Archive for March, 2007

TRIA

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

tria
Picky had a day off from his busy work schedule so he headed over to see Messy by her Rittenhouse office and we treated ourselves to lunch at Tria. Messy had been there once before for a business lunch, and she had thoroughly enjoyed her sandwich on that occassion. We arrived towards the end of the lunch rush and sat by the window awaiting a table to open up (this place is always busy during peak hours). Tria is a well known spot to get some fine wines, they even have a fermentation school, but neither of us are too knowledgable on that particular subject. Knowing that good wines are wasted on us (particularly Messy, who enjoys wine that comes with plastic twisty-tops or in boxes or gallon jugs), we drank water.

We were seated along the pale green wall by the west-facing windows. The top portion of the walls used to be smoke stained from the tall candles which formerly occupied the decorative shelves. The candles have been replaced by decorative pieces and the walls repainted a uniform pastel which makes for a pretty hip, minimalist decor.

Picky had a Joe's Smoked Mozzarella Sandwich (with crispy prosciutto, tomato, arugula and garlic vinaigrette) for $7.50. There was nothing spectacular about the sandwich, but then again, nothing has to be spectacular with prosciutto — when it's good, it's just good. And this was good. Unfortunately, it wasn't as big as Picky normally likes his sandwiches. Perhaps he's been spoiled by Philly's gigantic "half" hoagie servings.

Messy had the three cheese and tomato panino, which was very large and very delicious ($7). We had wanted to try an appetizer (Tria has a great selection of bruschetta on the menu), but our waitress must have forgotten or not heard us. (We didn't bother to complain or press the issue – it was really loud in there.) All in all, we were quite satisfied with our tasty lunch.

Messy ****
Picky ***

The final word: Delicious simple snacks and sandwiches, even for the wine-ignorant.

Tria Cafe
123 S. 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 972-TRIA
Mon – Fri: Noon – Late Night
Sat: 4:00 pm – Late Night
Sun: 4:00 pm – 12:30 am

Posted in American, Bars, Center City West, Hoagie/Sandwich, Rittenhouse Square | 3 Comments »

ARIANA RESTAURANT

Monday, March 12th, 2007

ariana
We ended up at Ariana because we found ourselves quite hungry in Olde City on a Friday night, without reservations or boatloads of cash. After peeking into restaurant after restaurant, we glimsped some free tables at Ariana. Since neither Messy, Picky nor our dear friend LB, a restaurant aficionado, had ever had Afghani food, we were all happy to give it a try. Messy had been wanting to try Afghani food for many years – ever since she showed up to Hamid Karzai's brother's restaurant in San Francisco six years ago only to find it closed. [Apparently, the Karzai owns a string of restaurants, one of which is in Baltimore.] The rest of Messy's family ended up eating there without her on another trip and all Messy heard for a while was how delicious Afghani food was and what an amazing pumpkin dish someone had there.

The first thing we noticed was that Ariana has a very cozy atmosphere. The interior is small but not exactly cramped. There is a special no-shoes window table up front facing Chestnut Street, which appeared to seat six. The three of us had a cozy table in the back.

One of the best things about Ariana was the abudance of delicious free bread. We gobbled up so much of it neither one of us was able to completely finish our meal. We began with two different kinds of yummy sambosas, which was the highlight of the meal for Messy. When it came time to order our meals, Messy could hear her brother and sister's voices in her head raving about pumpkins, so she decided to try the pumpkin and yogurt sauce dish (Chalow Kadu, $12), even though she generally does not love anything in the squash family. The dish was tasty enough, but if you don't like pumpkins (and Messy can now confim — she doesn't) you won't particularly like this dish. It was a lot of pumpkin. Picky opted for the Lamb Corma – large cubes of lamb served with a heaping of basmati rice. All in all, this was a good hearty meal with hearty proportions. We don't know anything about Afghani food, but Ariana gave us a decent — if unspectacular — meal.

Messy ***
Picky ***

The final word: Hearty portions in a cozy atmosphere. A plus if you like pumpkins.

134 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106-3009
(215) 922-1535

Posted in BYOB, Center City East, Middle Eastern, Olde City | 6 Comments »

LOVASH

Monday, March 5th, 2007

lovash
Before we went to Lovash, we had not had the best luck finding awesome Indian food in walking distance. We went on a cold weeknight, and hardly anyone else was there. We were promptly seated by an adorable (in Messy's opinion) waiter, one of two who provided excellent service throughout the meal. He put us in the back, and the table was small and kind of cramped. We found it a strange choice considering the more spacious options available but the cuteness of the waiter prevented (one of) us from complaining. We were treated to some complimentary appetizers: some sort of spiral-y chip-like things with tasty dipping sauce.

Messy had the Chef's Special, one of twelve "Vegetarian Delights" on the menu (ranging from $7.95-$12.95). The Chef's Special consisted of Indian cheese, spice rounds with tomatoes, cashews, raisins and spices. It was absolutely delectable, but not entirely cheap from our perspective, at $12.95. One part of our meal was a huge bargain, though — Messy's mango lassi was only $3 and the glass was about a foot tall. Seriously, it was enormous. However, everything we ate had an excellent price-to-value ratio, considering how yummy the food was.

Picky had the Mohan's Lamb Niyamatkhani. It was listed on the menu as "our executive chef's special" and when Picky requested that it be cooked extra spicy, it came out a normal level of spicy — which irked him a bit. The portion was right though and the dish very tasty, it just wasn't spicy enough. Next time, Picky will opt for something with some more inherent kick to it.

This was the only time in our three years or so of Philadelphia dining in which the owner of the restaurant came out and asked us how we liked the food. What a nice touch!

Messy ****
Picky ***

The final word: Really good Indian food, but maybe not spicy enough for some.

Lovash Indian Cusine
236 South Street
Philidelphia, PA 19147
T (215) 925-3881
F (215) 925-3882

Restaurant Buffet Take Out
Mon – Thu: 11 AM to 10 PM 11 AM to 2:30 PM 11 AM to 10 PM
Fri: 11 AM to 10:30 PM 11 AM to 2:30 PM 11 AM to 10:30 PM
Sat: 11 AM to 10:30 PM 11 AM to 3:30 PM 11 AM to 10:30 PM
Sun: 11 AM to 10 PM 11 AM to 3:30 PM 11 AM to 10 PM

Posted in Center City East, Indian, South St | 1 Comment »

We lied

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

We promised to update this site more frequently. . . and then February passed with nary a post. We're sorry about that — life got in the way. We were both tied up with lots of working, lots of classes, little money to eat out and little time to experiment with new recipes. Basically, we spent a lot of February eating Ramen noodles. Which, surprisingly enough, both of us actually like. We do have a backlog of restaurant reviews to get through and we will be posting them shortly. In fact, we'll be posting one tomorrow morning. And that's a promise!

Posted in Announcements | 1 Comment »