A couple stops at Pike Place Market:

In a corridor off the main street in Pike Place Market lies Oriental Mart, a family-run Filipino lunch stand that whips up homemade traditional fare including salmon tip soup.  Salmon tips are usually discarded and rarely available for public purchase.  The tips include the meat and anatomy around the gills and pectoral fin and includes some more fatty (and therefore tastier and very tender) pink salmon meat.  Served in a sour lemon grass broth with a tamarind and tomato base, the consumption process may take some patience and dissection but the pay-off is well worth the effort.

A block away from the main hub of Pike Place Market is Seattle Coffee Works.  We knew that Seattle folk take their coffee very seriously but SCW takes their coffee making to a new scientific level.  Enter the vacuum pot, a device that utilizes vacuum filtration to make your pot of coffee.  The result is a light-bodied, mellow, and drinkable cup (or carafe) of coffee.  The barista refers to it as "coffee tea" which is entirely accurate. Once this coffee is served it is meant to cool which unlocks some of the natural flavors of the coffee; in our case, mild berry, dark cocoa powder and a slight metallic (in a good way) aftertaste.

Some treats from the Pacific Northwest:

Smoked salmon, brie, roasted garlic and guest

Washington is littered with espresso kiosks

Grilled salmon BLT, Alaskan rockfish tacos at Pike Brewing Co.

Daily Dozen Donuts in Pike Place Market with the conveyor which produces the fresh fried delectables.

Yogurino- Paoli, PA

Yogurino is an Italian frozen yogurt franchise with only 3 locations in the United States:  Paoli, Princeton and New York City.  This is not your typical smorgasbord of trendy frozen yogurt.  Simplification is key with only one flavor of yogurt which is 'yogurt.'  It is frozen imported Italian yogurt which is super creamy, rich, and slightly sweet.  It is more bitter than what you will normally find for froyo, but the appeal to that is you know what you are getting. For additional flavors you have to add a selection of sweet fruits, syrups, dried nuts and imported Italian pistachio or hazelnut sauces.  This is a splendid blended treat and with a serving size similar to gelato, this is an indulgent break from your typical frozen yogurts.

Philadelphia Burger Challenge 2016

We slide into the depths of 2016 carried by the momentum (and dare I say popularity?) of last year’s pizza challenge.  It is fun, after all, to find “the best” food categories throughout a city with overwhelming and growing selection.  So, we decided to find the best burger in Philadelphia during the late winter and early spring of 2016.  This poses a greater challenge as it is a well- known fact that Philly knows its burgers and there are plenty to be had around the city. We cultivated out list using a combination of social media, recommendations, personal experiences, and major publications (Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine).  For this challenge, we are considerably more specific than our pizza challenge; we’re just looking at the burgers themselves.  We’re not concerned about atmosphere, drink selections, desserts, or the sides that accompany the burger.  Some places have one burger on the menu, others have multiple.  We will select the one or two items that have the most appeal or popularity per the restaurant staff.   Our selected eateries are spread throughout the city as a matter or circumstance, not intention.  We will give an overall evaluation based on the following:  meat quality & preparation, bun, toppings, and cheese when applicable.  We will set a standard of “medium rare” burger temperature when allowed.  So, get ready to get enticed!

Our listing is a ranking of lowest to highest.

12.  Varga Bar-  941 Spruce Street

Kobe burger with applewood smoked bacon, cheddar, caramelized onions, greens, heirloom tomato and optional fried egg make up the construct of this rather average/ordinary burger.  Points are lost when you order a medium rare burger but it’s presented well done. On the other hand, when delivered as ordered (as was the case with Cassie’s burger) the meat is quite good with the sweet bread and onions add a good contrast to the meat. 

11.  Rex 1516- 1516 South Street

The burger at Rex is the winner of Philadelphia Magazine’s Best Burger 2015.  Well prepared with bacon, homemade pimento cheese, onions and bibb lettuce on a sweet bun.  The optional fried egg is what made the burger the winner this past year.  All together, it’s very tasty, a bit of a mess, but rather busy.  The strong flavors of the bacon and pimento drown out the flavors of the meat.  The lettuce added absolutely nothing. The highlight has to be the bun, a nice addition of sweetness that is meant to balance out the spicy of the pimento cheese, which is pretty spicy. 

10.  Rouge- 208 South 18th Street

This is often on the tops of the city’s best burger list.  A long time favorite of Robert’s, there were high hopes for the Rouge Burger to top the list.  The 1/2 pound patty comes with caramelized onions and gruyere  on brioche.  The bun is sweet with sear that renders it a tad salty.  The caramelized onions and cheese are a couple of the best accompaniments to a burger on the challenge;  it adds its own special flavor without overwhelming the taste of the beef.  Preparation, however, was a bit of an issue.  On this unfortunate time at Rouge one of the two ordered burgers was seriously undercooked.  Ordered medium, this burger came out with room-temperature rare beef in the middle of the patty.  Inconsistency can certainly affect one’s opinion on a place and this was enough to make it almost intolerable.

9.  Mak Attack- Lucky's Last Chance, 4421 Main Street

2 griddle fried 4 oz. paddies plus mac and cheese on a Lisco’s roll.   Initially I thought I was eating a burger with a side of macaroni and cheese.  By the second half of the burger, I felt like was eating a very cheesy burger.  The macaroni added a texture to the cheese which made it seem creamier.

8.  Pub & Kitchen- 1946 Lombard Street

Putting years of old nostalgia aside and forgetting the old burgers from here, we went in with a clean mind and clean slate. The Pub and Kitchen burger comes with two patties, lightly pickled cucumbers, lettuce, onion, and cheddar cheese on a more traditional bun.  This is the closest to good old fashion burger that we tried and they do old fashioned well. Juicy meat and just the right amount of cheese means no added ketchup is required for this guy. 

7.  House Grind Burger- Blue Duck, 2859 Holme Ave.

Beef patty, lettuce, tomato, onion on brioche have all the accompaniments of a standard burger and that is basically what this is.  Better than average, the meat was well prepared and the bun provided some sweetness and body to absorb all the juices.

6.  Sketch- 413 East Girard Ave.

This is a no frills dive where you can draw and color a picture while you wait and potentially have the illustration added to the massive mosaic on the walls. The menu includes kobe beef, plain beef, turkey as well as specials including bison and buffalo chicken.  The sauces range of house made ketchup and chipotle sauce to green goddess and siracha based sauces. They are free, you can try as many as you want, and anything goes. A must have starter is the cheese fries with a nice mixture of cheeses and green onions that add a great touch. We both got slightly different but relatively standard burgers made of beef (kobe beef and beef with onions) with all the toppings and cheese of choice (options are american, chedder, provolone, and swiss). The all american burger with a hipster twist of sauces. Not the best meat on the menu or the best burgers. But the atmosphere and the specials have us wanting to go back anyways.

5.  PB & Bacon- Lucky's Last Chance, 4421 Main St.

Two 4 ounce burger patties with cheese, bacon, and peanut butter on top with a side of raspberry jelly doesn’t sound all that appealing. But when the bacon is done right and the jelly is house made (not to mention a very appropriate bun to hold things together) it is amazing. These are by far some of the best toppings we experienced. The meat is not the center of attention, nor is it meant to be. Its simply there to complete. 

4.  Standard Tap- 901 North Front Street

This has been on many lists as one of the best for years.  A solid staple of Northern Liberties, Standard Tap boasts one burger and only needs one. The Standard burger comes simply with toppings of cheddar cheese, lettuce, onion, and green tomatoes.  The burger was nicely seared and crispy on the outside but tender, juicy on the inside.  The addition of thinly sliced green tomatoes added a sour-sweetness.  

3.  Beast of the Northeast Burger- Blue Duck, 2859 Holme Ave.

This patty is a combination of beef and wild boar.  The addition of the wild boar makes the meat lighter, less fatty but still has plenty of flavor.  Throw on some gouda, tomato jam, bacon and sriracha-coated onion rings and you have a quite a plethora of flavors and textures; sweet, spicy, salty; it’s all included in a given bite.  But here’s the kicker:  these very different flavors blend well on this particular sandwich.  We’ve tried many burgers that throw a bunch of strong flavors on top of a patty.   This version, however, makes all the flavors balance very well with each other and the meat.   Many burger flippers have tried but The Blue Duck succeeded.  

2.  Kensington Quarters- 1310 Frankford Ave.

Kensington Quarters was voted “Best Butcher 2015” by Philadelphia Magazine; it is no wonder their ground kobe beef burger is generating some much press. The meat is top notch and the toppings of cheddar and onions do not overwhelm the meat. All of this is in what has now become the only way to eat a burger, a brioche bun.  They clearly go to great pains to highlight this fact with the meat being done just right and a large patty to make it the obvious center of attention.

1.  Village Whiskey- 118 S. 20th Street

A quiet Sunday early dinner allowed us to sit nicely in the bar area at Village Whiskey where reservations are not accepted. With one of the best additional accompaniments menu for burgers, this one packs a lot of promise. We opted for simple additional of Jasper Hill Cheddar for one and chèvre for the other. With toppings of crisp (and i mean crisp and fresh) bibb lettuce, tomato, and unfortunately thousand island dressing, the meat does most of the talking and the talking is good.  The chèvre cheese was by far the better addition, making one of us extremely jealous of the other but still very satisfied nonetheless.  Prepared just as requested with meat that just melts in your mouth, going back for another shouldn’t be too hard. 

The winner- Village Whiskey's Village Burger with chèvre

Tired Hands Fermentaria- Ardmore, PA

Amidst the blossoming craft brewery and brewpub scene is Tired Hands in Ardmore.  Initially opened as a corner bar in 2012 Tired Hands grew rapidly enough that more space was needed.  The brewery did not close down one operation in favor of another; they simply opened up larger Fermentaria 3 blocks away.  Unlike the initial location the Fermentaria features a full food menu along with their now nationally famous craft beer.  

Their beer can take up an entire post.  The beer was predominantly saison derivatives but the menu expanded to stouts and sours and of course the most popular of all-IPAs. For those of you who are microbrew enthusiasts, they possibility of an entire post about the beer at Tired Hands would be delightful. It is considered by many one of the best micro breweries in the country and holds a pretty strong hold on the designation of best in the state. But alas, this is a food blog.

On a snowy April Saturday night we were joined buy a couple good friends for dinner.  After grabbing some 4 or 8 ounce beers we moved on to “snacks” with pork bell  crispy buns made with kimchi mustard and pickled sesame cucumber all within a nice light bun. The asian flare the kimchi gives it makes it more savory as a whole instead of just some really good pork belly with accompaniments. Also, we got the nachos with chicken. Instead of having gooey nachos with all the toppings, the cheese dip came on the side with the chicken and jalapenos on top. Great gooey cheese is never a bad thing, but the chicken stole my heart with how moist and slightly spicy it was.

Pork belly "crispy buns"

Next up with had our entrees. Three of us opted for various tacos as this is the bulk and the center of the menu. You get two tacos loaded with the toppings. If you are looking for traditional tacos, you have come to the wrong place. While they do have chicken, fish, carnitas, and bean-the most recommended ones on the menu are the odd-balls. The best of the three (pastrami, bean and cheese, and brussel sprout) was by far the brussel sprout. Sautéed and topped with a cold apple slaw and sriracha ranch dressing, it was nicely tied together with a house-made bacon jam. Sweet, earthy, spicy, and meaty all mixed into one makes a great anything let alone a taco.   The pastrami tacos seem to be a unique blend of Eastern Europe and Mexican; the flavors of the accompaniments (carraway slaw, tarragon crema, pickled mustard seed) blend very well together for an outstanding savory and spicy flavor.  The pastrami itself was good but a tad too thick and chewy. The bean and cheese tacos are well mixed but not something to write home about. The salsa verde is pretty copious and lends most of the flavoring. I only ate the one and brought the other home with me (inner portion of taco only as the shell wound be gross as a leftover). 

Black Bean Tacos

Pastrami Tacos

The last entree was lamb belly, lemon-mint yogurt and tabouleh.  Being a huge fan of lamb pork belly, we were very anxious to get a taste of this salty fatty hybrid.  It lived up to our expectations.  Very well prepared, it combined the great taste unique to lamb with the fatty tenderness of great belly.  

Overall our experience at Tired Hands Fermentaria was very positive.  A great selection of beers and food are provided for all taste buds: sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, savory, meaty, veggie, healthy, no-so-healthy.  If you’re thorough you can find a perfect beer to compliment your food selection.  One critique often discussed about this place is the noise.  It is an open facility with little to absorb the many conversations.  It was a packed house during out time there and while it was noisy, it did not prevent or subdue any good conversation.  

Harvest- Moorestown, NJ

Moorestown Mall made a splash a few years back with the notice that they were starting to re-vamp the mall with new restaurants from big name local chefs. While Vetri’s satellite has since closed, Distrito by Garces and some other places still remain including local suburban staple Harvest. With locations throughout the Philly suburbs, the farm-to-table restaurant specializes in locally cultivated meat dishes. 

We went with friends from north Jersey, Eric and Dana, as they were in town for the night. Having a late reservation at 8:30, the place was surprisingly packed at that time and remained so for most of our meal. The server was knowledgable and patient with our decisions, guiding us as far as entrees go. An extensive wine list with well priced bottles was a notable plus early on in the meal.  In addition, there is a well-rounded cocktail list that included a “harvest fig bourbon’ which was a unique take on a classic old fashioned.

With a late dinner, the appetizers were chosen quickly and there were four of them in all. 

A baked goat cheese dish was a nice start and sated our hunger but was not exactly memorable. The charcuterie plate consisted of 4 meats, the liver pate was by far the best with appropriate accompaniments of pickles and mustard. The steak and mushroom flatbread pizza was also underwhelming, with too much cheese and not enough mushroom. Finally, the smoked duck pot stickers were one of the better ones, mainly because they were done just right and accompanied by an amazing cherry marmalade.

We all chose pretty boring entrees. The guys got the filet and the girls got the lamb shank. The lamb shank was on bone and served with a parsnip puree and cranberry demi glaze. While the lamb was done well, the cranberry demiglaze was a little too much on the sweet size. The dish didn’t seemed balanced because of this and made it hard to appreciate the dish as a whole. 

The filet, by contrast, had slightly charred outer but a buttery, tender preparation that was perfectly media rare.  The creamy garlic mashed potatoes and haricot verts serve as good accompaniments.  There was nothing too flashy about the filet, but it was very well prepared and presented.

The experience was overall underwhelming but not overly so. The service was good, especially considering we were kind of a pain in the ass to serve. The wine selection was quite good and the dishes were for the most part well executed if not exactly awe-inspiringly innovative or original. Not returning any time soon but would not say absolutely not if anyone wanted to try it out. 

S. Egidio- Ridgewood, NJ

On a recent visit to North Jersey to visit friends, we went out to a casual, unassuming Friday night dinner in the NYC suburbs.  The destination was S. Egidio, a small Italian bistro in downtown Ridgewood that seats 30-40.  There are no reservations, the wait was approx. one hour on this Friday night.  I did not know what I was getting myself into, assuming this wait was just typical for 8PM on a Friday night in early March.  However, one of their specialty pies is totally worth the 60-90 minutes it takes to get a table.  (Disclaimer:  We did not wait there physically for over an hour.  We called ahead and gave a name.  No tables will be held on a busy night but they seem loyal to first-come first-serve).

S. Egidio appeared on nj.com’s “On the Rise” amongst their NJ Pizza Power Rankings.  This is definitely saying something considering the vast number of pizza shops in all of New Jersey.  It did not crack their list of Top 25 pizzerias just yet but this may be simply due to the fact that S. Egidio only opened in 2014.  The chef and wood-fire oven both hail from Naples.  The authenticity of the pizzas are legit, at least with the simplicity of the ingredients.  The different creations the menu offers never deviate too far from authentic Southern Italian ingredients.  There are some unique ingredients (shaved truffle and chile infused honey to name a few) that add some wonderful character to the pies.  That’s about it.   The menu also offers a variety of appetizers and housemate pasta dishes.  We opted to share a few of each.

The Polpo E Patate was our appetizer of choice.  Until this point I never know the harmony that exists between chilled marinated octopus and rosemary potato.  The flavors work well together but they were also mutually exclusive.  We shared their potato gnocchi with basil pesto, pine nuts, permigiano and pecorino.  This gnocchi was an absolute homerun.  Super soft and creamy, the texture was more reminiscent of ricotta derived gnocchi.  The pesto was very simple and complimented the gnocchi well.  

Gnocchi with basil pesto

Octopus, rosemary potato

The Fiamma pie was how we kicked off the meal.  San marzano tomatoes, spicy soppressata, for di latte added some meat and depth to the pizza.  However, the chile honey stole the show.  Imagine the sweetness and earthiness of honey complemented by some heat in the aftertaste.  Nothing overwhelming, just a perfect blend of sweetness, heat and saltiness from the soppressata.  Our second pie choice was the Carciofotta, a very unique, rich pizza with artichoke creme, for di latte, pancetta, fresh egg and shaved black truffle.  This was one of the more unique pizzas I’ve tasted.  Any truffle (especially truffle oil which is quickly becoming my nemesis) can overpower the flavor of anything that would otherwise be delicious.  However, the artichoke and the pancetta balance out each slice perfectly.  You experience some truffle flavor initially, but that gives way to the saltiness from pancetta and artichoke.  The egg and cheese provide body and depth to the toppings.  More interestingly, the egg was composed of a batter rather than a typical fried egg.  

Fiamma

Carciofotta

The topping options are numerous and most any can satisfy any authentic pizza craving.  The show stealer, however, was the crust.  It was thin with enough firmness to support the toppings.  It was a perfect amount of chewiness/doughiness without tasting undercooked.  There was some flakiness to the outer crust without being particularly crispy.  This crust was hands-down the best I’ve ever had with a pizza.  This is saying something; we’ve visit a decent number of famous Philadelphia gourmet pizza restaurants and not one could match the quality, texture or taste of this crust.  In fact, the overall experience at S. Egidio would easily beat out any of the stops on our Pizza Challenge from last year.  The crust, ingredients and creativity are what big-name Napoli-inspired places like Pizzeria Vetri and Osteria attempted but so far have ultimately failed to accomplish.  Therefore, I beg to ask the question:  Is North Jersey and the New York City suburbs just that far ahead in their quality and expectations of standard gourmet pizza or is S. Egidio just that good?  Regardless, I must tip my hat to Rocco at the restaurant, you better make that Top 25 in May.