Archive for January, 2007

CARIBOU CAFE

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

caribou cafe
One day, out of the blue, we decided to have a post-holiday lunch at Caribou Café. It was a weekday, and the place was pretty much empty, but we got some good vibes when we walked in. Large old French movie posters dominated the walls. Tall sculpted female figurines stood on the bar serving as lamps, and screens broke up the area between the serving floor and the back area near the restrooms – a nice touch.

Messy began her meal with a good, strong coffee and a few slices of bread. We both found the complimentary bread and butter to be somehow addictive. We can't tell you exactly what made it special, but it was so good we ended up eating two baskets full. Messy had the soup of the day for $5.50 — an excellent red pepper tomato bisque. However, it didn't come with any crackers (this is where that second basket of bread came in handy). Messy also had the Salad de Chèvre (baked goat cheese in pastry with a frisée and a red beet vinaigrette). She found the salad to be a little too beet-y. If you're really, really into beets (and who is?) this one's for you. If you just kind of tolerate beets but you really like goat cheese, skip this one. Messy was also confused as to why this particular salad is $11 on the lunch menu and only $9.50 on the dinner menu. Perhaps there is a difference in size? Although Messy really liked the ambience, she was dissapointed by the menu — there are almost no vegetarian options except for soups and salads. And this is definitely not a place for vegans.

Picky's Croque Monsier came with a nice helping of fries and a salad. On the menu, it was supposed to be a choice of one or the other, but he got both and ate it all up graciously. The Croque Monsieur is a grilled Parisian ham and cheese sandwich served on a brioche. Oh, those French and their simple ham and cheese sandwiches! Picky recalls seeing many a ham and cheese sandwich in various eateries when he visited Paris as a teenager. The whole sandwich was nice and warm and the cheese melted, but not overly gooey – after taking a bite, the rest of the sandwich didn't ooze out.

Caribou also offers a $16 prix fixe lunch menu which includes the soup of the day or a small salad and one of their classic French entrees. There's also a $29 prix fixe dinner menu which includes a wider selection of first courses and entrees. In addition, Caribou offers up a weekend brunch menu which varies slightly from their regular lunch menu with treats such as omelettes and crêpes.

Messy ***
Picky ***

The final word: Good French food in a nice setting, but not a lot for the vegetarians among us.

Caribou Café
1126 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: (215) 625-9535
Fax: (215) 625-2423
Mon – Thu: 11:30am to Midnight
Fri & Sat: 11:30am to 2am
Sun: 11:30am to 11pm

Posted in Center City East, French | 4 Comments »

MIXTO

Monday, January 15th, 2007

mixto
Even though Messy had previously visited Mixto for some seriously unremarkable appetizers and desserts, she was more than gung-ho when Picky invited her to Mixto for brunch. After all, you can't really judge a place by their overpriced chocolate cake if you haven't tried a full meal there. We both love going out to brunch, but we always run into long lines at popular Center City brunch spots. We had no such problem at Mixto — the interior is quite spacious and we were seated promptly. We had a cute table for two in the upstairs dining room, which was brightly lit by the midday sun through a skylight. The place was busy, but not loud, and nobody seemed in a tizzy to get people out of the place to get more people inside.

We began our meal with drinks and some complimentary pan fried bread, which was delicious. Messy had a nice solid cup of coffee while Picky went with a cool glass of freshly squeezed OJ. Picky thought the OJ was very good without too much pulp. Messy, who is not a fan of pulp whatsoever — she firmly believes that orange juice should never involve chewing — wasn't impressed. Picky's main dish was an orange spiced scrambled egg platter, which included three eggs scrambled with a hint of orange with a Cuban chorizo and some fried veggies. The "hint" of orange was more of a notion of orange. The eggs weren't the least bit orange-y, but they were still very good. The chorizo, which was split right down the middle and gently fried with tons of flavor, was the prize of the dish.

Messy had one of her favorite meals ever, huevos rancheros. [The best huevos rancheros Messy has ever had remain those at the mouth-watering hole-in-the-wall of Las Brisas in Port Chester, NY, but she has also had some pretty awesome ones at Taqueria de Veracruzana here in Philly, where they serve them all day long.] Our server happily agreed to substitute avocado slices for the meat that was included in the dish. Messy was expecting huge chunks of avocado, but instead she got a couple of dinky slices. The eggs were quite yummy, but they came with crispy tortillas which made it really difficult to mop up the soppy eggs. The meal was better than average, but Messy still wished for more avocado and more bread.

Although the service was kind of slow, overall, our meal was a pleasant experience. It was our first brunch outing in a while (we like to sleep late, and Picky makes killer omelettes on the weekends) and we were both very happy to find a good, decently priced and convenient location for brunch. Mixto also seems like a good place for a group brunch outing, as we were pretty much surrounded by larger parties sipping Bloody Marys (Bloody Marys are gross). We're both glad we found Mixto for those rare occasions when we go out to brunch — we won't need to wait an hour at a time for those Philly brunch favorite spots anymore!

Messy ***1/2
Picky ***

The final word: A very good, no-wait brunch, with some Cuban flair.

Mixto
1141 Pine St.
Philadelphia PA. 19107
Phone : 215 592 0363
Fax : 215 592 6417
Hours:
Breakfast, Lunch and dinner served daily.
Sunday thru Wednesday: 9:00am to 11:00pm
Thursday thru Staurday: 9:00 to 12:30pm

Posted in Center City East, Cuban | 3 Comments »

Philadelphia Magazine

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

Messy picked up her boss's copy of Philadelphia magazine yesterday, since the current issue is dedicated to food in Philly. We looked through it together, and we were both totally suprised to find that we received a little shout-out. Thanks for noticing us, Philadelphia magazine! We were also a little embarrassed to find that our blurb mentioned our total lack of updating this site — we're sorry about that. We have been extremely busy these past few months, and we have a huge backlog of restaurants to get through. Please keep checking in — we promise to be more consistent in 2007.

We wish you all happy eating in the new year!

The Philly Mag How Philly Eats section is now up online

Posted in Announcements | 6 Comments »