October 2011


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The Endless Road Trip — Philadelphia’s Top 10 Eats 2. Soup Dumpling Surprise

When I picture Philadelphia, a smattering of obvious things come to mind: cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, Rocky Balboa, Ben Franklin…pretty standard. What I never imagined was that Philly would have amazing Chinese food. I do not say this lightly, as I come from a city teeming with authentic Asian cuisine. In Seattle, you can throw a rock and hit a Thai place, a Chinese place, or a Japanese place (realistically, probably all three). So when I heard that Philly”s Chinatown was supposed to house some of the city”s best hidden dining gems, I was eager to check it out.

Enter Dim Sum Garden, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant on the edge of Chinatown, near the bus tunnel. Not very appealing from the outside, but as I have said time and time and time again, some of the best restaurants have the shabbiest exteriors. The interior doesn”t exactly scream “gourmet experience” either — the ambiance is music-less and fluorescent-lit. Not a problem, because we weren”t visiting for fancy atmosphere. No, we were at Dim Sum Garden for one main reason: soup dumplings!

Now just to be clear, a soup dumpling is not some confused way of saying dumpling soup. No, this is exactly what it sounds like: a dumpling, with soup inside. It”s basically like eating dumpling soup, but inverted; outside it”s just an innocent dumpling, but inside is piping hot liquid! Eating these special dumplings requires a special process. It”s not enough to simply pop the whole thing in your mouth, you must employ a multi-step system to fully appreciate the components of the soup dumpling.

Luckily for all, we knew what had to be casino online done: an instructional video! No soup dumpling left behind:

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in Food Travel / Restaurants 1 comments
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The Perfect Rack — Lamb Ribs

At The Farm and Fisherman in Philadelphia last week, it wasn’t just the bloody beet steaks that were a hit. I especially enjoyed the lamb ribs. I don’t recall ever seeing lamb ribs on a grocery shelf before, let alone a restaurant menu, but it makes sense: lambs must have ribs, which could only mean we are meant to eat them.

I decided I had to cook this myself for Sunday night dinner. But where to find the lamb ribs? I tracked them down at Whole Foods, where I had to speak with the butcher as they weren’t on the shelf. The Farm and Fisherman served their ribs sumac crusted, but I was unable to find sumac and was only offered moderate encouragement, so I decided to go a different route. I found this New York Times recipe, which I used as a base, straying somewhat for creative ownership.

Recipe after the jump.

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in Recipe / Red Meat 3 comments
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Food Porn Champion: Poutine Tater Tots

We love poutine. We love tater tots. We are SO EFFING MAD at ourselves for not thinking of poutine tater tots before someone else did.

Chef Kyle Bailey — yes, the same mad genius behind The New Luther — well be hawking this deep-fried stroke of genius around Washington D.C. all week. Only 20 orders of “Wonky Tots” will be available per lunch shift (11 AM to 2 PM), and those of you lucky enough to live there will have to follow @eatwonky and @churchkeydc to find out where his food truck will be.

in Cheese / Featured / Trends 6 comments
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The Endless Road Trip — Philadelphia’s Top 10 Eats 1. There Will Be Blood…and Beets

Endless Simmer is expanding our food travel coverage to bring you reports from cities around the country. First stop: Philly. Enjoy Part 1 in our series of 10 incredible edibles the ES team found while stuffing our faces through the city of brotherly love.

I’ll admit…it’s hard for me to get excited about beets.  They are nice in a simple salad and I certainly get why vegetarians hold them in high esteem, since they add heft and substance to a meatless dish.  Still, they’ve never been something I would go out of my way to order.

But how could I resist when the menu promised Bloody Beet Steak?

This appetizer, available at The Farm and Fisherman, has been generating buzz on the local Philly restaurant scene, and for good reason. It’s not your everyday beet salad.  The Bloody Beet Steak, shown above, is about the diameter of a CD and comes accompanied by homemade yogurt and a pan jus, under a layer of (probably unnecessary) amaranth. But it’s the preparation of the beet itself that really makes the dish really unique.

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in Food Travel / Lists / Restaurants / Veggie 7 comments
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Cocktail O’Clock: Not Your Typical Russian

Vodka isn’t one of my favorite libations but I am partial to anything milky, especially in the fall, so when I stumbled upon the Batidas, a Brazilian version of the White Russian on a recent visit to Station 4 here in DC, I was pleasantly surprised. They were kind enough to share the recipe.

Coconut Batidas

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in Drinks / Endless Cocktails / Recipe 3 comments
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Gridiron Grub: Polenta Crab Fries

Starting Monday, you’ll hear all about the dining/debauchery that went on when the entire ES crew descended upon Philly for a weekend. To ease us into that, here’s a Gridiron Grub dish inspired by my favorite football-related Philly food stop: Chickie and Pete’s Crab Fries.

Chickie and Pete’s is a local restaurant that started in the late 70’s and has grown to include locations in all the city’s stadiums, Philadelphia International Airport, southern New Jersey and more. It sounds like a chain and out-of-towners grow even more perplexed by the fact that these “crab” fries don’t even contain crab. Despite this obvious omission, for locals they are synonymous with hot summer nights watching the Phils and cool fall afternoons with the Eagles. That being said, if you are not from Philly and you saw ES  put up a recipe about sprinkling some Old Bay on french fries, I know we would get even more complaints than we do about our potty mouths. So, here’s my updated take, with some much needed crustacean added in.

Polenta Crab Fries w/Horseradish Cream Sauce

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in Cheese / Recipe / Restaurants 4 comments
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Pink Ribbons Everywhere: Lay off the Eggs

Watch a football game and you’ll catch your QB decked with pink cleats. Walk through the make-up counters at the mall and you’ll notice pink lipsticks, perfume bottles and nail polish.

Susan G. Komen is everywhere. As National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October’s normal hue of black and orange now rages pink. Halloween costumes over. Pink ribbons abound.

And now, those little swirls sit atop the Eggland’s Best dozen.

We don’t have to get into the idea that this “pink washing” may not even do any good. It might not rattle the public’s attention or increase donations.

Cancer fucking sucks. Obviously.

But, seriously, lay off the eggs.

in Eggs / Trends 3 comments
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