Following up on the post a few weeks ago about the Jade Gala benefiting the National Association of Asian American Professionals scholarship, here are some photos from the evening. There was, of course, a lion dance group. The Philly Suns youth group put on a great show. On a side note, we were on Washington Ave a week ago and saw a few tiny kid lion dancers, just a single kid controlling a lion head with a small tail, which were amazingly cute. Above, a lion, one of the two lions at the event, trails behind an event-goer around the edge of the Millennium Ballroom's tables which were filled with food from 30 local Asian eateries.
At the center of the ballroom were the auction items. People walked around and bid on the items all night. You can see the famous Michael Jordon 3:51 Slam Dunk Championship poster, signed, at bottom. A beautiful array of paper lanterns were strung around the auction island.
Here's one of the lion dancers totally exhausted after his part of the performance.
One of the two giant, prized lion heads present that evening.
Here's an event-goer interested in one of the auction items.
Here's my friend Al who was working the event for Upcoming Events. We got a chance to talk shop and catch up for a bit during the course of the night which is always nice.
Here's a shot of Gekkeian Sake which was absolutely delicious. I'm not the biggest sake fan, but this stuff was really smooth, no bite. I meant to take more photos that evening, but there were so many tables to load up with food that I just didn't get a chance to put things down and snap shots of each offering.
And a stop at the Loews Hotel isn't complete without a stop off up at the observation deck. One of the best views of the city and it's right in the middle of the city! More photos can be seen at the NAAAP site.
This year's Lunar New Year happens to be Picky's birthday (February 3rd, lordy he's getting old), but The National Association of Asian American Professionals's First Annual Jade Gala is Friday the 4th. This event benefits the NAAAP Philadelphia Scholarship Program. But it's not just some humdrum fundraiser. It's going to be a feast.
More than 30 restaurants and breweries will be present offering samples of their wares. Included in the impressive list is Yangming, which has won just about every accolade there is from Gourmet Magazine to USA Today to Philadelphia Magazine. The event is at the Millennium Ballroom at the Loews Hotel at 12th St & Market St on Friday night from 6.30p to 10p. The cost of the event is $85, but they've given us a promo code to pass along the member price of $75. Enter "phillylove" on the checkout page in the "promo code" field. So for the 36 different food and beverage stops you'll be making, that will come to just over $2 a plate – if you have just one plate – from each station. That's a pretty good deal. And the proceeds go to a scholarship program and who's against furthering the education of our future generations?
They've graciously given us some comps and considering it's Picky's birthday weekend, we hope to have a fantastic time there. Along with Yangming, we're looking forward to some other big names including Susanna Foo and Palace at the Ben and one of Picky's favorite Chinese spots, Sang Kee.
We were lucky enough to be invited on a preview for the new Philly HomegrownCity Food Tour done in conjunction with GPTMC's Philly Homegrown initiative. City Food Tours owners Eric Matzke & Robert Weinberg led 15 of us around Reading Terminal Market and down towards our own neighborhood, the Gayborhood (we still don't know anyone who calls it "Midtown Village") with several stops along the way to stuff us full of local goodies.
The first stop was at Fair Food Farmstand, Picky's day job. Fair Food's new General Manager, Kristin Mulvenna (left), took the group through a quick history of Fair Food (it started off as a single folding table in the back of Reading Terminal about eight years ago) and the plates of goodies she had in front of her. We had sliced super crispy heirloom York apples from Beechwood Orchards with some spring wildflower honey from Two Gander Farms, Sylvia's granola topped with Pequea Valley maple yogurt and a hunk of challah from Four Worlds Bakery out in West Philly.
Here's a look at the year-old newish space for Fair Food which is about 3x the size of the old space in the back of the Terminal. Lots of seasonal everything available 7 days a week as long as the Terminal is open. If you're looking to buy a great, locally and naturally-raised bird for Thanksgiving, Fair Food is your spot and you can order one here. If you want one of the prized heritage red bourbon turkeys, Monday the 15th [today!] is your last day to reserve one.
Here's Eric talking in front of Salumeria, one of two dedicated cheese shops in the terminal. Salumeria prepared a selection of local cheeses for us to enjoy.
We had (clockwise from the left): a very peppery Peppercorn Jack and sharply salty Misty Lovely (a ricotta salata), two goat cheeses from Misty Creek Dairy in Leola, PA. They gave us a feel of the range of goat cheese available in the area. Cherry Grove Farm's cousin-to-cheddar Herdsman was up next to cool off our palates. (Picky is a huge fan of Herdsman cheddar — see this post from earlier this year.) To finish, we had hunks of God's Country Creamery's Country Blue, a mild-mannered blue.
Our little heard of local munchers filing into Tweed.
Chef David Cunningham came out from behind the kitchen doors to walk us through the tasting plate and give us a little history on Tweed. Chef Cunningham regularly visits farms in the area — he's stood by the rivers where his trout comes from and seen his hogs up close and personal. As he told us, for him, "local food is not a fad." It's a way of life. Above, Chef Cunnignham takes a glance at the plate in front of Art from Foobooz.
Up front is the pork tenderloin with sauteed onion and apple. To the right, trout served atop a delectable sauce of brown butter, honey, capers and chopped walnuts. To the left, a beet salad with frisee, walnuts, French breakfast radishes and a hunk of chèvre.
The final stop on our journey was Capogiro on 13th Street for a blind taste test of six offerings.
Here's a closeup of each flavor. Given the time of year, you can probably guess the first flavor by sight alone, but the rest were tougher. At least one person from our group guessed correctly on each flavor. (Sadly, Messy guessed wrong pretty much every time.) Since Capigiro's offerings change daily, we're not too concerned with giving away what we had, but we'll leave it up to you to find out. Select the redacted text to see the answers. From the top: pumpkin, sesame (Picky's favorite), fig, pineapple mint, pear, apple. These treats were a great way to polish off the afternoon!
A City Food Tour is a terrific way to get a nice feel of the different food options available in town, interact with local foodies, and learn a little history. Their five permanent tours are available year round. Reservations are required, but you can call as late as one hour before tour time to reserve a spot. Tours are limited to 15 each, but you can book a private tour of up to 150. This Philly Homegrown Tour will be offered on 3 Saturdays between now and Christmas, so place your reservations before they're all sold out.
We haven't written about it much here, but a few months ago, Messy was diagnosed with a plethora of food allergies — and it's made eating out (and eating in general) more difficult. The City Food Tours folks were so incredibly accommodating, making sure that Messy never accidentally ingested any potential allergens. In fact, they were so on the ball, they actually had to remind Messy of her allergy when she forgot and tried to indulge in one delicious-looking treat that happened to contain egg. So, if you have food allergies or other dietary restrictions, don't let it stop you from going on a City Food Tour. They are more than happy to take care of you without making it a big deal.
Here's a video from Philly Homegrown about the local food scene
The doors to Minar Palace [1304 Walnut St] have been open for a while now and we've dined in and taken out there a few times. The interior of the new restaurant is a complete 180° from the old hole-in-the wall over by 16th and Sansom Streets. Shiny new paint on the walls, brand spankin' new seating and tables to match, a newly designed menu . . . and styrofoam flatware and plastic utensils??? The new digs has its share of hits and misses.
There's ample seating, maybe for 75 or more, and we've never seen the place completely full while walking by. That might be a result of Minar Palace's customers used to delivery or takeout orders.
Messy's Shahi Paneer, from the menu:
homemade cheese cubes cooked w/bell peppers in a tomato based sauce
This dish was absolutely delicious and is now Messy's Minar Palace stand-by (along with the yummy samosas covered in chickpea and yogurt sauce — an appetizer big enough to share with a few friends). However, Messy grabbed a taste of a friends Malai Kofta (Messy's all time favorite Indian dish) and found that it couldn't hold a candle to Tiffin's.
Messy's sister's meal Saag Alu, from the menu:
Creamed spinach cooked with potatoes
Picky's Chicken Vindaloo, from the menu:
Boneless chicken cooked with morsels of potatoes in a highly spiced sauce
Picky's bouts with the vindaloo since the reopening have been varied. In the restaurant, it's been mediocre. Takeout, on the other hand, has been better. It might be his distaste for the unfinished vibe of the restaurant (hello, styrofoam and plasticware?).
The general feel of the sit-down experience, unfortunately, takes away from the meal a great deal. During the day, there is no table service — you order at the counter and bring a tray back to your table, cafeteria style. At night, there is table service but not much else is changed. Opting for the call ahead takeout (or delivery if you don't want to preemptively work off some calories) will allow you to eat on some real plates with real utensils and drink out of real cups. We also felt like our serving sizes were bigger with the takeout. You can think back to their hole-in-the-wall digs at 16th and Sansom Streets from a few years back when others would scoff at ordering from such a dive (and we'd smirk back).
Messy ***1/2
Picky ** 1/2
The final word: Good solid takeout, but where are the good solid plates and forks?
Minar Palace
1304 Walnut St
215.546.9443
Mon – Fri: 11.30am – 9pm
Sat: 11.30am – 7pm
Menu .pdf | flash
If you'd like, you can still make the trek up to 710 W. Girard Ave and buy the same spices from the source, but as of March 2009, Foster's is the exclusive retailer for Tiffin's goods outside of their orange walls. We love Foster's — Messy won a wafflemaker from them in a random drawing and we love that they feature our buddies at Fork You so frequently. However, we highly recommend getting some full meals from Tiffin itself — the malai kofta, in particular, is a must-try. Messy has never had any as good anywhere else in the world!
Tiffin
710 W Girard Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 922-1297
(215) 922-1567
Hours: Mon – Fri: 11:30am – 10pm, Sat – Sun: Noon – 10 pm
Armed with two $20 gift certificates courtesy of Messy's gym (they have a delicious referral program!), we headed up the street to Joe Pesce, wondering what two non-fish eaters would find on the menu. We must begin this review with a major disclaimer: we don't like fish. We only went to this fish restaurant because we had the coupons. Joe Pesce may very well have the absolute best fish in the universe, but we couldn't tell you. We can only write this review from the perspective of non-fish eaters. So please take it with a huge grain of sea salt.
Our friendly host immediately seated us in an almost empty dining room where we were greeted by some freakishly long silverware. Pesce's dining room decor is all over the place: large stone slab fragment frescoes, mixed texture seating, wooden slat screens and opaque blue water glasses which servers couldn't possibly be able to see through and tell whether or not a diner needs a refill. Our server passed our table over at least eight times through the course of our dinner leaving Picky quite annoyed (he drinks a lot of water).
Pesce is on the higher end of mid-range restaurants with entrees topping out just under $29, with some market price items and daily specials sure to push the ceiling up a bit more. Picky was intrigued at the "market price" listing of lamb chops – he'd never seen that before.
Messy's large mozzarella and tomato stack ($10) was a nice and generous portion. From the menu:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Basil Drizzle & Balsamic Reduction
It was generous, and the pesto dressing was tasty, but the tomatoes and mozzarella just weren't that great. Granted, tomatoes are not in season, and that could account for some of their mealiness, but you can great mouth-watering mozzarella at Claudio's year-round, so there is really no excuse for the overall blandness of this appetizer.
Picky's sausage and broccoli rabe ($18) plate was a nice enough portion served in a gracefully bending rectangular dish. From the menu:
The dish was dusted with Parmesan with no extra in sight. Unfortunately, the flavor didn't match the size of the dish. The sausage tasted more like simple breakfast links and the whole dish was underwhelming and dry. The dryness of the dish was only compounded by the servers repeatedly walking past our table without refilling our water glasses. Picky didn't bother asking for extra Parm.
While there were a good amount of non-fish options for Picky to choose from, there were no vegetarian options listed further than the salad section of the menu. Yes, we realize we went to a restaurant specializing in fish dishes, but we've gone to similar eateries and come away with wonderful experiences; see, for example: Kisso and Morimoto.
We finished off our meal with a splurge of two desserts to share. On the left is a chocolate lava cake and at right, a tiramisu. If these two items are on a dessert list, it's a safe bet to say we're going to get them. These were pretty yummy — nothing to write home about, but not disappointing, either.
We're obviously not Joe Pesce's target demographic. But we gave the eatery a shot and they didn't seem to want our palate there. Such is life.
Messy *1/2
Picky * 1/2
The final word: You'll probably want to order the fish.
Joe Pesce Restaurant
1113 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 829-4400
Mon – Thur 4pm-10pm
Fri Sat: 4pm-11pm
Sun: 3pm-9pm
I normally don't post something without a photo, but it's no trivial matter. I finally had a good bagel in Philly. My first good bagel in 5.5 years here in Philly. I found it at The Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen. A nicely sized plain bagel, lightly toasted with cream cheese. How hard is that to make? Apparently, very hard. I've had many a bagel in Philly, but this was the first bagel I've actually liked.
Thank you Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen.
Unfortunately, it was $2.50. I'd rather take the Chinatown bus up to NYC, see some friends, walk around my old stomping grounds and bring back a baker's dozen than pay $2.50 for a single bagel with cream cheese. Good bagels are the single thing I miss most about NY.
What, for me, makes a good bagel. Step one: it can't be a piece of bread with a hole in the middle. That knocks out 95% of the "bagels" in town in the running. Step two: it's gotta have a slightly crunchy/crusty exterior for the bite into the bagel; none of that soft/mushy stuff. Step three: it's gotta be nice and chewy inside; no dryness, no soft breadyness. Step four: it doesn't need to be covered in other stuff to make it taste good – plain, lightly toasted (or fresh out of the oven), with a nice schmear of cream cheese.
Does anybody out there have a suggestion for a good bagel in town? I tried many, many, many places in the first 1.5 years here to no avail and then I gave up and stopped trying. I recently tried Herschel's East Side Deli in Reading Terminal Market. I highly advise against ordering a bagel there. Before trying a bagel at Herschel's on the suggestion from a co-worker a couple months ago, I can't remember the last time I paid for a bagel in Philly because it's been so long since I gave one a chance.
[Note: Oddly, I was meeting 9 photogs for brunch at the deli and I didn't bother to take a photo of the whole brunch. Too busy talking and eating.]
Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen
700 S. Fourth St.
(215) 922.3274
Mon – Sat: 7:30am – 6pm
Sun: 7:30am – 4pm
