Archive for 2008

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BEILER'S BAKERY

Monday, August 25th, 2008

beiler's bakery @ Reading Terminal Market
Taking up the northwest corner of Reading Terminal Market is Beiler's Bakery, described on the Reading Terminal website as an "Amish bakery selling homemade baked goods." They bake breads, pies, cookies, sticky buns, donuts and other treats daily and they also sell an assortment of conventional bread on their easternmost endcap. This corner of the market is usually pretty packed when the Dutch Market is open, but your time waiting will be well rewarded with reasonably-priced delicious treats.

beiler's bakery @ Reading Terminal Market
There was a huge Dutch festival a couple weeks ago at Reading Terminal Market, where Picky happened to be working at the time. He noticed that Beiler's was set up in the main seating area frying up fresh donuts. Without any cash on him, he didn't get a chance to sample the gigantic fresh donuts. He didn't recall seeing the donuts at the bakery in the past either. After the festival ended, he ventured over to the stand and sure enough, there were donuts (and buns)! Armed with some cash, he plunked down 75¢ for a vanilla creme donut and bit into soft and flaky dough oozing with fresh creme. Sure that Messy would also be a fan, Picky decided that the next tag team visit to Reading Terminal would definitely include a stop off for more treats.

beiler's bakery @ Reading Terminal Market
Above is Messy's pick from the rack: a chocolate covered donut. While the donut was certainly fresh, Messy is not a huge donut fan and will probably go for a different treat next time. This didn't hurt Messy's perception of Beiler's — she is a big fan of their bread and has her eye on some of their other simple-but-hearty looking treats.

beiler's bakery @ Reading Terminal Market
Picky's second sampling was a strawberry jelly and creme filled donut, a double whammy encased in powdered sugar. Life doesn't get much better than a good donut.With Beiler's being a walk up the aisle from Picky's day job, it would be easy to have too much of a good thing so he's limited himself (so far) to one return for a frosted blueberry donut. The only other blueberry donut he's had was a sad excuse of one from Dunkin' Donuts. In contrast, Beiler's blueberry donut burst with flavor. And the texture of a fresh small batch donut is to die for.

Aside from the donuts, we've also taken a liking to their fresh sandwich loaves. Their white and wheat breads run about $2.50/loaf and come in a bag that seems to be coated with oil or butter on the inside. We're not sure exactly what it is, but it's not hurting the flavor.

While the Dutch Market hours are only Wednesday through Saturday you can benefit from this bakery making everything fresh. Get there Saturday towards closing and you'll find treats marked down to $1.50 because they'll be closed until Wednesday.

Their best offering is the pumpkin creme filled donut. It's seasonal so only around October-November. But that makes them that much more special. Get 'em while they're around!

Messy ***1/2
Picky ***1/2

The final word: Fresh, homemade inexpensive baked goods.

Beiler's Bakery
Wed: 8am – 3pm
Thu – Sat: 8am – 5:30pm
Sun – Tu: Closed
215.351.0735

Posted in Center City East, Dessert, PA Dutch, Reading Terminal Market | 3 Comments »

RSS Housekeeping

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Just a little housekeeping – we've updated the RSS feed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/MessyAndPicky. It'll just help us keep track of things a bit. There's also a subscribe via email form on the sidebar of the frontpage as well.

Posted in Announcements | No Comments »

WEBER'S FAMOUS ROOT BEER

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

weber's famous root beer
We hail from Connecticut and New York, respectively, and every time we go to visit our families, we drive past the tempting spinning orange circles of Weber's. For over four years, we've said, "We have to stop there!" And then we end up coming back too late and missing Weber's when we're on the Philly-bound (wrong) side of the street. Then, one night it was so incredibly hot here and we were trying not to turn on our AC, we decided, what the hell, let's get a PhillyCarShare car for an hour and get those ever-elusive root beer floats (Picky once went on a several-month-long search for a decent root beer float in Philly!). Even with the car charge and the toll on the Ben Franklin Bridge, it was a delicious and super cheap date.

Since that date, we've found a reason to go back to Weber's three more times.

weber's famous root beer
Honestly, the food at Weber's is not that good. There aren't many choices, but that's kind of refreshing: just standard fare like hamburgers, hotdogs, pork rolls and (yay for the vegetarians!) grilled cheese. The fries are quite tasty. All of the food is super cheap. [If you click on the image above, a new window will appear with a zoomable version of the image above. You'll be able to see the variety and prices of the menu current for Summer 2008.]

weber's famous root beer
Where Weber's shines is in service and dessert. Their homemade root beer is phenomenal (it has an almost spicy kick to it) and the floats are not to be missed. The delicious milkshakes are thick enough to eat with a spoon. Food is served by quick, smiling, carhops, who attach a tray to your car window (as seen above). Root beer (which is also available by the gallon in a cool reusable glass bottle) is served in frosted mugs. The whole novelty experience more than makes up for the mediocre food. Is there a better way to spend a hot summer day than sipping root beer floats out of frosty mugs, with your feet on the dashboard and oldies on the radio, on the side of the road in Jersey? We don't think so.

weber's famous root beer

Messy ****
Picky ****

The final word: You can skip the food, but don't miss the root beer floats!

Weber's Famous Root Beer Drive In
Route 38 at King Ave
Pennsauken, NJ 08109
856.662.6632
Seasonal (Spring-Summer) 11am – about 9pm

Posted in American, On the Road | 4 Comments »

LITTLE SWEETIE CANTALOUPE

Monday, August 11th, 2008

little sweetie cantaloupe
Not even 6" in diameter, the "Little Sweetie" cantaloupe is one flavorful little melon. Since Picky started working at Fair Food Farmstand several weeks ago, he's been bringing home great fresh produce on a daily basis. To share some thoughts on some of the interesting things we're trying at home, we've started the "Fresh from the Farmstand" category. Stay tuned as entries fill up the pages of that category. So, back to the melon. As you can guess by the name, it's a small cantaloupe. It tastes just like a bigger cantaloupe, but it's just smaller, about 1/4 to 1/3 the size of a nice big cantaloupe. It's a local, certified organic fruit coming from Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op in Quarryville, PA.

little sweetie cantaloupe
As you can see above, it's got a nice and thin rind meaning that there's tons of fleshy goodness inside. The juciest and most flavorful bites come from sections closest to the center of the fruit. Not to say the parts closer to the ends of the melon aren't good, just that it's that much sweeter in the middle. But how to tell you've got a ripe Little Sweetie? Same as a normal sized cantaloupe: you sniff it. If it smells nice and sweet, you've got a winner. The stronger the scent, the riper/sweeter it is.

The small size lets you enjoy the melon without committing to several pounds of fruit you may or may not get to eat before it goes bad. Perfect for an individual who is totally crazy for cantaloupe or easily shared between a couple friends in a sitting. Wedge it, cube it, ball it – just get your hands on one.

These fun fruits can be had for $2.50/lb at the Farmstand and they're between 1.5 lbs – 3 lbs.

Fair Food Farmstand
Tu – Sat: 8am – 6pm
Su: 9am – 4p
Mon: Closed
Reading Terminal Market
11th & Arch Sts

Posted in Fresh from the Farmstand, Reading Terminal Market | No Comments »

FRANKLIN FOUNTAIN: BUST OUT! EDITION

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008


It is no secret that we love Franklin Fountain. So, when we got the opportunity to have a free, breast-inspired dessert there, we jumped at the chance. We trekked over to the Bust Out! launch party at N. 3rd, but somewhere along our long walk, Picky lost a contact lens, which caused some trauma. We sadly missed the rest of Bust Out! but we did make it to the ice-cream! And you should come out and have some, too — Franklin Fountain's Broken Hearts sundae (pictured above on the marble end bar) is on their permanent menu.

We got to see e at N. 3rd and got to, briefly, meet Alex of Le Petit Cochon. Alex's take is up here. But with Picky's lost contact, and resulting headache and disorientation, we had to grab our vouchers and go, missing all the breast-inspired treats. Yes, that was vouchers plural. We thought we were going to be sharing a Franklin Fountain dessert, but we got one each!


We knew the portions would be huge. We debated inviting friends to share. But, in the end, we decided to just pig out. Our server asked us how many spoons we wanted for each sundae. "Um. . .just one," replied an embarrassed Messy. The sundae is basically delicious vanilla ice cream with a slathering of strawberries and whipped cream. Huge. Simple. Yummy. Messy wanted a few more wafers, but made do with two. Messy could only eat half, but Picky was there to finish it all off. It should be noted that Picky had the unfair ice cream eating advantage having been raised in a family that owned a Carvel ice cream store growing up (he ate a ton of ice cream between the ages of 5 and 20). Here's the recipe for the Broken Hearts sundae straight from the Franklin Fountain website:

Broken Hearts

{recipe taken from The Dispenser's Formulary, 1910}

"…put a slice of BRICK VANILLA ice cream on a 6-inch plate. Cover the ice cream with fresh, sweetened, and slightly mashed strawberries, and over these put sweetened whipped cream; top off with two whole strawberries and serve with two nabisco wafers. Sells for 20 cents. {F. Varney}


The Brothers Berley have revived a wonderful dish (which sells for a bit more than 20¢ nowadays) and selflessly donated 50% of the proceeds garnered from people ordering that delectable sundae for a good cause. We're sad we missed the festivities surrounding the evening's events, but look forward to reading about them from everyone who made it out.

Posted in Center City East, Dessert, Events, Olde City | No Comments »

BUST OUT! FRIDAY

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

bust out
What are you doing on Friday August 1st? We'll be helping to support women living with breast cancer. Everyone's favorite baker, e, shot us an email about Bust Out! Eat Inspired. Support women living with breast cancer. It sounded great, we were free and we'll be taking part. Bust Out! has arranged for some of the city's finest eateries to come up with breast-inspired dishes (think strawberry iced cupcakes with cherries on top, roasted chicken breast with cranberries, or melon sorbet) and donate 50% of the proceeds from those items will go to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a local organization committed to assisting women at all stages of diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

The full list of participating eateries can be found here and M&P will be at our favorite ice cream place in the city, Franklin Fountain eating up, what e called, "one sweet sundae" – we're psyched!

In addition to the various eateries around town and their marvelous creations, there's also going to be a launch party from 4p – 6p at N.3rd and movie at 9p at The Arbol Cafe.

Help spread the word and eat up!

Posted in Announcements, Dessert, Events, Olde City | No Comments »

CITY HALL FARMERS' MARKET

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

city hall farmers' market
Every Wednesday from last week through mid-November, Farm to City brings to City Hall it's very own farmers' market. The market is open from Noon to 6p and is right in the inner concourse. Above is a shot of the end stall selling cut flowers and herbs (I bought some nice chives from this stall) in front of Billy Penn's tower.

city hall farmers' market
There were 3 stalls on opening day including the one above selling strawberries, asparagus and various jams (which people eagerly tasted). My friend Joanna, who is a market manager for Farm to City, tells me that they'll be up to about 7 or 8 when it's full with 2 youth groups selling their produce too! One of the groups is Mill Creek Farm (profiled in the CityPaper); I forget the name of the other group, but I do remember that they are being helped by the good people at Weaver's Way Co-op.

asparagus city hall farmers' market
Above is a shot of the asparagus on sale at the same stall mentioned earlier. In addition, there was also a stall selling farm fresh eggs. It's a beautiful day outside – if you're around City Hall between Noon and 6p, head on over to check out the scene. Farm to City runs a bunch of other markets in town as well and they can be found here.

We're determined to buy as much local goods during the farmers' market season as humanly possible. Fruits, veggies, cheese, bread, herbs, plants… We're well on our way already with a house full of new plants: a tomato, mint, basil and lettuce plants from the Headhouse Square market and chives from this market. I just visited my family in NY and came back with two cucumber seedlings from my grandma's garden too! Here's to eating fresh and locally.

Posted in Announcements | 3 Comments »

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