for a fun tasting session. However for many people, ourselves included, Retsina is the only familiar Greek wine and the staff was a little unsure on the specifics of each varietal; I overheard the bartenders having a quick conference to figure out how to describe one of the white wines to a curious patron.

Grilled Octopus & Chickpeas

Braised & Grilled Octopus with Chickpea. I actually had forgotten completely about having this dish and in fact I hadn't even thought about posting about it until I saw the latest Citypaper review by Adam Erace on the octopus and then remembered I had a picture on my phone...which kinda says how forgettable we found the octopus.

A little less than tender, it wasn't a disappointing as some other octopus experiences that have been had around Philly (I'm looking at you Dmitri's ...so is she.) but I didn't think it was the best in Philly.

We are looking forward to going back and seeing if this dish has been tweaked...from the Citypaper review it sounds like a few changes were made to the chickpea accompanying the octopus. We'll also be ordering the kokoretsi - a tasty grilled dish made with lamb offal.

Szechuan Pepper Calamari and Springroll-Wrapped Head-on Shrimp

2011-04-11T17:27:00.000-04:00

We've been playing around with some Asian-style appetizers lately and two in particular were kinda fun to make.

Szechuan Pepper Calamari

We've been watching Season 5 of The F-Word and one recipe that stood out was a Szechuan Pepper Calamari - the detail on this that drew me in was the technique for scoring the calamari that created strange crispy strips instead of rings. The aromatic, almost floral aspect of the Szechuan peppers also brought some zip and interest to the dish. The cucumber salad accompanying it was pretty pedestrian but necessary to balance out the heat from the calamari.

Springroll-Wrapped Head-on Shrimp

We ~~sort-of-borrowed~~ stole this recipe from a dish we'd tried at The Corner. We took the idea of using unusually large head-on shrimp but replaced the shredded phyllo of the 'shrimp-in-a-blanket' with strips of spring roll wrapper, then deep-fried the shrimp until crispy and golden. We served the shrimp with a red-pepper & tomato chutney and dusted it with some smoked paprika. The spring roll strips held up beautifully and kept a tight seal on the shrimp. All of the great flavors trapped in the body oozed out as you twisted the heads off and created a rich sauce inside of the crispy pastry.

Falafel Bar in Pictures

2011-02-23T18:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome! A colorful dining room at Falafel Bar

Strangely warm weather hit Philly last Friday and I felt like taking a stroll on my lunch hour down towards my wife's office near City Hall to grab some lunch. Among the smattering of new lunch options opening in the neighborhood, I was curious to try the new Falafel Bar on the 1500 block of Chestnut. [menu]

Offerings from the bar include sweet Baklava and salads

The dining room was bright and still a little busy for a late (2:30pm) lunch. The bar was stocked with several salads ready to go, as well as some sweet & savory stuffed pastries. We decided to go with the classic falafel and a greek falafel - the difference being a tahini or a tzatziki sauce and slight variation of veggies.

Greek Falafel - Crispy falafel stuffed with tzatziki, cukes & tomatoes

I prefer this style of falafel to the kind you sometimes get at other falafel joints in Philly - the warmed pita pocket is opened up and stuffed with the contents, rather than served as a 'wrap' style. Both falafels had a very crispy crust and the toppings were fresh enough. I preferred the richer tahini flavor of the classic, but both were satisfying. I had read some early online feedback declaring 'meh' when it came to comparing this place with others like Maoz, but I thought the falafel itself was better than anything I've ordered from Maoz.

Mediterranean Fries - Sweet potato & potato fries with roasted/grilled peppers

As we were tucking into our sandwiches, a runner from the kitchen approached with a basket of the specialty fries. I thought were a dupe order that belonged to another table, which had received theirs already, but the smiling cook informed me that they were a gift, to enjoy, no charge.

I've never had a truly crispy sweet potato fry in my life that can rival a white potato, but these weren't too bad by sweet potato standards...slightly limp is de rigueur with sweet potato fries, but these were seasoned well and had plenty of flavor. I thought the peppers were decent but unnecessary, adding a bit too much oiliness to the fries while the regular fries intermingled in the basket were so-so.

If you're a regular at some of the other Mediterranean sandwich joints around Center City (Maoz, Argan, Mama's), definitely stop-in and give it a try to see how it stacks up against your favorite places. Being so close to Five Guys, it makes for a convenient alternative when the half the lunch crew wants to go vegetarian and the other half wants to take out a burger.

Enter the Empanada: 943's Opening Weekend @ Italian Market BYOB

2011-02-12T19:14:00.151-05:00

Enter the Empanada!

After many months of wandering past the papered storefront for 943 in the Italian Market, we finally had a chance to experience the Italian/Argentinian BYOB 943, which opened for dinner & lunch service this weekend.

The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, with plenty of neatly arranged tables spread across the open dining area - not your typical elbow-to-elbow dining setting. The open kitchen in the back of the dining room was buzzing with activity as our server brought out some olives & nuts, followed by bread and a chimichurri dip.

Greeted with Olives, Spiced Nuts & Bread w/Chimichurri Spread

After being overwhelmed with snacky hospitality, we settled down to reviewing the menu. If you're a regular reader of our blog, you know that typically we stray towards the small-plates and starters on menus. The entrees looked very straightforward with lots of grilled meats, along with a daily fish special and a ravioli special.

Empandas: Carne and Jamon y Queso

Three different empanadas are offered on the menu - the carne included ground beef and chopped egg filling but the clear winner was the Ham & Cheese empanada, stuffed with a proscutti and a very intense cheese. The dough on these were flaky and perfectly browned. We could've ordered another round they were that addictive.

Pulpo 'Moscardino'-Octopus w/Tomato Broth, Chard, Black Olive & Red Onion

Another exciting highlight on the menu was the octopus, which was served in two styles. This first, called 'Moscardino' was served in a tomato broth alongside sweet red onions, sauteed swiss chard leaves and black olives. The octopus was perfectly cooked, tender and flavorful without any pungency or chewiness that can sometimes be found in octopus that is not fresh or cooked improperly.

Pulpo 'Don Giovanni'-Octopus w/Fennel, Fava Beans & Saffron

Pulpo 'Don Giovanni' was a mix of fava beans, sauteed fennel and saffron. The smaller favas tended to have a less meaty taste than large beans, a more subtle flavor that matched the sweetness of the fennel. The strong character of the saffron wasn't as overwhelming as I had thought at first sniff and ended up working perfectly with the octopus and favas...this was one of the best pulpo dishes we've had in a long time, due in part again to the freshness and perfect tenderness.

Housemade Chorizo y Morcilla and Mollejas

Our last dishes had more affinity with the Argentinian offerings on the menu. The Chorizo and Morcilla sausages are housemade and have the right grind and texture for a filling as rich as morcilla. The Mollejas or grilled sweetbreads, were a grilled delight, a served in some of the largest portions I've seen for sweetbreads in quite some time.

Mollejas - Sweetbreads and Bacon Jam

The seared Mollejas tasted smoky and rich, the char flavors and the offal character of the sweetbreads were a new combination I'd never fully appreciated until now. The sweetbreads rested on a bed of Bacon Jam, which seemed like a marmalade of caramelized onions and bacon. The sweet and smoky flavor of the jam blended with the sear to make for a BBQ like taste; we kept getting hints of BBQ chicken or livers with each tasty bite.

We noticed other couples enjoying their entrees and desserts, although we didn't get a look at the dessert offerings as we were too stuffed from our meal. The kitchen staff waved a friendly thank you as we headed out and, opening weekend jitters aside with service, we thought that the staff did a great job serving up a meal that was well worth the wait of over a year.

Winter Appetizers - Miniature Shrimp Chowder Cups

2011-02-08T21:47:00.001-05:00

In the run-up to New Year's Eve, we had seen Hubert Keller prepare an appetizer that sliced fingerling potatoes into small cups that held herbed goat cheese for a party appetizer.

It got us thinking, what if we created mini-soup bowls using the same technique?

Soup...in a Cup..a tiny potato cup.

Flash forward a month...Fair Food Farmstand had some nice looking fingerling potatoes for sale, which we picked up an then sliced into cylinders about 1 inch in length. We scooped out the innards of each potato cylinder, then baked them at 375 until they were soft enough for a toothpick to pass through.

BRAAAAAAAIIIIINSSS

Whole Food had some really nice Maine Shrimp for sale; we hadn't tried these before out trip, oddly enough, to Maine, but the flavor of these diminutive shellfish was powerful enough to flavor the soup and still fit inside each potato cup.

The soup itself used a base broth of butter, shallots, fennel seed & 2 cups of water boiled with the Maine Shrimp and some shrimp shells that we had kept in the fridge just to flavor stock. The Maine shrimp were pulled as soon as they were done...took maybe 1 minute...then shocked in an ice bath. The innards of the potato were also added to the soup stock.

Once the potato scrapings were cooked, a 1/4 cup of cream was added to the broth, which was then spooned into the potato cups and topped off with shrimp and parsley. A shallow pool of soup accompanied the potato cups, along with the excess shrimp. The Maine Shrimp were a perfect fit for the scale of these little, two-bite appetizers.

Spring Garden Lunch? Colosseo Pizza Delivers

2011-01-05T06:53:00.005-05:00

As you know from my earlier post on Sakura sushi, non-food truck lunch options on North Broad St. can be limited, so I was thrilled to see a new pizza joint open up last month at the corner of Spring Garden and 15th.

Colosseo Pizza has a pretty wide variety of by-the-slice pizzas, sandwiches and other typical fare for a pizza shop. It always seems to be pretty busy with a mix of people dining in and carrying out during the lunch rush, but if you come during off-hours you'll have the place all to yourself.

Veggie Pizza & Margarita

Let me be clear, this isn't one of those wood-fired thin-crust envelope-pushin pizza places that has been all the rage in Center City last year (Stella, Zavino, Barbuzzo, etc.). This is just some decently made pizza, with balanced amounts of sauce-cheese-toppings on a firm crust, which is plenty enough to satisfy.

I've tended to stick with the classic Margharita but the veggie options were pleasing. Without stopping to ask for the rundown, the selection looks pretty wide as you survey the long marble counter containing an ice cream shop-like spread of pizza varieties.

Meatball Sub

I also tried out a few of the warm sandwiches. Generally they tended to be a bit on the dry side, lacking sauce or being served on bread that was a bit oversized.

The Meatball sub had a good flavor in the sauce but it seemed to disapear in the roll, leaving the meatballs on their own...needed more sauce.

The sausage and pepper sandwich likewise was a bit undersauced but carried through on flavor - the peppers were undercooked in a few places making it a little too crunchy/watery.

Chicken Parmesan Sandwich

The chicken parm sandwich was just that, a grilled chicken breast, slice of cheese and some marinara sauce, which makes for a lighter lunch option than the heavier subs.

Like all the sandwiches, ask for extra sauce if you order it...while the portion of chicken was plenty enough to satisfy, the marinara was spread around in amounts that seemed more like an afterthought.

Final verdict? If they can work the issues out of the sandwich prep, Colosseo could be a great option for Italian lunch but for now stick with the pizza an enjoy the wide variety in a setting that is pleasant enough for a lunch out of the office.

Opening Review of Sakura Sushi - Lunch Options on Spring Garden

2010-11-18T20:03:00.000-05:00

Looking to avoid the afternoon slump that can hit an office-worker like me who has overloaded on lunch, I was pleased to see Sakura opening up near my office on the 1500 block of Spring Garden. There were more than two dozen great looking options for the lunch roll special, so I decided to try them out on opening week.

It's a clean & tidy little spot, not unlike most of the sushi joints closer in towards downtown, with a small bar that seats about 5 and maybe a half-dozen tables. In the weeks following their opening I'm pleased to see that they always have a healthy lunch crowd and are hustling out the orders.

I opted for the 2-roll Lunch special for $7.50; two of your choice with a cup of miso soup and a simple salad.

I enjoyed my lunch outside on a weirdly warm day - here's the spread pictured above.

I've kept to the more standard fare; salmon, yellowtail and standard tuna. My colleagues have tried rolls like the tofu skins and found them pleasant. The soup was a nice pick-me-up and while the salad dressing was a zesty ginger, overall it reminds me of 'Japanese Steakhouse Salad' I would have as a kid, meant to tide you over before the knife-show...simple iceberg-cuke-tomato.

I haven't tried Domo yet, around the corner down on 18th and Callowhill, but I'd definitely put this on the map if, for some weird reason, you find yourself around N. Broad & Spring Garden and in need of sushi.

Monkey Makes Whoopie

2010-10-23T16:28:00.002-04:00

Flying Monkey is one of the latest bakeries to enter into the whoopie pie running. The cupcakes are pretty good, so we figured the pies may be just as good.

I hadn't had a whoopie pie before trying the chocolate-chocolate from Whole Foods - it had a good moistness and the filling was marshmallowy without being stingingly sweet.

Flying Monkey has pies in two sizes and had a few flavors to offer...vanilla, chocolate and SnickerDoodle.

We bought a chocolate and a vanilla;
the chocolates pie was a little on the dry side and the filling, while decently flavored, was a bit too soft and tended to run. The vanilla was much better...larger pie made for a moist cake and the filling was more marshmallowy.

At 2.50 each, vs. 4 for $6 at Whole Foods, the pies are a bit short on value.

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Late Summer Locavore's Produce Picks from Headhouse Farmer's Market & Our Garden

2010-09-02T23:32:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday Headhouse Market was buzzing with high-summer produce. Culton has his humongo-watermelons on display yet again - this time I remembered to snap a picture. You can also see the sign for heirloom Lima Beans, which was one of many veggies that we picked up from his stall.

First the watermelon, now this? Look at the size of Culton's beans! What is he feeding his plants?

The variety was Dr. Martin's, apparently a famously delicious version of the lima bean or butterbean as Elizabeth knows it. Ususally gargantuan versions of fruit and produce just taste awful or bland, but these beans had all the sweet, satisfying flavor of a regular butterbean, along with a meatier texture & chew...like a fava bean.

Here's a pretty detailed post about these giants. My favorite line from the article?

They’re tremendously fun to shell, which can be a thought inducing and/or provoking exercise also, almost hypnotic and rosary-like if you're willing to let your mind go all the way...

Looks like they're not far from the truth...here's a pic of Elizabeth happily shelling away!

In addition to Culton's always fresh offerings, we picked another 5 pounds of grapes from our grapevine; with some many sweet and ripe bunches coming off the vine, we're struggling to come up with good savory recipes that use seeded grapes.

Also from our garden, we've got a bumper crop of Roma tomatoes - this is what's left of at least 2 dozen fruit that our four plants have put out thus far. Elizabeth cooked them down into a sauce, which would be used for some Eggplant Parmesan. The oregano, parsley and basil that was used to season the sauce all came right from the garden as well.

The eggplant, also purchased from Tom Culton, were peeled, sliced into rounds, soaked in milk and then breaded and lightly fried in a shallow pan. It was pretty standard stuff from there - layered in a casserole dish with some homemade goat-cheese that we've been making with raw milk from Fair Food Farmstand, then smothered in tomato sauce from our Romas and dusted with Parm. Reggiano.

350 degree over for 30-40 minutes. Once the eggplant cooked through, Elizabeth topped each piece with some Di Bruno Bros. fresh mozzarella and then broiled them to gooey perfection.

Although this version of eggplant parm was really, really good, what made it taste that much better was knowing that, with the exception of the Parmesan, all of the ingredients came with a locavorian pedigree...it's pretty easy to pull something like this off in high Summer, as the ingredients speak for themselves.

Bye Bye BYOB @ Fat Salmon

2010-09-02T23:10:00.000-04:00

Spider Roll - Softshell Crab & Lettuce

I had heard that Fat Salmon, the novelty sushi bar on 7th & Walnut, was about to start-up it's license to sell alcohol on Sept 1st, so we took a few summer brews and a bottle of wine along last Friday night the celebrate the waning days of a great BYOB situation.

After happily uncorking our wine bottle, the waitress confirmed that this was the last weekend for BYOB dining.

After drifting around the menu of signature rolls, we decided to do some research on a few of the rolls that included cooked components in case we wanted to do sushi with any less adventurous diners in the future.

The shumai were just as good as I had hoped after hearing about them in the Adam Erace's review of Fat Salmon. Tender skins, surrounding juicy nuggets of shrimp..these were so tasty on their own they didn't even need the spicy sauce that accompanied them.

The seaweed salad was your basic affair...a decent side with enough sesame flavor and seasoning to break up the sometimes heavier flavors of Fat Salmon's over-the-top rolls.

Miss Sake Bomb-eel, avocado & crunchy on top-lightly cooked salmon with tartar sauce

Miss Sake Bomb was a study in contrast...a rich eel & avocado roll topped with lightly broiled salmon & a dill-spiked tartar sauce. I was really hesitant about tartar sauce as a condiment - it conjured up memories of greasy fishsticks - but the dill and pickle were pronounced enough to balance out any over mayonnaise-y nastiness.

Mr. French Kiss -crab stick with masago, fried shrimp & tartar sauce

Next up, Mr. French Kiss. Having gotten over my apprehension of the tartar sauce, we tried out a roll that featured crab-stick and crystalline-crunchy masago with a topping of tempura-fried shrimp & tartar sauce. There was a claim of bacon & onion in the tempura, which I didn't detect, and the shrimp itself seemed more breaded than tempura-fried, but nevertheless, it was a crunchy and savory addition.

Midori - cucumber, shitake, oshinko, gourd & burdock

We also had an order of a vegetarian roll, the Midori - a combo of pickled vegetables, gourd, burdock and shitake. We had never tried these veggies and ordered it more for the acidity that pickled veg can brig to balance out what was quickly becoming a very heavy sushi session, what with all the fried preparations.

I will definitely miss the 'affordability' of Fat Salmon in BYOB mode - out total check came to less than $50 - but the menu is broad enough that I can see coming back for more traditional sushi or for the flashy house-creations.

Devil's Den Sour Beer Fest & Menu Revisited

2010-08-31T23:26:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back Devil's Den hosted a week-long 'Sour Beer Fest' in which they had 8 different sour beers on tap that you could sample. Two of our favorites were the St. Louis Gueze and Ommegang's Zur, each one distinctly sour and puckery-pungent in their own way.

I won't go into too much detail, as most of the more interesting brews are pretty much non-available on draft throughout the rest of the year, but we did visit twice during the week and enjoyed some excellent small plates to go along with our beer tasting.

While Devil's Den has a good reputation for their taps, the kitchen was always hit-or-miss with me - this opinion was shared by most of the people I talked to when I mentioned going to D's Den for sours. I'm glad to report that this is no longer the case with the 'small plates' we tried...they're serving up some great options like flatbreads (a new popular item on half the menus in town, along with sliders) shown here.

This one was called the Casino and was a riff on the traditional dish with seafood, bacon and a creamy white sauce. Garnished with frisee greens and served on a cracker-thin crust, this disappeared from the table.

Not quite as stunning was the BBQ braised pork flatbread, which we tried on another trip back. The structural weakness inherit in cracker-crust pizzas was apparent as the heaping dollops of tender pork became like tacos and threatened to bring the each piece to a messy ruin...however, the crust held out and allowed us to enjoy the flavor profile of spicy pork and a loose hash of cheese and salad.

As wonderful as the surprise of good flatbreads was, this dish was the big winner - Chickpea Fries. The cubes of chickpea were flash fried, for a crispy shell encasing a soft and creamy chickpea custard. The pickle, remoulade and a spicy oil that accompanied the fries gave a little bit of contrast to the texture, which reminded me of fresh-cooked corn bread straight from the oven.

You can see how light and airy these were, not a heavy, clunky blob of fried batter. We went back a second time and ordered these, but they came out more like polenta or semolina 'fries' that I've had other places, where large blocks of polenta are allowed to set-up in a chiller before being sliced into slivers, coated and flash-fried. If I was going to order an entree, I'd make sure I had a few of those little squares on the side.

The bacon-wrapped balsamic dates were the only real disappointment of our trips during Sour Fest - the bacon wasn't fully rendered on a few dates and the glaze was so heavy handed and the char so overdone that this snack resembled charcoal candy more than a intensely sweet and rich bite-sized sack.

The slider trio was pretty good too - we didn't bother with a photo - if you've seen one slider like this, you've seen them all. The flavors were spot-on, with the meat cooked medium rare and the accompanying toppings, like caramelized onion and fresh pico di gallo, delicious.

So while I'm sad to see the sour beers fall off the tap list one at a time, I'm happy to see alot of what's coming out of the Kitchen at Devil's Den . Elizabeth & I are already looking forward to enjoying dark beers and good food next to the fireplace.

Beer Review - Triumvirate of Brewmasters Birth a Baby Buff

2010-08-12T23:43:00.003-04:00

It's been a while since I've done a beer review, not because I haven't been sampling some good stuff lately but because to post about every great beer I've had a chance to lay my hands on around Philly would be a full time job.

We just got back this weekend from a getaway to Rehoboth DE and having thought I'd tasted everything Dogfish had to offer, I saw this at The Foodery this week...Saison du Buff.

Examing the label I saw the flavors of parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme listed on the bottle. Aside from the gimmicky angle that I've come to expect from Dogfish, I also saw the logos of two of my other favorite craft brewers...local hero Victory and the uber-excellent Stone.

This latest brew was apparently the result of a friendly collaboration between the three head brewers and if it's anything like the latest Stone collabs with mad genius Scottish brewers BrewDog I knew it would be worth trying.

This is not a beer that stuns you into submission with a boozy character overloaded on flavor.

And no, despite all the herbacious hinting on the label, the beer was not green. It poured clean & clear, a pale gold with slight head. The aroma was dominated by thyme but it wasn't heavy or perfumed.

The body was light and hinting at effervescence, a good summer beer. The sage and rosemary were more pronounced on the tongue, creating a slight hoppiness of their own...I can imagine how the essential oils from these two herbs filled in the flavor alongside the hops.

A great beer but a little pricey for regular consumption - like a Hitacho, it will be an occasional treat.

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Chicago, Chicago You're My Kinda Town - Restaurant Roundup

2010-08-12T17:56:00.000-04:00

I recently traveled to Chicago for a training at work and had enough time to take in some of the sights and check out some of the restaurants around the downtown area known as the Miracle Mile.

Armed with a new Android-powered phone, I was able to track down some pretty good grub in the short three days that I spent there. Let's start with the one that everybody knows about...

You probably recognize the Top Chef Master Season winner Rick Bayless - traditional Mexican fare is his niche and it all started with Frontera. On a Tuesday night the wait for a table was 1 hour, that's how popular this place is. We waited patiently for a spot to open up and the the bar; if it hadn't been for the kindness of a pair of British tourists who allowed us to claim their spot before they got up, we would've been waiting at least 15 minutes more.

A friend of mine and his wife regularly visit Chicago and always make sure to stop in here for a meal - in fact, he's the one who gave me the tip to forget the table and order from the bar...you'll get the full menu without the wait and the hassle. What you've got here is a good collection of Mexican flavors - the sopes, fried discs of masa dough topped with slow-braised pork were excellent - the spicy shrimp & corn soup was unusual and refreshingly spicy - in the foreground was a tortilla topped with black-bean mash, pork belly, avocado and a heap of cilantro..another contrast between deep, umami flavors with a clean, green & herbaceous finish.

The wait isn't for everyone and the crowds can be discouraging but the I'm glad we tried some of those flavor combos - it reminded me alot of a meal at Xochitl with attention paid to the layering of flavors.

The Publican!!! (located in Fulton Market)

This place belongs in Philly. It's focused on three things....Oysters...Excellent Beer...and nose-to-tail cooking, preferably of the porcine variety. The restaurant itself is decorated like an upscale barn, with diners sitting in penned in booths like livestock or seated around large communal tables farm-style. The lyrics for the Beatles song Piggies kept popping into my head when I saw happy diners tucking into massive plates of food

Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives
to eat their bacon

This wasn't bacon or pork belly or tongue or any number of interesting cuts on the menu - this is a lamb neck that is slow-braised then dusted and fry-crusted before being served in a broth alongside lemony potatoes & yogurt. A little heavy for August, but unctuous and rich with flavor, a sweet dark meat being braised for so long right on the bone.

This is my favorite fun dish of the trip...fried spicy pork rinds. These were still hot from the frying oil and coated with a spicy, cheesy powder coating...think Cheetos meets chichirrones. I found out later that this dish was featured on the schlocky "Best Thing I Ever Ate" ~~time-filler~~ show on the Food Network...grrr...it deserves better.

I found the Purple Pig online in a search for tapas on the Miracle Mile. The website & menu looked pretty good and I'd even considered it for a dinner, but as luck would have it, we got to Chicago early so we chose to go there for a late lunch.

I was a little worried as we approached the place - what had looked like a gastro-pub/tapas bar online had all the appearance of a ladies-who-lunch/post-shopping trip wine bar - the kind that serves up $15 glasses of chardonnay to go with uninspired bruscetta.

The Purple Pig was somewhere in between the two expectations - the food was clever and had a few interesting flavors. I especially enjoyed the chorizo-stuffed fried olives. Some of the food was on the edge of being too oily or salty.

Always looking to compare Chicago to Philly, we decided that the Purple Pig was similar to the small plates from Amis, albeit a cut below in terms of execution. This dish was the most evocative of Vetri's Italian tapas - a mousse of mortadella spread on delicious crusty bread and topped with pistachio, arugula and quality balsamic vinegar.

I'm glad we went there for a late lunch - I think I would've been disappointed with a dinner there as the menu seemed to promise flavors that never seemed to peak on the plate.

Speaking of ladies-who-lunch, another meal the next day took us deep into the so-called "Viagra Triangle" - a term for the high-end shopping/restaurant/bar district that sat just off the north end of the Miracle Mile. I'm guessing the large amount of middle-aged shoppers and diners strolling about contributed to the moniker.

Welcome to the Luxbar! Take away the D&G clad grannies pecking away at their chicken salads and you could see the bones of a decent gastropub here - a smattering of decent craft beers and options like truffled fries and sliders had me thinking I was back in Philly sitting outside Varga watching the the world go by and 10th & Spruce.

Objects on the blog may appear larger than they are on the plate! Luxbar had a mix of sliders to choose from - here's a lineup of the mini-dog, BBQ, Kobe and Fried Chicken sliders. Nowhere near as good as the Varga sliders - the Kobe was dried out and the BBQ was disgracefully sweet and without a smidge of heat or tartness.

Again, decent lunch option but I'm glad that we didn't spend an evening in the Viagra Triangle.

Located several blocks away from the Triangle and closer to Loyola Law School was the strangest Spanish restaurant I've ever eaten at - Cafe Iberico.

Now, don't get me wrong, I really wanted to like this place but everything about it was cringe inducing to the poor sucker like me whom after reading several online reviews, was expecting something closer to Amada or Washington D.C.'s Jaleo.

Was it the laminated accordion-like menus that displayed a washed-out photo of every dish on the menu? Was is the cavernous interior, designed to simultaneously feed 300+ people in one sitting which made me worry about the attention to quality that inevitably goes out the window when you're hitting that many covers a night? How about the TVs on an endless loop of sports-news-weather, just like the airport terminal we'd left behind at O'Hare?

Well, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. This was tuna cannelloni, tuna wrapped in pasta and topped with a thin 'white wine' sauce which resembled yogurt. Assembled together, it looked pretty much like more of the same goofiness we'd witnessed, but the taste was actually spot-on...the tuna was flavorful, not a mushy paste, and the tomatoes were fresh and vibrant in a dressing of olive oil and lemon. Looks like a case of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole here.

This dish just had me in stitches - I chuckled when our served delivered the Pulpo a la Plancha - a pile of grilled octopus & french fries...yes, french fries....about as Spanish as the french fries you find at Chinese buffets. I joked with Elizabeth that this was Sandra Lee's recipe from some never-aired episode...a 'Spanish Siesta' complete with a paella made with Uncle Ben's and kielbasa braised in Sunny Delight.

Again, the saving grace for Cafe Iberico was that I'll be darned if the octopus wasn't cooked perfectly. And the fries, also perfectly done, actually worked in the dish. When I asked the waiter about the dish and the odd inclusion of fries, he kind of sighed and said 'American-style'. I was not lying when I told him that I enjoyed it and the octopus was perfect.

So to summarize - Cafe Iberico is a great deal for decent food...like a chips&salsa on-the-table 'Mexican' restaurant for Spanish themed dishes.

OK, if you've made it this far, you really must be interested in some of the dining options in Chicago so I've saved the surprise favorite for those of you that have scrolled your way through to here.

We arrived at Quartino very late in the evening, just as the restaurant was winding down. having been hopping from place to place all night, we were in the mood for a late-night snack before headed back to the hotel and I had notived Quartino came up in nearly every search I did on the Droid for wine or tapas.

We had a seat at the bar and chose from an excellent selection of charcuterie and accoutrement - we opted for some olives, speck, and a slaw of pickled fennel.

In another Philly comparison, not only is the menu similar to the Garces Trading Post, but the decor also has the same retro butcher/soda fountain/general store feel, with white subway tiles, reclaimed wooden timbers and a gargantuan bar.

The polenta fries were over the top in late-night bar snack - served piping hot, still crunchy and without any gumminess, these were another one of those dishes I hope will appear on a menu in Philly sometime soon...perfect replacement football-friendly finger foods like fried cheese sticks. We had them, along with a marinara veal meatball slider.

Looking back on all this great food I suddenly feel the need to take the stairs instead of the elevator at work for the next 2 months. Overall I was impressed with Chicago and I look forward to going back for more good stuff as we missed out on a few places due to the the timing of the trip. The problem with having an early-week trip is that many of the restaurant were closed Monday & Tuesday...so plan your trips accordingly.

6th Annual 'Good Food, Good Beer and the Rest is History' at Headhouse Shambles

2010-08-03T23:22:00.001-04:00

Time for the 6th annual 'Good Food, Good Beer and the Rest is History' at Headhouse Shambles

What could be more beautiful than a flower? Free craft beer!

Fork restaurant was serving up a wax-bean, scallop summer salad - the crushed nuts that topped the salad gave it some great texture and the simple dressing let the scallop flavor come through.

East P'unk Italian dynamo Le Vitru was serving up their pork 'lasagna' - I know that there's a more accurate term for this dish but basically it's assembled from hand-made noodles like a lasagna with a sausage & cheese filling. Just as delicious as last year.

Speaking of sausage, Noble was serving up a well-seasoned sausage with peppered tomato sauce and a dollop of polenta; the polenta & sausage felt a little out of season but it tasted wonderful and went great with some of the craft brews being poured by Earth+Bread Brewery.

Another newcomer, Wishing Well on 9th and Christian put in an appearance with a straightforward chicken taco - well spiced and served with a salsa, this was a decent contribution to the food offerings, although with Wishing Well's southern-leaning menu, I was hoping for something a little more interesting. I will give them credit for having one of the most tightly run stalls at the event - dishing out tacos at breakneck speed, once the food ran out they were packed and away in half the time it took me to finish a half-pint sized beer.

Speaking of 'bringing it' Southern-style, here's our nomination for 'Best in Show', the Swarthmore Food Co-Op's BBQ pork sandwich.

They called it the 'Three Little Pigs - what you're looking at is a pork loin, stuffed with a sausage....

...and then topped with pulled pork meat from a set of slow-cooked ribs...

...and then stuffed into a potato roll.

Served with a dollop of slaw, this was hands down the most delicious thing we had all evening, and the swarm of people around the stand was steady until the last of the pork was served up. This sandwich was so appealing that random people asked me 'Where did you get that?" and a few of the other vendors even ducked away from their stalls to procure a sandwich of their own,

The Restaurant School of Philadelphia was on hand serving up the newest craze in desserts, macaroons. Nearly every color of the rainbow, these little treats were also going fast.

We ran out of tasting tickets before discovering their presence (yes, I NEEDED that second pork sandwich) but other folks were scooping them off the trays that lined the table.

All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves this time around - last year we arrived about a hour after the opening bell and fund that barely half the vendors had food left. We stayed for a bit enjoying the great local beers as well - my favorite was the darker offerings from Earth+Bread Brewery, whereas Elizabeth was hooked on the Prima Pils from Victory.

Southern Science - Adsum Opening Weekend in Pictures

2010-08-03T12:48:00.001-04:00

Adsum, the new gastropub that opened in the old Coquette on 5th and Bainbridge, has been getting quite a bit of good press lately for its sous vide Southern-fried chicken. We were on-hand opening weekend and saw several plates of the dark-brown fried chicken bits leaving the kitchen and they looked as good as they sound.

The space itself is very similar to the old Coquette, with much of the old, dark wood finish and wall-length mirrors preserved. We avoided the crowded dining room and grabbed a table alongside the bar to order a few appetizers.

First up on the must-try list for us was the Grilled Octopus with black pepper caramel glaze - basically BBQ Octopus as the sweetness of the caramel and the peppery-ness of the the glaze gave the impression of a BBQ lacquer. On octopus though? Excellent...if the octopus had not been cooked properly this could have been a different story.

The chicharrones, on the other hand, were a complete miss. The irregular sized nuggets of fried pork skin & fat were still a bit soggy and served at room temperature. Some were cooked thoroughly enough but many were still not fully rendered out. A quick glance at the menu and you could see the pork belly that I suspect these little bits of fried skin were attached to at one point - can't knock the kitchen fr being frugal, but I've had way better chicharrones...the best being those we had on a recent trip to Chicago at the Publican - Spicy Pork Rinds...shown here in all their glory.

[ UPDATE - We recently returned and noticed the chicharrones were gone from the menu..I wonder if other people had a similar experience with them ]

Damn the arteries and full steam ahead...

Next up on the must-try list was the Tater-Tots, Whiskey, Bacon & Green Goddess dish. The potatoes used to make these monster tots were of a great quality, sweet and flaky. The bacon wasn't in evidence but it wasn't missed, while the Green Goddess sauce was a wonderfully trashy take on Ranch dressing that I recall people dressing their baked potatoes with when I lived south of the Mason-Dixon line. Despite the resemblance to Patatas Bravas ala Dixie, the dish was very comforting and disappeared beneath a flurry of forks.

Here's a snapshot of the 'Whiskey' component - tiny gelatinized pearls of whiskey...a nod to the molecular gastronomy vibe that seemed to be featured here. The flavor they imparted to the dish was minimal, so don't fear them if you're not a fan of whiskey. Did I mention that they bring out the wine in science lab beakers to ensure a measured amount? That, along with the vintage apothecary feel that the decor evoked made me wonder if a foam wasn't lurking somewhere in our future.

We finished with yet another spin on the southern classic of pickled watermelon rind, although this featured the flesh of the watermelon 'pickled' in Kool-Aid. Garnished with a sprig of tarragon, I thought it was a great dish, tart and sweet, the perfect summer dessert.

It's refreshing to see some great Southern renditions redone with some obvious thought as to how to amp up the flavor - next time we visit I hope to make it down to the entree section and those KFC Sweetbreads.

UPDATE:

We went back about a week ago and made it into the large plates...here's the highlights -

Fried oysters were deliciously crispy but lacked the creamy insides...maybe a plumper oyster would've yielded up more liquor. They definitely have nailed the crunchy/crispy coating though.

"That's right bad biscuit...you sit in the corner and think about what you've done!"

The much-talked about fried-chicken was also crispy & delicious...

...but the biscuit was TRAGIC. Granted, Elizabeth hails from a long line of Southern cooks who know their biscuits, so she may be a little biased, but even a suburban-raised Yankee like me can tell that something way off. The consistency was like something from a tube in the grocery store...cakey, dry and hard...lacking the requisite pillow, flaky softness that you would expect to accompany chicken & collards.

The lamb dish was very tasty, rich with spicy lamb sausage cause drizzled over perfectly cooked slices of lamb loin. I loved the green chickpeas - half spring pea, half chickpea.Thumbs up on this dish.

Summer Dinner - Seared Tuna & Tomato Water

2010-07-25T14:08:00.001-04:00

Facing an excess of tomatoes and 98 degree weather, we decided on a light & refreshing fish dish - seared tuna served in tomato water and garnished with diced cucumber & heirloom tomato.

Tomato water was made by blending together a peeled cucumber and three large tomatoes with a pinch of salt. The resulting soup is then strained through a fine-mesh strainer that has been lined with a dampened paper towel. I had tried this recipe before without the paper towel and the water wasn't a clear as it was with the towel. The mix yielded about a cup of tomato-tinged broth, which is then simmered down by about half.

The tuna was portioned and flash-seared, then placed in the broth to rest and soak up the flavor.

Garnished with a fine dice of cucumber & tomato, then dressed with a splash of olive oil and a few cilantro sprigs, the dish was a simple and clean way to enjoy summer flavors.

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Fresh Tomatoes, 00 Flour & Handmade Pasta

2010-07-11T22:35:00.002-04:00

Our tomatoes have started to arrive from our container garden and along with some extra tomatoes from Blooming Glen's stand at the Headhouse Market, we picked some herbs from the garden to make a simple pasta dish that incorporated handmade noodles.

I've never been blown away with our earlier attempts at handmade pasta - it was always OK but it seemed a little too soft, despite attempts to cook it al dente. I had heard that using the right kind of flour can make a big difference, so we picked up a bag of 00 flour from Claudio's and made some dough using the standard 1 egg to a generous 3/4 cups of flour.

I noticed that the dough itself was a little firmer, less elastic than when we're used regular All-Purpose flour. I was a little worried when we began rolling the dough as it tended to jam up a little more than usual. However, we didn't need to use nearly as much flour to keep it from sticking to the roller bars and once we got down to the smaller sized rollers, the dough was looking beautiful.

The pasta cooked in under 5 minutes and retained a firmness that seemed to be lacking in previous attempts with AP flour. We served it up with a tomato sauce and some tiny veal meatballs.

Alongside the pasta we enjoyed a green heirloom tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella salad.

Although the bag wasn't cheap - $5 for about lbs. - if you're going to go through the process of homemade pasta, it's worth the extra $$. You just need to be a little cautious about using the right amount of flour; my dough was a little too dry and hard to work with when I used the same amount that I normally would with AP flour.

Zucchini Blossom Tempura

2010-06-29T21:23:00.002-04:00

Sunshine & Stuffed Blossoms - Perfect afternoon dish with a cold, crisp glass of white wine.

Another variation on the fried blossom - this one is stuffed with goat cheese, then dipped in a tempura-esque batter of flour, a touch of baking powder and sparkling water - you'll know it's ready when the slurry that forms is just enough to coat all the tines of a fork. I was talking with a friend at Headhouse market this Sunday and he mentioned his never-fail batter of 50/50 flour & cornstarch...next time I've got cornstarch in the pantry I'll give it a go.

The trick to keeping the cheese from exploding into the frying oil is to really twist & pinch the tops of the blossom before immersing them in the 375 degree oil.

On a side note, we've begun harvesting the first of our crop of Roma tomatoes from the container garden.

Gardening for Garnish Garlic Scape & Soup

2010-06-17T18:51:00.006-04:00

Here's a snapshot of Elizabeth's parents nursery back in Virginia during high Spring. We were visiting at the end of their growing season and as always, on the hunt for interesting ingredients and flavors to take back to Philly.

This is the main growing greenhouse - you can see the tables filled up with pots of herbs and the odd ornamental plant. Earlier in the season, this house was choked with blooms, covering nearly every surface.

Growing just outside the greenhouse, at the edge of the field, was a huge patch of garlic with numerous garlic scapes poking out from the leaves.

We grabbed a knife and cut off several garlic scapes to take back home with us - having missed alot of the Spring veg at the market, these scapes offered up a remote opportunity to put in a few Spring-inspired dishes before Summer arrived.

We also harvested nearly 3 pounds of fresh asparagus from the garden - we settled on fixing a soup with all the garden offerings.

Back home, we slit the scapes down the center, reserving the pungent bulbs for another use.

Then I flash-fried the scapes into a crispy pile.

I sliced the tips off the asparagus and halved the spears. The rest of the asparagus I boiled until slightly soft in a broth of vegetable stock, along with a diced single small potato, then blitzed the mix a food processor.

The trick to keeping this soup velvety smooth was to push it through a fine-meshed strainer - here you can see the resulting liquid and solids have been separated.

The finished soup was dressed with three or four butter-poached shrimp and then topped with the crisped garlic scapes.

Another variation of the dish used fried bits of thick bacon, fennel fronds, a dollop of Greek yogurt and the asparagus tips to season the soup. Served with a crunchy bread topped with Pecorino cheese, it was a hearty Spring soup plucked straight from the garden.

The Other Kind of Awesome Blossom

2010-06-17T18:45:00.003-04:00

Summer time is here again and that means one of our favorite ingredients are in full bloom - zucchini blossoms!

Here's an example of a typical harvest from our patio garden. It's best to pluck these early in the morning and then stand them in cold water in the fridge.

This year we went overboard planting the zucchini & squash in the hopes of extending our growing season.

Although we were careful to only harvest male flowers, we found that over-picking the blossoms caused the plants to give up early and yellow-out before any fruit appeared.

Often times we found several ants crawling around inside the flower, which called for a thorough cleaning - here you can see a flower that's been cleaned and prepped for stuffing.

Here's a typical full-on Sunday dinner incorporating the blossoms - Lamb with crispy seasoned onions, a simple grape tomato salad, a ramekin of squash, topped with bread crumbs & a fried blossom and then two cheese stuffed blossoms.

Here's a closeup of the goat-cheese stuffed blossoms. This year, instead of a heavy tempura-style batter, we're dusting the blossoms in seasoned flour and frying them up as-is. The result is a much lighter fried blossom with all of the great cheese filling.

I know that Headhouse farmer's market has been bringing in some great blossoms lately, so now is the time to experiment - stuff the blossom with a spoonful of your favorite semi-soft cheese, twist the blossom top closed, dip in a batter and then fry till it's golden brown.

Headhouse Pub Opening Review

2010-06-16T22:37:00.006-04:00

Zot was a one-of-a-kind place. We dropped in one night, complaining about a dinner service gone bad and were spontaneously greeted with Belgian beers and a trumpet mushroom, lobster & salsify risotto at the bar.

So when we heard about Zot's unfortunate demise and the Headhouse Pub springing up in it's place, we had to stop in and see what was cooking. There have been a few stories covering this re-imagined space and they have mainly mentioned the concept of a beer-centric gastro-pub.

Here's a pic of what we think the Headhouse does well...Asian inspired bar snacks. These are the porcupine shrimp, a shrimp ball chock with crunchy water chestnut & scallions and served with a creamy dipping sauce. The vermicelli poking out from the fried balls gave it the signature 'porcupine' aspect, but overall this is the kind of dish we were expecting...satisfying and delicious small plates.

Alongside the shrimp, we ordered the fontina fritters. These were OK hot, but they quickly cooled into brownish doughballs that were unpleasantly greasy - Elizabeth enjoyed the accompanying cucumber slices & tomato creme fraiche dipping sauce more than the fritters themselves.

Before we go further into the food menu, I will mention the beer menu. There were some great beers on the menu, however the number of hop-oriented selections were sparse...I counted only 2 of over a dozen beers on tap that could be considered 'hoppy' and 3 of the selections were decidedly in the 'fruit'/'sour' category (Rodenbach Cru on draft is a HUGE bonus), which limits those hopheads ordering off the drafts. There were some great, light summer selections, like Fleur de Lehigh, a decent Hefe and Flying Fish Exit 6. The bottle menu was as deep as Zot's, so serious drinkers shouldn't be too worried...we eagerly drank up a bottle of Boon Gueuze that wasn't listed but proffered by the bartender when our request for gueuze lambic was placed with the waitress.

However, this was the biggest disappointment of the evening...mussels. Early predictions of Headhouse were of a fear that a wide menu would lead to problems executing dishes - read the comments on the news story here to see what I'm talking about- Insider

Mussels are kinda no-brainers in terms of a starting point for gastro-pubs, but I hate to say that these mussels were only mediocre and suffered from the pan-global concept.

The 'Spanish' mussels, one of four varieties available, had chorizo...fresh Mexican style chorizo which lacked the punch of a good cured Spanish chorizo. This lackluster sausage left a broth that resembled chicken noodle soup - absent were any flavors of pimenton, paprika or the other spices normally associated with Spanish chorizo.

I called this one Jewish Mother's mussels as it reminded me of a schmaltzy chicken noodle soup with mussels more so than it's namesake Spanish mussels. This oversight with ingredients, combined with so-so quality mussels ( undercooked and stringy - we left about1/4 of the mussels on the plate because they were unopened/barely opened) leads me to believe that there is some room for improvement on this dish.

To be fair, the table next to ours ordered the Asian mussels and was very pleased...more evidence than the pan-global reach of the menu may be a weakness of this kitchen.

One bright spot? The fries. Delicious. Golden Brown. Crunchy. Bring 'em on.

Although Elizabeth was full at this point, I wanted to be fair to the kitchen and test the final flavor profile advertised on the menu...Latin food. I ordered the pork carnitas with pineapple and cilantro. The pork itself was chopped and seasoned perfectly but overall it was a too dry. The creamy sauce didn't make up for the overall dry character of the pork. I can't help but wonder if the latest fad of Korean short rib tacos wouldn't be a better option on the menu in place of the carnitas?

Stepping back from the food, the space itself was beautifully remodeled; we actually dined in the front room which, those of you that remember Zot, used to house the foozball tables. The service was very attentive. One thing I noticed was that with every beer order, the waitress was quick to offer a sample before the order was placed. I can see this being a great way to ramp casual beer drinkers up into the quality offerings on tap.

Overall, I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't impressed by the food either. It looks like the initial skepticism that I saw emerging about the kitchen may be well founded. To be fair, I saw several tables enjoying sandwiches and burgers, so there may be some better offerings towards that portion of the menu. I wish them luck and I look forward to the bar snacks, but I have some serious problems with the shotgun approach on the menu (calamari, fritters,satay,tacos,mussels, etc.). For now, this is a 'beer first' bar and I would skip it for any serious meals.

Memorial Day Dinner Party - Bebe's BBQ, Seared Scallops & Summer Corn, Balsamic Strawberry Panna Cotta

2010-06-07T19:11:00.000-04:00

Clearing out the camera today!

We had a series of small dinner parties in our patio garden over Memorial Day weekend that was a mix of some previous favorites and a few brought in dishes.

Our brother-in-law is particularly addicted to seared scallops, so we grabbed these at WFM (Reading Terminal was closed) and applied a bit of heat. Regular readers will recognize the corn & poblano pepper salad. The little dollops of avocado mousse helped to keep these little guys anchored to the dish.

In the background you can see a bottle of Cantillon Vigneronne, a sharp gueuze that my visiting brother-in-law fell in love with at Monk's - we picked this bottle up at the Foodery...not cheap but we were splurging for our out of town guests.

Speaking of guests, here's a shot of some gorgeous flowers that a family friend brought from her garden (Thanks Michelle!)...perfect centerpiece for the table.

Did I mention that my family hails from Texas? I wanted to prove to them that Philly does food right across the map, even Southern standards like BBQ, so we stopped by Bebe's in the Italian market for some BBQ pork and brisket.

Bebe's doesn't normally sell brisket by the quart but when we told the lady chopping up the BBQ we were building some brisket sliders to go with the pork, not only did she load us up with excellent brisket to go, she also sold us a bag of slider buns...one-stop shopping. By the way, the brisket sliders went fast...what you see above were the lonely remnants of a once proud tray of sliders.

For dessert Elizabeth pulled out another tried & true favorite, the Balsamic Strawberry Panna Cotta. This uses whole milk Greek yogurt (Fage) along with some heavy cream. The strawberries marinate in balsamic vinegar and the panna cotta is topped with lemon zest and cracked black pepper - the little pops of spice and zing played great with the classic, sweet combination of strawberry and balsamic

The chef relaxes! As the evening came on we enjoyed plenty of good cheer & wine... a great start to the summer season. Had a great time everybody...thanks for visiting.

Japanese Omakase @ RO-ZU

2010-04-25T14:58:00.011-04:00

We had heard from an acquaintance that RO-ZU, a new Japanese arrival to the BYOB scene at 7th & Bainbridge, was serving up some excellent product. That recommendation, combined with some positive press convinced us to try the omakase, fixed-price meal where Chef Todd Dae Kulper serves up a series of dishes based on your interests - all you have to do is select the price-point that you'd like to pay per-person, have a seat at the bar, sit back & enjoy.

We went on a Saturday with some last minute reservations being made after I'd read that you should call ahead for the omakase. RO-ZU was busy but not packed when we arrived at 9PM to take our place at the bar.

We selected a modest $50 omakase, but you could go to $65 or splash out with the lux $80 - I think that's where the really wild stuff starts to come into play and the chef let us know that if we called a few days ahead to reserve the $80 tasting, they would have some really stunning product ready for your dinner. Chef Todd also mentioned that the omakase never repeats if he can help it and every time you come back, he'll take you a little further into his repertoire.

Chef Todd first performed a quick interview to find out our likes and dislikes and then set to work deftly shucking two tiny oysters...Kumamoto I believe. Wrapped in a thin blanket of big-eye tuna, topped with a micro-dice of jalapeño and resting in a small dribble of a tangy sauce (ponzu?), the amuse was a great palette opener, with the fresh oyster's hint of salinity livening up the tuna.

Next up was a dish of Scottish salmon, dressed with tomato & sea salt and served with a citrus-splashed salad of tomato & red onion. The salmon was succulent...you can see the banana leaf garnish showing through the translucent flesh. This was Elizabeth's favorite dish, mostly due to the quality of the salmon and the clean flavors of the tomato.

Here we have what I call the 'Hot Tuna' dish, a serving of yellowfin tuna topped with a hot pepper ring and garnished with fried garlic & shallot. Chef Todd fired up the blowtorch to superheat a bowl of oil that was then drizzled over the fish, releasing the heat locked in those pepper rings and lightly searing the fish. Combined with the rich sesame oil and fried garlic & shallot crisps, the heat from the pepper was pleasant and not overpowering, with the tuna itself being a good texture and quality.

The only thing THIS dish was missing was a slice of bread to sop-up the sauce...wait, wrong cuisine! The big-eye tuna was served with a daikon slaw and a dice of sweet onions. The sauce was king on this dish, a butter & yuzu combination that had been bubbling away on the one tiny burner behind the bar. It amped up the play of the deep flavors from the last dish, building a great progression from light, clean flavors to the deep and complex.

We've reached the end of the progression here with grilled eel & asparagus, served over a sweet sauce. This was one of the dishes that I had been looking forward to after reading the review from the Inquirer - the article had made mention of how the sauces were all house-made in small batches with one in particular being made from roasted eel bones. The switch from cool fish & warm sauce to cool sauce & warm fish was a clever switch-up as well...the pleasant smell of the eel searing under the burner of a tiny oven behind the counter replaced the smell of butter & ponzu hovering around the bar.

We thought we were finished and much to our surprise we were greeted with a huge plate of nigiri.

Chef Todd had overheard us talking about the contents of the 'fish locker' at the bar, pointing out the Spanish mackerel fillet in particular, and had decided to set us up witha nice progression containing 4 different types of mackerel.

Left row is big-eye tuna, Scottish salmon, fluke, and hamachi. On the right Spanish Mackerel, kohada/gizzard shad, blue mackerel, and Iwashi/Japanese sardine. We really enjoyed his description of each fish, how it's used and what makes it special within the cuisine.

We finished the omakase over a warm bowl of smoky Shiitake soup. I was taken back by the flavor and asked if there was a type of tea that gave it such a strong 'campfire' flavor. The punch of smokiness came from a type of cured fish flake that is heavily smoked and then shaved. It sounded like a type of bonito but this was the strongest I had ever sampled...not so strong that it was unpleasant though.

I'd definitely recommend making your reservations for the bar if, like us, you're new to the cuisine and are interested in the preparation & thought behind these cooking with these ingredients, as the chefs were very friendly and worked the meal around your interests. Being a new business I hope that they do well...they do a lunch service too that sounds good and may yield up some better pictures...my camera really isn't handling the night-dining too well these days.

Opening Menu @ The Wishing Well

2010-04-16T06:49:00.000-04:00

Wishing Well on 9th & Catherine, just a block north of the Italian Market, recently opened so we stopped in during the first week to check out their drink selection and sample a few features on the compact but promising menu.

The cuisine seems gastro-pub and doing some research on the chef, who used to run a place called the Lamplighter in Atlanta which also focused on southern-style gastro-pub, I was expecting good things.

The menu is divided into small plate/large plate, with about 4-5 large options and nearly double the small options.

The menu has some pretty decent beer selections, as well as a wine-by-the-glass selection that was comparable to the draft pints in price and selection. Elizabeth had glass of Spanish white for $7 and I enjoyed some PBC Fleur de Lehigh .

The room itself was a little bright for a pub and it seemed like the front half was the pub and the back half of the room was a little more refined...it was a good mix though, much like the drinks menu, you could lean toward a solid pint to sip or a glass of wine to savor...have a few beers w/ friends at the bar or do a bit of serious dining in the back.

But let's talk about the food.

We weren't too hungry and just ordered a few small plates to share, along with the daily special, a half-dozen Cape May salties...they arrived with a Meyer Lemon mignonette, flecked with coarse black pepper...a sweet & peppery twist on the salties.

The Fritto Misto was a fun mix of fried morsels..shrimp, scallops, mushrooms, onions and lemons...thinly sliced, the fried lemons were my favorite. The coating on the fritto was a simple seasoned dusting and not some greasy batter. I saw three more bowls of the Fritto fly out of the kitchen while we were enjoying our dish.

The Short Rib Quesadilla had some serious chipotle flavor in the accompanying sauce, but the meat was smoke-kissed & tender and the flakiness of the tortilla made for a delicious texture. The tomatillo/avacado salsa was unremarkable. I noticed that the quesadilla is not on the menu any longer...disappointing because I would've ordered it again. However the short rib is making an appearance of it's own on a larger plate now.

We weren't in the mood for a burger but I hear that the Wishing Well is throwing it's hat into the burger ring with the SHAME burger...a scrapple & easy egg topped burger that's already gotten some good reviews over at Unbreaded.

Not quite ready to replace places like Royal Tavern and SPTR at the top of the South Philly gastro-pub pile, but I like Wishing Well for the mix of wine & beer offerings, the fresh decor and the offerings on the menu...it's not trying to be like those other places and its offer two distinct directions for dining options make it a great neighborhood spot.

Morris House Hotel & M Restaurant

2010-04-12T06:51:00.005-04:00

Beautiful Spring day a few weeks back and we just had to have that first meal outside. Not being in the mood for a major outing, we settled on a few small plates in the courtyard of the M House Hotel & Restaurant.

Here's the sign on 8th beckoning you into the courtyard to enjoy a glass of wine and an empanada. Yes, wine & empanadas..I'll get to that in a minute. The wines-by-the-glass were a little pricey, but you're paying for the atmosphere of the courtyard...a fair trade on a gorgeous Spring afternoon.

First, some pretty standard but delicious bruschetta...this was goat cheese with tiny diced squash made for a unique topping.

The truffled honey & rich creamy Delice de Bourgogne cheese is a combo that I'm putting in the rotation at home.

But this is what I was really there for...empanadas. The flaky crust was perfect - I could only imagine how much lard or shortening went into these beauties. I heard that the same family that runs the restaurant has been trying to open an Italian/Argentinian place down in the Italian Market and that the empanadas were going to be featured there as well.

While the ham & cheese was a classic combination, our favorite filling was the meat, egg & olive empanadas. A well-seasoned filling (possibly cumin?), these lived up to the hype - just look at the consistency of the crust and the gooey, savory filling. They have a special that allows you to sample all 3 varieties of empanada for $16.

Their menu was extensive enough that we could've enjoyed a full service but it really makes for a great pit-stop on a day when you're out & about in the Washington Square West section of Center City.

Xochitl...New Hole-in-the-Wall Mexican Joint?

2010-03-15T22:47:00.011-04:00

Two things we love about dining at the bar in Xochitl are the tall wooden chairs and the interesting small-plates on the menu. And while the plates never disappointed, the bar was always a bit on the cramped side. The dining are always seemed a separate & distinct part of the place and never really drew us in.

When I heard that the wall dividing the bar and dining area had been opened up, I was curious to see what the effect was on the atmosphere. More importantly, when I heard that the menu had been re-worked and the price-points lowered, a whole new side of the menu had opened up for us in terms of interesting offerings for the eating at the bar.

Check out this City Paper article for more details on the menu revamping.

Our server explained the new menu concept and gave a few tips for sharing orders, maybe two or three plates from the antojitos & mariscos, then two from the tortas & tacos.

One of the only disappointments, we started with the Tamal. Usually served with rabbit, the lamb substitution added alot of flavor, the filling was a bit sparse and the tamal came out barely warmed over, which made the texture of masa seem a bit leaden and waxy. Even with the addition of the spicy salsa verde, the dish was dubbed tamal-lame by my wife.

The Chicharrones, on the other hand, were the perfect bar snack; still glistening from the oil-bath, these gigantic folds of fried porkskin were crunchy and delicious. While we would have loved to have seen the chicharrones prepared with a bit of fat still attached to the inward side of the skin as it's done in other places, they were very much enjoyed. The spicy salsa verde again making an appearance with some oddly placed but welcome radishes. The chiffonade of aromatic mint sprinkled on top of the pork skins was a new twist that flavored each crunch just enough to keep the dish from having too much of a single-note taste.

Pulpo & Morcilla - The classic octopus & potato pairing was joined by the blood sausage, like a traditional black pudding with an overload of Latin spices. The octopus had what tasted like a quick seared exterior, but was very soft in the center...the smaller pieces were more tender and held up better than the larger hunks of octopus, but this was some of the more well prepared pulpo I've had recently - try Varga Bar's octopus for the current reigning champ of cephalopod cooking. The black garlic mole wasn't overwhelming in taste and simply served to provide a bit of moistness to the drier bits of the skewered meats, which was probably best as the Morcilla was definitely in charge of leading the flavor on this dish.

As good as the Pulpo y Morcilla was, the real star of the evening was the Cazuela de Chorizo y Papas. The fresh chorizo sausage was finely ground and tender...no filler, all crumble and mercifully lacking the puddle of red grease that you can run into when dealing with excessive amounts of chorizo. Kale was mixed into the potato & sausage and a vinegar possibly added, as we both picked up on a distinct tartness mixed into the crumble. The potatoes were flavor magnets, soaking up the chorizo & kale juices. The dish was perfect for a rainy evening and really reminded me alot of the Pork, Clams and Crispy Potatoes dish we had eaten at KooZeeDoo a few months ago.

Although we had anticipated venturing over to the tacos on the other side of the menu, we were close to full and went for desserts instead. The Churros weren't bad...a firmer, thicker variety than what I'm used to and a little too much cinnamon & sugar, but it still made for a decent finish to what had been a really good series of new dishes.

Crepe Noh More? Paul's Joshua Noh's Final Review

2010-02-16T11:40:00.007-05:00

It looks like Joshua Noh, the chef at Paul who likely served up this tasty plate, has left the kitchen. Does this mean no more crepes?

Jan. 30th was Chef Noh's last night at Paul, the West Washington BYOB that had been building up some decent reviews. Here's his side of the story, posted over on Yelp and has since been deleted - thanks to a savvy buddy of mine who scooped up the cached version of the 'review'.

I apologize to people who enjoyed my food and appreciate your support of a young chef and I can't thank you enough for giving me a try. Due to differences with ownership I was forced to leave to prevent further disruption of this terribly managed restaurant. It still has potential but just not with me at this moment.

Bummer, we were just starting to look forward to living a few blocks from this place. Let's hope that everything works out for both the young chef and the young restaurant.

Don't know if the link is still valid, but if you care to read the full excerpt...

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:qvdNRH5YwEMJ:www.yelp.com/user_details%3Fuserid%3DtVeEXkdMjJd9UTK9g2t2Gg+"Joshua+Noh"+"up+until"&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Chioggia Beet & Spinach Salad - Fair Food Farmstand

2010-01-10T23:30:00.003-05:00

Shopping in the new & improved Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market Saturday I came across these Chioggia beets. I picked up some local organic curly spinach for a winter salad.

After roasting them at 350 for 30 minutes in a tightly covered pan with some water, we sliced them up into quarters and had a pleasant surprise. The Chioggia is also known and the Candystripe or Bulls Eye beet, shown here.

We also put some walnuts in the oven to roast while the beets were doing their thing - a perfect bit of crunch to go with the salad.

We had some standard chevre, which I formed into cherry-sized balls and rolled in smoked paprika. I placed them in a microwave for about 30-40 seconds to just loosen up a bit before placing them atop the salad.

The spinach was simply dressed in a sherry vinaigrette, while the beets were left naked so that we could appreciate their sweet, earth chew - why mess with perfection. The sweet beets, tangy dressing, smoky heat of the paprika and the warm, cheesy goat cheese crumbles ended up being a balanced winter salad...all the better that many of the ingredients were locally sourced thanks to Fair Food Farmstand.

BYOB Paul Revered in Pictures

2009-11-25T10:39:00.009-05:00

"Did you like the famous crepe?", our waitress asked as she whisked away my now empty plate. I gave her a slightly puzzled look but I could see how news of the delicious appetizer could spread quickly - the tamale-like braised, tender pork filling, neatly tucked into a herb-laced savory crepe was the perfect marriage of French refinement and Latin comfort.

We had dropped in on Tuesday night "Neighborhood Appreciation" night where the prix-fixe was $20.

Here's a shot of the crepes again, this time you can see the marinated cauliflower micro-florets and chili sauce. Trey Popp does a great run-down of the flavors you're going to find on this plate over at City Paper - guajillo pepper, Coca-Cola, lemongrass and vinegar. I found this article after we'd dined at Paul...little did I realize that I'd ordered much of what City Paper covered, so here's the pictures to go along with the article.

Elizabeth started with the soup of the day - The French Onion soup was heavy on the croûton and the consistency was on the thicker side of the F.O. soup spectrum, but the flavors were balanced...usually there's an overload of salt when you have a hearty F.O. soup.

The braised short-ribs were fall-off the bone delicious and came served over polenta...a solid rendition of an early-winter comfort dish. The polenta couldn't quite handle the amount of sauce that accompanied the ribs.

Here's a snapshot of another dish that Popp sounded off on, the seared skate wing. The coating was a fine-grained herb crust that reminded me of fried chicken. The skate was cooked perfectly, with a flaky inside, crispy fennel-studded outside, and without that oily heaviness that you can sometimes get with a breaded fish.

The peppery potato-chorizo hash beneath the skate was aggressively spiced...we're talking habanero heat. It's not so much heat that it's unpalatable....I just wish I'd brought a wine that was a little more evenly matched, like a Gewurtz.

UPDATE: KITCHEN CHANGE-UP

It looks like the chef at Paul who served up this meal has left the kitchen.

Here's his side of the story, posted over on Yelp and has since been deleted - thanks to a savvy buddy of mine who scooped up the cached version of the review and broke the news to me.

Don't know if the link is still valid, but if you care to read it...

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:qvdNRH5YwEMJ:www.yelp.com/user_details%3Fuserid%3DtVeEXkdMjJd9UTK9g2t2Gg+"Joshua+Noh"+"up+until"&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Short Ribs & Discos Pastry - Frozen Find at Whole Foods Market

2009-11-15T22:26:00.008-05:00

The holidays are upon us, which means last-minute appetizers for Christmas parties could be looming on the horizon. These Discos were a nice find for someone like me who is challenged in the pastry department but still wants crank out some crispy & flaky food for the shared table.

For some unknown reason I happened to be browsing the frozen foods section of Whole Foods (we normally don't buy too much frozen, processed food - organic or not) and I saw these little pastry shells sitting beside an array of pre-made empanadas. Somewhere between a wonton or spring roll wrapper and full-on puff-pastry sheets, these 'discos' looked like the perfect solution for quick-fix stuffed appetizers who require a flaky shell.

I bought short ribs, which were seared then braised for 2 hours at a low temp - 325 - until the fell apart into a nice shred. Elizabeth cleaned out the bits of gristle and what we were left with was a decent pile of shredded tender rib-meat.

The meat was sauced in a mild tomato-base, with a liberal douse of vinegar to break up the gelatinous character of the meat...a handful of ancho powder, smoked paprika and a few other seasonings nudged the filling into shape.

The shells were then stuffed and sealed tightly. The first batch we deep-fried and they turned out delicious...crispy on the outside, cracking open with a crunch to reveal a soft and creamy inside. We kept the oil hot enough to prevent sogginess, but you pretty much need to eat these as soon as you can. Overstuffing was the only thing I would avoid next time...it threw off the balance between the crust and the filling and made for a soggier pie.

We also threw one of the pastries in the oven and baked it around 350 until golden brown and flaky. The difference was startling...the shells puffed up nicely and were beyond flaky, much the opposite of the crisped pockets of the fried shells. Unfortunately, our experiments with savory baked pies were overall less impressive, as the filling tended to dry out in the oven.

The baked aren't as decadent and really tended to work better with desserts. For example, the flaky crust paired well with some of Elizabeth's parent's homemade pear preserve as a filling...a bit of vanilla ice cream was all that was missing for that perfect 'pie' effect.

Butternut Squash Risotto

2009-10-27T22:20:00.002-04:00

Cleaning out the camera and found a few pictures that made me think of Autumn cooking.

The risotto is pretty standard prep...Elizabeth used some fried sage leaves, toasted pumpkin seeds, pureed steamed squash and sautéed squash cubes to give this some personality.

KooZeeDoo - Portuguese in NoLibs

2009-10-25T22:16:00.005-04:00

On on of those evenings of torrential rain, we met up with another couple at KooZeeDoo, the newly opened Portuguese BYOB in the Northern Liberties where Copper used to be.

Watching the pouring rain from dining room - exposed brick wall, dotted with little candle-filled alcoves, cork-topped tables and warm, earthy tones - we were all settled in for a hearty meal, which seemed to be KooZeeDoo's specialty. The lighting was great for ambiance, not so good for cameras (sorry about the blurriness on a few of these).

The main dishes here are served family style in different varieties of crockery. One of the favorites of the table was the Duck Rice. A baked rice with duck breast atop, the rice was studded with little bits of duck meat as well.

I did't get a chance to take a picture of the shrimp turnovers, but they reminded me of an empanada filled with a bechamel sauce.

The Rabbit Stew was tender and delicious - the rabbit leg and loin were standing in a dark brown broth of stewed vegetables and pork lardons. We fished around the pot for those little bacon-like croutons, scooping out dollops of the rich stew.

A more traditional pork and shellfish combo, the Pork, Clams and Crispy Potatoes came out of the kitchen piping hot. The little crisped potato cubes soaked up the clam flavors nicely, while the pork chunks were slow-cooked and very tender.

For dessert they offer a dish called Chocolate Salami - the waiter's explanation was quick to follow that this was not chocolate covered charcuterie but rather a log of different types of chocolate shaped and cut to resemble a slice of salami. Accompanied by a chocolate coated fig and a chocolate cream canelle, this was a perfect partner to a cup of coffee.

Although the family-style delivery of the dishes was the exact opposite of the tapas & little-plates theme, the overall impression was that the Portuguese dishes at KooZeeDoo are a great addition to the rustic Spanish-Mediterranean flavors that usually dominate that style of dining.

Takeout at Stella? Not Stella...

2009-10-23T22:15:00.003-04:00

I've been spotting those little take-out boxes in people's hands emerging from Stella, the new Starr thin-crust pizza place across from the Headhouse Shambles on 2nd. In the mood for some pizza one night, we decided to give it the premium-topping menu a try.

The toppings on these were great...the arugula and prosciutto was particularly tasty, with a little peppery crunch pairing up with the flavorful ham. The classic Marghereta was OK...the sauce, while tangy, lacked a depth of flavor but the cheese was rich and gooey.

The only complaint I'd have has more to do with the fact that the crispiness of the crust just doesn't survive the walk home, and this was kind of a bummer because it defeated the purpose of take-out as the crust crispiness as what makes these pies exemplary.

To be fair, I don't think there are any thin-crusts that can survive a 5 to 10 minute trip without losing some of their edge, but I was hoping that there may have been something a little different about this crust after all of the attention that was given its conception by the foodie-press.

Little Fish Sunday Night Prix Fixe

2009-10-12T21:35:00.012-04:00

Touted as one of the better deals in Philly's BYOB scene, we packed up a bottle of Pinot Gris and headed down to the 'original' Little Fish in Queen Village for their ~~$35~~ $28 Sunday Night Prix Fixe. We had 8PM reservations and the way they work the Sunday night dinner is to keep all the diners outside until 8 sharp, at which point they open the doors to the tiny establishment and begin the service.

Tacked to the wall is the menu for the evening...a five course set meal featuring what we hoped would be some excellent seafood.

Starter was a salad of bitter endive and green apple...a crispy, crunchy, tart & bitter way to open up the palette for the lighter style of fish to come.

Second course was the raw tuna served on a block of Himalayan pink salt, accompanied by a diced beet salad. We found that rubbing the slivers of fatty tuna against the salt block released a subtle saltiness that suggested the briny waters that these fish were pulled from. Unfortunately, my sense of taste just isn't refined enough sometimes to pick up on the show of flavors that raw fish is meant to provide the diner...so I'll take Elizabeth's word for it.

Next up was a portion of sustainable Scottish salmon cooked with a tri-layer effect that left the skin-side a crispy sear, while creating a strata of cooked and rare flesh. Every forkful was like a combination of three fish all at once...cripsy skin, flaky meat and a succulent rare edge...the consistency was incredible and it had me rethinking the way I will be cooking fish next time. The mussel & farro salad on the side was an earthy contrast to the fish.

The final savory course was hands down our favorite...a Vietnamese-Style Escolar. Resting in a light stock tinged with fishstock and showered with crisp, fresh veg & cilantro, the flaky Escolar had picked up the Southeast-Asian flavors, yet retained some crunch on the outside. It looked like it had been pan-fried briefly, creating a slight crust that sealed in the flavor of the fish while soaking up the character of the stock.

Only after the fact did we find out about the unfortunate side-effects that can befall some diners who over-indulge in Escolar...mercifully, Little Fish kept the portion sizes small enough where this wouldn't be an issue, although I was a little concerned for the staff, who were sharing a uber-generous portion of the Escolar amongst themselves as service wound down.

Dessert was a bit of pumpkin mousse & a little slab of chocolate ganache that was drizzled in a berry sauce. While it was a pleasant finish, I would've gladly thrown caution to the wind and wolfed down on another chunk of Escolar.

Sunday Evening in Glenside & Mt. Airy

2009-10-09T23:34:00.003-04:00

Clearing out the memory stick on the camera I forgot to post about an outing we had into the 'burbs to grab a beer & a bite before the David Sedaris show at the Keswick.

If you're not familiar with Sedaris, he's a regular guest on public radio's This American Life and his books are a mix of snarky romps from his diary and quirky recollections from his childhood...Check out Holidays on Ice for a sneak peek at what life is like working as one of Santa's elves at Macy's in New York.

He's got a famous funny sister, Amy, who did a hillarious satirical cookbook ala Martha Stewart syndrome titled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

Back to the topic.

Before the show, we stopped for dinner at the Earth + Bread Brewery in Mt. Airy. We had visited before on a mid-day Saturday before they were offering lunches and while the beer was decent ( I want to say that I had a beer made with gruet which was not half-bad) we missed out on the main attraction, the thin-crust 'pizza'.

I enjoyed a light Berliner Weisse, while Elizabeth chose an Italian red - it's not just beer...they have decent by the glass selections of wine too...several affordable reds...Italian, Spanish & some New World from S. America.

Here's a shot of the upstairs, which I didn't realize existed - not only do they have plenty of overflow seating in the light-filled and airy second floor, but there's a second bar as well. The restaurant hosted a smattering of young families enjoying a Sunday night meal.

While these may resemble pizza, they're careful to point out that these are flatbreads...to me, the thin crust and crispy dough was so close to the latest wave of thin-crust pizza offerings around Philly that it was really splitting hairs.

Here's a shot of the special that night , a blend of arugula pesto, fresh tomatoes (last of the season) and shitake mushrooms...a great veg option and the mushroom flavors really stood out.

Check out the menu here.

This is the sausage pizza w/mushrooms & mozz. The interesting element of this pizza was that the sauce was not a red sauce but rather a pesto made from banana peppers...much tangier and acidic than tomato sauce with a spicy kick in each bite. After the third slice it was a little overwhelming but shared, the pepper pesto makes for a wonderfully weird alternative to red sauce.

Pantry Cannoli in a Pinch

2009-10-08T23:26:00.002-04:00

The sudden need for a cannoli sprung up but we weren't exactly prepared to cook up the shells.

Elizabeth rolled up two tubes of heavy duty foil, then sprayed it with oil.

Next, she wrapped the foil rolls with a sheet of spring roll wrapper, kind of like a wonton wrapper but thinner and more pliable. To give it some sweetness, Elizabeth made a small batch of cinnamon sugar, which was sprinkled over a sheet of the wrapper...she then laid a second sheet over it, sealing in the spicy sugar between the layers of crispy wrapper.

The wrapperss went into a 375 degree oven until slightly golden brown, then we uncoiled the foil slowly to reveal just the shells.

Next, Elizabeth mixed some powdered sugar into fresh ricotta from Claudio's, which was piped into the shells. Finished with a dusting of powdered sugar and some dark chocolate 'snow', grated off a fine mesh microplane, and you've got a much lighter version of cannoli straight from the pantry.

Stuffed Delicata Squash Rings & Crispy Baked Cauliflower

2009-10-07T23:38:00.002-04:00

Incorporated some autumn farmer's market fare into the kitchen this week. Rather than go the 'hollowed-out squash boat' route, we sliced the Delicata into rings and scooped out the seeds from the center. These squash 'timbales' were then brushed with olive oil on the cut sides and roasted in a 375 oven until a knife could easily prick the flesh, about 20-25 minutes.

These squash timbales were then stuffed with a seasoned rice (onion & celery sauteed in chicken stock and added to steamed rice) and toasted pumpkins seeds.

Along with the squash, we sliced up some of Tom Cultons' multi-colored cauliflower to roast on a seperate pan along with teh squash. The secret to getting crunchy cauliflower is to cut the florets with as large a flat surface as you can create, oil the cut side and place on the pan cut-side down.

The pumpkin seed rice stuffed squash went great with those crispy purple cauliflower florets. We served them up alongside a boneless/skinless chicken thigh, slathered with an herbed white-wine pan-sauce.

Restaurant Redux - Crunchy Shrimp & Avocado Salad Stack

2009-10-07T23:32:00.003-04:00

Here we have a take on one of the dishes we enjoyed during our trip to Maine this summer - a stack of avocado & shrimp, served on a bed of seaweed salad and crispy puffed rice paper wrappers.

This is a lousy picture, but you can get the gist of the seafood & avocado stack. We decided to forgo the Marie Rose dressing that accompanied the original from The Burning Tree and downgrade from lobster to shrimp.

We don't have a clue when it comes to making seaweed salad, so we picked this up at the sushi place Gaja Gaja on South...tasted great - perfect balance of crunch and chew with sesame oil throughout

Avocados getting sliced for the stack.

This was the 'fun' element...if you drop pieces of the rice paper into hot oil, they will puff up like vermicelli or a pork skin, creating a light and crispy cracker.

Tthe shrimp in Maine seemed to be smaller in general, so we bought something in the 30-40 range; butter poached and peeled, they were OK, but looking back we probably should have chopped them a bit, mixed in some diced avocado and placed them on the crisps to marry the flavors a little tighter.

Restaurant Redux - Crispy Kale & Clams

2009-10-07T23:30:00.003-04:00

Here's the original dish I enjoyed during our trip to Maine - what I remember most was how the tasty bitterness of the kale and played into the buttery bitterness of the pine nuts and the clam broth. The crispy leaves soaked up the broth, making for a rich & deep flavor.

I like the presentation as well...it conjured up an image of the seafloor with the clams resting gently on a bed of seaweed in one of the tidal pools along the rocky coastlines we had walked across.

Pan-roasting the pine nuts here...these will burn in a instant if you're not careful.

We took the stalk off the kale leaves and washed them thoroughly. With a rough chop, the leaves were dressed with a little oilive oil, sea salt & pepper before being laid out on a baking sheet. They went into a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, turning them over halfway through and making sure they didn't burn.

We picked up some little neck clams...the cherrystones were just humongous, so we opted for the small shells. Here they are resting in a bowl of ice cold water in the hopes of cleaning out any sand that may be inside the shells still.

Elizbeth brought home the New Portuguese Table last week and in a nod to the classic pork-shellfish combo of that cuisine, we braised and seared a link of Linguiça, a milder seasoned sausage with paprika and having a slight sweetness hinted in the spices.

The clams were steamed, then added to the bowl with the sausage, pine nuts and goat cheese crumbles. I strained the broth that the calms had cooked in to remove any sand or shell bits, adding a little butter and salt for taste.

Finally we poured the broth over the mix, liberally sprinkled with the oven-crisped kale leaves, and dug in. A few of the clams still had a bit of sand in the shell, which was a bummer, but the overall effect was close to the original, with the kale, pine nuts and broth combing forces to create that bitter, nutty & buttery flavor.

Burning Tree Restaurant - Otter Creek Maine

2009-10-05T22:30:00.005-04:00

Located just outside Bar Harbor, the Burning Tree restaurant was located in what used to be a residential house and was surrounded by greenhouses and raised flower beds...a promise of locally grown produce to appear on the menu.

The friends we were visiting suggested we get two orders of these seafood fritters - golf-ball sized deep crispy fried nuggets of a scallop mousse studded with shrimp

The Kale & Clams starter suggested the natural surrounding of the seafloor that these clams could be found in - the kale was oven-crisped and resting above a shallow broth of clam liquor, pine nuts and goat cheese.

Elizabeth's Avocado & Lobster Stack (camera setting blurred this accidentally) was resting on a rice-paper crisp , deep fried puffed spring roll wrappers, and lightly dressed with a Marie Rose-style sauce.

The Bouillabaisse was a saffron-infused mix of shellfish & chunks of monkfish.

The Burning Tree building was surrounded by raised flower beds overflowing with late summer blooms. Several of the edible blooms appeared on our dining plates - orange nasturtium & cumin carrots were the side dish that evening.

Goat Cheese at Seal Cove Farm

2009-09-22T22:31:00.002-04:00

We took a little mini-trip to Maine and stayed with friends just outside Bar Harbor. Down the road from the house was the Seal Cove Farm, located on a road called Milky Way.

The farm has a small shop where you can drop in and sample from several of their fresh chevre and aged cheeses. The chevre is prepared both naked or herb encrusted - the dill being one of my favorites. They also sell ash-covered goat cheese pyramids, as well as two different varieties of blended milk cheeses.

Although Elizabeth was eyeing the colossal ash-coated pyramids, we ended up taking home two of the more unusual varieties. Pearl was a goat-cow blend that resembled brie or Bucheron, a rinded cheese with a creamy center. One of the cheese-makers explained that a high-end cheese shop in New York City would buy the cup-cake shaped cheeses and wrap them in sumac leaves to mature in their cellar before re-selling them.

The second purchase was one of the Tommes, a firm disc of aged goat & cow cheese that was steeped in olive oil laced with juniper and pink peppercorns. There were a few blooms on the Tommes that lent a soft blue-cheese tickle that quickly mellowed.

Located just off Route 3, it's an easy drive for anybody visiting Bar Harbor.

Maine Diner - Lobster Roll & Blueberry Pie

2009-09-22T22:28:00.006-04:00

Located just north of the Maine-New Hampshire state line is the Maine Diner - just take Exit 19 to Wells and follow the signs down Route 1.

This is an old-school diner wrapped in a postcard-stand simply crawling with tourists...but hey Maine is known as Vacationland, so I won't hold it against them, even despite the fact that the adjacent gift shop bears the title (groan) Remember the Maine.

There was a 30 minute wait to be seated and several people were electing to take the counter seats to cut down on the wait. Once we were in and seated, service was awesomely fast yet I never felt rushed. Specials on the board announced things like Red Flannel Hash and Potluck, but were here for the seafood and began to zero in on the highlights of the menu.

The bowl of seafood chowder here was well stocked with a mix of Maine shrimp (read jumbo salad shrimp), scallops and potatoes; you can see the abundance I dredged up from the bottom of my cup. Elizabeth ordered the she-crab soup, which was a little too gelatinous, having the consistency somewhere between cottage cheese and Elmer's glue . I offered to cut the gooey mess with several spoonfuls of the delicious golden broth of my chowder and after which her cup of she-crab began to resemble a soup.

This is what we were really in search of...the lobster roll. The Maine Diner featured two kinds of lobster rolls, cold and hot. We opted for the classic cold lobster in a hot bun; I was worried that the lobster would be too mayonnaise-coated but it turned out to provide just enough of a binding agent to hold together the sweet lobster claw and knuckle pieces that nearly spilled out from the bun with every bite.

There was also a "Lobster Pie" advertised as a special, but the description seemed to conjure up visions of lobster and stuffing, scooped into a small casserole dish and thrown under the broil to heat through till crunchy.

I was skeptical about the awesome accolades of the blueberry pie on the menu until I saw one go by to a neighboring table. The diminutive Maine blueberry packs more berry flavor due to the smaller size lending more skins to the pie mix. Coupled with the fact that the pie filling itself was not overly sweetened and the crust was homemade, I'd have to say this was the best slice of pie I've had in recent memory.

When I went to pay the check, I mentioned to the cashier how excellent the blueberry pie was and he confessed to never having tried it. I guess being surrounded by lobster and blueberries, you don't really see what all the fuss is about...I know when I used to work in an ice-cream store as a kid the customers would ask how one of the 31 flavors tasted and were somewhat surprised to hear that I didn't know because I never touched the stuff.

Ricotta Stuffed Pattypan Squash

2009-09-22T22:27:00.003-04:00

Earlier in the Fall, Headhouse Farmer's market had some bright little Pattypan squash showing - Elizabeth picked up a pint and proceeded later that evening to adapt a recipe from her childhood to reduce our ricotta stockpile.

Claudio's ricotta, at $4 per lb. is a steal - we're basically trying to work it into every dish imaginable. This was one of the better experiments...a gratin of sorts placed into the hollowed out squash.

A mix of sautéed squash & shallots, along with some seasoned ricotta, go back into the squash and into a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes until warmed through.

We served the squash alongside roast leg of lamb and prosciutto-wrapped fingerling potatoes for a comforting Sunday Night meal; the fingerlings were a take on something I saw over on Studiokitchen earlier this year, fingerlings cooked in peanut oil, then wrapped in Iberico ham and deep fried. I didn't go as luxe as Shola's version, just boiling the potatoes, wrapping them in prosciutto and finishing them with a pan-fry...neglected to snap a photo of mine but they looked something like this...photogenically nowhere near as close to what Studiokitchen cranks out though.

Riffin on Tiffin - Homemade Keema Mattar

2009-09-22T22:26:00.004-04:00

Now that the summer of the burger is over, it seems like pizza will be the new food proving grounds in Philly kitchens. Cruising by Starr's new Stella tonight and seeing the packed crowds of happy diners munching down on thin-crust pizza got me in the mood to recall one of our pizza experiments at home.

Recent favorites of ours are Tiffin's pizza offerings. The Indian twist on thin crust was right up our alley...and considering our near addiction to lamb, the Keema Mattar pizza, a minced lamb and pesto pizza pictured above, seemed like the perfect redux for home.

SuperFresh had a leg of lamb on sale last week for under $15, so I portioned it out into a shank, a roast and then minced the scraps up for the Keema Mattar topping.

The minced meat was simply seasoned and seared...I added a little dry mint to the meat as it finished, just to make sure that the flavor came through.

The pesto was a blend of mint and parsley, with a clove of garlic.

I didn't have time to pound out some pizza dough and then let it rise, so I used two pieces of lavash bread for the crust, brushed in olive oil and slathered in a greek yogurt and ricotta mix. These went into a 500 degree oven for a quick crisp.

Once the crust had firmed up, I just sprinkled on some peas and minced lamb to coat.

The end result wasn't even close to Tiffin's (the pesto was too minty and when it mixed with the ricotta it tasted "like toothpaste" quipped Elizabeth) . Next time, I'll probably not cheap out on the dough by going pre-made, use less topping and spread it around a bit more and most definitely go easier on the mint, maybe blending in some spinach with the pesto instead of parsley.

Sopes - Crab & Tomatillo vs Chorizo

2009-09-15T22:25:00.000-04:00

Having picked up a large amount of tomatillos from the market, we wanted to roast them slightly and combine them with crab to serve on a masa flour sope. The crab mixture was seasoned with a little bit of olive oil and small diced hot peppers fro a tickle of heat.

Here's a great post on creating sopes and then loading them up with all sorts of toppings; it's a good guide to making sopes the right way. We cheated a bit on ours and didn't crimp the rims because it really uses alot more oil to fry these little guys and we were trying to make them not heavily fried.

The chorizo was standard fare picked up from Whole Foods. Crumbled atop a smidge of greek yogurt to keep the heat in check and help hold it to the pan, the spicy sausage was a contract to the tangy & cool crab.

Tortillita - Savory Spanish Seafood Chickpea Pancake

2009-09-02T22:23:00.004-04:00

We recently bought a bag of chickpea flour, hoping to recreate a version of hummus that we hadn't enjoyed for years. Unfortunately, we were totally off the mark with the recipe and as a result we wound up with lots of the stuff to experiment with.

A quick search on Google found this hidden gem of a dish from New York Times writer Mark Bittman, the Tortillita or Spanish Chickpea Seafood Pancakes

Watch Mark throw one together in a demonstration video - as always his low-key delivery underscores how straightforward this thing is to make, plus he talks a lot about his several attempts and the variations.

Tortillitas hit all of our favorite criteria; appetizer/tapas sized, involves some type of seafood, and is easy to create in a pinch using basic ingredients, except for the chickpea flour.

Shrimp Tortillitas - Mark Bittman
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion or scallions
About 1/2 cup raw shrimp, chopped, or scallops or other shellfish or fish
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped chives, parsley, thyme or cilantro
Olive oil

Mix the dry ingredients together, I like this recipe becasue it's easy to memorize the ratios - 1/2 regular flour to 1/2 chickpea flour, then an amount of water equal to the amount of flour...just remember to put in 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder for every cup of flour you use.

Slowly add in the water...the chickpea flour will cause the mix to clump up if you go too fast.

The recipe mentioned throwing the fish or shellfish into the batter, then ladling it into a hot pan for a shallow fry in the olive oil, but we found that it was best to keep the fish out, ladle the mix in and immediately throw the fish on top as you evened out the batter...you have more control with your placement of the fish and can spread it around, plus the portioning comes out equal and you're not left with one skimpy tortillita and one bulging with fish.

Flip it after about 3 minutes as the edges get crispy; you can use the traditional pancake toss if you want, but I didn't want the fish slopping all over the place, so I turned it in the pan.

After it's golden on the other side, about 3 more minutes, just remove and serve. Here we sliced it into wedges, garnished with a bit of the fish and served it on a bed of warmed rocket.

The flavor of the chickpea flour delivers the umame while the lack of gluten in creates a crispier texture around the edges of the tortillita. You can use pretty much any kind of seafood with this - cod, shrimp, calamari - it just has to be cut small enough to cook fast and not break the pancake as it's forming.

We've made them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks and they never fail to please.

Summer Scallops w/Sauteed Corn, Pepper & Avacado

2009-08-18T23:25:00.001-04:00

One last go around for the summer combo of corn & scallops. This time we added a slight mash of avocado beneath each scallop to fix them in place on the bed of summer corn.

These avocado were a little less ripe than we would have liked, but the stronger 'green' flavor that an under-ripened avocado has worked well with the peppers in the corn.

The avocado was slightly seasoned with a bit of salt and a touch of olive oil to give it some smoothness.

Here's a shot of the black peppers that we picked up from Savoie Farms at Headhouse Market. The flesh of the black pepper was a little thicker and had a pronounced crunch, which worked well to marry the green-ish tinge of the avocado to the corn.

The corn was sliced off the cob and then added to the diced pepper.

Sauteed with a touch of butter and olive oil, we didn't overseason the corn.

Final step was to create little lillypads for the scallops to rest upon.

This is starting to become a habit - more seared scallops.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart

2009-08-17T23:23:00.001-04:00

Spurred on by the success of her last experiment and the ever-growing mountain of cherry tomatoes being pushed out by the Sweet 100 plants, Elizabeth decided to make a Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart (link to recipe) to go along with a rack of lamb we were having for dinner.

To make the tart visually interesting, she threw in a few different tomato varieties that we had picked up at the farmer's market. One of my favorties was the Black Cherry Tomatoes from Savoie Organic Farms; these were a little firmer fleshed and have a deeper, less tart taste than your typical cherry.

Oiled and seasoned with some salt, pepper and Early Italian Purple Garlic from the market, these went into a 400 degree oven to roast away. After about 30 minutes, they were cooled off and the liquid they were released was drained off to use in a marinade for the lamb.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth made the tart shell using your standard pie-crust kind of recipe...cold cubed butter, pulsed in the food processor with flour & dash of salt, then a little bit of cold water & dash of lemon juice mixed in...she left the cornmeal out of that the recipe called for.

The dough went into a little tapas pan and then into the oven until golden brown; it was left to cool alongside the tomatoes.

Next, she mixed together equal parts goat cheese and thick Greek Yogurt (we use Fage 0% Fat), mashing in a little nub of leftover ricotta salata to add some saltiness. She left out the mustard and instead simply spread the cheese across the now-cool tart crust.

Next, time to load it up with tomatoes!

The tart went back into the oven for a brief time to warm through and get all the flavors to marry, then out it came, sprinked with fresh thyme.

Here's the final result, served alongside a slice of lamb. This tart was a little heavier on the tomato than the example from the recipe, but when it's being served alongside lamb rack, the tart cherries, creamy goat cheese and crispy tart crust was a perfect match to the juicy lamb, served rare.

Farmer's Market Finds

2009-08-16T23:22:00.001-04:00

Random finds at Headhouse Market.

Gardencress...if watercress and parsley had a baby, with a tiny touch of sweetness in it.

Melon box...we grabbed a midget cantelope...sweet and ripe...great with prosciutto.

Squid, Octopus, Olive & Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

2009-08-16T23:20:00.002-04:00

Last week we stopped into Bocca mid-day to grab a few of the plates that seems to be above average for Old City fare...read what the professionals are saying about the cretivity coming out of the kitchen here.

One dish that really grabbed our attention was the octopus salad; served with an brushed olive glaze and little roasted cherry tomatoes with crispy tomato-skin 'flags' still attached, it was instant inspiration for a great summer seafood starter. The chef came out to ask us if we liked the dish and when we pried for his technique on the roasted tomatoes, he playfully laughed and said it was a secret.

We just so happen to be neck-deep in cherry tomatoes thanks to the Sweet 100 plant in the container garden, so we figured why not try and recreate those little garnishes...and while we're at it, thrown in a squid & octopus salad to boot.

Here's the results of Elizabeth's experiments with the tomatoes. A little bit of oil and a slow roast kept the body intact while crisping up the skin...getting them to stay upright was the only challenge.

As for the seafood, we purchased some squid caps and baby octopus from Whole Foods. Marinated in some olive oil then flashed on a hot grill pan and sprinkled with mint, they turned out just right.

Finally, we tossed the squid & octopus in with some kalamatas, a little bit of torn arugula and laid it on a spread of tapenade we made with the leftover olives. Finally, our cheery cherry tomatoes studded the salad plate...It wasn't as pretty as Bocca's, but the flavors were pretty darn close and those little tomatoes will probably make a repeat appearance later this summer.

Jules Thin Crust Pizza - Doylestown

2009-08-09T20:23:00.002-04:00

On a day trip passing through Doylestown we stopped at Jules Thin Crust Pizza. I figured with a name like that, they'd probably be able to deliver on what has become our latest obsession...well made pizza crust.

I wasnt' quite sure what to expect as we walked into the place. I thought it was going to be a little sit-down place w/a wood fired oven being tended by a pizzaioli...instead, it was like a Subways meets California Pizza Kitchen...but in a good way.

Basically you pay by the slice and choose from a spread of at least a dozen or more pizzas already cooked up...tell them what you're after and they run it through a conveyor oven to crisp the dough up. The place seemed to be geared for handling lunch crowds but we found the service was cheerful and patient while we stared out blankly over the row upon row of pizzas to pick from.

Of course, they had your traditional pork-centric pizzas, which looked really tasty..all the meat comes from hormone-free animals and they seemed to have a focus on quality ingredient. They had alot of veggie pies to choose from, as well as whole-wheat crust options.

First, we picked a slice of the artichoke, basil & tomato white pizza...even with all the veg, the crust held up perfectly and it wasn't a gloppy mess as is so often the case with marinated artichoke toppings.

Then we chose the more classic tomato & basil pizza...again, crunchy crust and flavorful toppings made for a great lunch...I wish they had one of these near my office so I could pop out for a slice at lunch.

Fresh Peach, Thyme & Goat Cheese Pizza

2009-08-08T17:27:00.003-04:00

We were visiting my family last weekend and my dad happened to bring up a crate of fresh peaches from South Carolina. We grabbed a dozen to take back to Philly. These guys were perfectly ripened - during the car ride we kept smelling those fresh peaches waft from the back seat.

After the success of the last seasonal fruit pizza, Strawberry, Cashew & Goat Cheese Pizza, we were itching to do something with these peaches that involved grilling the delicious ripe & juicy flesh.

A quick Google popped up this recipe for Grilled Peach Pizza, but the pizza was actually thrown on the grill whole as opposed to grilling the peaches...we were after that charred peach flavor, so I kinda made this up as I went along.

Trader Joe's always has a good deal on goat cheese logs, so used some of that, along with some thyme from the garden. Normally I would make a dough, but lately I've been using lavash brushed in olive oil for a good thin crust.

With the crust brushed in olive oil & sprinkled with thmye & goat cheese crumbles, it goes into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes to firm up.

Meanwhile the thinly sliced peaches go onto a grooved grill pan to get marked and get a little softened up. These peaches were so ripe that I had to be gentle with these to keep them from tearing apart.

The end result was a simple flatbread pizza spiked with tart goat cheese with rich, gooey slices of grilled peach. The grill brings out the meaty-character of peach flesh while removing the syrupy sweetness. The crispy thin crust was a great counter to the peaches...I couldn't see this working too well with a softer crust.

Good Food, Good Beer Saturday at Headhouse Square Shambles

2009-07-25T18:35:00.007-04:00

A cool July night beneath the Headhouse Square Shambles...what better way to pass the time than a food & beer event for charity? Don't let the 'Do Not Enter sign fool you, there were quite a few interesting bites to be had here...local restaurants were presenting some delicious dishes and the beer, also provided by local brewers, was all-you-could drink.

I won't delve into the details about the beer...suffice it to say that you had a good representation of all the Philly locals (PBC, Yards, Sly Fox, Earth Bread Brewery, Dock Street) as well as regionals were on hand to help wash down the small-plates being served up by local kitchens.

We bought our tasting tickets and dove into the shambles. the event started at 6PM and by 7:30, when we arrived, several stations were already on their last-gasp. Here you've got a grilled peach and summer corn salad. The peaches were somewhat meaty and had a great char-taste. The corn also had a nice grilled flavor and rested on a peach sauce that had a bit of tang.

Here we had a quinoa & veggies salad, prepared by none other than Philly's own Next Food Network Star contestant Katie Cavuto. The salad was studded with little bites of flavor...earthy black beans, tangy cherry tomatoes, crunchy veggies. The only time we cooked with quinoa we botched it completely, so it's nice to be reintroduced to a summer rice-alternative.

Southwark had the most interesting of all the dishes we saw...a plump grilled shrimp, touched with a creamy orange-tinged sauce, resting atop a salad of green tomato and a paper-thin tostada. The shrimp was plump and flavorful (seemed like a gulf pink?), the green tomato salad was tangy and well-seasoned, like a salsa verde of sorts, and the tostada was super thin and crispy...almost like an Indian crispy cracker (paratha?poori?) that we've enjoyed...this one had a tinge of cinnamon which was very interesting...almost like a giant cereal flake.

Le Virtu was packing up as we approached their table...we nabbed some of the last squares of what seemed to be a veggies lasagna of sorts...it had a 'chicken-stock' flavor to it, kind of like a chicken pot-pie and a lasagna mixed together. The one thing that was obvious was that Le Virtu hand-rolls their pasta...the supple & thin, yet pliable and toothy layers of pasta were silky smooth and delightful. We are definitely headed down to East Passyunk for the authentic pasta that Le Virtu is rolling out.

We had two tasting tickets left, so we splurged and threw them both down on the table at the Rx stand. Living on the east side of Center City, I hadn't heard of Rx, a West Philly/ University City joint...they seemed to be serving up some great down-home classics though and we were sold on the spread. Here you've got a nod to southern slow/comfort food...slow-cooked brisket, corn-bread and slaw. Descended from a long line of Texans, an appreciation for good brisket is genetic. Rx's brisket didn't seem to go for those smoky notes and seemed to lean more towards a saucy/tangy BBQ taste family. The cornbread was simply good-eatin' and I used it to sop up the bits of brisket juice on the plate.

The real star of the show foodwise (again, this was a beer-forward event) was the blueberry cobbler from Rx. I saw these little pie-tins floating all around the shambles and we were lucky enough to cash in our last tasting ticket for a scoop. This dessert was not cloyingly sweet, which I appreciated, but had enough thickness and fruity filling to still deliver a tasty end to the evening's meals. The topping was halfway between a biscuit-top and a crumble...there were even bits of the dough mixed into the blueberry treat itself, providing a toothy chew to the fruity dessert.

All in all, I'd advise showing up a little earlier next year so you can get a first-shot at the offerings, but this was a great way to soak up some beer while experiencing local samples.

Mama Palma's Margherita Pizza

2009-07-14T21:48:00.004-04:00

Got a tip from a workmate about this place after mentioning I haven't been able to find really good pizza in Philly. She mentioned Mama Palma's, on the corner of 23rd & Spruce.

Although they do carry out, this place seemed much more like the kind of pizza shop you want to sit down and linger in...families enjoying not only pizzas, but other Italian fare...couples & groups of friends enjoying the summer night w/outdoor seating.
The menu had a wide variety of gourmet ingredients and pies to choose from(Clam white pizza looked good!), even Belgian beers to drink...too bad tonight we were in the mood to Grab&Go.

This is a pretty accurate caricature of Mama on the box...in fact, she happened to put in a surprise appearance while I was waiting...with a young mother and slew of babies in tow, the place pretty much erupted into an"Italian baby bouncing" scene...what was already a family joint really went over the top...still, the place had a charm.

OK, enough about the establishment, let's talk about the pizza. Mama's has the classy brick oven cooking approach and you can taste the quality in every bite; we ordered a Margherita w/ Veal Sausage...pricey at $20 for 12 inch, but worth the flavor.

The aromas of this pie had been wafting out of the box for the walk home, promising a fresh, full flavored pizza.

On the first-bite you can taste the herb-dusted mozz...fresh and full of milky flavor...the fresh tomato chunks blend in perfectly and the fresh basil & veal sausage created a peppery-fennel richness in every bite. We drizzled a little bit of olive oil over the pie upon serving to spread those lovely flavors around.

The crust and those signature tiny bubble that signify crispiness...although the pie had sogged up a bit on the walk home, a few minutes in a blazing hot oven firmed up the crust.

The box proudly boasted Best in Philly 2001 and I'm happy to say that Mama's isn't lying to you. It's a little expensive, which makes it a luxury pizza...that's really the only bad thing I could say about it.

Thanks to M____ for the tip about Mama's! We'll see if Mr. Starr's experiment on Headhouse can deliver on the concept that Mama's seems to have gotten right...thin, crispy crust pizza full of fresh flavors.

Fiori di Zucca con Insalata di Polpo Estate - Crispy Zucchini Blossoms with Octopus Summer Salad

2009-07-07T19:16:00.002-04:00

One of our favorite farmer's stand, Blooming Glen, is bringing back the "wow" produce from last summer...massive zucchini blossoms. We decided to take advantage of the large cavities of these blossoms to stuff them after a quick-fry and a light dusting of cheese.

The result is a Crispy Zucchini Blossoms Stuffed with Octopus Summer Salad.

Fiori di Zucca con Insalata di Polpo Estate

Why Octopus? We were going to go with something a little more light & sweet, like crab-meat, scallops or shrimp, but we notice that Whole Foods had baby octopus on sale for $5.99#.

Baby octopus, unlike their full-grown siblings, are much less of an ordeal to clean & cook; no need for elaborate tenderization procedures here...just cut the head off and make sure the body is clear of ink sacs and any odd bits. Discard the heads and rinse the remaining body & legs.

Next, the octopus bodies go into a marinade for about an hour; we used a mixture of lemon juice, capers & caper brine from the jar with a healthy dose of olive oil. I threw in a few green peppercorns after the fact just because I was curious what the milder spice would do...in the end it wasn't a noticeable addition of heat.

With the "polpo" marinating, it was time to prep the blossoms. We clipped the "fruit" off the end, a miniature version of what most people associate with being the zucchini. Next, we sliced the mini-zucchini into matchsticks, making sure to trim off any hint of seedy center...I probably could've used a veggie peeler or mandolin to get the same effect of thin green zuchini shavings.

Elizabeth seeded & finely diced some heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market.

Next, the zucchini strands were blanched in hot water, then shocked in a ice-bath.

"Summer Salad" - The veg mixture was combined together with some kosher salt, cracked pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and diced garlic scapes...yes, garlic scapes. If you're not familiar with these, take a moment to brush up with this link...for the rushed reader, simply imagine a garlic-flavored crunchy green bean...these added not only crucnhy chew, but a pop of subtle garlic flavor to the intense tomato & zucchini flavors.

With the salad chilling it was time to apply soem heat. The marinating octopus went onto a super hot grill plate to char-grill. Just a few moments and these cephalopods were ready to be pulled off, cooled and chopped up.

While the octopus grilled away, Elizabeth prepped the blossoms for frying. Normally we stuff these with cheese or batter them before frying, but lately we've come to enjoy the simply delicate crunch of a lightly floured & fried blossom...naked blossoms is one way to describe it.

Elizabeth sprays them with some olive-oil non-stick before shaking the flower in a flour-filled bag to coat; we use rice-flour as opposed to all-purpose because it creates a tighter crust with more crunch, but regular flour is fine...just make sure to add a pinch of salt to avoid a bland coating.

Next, the flour-dusted blossom gets handed off to me for a quick dunk in the boiling oil; I use the tongs to maintain the right shape of the final blossom...in this case, I actually insert the tongs up into the blossom and spread the folds of the bloom back to prevent them from closing up as it bubbles away in the bath...after all, we're going to be stuffing these with the zucchini-tomato salad, then topping with octopus, so we'll need to have them splayed out for an easier time.

The blossom comes out of the fryer and then it's a race against the clock...a heaping spoonful of the zucchini-tomate salad goes into the blossom, the we top it with a sprinkling of chopped octopus and finally dust the entire plate with some mild pecorino cheese to give it some aroma and provide some flavor to the delicate crispy petals of the fried blossom.

The final result is a colorful tribute to the flavors of a high-summer garden with a little unusual protein thrown in to compliment the somewhat unordinary crispy texture & taste of the stuffed cheese-dusted zucchini blossom crisps.

Lunch @ Leila Cafe - New Middle-Eastern Option

2009-07-06T12:54:00.005-04:00

fattoush salad

Leila Cafe is serving up Middle Eastern dishes in a relaxed atmosphere. Check out the Meal Ticket review for links to their menu and a little background on the owners.

Recently opened, this is a great corner spot on Pine & 13th.

We were early afternoon customers and were greeted with a warm and friendly service. We were the first customers of the day and one of the owners treated us to free pineapple, banana, blackberry smoothies.

We tried Leila Maza, a sampler of appetizers. The Baba Ghanoush & Hummus were lemony and spiked with smoky paprika...definitely not a mild spread and very refreshing on a warm summer afternoon.

The second wave of mezze appeared...falafel-like kibbeh, grape leaves, tabouleh all served over a bed of yogurt-dressed greens, onions & tomato.

There was also fattoush, a chopped salad with toasted pita chips scattered throughout.

The kibbeh was very similar to a falafel, but with a little more spice...the grape leaves were lemony as well. All in all, the sampler was a good way to taste your way around the menu.

The had a variety of sandwiches (Gyro, Shish, & many vegetarian options) and desserts as well...save those for next visit.

Outside seating & Hookahs as well.

Garden Growing

2009-06-30T21:27:00.002-04:00

Tomatoes can't grow fast enough!

Over on Philly Market Cafe, Gaetano is reporting that tomatoes have finally arrived at Headhouse Row on Sundays. Not soon enough.

Here's some shots of our little green guys.

A Sweet 100 variety.

Another Sweet 100 cluster just starting to ripe.

Here's a shot of our butterbeans, climbing up some home-strung trellis.

More promising results...little bean pods.

English Pea Fettucine & Cheese Stuffed Blossom w/ Zucchini Cakes

2009-06-29T21:30:00.002-04:00

Fun with market finds...Fresh English Peas, Prosciutto & Fettuccine.

Here we've got more cheese-stuffed zucchini blossoms..these are wrapped with little Prosciutto bow-ties.

Elizabeth shredded some yellow squash, mixed with an egg-flour batter and fried up some fritters to accompany the blossoms.

Final shot of the Pea & Prosciutto pasta.

South St Phad Thai

2009-06-29T21:29:00.004-04:00

Unlike other cuisines, Pan-Asian is one that always ends up towards the bottom of our "Let's go grab a bite somewhere...where do you want to go?" list. We've been slowly visiting all the non-scary Asian places within walking distance of our house and one-by-one are working our way towards finding our favorite place.

Next up on the list was Pad Thai. I'd heard a few so-so reviews of this place and I suspected we wouldn't find anything beyond extraordinary...but it was a sunny Sunday afternoon just off South St, so the setting made up for the underwhelming offerings from Pad Thai

NO, that's not a massive fortune cookie on our table...it's just a napkin. The perfect weather and excellent service really made for an enjoyable time.

The steamed jade dumplings were decent...again, I know that there's probably a steamed dumpling just as good and a little cheaper lurking only a dozen blocks south of here around Washington Ave, but we were having a good time on the outside table so I wasn't too bothered by that fact.

The spring rolls were on the edge of being overdone, but they had plenty of crunch and perfectly flavorful & steamy innards. The side-sauce was leaning to the sweet-side (I like a little more citrus in my sauces), but the fresh salad accompanying the rolls helped take the sugary-sting off the accompanying sauce.

OK, here's the major complaint from every review I read about this place...if you're going to name your place Pad Thai, then the dish should be pretty damn good. The pad thai was a little sweet, like the aforementioned sauce, and the noodles were too tacky...they tended to clump up into a tangle and bring too much sauciness in each bite. Again, this isn't bad pad thai..it's just not noteworthy.

Service was top-notch, personable and prompt, but the food was pretty much in-line with your regular South St. expectations.

Check this one off the list and time to move on to clearing the next block...I saw Mustard Greens was next.

Varga Bar II

2009-06-29T21:28:00.004-04:00

A summer evening outside at our latest local hangout, Varga Bar on 10th & Spruce. Here's a shot of the Czech Pils being served on draft...no better picture for an after-work summer evening relaxing.

This is NOT a summer dish, but was one of the few appetizers we hadn't tried yet...Truffled Mac & Cheese. Served in a little cast iron skillet, the truffled mac was creamy enough and not a fused together casserole like some others around town. Although the truffle-bits were more caviar, the cheese was beyond the normal white-cheddar. I had to refer back to the menu for the details (gruyere, fontina, marscapone) but the overall impression was a truffle-worth mix of white cheeses.

At the exact opposite end of the oozy, warm comfort food is the pot o'pickles...at $4, it's the cheapest dish but don't let that mislead you...this pot of home-pickled veggies is a rich mix of crisp & tart veggies. Waxbeans, normally bland and fleshy, soak up the pickling liquid and crunch like a Vlassic. The snowpea pods are another interesting pickled veg. I picked out all the little leek hearts and enjoyed them with a crystal clear, cool Pilsner. No pickled radishes like a German place, but the variety made for some great bar-food that was evocative of Bavarian beer-fare.

Fig Upsidedown Cakes

2009-06-29T21:28:00.003-04:00

We spotted a humongous pint of Mission Figs down in the Italian Market this weekend and decided to spread them out across out menu one Saturday.

Blue-cheese stuffed, prosciutto wrapped and broiled, they made great appetizers. But the real must-make recipe was the mini Fig Up-side Down Cakes... link to the recipe.

Figs get doused in sugar, then go into a pan with butter.

A batter is mixed up with egg, flour, milk, and cinnamon, among other things.

The result is a fluffy batter that gets poured over the hot pans, coating the sizzling & sweet pile of sugared & buttered figs.

20 minutes later in a 400 degree oven, you've got a figgy-cinnamon muffin.

Flipping it over, you can see the butter-cooked sugared figs creating a sweet crust around the rim of a pillowy-soft cinnamon spiked muffin pastry.

Some people serve this with a gelato or ice-cream...it didn't last long enough to let the ice-cream come up to temp. Elizabeth used our mini tapas pans to create individual fig-cakes...you might be able to get away with this in ramekins as well...the mini-cakes would make a great end to a dinner party.

Coy Latin Offerings Peeking Out at Coquette

2009-06-07T18:47:00.008-04:00

Adam Erace's review of the bistro Coquette left me a bit puzzled about what I could expect to find on the bar menu at this traditionally French establishment.

We had been deliberately avoiding the place after I heard rumors about the inconsistencies in the food coming out of the kitchen since they had acquired a new chef...the French-Thai fusion was a manageable combination that apparently wasn't producing any meaningful results.

However, when I saw this story about the new new chef and the addition of some latin-focused cuisine, I figured that it couldn't hurt to try out some small bites and test the waters.

On a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon we grabbed a table outside and ordered up a few dishes outside the French spectrum.

Elizabeth ordered the Gazpacho with Shrimp; this huge bowl, at $4, was a perfect savory selection to cool down with.

The chilled tomato broth was slightly spiced and the chilled, chopped shrimp helped give a refreshing sea-breeze character to the soup. The crispy fried strips of tortilla and diced pineapple bits helped to give a crunchy & crisp character to the soup that complimented the latin spices hanging around the edges of the gazpacho's flavor profile.

The Mexican Albondigas were the fire to the Shrimp Gazpacho's ice...at $2.50, these were great snacks, packed with heat and very filling. The sauce contained a noticeable amount of adobo pepper...giving these meatballs a one-two punch of smoky heat. The meat itself was mixed with rice and some diced veg & herbs. If it hadn't been for the fact that I was drinking a French lager I would've thought we were eating at a latin tapas bar.

OK, this is what hooked me...the PW article had a photo highlight of the roasted, spiced corn. Served with a spicy mayonnaise, cheese and lemon, the corn was a perfect summer snack. It wasn't as 'grilled' as the PW picture suggested, but my spice-stained fingers were proof enough that the new latin approach to Coquette's bar snacks is a welcome addition to the happy hour offerings around South St.

Zucchini Blossom & Squash Gratin w/ Grilled Leg of Lamb & Tomato Vinegar Slaw

2009-06-01T23:50:00.007-04:00

Our four little zucchini plants have thrown down the gauntlet and are pumping out blossoms at a record rate, leaving us scrambling for unique ways to cook them up. These things are the rabbits of the culinary niche-gardening world...Elizabeth gathered up 4 more this morning to go along with the 8 already in our fridge from this weekend...total count is 31 blossoms in the last 3 1/2 weeks.

Elizabeth adapted one of her signature recipes (Squash Mini Casseroles - follow the link) to incorporate the blossoms.

She chopped the older blossoms up into quarters and sauteed them along with the yellow squash, them blended the veg saute into a mix of panko bread cumbs, greek yogurt & a smidgen of goat cheese.

She had the idea to crispy fry some blossoms and place them atop a finished & browned gratin.

We dusted the blossom in some seasoned rice flour then dipped them into a 375 degree canola oil bath.

I had to hold the blossom lightly to shape the blossom & keep the leaves from spreading open in the fryer, but the end result yielded beautifully crispy blossoms for garnishing the mini squash casserole with.

To accompany the squash we purchased 2 lbs. of butterflied leg of lamb from Whole Foods; it was on sale at 6.99 per lb., which made for a perfect grilled accompaniment to the casseroles...plus, there would be plenty of leftovers.

Here's the final result of the grilling...char-grilled exterior, pinky medium-rare center.

I scored the meat on both sides, marinated this hunk of lamb in some salt, pepper, garlic & lemon juice for 1/2 hour and then threw it meat side down on a blazing hot grill to char, before flipping it over, fat-side down, and cooking for another 20-30 minutes on indirect heat.

After the center registered 135, I pulled the lamb off the grill, plucked a handful of thyme from the garden and threw it atop the lamb as it was tented in some foil to rest for 10 minutes.

To accompany the lamb, we made a tomato & red onion slaw, spiced with salt, pepper, mint & cumin, drenched in olive oil & red wine vinegar and allowed to steep in the fridge while the lamb cooked on the grill. The minty cool and bracingly tart tomato & onion salad worked well to softened the strong char-grill of the lamb.

Effie's is...Iffy?

2009-05-28T06:52:00.004-04:00

With all the attention that Cypriot BYOB Kanella has been getting in Washington Square West, we thought it would only be fair to try out Effie's, an unassuming Greek BYOB just a few blocks away. Effie's has a reputation for courtyard seating and decent standards, like octopus and lamb, so we stopped in on a Wednesday to sample the offerings.

They were a little jammed up and grabbing a courtyard table, which seemed relatvely easy for 8:30PM on a Wednesday, was out of the question. As we waited to be seated in a two-top along Pine Street we amused ourselves watching the cooks tackling orders while grill-smoke pouring out of the tiny open kitchen.

The first course of calamari was perfectly done. This was some of the best calamari we've had in a long time; if you've read some of our other reviews, you know that we use calamari as the baseline for judging how much care and attention a kitchen puts into the food.

At first glance, it should be an easy dish to make...pull it from a prep dish, batter/bread and deep fry, then serve...but so many kitchens really blow this one, through bad pre-made ingredient, poorly mixed or seasoned coating or due to innatentively over cooking the calamari into fried rubber bands...oh let me count the ways that you can ruin thee.

Effie's calamari was a perfect balance of light, crispy coating, just salty & seasoned enough with tender squid rings beneath. Served still warm, this was a sign of good things to come.

The sampler platter was a decent smattering of bulgar stuffed grape leaves, an eggplant dip, soem hummus, cheese and peppers...consistency of the dips were smooth and flavors pronounced...a well-done, if not basic, appetizer. Served with pita points, a decent way to pass the evening over a glass of wine.

Mains brought both great grilling and gritty greens. The lamb rack was perfectly seasoned & grilled, albeit a little on the medium side of medium rare. Resting on a bed of mac & cheese orzo, this was Greek comfort food...except for the sand.

The dish was ruined with the ring of gritty greens that had not been throughly washed...my wife's first bite into them yeilded that 'tween the teeth crunch that kills your appetite...she asked me to try another piece to see if it was a fluke, but after one or two more bites from different bunches of greens the slack-luster prep was apparent. She picked her way around the sides while enjoying the lamb.

I ordered Lamb Lemonato, the lemon potato and lamb dish...basically cubed, grilled lamb & roasted potatos drenched in an lemon-oil sauce. The potatos were hit or miss due to their irregular sizes...some over-cooked & withered, other larger chunks on the edge of doneness, an occasional well-roasted wedge...Seems like short-cut prep strikes again.

The lamb mostly appeared in small scraps and was a little gristly..however, those sizeable chunks that could be found amongst the potatos were decently seasoned and cooked...I found myself digging through the cubes of spud in search of those few remaining lamb chunks that were hiding shadows of my plate created by the al fresco street lighting.

Final verdict? Great place for appetizers. They had actually 86'd two of the apps we wanted to try (tomato tart and the grilled octupus, a favrotie from what I can gather), so we may be back to try those and get some more calamari.

We're staying away from the entrees though...seemed like the poor prep went by unnoticed by the chef making it to the plate. Those sides sabotaged what could've been some great lamb dishes.

Most of the other customers leaving seemed happy though, so maybe it was just a fluke or that fact that we ordered at the end of a busy shift and were left picking through our entrees looking for the delicatable bits...but Effie's stuck us as Iffy's.