Dim Sum Garden

Dinner with friends at Dim Sum Garden to fill up on dumplings and noodles on a sub-freezing January night.  Just a block off Market on 11th, don't be fooled by the sketchy looks or the proximity to the Chinatown Bus station.  Walk inside and experience the magic that are their soup dumplings - little purses of dough, enveloping pork or crabmeat and a bit gelatin aspic that liquefies when steamed.  The trick to eating these is not to sear your taste buds from the near boiling broth that runs out from the dumpling.  My method is to poke the little bugger with your chopstick, and drain the broth into your soup spoon - then knock out the dumpling and down the broth as your chaser.  I could eat hundreds of these without getting tired of them.

Also tasty are the scallion pancakes - we had to order a second round of these - and the steamed veggie buns that were surprisingly good.  Pumpkin fritters were a special of the night.  They were recommended by the quais-english speaking server and tasted a bit like funnel cake if the batter had squash in it.  We sampled the napa & pork dumplings, siumai, and triple steamed buns, which were all tasty, but just kept coming back to those juicy pork buns.  To give the cooking staff some variety, our server also recommended the seasoned vegetables which were basically sauteed chinese greens & the handmade noodles with what I think was a pork based sauce.  The greens added some needed color to our monochromatic sampling of dumplings, and the noodles were definitely a hit.

Saying the interior of the restaurant is sparse might be an understatement.  It's about as bare bones as you can get, with a stand-up pepsi cooler in the dining room serving as the prep fridge for hotel trays full of prepared pork and chicken.  It's BYO, but don't ask for wine glasses - if you're trying to stay classy you may want to bring your own.  After two tries, we got large tea cups for our bottle of House Wine red.  What it lacks in amenities and decor though, Dim Sum Garden makes up for in their menu prices.  Dinner for six of us came to $59 before tax & tip.  I dare you to find a better meal for $10 a person anywhere in the city.  I wouldn't take a first date here, unless you've got an adventurous foodie on your hands, but this is the perfect place for a dinner with friends.

-T. Kaso

Dim Sum Garden

59 N 11th St
Philadelphia, PA 19176
Neighborhood: Market East

(215) 627-0218

Hours:

Mon-Thu 11:30 am - 10 pm

Fri-Sat 11:30 am - 11 pm

Sun 11:30 am - 9 pm

Paesano's

Snow day means working from home, and that means Paesano's for lunch.  We're only 3 blocks from this little hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop but don't get in nearly enough.  Every sandwich is made from scratch with the absolute best ingredients available.  They roast their own suckling pig for the Arista, grind their own lamb for the Gustaio, and make their own crepes for the Crispelle.  There's room for 6 at the tiny counter, and if you score one of these primo seats you get a front row view of the action in the "kitchen" that also serves as prep station and storage area.  All dealings are in cash, but luckily there is an ATM at 3rd Federal just down the street.  

I shy away from calling these creations hoagies, as they are so much more than that.  A hoagie is something you get from the Wawa balloon man when they are on sale in August.  These are individual works of art that happen to be on a seeded italian roll. 

I've had most of the menu now, at least at the Girard Ave location.  They have an expanded selection at their second location at 9th & Christian in the Italian market including the elusive Bolognese that was featured in the Philly mag cheap eats piece over the summer.  However, owner Peter McAndrews is slotted to open a Sicilian-French BYO in this space and move Paesano's down the block a bit.  Up to this point, my favorite item on the menu has been the Arista, with the Paesano coming in a close second.  Both are a hot mess, sure to leave as evidence of your purchase a wrapper filled with sauce & juices that you'll want extra bread to soak up.  This time I went with the Gustaio - served on a thick pita that is crisped up in a frying pan right before assembly.  It's more gyro than sandwich, a nod to the Greeks with hand formed ground lamb patties that are seared right in front of you.  Add to this a base of gorgonzola cheese, sun-dried cherry compote, roasted fennel seeds and fresh arugula, my friend you've got yourself a Zeus of a meal.  

We finished up with a side of the Potota Arrosto, which are basically roasted red potatoes glistening in olive oil and presumably pork fat of some kind, then topped with shreds of sharp provolone.  This is then wrapped up in tin foil and thrown in the oven for a few minutes to get the cheese melting.  For $2, this is the perfect side dish. Most of the sandwiches are $8, and drinks are only a buck each.  They have canned soda, bottled water and a range of Hank's root beers including black cherry and orange cream.  I think it's time to head finally make the trek down to South Philly to sample the rest of the menu.  

-T. Kaso

http://paesanosphillystyle.com/index.html

Northern Liberties 152 W Girard Ave Philadelphia, PA 19123267-886-9556 Italian Market  901 Christian St Philadelphia, PA 19147215-922-2220

http://blog.zagat.com/philadelphia-2011-restaurant-preview-rising-hot-shots-and-newcomers

Mac's Tavern

Dinner the other night with the fiancée at Mac's Tavern on Market.  We wouldn't normally go out of our way to eat in Old City on a Monday night, but she had gotten a groupon for $40 worth of food and drink, so we decided to give it a try.   Mac's is owned by Rob McElhenney of It's Always Sunny fame, and is in the former Skinner's space between 2nd & 3rd.  Other than a coat of paint and a good cleaning job, the space hasn't changed much since it was dive bar, and that's a good thing.  Old City is desperately lacking good neighborhood spots that aren't havens for the masses from DelCo and South Jersey. Mac's is along the same lines as Charlie's & Sugar Mom's - no pretension, just a good vibe and cheap beers.

Alas, no milksteak or jellybeans on this menu.  There is an It's Always Sunnyside Up breakfast item and Sweet D's Sausage & P's on the sandwich list though, if that's your thing.  We stuck with more standard fare and a few drinks before catching a movie around the corner at the Ritz.  Gravy fries started off the meal.  Thick cut steak fries with a roastbeef gravy, covered with melted mozzarella and a last minute addition of grated "parmesan" cheese that seemed to come from one of those shaker cans. Despite the shady looking parmesan, the fries were pretty tasty - a nice philly take on poutine. The fiancee had the caeser salad with grilled chicken and I went for the roast pork with sauteed baby spinach and provolone.  The salad was good, but nothing memorable.  The roast pork was surprisingly well done.  Served on a fresh ciabatta roll, the pork was not as juicy as John's or Tony Lukes, but more of a complex oven roasted flavor that lent credibility to an otherwise generic menu.  All the sandwiches are served with a side of fries and spicy little aioli dipping sauce.

While it's not the most inventive menu on the block, there is something to be said for getting the basics right. More than that, Mac's has a good selection of beers, enough flat screens so that everyone can get a good view of the game, and a friendly staff.  Pretty much everything you want in a local, but rarely find in this neighborhood.

-T. Kaso

Mac's Tavern
226 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA(267) 324-5507 ‎
www.macstavern.com

Food Writing - 101

I started this blog as a fun little experiment to spread some knowledge of Philly restaurants and hopefully relate some of the passion that I have for food.  I'm clearly not the only one doing this, as reflected by a new food writing course offered by St. Joe's to it's undergrads.  The course was featured in an article in yesterday's Inquirer, and highlights the growing popularity of food books, blogs, and self proclaimed foodies.

I love the fact that people in our little city are so into food these days.  There's practically a new restaurant opening every week, even in this Great Recession.  That speaks to the unquenchable demand for new takes on braised short ribs, cheese steak spring rolls, and authentic pizzas that has become the norm in Philly.

The article also makes me long for my undergraduate days, especially the latter ones, where senior electives let you take anything from eastern religions to wine & spirits (Drexel actually has that class, and it was the most I learned in 10 weeks during my 5 years there).  The possibility of a career in food is tempting.  From cheese mongering, to food anthropology, to culinary arts, there are just so many ways to get into the industry these days.  Perhaps a future in software consulting isn't my calling after all.

-T. Kaso

Han Dynasty Part II

Apparently I just couldn't get the delightful pain of Han dynasty's chili oil laden dishes out of my head.  Working in West Chester, I'm just a few minutes drive from Exton, where Han opened the original restaurant.  Now that I'm in-the-know, this is going to be a regular on the lunch circuit.  Food was almost as good as the old city location, but that may have something to do with the fact that we didn't bring any booze with us and Han wasn't there shouting expletives at people asking for non-spicy food. 

They suburban restaurants have an "americanized" menu with general tsao's, cashew chicken and the like.  But we ordered a few appetizers from the "authentic chinese"side along with the $6.95 lunch special (quite a deal for soup & and entree).  Sliced beef in chili oil and the noodles in chili oil, both served cold, were tasty with a nice heat that sneaks up on you towards the end of the dish.  

My boss got the chicken with dry hot peppers and I went with Ma Po tofu w/ minced pork. Do you know how to make tofu taste good?  Add some minced pork of course!  It actually had a great sauce on there, and just enough spiciness to make it interesting.  

Definitely looking forward to this being a regular lunch spot now.  My only wish would be that they add some more spicy items to the lunch specials list.  There were only two, which we got, but I've got a feeling we'll run through the rest of that list pretty quickly.  

-T. Kaso

Han Dynasty
260 North Pottstown Pike, Exton, PA 19341(610) 524-4002 ‎handynasty.net

Home Slice - Free Pizza

Make the best of the current chilly temps and get some free pizza from Home Slice in NoLibs.  They're running a special if the temperature drops below freezing you get a free pizza.  Details are posted on their Facebook page.

We got two pies last night - the Greek (white pie, spinach & tomatoes), and a  Steve Martin (grilled jerk chicken, red onions, sauce & mozzarella).  Delivery took about 45 mins and everything showed up hot with a still-crispy crust.  The Steve Martin was my favorite, with just barely sauteed onions and nicely seasoned jerk chicken chunks.

Weather.com says sub-freezing temps for the next week or so.  Good thing we love pizza.

-T. Kaso

"I know we've only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it."  - Navin R. Johnson, The Jerk. 


Home Slice1030 North American Street - Liberties Walk Philadelphia, PA(215) 627-2726 ‎
Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sun: Noon to Ten
Fri & Sat: Noon to Midnight
Monday: Closed

Han Dynasty

Dinner last week at the Han Dynasty - otherwise known as the HandyNasty if you read their website address a bit too quickly - which is the third outpost of  31 year-old entrepreneur Han Chiang.   Han’s restaurants are known for their authentic and viciously spicy Szechuan dishes.  His other two Dynastys in Exton & Royersford both feature an “Americanized” menu for the weaker stomachs of the mainline crowd.  His old city restaurant features no such mercy rule.  Your taste buds will be assaulted from every angle by the sneaky heat he has packed into even the most innocent looking dishes – spicy cucumbers anyone??

Han is a friend of a friend from Drexel, and we had a sizeable group of about 16.  So instead of squeezing into the modern feeling main dining room, we were quickly ushered into the underground banquet room, presumably where our cries for mercy from the chef’s seemingly endless supply of chili oil wouldn’t be heard by passersby.  I later found out that getting seated in this room was quite the treat.  If you’re lucky enough to land the big table you don’t get menus – food just starts showing up; sesame noodles, dumplings, wontons, chicken dishes, stir-fried eggplant, etc.  This continues until you’re either full or can’t take any more heat.  If you’re really lucky, Han will guide you thru your dishes and point out that “if you don’t like spicy food, go f*#% yourself.” 

All of the dishes we had were outstanding.  The feast started with two types of sesame noodles, one vegetarian and one with pork.  Both were dressed in a little chili oil that got more intense as you worked down thru the bowl and the noodles had the chance to bath a little longer.  Next was steamed wontons, soaking in chili oil, daring you to eat them.  The pork filling in them had a great sweetness that helped to cut thru the spice and they were steamed to perfection.  Little dumplings with a similar filling were equally as good and lip numbing.   White rice is served alongside, but don’t fill up as it’s just taking up valuable real estate.  Roasted & stir fried eggplant that was insanely good and crispy bits of perfectly fried dry pepper style chicken with whole red chili’s rounded out the meal.   Nearly ice cold sliced cucumbers offer some relief from the heat onslaught, but these too are soaking in that delicious chili oil and are almost a cruel trick – “go ahead eat me, you’ll feel better.”  Little bastards.   No matter what you do though, you can’t stop eating as each dish is better than the last.   

The whole meal runs you $25, and it’s BYO.  I don’t know a better deal in Philly for the type and amount of food you’re going to get at Han Dynasty.   I literally could not stop talking about it the next day, and kept thinking back to those evil little cucumbers daring me on.  Han informed us that our meal was a 5 out of 10 on his heat scale.  Looking forward to going back and experiencing what the other half of that scale is all about.

108 Chestnut St. 
Philadelphia, PA 19106 
215-922-1888

http://handynasty.net/