Archive for the ‘Olde City’ Category

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An Advanced Screening: The Trip

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

the trip
Alright folks, we've got a giveaway for ya! The good people at IFC Films has given us a bunch of passes to go see the film The Trip, a British comedy about a roadtrip to visit six restaurants. Originally a TV series that aired in 2010, the film is directed by Michael Winterbottom and stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. From IFC:

Playing loose versions of themselves, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reprise their hilariously fictionalized roles from TRISTAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY and reunite with acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE) for an acerbically witty, largely improvised ride through the English countryside. Tapped by The Observer to review fine restaurants throughout the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, Steve (Coogan) finds himself without a traveling companion after his girlfriend decides not to go at the last minute. After being turned down by everyone else he knows, Steve extends an invitation to Rob (Brydon), and together the pair attempt to navigate the winding back roads of rural England, impersonating popular celebrities such as Michael Caine, Woody Allen and Liam Neeson (among many others) and bickering along the way. Over the course of six different meals at six different restaurants, the ultimate odd couple tests the limits of their friendship, questioning what is most important to them and along the way discover the limits of what they are and are not willing to give up for fame.

The trailer…

So here's the deal: the screening is on June 14th at 7.30p at the Ritz East (125 S. 2nd Street). Leave a comment below, with your email in the proper field (don't worry, nobody will see your email except for us), about why you think the Brits are funny, or a funny Brit, or even somebody who does a funny impression of a Brit. We'll pick fifteen, yep, fifteen, winners at random and they'll be notified by email on Monday. The cutoff will be Sunday at 11.59p. Each winner will be able to bring a guest to the screening.

A note on the screening: while your name will be on the list, it is a fist come, first served event so you'll have to get there a little early to check in and get in line (or as NY Picky would say, "on line") to get a decent seat. Another note: they will be checking for any recording devices and that includes phones with cameras.

Posted in Events, Giveaway, Movie, Olde City | 19 Comments »

The Philadelphia Belle

Monday, May 16th, 2011

First, a disclaimer: although we are a food blog, this post will not be about the food. Yes, the Philadelphia Belle does serve brunch, lunch, and dinner, but the food is not the point. The experience is what it's all about. Cruising up and down the Delaware with the Philly skyline in view is awesome. Just awesome. We were so excited when the good folks at Vault Communications invited us to participate in a blogger appreciation night on the Philadelphia Belle. Messy, in particular, loves being on the water in any capacity. (In fact, she spent half of our honeymoon trying to convince Picky to take a paddleboat ride with her. She did not succeed.)

philadephia belle by albert yee
The Philadelphia Belle is a big, beautiful riverboat. It's the largest vessel of this type on the East Coast, accomodating groups of 20 to 1,000. (Check out floor plans and more here.) It's available for rental for special occasions. It also hosts regular cruises, including brunch, lunch and dinner options, sightseeing tours, and a midnight cruise. There is also a cruise only option. Prices range from $27.95 – $74.90 depending on day/time/food selections

philadephia belle by albert yee
Messy can't wait for the boat to get moving!

philadephia belle by albert yee
We were given some open bar wristbands for the evening so Messy started off trying one of the Philadelphia Belle's specialty cocktails. It was a mix of elderberry liquor and sparkling wine. Messy found it too sweet, but really, she should have known better. All of the drinks on the menu leaned towards the sweet and tropical. Picky knew better and ordered a standard Grey Goose and cranberry juice. He kept the night going with some Macallan 10 (the only single malt on board) neat and Messy kept the night going with vino.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Dinner cruises include entertainment. We enjoyed the classic covers from this group.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Starter plate was the Italian Market Sampler featuring roasted tomatoes, olives, dry sausage, fresh mozzarella and basil; roasted red pepper hummus with toasted pita; Philly cheesesteak spring roll with spicy ketchup

philadephia belle by albert yee
Lobster bisque with tarragon crème fraiche.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Duck Confit paired with mission fig compote, Roquefort cheese and micro-greens.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Center-cut filet of beef accompanied with roasted asparagus, potato gratin and finished with a red wine demi-glaze.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Rosemary and lemon roasted chicken breast served with asparagus, toasted Parmesan mashed potatoes and thyme-scented chicken jus.

philadephia belle by albert yee
philadephia belle by albert yee
Dinner desserts

philadephia belle by albert yee
While many people on our dinner tour stayed inside to enjoy the music and the bar, we took our drinks up to the observation deck and enjoyed the crisp March air.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Of course, there happened to be a sweet sixteen party going on inside. That was definitely not our scene. Two videos of the dancefloor action on the Belle from that evening.

philadephia belle by albert yee
Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time!

Pics from the evening in 1200px format

Posted in American, Olde City | 5 Comments »

ForkYou Live at Foster's

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

ForkYou live at Foster's
The first Saturday of every month is when Fork You! takes their show on the road, or at least down the street, to Foster's Urban Homeware for a live taping of Fork You! Scott and Marisa have been doing the live tapings since January of 2008 (check out all of them here).

ForkYou live at Foster's
For March's taping, the duo (well, Marisa) cooked up some kale colcannon in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. To go along with the colcannon, some beer braised sausage and shortbread cookies. Everything was cooked up in the new kitchen demonstration space downstairs at Foster's. The colcannon and sausage was delicious. It's a very interesting dish that sounds like a big mishmash of stuff, but it works! And how can you go wrong with shortbread cookies?

Posted in Events, Olde City | No Comments »

TIFFIN SPICES

Monday, April 6th, 2009

tiffin spices
Behold, spices from Tiffin are now on sale at Foster's Urban Homeware in Old City (399 Market St).

tiffin spices
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

Foster's Urban Homeware
399 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-0950
(800) 734-8511
Hours: Mon -Sat: 10am – 8pm, Sun: Noon – 6pm

Posted in Announcements, Center City East, Indian, Olde City, Specialty Foods | 3 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 »

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 »

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