Food Baby: Sunday Supper

Showing posts with label Sunday Supper. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Fried Chicken at Rittenhouse Tavern

Taking a cue from the Sunday Supper trend working it's way around the city (I think I may have started something here) Rittenhouse Tavern has been offering a fried chicken special on Sunday nights for $18 a person. They fry up a whole bird with biscuits, coleslaw and a special side of the day. It's been so popular that they've added it to the daily menu (and upped the price to $22). Go get yours now before they jack it up again.

Bacon biscuits! Yup. You can taste it immediately. There's no bits inside, but I think they use bacon grease instead of lard in the dough. It obviously lends an incredible flavor but renders them dense as hockey pucks. These are the opposite of flaky and airy. They will sit in your stomach like a bacon coated rock. There's worse things that could happen to you.

The cabbage slaw was very good. A quick pickling with vinegar on the red cabbage gives it a great tang and still leaves it crunchy and crisp. I would most certainly order more of this. Blue corn grits with paprika were a surprisingly big hit. The texture seemed like they were ground in-house, nothing out of a box here. You could taste the earthiness of the blue corn with the butter & paprika bringing it all home. Second and third portions were a must.

This is what we came for though - the bird! Whole Amish chickens, cut up into manageable pieces, marinated, breaded and deep fried into sweet, sweet oblivion. This isn't the super crispy scrape the top of your mouth brand. This is old school southern style, with just the perfect amount of crunch and some incredible flavor. Make sure to reserve your order ahead of time, as they only order a limited amount each day.

Warning: it is served molten hot out of the fryer. You will burn your tongue. You will not be able to stop yourself from eating. The smell is intoxicating - on a cool Sunday in April, your mind starts drifting off to lazy summer days when everything moves a bit slower. The skin is crazy delicious like those cupcakes on Lazy Sunday. Light & dark alike, the meaty bird yields huge hunks of chicken, still juicy from the quick fry and leaving you painfully aching for another piece.

If you can, snag a seat outside in the wonderful little garden courtyard (warmed in the cooler months by those mobile heaters). It's a little oasis in the middle of dense and crowded Rittenhouse square. The building itself hosts art exhibits and is worth a look in it's own right. Beautiful old millwork and dramatic arches create a gorgeous dining space. Looking forward to coming back here on a date night to check out the rest of the menu.

Food Baby Rating: Twins!

Rittenhouse Tavern

251 S. 18th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

215-732-2412

http://www.rittenhousetavern.com/

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Pumpkin

Wow. What an incredible meal at Pumpkin. Our monthly Sunday Supper Club ventured out this past week to sample their $40 five course prix -fixe menu, and we were solidly impressed. It's a small room and seating for large groups can be tough. Our group of 10 ended up split at two different tables which wasn't ideal, but by the time the desserts came around it had cleared out enough so that we were able to move back and forth between the tables. The staff had no problem letting us sit for an extended period sipping the last of our wine and catching up with friends. Such a warm and cozy interior, great for a chilly October night with hearty fall food.

The menu kicked off with a bowl of sweet potato soup for everyone. Poured tableside over a little cube of apple & a pool of honey and enriched with miso for a beautifully rich broth. Just thick enough to be substantial but not grainy in the least. The soup had such a depth of multiple flavors that changed and evolved with each spoonful.

Next up was a choice of two appetizers - escargot or coddled egg. The escargot was served out of its shell, with a few pumpkin gnocchi, crisp chanterelle mushrooms, sweet pecans and micro greens. There was an ethereal mushroom flavored foam dolloped over the top that intensified the earthy flavors of the chanterelles and escargot. Not chewy in the least, and probably the best escargot I've ever had. Better even than Bistrot LaMinette.

escargot w/ gnocchi and chanterelles

The coddled egg was a bit of a mystery on the menu - none of us knew exactly what was coming out of the kitchen on this one. Essentially it's an egg that is cooked in its shell in warm water for an extended period of time. Similar to a poached egg, but much closer to raw and a more delicate flavor. They serve it on top of a panisse (a fried chickpea pancake) with some crunchy bits of chorizo in between and an intensely green sauce made from scallions. With the side of a fork you cut through the coddled egg and the yolk spills out it's luscious treasure, coating the panisse & chorizo with a golden layer of eggy richness. A quick swipe of the scallion sauce for a counteractive tang and you can taste, smell, and see the chef working his magic on your senses. The plate is beautifully presented, with more of the micro greens topping the egg & panisse, looking like a plate of art.

coddled egg over panisse

The only dish I wasn't crazy about was the "salad" of roasted parsnip, celery root, grapefruit and pistachio. I'm not a huge fan of grapefruit to begin with and the flavor became a little overwhelming with the other subtle ingredients. Others at the table really liked it though, so I can't completely write it off. Just not my thing.

roasted parsnip salad

Onto the heart of the batting order - entrées. Side note here - have you ever thought about that word "entrée". In French it means "entrance" and is supposed to be an entry to the meal, served before the main course. Not an appetizer but somewhere in the middle. What ever happened to this course? Why do we call our main course the entrée now? Most people in this country don't even like the French, so why do we keep using that word? I digress.

We had the choice of either the albacore tuna or Duroc pork loin for our main course. You can guess which one I picked. Luckily the wifey got the tuna so I was able to try both. A nice light sear on the fish and perfectly seasoned it was at once flakey and buttery. A wonderful dark ruby red in the center. Confit potatoes, slices of fennel on the side and an great buerre noisette sauce drizzled over the fish. In case you're wondering, buerre noisette is a fancy French term for browned butter.

albacore tuna with confit potatoes & fennel

The pork dish was near on perfect. Slices of the incredibly succulent Duroc loin and a chunk of fatty, sweet, meltingly tender pork belly on the side. The loin was cooked perfectly - just barely pink in the middle so it doesn't dry out and a nice crust of seasoning on the outer edges. Slice off a piece of the pork belly to go with it and it's piggy heaven on a fork. Oh, and let's not forget the quince sauce, savoy cabbage and cipollini onions on the side. If you could serve autumn on a plate, it would look like this.

duroc pork loin and belly

Dessert was an option of either a chocolate cake with blackberry sorbet or a terrine of butterscotch pudding with rum raisins and ginger snap. The cake was decadently indulgent, the sorbet melting ever so slightly and mixing with a scoop of crème fraiche that added a fantastic lightness to the dense and luxuriant cake. The pudding was a bowl of magic sprinkled with pixie dust. I wanted it to go on and on. Towards the bottom I started taking those tiny little spoonful's to help make it last just a little longer. Hints of caramel, molasses, rum and ginger floating across your tongue like a ghost. Did I just taste that? I thought this was right up there with the budino at Barbuzzo. Apparently Food Baby is a pudding kind of guy.

chocolate cake w/ blackberry sorbet

butterscotch pudding

I think what I was most impressed with at Pumpkin was the artistry of the plates and attention to detail of every ingredient. Each dish was more beautiful than the last. They are truly appealing to all your senses, the goal of any fine dining experience. Service was attentive but never intrusive -they left you to appreciate the food on your own terms. And that food was some of the best we've had on our Sunday Supper Club run. For $40 this is an incredible deal. You're not going to leave having to loosen a button, but you will certainly leave with a contented smile on your face.

Food Baby Rating: Triplets!!

Pumpkin

1713 South Street

Philadelphia, PA 19146

Tues-Sunday 5:30 - 10pm

BYO, Cash Only

http://pumpkinphilly.com/restaurant/

Friday, March 9, 2012

Koo Zee Doo

Another Sunday, another Supper Club meeting. This has quickly grown into one of my favorite activities of the month. Taking a huge table at a great restaurant, surrounded by friends, wine and ridiculously large portions of fantastic food. This month we trekked all the way (it's almost at Spring Garden) to Koo Zee Doo for some authentic Portuguese fare. Built on the bones of Copper Bistro (anyone else remember that one?) it is a very cozy BYO run by a husband and wife team that could not be more pleasant and easy to deal with. They handled our multiple menu requests and headcount changes without issue. And the food they turn out of the open kitchen is stellar.

pickled ivory tremoços beans

Our server started the meal with a description of the menu, some excellent Portuguese pronunciations (he's been practicing) and some house made rolls. One, a traditional white and the other a dense broa that is somewhere between cornbread and a scone. Slathered with some salted butter, these were warm and so inviting on a chilly Sunday night. He also brought out their complimentary tremocos beans - basically a pickled lupini bean that you eat like edamame. These are some slippery little suckers - several were inadvertently launched towards other tables. The taste is a little briny and the bean is very tender inside the tough shell. You will not see these on any other menu in the city. Very addictive.

alheira - smoked sausage, greens, fried egg

The first course featured a pair of very rustic, almost peasant food type dishes; alheira and moelas. The alheira - a house made smoked sausage of duck, rabbit, chicken, and bread, pan seared and served over a healthy portion of mustard greens sauteed with plenty of garlic & vinegar. The greens had some great bite to them, helping to cut through the almost overwhelming richness of the sausage and fried egg. A very substantial dish, smartly arranged and a good warm up for what was to come.

moelas - braised chicken gizzards

The very mention of the word "gizzard" is enough to give people the willies. Those people are missing out. If you aren't in the know on your chicken parts, the gizzard is the heart, which is basically just a muscle - so no weird texture or connective tissue to deal with. Just tons of flavor in every little nugget of these moelas. These are just SO good. Simply braised, served family style (like everything at Koo Zee Doo) with some reduced braising stock to keep them moist and a simple squeeze of lemon. They are like the best piece of dark meat chicken you've ever eaten. One of the highlights of the night for me.

bife a portuguesa - picahana steak, presunto, fried egg, fried potatoes

Steak. It's what's for dinner. Well, one third of the main course at least. Koo Zee Doo serves this top sirloin cap in the colonial Brazilian style, pre-sliced, with a rich sauce for dipping those super crispy fried potatoes, slices of presunto ham on top (similar to Spanish Iberian but a little saltier), and a fried egg for good measure. When can you ever get enough fried eggs? The steak was so tender that you almost didn't need a knife. The mix of the salty ham and rich egg was indulgent.

churrasco - grilled chicken & pork spareribs

The traditional Portuguese churrasco, or "mixed-grill" with portions of slow grilled chicken and pork spare ribs was fantastic. Almost everyone agreed that the ribs were something special, and the favorite of most of the group. Plated in a huge porcelain platter and with a little saucer of piri-piri - a spicy pepper based sauce - for drizzling. Visually impressive, super tasty, and crowd pleasing. We actually had leftovers of this that I had for lunch two days, and it inconceivably got better.

lulas estufadas - fried and braised squid, tomatoes, mashed potatoes

Not a dish for the squeamish or already stuffed, the lulus estufadas is a mix of squid braised in a tomato sauce with whole olives and fresh peas, ladled over top of mashed potatoes and then topped with crispy fried calamari. An interesting proposition - squid, potatoes & tomato sauce; it doesn't look like much but ended up being the best thing I ate all night. The braised squid was unimaginably tender - the best I've ever had. The fried stuff on top was crispy and delicious. Super smooth and creamy mashed potatoes that soak up the rich tomato broth. Somehow it all works.

pudim de pão de chocolate - chocolate hazelenut bread pudding

The desserts were original and decadent. A chocolate hazelnut bread pudding was so rich and dense it could bend forks like that kid from the Matrix. Hands down favorite though was the maca no forno, a baked caramel apple & custard sprinkled with almonds. The apple was so soft and sweet with the caramel sauce, the almonds offering a bite of texture to snap you out of your food induced coma. An outstanding meal all around. Come with friends, bring copious amounts of wine, and wear your eatin' pants.

-T.Kaso

maçã no forno - baked custard, caramel apple, almonds

Food Baby Rating: Triplets!

KOO ZEE DOO
614 N. 2nd Street (between Fairmount & Spring Garden)
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-923-8080
http://www.koozeedoo.com

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Bistrot La Minette

The monthly gathering of our Sunday Supper Club in January met at Bistro La Minette for their Sunday prix fixe dinner. $29 gets you a four course meal that would cost nearly twice that on a normal night. This is such a great deal for a restaurant of this caliber. If you bring a sizable group, you can also get seated in the private room just off the main dining area, lending a really intimate family feel to the evening.

I never knew how much I loved, and how little I knew about, French cuisine until coming to Bistro La Minette a few years ago. At first look a French menu is intimidating - fancy preparations, lots of descriptions in French, and the occasional escargot (snail) on the menu. Bistro La Minette makes all this accessible to us non-Francophiles by offering less of the fine dining dishes and more bistro items like steak frites, cassoulet and coq-au-vin. This is what the masses eat and can afford in France. Simple preparations of good ingredients.

We've eaten here a few times, once even for valentine's day, and it's always been great. This meal was one of the best meals we've had. Mainly because of such a good group of friends to share it with, the attentive and knowledgeable servers, and the range of foods that you get to try at a dinner like this.

table for 15 please?

Pre-appetizers. Little bowls of fresh baked, still warm bread with crocks of salted butter stop the belly from rumbling too loudly for the anticipated meal to come. Pichets de Vin of red & white wine for $20 a piece kept everyone's glasses full. We had the entire side dining room to ourselves, which was probably a good thing for the rest of the dinner patrons after a few pitchets of wine. These pichets are a great deal - their house wine is nothing to snub your nose at and it's definitely more fun drinking it from a pitcher.

Potage Parmentier - winter root vegetable soup; roasted chestnuts, sauteed chantrelle mushrooms

The soup course was a "potage parmentier" which is a puree of winter vegetables with some roasted chestnuts and sauteed chantrelle mushrooms floating on top. The menu mentions a drizzle of black truffle oil, but I didn't taste it. Didn't matter, the soup was still great even without it. The earthy chantrelles were perfect contrasting with the slightly sweet, creamy soup. Maybe some parsnips pureed in there? Hard to tell exactly, but there was definitely a little bite underneath that cream base. Would love to try that truffle oil in there next time.

Escargots de Bourgogne - Burgandy snails, herbed butter, crouton

A few or the more squeamish types got a salad for their appetizer, while the adventurous eaters at the table opted for the Escargots de Bourgogne that were offered on the prix fixe menu. Cleverly served in tiny little granite ramekins, one for each snail, with some rich herbed butter and an itsy bitsy crouton on top. If you can get over the texture, escargots are an intense burst of flavor in a very small package. Tasting earthy, dark, and like a concentrated portobello mushroom, they are such a quintessential French menu item. The little crunch of the crouton and the luscious butter sauce make these such a treat. This is why you go out to eat. No one is making these at home.

Sardines Grillees - fresh filleted and grilled sardines, roasted red peppers, lemon vinaigrette

I've recently fallen in love with sardines. Not the oily, fishy tasting ones we usually think of that have been on the shelf at the Acme for 3 years. I'm talking about fresh from the ocean and either grilled or quickly deep fried. We had fantastic ones at a tapas bar in Sevilla - soooo good with a cold cervesa. Bistro La Minette offers theirs as a side dish - filleted and deboned (heads off), grilled, served with some roasted and peeled red peppers and a simple, bright lemon vinaigrette. Absolutely great. The slightly salty, oily fish grills up so nicely with a perfectly charred skin. They are crunchy and rich all at the same time. It's a shame they get such a bad rap. Give these a shot and see if you're not a convert.

Pave de Saumon au Raifort - pan seared salmon, lentils cooked with onions & bacon, brussels spouts, creme fraiche horseradish

The main course was salmon, pan seared with a creme fraiche and horseradish sauce (who knew it went so well with salmon?) on top of a bed of lentils that were cooked with bacon & onions and a couple brussels sprouts that had clearly seen some pork fat and/or butter. I don't necessarily associate salmon with French cuisine, but they have to eat something other than duck and beef right? This piece was seared nicely, not drying out the fish, and the horseradish sauce was perfect with it. Definitely have never seen it served over salmon but this was a great pairing - would love to try this one at home sometime. Even the lentils were good - not too starchy and with that glaze of bacon fat and chunks of onion, it was great with the fish.

Gateau l’Opéra Multi-layered almond sponge cake, chocolate ganache, coffee butter cream, crème Chantilly 8

Dessert was prototypical French. The Gateau l' Opera - an almond sponge cake with alternating layers of chocolate ganache and coffee butter cream. This is the kind of thing that has made Paula Dean the spokeswoman for diabetes medication. So light yet so decadent. On the side was a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream I've ever tasted. The indulgently rich flavors of very fresh vanilla beans and high fat ice cream. Just a taste is all you get, but that is all you need. This is roll your eyes in the back of your head good.

empty glasses and full bellies...

The weekly menu for the prix fixe is posted on the Friends of Bistro La Minette Facebook page which can be found here. It's usually up by Saturday afternoon for the Sunday evening dinner. Doesn't give you much time to plan, but that's not really what it's about. This is about putting your trust in the chef, opening your mind and palette to some tastes and foods you've possibly never tried, and enjoying a meal with friends & family. Bon appétit!

-T.Kaso

Food Baby Rating - Twins!

Bistro La Minette

623 South 6th Street (at Bainbridge)

Philadelphia, PA

215-925-8000

http://www.bistrotlaminette.com

Friday, October 7, 2011

Sunday Meze at Kanella

One of our favorite new traditions is Sunday Supper Club. Basically an excuse to eat ridiculous amounts of food and drink a little too much wine on Sunday nights, it's a rotating group of fellow foodies that love a great meal on the cheap. Lot's of restaurants around the city are offering prix fixe menus on Sunday evenings for a flat fee. Modo Mio has been doing this since they opened, but a few others have joined the team. With a down economy hurting restaurant receipts, it's a great way to get diners in the door on an off night.

Sunday Supper club

After two weeks away in Greece being inspired by the local traditions and dishes, chef Konstantinos has reopened Kanella and introduced the Sunday Meze meal. For $35 a person (or $30 vegetarian) they will bring dish after dish of Greek & Cypriot specialties. Add in the fact that they are BYO and you have one of the most lavish meals imaginable for a very reasonable price. We are big fans of Kanella anyway, but the Meze meal features almost nothing on the normal menu. Such a great way to try something new and challenge your foodie mettle. Be prepared for some offal dishes that highlight the chef's passion to use every bit of the animal. Sauteed duck hearts & roasted tripe were two of the more conversational dishes to come out of the kitchen.

Don't be too put off by the chance of getting some inner organs on the table though. There are plenty of excellent dishes to satisfy even the most squeamish eaters. The lamb meatballs were my personal favorite of the night. The wild boar sausage was also a bit hit, along with the monk fish in tomato sauce. Always pushing the L&I boundaries, Konstantinos sets up his own spit roast on the sidewalk for the Mezze meal, and the roasted pork that came off said spit was incredible. Juicy, tender, and tasting like slices of piggy heaven; I'm thinking of investing in my own such contraption to waft those smells all over northern liberties. I'd come back just for this dish.

The meal is served almost tapas style, with lots of little plates for everyone to share. Want more falafel or another helping of that cuddle fish? Just ask! The servers were super nice about bringing out more if someone didn't get a taste. With too many dishes to review each one, I thought it just easier to include pics of each. You should get yourself there some Sunday in the very near future. Opah!