The first is Taqueria La Veracruzana, a gem on 9th and Washington, in the Italian Market here in Philly. I discovered the place when looking for a Mexican grocery store way back in November, but forgot about it until I recently started running past it. Murs - Yesterday and Today Finally, I drug someone out there last week to try it for the first time. It definitely delivered. The chips and salsa were complimentary and bottomless so as not to violate the cardinal rule of Mexican restaurants. They came with a tomatillo salsa and a salsa picante that was top drawer. I got three tacos (a chorizo, a carnitas, and an al pastor) all for 6 bucks. They're served the way tacos should be, fresh masa tortillas, some onions, a little cilantro, and lime wedges on the side. My only complaint was no queso fresco, but I'm sure I could've asked for some. I definitely want to go back to try some of their tortas and the choriqueso dish. To top it all off, they actually serve both American, and Mexican coke on the menu. May god have mercy on the soul of the person who orders American Coke around me. Laura Marling - Rambling Man The second isn't so much of a place as it is a new recurring event here in Philly. Last week was the second of collaborative dinners among five of Philly's most up and coming chefs. The event, named Chefs Gone Wild, puts together David Katz of Meme, Peter Woolsey of Bistrot La Minette, Mike Solomonov of Zahav, Pierre Camels of Bibou, and John Taus of Snackbar (correction, now formerly of Snackbar). The first event was this past summer and the chefs each designed a course involving a different part of a pig, yes even dessert.
This time around, the theme was modern french and it blew the last dinner out of the water. For $55 ($75 with wine pairings with gentleman's pours), there were five courses plus light hors d'oeuvres. My buddy Dan also probably ate an entire loaf of fresh French baguette with their homemade butter in between courses. I'll spare the gory details of each of the courses, suffice it to say the braised oxtail was both of our favorites. While I love prix-fixe tastings in general, this seems to me to perfect the concept. For one, this puts five of the very best in charge of planning a menu and executing it, rather than leaving that in the hands of one really talented chef and the sous chefs. Second, there's a certain amount of healthy competition amongst the chefs, as each are in some way vying for your business at their own places down the road. All in all, it's just kind of cool to see them all in the kitchen together interacting and to get a feel for each of the chefs' styles by eating their food side by side.
Big Boi - Shutterbug I've also been on a banh mi kick recently. Jared would be a much happier person had he gone on a banh mi diet rather than Subway since these subs actually have flavor, and he'd be just as thin. I realize I'm fairly late to this party, but whatever, Durham wasn't exactly swimming in hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurants at which to get hooked on these beauties. There are a ton of variations on this sandwich, but basically, they come with pickled vegetables, chili peppers, cilantro, some kind of spread (either garlic or a pate) and a protein (pork, chicken, etc...). All of this comes on french bread thanks to the one-time occupation of Vietnam by France, which almost balances out the shit-mess they left behind after they got booted. Anyway, I'm still finding places here in Philly, but here are some gems so far. Erykah Badu - Window Seat Cafe Nhuy - at 8th and Christian. This place is barely closet-sized but a footlong only costs 3.75. It's a total mom and pop shop - when I went, the couple started bickering in Vietnamese over who was going to make me my sandwiches, not surprisingly, the husband won. Food and an insight into the gender dynamics of Vietnamese culture, what could be better? O Sandwiches is just south of 9th and Passyunk near Geno's steaks. Anytime someone is hellbent on getting a cheesesteak from that xenophobic rat bastard or Pat's, I go down here while they wait in line. It's similarly tiny and cheap and the bread was better than Cafe Nhuy's. I also thought their sandwich had more substance to it, but it's more of an inconvenience to get that far south. For a while, Flying Monkey was carrying their sandwiches, or at least claiming to, but every time I checked they never had them, so I'm stuck trekking all the way down to south philly for them. Finally, there's QT sandwiches in Chinatown just north of Market on 10th St. but south of Arch. Their sandwiches are a salty $5 a piece. Not sure who they are thinking they can charge that much and get away with it. Personally, this was my favorite of three, narrowly edging out O Sandwiches, mostly because they have a number of the sandwiches with lemongrass. The bread was also tight to quite tight. They also have seating which is rare for these joints.
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