Meritage Restaurant Week 08-13-15

Meritage Restaurant Week 08-13-15
500 S 20th St, Philadelphia, PA 19146

Phone:(215) 985-1922

CLOSED

 

In August, for Restaruant Week, I visited Meritage.  Meritage has always been a top restaurant in my books and I am a bit sad this restaurant is no longer. It closed September 2015.  

 

 

 

Square 1682 Restaurant Week 2015-08-05

Square 1682
Located in Hotel Palomar
121 S 17th St, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Phone:(215) 563-5008

http://www.hotelpalomar-philadelphia.com/philadelphia-restaurant/center-city.html

 

Had dinner at Square 1682 for Restaurant Week.  There was plenty of food and everything was well made and very delicious. The prix fixe menu worked well and it might be a bit weird, but I highly recommend the citric salt popcorn 

 

 

Meritage (Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, PA) Restaurant Week 2015-01-18

Meritage (Rittenhouse Square Philadelphia, PA) Restaurant Week 2015-01-18

Meritage
500 S. 20th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19146
Phone: 215-985-1922
http://www.meritagephiladelphia.com/


To kick off Restaurant week, I visited Meritage.  Meritage is one of my Philadelphia Restaurant staples and it didn't disappoint.  I would recommend Meritage anytime for a meal in the Rittenhouse area.

Philadelphia Center City Restaurant Week

Bread and Butter

Refreshing Cocktail

Wild Mushrooms with Poached Egg, Bacon, Frisee

Pate - Chicken Liver, Port, Brioche

Malbec

Duck Confit - Barley, Butternut Squash, Red Wine

Short Rib - Red wine, Mushroom, Potato

French Press Coffee

Sorbet - Raspberry with Chocolate Ginger Sauce

Bread Pudding - Apple with Vanilla Ice Cream

High Street on Market Restaurant Week 2014-01-30

High Street on Market
308 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA
Phone: 215-625-0988
Web: http://highstreetonmarket.com/

High Street on Market is a newish foray into high end cafe restaurant that focuses on produce and vegetables with bold flavors.  The restaurant is an expansion next to the Fork and maintains the quality and pedigree of Fork.  (Disclaimer: I have heard many good things about Fork but have yet to actually dine there.)

My take on Restaurant Week is to try to eat at the newer venues.  I have found Restaurant Week to be disappointing at the more established old guard restaurants.  The dishes that a place is known for is usually not on the restaurant week menu.   This was not the case at High Street.  For the first course, two items could be selected.  This was followed by the second course and a dessert.

For the first courses we selected kale chips, squash hummus, the mushrooms with veggies and farm egg, and rabbit and chestnuts.  I found the kale chips a bit over-seasoned and too salty.  They were my least favorite of a very delicious and enjoyable meal.  The spiciness of the squash hummus made the dish very delectable.  I'm a sucker for a farm egg and paired with a plethora of perfectly cooked mushrooms and fresh vegetables, this dish was a big success.  Lastly I found the rabbit to be properly cooked with the mixture of fruit and roasted veggies balancing everything appropriately.  

For our entrees, we tried the Agnolotti which incorporated pasta with jerk spices, caramelized goat yogurt and eggplant.  The flavors were bold and definitely consisted of bold carribean flavors.  Everything definitely popped in your mouth and was a delightful surprise.   The second dish was
Green Tea Garganelli with Smoked Duck Ragu.  This dish was very balanced with fresh pasta.  The flavors were balanced and the use of duck in a ragu was interesting and enjoyable.  

For the meal we ordered the wine pairing and one of each desserts.  The triffle was on the sweet side and fulfilled the dessert role as an adult pudding.  I personally found the crumb cake to be the more interesting dessert but both were delicious.  

High Street definitely hit the mark and welcomes new diners by showing their normal menu during restaurant week.  They get bonus points for that.  I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who is looking for a quality and interesting meal.  

Kale Chips

Squash Hummus - Spicy Chermoula with black sesame oil & seeded ginger bread

Mushrooms -sunchokes, smoky eggplant, young kale, farm egg

Rabbit & Chestnuts - Roasted cauliflower, fried Brussels, autumn fruit, maple chestnuts

Agnolotti - Eggplant, Jerk spices, caramelized goat yogurt

Green Tea Garganelli - Smoked Duck Ragu

Crumb Cake - Buckwheat, coffee sauce, sour cream, pear

Trifle - brown butter croutons, ricotta, malted milk chocolate, fruit jams