Stella Pizza

I was still on a high from eating at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix a few days ago. I knew of the Stella Pizza in Philly that Stephen Starr just opened not that many days ago and had heard of the research trip that he and his staff had taken through New York City; New Heaven, Ct; and even a pilgrimage to Pizzeria Bianco before firing up the first pizza in the restaurant. The curiosity killed the cat. I couldn’t wait any longer! I grabbed my friend, L, who had just spent a year enjoying Italian life while studying in Rome.

Asparagus, Sunny-side-up Egg, Parmesan, Vinaigrette
 
We decided to start with a few appetizers while our pies were being cooked in the oven.
 
The asparagus was a bit salty. We didn’t think the vegetable itself was anything special but it was good with the cheese and the egg. As most people can tell you, everything tastes better with an egg on top.
 
 
 

Broccoli Rabe, Garlic, Ricotta Salata
 
The broccoli rabe was mushy but still quite tasty. There was a slight spiciness to it and we liked the cheese that had been sprinkled on top as it gave the dish a different character.




 
 
 
 
 

Sitting at the counter in front of the open kitchen, we had a good view of the staff making the pizzas and the pies being baked in an oven made by the same manufacturer who built the Pizzeria Bianco oven.

 Tartufo. Black Truffle, Fontina, Egg, Parmesan

The pizza was brought to us with the whole egg on top, then our waiter broke the egg and let the yoke run everywhere.

The pie had a very nice aroma from the wood burning oven with the aroma further enhanced by the truffle and the egg. The dough could be a bit crisper and thinner but I could understand that it needed the weight to hold up the egg and absorb the moisture. The flavors were all good with the pie giving a very fulfilling feeling when you bit into the slice. It’s a very satisfying pizza.

Baby Spinach, Sun Dried Tomato, Mozzarella, Pine Nuts.

The crust was thin and crispy with the strong scent of garlic drifting in every direction. This pizza had a much different character than our other pie with the thinner and crispier crust. It didn’t give us that heavy feeling with each bite but it was as tasty and as good and just as satisfying.

Abbruzze Pepperoni, Oregano, Mozzarella, Tomato.

We got friendly with the guy next to us and we traded slices.

The red sauce was excellent. It had a very natural tomato taste with just the right amount of sweetness and acidity. I thought the pepperoni was a bit salty but the sauce balanced it out nicely. The crust on this pizza was very thin. It would have been excellent if the pie had stayed in the oven for a few more seconds to get the crust a little bit crisper.

Sitting only a few feet away and across from Starr’s Culinary Director, Chris Painter, we could see that he was keeping a hawk’s eye on everything in this infancy of the restaurant. He checked every single pie that came out of the oven before putting on the toppings and running the slicer through them. We also noticed that he was tossing a lot of pies in the trash. He was tossing on average one in every five pies. I applaud their strict adhesion to quality instead of profit (not that Starr has to worry about profit in any of his ventures), but that also showed that the kitchen had much to improve on its betting average.


So…was it a Pizzeria Bianco, a Pepe’s or any of the places in the pizza holy land of New York City? L liked the pizzas very much. She thought they were comparable to those in Italy but just shy of the best she had there. I do not know Starr’s intention with the direction of this restaurant. However, with only a few days in business under its belt, we can safely say that even with a few [minor] issues to address, its Neo-Neapolitan style pizza has already stood a step head of many of the pizza restaurants in this city. A city which seems to have a pizza joint at every street corner.

Pizzeria Bianco, Phoeniz AZ

“There’s at least a three hour wait,” Tourist Tree said to me as I walked through the door. She looked at me in bewilderment, I looked at the hostess, the hostess looked at her. “Put the name down,” I said to both of them as I was thinking to myself, “Are you freaking kidding me? It’s 9:00 at night and there is a 3 hour wait!”

I was in a pretty good mood. We just came from the happy hour at Four Peaks Brewery. A few good brews and a nice plate of wings flavored with a smoky oatmeal stout BBQ sauce were sitting happily in our stomachs. The night was beautiful, low 70’s, dry, with a slight breeze. We could wait, at least for a bit until my patience runs out.

Pizzeria Bianco is located in the Historic Heritage Square. It is in the old Baird Machine Shop building which was one of the remaining original houses that lined the open courtyard in the Square The Square was the site of the original early settlement in Phoenix. Several of the buildings have been preserved and served as museums while some were turned into other uses. The Arizona Science Museum, Phoenix Museum of History, and a movie theater complex are also part of the Historic Heritage Square development.

We strolled through the courtyard and headed straight to Bar Bianco next door. The bar was busy with people waiting for their turn as an audience with what some have considered as the best pizza in the country next door. We took a seat on the front patio and started our turn at the end of this long pizza line with a glass of ’06 J. Hofstatter Lagrein. Although this Italian winery is more famous for its Gewurztraminer, I found this Lagrein from the Alto Adige vineyard to be delightful. Full body, spicy, but not heavy. It definitely helped in our long wait for our table and had made people watching much more interesting. This bar also carried ’06 Dutton Goldfield “Devil’s Gulch” for $100 a bottle and ’07 Turley “Dragon” for $95 a bottle. In retrospect, we should have bought one of these bottles for our wait since they had not been readily available outside the wineries and the prices were quite reasonable.

Bar Bianco is housed in the original Thomas House next door to the Pizzeria. It only serves wine, beer, and a handful of appetizers. Plenty of sitting space in the courtyard…for the people waiting for the restaurant?


“Your table is ready,” our waitress came to fetch us at 11:20PM, exactly 2 hours and 20 minutes after we have put our name down on the list. We hurried across the courtyard toward the pizza promised land.

A whiff of fresh wood burning brick oven pizza greeted us as we walked through the front door. Tourist Tree and I looked at each other and said, “It smells so good,” together. We were surprised that the place quite small, may be sitting 40 people at most.

It was still packed solid with people waiting outside at almost 11:30 at night.

Our waiter put down a plate of oven fresh bread as we looked over the menu which consisted of 2 small plates, 3 salads, 6 basic pizzas, and 14 toppings that could go on top.

The bread smelled so good. We had to exercise extreme constrain not to wolf down the plate.

After a 30 seconds deliberation, we settled on an appetizer and 2 pizzas.

We were seated at the bar by the oven with a direct line of sight of the pies coming in and out of the oven.

Yes, Aiiyah was enjoying another glass of wine while waiting for the meal.

Our hunger pangs grew as each pie was passed in front of us heading to another table

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The oven is fueled by hot burning white oak and pecan woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antipasto

 

Soppressata, eggplant, onion, green bean, mushroom, pepper, sweet potato, olive and cheese were plated then put in the oven for a few moments and served warmed.

 

I had never tasted soppressata like this! It tasted fresh with a hint of sweetness and it was tender and soft. It was unlike any of the salted cured hard varieties I have had grown accustom to. This was just wonderful. The eggplant was parmigiana-ed and came with the roasted onion on the side. All the other vegetables on the plate were wood roasted: The green bean was tender but with a bit of crunchiness to the bite. The pepper was done perfectly. We like the roasted Trump Royal mushroom very much but we were completely surprised by the perfectly prepared sweet potato that had a sprinkle of salt on top to bring out the sweetness. It was soft but not mushy and most importantly, it was not overly sweet. The pecorino cheese was firm and had a bit of nuttiness. It was very delightful when served warm.

 

 

The Margherita with Prosciutto di Parma and Sicilian Anchovies

 

The Margherita was made with mozzarella that was made fresh in-house every morning. It was topped with fresh basil. Never satisfied with anything “basic”, I elected to put Prosciutto on half of the pie and anchovies on the other half.

 

The pizza arrived piping hot from the oven only a few feet away with the basil and prosciutto put on just before hitting our table. The wonderful smell of a slightly smoky rustic wood oven baked pie, melted cheese and warm meat immediately hit my face. We’ve been watching the pizzas in the oven. They only spent minutes in the high heat before they were done. This was evidence with the burnt blisters on the dough in our pie.

 

As soon I attempted to pick up a slice, I knew immediately that the pie was baked wonderfully. I could feel the firmness of the baked dough from touching the absolutely crispy bottom of the pie with my fingers. Yet, the thicker part of the pie resisted my pulling slightly with a definite strength from the dough.

 

“Wow, that’s really good!” We said to each other as we took our first bite. The crust was thin, extremely thin; crispy, yet strong enough to hold the sauce, cheese, and the topping without sagging. This was a crust with Viagra! It made a crackling sound every time we sank our teeth into it; much like biting into a piece of cracker. Although crispy on the outside, the crust was chewy inside at the thicker part of the edge and gave the mouth a wonderfully feeling of satisfaction. The combination of the tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and the Prosciutto was magnificent. I want to make a note that the quality of the Prosciutto was exceptional! Lots of true meat taste with a hint of sweetness and no over-salted feel.

 

Since Tourist Tree has an aversion to anchovy, I got to enjoy the other half of the pie all by myself. Those little fishes they put on the pie were excellent. First, it did not have that crappy over-salted canned and processed taste. It was salty alright, but not overwhelmingly. Second, they were not puny like those you had in your 2:00AM cold pizza in your college dorm days. They were big and sort of meaty in an anchovy way. Third, being in melted mozzarella with a crispy crust underneath had made it taste real good!

 

 

The Wiseguy

 

 The Wiseguy is a white pizza with wood roasted onion, house smoked mozzarella, and fennel sausage. This pie arrived in front of us just like our other pizza, piping hot with the cheese still bubbling. The onion was the same as those we had in our Antipasto earlier. Delicious! We really like the fennel sausage. It was tender and had a hint of sweetness with a nice earthy but subtle fennel flavor. I have read that the owner, Chris Bianco, buys free range pigs then takes them to a sausage place to have it custom made according to his recipe. We were impressed that even with the heavier toppings, the crust was able to maintain its stiffness and hold the weight of all its ingredients. The sausage, the sweet onion, the smoked mozzarella all made a nice wonderful combination with the expertly prepared pie underneath.

Ten minutes. We were curious to find out how long the crust would hold its crispiness. With the heavier and juicier ingredients, the Wiseguy was holding up pretty well for about ten minutes or so before the moisture started to soak thought the bottom. Even when Tourist Tree started to eat her slice the New York way (rolled up), the Viagra-ed crust was still holding pretty firm at this stage!

Is this the best pizza in the country as a lot of people has proclaimed? I cannot answer that. I am not a pizza aficionado. I have not read Ed Levine’s book on pizza. I have not eaten my way around the country. Heck, I have not even eaten that many pizzas in New York yet. Both Tourist Tree and I can confidently say that those were really really good pizzas that we had! Wait! Strike that. Those were AWESOME pizzas that we had! I am still not sure if the were the best pizzas in this country but I have not had any Neapolitan style pizza better than those yet. I can also confidently say that the pizzas were that good has a lot to do with the top notch ingredients that Chris Bianco used and the care that went into the making of each pie. The mozzarella that’s made daily; the Prosciutto; the vegetables that were use in both the antipasto and the pizza; and even the anchovy that most people stay away from. I am sure they have also spent a lot of time in developing the right dough and getting the fire burning right in the oven!

I am glad that we decided to give this place a try. It was not even on my original list of restaurants to go in Phoenix. Sure, I have heard of Pizzeria Bianco before. Stephen Starr even made a pilgrimage to the restaurant with his culinary team before opening his own pizza place in Philly. I must admit that this was not on my radar until the girl behind the ice cream counter at Sweet Republic would not stop raving about this place (long story). Plus, I did need a break from dining on serious food and just wanted something simple that night. Yet, these pizzas were anything but simple.

At the end of the night, we were stuffed and ready to go home. Our waiter packed up our leftover neatly for us and even offered a nice loaf of bread from the oven for us to take.

I would definitely love to have the pizzas again but I am not sure whether the 2 hour 20 minutes wait or any lengthy wait is something that I would want to go through again. However, this 2 hours 2 minutes with a glass of wine in our hands was not totally wasted. It instead had given us some thoughts about this place: Did Chris Bianco purposely create a wait for his restaurant to drive up the hype and the demand (the Cheesecake Factory Syndrome)? How much more hype does a place need after being showcased in Gourmet, Food + Wine, and Martha Stewart (yike!) all within the span of a few months in the spring? Did he make people wait so they would go to his bar next door? Why close down the service for the outdoor sitting while there were still plenty of people waiting? I looked around when they closed the outside sitting at 10:30’ish. All those tables would accommodate everybody on the waiting list. Why no take out? Are they such a sticker of quality that no one can have the pies unless it is piping hot inside the restaurant? The pizzas come out of the oven in no time. Theoretically, one can sit down have dinner and be out in 20 minutes. However, a lot of the people seemed to savor their time in the restaurant with no hurry to leave. I guess they were trying to make up for the lost time from waiting.

Looking at the bright side, at least we did not have to wait the 5 ½ hours that someone had done! If I were to go back again next time, I will make sure that I have at least 6 people so I can make a reservation!

The Whiskey King

For a city that has its share of exceptional burgers, how does one make his new entry stand out? For an Iron Chef Kitchen Stadium winner with several successful restaurants, how is he launching a new eatery in the ever more crowded Philly dining scene?

You do something over the top.

The Whiskey King burger at the Village Whiskey is a 10 ounce blend of sirloin, chuck eye roll, and chuck sustainable beef from Wolfe's Neck at Pineland Farms in Maine, sitting on a pile of maple bourbon glazed Cipollini onions, two pieces of Applewood bacon, lettuce, a nice thick slice of tomato, and the Guinness potato roll, baked in-house. The burger is topped with smoked blue cheese from Rogue Creamery, and a slice of sautéed foie gras!

If you don’t think that’s over the top already, the price tag will push you over the edge. At $24.00, it is currently the most expensive burger in the city.

Jose Garce opened his newest place next to his Tinto restaurant as a neighborhood corner bar that features a nice selection of whiskeys with a small menu of homey comfort food. The selection of 51 whiskeys on the opening menu, however, has been overwhelmed by this Whiskey King burger. Everybody has been talking about it since the publicity picture was released in July, two months before the opening of the restaurant. The Garce PR machine successfully generated another round of buzz when it released the restaurant menu a week or so before the opening with the burger priced at a staggering $24.00.

Never turn down an opportunity to try something outrageous.

A few early reports prompted me to break my own rule of not visiting new restaurants within months of its opening. Given that the food was coming out of the Tinto kitchen and Garce runs a very tight operation, and my own weakness to resist the temptation; it was a justifiable move.

Drinking a Founders Dirty Bastard with the bar behind.

The restaurant is pretty, much like an old fashioned bar from years ago. It is rather small; smaller than the bar section in a lot of the multi-million restaurants around town. There was not much standing space and the hostess tried pretty hard to keep people out unless there was a confirmed seat.

The juice bomb.

The burger was bigger in real life than what it appeared in photos. It stood a good 4 plus inches with the bun. It only had one piece of foie topping instead of the two pieces that were in the promo photo from July; but it was also a 12 oz patty in the picture vs the 10 oz clearly stated in the current menu.

It smelled really good. After a few seconds of staring while composing a plan of attack, I went for it. I had been warned by a few who already had the burger that it was very juicy; so I held it far away from me over the plate with both hands before diving in.

My first bite hit the patty and the bottom half of the burger. I was rewarded with the tenderness of the meat seasoned just right, the sweetness of the onions, the freshness of the tomato and lettuce, and the softness of the potato roll. My second bit hit the top half. I liked the taste of the blue cheese tremendously. It went so well with the meat. The burger was charbroiled perfectly to medium rare as I had requested. I loved the smoky taste of the slightly brunt outside edge meat with the sweetness of the perfectly grilled Cipollini onions, and the taste of the blue cheese all together. It was a match made in heaven.

Look at the first picture on top. Now look at the picture above taken a minute after the first one with the juice already accumulating. Left: The juice kept coming out even halfway though the burger.

After a few more bites, I realized that I wasn’t tasting the foie gras. It was lost in the meat and the cheese! May be they should have put that extra piece of foie back? May be it was masked by the strong blue cheese which sat directly underneath? May be the soft delicate texture of the foie just couldn’t resist the meatiness of the beef? By this time, my hands were drenched with the juice and the plate was also having a nice amount of liquid swimming in it. This burger was a juice bomb! I decided to take the remaining foie off the burger, put it on the bun, then dip the whole thing in the juice, French Dip style. My eyes bulged out of their sockets. My mouth left open and speechless. My mind had gone to heaven for a few seconds. That was SO GOOD!!!

Duck fat

Everything tastes good fried. Everything tastes better fried in duck fat. I couldn’t resist but get the fries fried in duck fat. What is a burger without fries? Being a man of excess, I had to get the one with the cheese, although I did ask for it to be on the side. I was so intrigued by the fact that this cheddar cheese was made with Sly Fox beer. I did want to get the cheese fries with the short ribs but that might just be a bit too overkill with the burger, even for me.

 The fries came in a nifty little silver container. There was some sort of herb seasoning on them which was nice. But, excuse me…, I couldn’t quite discriminate that slight different flavor from the duck fat. Were my taste buds getting numb from the burger juice or was the Founders Dirty Bastard I was drinking starting to affect me already? There were a few very crispy pieces but the majority was just OK. They were not soggy but definitely could use a bit more time in the fryer. It was a slight letdown from Garce after he delivered such an outstanding burger….until I dipped the fries in the cheese.

O…M…! That cheese was unbelievably heavenly! An intense cheddar tang followed by that slight hint of bitterness you would expected from a beer in just the right creamy smooth consistency. The fries might have not been what I had expected but it served a great purpose as a vehicle to scoop the cheese into my mouth. I never found out which Sly Fox beer was used in the making of this cheese. Nor did I find out if the cheese would solidify when it cooled down. We were eating it so fast and furious that it never had the opportunity to give me the answer.

Don’t get me wrong, the fries were good. I just think that there is room for improvement to make it a “Wow!” Since the chemical composition for duck fat is closer to olive oil than butter or lard*, I at least feel less guilty about eating them.

So was this juice bomb of a burger worth its $24.00 price tag? That depends on your perspective. Tourist Tree had the regular Village burger with an 8oz patty for $9.00, plus the a la carte $3.00 Jasper Hill Cheddar and the 50 cents caramelized onion. It’s the same blend of meat, minus 2 oz; a smaller bun; less the $2.00 bacons and a piece of foie gras; but with everything else pretty much the same for almost a $10.00 difference. I did notice that there were much more juice coming out of my burger than hers. Yes, there were a few things that could be improved. Both the bacons and the fries could be crisper; the pickles were nothing special(don’t think it was made in-house); and I could use that extra piece of foie gras. My bun was huge but I did use the excess bread to mop up the juice on the plate. Some people may say that this burger is an exorbitant consumption and is not worth the premium, but I enjoyed eating this hunk of meat with all its trimmings in my hands and the bragging right that comes with this debauchery (OK, I didn’t get the fried egg on top of it). If God were to have a burger, this might very well be the one.

* “Fatty Acids in Food and Their health Implications” Ching Kuang Chow, Editor. Marcel Deekar, Publisher New York, 1992.

* Tourist Tree had Ommegang Hennepin with her burger.

Do I Get Fries With That?

When promoter Tommy Up opens PYT at the Piazza at Schmidt’s, he does what he does best: Shameless self-promotion.


He started a relentless war of words on Twitter for a burger smack-down challenging Stephen Starr’s Square Burger from his newly opened burger shack in Franklin Square to his own PYT Burger.

After days of unyielding tweets, all from Tommy Up of course, Starr sent out a one and only tweet announcing that the $15.95 burger at his highly rated upscale Butcher and Singer steak restaurant would be only $5.95 at lunch time, Monday to Friday. The tweet was sent out just before Philly Mag’s “Best of Philly” list was “leaked” giving the crown to B&S for “Best Burger, 2009”. A one-upmanship from Stephen Starr or just good timing from his marketing people? We don’t really care. We have burgers to eat!

We arrived at the restaurant two days after the announcement was made. The place was about 95% full compared to the usual handful of tables during lunch service. We were greeted warmly and were seated immediately since I had the [rare] wisdom of making a reservation.


We ordered the burgers (surprise!) after the wait staff had patiently presented and explained the menu to us. A look around the dining room found that almost everybody was having burgers (another surprise!)

Our lunch came swiftly after we watched a few burgers fly by us going to other tables as I was enjoying a nicely chilled Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout.

I asked our friendly and efficient waitress if they had been selling lots burgers for the past two days. She admitted that she did not the exact number but she estimated that if there were two hundreds covers, one hundred and eighty five would have been burgers. That’s a lot of meat!

10 oz of nicely packed dry-aged ribeye, brisket, and chuck charred perfectly sitting on a house baked brioche with a dap of the special sauce (tasted like Russian dressing to me), topped with sweet sautéed onion and English cheddar; with house pickled pickles, tomato and lettuce sitting to the side. Oh yes, this burger came with perfectly crispy fries too. I have had the Butcher and Singer burgers a few times before. What I had in front of me was not a down-scaled promotional size stand-in. It was the real deal!


The meat was moist, juicy, tasty, and cooked perfectly medium-rare. The burger was hefty in size which required certain skill to grab the unit without it falling apart in your hands. Tourist Tree gave up after a few bits and went with her fork and knife like a European. It was just as good as those burgers that I had there before. The craziness of pushing an infinite numbers of burgers through the kitchen door did not diminish the food quality. This $5.95 burger was worth every $15.95 of it.

I was most impressed with the staff. We were treated as customers dropping big bucks on steaks and drinking expensive wines even though we were just eating the best bargain lunch of the summer. OK, comparably speaking, I did have an expensive beverage. My beer cost almost twice as expensive as the burger!

Never let to be beaten at his own game. A few hours after Starr’s burger went to $5.95, Tommy Up decided that he would give a free burger in his restaurant after 5 PM to anyone who could produce a B&S burger receipt from lunch. So…in this game of customer courting and showmanship, Tommy Up has packed a competitor’s restaurant with paying customers who would cost him money when they come into his door for the free burger. Keep up with the good work, oh my pal Tommy. When you cat fight, we benefit!


The end of the story; or is it yet? He just started taunting Rouge, “…is for overly tanned older ladies & their tiny dogs…”

I am waiting for Starr to drop the price on the Kobe Sliders at his Barclay Prime…

BTW, I still have my receipt from the lunch, anyone want free burgers at PYT?

Chipotle

Wonders do happen sometimes. A black president in the White House. A convicted felon playing football for the Eagles. Aiiyah willingly eating a fast food burger and sort of enjoying it. Then he did it again!

Everybody knows my attitude toward chain fast-foods. Everybody knows my attitude toward faux Mexican in US restaurants. It is easier to get me to sit through a chick-flick in the theater then eat anything that resembles one of the above aforementioned.

When a very nice girl who we met through Boot-Camp class gave us a few free-meal cards from her company after listening to my speech on faux-Mexican fast food said, “Just go try it…;” I thought to myself, “Who could I re-gift these to?”

“You get to pick and choose what goes into it…It’s not like the others…” Tourist Tree kept telling me. “OK, I’ll check the web site some day,” I replied.

After a few more weeks of these cards staring at me from the far side of my desk, I finally clicked on the company’s web site with my usual skepticism.

I do not like fast-food restaurants but this company’s site is cool! Playful, quirky, and even informative (Gotta check out that pen tapping page!). I was not aware that Chipotle practices Food with Integrity (FWI). I did not know that everything is cooked fresh on premise. There are not that many exciting items on the menu but I could really pick and choose the individual ingredients that go into the items. Ok, this place is starting to look better. What sealed the deal for me to finally agree to give this place a try? It was the company’s endorsement of Food, Inc., the movie, on the web site.

On a not-so-hot summer night, we queued up in front of the cafeteria style food line. I ordered a Fajita Burrito with beef, pepper, onions, rice, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, with salsa on the side. I skipped my faux-Mexican food nemesis: beans and sour cream. Tourist Tree ordered a pork burrito with black beans, corn salsa, and rice. We watched the workers at each station quickly and efficiently assembling our orders as we were telling them which ingredients we did or did not want. At the end of the queue, we got two fat Airstream trailer shaped things, minus the wheels. If I had to guess, they weighted at least a pound each.
 

This did not look appetizing to me. I did not want to bite into it squashing everything together then have them falling out all over me. I believed the ingredients would tasted better separately then as a blend. This would be one of those instances that the sum of its part would not add up. Plus, why would somebody want to eat something the size of a little person’s thigh barbarically with his hands?
 
 
 
 
 
 

I decided to tackle this monster in a more civilized manner – deconstructed.

The beef was supposed to have been marinated in a smoky chipotle pepper adobo, then grilled. It definitely had a good Tex-Mex flavor but unfortunately this flavor was overwhelmed by the salt. I do not eat fast food much, therefore that was salty for me. However, that might be just the right amount for those whose frequent faux food. Overlooking this over-salting issue, this FWI beef was actually quite good. The onions and peppers were not bad but the cilantro-lime rice was just, OK. I could not taste much of the cilantro or the lime in the rice, but I did taste the salt. The jack and while cheddar cheeses were tasteless and artificial. It did more harm to the dish for being there.

The guacamole was made on premise daily with ripened avocado, cilantro, red onions, jalapeno, citrus juice and spices. It was good. Not overwhelmingly good, but chain restaurant good. It could be dialed up a notch or so in the flavor department. The spicy salsa was about as mild as a glass of warmed milk. The flour tortilla was nothing special except its size. We also ordered some chips for the guacamole but I guessed they had been sitting in the summer humidity a bit too long.

My eyes lit up when I saw these three little bottles by the napkin dispenser. The smoked chipotle flavor was very good and certainly appropriate for this restaurant. It in no small role added much excitement to my meal.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I am not sure if a burrito is supposed to be a finger food in general. Looking around the restaurant watching people chomping on burritos this big with their bare hands kind of turned me off. Not that I was ever too excited about eating burritos, in any size.


I did enjoy eating my meal, to a certain degree. Several items on my spread-out tortilla were quite good while the others could be forgettable. Maybe I was missing something by not eating everything rolled up like a small football. May be I was missing something by not mushing every flavor, every texture together inside the tortilla warp. May be I was missing something by not eating it like everybody else holding it with both hands and smashing it again the face. I might have missed the umami of this faux-Mex finest. But at least I knew I was eating natural organic food from a sustainable source from a company which believes in social conscious and integrity, and I liked that!

The Pig Pig-Out at Mémé

Pork, the other white meat. I eat it, occasionally. I like it, but for certain parts like, tongue, trotter, head cheese, ribs, and definitely bacon more than the actual white meat itself. I have an Asian background but I have never developed the craze that people in the old country have in making it a regular staple in their diets. I usually bypass pork dishes in restaurants unless it is truly unique and well prepared. My curiosity perked, however, when I learned of a five course pig dinner at Mémé with each course prepared by a different chef. Not just any five chefs but five of the highly respected chefs in the city.

I left a message with the restaurant for a reservation. We called again the next day when we hadn’t heard from the restaurant, “We have your information, somebody will call you back and let you know…” I didn’t know that we had to be approved by some higher authority!

We had the 8:30 seating but everything was running late when we arrived for the seating. A look around the people waiting around outside the restaurant were mostly industry peeps, bloggers and food writers, plus a few restaurant regulars.

Chefs Pierre Calmels, Peter Woolsey, Michael Solomonov, and Johhny Mac busy getting the next dinner seating going.

Hor’s D’Oeuvres: Foie Gras and Pork Cheek Sausage; Prosciutto Croquette; Fried Bread, Pig Crackling

David Katz and crew, Mémé

The foie gras and pork cheek sausage was made in-house. The meat was tender with the soft texture of the foie gras mixed in, lightly pan fried and served warmed. The croquette sat on top a bed of diced melon marinated in a minty sauce. The pig crackling was served on top of a piece of fried bread with a tooth pick holding both items together. It was crispy, crunchy, and delicious. We were starving and had eaten ours before realizing that we had forgotten to photograph it. I am still not sure if Tourist Tree knew what she was eating before she wolfed down that pig skin. But she did enjoy it.

Barmes Buecher, Crémant d’ Alsace, 2007

We enjoyed this Alsatian sparkling wine very much. This wine was supposed to be paired with the yet to arrive first course but the very small pour in each glass for the thirsty crowd in the dining room pretty much ensured that the wine would be gone before the dish hit the table.

Green Pennsylvania Yorkshire Suckling Crepe, Roast Huitlacoche, Sweet Corn Emulsion, Fresh Coriander

Steve Cameron, Noble American Cookery

The crepe was filled with absolutely tender and juicy pork. It was wonderful. Huitlacoche is corn fungus. It has a slimy, pulpy, bitter texture and taste. It is also definitely an acquired taste. I liked this fungus a little better with the crepe. I did not so much enjoy it on its own.

The dryness and crispiness of the Crémant worked very well with this dish.

Braised Pig Foot, Foie Gras Stuffed, Lentils, Bacon, Carrot

Pierre Calmels, Bibou

Foie gras stuffed pig’s foot sat on top of a bed of lentils sprinkled with bacons bits and diced pieces of carrots. I have always enjoyed this signature dish from Bibou. It’s a heavy dish but the meat, the foie gras, and the glutinous substance were such a delight in the mouth; except the lentils. I liked the bacon and the carrots which added flavors in the sauce but I did not like the lentils swimming in it. I am just not a lentil person

This dish was served with the Le Roc, Rosé 2008. Sweet with a sour apple follow-up taste. We didn’t like the wine but it went well with the gelatinousness of the food and the heaviness of the sauce in the dish.

Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout


This is one of my favorite beers of all time. However, couldn’t they pour a little more in the glass? I have an 8 oz. glass and I didn’t even get 1/3 of a pour!

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

Black Pudding

Johnny Mac, Pub & Kitchen

It was served with soft scrambled eggs and the “noble” ketchup which was made with beets instead of tomatoes. The pudding entertained my mouth with lots of spices even thought it was a bit heavy on the salt side. The egg was sprinkled with a mixture of bread crumbs, sage, coriander, garlic mace, and pork skin. I absolutely enjoyed this dish. It was delicious and wonderfully entertaining to eat. It’s like the perfect brunch comfort food. Too bad Tourist Tree had decided not to eat the pudding after she realized that “black” = “blood”. Her loss = my gain.

St. Canut Poached Loin, Seared Scallops, Black Garlic

Michael Solomonov, Zahav

One of the main reasons I am never too much into pork is the fact that most people over-cook the meat. It gets too dried out with the texture gone completely downhill for me. That was not the case with this tenderloin which was beautifully wrapped in grape leaves and prepared perfectly. The use of a quality meat was evidenced here. The paired scallop was seared crispy with a caramelization on both sides while the middle was still tender and juicy with the piece topped with a few small pieces of vegetable. I was very much intrigued by the delectable purple carrot puree. I never knew there was a purple carrot!

The dish was paired with a Cantina del Castello, Soave Classico 2008. It had a nice clean light floral and apple noise and taste. We both liked this nice pairing which matched the characters of the dish quite well.

Bodega San Telmo La Cosecha, Pedro Ximenez, NV


I am never a too big a fan of port or sherry. Their tastes could be a bit too overwhelming for me.

Serving this sherry with a dollop of cream was ingenious, although it did make it a bit hard to drink. The cream certainly cut the sweetness to a more comfortable and enjoyable level for me. After this photo was taken, Tree spent a few intimate minutes with her Tide Stick to remove the overflow spilled onto her blouse.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Summer BBQ Dessert:

Rhubarb Pie, Orange Raspberry Jello, Chocolate Popsicle
Peter Woolsey, Bistrot La Minette

Trained as a pastry chef, it was not a surprise that Peter Woolsey made the desserts. However, the surprise was the rhubarb pie.

After biting into the warm flaky pastry shell, we discovered meat in the rhubarb filling! It’s a dessert meat pie! The jello consisted of two layers with the orange sitting on top and a separate layer made with raspberry puree on the bottom. It was delicious and I loved this concoction which had a heavier texture than the usual jello. The chocolate popsicle was sprinkled with tiny bits of bacon and sat on top of a dollop of [what I think was] ricotta cream, the kind that’s similar in a canoli filling. It might sound odd but the addition of this bacon had enhanced a new dimension to the popsicle.

It was a pig pig-out. Course after course of ingenious uses of an animal by each chef who showcased his own style through his innovative interpretation of the subject. Each course represented its chef and his restaurant. David Katz and his hor’s d’Oeuvres; Steve Cameron with his use of local ingredients; Pierre Calmels’ traditional bistrot cooking; Johhny Mac’s refined pub fare, Michael Solomonov’s sophisticated style; and Peter Woolsey’s “meaty” dessert.

With a direct sight of the open kitchen, I could pretty much see each course expertly prepared right in front of my eyes. All the chefs helped each other with the dishes. It amazed me at time how everybody plus the assistants could crowd into Mémé’s small kitchen which usually only housed a few people.


Yes, they could had pour a little more wine into the glasses; but considering the amount and the quality of food served plus the amount of talent involved, I could not complain about this $75.00 dinner. That's $75.00 including tax! I would not even have complained if there were no wine involved. The best part was the opportunity to eat all those dishes from six different chefs/restaurants with my butt fully planted in one place! Several of the chefs have told me after the dinner that they were thinking of holding another themed dinner in the foreseeable future again. I can’t wait!

Above: Posting for a group picture. Pierre Chalmels, Michael Solomonoe, Peter Woolsey, David Katz, unknown assistant, Johnny Mac, Steve Cameron.


The After-Party

We were invited to the after-party at The Pub and Kitchen after the dinner. With the clock ticking past 11:00PM and Tourist Tree’s need to go to bed for her 5:30AM alarm, we elected to pass the kind invite. Plus, I was quite stuffed from eating her portion of the black pudding and pig’s foot (although mysteriously, there was no meat or foie gras in her pig’s foot, just the gelatinous substance).

Only if I knew what was awaiting for the crew at The Pub and Kitchen: Cherrywood-smoked sucking pig and seared pork belly. I would have thrown up on the way to the Pub & Kitchen so I could eat again!                     
(Photo courtesy of Drew Lazor/Meal Ticket)

Elevation Burger

I have two general rules about food. I don’t eat chain fast-food (well…, I make exceptions for In-N-Out sometimes). I don’t eat at places for the month or so after the initial opening until the dust is settled.


I broke both rules.

Elevation Burger is a [still] very small social and environmental responsible company that is based in Arlington, VA. Its philosophy is to use materials only from natural and sustainable [local] sources for its products. This also extends into its building and waste disposal practice with LEED Certification (more info: www.usgbc.org) for many of its restaurants. The company emphasizes ”Ingredients Matter” which food should have real taste and quality, and should be healthy for the consumer and the planet.

I think healthy for the consumer part is pushing it a bit. We are still talking about fast food here! It may be “healthier” than places that use industrial agriculture products*, but a burger with fries is still a burger with fries. Calling them healthy is an oxymoron.

The local restaurant is the first of the few planned for the Philadelphia area. I have known of its coming for a while but was never sure of its opening. I was actually a bit surprised that the company would put the pioneer restaurant in the Philadelphia area in a strip mall located in a sleepy Main Line suburb.

The restaurant has its soft opening during the July 4th weekend. Within days, burger-centric bloggers were already posting reviews. The social and environmental conscious corporate practice got me excited about the new restaurant; the bloggers got me curious to check out its food. Being only a few minutes from our house was the extra credit in getting me there sooner than I would; plus we were in a hurry trying to catch a movie that night.

The Burger

We ordered a simple cheeseburger and the Elevation Burger (it was basically a double cheese burger). There was also a Vertical Burger which you can choose to have 3 to 10 patties between the buns; a salad and a grilled cheese option; and you could also choose to have the patty wrapped in lettuce if you were on Atkins. Then there were the veggie burgers in “fire roasted” or “veggie’ flavor and the Half the Guilt Burger with one meat and one veggie patties. Now, what’s the point of eating a “veggie” burger? Really! If you have the inkling for a burger, get the real thing! Eating a “veggie” burger is like faking an orgasm. Really!

Since everything is cooked to order, you can choose the toppings you want after you choose the burger. I had ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles and caramelized onions on my Elevation burger with Tourist Tree having the ketchup, lettuce, tomato, and caramelized onions on her cheeseburger. We both skipped the mustard, mayo, raw onion, balsamic mustard, hot pepper relish, and Elevation sauce toppings. I generally stay away from “house” or “special’ type stuff which is usually more gimmicky than anything else. Elevation sauce is a creamy tomato’ish sauce.
 

Since everything was made fresh to order, there was a slight wait for the food after the order was placed. The weather was gorgeous, so Tourist Tree went outside to claim a table while I stayed inside for our order which gave me a few minutes to look around the restaurant. I was surprised at its smaller size. The open kitchen was immediately to the right and toward the back of the restaurant. The staff seemed to be working in a quite coordinated low-key manner getting the orders out. Everybody seemed to know what they were doing. I did not notice anybody doing Chinese fire drills. There was also one person constantly going around cleaning and tidying up the not so big and not crowded dining room.
 
Our order was ready within in a few minutes with a guy standing outside the kitchen with a tray full of our food. I took up his offer to deliver the food to our table outside.
 

The burgers looked good. We could clearly see the liberally used locally sourced lettuce and tomato in the sandwich. I cannot stand places that skimp on toppings, or anything else. A piece of real (not processed) cheddar cheese was melted nicely over the patties, although we did have to dig and looked for the caramelized onion. The burger was made with beef from natural, organic, free-range, glass fed cows with the meat ground fresh on the premise. My initial bite did not disappoint me. The softness of the buns, the crispiness of the lettuce, the sweetness of the tomato, and the natural beefy flavor of the meat was very satisfying. Comfort food type satisfying. It reminded me of an In-N-Out burger but a bit more refined and upscale. A word of caution: The beef may taste “different” to those who are so used to eating corn-feed American beef from industrialized feed lots. It has a bit of a more earthy and grassy taste and it is leaner (hence, healthier for you). However, most people probably would never notice the different since they habitually smother their burger with lots of ketchup. I thought the single patty was too thin for my taste and was glad that I had the double patties for that extra bite. The meat was cooked 100% which was excusable since after all, it’s a fast-food burger.
 

The Fries


A burger is not a complete meal with fries!

This place has made it very obvious for the customer to see that the fries are made fresh. Behind the cashier, mounted on the wall is a device with a big plunger like handle that turns an ordinary potato into perfectly alumette cut strips before being fried in olive oil. Olive oil! Not lard, not canola oil, not peanut oil, but olive oil!

The fries were indeed very good. Golden, crispy, cooked just right. They stayed crispy throughout our meal and did not soak the paper container in grease. I found them to be just a slightly little bit over salted for my taste but I managed to finished most of my quite generous order regardless.



The Shake

To the left of the cashier and in a deliberately planned vantage point within the customers’ view sits a milk shake machine on top of a glass case full of ice cream tubs.

We could not resist.

Three flavors; vanilla, chocolate and coffee; hand-dip and made to order with choice of up to two of the ten toppings offered. I picked chocolate with Oreo cookies (right on the photo) with Tourist Tree having just a plain coffee shake (left on the photo).

The shakes were very decent. They were made with Blue Bunny Ice Cream which I have seen not seen before in this area. I am not 100% sure but I do not think Blue Bunny is organic. Regardless, the shake was great with the meal. It was thick, but not the kind of thick that would make the veins on the side of your head pop while sucking it through a straw. Its sweetness was a nice balance to the saltiness from the fries, and it also served as a nice dessert for us, although I did detect one or two pieces of small ice crystals in my shake.

I also noticed some chocolate chip oatmeal pecan cookies in either larger or smaller sizes sitting on the counter. They looked very tempting and were supposedly baked on premise but I had enough sense [for once] to restrain myself this time not to touch them.

Sitting next to the cookies was a small container for the Burger Card. One punch for every burger patty purchased. One free patty for every seven purchased. We already have three punches just for this visit. This could be dangerous!

We were impressed that somebody came out to check on our meal while we were eating. I told him that Elevation Burger reminded us a bit of In-N-Out but he said that it was actually modeled after Five Guys.

We liked our meal. The burger was nowhere near a Good Dog, a Rouge, or even a Sketch Burger. However, for what it was; it was a very decent fast food burger made with better ingredients and definitely tasted a head above its competitors. It was also one third the price of a Rouge burger. Given that I have not found an acceptable place for a decent burger on the Main Line yet, this could be a stop for one of those absolute emergency burger fix (at least in the ‘better” fast food category). If not, it could still be a dependable place for some good fries and decent shakes (although I may just bring an airplane size bottle of vodka to add some extra flavor to my shake next time).


* Speaking of industrial agriculture. God made cows to graze freely on open land eating natural grass. Why are they now standing shoulder to shoulder in their own feces, getting fat from synthetic hormones and eating corn out of a feeding trough all day in enclosed feed lots? A food that they were not born to eat! I shall step off my soap box now.