Osteria Opening in February

I just got done exchanging emails with Vetri today and they are now targeting February for the opening of their much anticipated Osteria, located at 640 North Broad Street. Here is a link to the sparsely populated website:

http://www.osteriaphilly.com/

Philadelphia Restaurant Week - January 2007

Once again it's my favorite time of the year -- Philadelphia Restaurant Week !! For those of you whom are not familiar with restaurant week, it is a six day period that occurs twice per year (once in January and once in September) during which many of the top restaurants in Philadelphia offer a discount $30 3-course prix fixe for dinner. Parking in the city is also discounted at many of the lots and garages. This time, 107 restaurants are participating including all of the usual suspects (notably excluding Matyson, which has participated in the last few Restaurant Weeks). As usual I am booked solid throughout the week.

As of now, I have reservations for the following:

Amada
Lacroix
Meritage
XIX
Susanna Foo

Most Disappointing Meals of 2006

The following ten meals were my most disappointing of the year. Not each of these meals was bad nor were these the five worst meals of the year. However, each of the following meals left me longing for something more, whether it was for better food, more attentive service, or just a better understanding as to why the restaurant garners so much hype. Ultimately, disappointing meals are a measure of the difference between my expectations and the overall experience of the meal.

Elisabeth's on 37th (Savannah, GA)
This was one of the worst meals I have ever had due to horrible service on several levels: our server was cold, offered no useful advice despite being repeatedly asked for dish recommendation, did not take our dessert orders instead sending out a bus boy, and we never received the coffee that we ordered. The fact that we were celebrating my parents' anniversary was mentioned at the end of the meal as an afterthought (it would have been better to have not mentioned it at all). In addition, the dishes were extremely overpriced for their lack of inventiveness and poor accompanying service. I simply do not understand why Elisabeth's is included on many best of restaurant listings (including being mentioned in "1000 Places to See Before You Die"). This dining experience was the waste of a meal and $150. (11/22/06)

Gotham Bar and Grill (NYC, NY)
Having heard and read so many positive things about Gotham Bar and Grill I very much looked forward to dinner. However, a terribly rude, off putting, and inattentive server ruined the meal. The food also lacked the magic that I had expected. (01/12/06)

Jardiniere (San Francisco, CA)
Patti and I went to Jardiniere late on a Friday night. Many positive reviews and a James Beard Nomination (at the time, Traci Des Jardins later won the award) placed Jardiniere reasonably high up on my wish list of San Francisco restaurants. However, we were severely disappointed with the food. For starters, we shared an appetizer and were given a sharing surcharge. This is just unacceptable in a fine dining restaurant. Each of our fish entrees was bland and badly overcooked. Finally, the accompaniments were forgettable and did not complement the fish that they were served with. (03/31/06)

WD~50 (NYC, NY)
WD-50 was one of the top five restaurants in the country that I wanted to try due to its incredible creativity (food presentations, flavor combinations, and savory desserts). However, I left feeling that many of the dishes were simply done for effect and that very few tasted particularly good or noteworthy. Furthermore, the dining room and our server lacked energy. (05/07/06)

Citrus (Philadelphia, PA)
Their no reservation policy is just absurd. My folks took me for my birthday since I had always wanted to try it out. We put our names on the waiting list and then proceeded to kill time on Germantown Avenue. Over one hour later we were finally seated (having lost our appetite in the meantime) and the meal was just simply not worth such a long wait. (05/26/06)

Radius (Boston, MA)
I had extremely high expectations for Radius but was disappointed with a lackluster lunch. My server was cold and disinterested in me and the room was completely devoid of energy despite being full. In addition, two of my dishes were uninspiring. (06/19/06)

Oleana (Boston, MA)
Despite a knowledgeable and spunky server, Dan and I were disappointed with many of our dishes. (06/16/06)

Reata (Ft. Worth, Texas)
Reata is one of the most popular restaurants in Ft. Worth but I just do not understand the hype. Each of my dishes was disappointing, from the overly fried alligator to the incredibly dry chocolate tamales. (04/12/06)

Redd (Yountville, CA)
Earlier in the day, DJ and I had dined at Auberge du Soleil. We were both blown away by the decor, top notch service, and food. Our server recommended that we try out Redd, which was a brand new restaurant from the former executive chef of Auberge du Soleil. Since his dish recommendations were excellent, we followed his recommendation and had the hostess make a dinner reservation for us at Redd. The food at Redd was good but not outstanding. Furthermore, the service was lackluster and some of the dishes were disappointing. Having adored Auberge du Soleil, I had much, much higher expectations for Redd. (03/31/06)

El Dorado Kitchen (Sonoma, CA)
I had read several positive reviews of El Dorado Kitchen and looked forward to DJ's and my lunch. However, an incredibly nervous, green server and incredibly boring menu left me wanting more. (03/30/06)

Ushering in the New Year

Happy New Year! I have decided to ring in the New Year by coming back from my food posting hiatus. Rest assured that during the past few months I have been trying just as many new restaurants, taking just as many pictures, and reading just as much about the national dining scene as I always do. I just have not been writing about it. That changes right now. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting old reviews that were never posted along with reviews of many upcoming meals. January is an exciting month for Philadelphia dining with both University City Dining Days and Restaurant Week along with the opening of Marc Vetri's new restaurant, Osteria.

North 3rd. (Philadelphia, PA)

Grand Gastronomy at North 3^rd

N. 3^rd seems to have everything going for it. Located in Philadelphia’s hottest, growing restaurant neighborhood, N. 3^rd is one of several gastro pubs that have opened in the last few years. Gastro pubs have been taking the city, and to lesser degree the country, by storm. Our very own Standard Tap was featured in a recent Food and Wine article about the recent proliferation of gastro pubs around the US.

Matt, Alexandra, and I decided to finally check it out to see what all the hype was about. Needless to say, I am eagerly awaiting my return to N. 3^rd since we all had an excellent time. This review could easily have been littered with qualifiers such as “good for a bar”. However, N. 3^rd is more deserving than that and I have no reservations about dropping all such qualifiers. N. 3^rd is just plain good.

At first glance, the décor of N. 3^rd looks like a standard Philadelphia bar. A small room, with a few tables and a bar opposite the door greet you as you open the door. However, upon further examination, one notices a wide variety of local art that is displayed on the walls (including some interesting paintings of human body). The dining room was packed on this Friday evening although we had no problem getting a table since the restaurant is fairly large (there is a second room in the back). Unfortunately, I was forced to wait for our entire party to arrive before being seated, which seemed unnecessary and slightly annoying due to the narrow entryway and frequent bursts of cold, winter air that chilled my body whenever the door was opened. As expected with a bar, the room was quite loud but we were able to hold a conversation at a reasonable volume level.

Upon being seated we were quickly greeted by a friendly server. Throughout our meal, I was constantly impressed with her knowledge of the menu and wine list, attentiveness to our table, and attention to detail. Matt and Alexandra each ordered a beer and I enjoyed a reasonably priced, $6 glass of 2001 Malbec ~ Valdivieso, from Central Valley, Chile. The wine was accurately described by the tasting notes on the menu: “plum and black cherry flavors with lots of structure and a long finish”. All of their wines cost $6 per glass and $20 per bottle so there are plenty of bargains for cost conscious diners.

Matt started out with one pound of the signature wings. He was quite impressed with the wings, which says quite a bit since Matt is a wings connoisseur. Alexandra and I both had a bowl of the French lentil soup with chives. We were both pleasantly surprised by the enormity of the bowls that were brought out. The soup itself could almost be a meal by itself. We both enjoyed the freshness and creaminess of the well pureed lentils. The soup was a little bland in my opinion and could have benefited from some additional herbs or a heavier hand with the chives.

Once again, we were impressed by the portion size when our entrees arrived. Matt loved his tuna burger piled high with French fries and Alexandra enjoyed her roasted chicken breast with mashed potatoes, vegetable of the day, and rosemary jus. I thoroughly enjoyed my grilled Florida Marlin with shrimp and scallion risotto and curry sauce. The marlin was perfectly cooked, moist, and meaty. The risotto was fragrant, had the perfect amount of creaminess and nicely complemented the marlin. Finally, the mild curry add nice flavor that pulled the dish together. This was a $19 entrée that easily could have been $5-$10 more expensive at other restaurants in town. I finished off the meal with coffee and then we headed home.

Overall, I recommend North 3^rd since it exemplifies all that is good about the Philadelphia gastro pub scene. With its polished, attentive service, excellent food, and reasonably prices, it should be on everyone’s speed dial.

The Facts
Name: North 3^rd
Address:
3^rd and Brown Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Phone: (215) 413-3666
Price: Appetizers $4-$9, Entrees $8-$19
Cuisine: Gastro Pub
Website: http://www.norththird.com/

Cravings Cafe (North Wales, PA)

Satisfied Hankering

When we were looking for a relaxed, local restaurant that could easily accommodate our family dinner party of 6, we selected Cravings Café in North Wales. Located in a generic looking strip mall, Cravings Café is a neighborhood restaurant that we dine in a few times per year. Having never posted a review, I felt that one was in order.

On this particular evening, the restaurant was surprisingly empty when we arrived. We normally never have trouble getting reservations but I was still surprised to see the restaurant so empty. Over the course of our meal, the dining room filled up but never to more than half of its capacity.

Cravings Café has a surprisingly large and varied menu. In addition, there are always a few, more creative specials and a large selection of beverages including excellent flavored, iced teas.

On this evening I decided to start with two specials, the cashew encrusted New Zealand lamb chops with minted raspberry and ancho chili glaze and the avocado, artichoke, goat cheese and crab salad. I loved the four meaty lamb chops, which were flavorful and well cooked. At $10, this was an excellent value. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the salad despite the freshness of its ingredients. On paper, this is the type of salad that I typically love. The presentation of the salad was excellent and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the goat cheese, avocado, and crab meat had been formed into an appealing looking cake. However, this presentation simply did not work. Each bite of the goat cheese, avocado, and crab cake was dry and glob like. A more straight forward presentation of the ingredients would have made for a much better salad.

I enjoyed my striped bass with grilled prawns over julienne vegetables and chive risotto. The generous portion of strip bass and prawns was fresh and well cooked. The chive risotto had an excellent flavor but was a trifle over creamy.

Overall, I recommend Cravings Cafe. The décor is minimalist and the service is unpolished but attentive. However, this is a neighborhood restaurant with above average food and culinary creativity. A smile always comes over my face when I walk in and see the newest specials. If you are looking for a very good, casual meal in North Wales, look no further.

The Facts
Name: Cravings Cafe
Address:
Bell Run Plaza
1222 Welsh Road
North Wales, PA 19454
Phone: (215) 855-4500
Price: Appetizers $6-$13, Entrees $14-$27
Cuisine: New American
Website: http://www.cravingscafe.com/