All Philadelphians know that these popular St. Patrick’s Day treats have little do to with potatoes or the Irish. What they might not know is that the city’s confectioners are rolling up their own sweet twists on this coconut cream candies.
The Original Asher’s traditional recipe of sugar and coconut rolled in cinnamon has been a Philadelphia mainstay for over a hundred years.
The Fancy Spud
The gussied-up potatoes coming out of Emerald Confections’ Mayfair kitchen (pictured) are creamier than the original variety and dipped in milk, dark, white or mint chocolate. And they’ve shared the recipe with us. (below)
The Cold Potato
Pick your favorite ice cream (vanilla lends the purest flavor) and Center City’s Scoop DeVille will blend in shredded coconut, cinnamon and, of course, house-made Irish potatoes.
In a bowl, mix cream cheese, butter, sugar and coconut. Chill until firm, about 2 hours. Roll into quarter-sized balls, then roll in cinnamon. Makes 50 Irish potatoes.
Photo, Zoey Sless-Kitain
In France, a brasserie is a big casual restaurant that serves simple fare and everyday wine and beer on the cheap. Similarly, Italians have the osteria, a step down from the fine-dining ristorante, where rustic food and table wines are served to the masses.
Here in Philadelphia, we have our own versions of these restaurants — Marc Vetri’s Osteria and Georges Perrier’s Brasserie Perrier. But there’s nothing populist about them; both are famous for high quality and high prices. Recently, though, Brasserie Perrier attempted to claim its name with a new, more casual menu. It was originally reported that entrée prices would top out at $30, but with the new menu in hand, I spy a $36 rack of lamb, a $40 cheese plate, a $36 prime rib, and a $33 New York Strip, not to mention the $190 half-ounce taste of caviar — cheaper than some options on the old menu, but even $30 is stretching the limits of what could reasonably be considered a true brasserie.
As the winter truffle season comes to end — winter black truffles are typically available from mid-November to mid-March — Alison Barshak, chef-owner of Alison at Blue Bell shares a favorite recipe for these extravagant mushrooms. Thankfully, her truffled grits call for slightly less expensive black truffle butter and oil. Barshak typically pairs the truffled grits with a pan-seared filet of halibut.
Truffled Grits From Alison Barshak
1 cup grits
12 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more salt to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons black truffle butter
Black pepper, to taste
Black truffle oil, to taste
Wash grits with cold water several times to remove impurities. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine washed grits, vegetable stock and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring frequently until the mixture thickens. Add butter and truffle butter. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with truffle oil. Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish.
Image, wikimedia.org
Recently, there has been panic in the news about the purity of our drinking water. The AP reports tests that show trace amounts of prescription drugs in much of the United State’s tap water. And it’s likely that bottled water, often drawn from the same sources as tap, has similar levels of chemicals.
While it’s no good to have issues raised about the safety of our drinking water, it’s important to remember that many places around the world have water so contaminated that it’s deadly. Those who are forced to drink the water in much of the developing world still die from waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid fever and hepatitis A. In fact, as we sit around our water coolers or Pellegrinos worrying about what dangers may lurk for us, more than 4,000 children around the world die each day for lack of clean drinking water.
From March 16 through 22, a dozen local restaurants (including Daniel Stern’s Gayle and Rae) will be participating in UNICEF’s Tap Project, which invites diners to donate $1 when they choose plain ice water. Proceeds support UNICEF’s ongoing efforts to bring clean drinking water to impoverished countries around the world.
While Irish stouts like Guinness are described as dry, for their burnt-coffee bitterness, most English-style stouts deliver a hint of sweetness. Within this sweet stouts category, smooth oatmeal stouts, brewed with unmalted oats and barley, have pride of place as the most delicious and drinkable. And among oatmeal stouts, Samuel Smith’s brew has come to be the world benchmark. The Old Brewery at Tadcaster in North Yorkshire is one of the few artisanal breweries to survive the dark days of industrial dominance of brewing in Britain, and the beer’s fermentation still takes place in traditional Yorkshire Squares, slate-lined box-shaped vats.
The beer looks like black coffee, topped with a pillowy head of foam. On first sip, flavors of dusty chocolate, dried cherries and pumpernickel bread are rich and layered. Silky texture and a whisper of malty sweetness soften the beer’s impact. Pair it with both savory dark meat dishes, like traditional pot roast, and as well as chocolatey desserts. Or use it to make a memorable grown-up ice cream float.
Restaurant checks in Philadelphia can get pretty steep. Ten bucks won’t buy much of a meal in most of places, but there are some spots that a humble Hamilton will buy you a multicourse feast.
Mr. Joe’s Cafe
Owned by Termini crew and situated just across the street from the 8th Street bakery, Joe’s Café is only open until 5 p.m. But a leisurely lunch in this tiny café is reason enough to play hooky. Guests are welcomed with a gratis glass of red wine, and all of the $10 or less lunch items come with a salad and dessert. I recommend the ricotta gnocchi in marinara sauce and blueberry pie.
Kingdom of Vegetarians
It’s not the most stylish space in this city, but Chinatown’s Kingdom of Vegetarians does offer one of the best dim sum deals in town. For a mere $10, diners can sample all they want of the restaurants mock-meat buns, dumplings and spring rolls. While it’s hardly a Lakeside Deli stand-in, the fare appeals to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.
Konak
Every Tuesday night, Konak in Old City offers tapas-like portions of all its traditional Turkish dishes, including hummus, stuffed grape leaves and kebobs for $2 each. There is a five-item minimum, but the extensive menu might tempt you to order a few more. Don’t miss the tart yogurt dip or the savory lamb kebob.
Restaurants love peppering menus with chef jargon. Deciphering dish descriptions can be a challenge if you don’t know your charcuterie from your choucroute, especially when chefs feel free to reinterpret the established culinary lexicon on a whim.
Not long ago, a server described a seafood soup special that was “topped with crab tartare.” Tartare is supposed to mean seasoned and chopped raw beef (shown). Tuna, because of its steak-like quality, now commonly gets the tartare treatment and nametag. I can live with that. Crab, on the other hand, is considered less safe than most other seafood in its raw state.
When I questioned the server about it, he went back to the kitchen to inquire about the crab and returned to the table with the message that the restaurant would never serve raw crab. The dish’s title, he explained, was the chef’s interpretation of tartare.
Restaurant-goers these days are more motivated than ever to learn the lingo — if only chefs could agree on what these terms are supposed to mean.
Last Saturday, the Craft Beer Fest at the Navy Yard — a Philly Beer Week special preview event — set the tone for the week’s upcoming festivities as brewheads raised their four-ounce glasses every 30 minutes in a toast to “America’s Best Beer-Drinking City.” This Friday, the week — more like a full 10 days — officially kicks off with Joe Sixpack’s Philly Favorites, a sampling of favorite local ales and lagers.
Some of the other 100-plus events include food and beer pairings with Sunday’s The Brewer’s Plate, and a region-wide “Meet & Greet” on Tuesday evening, when area bars host brewers from around the world. And, the ’burbs will be getting their drink on, too. Check out phillybeerweek.org for a complete listing of events.
Great dishes are all about balanced flavors, and more chefs than ever are contrasting sweet and savory in the most unlikely of places — on their dessert menus. You may cringe a bit at the idea of bacon ice cream, served recently as part of a tasting menu at Cochon, but who doesn’t love a chocolate chip cookie that’s a little salty as well as sweet? Caramels with sea salt have become another new classic. Lacroix’s kitchen fuses the sweetness of chocolate and coconut with the nutty flavor of sesame in its Thai ganache, and over at James, they turn strong gorgonzola cheese into a semifreddo.
I like bold flavor combinations wherever I find them, but a creative balancing act can really take the doldrums out of the dessert course.
This pink wine is hardly a subtle blush. Vivid mauve in color and packing a hefty 13 percent alcohol, Pedroncelli Zinfandel Rosé 2006 is for red-blooded, meat-eating Americans. It is also less sugary than much-maligned white zin, hovering just on the cusp of perceptible sweetness.
Pedroncelli has been tending their family vineyards in Sonoma for over 80 years, and most of their land is in Dry Creek Valley, a dry and sunny zone whose claim to fame is the depth and power of its old vine zinfandel. This cuvée is a light-hearted pink spin on the big red style, perfect for quaffing alone or with simple everyday foods. It is particularly adept with take-out food, from sweet and sour pork to double cheese pizza, and, at $6.99, it is priced to match.
All Philadelphians know that these popular St. Patrick’s Day treats have little do to with potatoes or the Irish. What they might not know is that the city’s confectioners are rolling up their own sweet twists on this coconut cream candies. 
In France, a brasserie is a big casual restaurant that serves simple fare and everyday wine and beer on the cheap. Similarly, Italians have the osteria, a step down from the fine-dining ristorante, where rustic food and table wines are served to the masses. 
As the winter truffle season comes to end — winter black truffles are typically available from mid-November to mid-March — Alison Barshak, chef-owner of 
Recently, there has been panic in the news about the purity of our drinking water. The AP reports tests that show 
While Irish stouts like Guinness are described as dry, for their burnt-coffee bitterness, most English-style stouts deliver a hint of sweetness. Within this sweet stouts category, smooth oatmeal stouts, brewed with unmalted oats and barley, have pride of place as the most delicious and drinkable. And among oatmeal stouts, Samuel Smith’s brew has come to be the world benchmark. The Old Brewery at Tadcaster in North Yorkshire is one of the few artisanal breweries to survive the dark days of industrial dominance of brewing in Britain, and the beer’s fermentation still takes place in traditional Yorkshire Squares, slate-lined box-shaped vats. 
Restaurant checks in Philadelphia can get pretty steep. Ten bucks won’t buy much of a meal in most of places, but there are some spots that a humble Hamilton will buy you a multicourse feast.
Restaurants love peppering menus with chef jargon. Deciphering dish descriptions can be a challenge if you don’t know your charcuterie from your choucroute, especially when chefs feel free to reinterpret the established culinary lexicon on a whim. 
Last Saturday, the Craft Beer Fest at the Navy Yard — a Philly Beer Week special preview event — set the tone for the week’s upcoming festivities as brewheads raised their four-ounce glasses every 30 minutes in a toast to “America’s Best Beer-Drinking City.” This Friday, the week — more like a full 10 days — officially kicks off with Joe Sixpack’s Philly Favorites, a sampling of favorite local ales and lagers. 
Great dishes are all about balanced flavors, and more chefs than ever are contrasting sweet and savory in the most unlikely of places — on their dessert menus. You may cringe a bit at the idea of bacon ice cream, served recently as part of a tasting menu at 
This pink wine is hardly a subtle blush. Vivid mauve in color and packing a hefty 13 percent alcohol, Pedroncelli Zinfandel Rosé 2006 is for red-blooded, meat-eating Americans. It is also less sugary than much-maligned white zin, hovering just on the cusp of perceptible sweetness.