Showing posts with label delicious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label delicious. Show all posts

Thursday, January 30, 2014

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




 

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Alla Spina 2014-01-24

Alla Spina
1410 Mt Vernon Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Phone: 215-600-0017
Web: http://www.allaspinaphilly.com/

Alla Spina never fails to disappoint.  I have yet to have a meal that I haven't enjoyed at this Vetri establishment.  As a bit of a last minute decision, we reserved a table for 4 on open table while out for Happy Hour. 

Highlights of the meal included: bloody marys, wine, various beers, pig's head appetizer, pork fat fries, two pasta entrees, the maple glazed fried chicken, and the pork shoulder for two.   The pork shoulder may have been the table favorite. 

Bloody Mary and Beer
Raspberry Beer Milkshake
Appetizers
Russian River Damnation
Victory Alla Spina Novello
Someone really enjoys the Russian River Damnation

Pig's Head Appetizer


Pasta with celery cream
Alla Spina's take on gnocchi, large gnocchi with pork
Maple Glazed Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and mozzarella curds
Braised and glazed pork shoulder special
Raspberry and Fiordilatte Soft Serve












Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Pasticceria Bruno Bakery (Greenwich Village, NY)

Pasticceria Bruno Bakery (Greenwich Village, NY)
506 Laguardia Pl (btw Houston St and Bleecker St)
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 982-5854
Website: pasticceriabruno.com


Birthday mousse cakes were purchased from Pasticceria Bruno Bakery.  They were phenominal.  We settled for a Mango Mousse and a Hazelnut Chocolate Mousse.  For a snack before the evening's festivities, a coconut mousse cake was sampled. 

Photos do the cakes the more justice.









Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Corner Restaurant (Center City Philadelphia, PA)

The Corner Restaurant (Center City, Philadelphia, PA)
http://thephillycorner.com/
102 South 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA
215-735-7500

This weekend we had a phenomenal dinner at the corner.  Highlights included the chicken fried lobster, smoked duck entree, fried chicken, and seared scallops entree.  The caesar salad was well made, the tuna tartare was great as usual and the polenta was delicious.  The only non high note was the crab cake entree.  While not bad by any means it wasn't as special as our other orders.  Cocktails are a tiny bit over priced but well done and compliment the meal well.  The Corner's 35 dollar appetizer, entree, and dessert special is one of the best in town and has far more value than the typical restaurant week prefix. Lastly the desserts that we managed to sample as our stomaches were filled were delightful as well.  There was an Elvis inspired bread pudding with bananas, peanut butter and chocolate ice-cream; a blondie brownie with vanilla ice-cream and carmel; and an apple poundcake with ice cream as well.

Currently, the corner holds my choice for best consistent quality food with generous portions and some phenomenally yummy dishes.  Check it out as soon as possible.  I aim to return often to try other entrees and dishes.