Aperto

Wade's Take:

It was a feeling of eternal return to be back in the space that is now Aperto. Yes, the PFB group has been in many restaurant real estate spaces again and again (see Koo-Zee-Doo formerly Copper Bistro, or Adsum which once existed as Coquette, to name a few). This was different for me. I've known this local eating space as four different restaurant iterations. What began as Carmine's turned to Margot. Margot became Gemelli. Now, Gemelli has blossomed into Aperto. Each had its unique strengths and each was a default spot to take out-of-town guests (I live mere blocks away). I am happy to report that Aperto lives up to this legacy.

The space is comfortable, intimate and warm. The kitchen is small and open, bordered by a eat-on bar curving across the corner of the room. This openness allows for a great feeling of connectivity with the chef and kitchen happenings.

We had a serving of small plates to whet our appetites. I ordered the feta and olives. Small chunks of fresh feta were skewered with nuevo brined olives. 

My starter was the salmon tartare. Small pieces of diced salmon were piled atop cucumber and tzatziki. The dish was good, but very safe. The salmon was mild and tempered even more by the simple tzatziki. Many people might like this dish exactly as it is. For my taste, I imagine it could be improved by serving it with toasted rye bread, a dose or capers or even some citrus to give it some zest.

The striped bass provencal was my entree. It was a scrumptious dish. The fish had a gently seasoned pan fried skin that I lovingly ate. It was cooked just right and was both flaky and meaty. The fish was second-fiddle to the rest of the dish, though. The french-based, thick broth contained chunky tomatoes, roasted fingerling potatoes, capers and cipollini onions. This was my first foray into cipollini onions, and I loved them. These tiny, sweet, purple onions almost tasted pickled with their tartness, but I think it only took some roasting to produce this fantastic flavor.

Dessert gave us many tempting options, but we decided upon the chocolate coffee panna cotta. If I had a nice bitter cappuccino alongside my panna cotta I would have been happier. The mocha and chocolate mousse layers weren't as strong as I'd hoped. We mused that perhaps there was too much gelatine that softened the flavors and left my taste buds craving something with a little more depth as my last taste of Aperto.

3 out of 4 local eateries. 

Jess’ Take:

You know it takes some convincing to get me outside of the City. We’ve done it before with success, so when both Wade and Craig LeBan informed us of Aperto I thought it was time to once again make the trek…. All the way to Narberth.

We were not disappointed. It’s obvious that we weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the new spot. Our reservation was at 8pm and when we left around 10:30 the restaurant was still hopping.

Embracing our European sides, we ordered 3 courses, beginning with several small dishes. The roasted chic peas were my top pic, although the spiced Marcona almonds were a close second.

My second was the Farm Salad, made up of greens, beets, goat cheese, carrots, smoked pancetta, almonds and cider vinaigrette.  It was delicious! The salty pancetta and creamy goat cheese made the dish (naturally the two things that bring down the “health” value of the salad quite a bit).

For my entrée I decided to go with the special, which was monkfish served with braised asparagus, carrots and squash. It was served over French lentils with a red pepper coolie sauce. It was excellent! Monkfish is one of my favorites for it’s meaty texture and subtle taste. This one was just slightly crispy on the outside and very moist on the inside. A top fish dish of the year for sure.

As Wade mentioned, the dessert was good but not great. As always, we were wooed by the chocolate but it failed to hit home. I’m always amazed at how challenging it is to find a good dessert in this town – Narberth included.

3.5 out of 4 commutes to the burbs. 

Sbraga

Wade's Take:
We jaunted down Broad Street for the second month in a row to try Sbraga, a fairly new "modern American dining" spot.

The interior was fantastic. A large, open-space was coupled with high-ceilings and lean pillars made of a web of re-salvaged woods. The bar and kitchen prep area stretched the length of the restaurant, and pillars broke up the space to allow for more of a private dining feeling. Windows wrapped around for views of Broad Street in every direction.

Sbraga's primary offering is a four-course prix fixe menu for $45. Each area had some great choices, and here were mine.

My first course was a dose of sweetbreads. These delectable morsels were flash-fried and paired with tonnato and capers. Let's never forget how great capers can be... and tonight's dish did not disappoint. The tonnatos gave the dish a subtle sweetness. The capers added a mini bitter bite. To finish the dish were small pools of yogurt-like substances, and some arugula. It was a dish worth having.

Next up was the arctic char. The fish was cooked excellently - but the skin was unforgettable. Separated from the filet and (pan-fried?) densely crisped, it was like eating a fish potato chip - yet less greasy and only with the slight taste of fish. Dipping the crisp skin in the beet sauce dallops along its side was perfection for me. The caviar, dill and pickled onions that also came along for the ride only added to my enjoyment.

The third and final savory course was meatloaf. I picked the meatloaf with a potato puree and bacon marmalade. The meatloaf was nice, with overtones of your typical homemade meatloaf and undertones of things a bit more exotic, like sriracha and lemongrass. The potato puree was doused in a rich beef broth reduction. The bacon marmalade was subtle, which was nice. I was expecting something too rich with bacon... but Sbraga proved that bacon actually can be subtle.

Dessert was their tiramisu flavor combination of marscapone, coffee granita and chocolate. The texture of this dessert was a highlight of the meal. The crunch, creaminess of the marscapone and bittersweet chocolate and coffee flavorings hit the mark.

Sbraga, I'd love to see you again. 3 out of 4 capers.

Paloma

Wade's Take:
Jess told me this was our 81st restaurant as a blogging group. Holy moley! I started to crunch some numbers on what that meant for the total number of calories consumed, dollars spent, percentage of restaurants now closed and more... but then quickly realized that as interesting as that would be, it's clearly not the point of our group. We eat, we talk about it, we write about it. Good old foodie fun. And that's what we did this month, too.

Paloma was our target. It's a Mexican haute cuisine joint in the Bella Vista portion of South Philly. The space definitely used to be an office center. The interior seemed a little stark and white, but that may have had more to do with the lack of other patrons than the decor (it was a cold and rainy night).
On the semi-new trend we've seen for our past few restaurants, Paloma has a blog. I like reading these in advance of a meal. If done right, it can give you a better sense of the mantra of the restaurant, its origins and dishes. Paloma's blog is mainly promotional, but it does list some recipes and ingredient descriptions that are interesting.They love peppers and rare fruits, and add them to whatever they can on the menu (amazed there weren't exotic peppers or cactus juice even in the tap water).

So, on to the food. My appetizer was the crab ceviche. It came out as a tower of tomato and avocado slices with chunks of crabmeat as the crown. It was drizzled with olive oil and shallots, cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice. None of the ingredients with this oil came across too strongly - which was ideal. The crab combined with the creamy avocado and summer-tasting tomatoes was a perfect blending on its own.

My entree was the tilapia, baked with a delicious coating of pinole (coarse flour) and tortillas, served with a sauce of pureed pepitas (pumpkin seeds), ancho peppers, lime and garlic. The sauce poured from atop the fish into a puddle around the fish. I could have licked it all clean. The fish was prepared to perfection with a flaky exterior and a firm interior. The mildly sweet fish was the perfect match for the ambrosial ancho/pumpkin/lime sauce, which somehow managed to produce sharp and mild tastes at the same time. There was another stack on my plate to go with the fish - a pile of whipped potatoes and spinach. It was nice to see a side prepared in such an interesting way.

It was great to see traditional Mexican cuisine flavors used in such a delicate way with all of our dishes. Paloma, I'd love to revisit!

Three out of four peppers.

Jess' Take:
Mexican haute cuisine is just up my alley.

I ordered corn chowder for my entree because it seemed just right on a cold, rainy night. It was very hearty and filling. Although it was described as creamy on the menu, I didn't find that it was. The addition of baby shrimp added an interesting flavor to the oniony, peppery soup. I would have like it served a little more spicy, but luckily the chef makes a special hot pepper sauce served on the side for the whole table. One dab of that and yowza! Luckily I started off with a very small dab.

For my entree I went for the "award-winning" crab cake, which was served in a crisp phyllo dough. The presentation was a work of art. The crab cake was pretty good too, but definitly needed the carrot-curry sauce that was served along side of it.

Of course the dinner would not be complete without chocolate, so I ordered a slice of the espresso pound cake served with toasted hazelnuts and chocolate. It might have been the tallest piece of cake I've ever eaten. How it arrived to the table still standing is a mystery to me. While it looked delicious, it was pretty dry and desperately needed the chocolate-chipotle sorbet that was served along with it (which was amazing by the way)

I love the creativity that the chef at Paloma had - but if you're interested in going, go soon. With an out of the way location, larger than necessary space, and the fact that we were the only diners on a Thursday night, I'm pretty sure Paloma won't be a restaurant option for long.

3 out of 4 large pieces of cake!

Kennett

Wade's Take:

Settling into a table at Kennett on a Friday night post-work week felt warranted and just right. This Queen Village pub has history in the neighborhood going back to 1924. Now rehabbed and under new ownership, it works perfectly in the neighborhood.

Kennett has a variety of local craft beers. It was a tad difficult to find something light on the hop heavy beer menu - but my choice of the Rogue Somer Orange-Honey Ale seemed to work.

We delved into one of the specials for our first course... anchovy and cucumber bruschetta. The anchovies were mild enough, but paired with the neutral cucumber and some light olive oil, the dish was nicely balanced and none-too fish-rich. 

Another of the appetizers was beans on toast. The dish was large butter beans (a derivative of Lima beans) served on a Paul Bunyan-sized piece of toasted brioche. The fresh brioche was dense yet spongy, and the beans were smeared atop the bread, soft and paste-like. For a crown the dish had a fried egg. Cracking through the brioche and its layers with a fork made for many a delicious bite.

My entree was a white pizza special. The pizza had a thin-crisped crust, farmer's cheese, arugula, pork belly and chive blossoms. It was a nice pie for the most part. The farmer's cheese was a good choice, it melted evenly across the pizza and was more neutral than a mozzarella. This was ideal, because the arugula, large pieces of roasted pork belly and chive blossoms sang loudly. If it were up to me, I would have portioned the pork belly pieces and chive blossoms a bit smaller. These larger-sized items made the pizza just a little cumbersome to eat. All in all, I was happy.

 

Dessert was ideal for what we wanted and expected on a warm Friday night. We ordered the chocolate bark with vanilla bourbon ice cream. Although there was nary a bourbon flavor, the ice cream was rich and good. The chocolate bark broke easily into bites of dark chocolate, almonds and sea salt. It was a nice simple dessert to go with the straightforward meal. 

Kennett had good, paired-down dishes that were perfect for those wanting a nice non-complicated Friday night. 

3 out of 4 happy Fridays.

Dave's Take:
I was only able to make it through a round of beer and the starters course at Kennett (I had a small, upset, little girl to take home and deal with... and I don't mean Wade). But what I saw, I liked.

The tomato pie was my starter. It was done well. There was an herb in the sauce, perhaps cinnamon, that made it unique. Definitely worth trying.
3 out of 4.

Jess' Take:
As Dave mentioned, we had a very cranky little girl with so, so the first part of the meal entailed me taking walks outside trying to entertain her. I guess she just wasn’t ready for the explosive flavors that Kennett had to offer. Once she was whisked away by the best husband in the world, I settled in with Wade and a good beer. Please keep the bad mother comments to yourself.

We had a smorgasbord of starters, including roasted chickpeas, which were served with smoked paprika and citrus. They were really smoky and delicious. And also went quite well with the beans on toast.

I opted for the veggie burger for my main. It was a very hearty burger, made of wheat berries, red beans, walnuts and sunflower seeds. It was also served with a spicy 1,000 island dressing that unfortunately overpowered the nutty tasting burger. I ended up scraping most of it off, and then eventually finishing the burger with a fork and knife and only one side of the bun. It also came with a side of sauted greens, which were pretty darn good.

Wade mentioned our dessert, chocolate bark. It was so-so. I wouldn’t order it again. I was pretty excited about the bourbon ice cream, which turned out to be very good vanilla and not much more. Eh.

Like my comrades, I give Kennett 3 out of 4 smoky chickpeas. Next time I hope to be back with a delightfully pleasant little girl. One can hope, right?

Koo-Zee-Doo

Wade's Take:

We either eat out a lot, or Philadelphia doesn't have a lot of restaurant realty. This month found us at yet another location we've been to before that's now under a different moniker. Koo-Zee-Doo, formerly Copper Bistro, is a Portugese BYO in Northern Liberties. 

Koo-Zee-Doo maintains the comfortable atmosphere of Copper Bistro. Exposed brick walls, an intimate, warm table layout and a rustic bar that doubles as the kitchen make Koo-Zee-Doo welcoming. This atmosphere serves as an automatic encouragement to eat a little bit more slowly, let conversation saunter and have another glass of wine. Even Sophie picked up on this as she leaned back relaxingly in her high-chair to eavesdrop on our neighboring tables.

The similarities to Copper Bistro end there. Koo-Zee-Doo is a straight-up Portugese style dining experience. The menu is marked with large, shareable portions, exotic land and sea combinations and dishes you won't find often out in Philly's gastronome culture.

We had several rounds of food and I'll highlight my favorites. The rest of the items I leave to my co-bloggers.

A pile of clams came to the table as one of our appetizers. It was Amêijoas à Bulhão de Pato... white wine steamed clams. Amidst the rocky outcroppings of clam shells were triangular croutons, baked until dense. A drop of these croutons in the light, herbed broth turned them into fragrant, soft morsels. The clams swimming in the broth fared just as well. Jess, always wise and precognitive, saved her table bread to dip in the broth. We were jealous of her calculated brilliance.

The Bacalhau do Dia that day was a salt cod with roasted potatoes and onions. Our server's description of the salt cod's sodium intensity was spot on. It was strong. The roasted potatoes were excellent. Whole fingerling potatoes were roasted until crisp-skinned and then ever so slightly pressed to crack open. This allowed the potato to absorb some of the plate's citrus olive oil base. I loved it. The aromatic liquid was just right to help the dish's potatoes, broccoli (albeit small pieces) and salt cod balance a bit more. The final act on the seesaw was the sweet pickled onion slivers. The sweetness nearly made you forget about the bitter saltiness of the fish.

Koo-Zee-Doo is a good place to take other food adventurers when you are looking for something beyond typical BYO or fusion fare.

3 out of 4 koo-zee-doozies.

Jess' TakeI loved this little spot! An (amazingly small) open kitchen, great smell and warm atmosphere make it just lovely to walk into.

In addition to the clams, for an appetizer we also picked the sweet potato fritters. The arrived in a big fried mass and my mouth started to water. They were fritters all right. Cheese was a big part of the filling and I think, though I can't be sure, that there was some sweet potato in there too. If it were not for the name of the dish I might not have picked up on it though.

Our second entree was Fricassé de Polvo, or octapus gravy. It was the Friday special and I highly recommend if you plan on going to Koo Zee Doo, do it on a Friday for this dish. If you're a regular reader of this blog (all 2 of you), you know my love of octapus and this dish lived up to all expectations. It was served in a rich, buttery, artery clogging sauce that you couldn't help but smile when you ate. There was a pile of mashpotatoes to accompany the dish, but I don't think they were necessary. The dish was decadent enough.

 

We ended with an organge chocolate cake that was served with granola and liquor soaked cherries. The description was amazing, the dish was only so so. The orange flavor was strong and overpowered all else. I don't think it was even finished (which tells you something).

 

If I'm back at Koo Zee Doo, it'll be on a Friday for the octapus. Certainly worth the trip to Northern Liberties. 2.5 tenticles out of 4.

Tres Jalapenos

Wade's Take:

I don't know how Tres Jalapenos ended up on our list of buzzy places to chow in Philly. But I'm glad it made the list.  This South Philly eatery is just a few blocks from the Italian Market. Its atmosphere is comfortable and down to earth. The inside of Tres Jalapenos has funky details (such as bales of hay and twinkle lights) that make it fun. I can't tell you the last time I ate adjacent to a bale of hay (probably 1997), but I can tell you that it's always a great time when hay is involved.  

A special note needs to be made here about the staff... they are genuinely friendly and welcoming. Not just "we want your return business" friendly, but more like your next door neighbor from your hometown kind of friendly. You can tell these folks love their food and are proud of the establishment, and rightly so.

The chicken soup was the perfect choice for a cold December night. Generous portions of chicken were swimming in a rich stock. Its simplicity made the dish a tasty and ideal starter.

Tuesdays, as it turns out, are known as Taco Tuesdays at Tres Jalapenos. This means unlimited tacos for a minimal price (I think it was $7.50). Tres Jalapenos has traditional Mexican tacos - double corn tortillas, meat, cilantro and onions. I did three rounds of these tasty tacos - one round with steak, one round with pork, and one round Al Pastor (marinated pork with pineapple. Go for the Al Pastor... these were scrumptious.


I left Tres Jalapenos feeling fat and happy.

Three Jalapenos out of Four.

Jess’ Take:


If you’re looking for authentic Mexican, Tres Jalapeños needs to be on your list. Like Wade mentioned, the festive atmosphere sets the tone for some down and dirty (and tasty) food.

We started with an order of guac and although it didn’t arrive with any frills, it was delicious and obviously very fresh, as were the chips, which were still warm and more than lightly dusted with salt.

Although temped by Taco Tuesday, I opted for the Green Enchiladas, on the recommendation of our server. On the menu they are served with chicken, but I substituted shrimp (for an extra $3). They arrived piled high with green sauce, cheese, onions, sour cream and next to a generous portion of rice and beans. All of the ingredients were extremely fresh and flavorful, however, the shrimp did not do the dish justice. Their taste and texture were out of line with the rest of the enchilada, and so I found myself with bites that consisted of just cheese and beans.

After dinner I was reminded of why I have a love/hate relationship with Mexican. The anticipation and taste is amazing, the heartburn and guilt of consuming so many calories, not so much. However, if I’m going to indulge again, I’m going to do it at Tres Jalapeños. This time I’ll stick with the chicken.

3 out of a possible 4 sombreros.

 

Adsum

Wade's Take:

Formerly at the location of Coquette, Adsum has a corner lot with large windows facing Queen Village. It immediately makes the place feel entrenched in the neighborhood. Hopefully, that helps it stick around, for I found it definitely worth a revisit. 

Adsum is one of the wave of new, trendified gastronomy lab kitchens. It's done right. Chef Matt Levin, formerly of Lacroix, has launched Adsum as a place for foods that fill people's cravings... the type of food other chef's crave when they close up shop. The menu definitely reflects that. Forget the high end salads, forget the organic chow... this place is all about fats, starches and fried goodness.

I started with the fried oysters with pickle juice remoulade. The oyster selections were phenomenal... large, plump and meaty. The fry batter was crisp and dry, lacking excess fat. Atop the remoulade, which had a clean tartar sauce appeal to it, this was a fantastic appetizer.

I'd heard about the perogies in advance and knew I'd be ordering them. It's a light, refreshing take on the classically heavy dish. The potatoes are whipped with milk and garlic super fine and stuffed into a soft dough shell more like that of an asian dumpling. Burnt onions that taste of thyme lay over the perogies, and woven between each perogie on the plate is the smoked buttermilk. A forkful of  the perogies and onions, smeared with richness of the buttermilk made each bite excellent.

The chocolate donuts were fair, but missing some creme fraiche or some similar substance to balance with the cocoa. 

Three out of 4 cravings

Jess' Take:
Adsum has such a foodie feel to it, I felt immediately at home when we sat down. One look at the menu and you know that you're there for the flavors and creative combinations, and not for a heart healthy meal.  Gotta love it.

I started out with the grilled rock octopus, served with black pepper caramel. Although the octopus was extremely tender, the sauce tasted like it was straight out of a store-bought BBQ jar. It was overpowering, sweet and completely dominated the dish. It's unfortunate because the portion is a good size.   

For my main entree I went for the fluke served with grilled snails and mushrooms. This dish MORE than made up for my disappointing appetizer. I'm a huge mushroom fan and this dish definitely served them up - big and juicy. The snails were tender and tasty and the fish was light and flavorful. Each element also incorporated a strong, but not offensive, garlic flavor. It was amazing.

Wade mentioned that we ended with chocolate donuts. They were more like donut holes which weren't quite cooked all the way through - coated with sugar and warm and gooey in the middle. I agree, the taste was a little flat. Dave mentioned they could use some salt and he's spot on there. But, nonetheless, they were a great sweet ending to the meal.

By the end of the meal, my appetizer was a distant memory (although one that I must take into consideration with my rankings). So, Adsum, you shall receive a 3 out of 4 from me.

Valley Green Inn

Wade's Take:

Switching from dinners to brunches for the Philly Food Blog couldn't have had a better transition. Our first group brunch was at the Valley Green Inn - the famed restaurant nestled next to the Wissahickon Creek in the midst of Fairmount Park.

All of my memories of the Valley Green Inn prior to this experience were tied to angst and jealousy. Before now, the closest I'd ever come to the restaurant was when passing it on the trail during a training run or walk. Knowing I couldn't stop, I would enviously stare at the patrons enjoying their coffee, mimosas and waffles as I power-walked past them while gnawing on my dehydrated granola bar. Contempt would fill my heart.

But now I was one of the elite... those lucky and lazy enough to be gorging on eggs, pancakes and java on a beautiful Sunday morning. It was bliss.

We sat at a small table tucked next to entryway on the Valley Green Inn's porch. Servers scurried about us, and the porch was filled to the brim with patrons, but our dining experience still felt private. Our junior blogger was even able to sleep through the entire meal.

I selected the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict for my brunch entree. It came with a choice of salads or soups and I picked the house salad. The salad was standard, and good. The Smoked Salmon Benedict had a healthy portion of lox atop a grilled croissant. A poached egg and hollandaise sauce were layered above the salmon with a bit of caviar for effect. The dish was good. The hollandaise sauce wasn't too potent or rich. Once I broke into the egg with my fork the runny egg yolk blended with the salmon, hollandaise sauce and croissant and absorbed into the croissant. It made for the perfect bite. The breakfast sausage, grilled tomato and potatoes that accompanied the dish were all flavorful, yet neutral enough, to go well with it.

A perfect morning in a perfect location.

3 out of 4 perfect mornings.

Jess' Take
Like Wade, we’ve jogged, hiked and biked by Valley Green, but never stopped to enjoy the fare. Sunday couldn’t have been a better day to take advantage of this cute restaurant in the center of Wissahickon. Although I felt a few pangs of guilt with each fit person that ran by – my first sip of wine soon took care of any misgiving I was having about just “sitting around.”
This was the first foodie meal that we were joined by our newest member, Sophie. Although a mini-foodie in training, she currently is experiencing a food allergy to dairy and soy, so as a result I’ve had to cut those items from my diet. But I must mention, although my indulgence of soft cheese was short lived, it was certainly an enjoyable one.

Eating out has been a challenge with the dietary restriction, but our server was great and helped guide me to selections that were dairy and soy free. I decided on the crab cake Benedict sans the béarnaise sauce (slightly joyless, I know). Although the dish as a whole was a little dry, each element individually was enjoyable. The crab cake wasn’t the best I’ve had, but definitely worth getting again. The poached egg was slightly over cooked, but that’s actually the way I prefer it. The dish was accompanied by a link of venison sausage that was delicious – moist and very flavorful. Overall it was an enjoyable brunch, which was made that much more enjoyable with the atmosphere, weather and company.

You’ll definitely find me back at Valley Green in the future. Hopefully by then I can be in full diary heaven and order the sweet potato pancakes, which I hear are amazing.

Valley Green, I give you a 2.5 out of 4 possible dairy-free dishes.

Zavino

Wade's Take:

Thirteenth and Sansom is the home to Zavino, a wine and pizza joint we visited this month. There was much reason to celebrate... my co-bloggers had recently welcomed beautiful baby Sophia to their family. And we didn't miss a single month of dining!

Zavino has a small space but it makes up for it with high open ceilings and lots of windows and walls that open to its streetside tables. We had the best seat in the house - a wooden both nestled next to the entrance, the meat and cheese station, and across from the bar. It was a private booth that offered great views of the whole restaurant from my seat.


The cured meat tray offered samples of the best cured meats, including my favorite - a salami called Baby Jesus. The cheeses we selected were all enjoyable. I was impressed with our waiter's ability to describe all 9 cheeses in great detail and to recommend an optimal pairing. Like all cheese trays, there was a shortage of bread offered. The bread was a nan-like flatbread that was neutral in flavor. It was ideal for highlighting the cheeses.


My pizza selection was the Fratello. It entailed bechamel sauce, broccoli, roasted garlic and mozzarella. Compared to Jess' pie, mine fell flat. There was a punch or zing missing from the pizza. It needed a touch of sweet onion or something similar to liven it up. It was still very good - but didn't live up to the standard set by Jess' pizza.

The dough was clearly house-made and had large crisp bubbles of charred dough... my favorite.

With a good glass of wine, a nice atmosphere, knowledgeable wait staff and great company, Zavino had many factors for a great outing. There may be better pizzas at Pizzeria Stella or Osteria, but Zavino will do just fine for me when I'm in the neighborhood.

3 out of 4 Baby Jesus.

Dave's Take
I loved Zavino. This little, unintimidatingly hip spot is not fine dining, but a fantastic spot to spend an evening with friends. The interior was bistro-style with plenty of natural light and indoor/outdoor seating.

You had me at hello I said to the cured meat selection as it arrived fleshly sliced at the nearby cheese and charcueterie booth. Our extremely friendly and knowledgeable waiter suggested a nice selection of cured meats and cheese. The prosciutto was very good. Certainly not the best but a solid performer. The smoky-salty speck was fantastic and the other highlight, the baby jesus was a salty,fatty, tasty fantastic take on salami.

The next course were hand-made fire baked pizzas. The small pizza format allowed each of us to try a different interpretation. I got the Kennett, a pizza round packed with oyster, crimini & shitake mushrooms in a béchamel sauce with homemade mozzarella. The bits are charred dough from the fire-baked pizza added a smokiness that complements the earthiness of the mushrooms and the fresh rosemary was excellent. Like Wade's Fratello, it was a bit flat as it needed some sort of zip to brighten the flavors. Jess on the other hand ordered spectacularly. Her sausage pizza was smoky, bright with fresh tomato flavor and excellently spiked with garlic.

We had to cut dinner short since we had to get back to the kiddo so we did not have dessert but we had enough to know Zavino is a great spot if you down in Midtown Village. We also did not try any of the small plates but certainly will during the next trip since what we saw on the other tables looked fantastic.

3 out of 4 slices for Zavino- a reasonably priced, comfortably hip, extremely friendly local eatery.

Midatlantic

Wade's Take:

I'm PA Dutch... I'll admit it. Sure, I cover my Dutch phraseology as best as I can, trying not to end sentences with "with," avoiding phrases like "doncha know" and pronouncing it "shower" instead of "shahr." But that PA Dutchness is always there. Just like my taste for PA Dutch food goodness.

Whoopie pies, apple butter, fastnachts, shoofly pie, chow chow and pretty much anything cooked with lard... those are some classic PA Dutch foods. It's a warming, comfort cuisine, and it is scrumptious.

So, when December found us at Midatlantic, Daniel Stern's new PA Dutch / Philadelphia cuisine fusion restaurant, I was intrigued. How could anyone mess with chicken pot pie, or scrapple? Weren't it's fat-laden foods already good enough?

Fast forward to the end of the meal. I was pretty much happy. PA Dutch food plays well with others. It turns out that fat and lard are like the Switzerland of food... a happy medium where all cuisines can live in harmony.

The interior of Midatlantic is cool with its authentic multi-shaded hard wood on the walls, roaring fires all around, open kitchen, and field tool tchotckes all over the walls. It's a great place for a happy hour, and you could tell that night. Most of the guests were Penn docs in happy hour groups.

The appetizer arena was strong. We had the pretzel chips with horseradish cheddar dip. It hit the mark. The dip had a strong enough kick from the horseradish that was counterbalanced with the sour cream and cheddar. The chips passed the test... salty with heavy crunch.



The other two appetizers were the welsh rarebit fondue and the pig wings. My cohorts will take on those descriptions.

My entree was the grilled trout with chips. Not as good, I must admit. The trout was brined and salted - and pulled too tart. The fried chips were good - but were too much fried saltiness after the appetizer course. A green was needed to mellow this entree out.



Dessert and coffee made me happy. The cake we ordered was layers of cake, icing and flavored with stout. It was soggy and I didn't enjoy it at first. Paired with coffee though, it was better.



This is an after-work snack and drink kind of place, not a place I'd consider returning for a full meal. I will be back, albeit for happy hour snacks only.

Brunch at Midatlantic could be phenomenal, if they choose to offer it. Easy parking, PA Dutch breakfast foods, good coffee... it could be a winning combo.

3 out of 4 lards.

Percy Street Barbecue

Wade's Take:

October and November had us at very different restaurants; 1862 last month and Percy Street Barbecue this month. Last month we donned our finest threads and had multiple servers handling our meal experience at 1862. This month we had a roll of paper towels at our tableside and food came out fast, served on metal trays and wrapped like packages in wax paper.

Percy Street Barbecue opened up a few weeks ago. There's a great story to the place that's had an effective round of PR. The staff traveled down to Texas and went to something like 13 barbecue places in one day to research what makes the best barbecue and how to replicate it. Their gastronomical adventure paid-off. Philly finally has some good barbecue.

This place is simple. The menu's easy, the food comes out fast and the flavors don't go beyond basically barbecue essentials. There are no infusions, reductions, fancy menus designed by word smiths. It's refreshing.

We ordered three meats: the lean brisket, pork belly and spare ribs. I'll take on my favorite - the brisket. It was a really trim cut of meat... the fat was lacking, but yet the brisket was still juicy. It crumbled easily under a fork (although I hardly noticed this because I was devouring it so quickly). The edges had a nice burnt crisp.

Percy Street is smart about their servings of meats -they give you kickin' pickles, onions and white bread to make sandwiches if you desire. It's nice to have options.

What you don't have options in is the sauce. They only offer you a small pot of their sauce. It has a tomato paste consistency, and rings sweet in the mouth... and I wasn't loving it. In order to appeal to those of us that like heat on our BBQ, or some sweet tang... I hope they add more choices in sauces to the menu.

The sides were all great in my book. The cole slaw wasn't too creamy - and had a nice punch to it. The green beans were soft and salty like I like them at a barbecue joint. The mace and cheese... superb (I'll let Jess take on that one) and for the collard greens I'll differ to Dave's CG guru-ness to describe them.

We had two desserts - the banana pudding and apple crisp. The crisp was excellent. It had large slices of apple, gooey yet still somewhat firm. The oatmeal and sugar top had the perfect crunch, and the ice cream finished the dish just right.



My clothes smelled like barbecue smoke hours after I left. It was a nice reminder of this place worth repeating.

3 out of 4 Texans.

Jess' Take

Dave called it when he said that this place would be a great place to come and watch a game. They have rootbeer on tap (for those of us who are currently alcohol free) and beer that's served in old brown apple juice jugs. We were one of the first patrons to arrive, but by the time dessert arrived they place was packed and loud with messy finger folks enjoying the boisterous atmosphere and tasty BBQ.

Which brings me to the most essential item on our table - the full roll of paper towels, of which we went through quite a few.

I'll just comment on the highlights, since Wade did a good job with the overall meal. The mac and cheese is not to be missed. It's creamy, but not too much, with a nice crisp topping of breadcrumbs. If you're not a meat eater it would make a great meal on it's own (but then why bother hitting a BBQ joint at all).

Also a highlight for me was the brisket. We ordered it lean and it was thinly sliced and was delicious paired with a forkfull of coleslaw.

I also enjoyed the banana pudding, but mostly because I haven't had banana pudding since I was about 10. It was a nice, sweet end to the meal, but certainly not the highlight.

I think we will definitely find ourselves back at Percy St. to enjoy some cheap, tasty food, espeically in the cold winter months ahead.

3 messy fingers out of a possible 4.

Mango Moon

Wade's Take:

Mango Moon is an Asian small plates restaurant on Main Street Manayunk. It veers away from the traditional Asian dishes (just saying no to mu shu pork, pad thai or fried rice) and offers small plates that balance out multiple asian cuisines, ingredients and flavors. That's no small feat considering how bite-sized the plates really are.

I took on one tiny plate, and three small plates. Tiny plates equate to bar snacks, essentially. I chose the roti - warm, thin unleavened bread that is Indonesian in origin - as my tiny plate. It was fresh and delectable.

My first small plate was the shrimp and coconut soup. It was rich, yet somehow light and refreshing. It (quite nicely) didn't have the gastrointestinal punch that typical tom yum soups have... it was milder. Filled with large pieces of galangal, lemongrass, mighty shrimp, cilantro, thai chilies and mushrooms, it was a bountiful feast. I could have easily gone for a second bowl.



Grilled chicken livers served with chili lime sauce were my second small plate. This was my least favorite of the group. The livers were a bit tough and dry (maybe slightly overcooked). They were chock full of that rich liver flavor, but needed more to work correctly. The chili sauce didn't do it.

Round three on the small plates was grilled pork neck. This reminded me of one of the Vietnamese bun dish meats. Chargrilled with lemongrass flavor, the meat broke apart easily. It was marpled with bits of crispy pork fat (yum!) and was paired well with the chili lime sauce that accompanied it.



Dave's "tasty little fish" tiny plate was beyond compare. What better way to down a beer than alongside a mouthful of tasty little fish? Truly minuscule, you could eat about two dozen of these fellas in a single bite. With eyes that were still bulging even in death, their taste and visual appeal were addictive.





Finally, our server was fantastic. She guided us through the menu and looked out for any potential needs we might have (e.g. too spicy, too fishy, too big). She was sort of an Asian Goldilocks - having tried all the options and advising us on what was the menu's best.

3.5 out of 4 tiny little fish.

Jess' Take:

Yes, I finally acquiesced and agreed to a dinner outside of the city. So, okay, Manayunk is technically Philadelphia, but getting there involved getting in the car and enduring a plethora of meatheads – so really, it might as well be suburbia. Despite this, Mango Moon was worth the hassle.

Like Wade I ordered a bunch of small plates – to share of course.

I started with the Roasted Shredded Coconut and Shrimp in Herbal Wrap or in Thai, Meang Khum. I’ve had this dish before at a Philly Foodie favorite Siam Lotus, and this version was just as good. It’s difficult to get the whole lettuce leaf in one bite, but when you do your taste buds are rewarded with toasted coconut, ginger, lime slices, kaffir leaves, shallots, sun-dried rock shrimp and roasted peanuts with a palm sugar sauce. Absolutely amazing.



The next small plate I had was the taro and tofu combination, which was essentially a variation on French fries. They were good, especially paired with the sweet chili dipping sauce, but this dish would have been better with a beer at the bar then accompanying the rest of the dishes.



Next up was the salmon salad, which in my opinion could have been considered a medium dish, not a small one. The salmon was actually a deep fried salmon belly (diminishing all nutritional value I’m sure) and the salad consisted of shallots, ginger, fresh mango slices, roasted peanuts, mint and cilantro topped with fresh chili-lime dressing. We were warned by the waitress about the heat from the chili peppers in it, and she was right – this dish was spicy. It was also incredibly good, especially accompanied by my Singha beer.



The last dish I ordered was the shrimp and water chestnut dumplings, which in addition to shrimp included pork, water chestnuts, mushrooms, cilantro root, sesame oil, black pepper and oyster sauce. These were super tasty and also a pretty substantial small dish. The oyster sauce was a great compliment to the salty pork, and I also found that these paired really well with Wade’s peanut sauce that came with his roti. Unfortunately this dish came toward the end of the schmorgusboard of food, so my total enjoyment of it was overshadowed by the lack of room in my stomach.



I would definitely hit Mango Moon again. In addition to being very tasty, it was also inexpensive – especially considering that many of the small dishes could have served as main courses.

I give Mongo Moon 3 out of a possible 4 small plates.

Dave's Take:

So as Wade not-so-subtly pointed out, Jess & I neglected to do our blog entries last month at Pub & kitchen. It's too late now, but I would like to mention that it is a great neighborhood pub and a quick walk to Rittenhouse so you should visit.
Now, onto Mango Moon. First, I need to point out that I hate Manayunk. A wise man once told me that Manayunk is where frat boys go to die and I believe it, so when I heard we were headed out there I was skeptical. Like a few other Manayunk gems, Mango Moon just may be an oasis.

At Mango Moon there are a few options for ordering. The helpful and pleasant server suggested we order a tiny plate, small plate and a medium plate (no big plates) or 2-3 smalls and a tiny. We all stuck to the tiny and smalls as the option for more tastes was better and the dishes seemed more creative. Since my fellow diners went heavy on the entree's I only ordered two dishes of my own but had plenty of the others on the table. My tiny dish was "salted tiny fish." Thinking I was going to get anchovies or something similar, I was a little surprised when these shoestring fry looking things came out all crispy and golden. These little buggers were small and had cartoon eyes. Not for the faint of heart/stomach but they were really tasty and as soon as I tasted I thought a perfect beer drinking food.

My entree was Thai beef jerky with sticky rice and a hot dipping sauce. First off, the beef was much more tender than I was expecting. This was more like overcooked Chinese style beef strips than western jerky. They were heavy on the black pepper which I liked and the chili based vinegar sauce went well. I liked it, although the sticky rice was a little disappointing as it was more like a block of glued rice rather than sticky and tasty. With all the other dishes on the table, skipping the rice was not a big deal.



Other highlights for me included the taro and tofu strips with sweet chili dipping sauce. These where like thick cut fries but rather than potato, were taro root and tofu cut into slices. The sweet chili sauce was great and the whole combo was a fun play on an old plate. Wade's pork neck was good as well. Grilled slices of meat that as Wade pointed out, reminded you of pork shoulder. No noticeable esophagus or other organ, just nice little pieces of peppery meat with a dipping sauce.

Big shoutout to the sweet sticky rice. Sweet and tasty and very tender with a condensed coconut sauce and sesame seeds on top. We ordered with our other pates but I attacked that after I was done the savories for a nice little dessert.

Mango Moon is relatively cheap, very tasty, quick, friendly and modern. If you have an adventurous pallet and are anywhere other than Chinatown or 12th & Spring Garden, it's worth the trip. If you are in Manayunk, please get out of Mad River and walk down to street to someplace good.

3 out of 4 tasty little salted fish