Bob Loblaw's Profile
Wedding Restaurant Help? Focused on the Food!
we had our wedding reception (though not the ceremony) at Amada. It was a daytime reception, and quite reasonably priced. Nightimes are far more expensive, and if your family drinks a lot and it will be more expensive. the food was excellent.
Real Water Ice
I'm with you on the crazy 'new' flavors, but not on the actual pieces of fruit.
when i was growing up in the 70s, the general rule was that if there was one flavor, there was lemon; if there was a 2nd flavor, it was cherry. neither was particularly natural, esp. the cherry, which was always a bright red.
Real Water Ice
I'm just not sure what "real" means when it comes to water ice. I love the stuff, and eat a ton of it during the summer, but to me eating water ice means a willingness to embrace the artificiality.
Last summer I found a lemon seed in a lemon water ice from Rocco's and thought, 'hunh. what's *that* doing here?'
I do like John's, and do avoid Rita's, but for me water ice - like soft pretzels and cheese steaks - isn't something that I think of as a destination food.
Knishes in Philly & burbs
wow. this sounds like it's worth a summer excursion. (Can't remember the last time I was in the Great Northeast!)
Take-out for picnic in Rittenhouse Square (or other park)?
it is, indeed, a sports facility next to a parkway BUT it's also quite nice. there's no way a toddler would just wander onto the highway, or even that a car would plow into penn park. (Cars do plow through the green areas along Kelly Drive and wind up in the river a few times a year).
There are a bunch of places at Penn Park where you could hang out and picnic and watch some of the sports. There are even nice bathrooms there.
Like I said, it's nice. Rittenhouse Square is nicer.
Best Sandwiches
One of the new Temple food trucks has been serving "koagies" - korean hoagies. they're not that hoagie-like, other than the long seeded roll. they're quite good, though. especially the chicken bulgogi one. (i liked the beef bulgogi far less).
Bialys in Philly suburbs?
The weavers way coop has bialys, I think from Rolings, that I think are pretty good.
I've eaten far more bagels in my life than bialys, though, so I don't claim any expertise here.
Dinner next Saturday w/ 5 Temple University Freshmen Women
There's no place I'd suggest walking distance from campus. (Osteria is the closest, but still far to walk and it's not exactly the most scenic stretch of Philly. And it's expensive.) That said, if you get on the subway you can easily get to most of center city, even old city or a place like Zahav if you don't mind changing trains.
If you're driving, it's pretty easy and quick to get to Fairmount or northern liberties, which each have some nice restaurants.
Any Cuban Restaurant Suggestion
since '06 i've probably been there 3 times, maybe 4.
i'm guessing it's a little over a year since my last visit.
Any Cuban Restaurant Suggestion
I don't eat there as much anymore, but 2003-2006 I lived at 7th and Pine, and Mixto was one of my favorite restaurants then. still liked it the last few times I was there.
Temple food truck recommendations
I had a very tasty "Koagie" (Korean Hoagie) on Monday, from a truck on 13th just north of Berks. It didn't seem that hoagie-like (it was warm), but that's ok.
I want to like some of the other new foodie-ish trucks, but they're kinda flaky.
having used my dried beans as pie weights, can I still cook them?
Reporting back:
Beans were fine. Not great, but fine. I had used around 2/3 as pie weights, and couldn't tell the difference in the final product. Did take a long time to cook.
The pie crust? enh. Certainly edible, but a bit hard. I'm not blaming the beans, though.
-Charles
Chicken Roasting question
Note: I am NOT actually planning on roasting a chicken. I'm writing an essay and want to use chicken roasting as a metaphor.
My understanding is that the tricky part of roasting a chicken is that one part cooks faster, the other slower. Dark meat v. white meat, somehow.
So, my question: which is it that cooks faster? If you cook until the thighs are done, are the breasts a) undercooked, or b) overcooked?
I've eaten many fine roast chickens, I'm sure that there are ways around this, but, again, the goal is to use this as a metaphor in an essay.
Thanks!
-Charles.
having used my dried beans as pie weights, can I still cook them?
They've already been soaking for a while, so that ship has sailed.
It's very rare that I bake a pie, and this the only time I can ever remember blind baking a crust. So I wasn't planning on saving them to reuse them (I know they're cheap, but space in our kitchen isn't).
having used my dried beans as pie weights, can I still cook them?
Hi All -
The thread title says it all, or most of it, anyway.
I used some red beans as pie weights yesterday. 30 mins @350.
Hoping on still cooking them. They seem so solid that I was optimistic about just soaking them and cookign them, but they're not looking so hot as they soak. (I did let them cool first).
I suspect that, at most, this will be a texture issue, but wanted to find out if anyone here had any experience with this.
Thanks,
-Charles
where can I get a great Cheesesteak, with a menu full of stuff for everyone else?
A minority position on this board, but I believe that
1) many, many places serve a perfectly good cheesesteak.
2) the dinic's sandwhich is overrated. if you want a cheesesteak, get a cheesesteak.
that said, i love reading terminal and it will have something for everyone.
most pizza places in philly also have cheesesteaks. you just don't want to go to a general restaurant and get a cheesesteak. general rule of thumb for cheesesteaks would be that you want the options to be up on teh wall somewhere, as opposed to just in a printed menu.
Avenida In Chestnut Hill
we've eaten there twice. nothing stands out, particularly good or particularly bad. we'd eat there more often if we ate out more often, but we don't have the time and we like cooking, so there ya go...
but yes, it struck me as a place of consistent quality. i do recall begin jealous of the lamb dish that the guy at the table next to me had, but i didn't actually get to taste it.
Dim Sum on Sunday need a place with reservations
i had sunday morning dim sum at joy tsin lau a few months ago. they used carts.
we got there around when it opened, and sat right away. it didn't *look* like they were taking reservations, given how many people were waiting when we left, but i didn't ask.
PA's crazy liquor laws -- another example!
I have to suspect that most good byos have a few bottles on hand, even if it's illegal. i mean, what if the waiter's opening a bottle and winds up pushing the cork into the bottle? there's got to be some sort of 'plan b.'
i say this w/no actual knowledge of what the restaurants do, just my guess...
Soft Pretzels
Earliest/cheapest I remember was 15c/ or 2 for a quarter.
it does seem to me that when i was growing up, there was less space in the pretzel - the same shape, but the braids woudl touch in teh middle more often. now, there's usually at least a half-inch of space there.
Why Bibou doesn't deserve Four Bells...
I understand that restaurants have to make their money somehow... what bugs me isn't so much the 300% markup, but the 300% markup for wines bought through the PA state store system. Doesn't really help restaurants or diners. That said, a BYO will, for me, always be limited. Are you ordering food to go with the wine you brought? Or are you ordering food that doesn't go well?
I used to live on the same block as a neighborhood BYO. We'd order, then I'd go home and get a bottle I thought would go well. but a) not really a transferable business model, and b) i'm a total hack of a sommelier anyway. If I'm going all out, I want to just be able to trust someone to make the right pairings.
still, though, there's something about seeing a wine you recognize from the 'chairman's selections' that just doesn't seem right. excessively picky on my part? probably.
Closing Night at Le Bec-Fin--Anyone Going?
I went to the last ever Grateful Dead concert. That counts equal, right?
NYC Hound Coming this weekend- Questions about Matyson and Little Fish and others
I'm a huge reading terminal market fan (like pretty much everyone), but during the flower show it can be cra-zee crowded. not saying not to go, just that i'd have a 'plan b.'
When did Gorben's Fish Market and Take Out disappear?
Yes, but as per mtairypatch, goat hollow is on its way back!
What's "wit" the "wiz" -- Cheeseteaks for a prodigal Philadelphian
I grew up here. I don't remember anyone being all fussy about 'wit' and 'wiz.' I do remember wiz being around, but this whole 'you have to order it this way' is new. and i think that just about every place will have provolone.
my guess is that the only places that insist you order it like a real philadelphian are, ironically, the tourist places.
When did Gorben's Fish Market and Take Out disappear?
Story in Mt. Airy Patch:
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/neighborhoods/mt-airychestnut-hill-/item/34501-grobens-seafood-in-mt-airy-closing-after-135-years-in-business&Itemid=1
Il Pittore - Great Food, but Gouging Wine List
that's my sense as well. 3x the in-store price. not that i'm happy about it but it's not somethign i think of as unusual. fortunately i barely drink these days...
Temple food truck recommendations
I've eaten at Yumtown a few times. Yeah, good stuff. Very foodie. They seem to be a bit deep-fryer happy, for a foodie food truck, but the things I've had there have all had a lot of flavor. Not as good as the Vietnamese/Chinese truck on Montgomery, but nice to have.
Best markets/butchers to buy Grass Fed Beef/Lamb and Pastured Pork in the City
mmm.... organ box....
(oddly, I just heard someone talking about Philly CowShare yesterday; I'd never heard of it before)
