The Endless Road Trip: Philadelphia’s Top 10 Eats 6. A Stand-Up Slice

Very few truths remain intact through adulthood. Televised wrestling proved to be acting, although my across-the-street neighbor Anthony always told me so, but I never believed him.

I also thought a slice of NY/NJ cheese pizza beat any other type of pizza. While that is mostly still true, throw an egg on a pie and the story changes.

A sunny side up egg frequents plenty of pizzas these days, as well as many other unusual ingredients. In fact, I’d say most “gourmet” pies become overloaded, creating soggy crusts and a dreaded fork-and-knife induced experience. Complicated pizzas rarely work.

Philadelphia’s Barbuzzo selected the right mix of flavors and textures to create a simple and addictive pie: Brussels sprout leaves scattered across a cheesy, truffle-oiled disk, dotted with guanciale. Diced pig jowl posed as garnish, a modern and effective way to use the most out of a moderate amount of meat.

The yolk arrived already nicked, ensuring that the egg ran all over the pizza. This oft-overlooked detail—hellloooo 8 out of 10 of my last Eggs Benedict orders—is much appreciated. And in a balancing feat, the crust stays stiff, letting the utensils sit this course out.

It’s enough to make me believe in the tooth fairy.

The Endless Road Trip: Philadelphia

1. There Will Be Blood…and Beets
2. Soup Dumpling Surprise
3.
Cheesesteaks Gone Wild!
4. Duck in a Pot
5. Pretzels, Pretzels Everywhere
6. A Stand-Up Slice
7. Love on the Run
8. A Plate of Cheese and a Pail of Grapes
9. The New Cupcakes
10. Tastykake Taste Test

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.

Sandwiches in the City

New Yorkers are obnoxiously proud of our lunchtime options. We don’t do chains because we don’t have to. Not when you can find everything from banh mi hot dogs to Brussels sprouts sandwiches for under $10. That’s exactly why I’ve been so bothered by the rapid proliferation of Cosi, Pret a Manger and the like across Manhattan in recent years. Are New Yorkers really lunching at these places now? Sure, these semi-upscale sandwich chains are better than Subway or Quiznos, but I’d still take a Boar’s Head bodega roll any day of the week.

Recently entering the midtown sandwich contest and blowing the chains out of the water is City Sandwich, a Portuguese-style sandwich shop from chef Michael Guerrieri. Now, you foodies may be noting that there’s not really any such thing as a Portuguese-style sandwich. This is true. Like most refined Europeans, the Portuguese prefer to sit down and eat their meals with knives and forks. So Guerrieri, who was born in Naples, raised in New York and spent 13 years cooking in Lisbon, has taken traditional Portuguese meals and turned them into an array of newly-invented sandwiches.

The crispy bread is brought in twice daily from a Portuguese bakery in New Jersey; the insides scooped out to make room for fillings and to ensure the sandwiches aren’t too heavy. Each one is spread with high-quality olive oil and built using unique ingredients you’d be hard-pressed to find in any other sandwich shop in the world. For example, the Bench Girl, pictured above, contains alheira, a smoky, spicy sausage that was pioneered by Portuguese Jews during the Inquisition. In an effort not to stand out among their pork-eating compatriots, the Jews invented this chorizo-like link that is actually made from chicken, but looks enough like the real deal that no one could guess they weren’t dining on swine. Apparently, back in the day on the Iberian peninsula, not eating pork was enough to get you burned at the stake. Today, a little bit of pork has managed to sneak into most versions of alheira currently produced in Portugal, but it’s still a superbly rich and flavorful sausage that’s not quite like any other. It’s paired here with an omelet, grilled onions, spinach, and melted mozzarella, for a savory breakfast-y sandwich that is appropriate any time of day.

For a look at City Sandwich’s other inventive, Portuguese-influenced sandwich creations, keep reading after the jump.

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Friday Fuck Up Redeemed: Tomato and Egg Success Story

On Friday I left you with my most recent Fuck Up (and a discussion on whether or not we should continue using the word fuck). I’m awfully glad I did, because we actually figured out why my open omelet, which I’ve successfully made before, turned to mushy, gross shit.

Last week I started the egg dish with the tomatoes warming on the pan, oozing out all sorts of acidic liquid. I added the eggs into that big, ol’ mess, and the eggs never set. I had no idea why. But from some reader advice here and on Facebook, I learned that I should add the tomato at the end.

Advice highlights:

Jenna: Did you de-seed your tomatoes? The omelet looks really watery, and the extra water from the tomatoes could cause the eggs to break like that. And then you’d be steaming the egg bits in their excess water, which would totally mess up the texture.

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Friday Fuck Up: An Unsettling Omelet

I know, I know. How could I fuck up eggs?

Believe me, as I pushed each sad bite into my mouth I thought the exact same thing. I’ve made this dish before with great success. Well, a version of the dish. Last time I wanted to create an open omelet I played it safe: whipping up an egg, letting it set, adding cheese to finish. See, it’s beautiful:

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Cocktail O’Clock: Shibuya Shake

Any drink that combines the exotic (shiso leaf), the extravagant (St. Germain) and the just plain silly (Squirt!) is an A-OK drink as far as we’re concerned.

This one comes from the just-opened Jasper’s Corner Tap and Kitchen in San Francisco. If you don’t have a Japanese grocer around the corner, we’re pretty sure it would work with a couple basil leaves instead of the shiso. Pretty sure the Squirt is essential though.

Shibuya Shake

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Food Porn Champion: The Rebel Within

Talk about a money shot to end all money shots.

This beauty is from Tell Tale Preserve Company at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. “The Rebel Within” is a savory breakfast muffin with breakfast sausage baked into the mix, plus a full soft-cooked farm egg inside.

Found via chef Chris Cosentino’s meat eaters’s guide to SF on GQ.

(Photo: Tell Tale)

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