Random Food Musings

Hello fellow foodies,

I found some funny things about foodies that I had to share.  the first one comes from buzzfeed about annoying foodie habits.

Check it out and see how many of these traits you exhibit.  I counted about 9 for myself.  so I'm about 56% annoying.  My favorite one has to be the one that's about the lobster rolls.  Although I have to say most foodies loves having their friend around when they have delicious food and if your mad that you didn't get one it's usually not the fault of the foodie because they probably tried to invite you to come but you declined because you think having frozen fish sticks at home is just as good.  So there.

I love this second one which is even funnier.  I recently was asked by my foreign born mother in law what Applebees was and I told her it's really bad food and I would never go there.  And although I'm not a hipster, my parents aren't paying my way and I look horrible in skinny jeans, I have to say I agree with this clip from the onion completely.  Yes it would be hilarious to put foodies in Applebies.  Having said that, I do enjoy olive garden for their soup and salad but like the second group I appreciate it what what it is and am not under any illusion that olive garden is gourmet Italian food.  Anyway those are my random food thought for the day.  What do you think?  What kind of foodie are you?

Osteria Best Italian food I had in Philly...so far

Osteria is the best Italian in Philadelphia.  Or should I say it's the best I've had so far...  I have eaten at most of the BYOs downtown, Branzino, La viola, Bellini Grill, Porcini, Melagrano and even some others in other parts of town ie Modo Mio for one and they have all been very good but I say unequivocally that Osteria is the Italian you must try if you like Italian.

The restaurant is located just north of spring garden next door to Marc Ventri's other eatery Alla Spina.  They feature a large dining room and a large covered outside seating area which is great since the location of the restaurant is not in the best part of town.  

The bread course arrived with a generous and varied selection and fresh olive oil.  Every piece I had was light and fluffy and the right amount of texture and toughness in the crust.  There were also bread sticks which we had fun playing with before our entire party arrived.  This was a special dinner because it was to celebrate a new job for one of my foodie friends who was moving away.  Buy oh boy what a way for a sendoff.  

Our table shared three appetizers to start.  The burrata stuffed squash blossoms were lightly fried with alabama blue crab and basil maionese were delicately fried without any hint of being heavy or greasy.  This was the first time that I ever had burrata and the soft texture and mild flavor went very well with the sweetness of the blossom and the crab meat.  The basil maionese is just that little bit of extra heavy flavor you need to give it some more savory notes.  

The pork belly with the summer melons, purslane, and chili salt was equally awesome.  Again something you'd imagine might be heavy was treated very well with elements of freshness on the plate such as the purslane and melons really helped to cut the richness and strikes the right balance between sweet ans savory.  The skin of the pork belly was nice and tender just as it should be and overall excellent presentation and great taste.

The final appetizer was a smoked fish course with figs and toasted nuts not on the regular menu.  The fish was cold smoked as our waiter explained and had a very low level of smokiness which basically preserved the natural flavor without intensifying it too much as smoked fish often can be.  I should know I am married to a Russian I've had a lot of smoked fish in my day.  To sum up every item on the appetizer had some element of sweet and some element of savory which shows how well the owner Marc Vetri and his staff really understand how to create a perfect dish to give you just enough of what you want.

With the excellent appetizer making a comfortable home in our bellies we got ready to tackle the entrees.  The robiola francobolli with royal trumpet mushrooms and thyme our friend ordered was absolutely amazing. I had never had pasta that was so delicate that it literally started to melt in my mouth as soon as I put it in but it still managed to stay whole on the plate.  This is probably the best pasta dish I have had anywhere.  We attribute the texture and taste to copious amounts of butter perhaps but again I did not feel like the dish was heavy at all.

My wife got the lamb dish, which was severed with some beans and cooked to a medium I'd say.  This was a very unique dish in that it's not your typical lamb chop but rather sliced thinly form another part of the animal of course.  Personally I thought it had a little more of the gamey flavor but I personally don't mind that and judging by my wife's expressions she did not mind it either.  A very solid lamb dish but I don't think it stands out too much.

Something funny happened before I order my entree which I think describes my philosophy with food.  While looking at the menu the halibut caught my eye since I had just had pasta last week and did not want to do pasta again.  However I realized after reading the description that the dish contained a pistachio cream so I casually mentioned to the table something to the effect of "oh I can't have that since I had a pistachio sauce last week":-)  Which was absolutely true I had had the rabbit ravioli at Fork about 10 days ago.  The table laughed and I realized damn, I am such a food snob:-)  Oh well on to my entree which was also absolutely divine.

For my entree I opted for the pork special that they had on the menu.  Here the pork was served two different ways with an extra special item on top.  Crispy skin!!!.  The two different ways included a rib and a shoulder piece.  Both was just fall off the bone tender and so packed with flavor that even though the meat looked white and unassuming it was perfectly layered with a variety of spices that I couldn't name.  And the addition of the crispy skin gave it a rich smokiness that you can basically have as much or as little as you want with each bite of your dish.  And the contrasting texture made for a great combination.

We did have desert and drinks which are not pictured and they were both very good.  Of particular note for me was the drink.  We shared a pitcher of lemoncello spiked lemonade which contained some mint leaves.  It was almost like a mojito but it wasn't as strong and it had a great refreshing flavor perfect for our meal.  I highly recommend it as something to have in the summer time.  The dessert we had gelato which was good but not as good as say Capogiro:-)  Sorry I'm really partial to that place.

All in all, the restaurant was damn near perfect!!  Everything from the atmosphere to the service to the food taste itself I can not find a single thing to be picky about.  I would give this restaurant a very enthusiastic 10/10.  If you are a local of philly and you've done the BYO thing and want something different you must dine here. If you are celebrating a special event or just in town as a tourist you must dine here.  This is a must visit for food lovers.  Dinner is ~50/person before tax and tip but worth every penny.

Mini Review Capogiro

OK I'm someone who eats iced cream once about 6 months so there's very little reason for me to buy a pint and have it sit in my fridge for that long thawing, refreezing until by the time I'm ready for another scoop the darn thing will have picked up a variety of flavors that have also graced my freezer in that time.  What do I do instead?  I go to Capogiro.  Recently named by national geographic as the #1 place to have iced cream in the world!!! http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/ice-cream-parlors/#page=1.  And I started going there before it was cool:-)

Anyway my wife and I had just finished our meal at AGNO and walked here which was only about a block away on the corner of Sansom and 20th.  There are a few other locations spread out in the major neighborhoods in the city but this is the one I like the most.  Words can't not do justice to the variety of favors available at Capogiros.  Things like Avacado, and Kiwi just to name a few that you normally would not find in your local ACME.  And your allowed to try any many of them as you like before making a selection!!!  Order sizes are 2-4 scoops cup or cone.  We got the 4 scoops after sampling about 8 different flavors out of the 20 or so they have.

Going clockwise from 12, we had the Coquito, hazelnut, coconut gelato, and the mango sorbetto.  The hazelnut was probably my favorite.  The richness of the flavor almost tasted of chocolate but it definitely was some kind of vanilla base.  However it is really unfare to pick a favorite among the four because they were narrowed down from a field of about 20.  Let's just say there were all great for what they were.  The coconut was the best coconut ice cream i've ever had and so on.  

If you are in the center city area and you have not yet beet to Capogiro. Run, don't walk.  For someone who only eats iced cream 2x a year this is the only iced cream worth eating.  The flavors all all unique, they are hand made on site, and they are locally sourced and seasonal so you'll likely encounter new flavors when you go in the summer vs winter.  To me this place is a perfect 10 and one of the must eats in Philadelphia.  Yes you heard me, the first 10/10 place to eat in Philadelphia.  Seriously, what are you waiting for!!!

Mini Review AGNO

My wife and I ended up at AGNO complete by accident.  Well it was more due to laziness and not wanting to do anything fancy that we ended up there and we were glad we did. This is a fast food build your own Greek joint located between 22nd and 21st on Chestnut.  The restaurant mainly features wraps and bowls with your choice of starch, protein, sides and sauces.  My wife had a wrap which was hard to take pictures of so I just have the bowl shown here.

 

 

As one can see the bowl was very colorful.  I ended up with the black rice platter with grilled chicken and falafel,  carrot slaw, broccoli fennel salad and the white bean with Parm and spinach.  I had humus and tzatziki sauce as well on the side.  My wife got the wrap with chicken and cucumber tomato salad, roasted cauliflower, and olives.  The platter was pretty tasty, the chicken was tender but I thought the falafel was little on the dry side.  It was also slightly bland and could have used a little more salt.  The carrot slaw had a very strong balsamic taste to it when you first bite into int but you quickly acclimate and I found it to be really refreshing.  The fennel broccoli had a nice crunch but not too much and finally the white beans and spinach salad was good but did not have much spinach in it.

Wow that was a mouthful.  I did try my wife's wrap which was also good, the wrap has to be said was a little different than expected.  I expected a peta bread like you've gotten a million times before but this was a very soft bread almost like the injera of Etheopean fame minus the sourish taste.  It went very well with the chicken and other fillings.  And that really is the lesson here.  The food was fresh, filling, and getting to build your own meal is dare I say kind of fun too.  

The one thing I'd say to other is bring your own beverage.  the almost 3 dollars you get charged for a lemonade or ice tea is definitely where they make up their margins.  We did not get a chance to try the steak or home made soda (watermellon) as they were out during our visit.  As we were eating our meal, it was interesting to see a bevy of young people enter and leave for dinner, many of whom looked like they were either on their way to the gym or had just gotten done.  It gave me a sense that I was eating somewhere super healthy:-)  Well I can't let that go for long.  On to Capogiro my favorite Gelato place in Philly:-) PS AGNO 8/10.

Fork... Why is it so popular again?

Of all the restaurants in Philly where it is difficult to get a reservation, Fork is the one that we can never figure out why.  My wife and I have been to fork separately before we met each other and although we enjoyed the meal it wasn't anything where we said to ourselves you had to go back.  The combination of taste, and value just wasn't really there.  So it was not our first choice to return there but we needed a nice place to eat after First Friday and we had heard that there was a new chef so we said to ourselves, oh what the heck.

We were sat at 9:30 and the restaurant was still very much busy.  Our server was friendly but it did take a little long than I would have liked for our water and bread to arrive.  With that said, the bread was served with home made cream cheese and was surprisingly light.

Our group had only 2 apps, the CRISPY CHICKEN NUGGETS 10 with spicy mustard, agrodolce and the “VITELLO TONNATO” 18 veal carpaccio, raw tuna, tonnato sauce.  the chicken nugget was deep fried with tempura batter so it was not heavy and it was also very good about keeping the oiliness down.  However the meet itself was kind of bland and slightly on the underdone side.  No one at the table got sick so I guess it was OK, but I think the taste was a little lacking. 

The star of the appetizer course and perhaps the whole meal I have to say was the veal carpaccio with tuna and tonnato sauce.  The tuna was topped with fresh herbs, and lemon zest which when taken together with the veal and tonnato sauce made for just a super complex taste.  It was as if each time I chewed a different part of that combo will hit a different part of my pallet and that sense that within one bite you get such a myriad of flavors is something truly worth savoring.  Oh before I forget the green bits you see in the photo are not honeydew but rather pickled cucumber!!  I was so weary of it before I had a bite since we all know what dill pickles tastes like.  I was afraid it might overwhelm the dish, but it was so gentle in its flavor that you almost forgot you were eating a pickle.  To put it simply this is the best thing on the menu I had.

 For the entree there one lamb dish and there pastas.  PASTRAMI LAMB 38 (house menu supp. 8) rye bread salad, sauerkraut, caraway.  The lamb was very well seasoned and cooked to perfection as you can see from the photo.  It was served three different ways, loin, rib, and sausage accompanied by Swiss Chard.  It was a well presented dish and very flavorful.

 

 Moving on to the pastas,  I had the AGNOLOTTI 19/29 sicilian pistachios, jersey rabbit.  Now I have to confess I picked this dish because it had rabbit.  It just sounds funny, i think we all had the image of spray tanned bunny with a large bouffant when we read that.  But the jersey shore reference aside, how was the dish?  Well, to me it was a little underwhelming.  After that excellent veal tonnato I found my pasta to be a little underdone, and although the pistachio sauce was good, the addition of the amaretti cookie crumbles on top I felt was just too much and clashed with the flavor of the rest of the dish.  The rabbit on the other hand was very good, not too salty as I've found some other restaurants tend to over salt this meat. 

 

 The next two pastas were very interesting, let’s start with the BLACK & WHITE PICI 18/28 fruits of the sea, pickle chili.  This was a pasta made with squid ink and a variety of seafood suck as muscles, shrimp, and squid.  The pasta itself really resemble a small eel, and had a tart flavor.  I didn't too much of a taste cause my dinner companion did not want to try my dish so I felt bad if I took too much.  But from the one taste I can say the squid ink black and white pasta is very technically impressive and the flavor is not too overpowering.  

The last pasta was the BURNT GRAINS PAPPARDELLE 18/28 wild boar ragu, olives, preserved lemon.  This dish at first did not look very appetizing.  The pasta itself was very black which I believe was probably also squid ink.  There are very few foods in nature that are that black.  and the ragu was very much muted in color.  I was expecting a brighter more tomato colored red sauce.  However the most surprising thing about this dish was the taste.  When you take the first bite, you can instantly understand why they call this "burnt gains".  Your first bite will immediately fill your mouth with smokiness, and earthiness, there is even a little anise flavor floating in the background.  This is not a bad thing by any means, but it is quiet different and unexpected and I liked that very much.  The Ragu was also very well done and not too tomato-ee which I appreciate.

So final verdict?  Well I have to say I was very impressed with the velleto tonnato, and the burnt grains pappardelle.  What the chef was able to do to the pickled cucumbers and how he injected the right amount of smokiness into the pappardelle was very impressive.  However even with those interesting dishes, the thought we had before we went remains unchanged.  There were no serious missteps in execution but in terms of flavor and value it was hit or miss.  We still just can't imagine why this place was so popular.  Based on the meal and experience, I'd give this place a 7/10.  Great for a 2nd date but there are plenty of restaurants where you can spend the same amount and get much better food.

SPICE Amazing Gem in Newtown Square

Spice is my favorite Indian restaurant I have ever eaten at.

I can stop writing here because it sums up everything but I will explain.  Now I'm by no means an Indian food expert but I have to say I have never had a bad meal there.  The restaurant is an Indian/Thai place but not Indian Thai fusion as you might think but two separate kitchens basically that produce very different styles of food.  For this review I will focus on the Indian side of the menu frankly because I think it is so superior compared to the Thai side. 

Our meal started with three appetizers.  Tandoori Lamb Chops, Shrimp Tadka, and Pakoras.  The tandoori lamb chops were cook about medium well to well but had the right amount of curry and gameyness that made it very tasty.  The mint sauce help cool the heat a little but the dish it self is maybe a medium spicy so not too bad.  there was some char on the meat which i enjoyed and I definitely found myself trying to get every last little bit of meat.  The shrimp tadka was also very good and you can taste hints of curry, fenil, garlic and cumin.  This preperation style is similar to the chinese concept of "baw guo" which litterally translated means to explode the pot and it involves flash frying whole spices in oil before adding the rest of the ingredients so that the essential oils are drawn out and enhance the flavor.  The pakora was also very good, light and flaky on the outside and spicy and savory on the inside.  the potatoes were not too mushy but still gave the right balance to the flaky shell.

Our entrees were Lamb Korma, and Buttered Chicken.  While both were creamy, the Lamb dish definitely had more curry, cumin flavor.  I have to say I did not notice much nuty flavor but it did have a familiar and at this point unidentified spice which upon biting into one gave a bit of a sweet and sour flavor that's quiet good.  The lamb was also cooked well and tender just as you would expect.  The butter chicken was also very good, rich red sauce which although I'm sure had tomatoes and butter, neither was too over powering so the chicken was still the star of the show.  To help us get it all down we shared an order of garlic nan, which according to the owner they had a special chef that only made nan and nothing else.  To me this is the kind of dedication to excellence where you are willing to hire a person just to make bread, that really shows in the quality of the food. Basmati rice was also served with the entree and serves as a good vehicle for sauce and meat.

To help us get it all down we shared an order of garlic nan, which according to the owner they had a special chef that only made nan and nothing else.  To me this is the kind of dedication to excellence where you are willing to hire a person just to make bread, that really shows in the quality of the food. Basmati rice was also served with the entree and serves as a good vehicle for sauce and meat.

The restaurant is BYOB and comes equipped with their own PA wine and liquor shoppe next door which is usually open till 9.  This is perfect if you either forgot to bring it before arriving or need to refuel mid dinner.  The owner Raj is also a absolute delight, every time I've been to the restaurant he takes times to come say hello and makes me and my guests feel welcomed.  Of all the restaurants I've been to this is the one that not only I will introduce my friends to but they in turn have introduced to others who love good food.

So atmosphere of this restaurant would get about a 9/10, with the majority due to the owner Raj, food 9/10 for an overall score of 9/10.  Which to me is about as high as you can get.  If you are a fan of Indian food in the Philadelphia area you should not miss SPICE.  They have two locations, one in Newtown Square and one in West Chester downtown.  I recommend the one in Newtown Square because it is the original and in my opinion still the best.  OK friends, hope you get a chance to try this place out.

Till next time, eat better friends!!:-)