We got to the Headshouse Square Farmers' Market very late last week, but Picky brought along a big camera to take some portraits of some of the farmers. He's borrowing Kathleen Connally's (the incredible woman behind the fantastic photoblog A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania) Hasselblad 503CW for a little while. Kathleen's one of the best photogs around and he's immensely thankful for her generosity (and busy schedule preventing her from using this beauty!). Above is a shot of Tom Culton of Culton Organics who grows a bevy of heirloom produce. He called Picky over to his truck and said, "You wanna see a chicken?" Here, he's holding (we think) a Sussex hen he picked up while in town. Gorgeously brown and gold.
Here's Gil of Market Day Canelé striking a pose as he was packing up for the day. His fanciful pastries are the best in Philly.
Here's Ben Wenk of Three Springs Fruit Farm. Over the years we've become friends with Ben and we love to talk shop when there's a lull at market.
When his cider rolls out in the fall, you'd have to be certified insane to not pick up at least a half gallon a week (we go through a full gallon in about four days). He's got some fun new things up his sleeves for the coming season too. Stay tuned!
Here's Dave Garretson of Beechwood Orchards. Last week was his first market of the season and we could tell he was just itching to get back to the grind. He had flat after flat of sweet and slightly tart strawberries for sale. Dave's apples make you sad you ever bothered to buy some waxed junk with a sticker on it.
Here's Karl who is deeply tied into all things food-related in Philly. He's been working with Dave for several seasons now.
Here's a market worker's bike loaded up with her haul for the day. She was off packing up the last of the stuff that needed to be hauled onto the truck so Picky snapped off a frame.
Picky hasn't shot with a Hasselblad in a little while so this roll of ancient Ektachrome 50 (expired July 1990) wasn't the best set of frames he's shot, but slowly, he's getting the hang of it again. It's like riding a bicycle. A very awesome, supercharged bicycle.
Photos from the 2011 Headhouse Farmers Market Season
We joined Nick and Theo, partners in crime behind The Food Experiments, at Local 44 last night for some awesome Brooklyn Brewery brews. We really enjoyed the newly released Main Engine Start, a 6% ABV Belgian singel which feels like a nice session brew. They are traveling around the country pitting some of the most inventive amateur chefs against each other in battles of tacos, pork, booze and—in Philly—cheese. Sunday's Philadelphia Cheese Experiment at World Cafe Live will be a four hour long cheese-based feastival [tickets $10].
We met them earlier today on their Philadelphia Sandwich Crawl: 12 sandwiches in six hours. First stop: Picky's favorite sandwich in Philly: DiNic's. 10.15a we met them. Oh yes, you gotta start early if you want to eat all this food. We had to wait until 11a to get the famed pulled pork so we started with a rare roast beef with horseradish, sharp provolone and broccoli rabe. Here's Theo getting nostril deep into the juicy sandwich.
When the clock struck 11a, Theo rushed to the line. We got the first pulled pork of the day. Here's Theo and Nick with Theo's longtime friend Alain (sp?) and the Italian pulled pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe.
Here's Theo with a wet juicy bite of the sandwich.
Here's Nick about to take a ginormous bite out of the king of sandwiches (in Picky's humble opinion).
We parted ways and bid them well on their journey across Philly. Hopefully they will not have exploded by Sunday.
Some shots checking in on some food that people are right on the streets of Philadelphia. The big fig tree in the Italian Market as of May 22nd.
The figs are already way thicker than my stubby thumbs. Peep that burn mark on my left thumb. That hurt a lot. It's about 3 months old and it just won't fully heal.
Here's a newish fig tree someone has in Bella Vista. They also have a ton of great herbs on their stoop. They could still bring this one, a year or two old, inside for the harsh winters, but by the end of next summer, they'll probably have to find a permanent home for it.
Gorgeous mound of spearmint. I couldn't find another shot I have of a tire planter with Thai basil almost a foot tall already also in Bella Vista. There's so much stuff growing on the streets. It's not all for the taking, but it sure as hell is worth a stop to gawk at the beauty urban gardeners and arborists bring to the streetscape.
On the ground floor of the Cira Center, one of Philly's newest gleaming glass and steel skyscrapers, is a gem in and of itself. JG Domestic is Iron Chef Jose Garces' seventh and newest eatery in Philadelphia (he has one location in his hometown of Chicago as well), and his first farm-to-table spot. As firm believers in eating locally, we were thrilled to find JG Domestic's menu was fully domestic, with an emphasis on the mid-Atlantic region. Our trip to JG Domestic was back in November (backlog much?!), and while this place has had it's share of ink, here's our two cents…
The gigantic, airport waiting area-sized atrium in the Cira Center is a bit off-putting to say the least. It works as an entry to a gigantic office building, but for the entrance to a restaurant, it's kind of weird. We were seated right at the front of the space (in the first photo we were seated to the right of the entrance under the trellis) even though we had a reservation and the place had ample space on that Tuesday night. The rest of the space felt more like a standalone eatery, but where we were seated just felt plain strange. Our seating aside, the details in the space were great, from the different tones of wood down to the whole black peppercorns in the candle holders (pictured below) which gave off a very faint roasty smell.
We started off with a couple drinks. Picky had an old fashioned, which wasn't as spicy as he likes it. It wasn't watered down, but it tasted a bit weak. He has since forgotten the whiskey used, but he probably should have opted for the rye instead of the bourbon the server suggested. Messy enjoyed a lovely glass of Zinfandel.
From our seats, we gazed out on the Philly skyline through the large atrium's windows and dug into the freshly baked dinner rolls brought out in a piping hot cast-iron skillet. They had the delicate layers of a croissant, but the density of a nice loaf. We were off to a great start.
The little square of apple gelée (we think that's what it was) was a nice, little, not-too-sweet touch to the rolls.
The square cast iron pan was too cute.
Messy's course included cranberry bean soup with in-house chorizo (eaten by Picky), and brussels sprouts. The soup was surprisingly light, with flavors that were both delicate and intense.
Picky went for the pig trotters, which came with a chunky cranberry compote and Dijon spots to dip into. The trotters were reminiscent of an upscale scrapple, a local hearty pork meatloaf of sorts.
The servers gave us ample time to soak in our drinks while letting our minds wander about the following courses. Next up for Messy was some delicious kabocha squash with sautéed black kale, shaved sheep's milk cheese and candied squash seeds. Messy, who was dealing with some frustrating food allergy diagnoses at the time, was bummed to have to order such a seemingly boring dish. Squash and kale doesn't really do it for her. And yet, somehow, this dish was utterly phenomenal. And filling. She could eat it every single day if given the opportunity. And she'd like to be given the opportunity—Messy is a huuuuge Garces fan!
Then out came a wild boar rack, which was more like a giant Frenched chop, with mustard glaze and creamy maple grits. The boar's deep flavor melded well with the lump of house-made vinegary whole grain mustard. Forkfuls of delectable grits and garlicky greens quickly followed each other. Each plate was garnished with edible baby sprouts which added color—no clumps of useless parsley were in sight.
To finish up the night, we went back to the snack menu and ordered a bowl of phenomenal hickory-smoked pecans with maple and bacon, followed by a dessert titled simply "Bourbon." The pecans were the surprise hit of the entire meal. They were soft but not mushy, and packed with so many levels of flavor in each single nut. Savory brunoised bacon bits clung to the delicate folds of the pecan's sticky glaze. This bowl of pecans was the most incredible thing Picky ate in all of 2010. He was reduced to a series of "umms" and "aahhhs" and "this is [expletive] phenomenal" between hurried bites, as if scared our server would whisk it away when his back was turned.
"Bourbon" included New Orleans style beignets served with a vanilla mousseline—think thick, whipped, luscious ice cream—and a Maker's Mark butterscotch dipping sauce. The alcohol was most definitely forward on the palate, offering a sharp contrast to the creamy mousseline and warm beignets.
The large, airy space had plenty of open seats on the rainy, windy and cold Tuesday night when we ventured out, but word will surely get out quickly, so jump on a reservation before it's too late! If there's one person who can make this out-of-the-way location behind the overpass and 30th Street Station work, it's Philly's Iron Chef Garces (sorry, Chef Morimoto, but you're just not in town as much anymore; we miss you, come back!).
Messy ****1/2
Picky ****
The final word: Does Chef Garces and Co. have what it takes to get people to come to this odd location behind 30th Street Station for years to come? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Let's get ready to ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbuuuuuulllllllleeee.
June 5th will mark the day Philly battled over cheese at the Philly Cheese Experiment. Founders of The Food Experiments Nick and Theo are bringing the Experimental tour to Philly. They've been to Austin, New Orleans, and DC, and they're headed to Boston in July and then back to Brooklyn in September. But Sunday, it's Philly. The event will be at World Cafe Live and costs $10 in advance or $15 at the door. The event runs from noon to 4 p.m. so there will be ample time to give your body a lactose-laden, artery-clogging jolt. Or thud. Growing up, Picky's family owned a Carvel ice cream store so he has the uncanny ability to eat massive amounts of dairy with no ill effects (he's a freak!). But the rest of you, be forewarned.
We predict mac n cheese, quiches, cheesecake and sandwiches will all be well represented. But what will be the surprises? Will there be cheese-based drinks? What will unexpectedly be stuffed with cheese (and wrapped in bacon?!)? Who will pair it with something out of left field? Will Limburger make an appearance?!
All kidding aside, this event is going to be great. Winners will get a very cool prize pack and proceeds are going to local food non-profit The Food Trust.
When GM shoots you an email asking if you'd like to cruise up to New Hope for a food crawl through several restaurants on their dime, in brand spanking new cars from Chevy, you say yes, right? Above is the Chevy Cruze Eco which tops out at a sippy 42MPG (with the 6-speed manual). I rode in the other car up and down (a Malibu), so I can't say much about this one other than it was a nicely put together small car which is roughly the size of a Civic or Corolla. We did agree that it's roomy trunk could probably stow 4 or so bodies. With 3 cars to use between 3 blogs and 2 PR people, we didn't have to find out if the claims of the sales people were true.
Here's Tushar and Bill from Philly Food Guys checking out the Chevy Malibu with it's solid aggressively styled two-tiered front grille.
Here's Thad from Philly Phoodie checking out the Malibu with it's two-toned interior. I rode with Thad and Preson in a fully spec'd out Malibu. We used the OnStar system which as a little odd to use without a dedicated map screen. It's turn by turn directions were spoken aloud and written in text on the radio panel. The XM radio was spotty while driving in the pouring rain and fully crapped out in the woods around New Hope. It even started to skip like a CD at one point which was weird. I didn't bring my auxiliary cable for my phone so we had to make do. Our ride also had a USB port complete with a super easily losable tiny rubber cap. We joked about just tossing the cap to save the future owner some heartache of the loss. This midsize car with a full size trunk could probably fit 6 bodies given that GM has cut down on it's use of the donut tire. Instead, they're loading cars with a combo sealer/inflater kit which plugs right into the lighter. Oh, this car also had a standard 120v 3-prong outlet in the back for whatever you want to take with you on a road trip. We were woefully unprepared for this and had nothing.
Thad tried his best to put the Malibu through the test while manually shifting most of the way up to New Hope and by the time we landed at the Logan Inn, I was ready for a refreshing Arnold Palmer. And before long, we had a train of food coming out.
Blooming onion ($10). Oh man, it's been at least 10 years since I saw one of these in the flesh. Their version had a spicy roasted red pepper dipping sauce.
Cavatelli pasta ($17) is a newish to me pasta which I love. My friend Julia (one half of Tatsebuds and Tidbits) has a cavatelli maker and it's really fun to use. Logan's dish had sauteed brocoli, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes with a nice toss of Pecorino. The pasta was right on and I always love juicy sundried tomatoes. Winner.
Jumbo lump crabmeat cocktail ($16) was really jumbo. The fist-sized cakes were full of big hunks of crabmeat which made you angry you ever had those horrid splintering shards of crabmeat in all those other crab cakes you've had.
Baked brie in phyllo with a raspberry preserve ($12) was deliciously gooey. The raspberry preserves offered a nice rich sweetness to cut through the heavy brie.
Michelle Greco from Visit Bucks County gave us the spiel about the area. Thad peppered her with 3rd grade book report style questions throughout the afternoon which she handled like Superman does with bullets (remember that scene when the bullet hits Superman in the eye?!). Louis Licitra, President of the Greater New Hope Chamber of Commerce, welcomed us to his stomping grounds and told us a bit about the continuously running inn (the Logan) in the county. His one-liners through the afternoon had me thinking he left early to make his rounds on the stand up circuit in NYC that evening.
Stop 2 was Marsha Brown (whose website has annoying un-shut-off-able music). The eatery is set in a 150 year old former Methodist Church which Brown, a Ruth's Chris franchisee, gutted and redid. Parts of the old church remained like the massive stained glass windows, the pew seats which were remade into the decorative quilt-like pieces on the walls and that gigantic painting. What is going on there? One guy seems to be riding a horse made of fire while stabbing a lion in the face with a spear. Awesome? Yes.
Chef and GM Caleb Letchner came out to present the dishes and explain a bit of the history of this Creole joint. First up was a chunky lobster and shrimp bisque ($5). It was more chowdery given it's texture, but it was deliciously seafoody.
Crawfish etouffée ($15) was served with a bevy of chopped vegetables on rice. Hearty eats in this simple cajun country dish.
Eggplant Ophelia ($15) was my favorite entree for the afternoon. I said something I almost never say ever: "Can you pass that eggplant dish? I want seconds." toward the end of the meal. A formed pile of shrimp/crabmeat casserole with perfectly grilled eggplant in a Creole butter sauce. Cue saliva. Many times eggplant is rubbery, slimy or overcooked. This was sublime. It had a mysteriously smokiness to it which I couldn't get out of my head.
Lentchner's Jambalaya ($15) was a cut above the rest. Duck confit and andouille sausage to go along with crabmeat and srhimp—this is special. While the confit gets lost in this heavy dish, the spicy andouille shines.
Here's the chef bringing out plate after plate of food. There's more!
Any steakhouse has a standard chopped salad to supply some ruffage for the massive cut of beef you consume. Lentchner's formed chopped salad ($10) is packed with lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, egg, artichokes, bacon bits, crumbled bleu cheese, crisp onions, croutons and Kalamata olives. There was so much texture going on in the salad. The crunch of the salad was a nice change of pace from the softer dishes offered, but it was just as heavy as the rest!
Mamere's crab cheesecake ($15) seemed to be the favorite of the entire table. While it's also listed on the entree menu, I think it's something of a combo appetizer/entree/savory dessert; I guess many savory tarts can fall into that all-encompassing category. Filled with jumbo lump crabmeat and smoked gouda with green onion coulis and remoulade sauce, it was incredibly rich (duh). Each side of the table fought a mental battle to space out bites to finish off the slices.
The baby spinach, fig and bleu cheese tossed in a fig vinaigrette atop prosciutto di Parma ($13) makes for one of my absolutely favorite salads. The prosciutto was a little thickly cut for my liking, but it made the salt kick that much harder.
The chef looking over Pati and Tushar.
A little bit of everything on my plate.
A look at the exterior of the former church.
The final stop on our food crawl: The Blue Tortilla [un]fortunately, we were all completely stuffed. We sampled some of their starters, but everyone agreed that their tastebuds were just about spent.
Fresh guacamole came out and it's loaded with dairy (Chipilo Cream and Cotija Cheese). I'm just not a fan of that style of guac. Their homemade tortillas, however, were fantastic!
A heap of vegetarian nachos with beans hidden at around layer three.
A mix of cheese, chorizo and chicken quesadillas with some rice and beans.
After stuffing our faces some more, we squeezed into our caravan and took off for Philly. We had a great time talking over our New Hope feastival and traded tips on favorite spots back in Philly. It's always great to meet new people and eat with old friends. New Hope is a great spot to do both.
The people over at Drexel's Goodwin College shot an email to me for a cool event going on later that day: their Advanced Korean Cuisine course had come back from a two week stint in Korea (sponsored by the Korean government!) and were preparing a feast and presentation about their trip. I just happened to be free so I hurried over to the Academic Bistro for what I hoped would be similar to my mom's home cooking. I was sweaty from the bike ride across town and when I got upstairs, I was greeted by a very cool scene. Hannah Hutt was dressed up in a traditional hanbok and demonstrating how to properly serve and drink tea.
Inside the bar area the dishes started to come out. The crowd was a mix of faculty, administrators, friends and family. I could tell right away that there were definitely people there who had never eaten let alone seen Korean food before from their body language. This was a pretty cool setting to try it all out for the first time.
So what's at the center of every proper Korean meal? Kimchee. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Brunch, lupper, midnight snack. Koreans eat it all day and with everything. I love the stuff. At this point, I eat a fraction of what I used to eat growing up and I love each and every time I get a chance to have it. This was a very different take on my people's national dish. In fact, most of the dishes prepared were interpretations of traditional dishes. There were hits and misses according to my native tongue. This kimchee missed. It was beautifully presented, but it was just plain sweet. The water it was sitting in was an odd purplish-red. I thought this was a harbinger for the rest of the food given the Americanized palates of the students regardless of their fortnight spent in the motherland.
Kimbap. Korea's on-the-go food which is similar to Japanese maki. Cuts of thinly sliced and cooked beef, julienned carrots, zucchini and pickled daikon rolled in vinegary rice, rolled into dried seaweed. This stuff was closer to what I grew up with. Proportions weren't quite where I like it, but that's being nitpicky, but hey, that's me, right?.
Scallops on fried lotus root topped with a soy, scallion sauce. This is something I've never seen before. Maybe it's a take on something they saw in Korea, maybe it's something I just didn't grow up with. I'm not the biggest lover of seafood and I thought it was quite tasty.
Ah japchae. It's a time consuming noodle dish which I'll describe as fried rice, but with noodles. This take on japchae was rolled into [wonton?] wrappers. Not quite salty enough, but very well done.
The guests happily dug into everything.
A shot of one side of my overflowing plate.
A shot of the other side.
Into the presentation we went. The class presented their professor, Dr. Jeehyun Lee, with a lovely gift in a familiar white ribboned, turquoise box. She brushed away a few tears as she soaked in the applause. She was the one who tirelessly led them across her homeland.
Here's Andrew Haught talking about some of the things they did early on. The group went up to the Seoul Tower where they decorated a tile commemorating the trip. Tiles are stuck onto the observation deck of the tower by visitors year round.
Marilyn Miquel spoke of the facilities at Youngsan University. You can see in the photo all the monitors at each cooking station. I've had a tour of Drexel's kitchens and while they are very nice and well equipped, there's nothing like this anywhere. The instructor can place cameras in various spots to give students the best view possible, she explained.
After the presentation, the students peeled off to the kitchen to put the final touches on each of their dishes. They then manned their station and dished out portions for all.
I lined my plate with bulgogi, ttokbokki and spicy chicken. The bulgogi was on the grainy side and that may not have been the fault of whomever prepared it. The ttokbokki's sauce was a little gloppy and there was a big thing missing from it: the heat! The spicy chicken had a nice meld of oniony heat to it. A few days after the event, I was talking to my sister in law and she remarked at how hard it is to make ttokbokki and I gotta agree, it's tough to get the cylindrical rice cakes cooked well. But like most of the other dishes, it was the spice factor which was most bothersome.
The students and guests tucked into their food in the bistro. As I watched everyone enjoying themselves, I thought of what an experience it must be for all of them. It's one thing to learn classic French techniques, but Asian cuisine is a different set of tastes which haven't fully saturated this continent. I have to commend Drexel for taking the leap to create the country's first and only Korean Cuisine course. I spoke with Dr. Lee, whose mother is a culinary instructor in the southern end of Korea, as everyone was eating and she told me a little about the journey.
She's a food science person, so not a classically trained chef and hopes to hand the course over to a chef in the future, but she knew she, a native Korean, would have to be there at the start to get the relationship with the Korean government on solid ground. She said some of the students struggled with the different coursing and portion sizes of Korea. She sent a group of them to Outback Steakhouse to get their fill and they were fine for the rest of the trip. But the first thing they said when they landed stateside was that they missed everything about Korea. She had them hustling around 10+ hours a day and I didn't have to ask her how much sleep she was getting; close to none. I thanked her for her time and let her get back to her guests.
From all of the empty plates skewed across the room, it was obvious that most of the guests enjoyed their eats. And looking at this photo, I see that I forgot to mention the drinks! They had a ginger-cinnamon drink which was just about perfect&emdash;it was just missing the pine nut floating garnish. I learned later that the bartender of the group was allergic to nuts so I understood their absence. There was also a raspberry wine and a few other drinks I can't recall.
I had a great time at the event. IT's always wonderful to see people discover what I consider to be the best food on earth. I know I'm biased having grown up with it (and with excellent cooks in the family), but I truly do believe that it's the best. Thank you for having me Drexel!
