Fork (Old City)

Fork
303 Market St.
Yelp Reviews

Fittingly, Fork has a collection of different silver forks at each table (check it out, they're all really different and vintag-ey!)

We started with the make-your-own tapas appetizer (there was a list of 10 selections or so). This is the tandoori chicken, mixed olives & pickles, and the vietnamese beef (dry & greasy).

Spring salad with poached egg and asparagus:
Grilled salmon with snap peas (terribly blurry shot, I was trying to take it without flash):

Review: Osteria

Osteria
640 N. Broad St.
Yelp Reviews

*This review is from May, 2008

Soooo, we couldn't get reservations at Vetri, despite calling exactly 30 days beforehand, AND putting our names on the waiting list for all 5 nights that my parents were in town for. We therefore had to settle for Osteria, which I had heard was good but nowhere near as good as Vetri. It's supposed to be more casual, as is evidenced by their emphasis on grilled flat bread pizzas, rather than a more traditional Italian menu. They also offer a full range though of pastas, entrees, etc if you aren't in the pizza mood.
We had to start with a pizza since we were there, and I have to say it was really yummy! Especially with the fresh fava beans that were in season.
Fantastic antipasti platter:
A layered pasta dish (similar to lasagna) with asparagus:

Tiny ravioli in a brown butter sauce:

Divan Turkish Kitchen

Divan Turkish Kitchen
918 S 22nd St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
(215) 545-5790














Philadelphia’s numerous small restaurants (as opposed to chains or even national chains) amaze me. I’m not sure why big chain restaurants (ie Cheesecake Factory, TGI Fridays) aren’t more popular here, but it’s certainly a bonus for the avid restaurant goer such as myself, having so many great (especially ethnic) choices available.

Divan is a Turkish restaurant on 22nd St and Christian Street (a little south of South St). it’s a fairly residential neighborhood but definitely worth the trip down to check out the BYO.

The menu has a wide range of appetizers, soups, salads and main dishes. We ordered an appetizer platter to share: it came with humus, haydari, acili ezme (spicy minced peppers), patican salatasi (eggplant salad), and soslu patican (eggplant with sauce). We also had a yummy appetizer of calamari.





For my main dish, I tried the chicken kebab plate – moist grilled chicken, some veggies (including a HOT pepper),
pita, and rice pilaf.






Yum, dessert:











Review from South Philly Website:
http://southphillyreview.com/view_article.php?id=4484

Review: Hibachi

Hibachi Steakhouse
1613 Walnut Street, 2nd Floor
Phone: 215- 751-9993
http://www.tokyo1613.com/


Benihanas, Tanakas of Tokyo…

…and Hibachi?

As a newcomer to the Center City dining scene, Hibachi is trying to fill a hole for diners looking to get their fix of flashy chefs, flying knives, and food prepared in front of your eyes. Located upstairs from WOK on Walnut St. (could use some more promotion and signage, you wouldn’t spot it just walking by), Hibachi offers a nice alternative to the many Japanese restaurants in the neighborhood.

We were the only party on a Thursday night at the beginning of March. The staff (all Chinese, no Japanese) were friendly, even if their English was not so great. Our chef tried hard (tricks including slicing up a piece of raw zucchini and flipping bits into everyone’s mouth) even if he accidentally threw his knife at one of our friends.

The food was good (I had the teriyaki salmon, not cooked in front of me, just b/c I don’t love the stuff they make on the grill); no one had any complaints. They have a bunch of different combinations platters, including steak, chicken, shrimp, and scallops. Prices $17-25 per set meal, beers are $5.

Super Banana Bread

Made this banana bread with whatever I had in the house (including the last of the eggs, originally wanted to put 4 in) and it’s one of the nicer ones I’ve made. Very moist, nice brown crust.

Banana Bread Recipe

3 XL bananas (or 4 smaller ones)
½ cup oil
2 XL eggs (or 3 smaller ones)
2-3 T milk
1 cup sugar
2 t baking soda
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup flour
½ cup wheat bran
2 t vanilla
¼ c chopped walnuts

Beat bananas (I skip mashing them), oil, sugar, eggs and milk.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Pour into 2 loaf pans, 24 muffin tins, or 1 loaf pan & 12 muffin tins.

Bake muffins 20 minutes at 385 degrees and then turn down heat to 350 to finish the bread.

Abyssinia (Ethiopian in W. Philly)

Abyssinia
229 S. 45th St. (near Locust)
215.387.2424

I’d never had Ethiopian food before, but I became obsessed with trying it, once I heard that West Philly had two good options: Dahlak and Abyssinia. We picked Abyssinia to try, just because it’s located closer to the UPenn campus.

Ethiopian cuisine is known for being spicy, both spicy hot and full of tasty, unique spices. There’s a good summary of the cooking and how to eat it here. At Abyssinia, they bring out a giant round tray topped with injera, a soft, spongey bread (fermented, so it’s kinda sour) and a few vegetable/curry/lentil toppings. Then they bring out each of the other dishes you’ve ordered, and pour them on top of the spongey bread. Our waitress refused to bring us forks or spoons, insisting that we eat in the traditional manner: taking a small piece of bread, and using it to scoop up some of the tasty curries.

We ordered a bunch of dishes: a beef curry, chicken curry (spicy!!), some lentils, and a stir-fried vegetable dish. It came out to be delish, reasonably priced, and the restaurant seemed to have several locals (although it quickly filled up with foreigners after 7 pm) so I highly recommend it for a fun meal out.

Reading Terminal Market

Went with the girls to RTM (gotta love the abbreviations here) for lunch. I’m getting used to expensive food here in Philly, but RTM is still generally a pretty good deal. Basically every food counter has a substantial meal for around $5. (In Hawaii or Shanghai that was pretty much the high end of what I’d pay for lunch. In Hawaii, that will get you a plate lunch or a decent amount of takeout food. In Shanghai it will get you a sit down meal at a nicer restaurant including a starter and a beverage, but that’s another story…) Here in Philly (aside from the food trucks) I’m pretty surprised when I can get a meal for just $5.

We started at DiNic’s, home of the roast pork sandwich. I didn’t order this one (I don’t like pork chops, so I wasn’t sure how I felt about the roast pork) but Shaleigh & Lisa did. It came as a hoagie roll (nice & soggy from the pork juices) stuffed with thinly sliced roast pork, and topped with your choice of spinach, roasted peppers or provolone cheese.

Then we moved onto Thai food from Thai Food Market. We ordered a shrimp pad thai ($5) and a tom yum goong ($2). Both were far above average for pre-prepared Thai food. The shrimp in the noodles were extremely fresh and generous, and the noodles were the perfect sticky consistency. The soup was delicious (and very filling for just $2, next time maybe I’ll just get it with rice), a nice sour/spicy blend.

We ended with a chicken parm sandwich from Salumeria. While I liked it, some thought it was a little too rich and cheesy. (It also took over 20 minutes to make, because the Salumeria staff kept forgetting things and had to start over! How hard is it to make a chicken sandwich??)

Finally we strolled around the market, tried some local cheeses, picked up some fresh produce. Next time I go back I want to try 4th Street Cookies and Old City coffee…

Visit to Italian Market

Went to the Italian market for the first time last week to do some grocery shopping. I had a list of places I wanted to hit up:

*Anthony's for fresh roasted coffee (I have to say I didn't actually like this one; it was bitter and watery)


















*Fresh produce (it's super cheap; $.50 a lb of mini eggplants, 5 big green peppers for $1)

















*Cheese from Claudio's

















*Fresh fettucine from Talluto's (this stuff is AMAZING)

















The only 2 disappointments were Isgro's (line was too long to wait for what are supposed to be the *best* cannoli in town) and Sarcone's (closed by 2 pm, couldn't get any bread).

Melograno

Melograno
2201 Spruce St.
215.875.8116









So far, Melograno is my favorite Italian BYOB in the city. Located on a quiet center city corner in a residential neighborhood, the restaurant unassumingly serves up great Tuscan meals. Although melograno translates to 'pomegranate' in English, I unfortunately didn't see any pom dishes on the menu (I also don't see them as the type to follow food trends such as pom though...)

We started with the antipasto platter and the roasted shiitake mushroom. The platter’s spread of ham, salami, goat cheese, roasted veggies, and olive and tomato bruschettas took me back to the Spanish Steps in Rome and the unbelievable meal we had there.

Main dishes include grilled scallops, grilled chicken with white beans and bacon, and beet ravioli. The most spectacular was the ravioli: gorgeous ruby color, creamy goat cheese, and no strong beet flavor. The scallops were simple but complex in flavor, a chewy, mild base for the roasted artichokes they came with.






























The restaurant space is a bit tight, and they are always running late even with reservations, but Melograno is a great place for a date or celebratory dinner.

Four Rivers

Four Rivers (Sichuanese)
真川味
936 Race St. (Chinatown)

Philly has 3 sichuanese restaurants; all of which I've heard good things about. This is very impressive, because most Chinatowns don't even have one good Sichuan restaurant. I'm planning on trying all 3 of them (because i loooove spicy food), but I chose Four Rivers to check out first, because all of my classmates from China recommended this one.

When we climbed up the stairs on a Friday night around 730 pm, we found the restaurant packed with Chinese speakers. Always a good sign for a Chinese restaurant.

We started with 'fu qi fei pian' or 'husband & wife lung slices' which is actually not lung, but tripe, tendon, and beef in a spicy/tingly (ma la) sauce ($4.95). Then we had yuxiang qiezi (fish sauce eggplant, $8.95) and dou ban yu (a whole fish grilled in an oily garlic/ginger/green pepper/chili pepper sauce, $21.95).

Dou Ban Yu















Fu Qi Fei Pian
















Eggplant















My thoughts on the restaurant? I have very high standards (after living in China for five years and eating amazing sichuanese food in Shanghai, Chongqing, and Chengdu) so I won't say this is the best I've had. It was good, but not incredibly delicious or spicy. I'm curious to try the other 2 sichuanese places and compare.