Another Delco Guy In South Jersey

Guapos Tacos Truck Spotted

Between the Kimmel Center and Hamilton Hall of the University of the Arts!

Stephen's on State - A Review

This week I had the unsual opportunity to have dinner back in Delco with my dad.  After reviewing the State Street options, I selected Stephen's over Iron Hill on the basis of better steak offerings for him and a lower potential for noise pollution from Flyers fans. 

Stephen's was a good choice overall, but unspectacular.  The decor is clean and neat, but nothing special.  The old-fashioned I enjoyed at the bar (while I waited for Pop to slide the Camry into a primo parking spot out front) had never heard of bitters and suffered from a few too many maraschino cherries.

My cold appetizer of rare tuna seemed to have been pre-prepared and was a touch dry. The sesame oil infused bed of greens was quite tasty and the overall effort was refreshing. The bread course was very good, with crusty, yet soft, recently sliced bread accompanied by herbed olive oil.  It was actually a highlight of the meal.

My crab and scallop broiled tilapia special was flavorful, but poorly cooked.  One side was very over done and the flip side was barely cooked, leading to an overly dry crunchy mouth feel.  The scallops were excellent however and the crab meat was a nice, if sparse addition.

My father had mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat as an appetizer.  SInce there were only 5, I passed on his offer to share, but he enjoyed them immensely from what I could tell.  He also filled up on the crab in his entree, choosing a filet oscar while skipping the bearnaise sauce.  He subbed out the asparagus for Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and was very happy with both the main course and his side.

I passed on a pretty pedestrian dessert menu, but Pop tried the cheesecake.  Obviously recently liberated from a cardboard box, the texture and flavor were pretty below average.  The service was very good, with our local waitress keeping the tea glass filled and endured my father's usual line of questioning about her educational background and future plans.

All in all Stephen's on State was a nice Wednesday night out for two guys without much else to do on a spring evening.  The Food was good, if a notch below the pricetag.  The service and ambiance were enjoyable and unobtrusive.  I recommend hitting restaurant.com for discount certificates if you go.  Ours cut $15 off the $100. bill, which included tip.

There are better restaurants in Delco, but Stephen's is worth a shot if you're a carnivore out looking for a meal in Media.  My dad is a steak guy, so this worked well for him.  We ate, talked about family and friends, upcoming vacations and sport.  It was a good night for both of us and the food was a big part.

Xfinity Live - A Review

By now many of you have probably had the chance to get down to Xfinity Live, the new party venue in South Philly sports complex. Crowds have been huge, filling the place to capacity when there is an event at any venue. The opening night, when Third Eye Blind did a free concert, was seriously packed with the crowd overflowing long before showtime.

I had a chance to check things out last weekend as the place was opening and was pleasantly surprised at how much they have packed into what is a pretty small footprint. For a place that isn't quite done yet, there is certainly a lot going on!

The music stage out back is pretty sweet for the local band scene, offering a nice raised stage flanked by a short turf football field and a back bar faced with bricks from the original Spectrum. Even on a cold early April evening last Saturday, several local bands were able to generate some warmth as fans came out for long-time favorites Burnt Sienna, Mr. Greengenes, The Flamin' Caucausians, a Strange as Angels reunion and Kristen and the Noise all rocked for the Flyers fans and later the 76ers faithful.

One musical off-note from opening weekend - whoever the idiot was that booked Crazy in Stereo needs his head examined.  They were so bad I thought that some drunken wait staffers had stolen instruments and stormed the stage.

Inside there is the main space, the NBC Sports Arena, with it's MASSIVE 32 foot HDTV towering over bars, tables and banquettes. Each time I have been to Xfinity Live, this space has been packed.  It's a great place to watch the game if you don't a ticket and the food is certainly on par with sports complex places like Chickies and Pete's and McFaddens.  You will have to deal with some jostling around and it's hard to hear over the thunderous sound system and crowd noise, but you really aren't taking a date here for the conversation, right?

I was pretty impressed with the Victory Beer Hall, which was was packed with beer lovers sucking down pints of Downingtown's best brews.  While there is certainly some learning curve on the staff beer knowledge (No beautiful, the Storm King Stout is NOTHING like a Guinness, but you sure are cute in that outfit!) the place was electric.  The outside bar and fire pit were also a really nice addition to the space.

PBR (no idea what that stands for) is an odd duck of a bar.  It's got a mechanical bull in the middle of the bar, women in backless chaps, some very pretty margaritas and some solid smoked BBQ ribs.  So you can watch your drunk buddy last .8 seconds on the bull while your suck down a few big drinks served to you by someone who looks like she should be at Hooters.  This place seems to be a staff favorite after they get cut from other spots.  Broad Street Bullies Pub is your basic sports bar, replete with Flyers memorbilia and a quieter vibe than the other bars in the complex.

Finally, there's the Spectrum Grille, a quiet, high-end steakhouse featuring soft lighting and sleek, dark wood decor and my friend Noelle making great drinks at the bar.  The tuna carpaccio was very good and other bar customers had high marks for the steaks.  In the time my guest and I were there, we saw several former Flyers slip in the back entrance and order up some massive steaks.  It looks like the Flyers Alumni has a new clubhouse!

XL certainly answers the question 'Where should we meet before the game?' It is now THE destination for pre-gaming in South Philly.  McFaddens will still have its crowd for Phillies nights, but my guess is the C&P crowds will take a hit as folks realize they don't need to take a bus from the bar to the game. Groups will be able to meet here easily, have a few drinks before game time and then head off.  Folks without tickets won't be out of luck either, given the plethora of TVs and the mega giant HDTV screen in the main hall.

I think XL also has a lot of potential on non-game nights. The music venue will be a fun addition to the local rotation of spots you can see your favorite cover bands.  There is also room inside for smaller acoustic sets at Victory, PBR and Broad St., something that I think will make for and interesting evening, as you can walk from venue to venue as long as you are willing to carry your drink in a plastic cup.

I'll be headed back down soon to see how the place looks as it works out its growing pains.  XL was obviously overstaffed and overcrowded for opening weekend, so it will be interesting to see how the place looks on a 'normal' weekend. So far though, Xfinity Live looks like a winner!

Friday Fantastic Four - Easter Candy

Hello all -

It's been a great week in the Region of Brotherly Love, with the Phils beating the Pirates yesterday, 1-0 to open the season, The Masters underway, the Flyers clinching a playoff date with the Pens and doughnuts in the office to celebrate a birthday!

But it's also Easter weekend for the Christians or bunny lovers among us. We have not finished the Halloween candy at my house yet, but it's time to hunt for eggs and check out what the Easter bunny left in the baskets this year.

What are your four favorite Easter Candies?

1. Peeps - absolute #1.  The ones covered in dark chocolate are pretty darn good too, but they don't get stale and chewy.
2. Jelly Belly Jellybeans - I've had a weakness since the Reagan administration when they were the rage and I would walk up to Kelly's Kandy in the Brookhaven Shopping center and scoop out my favorites into a plastic bag.
3. Cadbury Creme Eggs - They're a bit smaller than they used to be, and darn pricey, but oh so good.
4. Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Eggs - Yeah.  I have a thing for marshmallow.

Have a great weekend of family, sports, observations and food!

Sunday Dinner!

Bopper and I conspired to create dinner tonight in Swarthmore. Mmmm! Good!

Thursday

It was 60 degrees at lunchtime today, so I went for a walk instead of writing.  I likely won't be writing tonight either because I am going to a Flying Fish Brewing event at Philadelphia Bar and Restaurant in about an hour. 

Short story is that this is today's blog.  Enjoy it's brevity and prfound lack of content.

Friday Fantastic Four - I Love Philly!

So a couple weeks ago my Fantastic Four was on Philly things that I don't understand.  This week, I was driving though South Philly and realized as crazy as this town is some days, there is so much I love about it. Soooo ....

What do you Love about Philly?

1. The Italian Market - Seattle has Pike Place Market, New York has the Fulton Fish Market, DC has the Eastern Market, but none of them touches our own Italian Market.  Reeking of authenticity, this place has third-generation neighborhood shop-keepers alongside Amish purveyors and newcomers of all sorts.  The chaos makes this place worth a trip, even if you don't buy a thing.
2. The Restaurant Scene - With our own celebrity chefs, Kitchen Nightmares and Michelin Star drama and 13th St. Empires, we've got it all.  I like the diversity here.  You can get great cheesesteaks and hoagies, you can go ultra high end, you can hit a BYO, enjoy America's best beer scene or munch on tapas.  And then you can head out tomorrows night and do it again, because these ain't NYC prices.
3. City Hall - What's not to love about this place?  For years the tallest building in the city by gentleman's agreement, this is a COLOSSALbuilding.  We let protests camp at its base, watch Billy Penn pee when it rains, convince city councilmen not to jump from its heights and dress it up at playoff time.  Oh, and it's the center of government and a major city courthouse!
4. Manayunk - One of the first places I ever hung out in the city, it was where all the college kids came to town for fun before Old City was Old City.  I still like going back to the 'yunk after all these years.  I love the food, the beer, the bike race, the music, and yes, even the shopping.  Even when it floods, Manayunk comes back and makes everyone happy again next summer!

What do you love about the City of Brotherly love?

Have a great weekend!

Friday Fantastic Four - Weird Philadelphia

I have lived In the Philly region my whole life and I have to admit there are some things I just don't understand about my hometown.

What are the top four weird things about your home town?

1. The Mummers - I just don't understand the fascination.  Drunk, crossdressing union guys and banjo music?  What am I missing here? 
2. Wing Bowl - I wentto this bacchanalian event a few times as a young man, but I really didn't understand the draw of getting drunk at 5 am and watching guys eat so many cold chicken wings that they throw up.
3. Parking In South Philly - By all means, just stop your car in the middle of Shunk Street and run in to the deli to talk to Tony about that thing. Everyone will wait for you!  No problem!
4. Scrapple - Ugh.  Gritty processed pig parts.  If the diner grease wasn't enough to make you vomit, the texture of this Philly Phavorite sure will!

So what makes your home town special?  Everyone have a great weekend!

Iron Hill Maple Shade's Barrels Event

A couple of Saturdays ago I braved what passes for a storm this winter and headed over to the Maple Shade outpost of the Iron Hill empire for their annual Barrels event.  This year, brewemaster Chris LaPierre's theme was 'Bourbon and Bugs,' or beers aged in used bourbon barrels and beers brewed with wild yeasts.

 

For most, both sets of beers are a bit of a stretch. But you're a true beer aficionado if you enjoy the 'bugs' or beers brewed with the wild yeasts.  Generally tangy and often sour, these beers have an astringent mounthfeel and take some serious getting used to. With many qualities of good wines, these complex brews offer some amazing flavor profiles for those willing to stretch beyond the standard offerings of the local microbrew.

 

LaPierre had 5 wilds to choose from and I went with the tasting round of four ounce pours for $10.  The most interesting to me was the Heywood, a Belgian golden ale that was fermented in an oak barrel with a lambic yeast.  It was dry and sour and had a surprising blue cheese-like finish.  Fascinating!

While I thought all five of the wilds were excellent, the other real winner of the round was the Wine Barrel Wee Heavy, a souped-up version of Iron Hill's standard Scotch Ale.  Aged in a wet Pinot Noir barrel, with the same lambic yeast, this 11% ABV monster was all fruit up front and spice on the finish. If I had not been driving, I would have had a pint of this!

The Bourbons came next and were actually a bit disappointing.  While each had some good points, the bourbon characteristics of the barrel aging were pretty overwhelming.  I love LaPierre, and I had eagerly awaited this portion of the tasting, but these beers were generally a disappointment. 

I've been a fan of bourbon-aged versions of the Iron Hill Porter for years, since convincing the guys in Media it was OK to sell me growlers of it to take home back in the mid-90s. The Maple Shade Bourbon Porter was served on a nitrogen push and was the clear winner of the round, smooth and full with heavy vanilla notes from the whole beans in the aging barrel. I would have had a pint of this one as well. 

The other winner of the round was the Bourbon Bock, which tasted of marshmallow and biscuit and was reminiscent of a summertime s'more.  Sadly, the collaborative Bourbon Cherry Iron Fish I was really looking forward to was a real mess, tasting strongly of cherry cough syrup that overwhelmed the hops and the malt.

All in all this was a great afternoon of beer and conversation.  I had at least 10 different great conversations about the South Jersey beer scene with the folks I chatted with between sips.  There were plenty of knowledgeable home brewers in attendance as well, and  and learned a ton from them. I got to talk at length to the Iron Hill brewmaster Chris LaPierre as well as the owner, Kevin Finn.  I appreciated their insights into owning a main-stream craft brewpub and what it takes to compete in this market.

This was a once a year event at Iron Hill Maple Shade, but if you're looking for solid food and a great beer selection, they're open 7 days!

My Little Helper

I turned my back for a second and Spunky is right there to help out!

Weird Kids

Somewhere along the line my kids started eating their pasta piled on top of their garlic bread. They also always require mac and cheese to be served with ham so they can dip the ham in the cheese sauce.

Weird kids! But no weirder than I am I guess, given that I like my red wine chilled way cooler than standard and my beer far warmer than is generally served here in the states.

Got any food oddnesses of your own?

Friday Fantastic Four - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and I have decided to extend the fun by a bit!  What could be better than a holiday that is about cooking, eating, hanging out with family and watching football?  Yes, I understand that there is much more to it and I will cover those things in my annual Thanksgiving day post, but for now, let's just talk about the fun stuff...

What are your four favorite things about Thanksgiving?

1. Dark meat - yup - I love it!  Everyone else can fight over the dry turkey breast, I am a thigh guy!
2. Football rivalries - from the big local high school games to the Lions and the Cowboys, football has become as important to this holiday as cranberry sauce.
3. Gathering - it's the best part of the day, when people from all over converge before dinner, covered dishes or bottles of wine in hand.  This year we'll be at my sister's in Swarthmore.  Stop by!
4. Watching the women plan the Black Friday assault.  If this much planning had gone into the war in Afghanistan, the troops would have been home years ago!

I hope you are all getting ready for the holidays.  We've got a nice long weekend here full of dances and birthdays and school stuff.  Enjoy!

Celebrating the Little Things

Tuesday we found out that John was selected to play travel baseball again next spring.  That good news came on the heels of Emma's completion of her first season of soccer and at the end of two really long days of work for me.  On the spur of the moment, I decided a little family celebration was in order and we headed to PJ Whelihan's in Medford Lakes for an impromptu dinner out.

While it was a luxury we really can't afford right now, it ended up being a great night as PJs was filled with families doing pretty much the same thing we were.  The restaurant hires a balloon artist on Tuesdays, so everyone had brightly colored headdresses and there was a lot of laughter in the air.  Emma did her homework and chatted with classmates, John watched the big screen TVs while talking baseball and we all relaxed for an unexpected hour of fun.

I've never been a big fan of the PJ's chain, but this night may have turned the corner for me.  Emma's meal, which included a drink and dessert was only $5.99.  My fish tacos were $7.99.  John, as usual,  was the big spender with a bacon cheese burger and crab fries that topped out at $13.99.  Emma enjoyed her chicken fingers, which were nothing special, John's burger was cooked just the way he likes it and my fish tacos were good-sized and had great flavor.  I never knew the family night was a big thing there, but the balloon artist said the place is packed every week during the school year. 

We had a chance to talk about school without me running around like a crazy man trying to get dinner together, the kids had nice night out and there were no dishes to do!

Maybe we will have to make it a tradition to celebrate the little things there more often!

The Village Pub - A Review

First, you have to know what you are getting when you go to "The Pub."  The floors are plywood.  The bar is plywood.  The biggest TV is 27 inches, it's on a stack of milk crates, and it was made in the Carter administration.

You aren't here for the ambiance.

What you are here for is surprisingly good, cheap Italian food, local color and/or a night of beers with your friends.  This local hangout caters to everyone from serious drunks to families out after a youth sports event. While the place is certainly clean, it's clean in a gritty, mellow way.

There is always a full roster of specials, heavy on the pasta and easy on the wallet.  I think they do a great job with their veal dishes. There is also a full bar menu with excellent wings and a chicken cheesesteak that is one of the best around.  Marinated chunks of chicken breast are grilled, slathered in cheese and dumped in a soft roll.  Not the standard prep, but a darn good spin on a classic.

Every tradesman in the area stops at the bar at least once a week for the cheap beer and the good conversation.  If you're looking for your son's basketball coach after the game, trust me, he's here.  I've even seen a bachelorette party here.

You'd never guess the place was any good from the road.  Or even from the dining table.  But trust me on this. The food is WAY better and the prices are better than PJs.  Sure, you aren't going to get 16 flatscreen TVs and seriously hot waitresses like PJs, but you'll thank me for telling you to sit down, ignore the wobbly table, grab a $2 draft and enjoy one of the specials.

Out On The Town With Emma!

While her brother is showing off his 'Moves Like Jagger' at the school dance, Emma and I are enjoying ice cream sundaes at Leo's. I hope everyone is enjoying the start to the weekend!

Barbuzzo Review

Maybe the best restaurant in Philly right now.  No hyperbole there.

Caution - you should know before reading the rest of the review that I am in full-on love with Barbuzzo at the moment.

First, it's a beautiful space.  At night it's a bit hard to tell with every table filled from 5 though 11 pm, but stop by for lunch and look around.  The place was meticulously put together by people with a wonderful eye for detail and quality.

Second, the food.  Good lord, what flavors and preparation.  Amazing vegetarian soup is a wonderful way to start any meal.  The distinct flavors of each of the vegetables are evident.  I also have had a chicken vegetable chorizo soup that was simply stunning.

The star of the antipasti plate was the buffalo mozzarella with an incredible arugula pesto.  It's a fair sized meal, or an excellent sharing appetizer, and under priced at $13.

I have also enjoyed the Barbuzzo burger.  It's a juicy, tender blend of salty and sweet with a tomato onion spread that makes me consider if it's better than the burgers at Village Whiskey.  Maybe not quite, but close.  Marcie Turney has an inspired menu and Paul Lyons and Chris Davis are doing amazing work in the kitchen.

Third, the drinks.  It's a well-tended bar with every ingredient you could ever hope for.  The Sazerac 13 features Old Overholt Rye and a several rather hard to find bitters.  There are 6 taps of excellent craft brews as well as a number of great canned and bottled beers.  If you are a wine fan, this is a super list by the glass, rivaling any wine bar in the area.

I have had great service in my two visits, though things are a bit noisy and tight in the evening.  It's a really fun place and certainly the best food I have had out in some time.  Make it a point to get in there!  And stop by their website.  The blog features reviews by people more famous than me.

Pirate Boys!

John had a great time yesterday with his buddies Stevie and Dev at La Campagnola's Octoberfest. The fun continued at the Duffs' house last night and today the hits were plentiful as John and Stevie's War Eagles team beat up on the Marlton Reds 17-7.

We are on the way to Delco to watch he Birds with the family. Everyone have a great day!

The girls and Duff had a good time yesterday too, enjoying the moonbounce, face painting, and assorted other parking lot fun.

Scents From The Past

Isn't it amazing how much emotion the whiff of a specific scent can create, launching you into the time machine to a place so far removed from your current existence?

You know what I mean right?  A former lover's perfume leaves you useless and distracted in a meeting for two hours.  The tang of juniper can nearly conjure the taste of of your first gin and tonic.  The power of the memory is enough to cause you an almost physical reaction, from the warmth of desire to the chill from the flowery scent of a funeral home.

For me, the smell of roast beef brings me back to Sunday nights at my grandmother's house.  The particular smell of the older Wawa markets brings me back to nights spent working overnight and the 3 am coffee run.  The scent of oranges and vanilla return me to my mother's holiday kitchen as a teenager.  Sage transports me to the cliffs of La Jolla and the smell of chalk to my 4th grade classroom. The smell of tomatoes on my hands to my grandfather's garden.

Somehow, the mind holds it all, bringing it back when the moment is most exquisite.  Take some time this week to enjoy the smells of fall around us.  It's the time of burning leaves, mulled apple cider, pumpkin pie and the first crispness in the morning air.  See what you remember!

Sbarga Will Give It A Go

The restaurant space at the corner of Broad and Pine on the first floor of Symphony House in Center City Philadelphia has had a terrible history. The signs are going up today for celebrity chef Kevin Sbraga's eponymous new restaurant in the space. I am looking forward to seeing what the Johnson and Wales trained chef and his wife can bring to the space that last housed noodles joint Chew Man Chu and that opened as the forgettable DuJour.

I will get in there as soon as it's open and get you a review.

Chil-fil-A Helps Everyone Feel Better!

I had everything out to make breaded chicken tonight. I had salad, garlic bread, and some veggies. We were all set to go.

But my little princess is having a bit of a bad day, so we decided that a trip to her favorite restaurant might fix things. So far it seems to be working.

There isn't much time left for the fix to be as easy as a trip to Chil-fil-A, so I will savor this while I can.

At Another Time In My Life

I was having dinner with some good friends the other night when I was reminded of a recurring scene from my life that still brings a smile to my face nearly 20 years later.

On most Sunday nights from 1992 until sometime in 1994, I sat with some real good friends in a wooden booth at a bar overlooking State Street in Media, Pennsylvania.  Joclyn's Bar is still there, up a steep flight of wooden stairs into a gloomy series of rooms that was a dive then and is even more of a dive today.

Back then though, it was where a few of us serendipitously found a place where we ended the weekend and got ready for the week.  A local folk singer-songwriter was the soundtrack of our Sunday nights, covering anything you wanted from Elvis to The Eagles, as long as you wrote the request on a dollar bill.  John Flynn's originals silenced the din of the bar though, making us look sadly at the necks of our beer bottles, or wistfully out the windows, or even, sometimes, late in the evening, sing along.

There was Lisa the self-tipping waitress, whose hair ranged from 3/4 of an inch tall all the way to two inches and knew how to flirt just enough.  We helped he move one hot summer day and helped her shovel her car out the night of the blizzard.  We threw our money in the middle of the table and she took what she needed for the beer and a little for herself for each round. 

Every now and then Bopper or Jim and I would try to bring someone new into the group, from my college friends to the women who would become our wives, but they never were really comfortable. It was a low key place back then and orders for Chardonnay were greeted with Lisa's bemused smirk.  My college friends never understood the folk music thing and never came back for a second Sunday night.

Joclyn's is different now, John Flynn doesn't play there anymore and I had not thought about Lisa in years.  Jim, Bopper and I have kids now, and we're too tired at the end of a weekend for Sunday night shenanigans. Still, there have not been too many places that I have hung out in that were as perfect in that moment as Joclyn's was on those nights.

The romantic poets were always my favorites, exalting us to take up the "carpe diem" banner and draw as much out of life as we can.  This post isn't as much an homage to a those long-ago Sunday nights as much as it is a notation of the moment I realized how many others I had let past with treasuring them as deeply as I should have. We've all got a Joclyn's in our life that can help remind us.

Hello From Valenzano Wine Festival 2011

Everyone here is enjoying the great weather, good music and New Jersey wines here in Shamong!

Go Phils!

Last Night Out Before School!

School starts tomorrow for my kids and we are out for a last special night together before it's time to tote the backpacks!

Clancy Gets Crafty

Ok this one is for the crafty mommy bloggers out there. 

Coworker Jo-Anne Clancy got crafty over the weekend and the result is a small coven of marshmallow witches for the office. Made from marshmallows, coconut shavings, a chocolate cookie, a Hershey's Kiss, a mini Reese's cup and some icing to hold it all together, these tasty treats are geeting us through a tough Monday morning!

Sorry the photo isn't any better, but it's tough to shoot on your dekstop with a cell phone camera!