In Case You Missed It: The Hot Potato Episode Of Kitchen Nightmares
Sunday, January 31st, 2010So much to talk about here! And we will, on Monday. In the meantime, just take it all in.
Archive for January, 2010
"Cabin Fever" Wine & Cheese Tastings
Sunday, January 31st, 2010January 30, 2010 (Sat): Join us for our “Cabin Fever” Wine & Cheese Tastings at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Local Cows & Local Wines what could be better? Sit down tastings with our wine educators pair Chaddsford premium wines with local cheeses hand picked by our Winemaker Eric Miller. Reservations required [...]
2nd Annual SPTR Beef and Beer
Sunday, January 31st, 2010January 31, 2010 (Sun):
On Sunday, January 31st the South Philadelphia Tap Room will
host their second annual Beef and Beer from 5-9pm at SPTR. Tickets are $50 per
person for this all you can eat & drink event.
 
 Don’t expect a traditional beef and beer.
There will be no dry a[...]
Two Kinds of Sour: Cuvée De Ranke
Saturday, January 30th, 2010Much like my friend Joe at Old World Old School, who included drinking more beer and paying more attention to it among his resolutions for the New Year, I’ve been meaning to write about beer here at MFWT at least a little more often for some time now. It’s the paying attention part that really clicked with me, as beer already slots in pretty regularly to my eating and drinking routines. There was a major focus on beer during the course of my posse’s pub crawling activities last weekend. One of our stops, in particular, provided plenty to contemplate, though we of course never lost sight of pursuing the pleasure principle.
In a city increasingly populated with great beer-centric bars and restaurants (if only wine would catch up…), we still couldn’t pass up a visit to that holy grail of all brews Belgian: Monk’s Cafe. Having set the stage with a thirst quenching bottle of Cantillon Gueuze and a follow-up with Lost Abbey’s Red Barn Ale, our server, Jill, didn’t hesitate one second when I asked her what I should try next. “Cuvée De Ranke.” Cantillon, I do love you; and Lost Abbey, I like you well enough, though I’m still getting to know you. But Jill nailed it, for on this day it was the Cuvée De Ranke that most captured my attention and most delivered on the principles of pleasure. With an ever so slightly sweet, more so sour center akin to better known Flemish Sour Ales, followed up by a funky, tart sneak-attack à la spontaneously fermented Gueuze, and finished off with a refreshing hint of hoppy bitterness, the De Ranke was a very complete, primordially satisfying brew.
Ex post-facto research reveals that my gut reactions to the beer were more accurate than I could have expected. “Cuvée,” it turns out, actually is a blend of two styles of Belgian sour beer. About 70% of the blend is a red/brown sour ale brewed by De Ranke in the tradition of the Roeselare/Kortrijk/Oudenaarde regions, top-fermented using Rodenbach (perhaps the most famous Flemish sour producer) yeast strains. The other 30% of the blend is actually lambic, which De Ranke purchases from Brouwerij Girardin. After blending, the beer is bottle-matured before release. According to De Ranke, it is capable of mid-term aging. It didn’t stand much of a chance of that on our table, though.
De Ranke is brought into the US by one of my favorite beer importers, Shelton Brothers; you’ll find more information about their beers at the Sheltons’ site as well as at De Ranke’s homepage.
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Original content published at McDuff’s Food & Wine Trail. All work copyright David McDuff and licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NC-ND Works 3.0 Unported License.
Food Blob: Philly Is Hungry
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Phoodie Desert Island: Drew Lazor Of Meal Ticket
Friday, January 29th, 2010
Meal Ticket has become the go-to spot for breaking news in the world of Philadelphia food. That shit doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s all due to the hardest working man in food blogging today, Drew Lazor. He’s everywhere at once, he’s FOOD BATMAN.
He’s not all business, though, as his notorious Top Chef Recaps are often better than the show itself. So besides Padma, what else is Lazor taking with him on the island? And what the hell is he holding in that picture?
For everything we rag on at CP, the food section is not to be trifled with. Filled with insightful criticism and entertaining news tidbits, Drew Lazor is the man behind the curtain. His work also appears in national food mag Saveur.
Follow him on twitter @drewlazor. Often times you’ll see the words ‘bourbon’ and ‘Sidecar’. Once that happens, be prepared for an entertaining evening.
The man who’s always asking questions goes on the hot seat.
Entree:
Fried chicken!
Side Dish:
Probably collard greens, or another comparable green that you can put slab bacon in without looking really disgusting.
Dessert:
My mom’s coffee lecheplan, which is a Filipino version of flan with powdered coffee mixed in. The only real difference between lecheplan and regular flan is that there is no F in the Tagalog language, so you gotta call it plan. This is why when FOB Filipino people sing karaoke you might hear songs like “Peelings” or “Ply Like An Eagle.”
Beer:
Oh man, this one isn’t fair. Like a beer I could drink every day without fail? Either Yards Philly Pale Ale, Ballast Point Big Eye IPA or Duvel. DON’T MAKE ME PICKKKK
Cocktail:
Easy, an Old Fashioned. No mushed-up stringy orange in mine please!
Liquor:
Bulleit Bourbon
Wine:
I don’t know a ton of wines by name so I’ll just go with a grape — Pinot Noir.
Luxury ingredient:
That awesome cheese with the truffles all up in it. Pecorino di Tartufo? I could eat 800 pounds.
Restaurant (we managed to fly in your favorite, brick by brick):
I’m going to have to second Felicia D’s pick of Mémé.
Bar (it was a big plane, full of bricks):
The Sidecar, 100 million percent sure. (Ed. – We didn’t need to ask Drew this question, he already pays Adam rent.)
Potato Chip Flavor:
I’m from Maryland so you know I gotta go with crab chips. Utz, not Herr’s.
Soft Drink:
Diet Dew or Diet Sunkist. Yeah I’m a diet soda person, I know, I know.
Pre-packaged baked good:
I’m thinking Nutty Bars, if that counts as a baked good.
Fast Food:
Popeye’s all day! Four-piece spicy with beans and rice and an extra biscuit.
Candy:
Sour Patch Kids, the OLD version that was way more sour.
Comfort Food:
Hamburger patties and big-ass rings of crunchy white onion, drenched in brown gravy, over rice. (Hi mom!)
M&M Color:
Orange, I really like orange.
Cookbook:
I really like Marcus Samuelsson’s new book, New American Table.
Cooking utensil/vessel:
The one pan that I have with the metal handle that can go into the oven. It’s all broken in and scratched and messed up like a good baseball glove.
Hot Dog Topping:
Sauerkraut
Pizza Topping:
Really fatty pepperoni that crisps up and burns in the oven.
Movie:
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Book:
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Record Album:
Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem
A Burger and a Beer at Swift Half Pub
Thursday, January 28th, 2010It’s really only by way of happy accident that our core BP-weekend group ended up at Swift Half Pub for lunch and to commence our adventures in pub crawling. At the request of my three Philly loving comrades, we’d actually headed out to Northern Liberties with lunch at Standard Tap in mind; problem was, I’d forgotten that Standard does lunch only on Saturday and Sunday…. So, a quick walk up 2nd Street it was. We momentarily contemplated Cantina Dos Segundos, but the Denverite amongst our group shot down that idea as he gets his regular fill of Mexican food back home on the Front Range. Continuing on then, we soon found ourselves at the Piazza at Schmidt’s.
The Piazza itself is actually worth a visit if you find yourself in the neighborhood, both for its public courtyard design and its conceptual approach to community-focused living. I’m not sure I like the idea of having my living room or bedroom overlook a twenty-foot wide television screen and a courtyard designed for late night communal reveling. But I can see the appeal for those that are more socially minded than I. And I can certainly see the appeal of having a decent place or two to eat and drink within rolling distance of your front door; of the several options at the Piazza, we pointed ourselves straight for the Swift Half.
I’d expected Swift Half to have a hipster dive bar feel along the lines of Center City’s Good Dog Bar, as both pubs are under the same ownership. Instead, we found a wide open space with large booths, airy lighting, ample seating and elbow room, finished brick walls, ESPN on the TV…. Kind of MOR one could say, definitely family friendly and, actually, very much in keeping with the open, contemporary, something-for-everyone design of the Piazza at Schmidt’s.
Given that I’d worked up a ferocious hunger with that long hike up 2nd Street and that I hadn’t filed A Burger and A Beer report since my trip to California back in the fall, it didn’t take me long to figure out what to order.
Swift Half’s “Traditional Burger” is aptly named as, unlike at Good Dog, where its counterpart is stuffed with molten blue cheese and topped with a mass of caramelized onions, here there are no bells and whistles. Just a half-pound, hand-formed patty of tender sirloin, a leaf of lettuce and a slice of tomato, all sandwiched between a just-barely-substantial-enough-to-hold-it-all-together brioche bun. I opted for a slice of Keen’s aged cheddar, worth the $1.50 up-charge for the sharp, nutty, salty goodness it added to the burger, which I might add was copiously juicy and cooked just to the bloody side of medium-rare. Just how I like it. The shoestring fries were satisfying enough but, really, it’s the burger that’s worth the trip. That and the admirable tap list. A pint of Bell’s Amber Ale, which seems to be making a resurgence around town at the moment, was just the thing with which to wash it all down.
Swift Half Pub
1001 North 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 923-1600
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Original content published at McDuff’s Food & Wine Trail. All work copyright David McDuff and licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NC-ND Works 3.0 Unported License.
At Long Last, @phoodiedotinfo Is On Twitter
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Philly Food Network Casting Could Let You Finally Ruin Your Most Long-Lasting Relationships
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
24 Hour Restaurant Battle is a new show about to go into production for the Food Network in which they husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, mothers and sisters, best friends and newlyweds and have them run a restaurant. You can see where this is going: Kitchen Nightmares meets, oh, say, Hoarders or Intervention. Wanna be a part of the fun? You’re in luck: They’ll be casting “personalities that pop” Friday, February 5, 10am – 3pm, at Loews Hotel. Oh, and just for that extra bit of whathaveyou: No previous kitchen experience required.
Name That Wine
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Yessiree folks, it’s time for another episode of “Name That Wine.” Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what I enjoyed with dinner over the last couple of nights?
And by the way, did I already mention that the DIAM is my preferred in-neck closure? Why yes, yes I did.
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Original content published at McDuff’s Food & Wine Trail. All work copyright David McDuff and licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NC-ND Works 3.0 Unported License.
