City of Brotherly Love...of Food - Part 2

With my training ahead of me, I had precious little time to roam the city streets in search of Philadelphia’s best eats. Thus, I had to do my gastronomic research beforehand. My weapon of choice was OpenTable.com. This website allows you to book restaurant reservations all across the country and accrue points every time you do. Build of enough points and you can get gift cards to any participating restaurant. Check it out.

So, back to the food. Breakfast was at the hotel and was your standard eggs, fruit yogurt, etc. Nothing to write home (or blog) about. Lunch was spent at Cuba Libre in Old City. This Cuban restaurant features a bento-box style lunch for $15. The offerings change from week to week, but this time it started with a shrimp cocktail. Rather than your usual horseradish and ketchup sauce, it came in a onion-spiced tomato broth and was served with popcorn. The shrimp were tender and the tomato did not overpower their natural taste. A Cuban spin on a Caesar salad accompanied this. Rather than parmesan, queso fresco was used. The dressing was heavy on the anchovies and the salad itself came with a pulled pork spring roll. A burger was the main portion of the meal. The patty was a combination of both beef and spicy chorizo. The bun was a baguette and the sandwich was stuffed with mini French fries. The burger was great as the small portion, but I would not have wanted to make a meal out of it. Dessert was flourless chocolate cake with a blueberry fudge base, a decadent end to the meal.

Dinner was a jaunt through China Town. Having been to China and Japan, I immediately threw myself into the establishments that had the least amount of English on the menu and the most amount of Chinese customers. My first stop was Solo, a hole-in-the-wall skewer restaurant. My selection was squid, fish ball, chicken heart, and chicken gizzard. The last was a little crunchy and tough for my tastes, but everything came with a little sauce that had been caramelized by the grill. Four skewers, four dollars.

 

Next was Thai Lake. As you may notice walking around both Philadelphia and New York City, it seems like every restaurant had been Zagat Rated. This being the case, having the red and white, bold lettered sign in your window is no longer a differentiating factor. Thai Lake, on the other hand, won one of the top 100 Chinese restaurants in the country in 2009. Good enough for me. I walked through the front door to encounter numerous tanks of live seafood. Always a good sign. As I took my seat, waiters would frequently run back and forth from the kitchen to the front, retreating with their live capture and a promise of a tasty seafood dinner. Looking at the menu, I channeled Andrew Zimmern and ordered a variety of the most off the beaten taste bud path foods I could find.

First was cold jellyfish head. I assume whatever part of the jellyfish your not supposed to touch is unrelated to the eatability of the head. The noodle-like strips had a crunch to them while the picked daikon, carrot, and cucumber salad acted as a welcomed acidic counterpoint.

Next were snails. I have had escargots before, but lets face it, anything swimming in drawn garlic butter is going to taste good. These were still in the shell and required toothpicks to consume. The snails came in a broth flavored with lemon rind and what appeared to be jalapeño pepper. Like most shelled creatures, half the fun of eating them is the work you have to do to get to them.

Last was a snake and mushroom soup. If you think the picture looks a lot like hot and sour soup that you might find at your local “Chinese” buffet, that because that is exactly how it tasted. The broth was thickened by what seemed to be gelatin, and the snake, which I have had grilled before, did not have any distinctive flavor. No wonder many places use tofu instead. The mushrooms and bamboo shoots were not overcooked as to become limp, but were al dente.

Despite my full stomach, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to grocery shop for a few Asian ingredients and goodies. Matcha flavored pumpkin seeds, dried squid, and the infamously rancid smelling durian all came back with me. For anyone who doesn’t know, durian is a Southeast Asian fruit that is famous for its foul stench. In fact, many public places don’t allow them. I had a smoothie made from it before and even blended it reeked up dirty gym socks. I cant wait to cut it open (outside of course) and try the real fruit. I’ll defiantly let you know how it goes.