Drawing for Food

Chef Volas

2012-01-30T19:27:00.003-05:00

James-Beard award winning, "secret" Atlantic City Italian-American restaurant in someone's basement. This and Mr Joe's Cafe are so far my favorite "red gravy" spots in the Philadelphia area.

great bread

romaine, pepperoni, croutons, pepperoncini

penne, bolognese

spaghetti, blush sauce

The pasta is awesome here, super super simple like shucked & chopped to order clams with butter and parsley. Love it.

broccoli rabe

Giant pounded and breaded veal and chicken parm. This is a half order. Whole fish Puttanesca style specials sounded good too. Everything is huge here so you can share and it's 10 times more affordable than you thought. BYOB and maybe the best service of all time.

limoncello

frank's banana cream pie

Don't miss the limoncello cream pie or the banana cream that supposedly Frank Sinatra had delivered to his dressing room after every show in AC.

Why anyone would go to an Asian-fusion slider restaurant full of people wearing designer ultimate fighting clothes, or pay thirty dollars for food poisoning at a buffet (the other dining options in Atlantic City) instead of coming here boggles my mind.

chefvolas.com

Zeps from Eve's Lunch

2012-01-12T11:56:00.005-05:00

A Sandwich A Day: Zep from Eve's Lunch in Norristown, PA - on Serious Eats.

Top photo is a "classic" Zep with cooked salami and provolone. Pictured above is a Turkey Zep, also delicious!

Eve's Lunch
318 E Johnson Hwy, Norristown PA

Moe's Hot Dogs still Delicious

2012-01-11T12:10:00.005-05:00

Stopped into Moe's for the first time in a while! This a 2-alarm Engine 47 (deep fried) with pepper hash and spicy mustard.

Always forget that they do deep fried hot dogs..definitely the way to go here since the other option is steamed. Yes they serve the dogs on big hoagie rolls which I'm not really into but willing to overlook since Moe's is otherwise awesome.

Good fries too. Not sure if they are hand cut or faux-hand cut but better than you would expect from a corner breakfast and lunch spot. Speaking of breakfast they have corned beef hash which sounds awesome. It's sort of ridiculous that I've never done Moe's for Hot Dog Of The Week... need to go back soon and eat my way through the menu...

Moe's Hot Dogs
Washington & Grays Ferry
Closes early

Max's Cheesesteaks

2012-01-06T14:37:00.012-05:00

I've been driving past this cheesesteak spot smack in the middle of North Philly Time Square (Broad & Erie) for years and finally got it together a few months ago when we were doing the Best Cheesesteak thing for Serious Eats. Max's didn't make the cut for Serious Eats but this place is really one of a kind.

Max's seems to have a pretty serious following and they are open LATE. These are BIG steaks on a soft roll with lots of chopped, well seasoned meat (but a bit dry) and one of the few cheesesteak joints I've been to where MAYO is a standard condiment. You'd probably be banned asking for this at John's Roast Pork but it's delicious. The whiz comes from a squeeze bottle. Toppings seem popular here with lots of people going for mushroom steaks with ketchup and pepperoni or sweet peppers. North Philly Cheesesteak rules are a whole different thing.

The best part is that Max's is connected to the coolest bar (and home of the largest drink) in Philadelphia where you can sit and eat your steak even if you don't order a beer (but of course you should). The people are super friendly and if you're worried about the neighborhood don't come at night but i bet it's a blast here at 3 in the morning.

Max's Steaks
Broad & Erie

Max's Steaks fan page on Facebook

All the Holiday Eating

2012-01-06T12:28:00.013-05:00

Christmas Eve
First food gift - an array of british products like "ahhh.. Bisto!" instant gravy and "Salad Cream". I tried the gravy over some grits which I'm sure is wrong but it was pretty good (thanks Helena!)

Picked up a 1/2 sheet tomato pie from Ianelli's on the way to the girlfriend's sisters house in New Jersey (I call it "North" but they say "Central" even though it's all "Subs" and NY teams) and they didn't know what to do with it. Some was heated, other eaten cold, but it spawned a discussion of Newark italian Bakeries so successful overall. Also delicious ham, and every year a 10 lb bag of Ms T's pierogies with brown butter and carmelized onions on the side. Awesome. Then back to the city for late night whiskey.

Christmas Day
Completed the Jersey / Philadelphia exchange by bringing back a dozen giant, puffy, airy, delicious bagels from Bagels & Deli Bakery in Toms River NJ. After these you won't ever try to argue that "there are some OK bagels in Philadelphia" ever again. Piled up with whitefish salad from Dibruno's and a can of Fresca that my dad gets from the dollar store - Christmas hangover instantly cured.

Dinner was a boneless ribeye roast and my Mom's famous brie mashed potatoes. I tried to make them once with fancy pants expensive cheese and "french technique" and they tasted like crap. The secret is cream cheese and bake it in a casserole Mom style. Dessert was mind blowing Gingerbread with some sort of salted carmel brown butter sauce, also amazing. Wish I had photos but sometimes it's just not the time to be an annoying food blogger.

New Years Eve
Back to Corropolese in Norristown for Tomato Pies (full sheets), stromboli bread (f***ing amazing) and 3 lbs of meatballs in the same sauce they use for the tomato pie.

Was thinking of trekking back to Swiacki Meats but whoa Corropolese also carries Kilebasa and Kabanosy so I picked up a bunch of that.

Also proper Zeps from Eve's Lunch right down the street.

Finally found Zayda's Pickles at Cosmi's (actually sourced by DFF research assistant Tim also responsible for these beautiful photos of Czewr's) and don't know why everyone doesn't sell them.

Also more whitefish (I'm addicted) smoked salmon and all that stuff. Somehow 7 bottles of whiskey, most of a keg of beer and lots of wine, gin, champagne, etc.. were consumed by maybe 30 people?

New Years Day
Watched the Mummers on TV even though I live 1 block from Broad street. Ate more Kabanosy and Zayda's pickles in honor of New Years. Finally pulled myself together and went to New Years Day party, bloody marys and bud light. Went to a different party where some guy kept pulling out his shaved balls, and there was an awesome make-your-own grilled cheese station. Went home and ordered Santuccis, the only pizza place in South Philly open on New Years Day at 9pm.

Monday
After 2 days of drinking, helping a friend move into a new apartment at 9am. Awesome. Made better by Mexican breakfast and Mexican Fresca at Los Gallos.

After that, slowly trying to finish off the keg with some board games and Celebre's.

Now, realizing I spent all my money on tomato pie and the bill collectors are calling and I need to do some work and eat nothing but yogurt and quinoa for the next two months.

Hoagies & Zeps from Pudge's in Blue Bell

2011-12-14T11:46:00.008-05:00

So my dad wanted to have an "East Norriton Birthday" the other week which meant tomato pie from Corropolese (apparently my father has been going to Corropolese for 30 years, but I never heard about it because my mother says it tastes like "ketchup on wonder bread") and hoagies from Pudge's.

If you remember the post on Spor's in Trumbauersville you'll understand my parents are the kings of secret small town PA food spots. When I tell them about some place I read about "on-line" they usually say "Oh yeah we've been going there since before you were born".

So... what the hell is a Zep you ask? A regional subgenre of hoagie found mostly in Norristown. At some places or to simple people it's just another name for a Hoagie.

A classic Zep has thick sliced pinkish cooked salami (think bologna with peppercorns) and mild provolone on a roll from Conshohocken Bakery that's sometimes wider and flatter than a Philly hoagie roll. One of the signatures of the Zep is NO LETTUCE and lots of onion, some tomato, oregano, and maybe hot pepper spread.

Another rule of the Zep is only one meat. You can get a turkey zep or cheesesteak zep or chicken salad zep but if there's more than one meat (or lettuce) it becomes a "special" or a hoagie, depending on where you are.

I have yet to hit the legendary Eve's Lunch or Lou's Lunch one or both of which invented the Zep. But the one pictured above from Pudge's was damn good. The cooked salami is really different and more refreshing, reminded me more of a White House sub or Lee's hoagie than the salty meats, sharp provolone and crusty rolls of Philadelphia Hoagies. They use the authentic Conshohocken Bakery rolls - softer than a seeded italian, but sturdier than a squishy steak roll, and delicious.

Also tried a turkey hoagie and the "Ultimate Italian" (genoa salami, proscuitto, sopresatta and sharp prov) which was more like the Philly sandwiches I'm used to. Good stuff and it's got me ready to go on a Zep tour of Norristown.

Pudge's
1510 Dekalb Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422-3300
pudgescheesesteaks.com

Pizzaz Benedict

2011-12-13T14:22:00.006-05:00

Pizzaz - Celebre's
Eggs - The Family Cow
Sauce - Corropolese

The Best!

Corropolese Bakery

2011-12-10T11:47:00.007-05:00

I recently wrote up Corropolese for Daily Slice on Serious Eats but thought I'd post some more photos here. The tomato pie is some of the best I've had but they do so much more. Bread, rolls, doughnuts, hoagies and zeps, and that amazing stromboli bread. Best place ever. Checking out every tomato pie bakery in the tri state area might have to be my next mission.

More about Tomato Pie and Bakery Pizza-

Daily News: Tomato pie is the region's signature dish by Rich Pawlak
Slice: Tomato Pie From Conshohocken Bakery
Drawingforfood: Cacia Bakery
Roadfood: Pusties & Pies A-Plenty in Rome/Utica, NY

More Philly Sandwich Madness - Navy Yard Dinic's, Porky's Point and Bizini's Seafood Steaks and Hoagies.

2011-10-24T12:21:00.010-04:00

The last (for now) in a series of crazy Philadelphia sandwich posts for Serious Eats, we did Hoagies and Cheesesteaks a couple weeks ago and this time it's Roast Pork, Cutlets, and all the rest. You can read the real thing on Serious Eats - this is basically just an excuse to post more pictures.

Starting off with the best - Dinic's in the Navy Yard made some of the most delicious sandwiches of the 40+ places we tried over the last couple of months. Not "the best" as in "I don't know what else to write" or "I'm saying it's better than everything else because it's really obscure" but actually THE BEST.

Hard to compare with John's Roast Pork or Nick's Roast Beef's Pork (also in the article) because the pork we had was pulled rather than sliced. Definitely better than Dinic's in the Reading Terminal and even Porky's Point that I want to be the best because it's so freaking cool.

Speaking of Porky's Point this place is incredible, I first went there last year with the amazing Rose Luardo to shoot some video of us eating pigs ears. The owner / manager was nice enough to hang out and tell us the history of the place, which in the 70's was a regular cheesesteak and roast pork stand in what was then an Italian neighborhood. When the area went Puerto Rican instead of getting bitter and racist they changed the menu.

The Roast Pork on the sandwich is the same they put on the classic PR platter with rice and beans and whatever else. Ask for the sandwich covered in "gravy" which is the slightly spicy red sauce they put on everything. It's terrific.

And seriously try some mofungo and pig's ears too... so good.

Another awesome find was Bizini's. If you read this blog often you're probably aware of my obsession with Fish Hoagies. I've been trying to find some really good ones and Bizini's is up there. Most I've had have been relatively small, flat filets but these were thick, dinner sized portions of perfectly fried, fresh flounder. Insane. If we do another one of these slideshows I'd love to do all fish hoagies.

Read more on Serious Eats.
Philadelphia: Roast Pork, Cutlets, Meatballs and More Sandwiches You Should Eat

Night Market Chinatown - Dueling Pizza Trucks and Hotdog Skewer

2011-10-08T11:50:00.012-04:00

I missed the last couple of these things since the first one on Passyunk where everything was closed by the time I got there and ended up eating wings at the Adobe Cafe. Anyway Chinatown is an AWESOME location for the Night Market and it really felt like a real market and not just a foodie PR event. They should do this once a week.

nomad's margherita
margherita from pitruco
One highlight was definitely the dueling brick oven pizza trucks. I wrote up Pitruco for Daily Slice but Nomad was good too, although it's a bit of a bummer that their truck is not going to be a full time thing (sit down restaurant opening next year or whatever). After that were several startlingly weak bandwagon asian-fusion things made by white people that didn't taste like anything. Then pulled pork sandwich from Geechee Girl that was DELICIOUS.

One of the best bites came from the front of Solo, a Chinatown skewer bar a few blocks south of the whole thing that had giant speakers blasting Chinese dance music and a skewer grill set up out front surrounded by a bunch of drunk dudes downing bottles of Coors Light.

The "mini hot dog" skewer was one dollar and the dogs were scored into a crazy pattern and basted in some delicious salty sweet glaze. The lamb was super spicy and sort of fatty in a couple bites but what do you want for 2 bucks?

And of course no trip to Chinatown is complete without a visit to our favorite asian-fusion hotel / bus terminal / sports bar Tazia for shots of "Drunken Pineapple Longsex".

The Sundowner

2011-10-07T11:55:00.005-04:00

Lots and lots of pictures of The Sundowner - hamburger topped with "Coney Sauce", yellow mustard, super finely diced onions and a fried egg - from Coney Island Lunch in Johnstown.

Also "Delicious Coffee"...

Read about their hot dogs on Serious Eats-
Hot Dog Of The Week - Coney Island Lunch in Johnstown, PA

Coney Island Lunch
coneyislandjohnstownpa.com
127 Clinton Street Johnstown, PA 15901-2129
(814) 535-2885

Cheesesteak Madness

2011-09-30T10:01:00.010-04:00

cheesesteak with american from john's roast pork

big daddy from carmen's in bellmawr

dont be scared- donkey's is awesome and probably safer than where you live

Check out our Cheesesteak roundup over on Serious Eats. Definitely got some new favorites - Carmen's, Donkey's, Chinks... Philip's is still way up there. Something about the way these places do it... the instant you taste it you know you're eating one of the top 10 in the city, and it's sort of sad to ever go back to eating some pile of frozen "chopped and formed" steak that tastes like cardboard.

Serious Eats: Philadelphia Sandwich Tour: 10 Cheesesteaks We Love

donkey's steak on round del buono poppy seed rolls, beer is a dollar

quit worrying about the name and go eat one the best in the city

giant mint shake barely thinned down from ice cream, good luck

apparently chink's didnt serve whiz until 1 year ago.. delicious

philip's pepper steak... awesome

Of course the article got a lot of "why the hell didn't you go to Jim's or Tony Luke's" (yawn) plus a couple that I keep hearing about over and over that look damn good- Mama's Pizzeria in Bala Cynwyd (read about them on Roadfood) and Chick's Deli in Cherry Hill (read about them on Beef and Buns, awesome blog)

The future is definitely not "fancy" cheesesteaks on baguette with gruyere truffle wiz but instead ethnic cheesesteaks like the korean bulgogi "Koagies" and Mexican pizzeria cheesesteaks.... There's others out there too - some real some imagined - so if you know about some hole in the wall in the back of a Cambodian fish market that makes shrimp paste cheesesteaks feel free to let me know!

$5.00 Fish Hoagie

2011-09-21T21:41:00.009-04:00

Somewhere in West Philly...

All the sights along the Cheesesteak Highway.. we're working on a Cheesesteak round-up similar to last week's Hoagie slideshow looking for fresh Cheesesteak magic all over the city....

Almost stopped at this one but we had already eaten 3 or 4 different cheesesteaks that day. Love the hand lettering and wish I had the time to stop at every place like this in the city.

Q-Mart, Hot Dogs, and Spor's Luncheonette

2011-09-21T21:31:00.014-04:00

Q-mart is an amazing flea/farmers market in Quakertown (hour outside the city) where I bought my first Venom LP and where you can still find Highlander daggers and ninja swords alongside old motors and tables full of bootleg natural health products sold out of cardboard boxes.

What I never really thought about was that Qmart is an absolute goldmine of amazing food. Pennsylvania Dutch-ish amazing butcher shops that kick the ass of anything in Reading Terminal or the Italian Market along with at least 3 stalls dedicated to nothing but fried foods like these home-made potato chips.

This pickle shop was a highlight, also these days Q-mart has a huge Latin american population which means tons of taco stands and a Puerto Rican restaurant that looked like the real deal.

Sure there is some sketchy stuff, like these hot dogs that I was SUPER excited about, located in the "indoor/outdoor" mart, a maze of makeshift buildings with semipermanent stalls filled with RC cars, more weapons, and piles of trash. One dog was topped with horseradish, cheese, mustard and onions, the other with pepperoni and cheese - a horrible trainwreck of lukewarm dogs cooked on a 7-11 style roller grill, stale buns, cold canned pizza sauce and not fresh giant chunks of onion. What a bummer.

Keep in mind this is not your fancy eco-yuppie farmers market.. not every place is going to be delicious, and there's a lot of people just selling canned beef stew, expired shampoo and cel phone covers that look like they fell off the back of a truck. But for every few of those there's an amazing food stand with people lined up by the dozens. We even found a better hot dog later on that I'm saving for Hot Dog Of The Week.

On the same trip my parents brought us to Spor's general store which has a restaurant in the back where they stop after every trip to Q-mart. If you were wondering where I get my obsession with strange, out of the way lunch shops in depressing small towns where I'm convinced some holy grail regional food item exists (but everyone else just sees a dumpy diner) now you know.

My parents spend practically every weekend combing Pennsylvania small towns looking for stuff like this and photographing everything. They probably have enough material to fill about 25 books but to them it's just for fun.

Spor's is close enough to Philly to have cheesesteaks on the menu but also pierogies and these amazing potato wedges coated in seasoned flour almost like fried chicken. There's actually a stall in Q-mart that makes the same thing that they call "Jo-Jo's" sold by the pound in grease soaked brown paper bags.. so maybe this is a regional thing but either way they are awesome. I'll definitely be back to Q-mart soon to try out some more stuff so keep your eyes peeled.

Quakertown Farmer's Market
201 Station Road Quakertown, PA 18951

Spor's Luncheonette
Trumbauersville, PA

Hoagie Madness

2011-09-19T10:13:00.018-04:00

cumberland from slack's - boloney, ham, capicola, american cheese
For the past few weeks Caroline and myself plus a rotating cast of assistant eaters have been on a super intense hoagie tour working on this post for Serious Eats, not a "best of philly" but more like "a few of our favorites plus some we never tried before and heard were awesome and some unknown neighborhood spots we were saving for something like this".

Serious Eats - 10 Amazing Philadelphia Hoagies You Should Eat
"the avalanche" from juliano's deli
I'm sure the comments section will rage with angry Philadelphians "any list that doesn't include Big Joey's Hoagie Hut on Street road is total BS!" And honestly even though we ate a LOT of hoagies - more than twice what's on this list, a lot didn't make the cut - It still feels incomplete, especially because when get started with something like this people start telling you about all sorts of places, so there's at least 25 more legendary delis and hidden gems that should be on here.

And if you're wondering "where the hell is Johns Roast Pork you idiot" keep in mind there's two more of these coming, Cheesesteaks and Miscellaneous sandwiches which will probably be 99% roast pork and maybe a chicken cutlet. We're leaving banh mi, po-boys, and anything fancy for future articles.

italian from mike & matts - 12th & mifflin
It's probably too much detail for Serious Eats (or anywhere for that matter) but I feel like you could break Philadelphia Hoagies down into several sub-categories and have 5-10 great examples of each.

• Old Italian seeded - roll style
Cosmi's, Chickie's, P&S

• American Salad-Oil style
Slack's, Lee's, etc

• Italian / Jewish Deli Fusion
Koch's and every jewish deli that also makes hoagies

• Asian deli/grocery flower shop style
Delicious Bites, Jay's Deli, countless center city corner shops

• Norristown Zeps
Micro-regional variation, very different than a Hoagie

• In the cut
Fish hoagies, Gooey Louie's, Hoagie City..

rose's special sicilian from carmen's in bell mawr NJ
I definitely came out with a new favorite.. Carmen's, in JERSEY of all places, was the one that really blew my mind, combining the best of both worlds, meaning the legit italian meats that you would find in South Philly, but on a softer Del Buono roll similar to White House in Atlantic City.

koch's jewish tongue hoagie
The best EXPERIENCE had to be Koch's deli, that I can't believe more people don't talk about, we waited about 45 minutes for two hoagies, with the dude telling filthy jokes about "I give you my tongue" and giving us free samples the whole time, he literally plopped a mound of potato salad right into my hand (can I get a napkin?), along with tongue, brisket, corned beef, the whole time he's going on about how you can't get anything else like it Philly, his sandwiches are better than Katz's in New York, so on and so forth.

There was a group of people who I'm pretty sure were just there for the show, along with one really pissed off girl who kept saying "I'm just here for a sandwich" and muttered something about not eating red meat (why would you go there?!?!?!) And also, the sandwich was amazing.

Tammy & Johnny's Fried Chicken

2011-09-08T13:03:00.009-04:00

After eating some rough fried chicken at Bojangles somewhere along Virginia's Eastern Shore, about 5 miles down the road we saw this place packed to the gills with people lined up for chicken & burgers and made sure to stop in on the way home. It's definitely an eclectic, no-frills spot, with some framed articles along the walls (I think it's been there since the 50's or 60's) but also sort of a strange odor in the dining room and a lot of neck tattoos.

The menu can be a challenge to decipher, I think we ordered the "hunter's combo" which means a burger with cheese and a drink? Chicken is ordered as a "boat" or "dinner" and there's also "Bbq" which I'm assuming means a sandwich (didn't try it). The burger was nothing special, your average gray fast food style burger. Cole slaw was sort of watery and sad and I was worried we had another loser on our hands.

But then- holy s&*%, the fried chicken .... this is what everyone was lined up for. Ultra crispy, well seasoned medium-thick breading and probably some of the juiciest (as in not dried out, not even the breast, like every other fried chicken) perfectly cooked fried chicken I've ever had. Don't mess around with burgers or sides or anything else, just get a bucket of chicken and maybe some sweet tea. Fries are pretty good too.

Tammy & Johnny's
27352 Lankford Hwy (route 13)
Melfa, VA 23410

Bojangles Failure

2011-09-07T22:33:00.007-04:00

Last time I was down south it was for hot dogs, literally stopping at 6 or 7 places a day with no time (or appetite) to stop at every awesome BBQ place and all the beautiful looking southern fast food chains that still look like 1970 like Bojangles. If you ever find yourself in the position of traveling the country eating only one food item for weeks at a time you'll see that everything, ANYTHING else looks like the best thing in the world.

Last weekend we were heading South (well, Delaware to Virgina Beach at least) and stopped at the first Bojangles we saw. I was pretty psyched as fried chicken is up there with my favorite stuff and Philly is really almost totally devoid of the real thing. I got even more excited when I saw the signs for the "$1.29 Fried Bologna Biscuit".

To make a long story short, like most places I talk up to my girlfriend for 8 hours to convince her to go there, it sucked. The Bologna meat tasted kind of sketchy, chicken not that crispy, sides had no flavor. We would have been better off at the Popeyes on Broad & Snyder. Even the BISCUITS are better at Popeye's. The only thing slightly "southern" about the experience was when I asked for hot sauce the guy gave me 12 PACKETS and asked if I wanted more.

Most of you are probably thinking "of course it sucked, it's fast food" but there's something about regional mini-chains that fascinates me, like the Greek-themed pastrami burger joints in Utah I've been reading up on for a freelance project. And I haven't ruled Bojangles out, maybe the good ones are further south??

New Stuff at Hot Diggity

2011-08-22T11:26:00.006-04:00

Just stopped by Hot Diggity to check out some new dogs including Keith's awesome version of the Philly Combo that Holly Moore called the "best he's ever had" and yeah it's amazing.

A Sabrett's natural casing dog is wrapped in a homemade salt cod / potato mixture, breaded with panko and deep fried. Topped with pepper hash and brown mustard. Not fishy at all and much better than the questionable frozen fish cake you would be eating if you ordered this from some scary lunch stand under Market East station.

Hot Diggity is really coming through with making stuff from scratch and taking hot dog technique to the next level. Especially with their latest "Buffalo Dog" which will be on the menu (or as a special?) real soon.

Diggity's Buffalo dogs are made from actual Buffalo meat at D'Angelos on 9th street (Philly's #1 source of exotic meat) and are actual hot dogs - fine ground meat in hot dog size rather than coarse ground sausage being called "hot dog" for a gimmick. Topped with honey buffalo wing sauce, diced celery, chunks of good blue cheese and topped with deep fried crispy chicken skin.

I've seen a lot of "Buffalo" style hot dogs and honestly they usually turn me off (dog dipped in hot sauce and drowned in blue cheese dressing = no thanks) but this one is GREAT. Other news from Hot Diggity is that they are now BYOB and will soon be carrying Levis Champ Cherry Soda which you should definitely order with your Philly Combo.

Hot Diggity
630 South Street
Philadelphia

Western PA Pepperoni Rolls, Mint Ginger Ale and Fallingwater

2011-08-15T11:34:00.007-04:00

After trying Pepperoni Rolls most people's reaction is something like "We really drove 6 hours for this? its a dinner roll with some pepperoni in it... I know this place in Manayunk that makes REAL pepperoni bla bla bla...."

But we're not talking about that. We're talking about the greasy gas station snack that started with Italian coal miners back in the day, and is pretty much only found in West Virginia and Southwestern PA and parts of Maryland, that for some reason I find myself fascinated with, and for which I dragged my friends (who would rather be fishing and/or drinking beer) along to every gas station and grocery store in a 5 mile radius of our campsite.

Most Pepperoni Rolls are pre-packaged, so It was awesome to find this gas station / bakery / grocery that makes their own. They were pretty good, sort of sweet and filled with slices of Pepperoni (some have sticks and/or cheese) soaked in orange grease (this is a good thing) and 50 cents each.

The next place I asked if they had any pepperoni rolls and they lady behind the deli counter said "my sister makes them when she's here but she only works on saturdays" so I guess home-made pepperoni rolls are pretty common in southwestern PA. Awesome.

Some other good stuff from this area was Tom Tucker Mint Ginger Ale (add whiskey for an almost mint julep) and Stoney's, a super delicious cheap local lager made in the old Rolling Rock brewery in Latrobe... 20 times better than Iron City or Old German.

Other stops included Fallingwater (AMAZING) and LOTS of hot dogs including this "Hot Chee Dog" from Hamilton Restaurant that you can read about on Serious Eats.

read more
Hot Dog Of The Week - Hot Chee Dog
Drawingforfood - West VA Pepperoni Rolls
Bobheffner.com - Pepperoni Roll Variations
Fallingwater Cookbook Excerpt

Philadelphia Jewish Deli Dogs and Casino Deli

2011-08-10T10:14:00.014-04:00

If you've been following my hot dog articles for the past couple years, you might be familiar with my fascination with Jewish Deli hot dogs, specifically the so-called, maybe-doesn't really exist "Kosher Tommy" - an all beef hot dog wrapped in beef salami (or beef bologna, at one place in Philly and a few in Baltimore -and sometimes cheese, yes I know it's not kosher ) that was/is supposedly a kosher/sort of kosher alternative to the "Texas Tommy" (bacon wrapped cheese filled dog).

The fascination goes back to the bizarre story of my Jewish / not Jewish family, especially my grandfather who was raised in Jewish family but abandoned religion in favor of art, yet whose eating habits were still very Northeast Philly Jewish style - whitefish salad, bagels, salami and eggs, and of course these mysterious hot dogs wrapped in salami.

I actually served my version of the "Kosher Tommy" at the Wienermobile event a couple weeks ago (baloney wrapped, and covered with cheese whiz for that philly twist) and most people loved it, although there was a guy who took offense and accused me of "making fun" of people who keep kosher, which was never my intent, and part of the reason for this article was to document the existence of this thing. My only guess to the popularity of cheese on a "kosher" style hot dog is that many Delis in the Philadelphia area also cater to a large non-Jewish or non-Kosher clientele.

Anyway I finally made the trek around the city and the burbs in search of this "Kosher Tommy" thing, and they were all really different, although EVERY jewish deli in the Philadelphia area seems to have some incarnation of a kosher hot dog topped with salami or pastrami or baloney and maybe cheese. My favorite was actually from Zeke's (pictured above), a small deli/diner in the city that I'd never noticed before - called the "Sizzle", a split & grilled dog wrapped in baloney and a pickle that I also jammed into the bun.

Check out my post on Serious Eats for all the dogs-
Hot Dog of the Week: A Tour of Philadelphia Deli Dogs

Another great find on this trip was the Casino Deli in Northeast Philadelphia. This place is like something from another world, a cross between a Jewish Deli and a takeout beer / lottery /grocery / cheesesteak joint.

The entire interior is covered in a massive Atlantic City mural complete with scenes of people rolling dice and various showbiz celebrities. The eccentric staff was awesome and the deli sandwiches terrific.

Pastrami dog was OK, too much bread with the giant roll but the pastrami was good. Great pickles and cheap cold beer. I'd love to come back here on a non-hot dog adventure.

Zeke's 5th Street Deli Bakery
zekes5thstreetdeli.com
318-20 South 5th Street; Philadelphia, PA 19106

Casino Deli
2425 Welsh Road; Philadelphia, PA 19114-2219

1000 free Wienermobile Hot Dogs

2011-07-19T11:38:00.005-04:00

YES it is true I will be passing out 1,000 FREE HOT DOGS from the Wienermobile tomorrow (Wed July 20th) from 11:30 'til 1:30 in front of city hall! 5 different hot dogs based on my last two years of intense hot dog research. There's a philly-style pepper hash dog, a "Kosher Tommy" wrapped in salami and cheese wiz, and a crazy Colombian Hot Dog buried under pineapple salsa, bacon, chimichurri mayo and crushed chips. The dogs are Oscar Mayer's new "Selects" - all beef dogs with no nitrates.

Also helping me pass out hot dogs I have a great team including DFF correspondent Caroline as well as the awesome dynamic duo Thom Lessner and Rose Luardo. Come out and get some free dogs!!

15th & Market
Wed July 20th
11:30am - 1:30pm

more info on Meal Ticket-
Philly's Hawk Krall mans the Wienermobile next week

Ride Those Bikes

2011-07-11T13:18:00.004-04:00

Friends of Drawing For Food Aaron and Jamie-Lee (who have in the past brought me awesome New England food gifts like Atkins Farm Donuts and Moxie) are currently 10 days into an epic 2-month bike ride across the United States and I'm jealous.

OK well maybe not Jealous of biking 100 miles a day through the mountains in 95 degree heat, but definitely of their route off the main highways and through small towns, and stops at awesome diners, apple orchards and roadside stands.

Food highlights so far have been the "fried mush" at the County Seat - an amazing looking Amish diner in Goshen, Indiana, having pizza delivered to their "stealth campsite" in an abandoned state park, and breakfast at the Steel Trolley in Lisbon, Ohio, with an awesome looking menu that includes 10 different varieties of hot dog that they probably didn't get because Aaron's a vegetarian. Bummer but at least they took some hot dog photos for me.

Anyway I'm psyched to see what else they eat and find as they blow through Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. Check out ridethosebikes.blogspot.com for more.

National Hot Dog Month - All the Hot Dog Blogs

2011-07-07T18:47:00.018-04:00

Another bonus for National Hot Dog Month, I thought I'd feature some of my favorite stuff from other hot dog blogs. I really love reading about new and obscure hot dog joints, trucks and carts in parts of the country you rarely hear about in the "mainstream hot dog media". Some of these guys really put me to shame in terms of scouring for real deal out of the way stuff and posting as often as every day.

double red hot from johnnies in OKC / buddiesandhotdogs.blogspot.com

BUDDIES AND HOT DOGS

Somehow related to Frank - a newer gastro-dog type joint in Austin - this group of dudes have been uncovering awesome hot dogs in California, Seattle, Portland and Minnesota for a few years now.

One of my favorite posts from them is on Mike's Chili Parlor, a sort of Cincinnati-style Greek chili parlor/dive bar in Seattle (??) that's been there since 1922. They've also done some great posts on old-school Coney joints in Sioux City Iowa.

• buddiesandhotdogs.blogspot.com

****

ya-ya's home of the q-dog / birmingham hot dog tour

THE GREAT BIRMINGHAM HOT DOG TOUR

Even though these guys dissed me for "blowing through Birmingham" and "miss(ing) the best hot dog stands in our city" when I stopped at Pete's and Gus's for the Serious Eats / Rachael Ray America's Best Hot Dog article.. I love this blog and really wish I had found it BEFORE visiting Birmingham.

chili dog and a special from sam's / birmingham hot dog tour

You'll notice that almost every B-Ham hot dog joint serves some variation of the "Special" which consist of chili or loose meat, sauerkraut and "sauce" which is sort of a cross between barbecue sauce and NY red onion sauce. One of their favorites is Sam's Super Samwichs.

Another terrific spot is Ya-Ya's, a roadside stand that serves the Q Dog that's sort of like a barbecue version of the special with kraut, sauce, and pulled pork.

• birminghamhotdogtour.blogspot.com

****

SMOKIN' CHOKIN' AND CHOWING WITH THE KING

Not strictly a hot dog blog, but Chibbqking serves up some awesome hot dog coverage in and out of its home base of Chicago. One of my favorite food blogs hands down.

minimalist chicago dog from hot diggity dog / chibbqqking

Author Titus Ruscetti (aka King T) has been tirelessly documenting Chicago dogs, especially the Minimalist or Depression style that involves natural casing dogs and big piles of hand cut fries on top of the dog, from no-frills spots like Gene's & Jude's and Redhot Ranch.

coney island deluxe in duluth, MN / chibbqking

Outside of Chicago, King T has been checking out Coney dogs in Duluth, Minnesota and cranking out massive, epic posts from recent travels to Wisconsin involving American Legion burgers, brats, and frozen custard.. oh and also more Coneys and pork tenderloin sandwiches in Indiana - wow.

chibbqking.blogspot.com

****

THE HOT DOG I ATE
A serious mega-blog with at least 10 contributors, these guys have been EVERYWHERE from Scranton to New York, Tahiti to Chicago.

danish dogs / the hot dog i ate

A few of the authors seem to be from New England and find some awesome spots like this hot dog stand at Carvers Farmers Market in Massachussets serving up Danish Dogs topped with pickled cucumbers, remoulade, and crispy fried onions.

argentinian hot dog sauces / the hot dog i ate

Another killer post from these guys is a report from Argentina featuring some "panchos" buried underneath 7000 different kinds of "mayonesa" in typical south american fashion as well as some real deal sausages in Buenos Aires. Great stuff.

thehotdogblog.wordpress.com

****

backyard big dogs, kalamazoo MI / dogs on the road

DOGS ON THE ROAD

A great blog with general hot dog news and original reviews of hot dog spots graded for Food, Atmosphere, Value, as well as Side Dishes rated by his wife"Side Dish Jody" who doesn't like hot dogs. Mostly Michigan based (they love Yesterdog) but talso travel to Florida, Wisconsin, and even Pennsylvania.

mel's in tampa FL / dogs on the road

"Hot Dog Guy" Paul seems to be big on Chicago - style dogs outside of Chicago, including Mel's in Florida with this awesome hot dog car out front and Johnny B'z in Michigan that does Chicago style dogs on New England buns.

• dogsontheroad.blogspot.com

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sharr's hot dogs / west virginia hot dog blog

WEST VIRGINIA HOT DOG BLOG
One of the most thorough and hardcore purist regional hot dog blogs out there, WV hot dog blog author Stanton is adamant that west virginia hot dogs (WVHD) are NOT so much about the brand or quality of the dog, but the love and care put into the classic elements of a WVHD - cheap dog, steamed bun, mustard, and homemade chili and slaw.

whitey's has the "one true slaw" / west virginia hot dog blog

The blog is especially brutal towards any HDJ's (Hot Dog Joints) that get even close to "gourmet", use English buns (top-split), or even dare to call something a "slaw dog" (authentic WV hot dogs should automatically come with slaw) I'm not this much of a purist.. but I do LOVE west virginia hot dogs, and agree that it's the sort of classic thing that shouldn't be messed with.

skeenie's - one of the best / west virginia hot dog blog

A lot of the best WV dogs come from Dairy Bars like Dee's Tasty Freeze and Skeenie's (considered the Quintessential WVA hot dog) or even in the back of grocery stores, smoke filled video poker parlors, and barber shops. Hot Dog culture in WVA is ferociously unpretentious, and every time I read this blog, with hundreds of posts going back to 2006, I want to drive down there and spend 3 weeks hitting as many of these places as I can.

• www.wvhotdogs.com

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HOT DOG STORIES
Another fantastic regional blog, Hot Dog Stories almost exclusively features trucks and carts in New England, mostly Massachussets. The author is a former hot dog vendor himself, and really gets into the history of each cart, talking to the owners and even shooting short videos.

larry joe's - hotdogstories.com

My all-time favorite post -including a terrific video interview- is about Larry Joe's New England Fire Pit, a truck in New England that cooks dogs over hickory wood, run by a guy who trained at the legendary Boston Speed truck that's been awarded the best in the country several times, but now run by a new owner. So if you want to eat the real thing you might want to head to Larry Joe's rather than the "new" Boston Speed truck.

snappy dogs - hotdogstories.com

I also love all the "only in new england" semi-hippy hot dog stands like Snappy Dogs who serve natural casing Pearl brand dogs topped with homemade toppings like zucchini relish along with home-made nutella whoopie pies (whoa) to take home. Also this guy is trying to visit a different hot dog stand every day for the month of July.

• http://hotdogstories.com/

****

bolley's in maine / hollyeats.com

HOLLY EATS
Not a blog, but Holly Moore has been writing about hot dogs on his site for over ten years. It's almost impossible to find a place that he hasn't written about, especially on the east coast. He's been in the food business for a long time, as a writer, business owner, and even helped to develop the Big Mac.

schells menu / hollyeats.com

Holly Eats is packed with tons of photos and short and sweet reviews of almost every notable hot dog joint you've heard above and a bunch that you haven't. So many places I'm dying to try like the Easton, PA style dogs at Jimmy's and Richard's Drive-In , or Schell's in Reading that serves dogs topped with BBQ. Holly was also the one to turn me on to the religious experience that is Charlie's Pool Room.

syd's dog / hollyeats.com

There's long gone, legendary Hot Dog Joints like Syd's in NJ, living on only in memory and Holly's Site. Check out the full list of Eateries Gone By for a serious lesson in the food history of Philadelphia, New Jersey and beyond.

Connecticut Hot Dog Tour - Documentary channel and WNPR interview

2011-07-04T14:35:00.008-04:00

Just in time for National Hot Dog month, Saturday was the world television premier of Mark Kotlinski's Connecticut Hot Dog Tour on the Documentary Channel. It's an awesome film about 10 of Connecticut's best hot dog stands with some awesome DVD cover art (not sure if the art will air on TV.. looks like they have their own logo / title art..)

• Connecticut Hot Dog Tour on the Documentary Channel

Last year I wrote about some of the stands on Serious Eats - Super Duper Weenie, a gourmet hot dog truck opened by a Culinary Institute Grad with a crazy connection to photorealist painter John Baeder, and Capitol Lunch, an old school joint that serves grilled natural casing dogs with "secret sauce".

• A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Super Duper Weenie
• A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Capitol Lunch

Other stands featured in the Doc are Rawley's, Top Dog (a hot dog shaped trailer) and the legendary Blackie's, a former gas station. You can actually buy prints of my artwork at the restaurant (much thanks to the Flavin family for making this possible!) or on my website.

• A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Blackie's Hot Dogs
• A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Rawley's and Top Dog

Also, Mark recently did an interview about the film on the Faith Middleton Show on WNPR in Connecticut. I also chimed in over the phone with a few words about hot dog length and the craziest hot dog I've ever had. Listen here -

Faith Middleton Show (WNPR) - Mark Kotlinski Interview

Dapper Dog Kielbasa Special

2011-07-01T03:22:00.012-04:00

Just in case you don't know, July is National Hot Dog Month which for me means hot dog overload, including several events to be announced. Along with Hot Dog Of The Week on Serious Eats I'm going to crank out some bonus posts of dogs I've enjoyed over the past year or so and haven't gotten around to writing about.

First up is Dapper Dog which I initially wrote about a while back when they first opened, but recently went back and was psyched about the quality of the dogs. They seem to have upped their game with more sophisticated toppings, and are using high quality garlicky all-beef dogs, no natural casing but all perfectly split & grilled.

The highlight of my most recent visit was their Banh-Mi esque Kielbasa special with cucumber, cilantro, jalapenos, and spicy mayo. The crunch of the sausage combined with cool cucumber, cilantro, mayo and the flaky Sarcone's bread was awesome.

The use of hoagie roll rather than hot dog bun works with the sausage, the meat/topping/bread ratio still in the right zone and makes sense conceptually, more vietnamese kielbasa hoagie than hot dog.

Their new weekend location in Garden Variety is terrific, you can grab beer at the Foodery across the street and wolf down some dogs. Things were hopping when we were there.. I would look for Dapper Dog to be a solid presence in the Philly hot dog / street food scene for years to come.

Dapper Dog
Fri & Sat at 2nd & Poplar
Lunch at Temple U. 13th & Norris (only during school year)
Lots of special events - follow them on twitter for updates

John's Doggie Shop

2011-06-01T14:30:00.012-04:00

Recently I've been on a mission to get myself to all the Philly-area hot dog spots that I haven't been to yet, especially with a few of them have recently closed (Nicky & Pete's, Montgomery Lunch).

The West Chester area has a hot dog culture that goes back almost 100 years. Jimmy John's Piping Hot (which burned down last year but recently re-opened) is the king out here, but there's a bunch of other spots that have been around forever that you don't hear too much about, and may or may not be closed or in danger of closing.

Hot dog research can get confusing out here- along with TWO different John's Doggie Shops and Jimmy John's Piping Hot, you've also got Johnnie's Dog House in Wayne (part of a small chain) and Jimmy John's the sandwich chain.

Anyway I was happy to find John's Doggie Shop opened for business. A small luncheonette with a counter and 4 or 5 booths, this is your basic working man's "breakfast and lunch grill" sort of place with hot coffee, creamed chipped beef, burgers and dogs and secret sauce.

The plain skinless dog was grilled and sort of underwhelming, especially after trying Jimmy John's delicious natural special casing "special dog"half an hour before.

But buried underneath John's "sauce" it's a whole different story. This is a classic "texas weiner" or "greek hot dog sauce" type chili, super dark and strong flavored, and plenty of it. The kind of dog you wash down with a cup of black coffee and a pack of cigarettes. Really good stuff, if you like this sort of old fashioned hot dog sauce this is one of the better spots in Philadelphia / Pennsylvania to find it.

Also, the Black & White milkshake was terrific, surprisingly better than the same thing from Jimmy John's.

There's another John's Doggie Shop about 5 miles closer to the city that may or may not be open, and is somehow related to this one.

John's Doggie Shop
Holly Eats: Johns Doggie Shop
525 Conchester Highway
Boothwyn PA

All the Hot Dogs

2011-06-01T09:55:00.018-04:00

In case you missed any of the latest hot dog news, here's a recap-

Gilbert's Craft Sausages
Gilbert's is a new company out of Wisconsin doing high quality natural casing (technically a "beef collagen co-extrusion casing") dogs and sausages, cured with beet juice and celery powder rather than nitrates or chemicals. They also taste great. The awesome folks at Gilbert's were kind enough to send me a case of stuff to experiment with for Serious Eats.

Here's my Chicago-style take on Gilbert's all-beef Froman dog. Neon relish, homemade pickles, mustard, pickled serranos, onions, tomatoes, yellow mustard.

Read more-
Hot Dog Of The Week: The Froman from Gilbert's Craft Sausages

Last week I tried out Gilbert's Shabeergan Brat (steamed in beer then finished on the grill) and the South American-style Catalana pork sausage (piled into a grill-toasted Torta with avocado, grilled jalapeno, and mexi-mozz) both also really really good.

As for now they are available in select stores in the Wisconsin area, as well as Costco stores across the midwest (and via mailorder). Hopefully we'll see a local distributor soon.. Wegman's would get my vote.

Read more-
Hot Dog of the Week: Grilling the Catalana and Shabeergan Brats from Gilbert's Sausages
Gilbertssausages.com
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Sandy's Pimento Cheese Dog
Ate this last summer in South Carolina. Easily in the top 2 or 3 hot dogs I've had in the south. Pimento cheese should be the next big thing.

Read more-
Hot Dog Of The Week : Pimento Cheese Dog from Sandy's Famous in South Carolina
twitter.com/SandysFamous
***

Otto's Sausage Kitchen
Caroline went to Portland and came back with these hot dog pictures. This is place is the real deal, an old school German butcher shop that makes their own franks and wursts and grills them in front of the store. Looks amazing.

Read more-
Hot Dog of the Week: Otto's Sausage Kitchen in Portland, OR
ottossausage.com
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Memphis Taproom
Chau has already sung their praises here on DFF, but I have to agree that Memphis Taproom might serve the best hot dog I've ever eaten in Philadelphia, partly due to the fact that they use Best Provisions natural casing all-beef franks from New jersey, one of the best in the country. Known to hardcore hot doggers as the legendary Syd's Dog, you can also find this frankfurter at The Garage in north Jersey.

Read more-
Hot Dog of the Week: Memphis Taproom Beer Garden in Philadelphia
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Scott Dogs
As you might have heard Memphis Taproom has some competition coming with Scott Schroeder's hot dog cart in the works featuring hand-made dogs from La Divisa Meats and Detroit Chili which If you've never had it is probably the best thing in the world. High hopes for this one.

Read more-
Meal Ticket: SPTR's Schroeder to start doggin' it
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Hot Diggity
Last but not least is Hot Diggity, a brand new hot dog joint opening on South Street in Philadelphia sometime in the near future. The dogs are awesome, grilled Sabrett dogs on Liscio rolls served in ten (or more) different varieties. Oh and I should also mention that I illustrated the menu, in the form of ten giant hot dog paintings that will be hanging in the shop.

I've tried all the dogs and they are delicious, especially the Saigon Fusion which if you closed your eyes you might think you were eating a real Banh Mi. The fries are also OUTSTANDING. More info to come as the opening progresses...

Read more-
Meal Ticket: Hot Diggity! opening on South Street
Naked Philly: Hot Diggity Respecting The Dog
Hotdiggity on facebook

La Marqueza Taco Truck

2011-05-31T23:21:00.009-04:00

Last week, Chau was talking smack on the Garces Guapos Tacos truck, so perfect timing to come across this real taco truck parked near the Art Museum.

I was on the drive home from a failed pre-memorial day Tomato Pie/Hoagie mission, pretty bummed and hungry (place was closed) but this brightly colored soccer ball and skull covered taco truck saved the day.

The carnitas were delicious and tender and unlike some in these parts pleasantly free of gristle. Although the lettuce and sour cream is less than authentic ( "Lettuce?!?" groans my outraged friend from San Diego, who insists there's "no good Mexican food in Philadelphia") it tasted great as did the orange carnita grease dripping out of the end of the taco mixed with sour cream.

And a complimentary bag of homemade tortilla chips. Awesome.

This place gets my vote for real deal Philadelphia taco truck made by real Mexicans. A notch above Taco Loco, but not quite as good as the unlicensed tamale/taco car that used to park on Moravian street every saturday.

No twitter or internet presence I can find (unless it goes by a different name?) but it was parked on 22nd & the Parkway on the weekend, and word is they set up near Phila Community College (15th and Spring Garden-ish) during the week.

Norristown-Style Mexican Hot Dog - Or Not

2011-05-25T13:45:00.013-04:00

For years I've been meaning to check out Montgomery Lunch, an old school luncheonette and "Texas" style hot dog joint in Norristown that's been around since 1940.

In the last couple years the place was bought out by some mexican cooks who fused it into a sort of "texas lunch tacqueria" keeping the american classics on the menu (hot dogs, burgers, breakfast, cheesesteaks, hoagies, zeps) along with tacos, tortas, sopes, carnitas, and supposedly a "secret" menu of mash-ups like a chorizo hoagie and, in my dreams, some sort of MIND BLOWING, never before seen "norristown style mexican hot dog".

So imagine my hot dog dreams shattered before my eyes seeing the place empty, with a big "uninhabitable" sticker slapped on the door. Apparently there was some sort of explosion under the restaurant earlier this year, and it looks like they actually closed a few weeks before that.

I'm bummed to have never tried this one-of-a-kind place, although on the bright side my visions of jalapeno-hotdog-greek chili-cheesesteak-gordita fusion will never be tarnished by what in reality might have just been a sad, weird diner in a run down neighborhood.

Or more likely, a great spot for mexican food with OK hot dogs. Anyway, if anyone out there has more photos of this place, especially the food, I'd love to see them... I think the first time of heard of this place was a comment right here on drawing for food.

•Montgomery Lunch Menu at allmenus.com
•More photos including interior at norristown patch
•Montgomery Hot Lunch at alleewillis.com

Elote Corn

2011-05-21T21:36:00.002-04:00

See the Magic of Summer's best treasure via the Wheat Beer fest at the South Philly Taproom.

Grilled Corn + Stick + Limes + Mexican Cheese + Mayonaisse + Chili Powder = So Stoked

Summer Means Truck Eatin'

2011-05-21T21:00:00.001-04:00

Guapos Truck

I admit, the Guapos Truck is not my favorite. To me it's something to fancy in a guise of a lunch truck. Before I realized it was a Garces Truck ( and I LOVE Jose Garces mind you ) I thought it seemed a little tooo nice, and it was fishy that the people inside weren't excited about the line of people wanting tacos.

And of course its because its not their truck.

What makes a lunch truck so so so great, is that it's cheap, and it's so so so good because the people in it, LOVE their food, and maybe can't afford a restaurant. So you get excited people serving you what they love. it's a whole experience.

With my lunch truck theory said, the food was a little too expensive for what it was, BUT it was delicious and beautiful and made with care. Skip the guac and chips and get the warm corn salad instead and spoon it onto your tacos. YUM.

Corn Salad, Fish Tacos, Chips and Guacomole, and Pork Tacos

Memphis TapRoom Beer Garden

This charmer of a place really kicked my crush on summer and Philadelphia hardcore.

Charming, well done, beautiful outside seating and totally loyal neighborhood place. Nothing is better than hot dogs and canned beer in the sweet warm nights of Philadelphia.

Memphis Taproom

2331 East Cumberland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125

215-425-4460

La Copine Brunch Truck

This now, is killing the brunch game. These charming charmers Clare and Nicki run this darling little truck every Saturday and Sunday at 2nd and Poplar across from the Standard Tap. The patio area is absolutely lovely and I can't say more about how great of an experience this is.

I love love love supporting people who want to make something awesome happen through hard work and passion. I would do anything for these ladies. They still have day jobs and then work all night long prepping the truck for the weekend. I told them pretty soon they are going to have to quit because the word is out, the food is toooooo goood.

Homemade Hibisicus Tea and Iced Coffee

VIP seating.

Homemade breakfast sausage with local pork from Meadow Run Farms. Hash Browns cooked in butter and spicy tomato jam. Killin' the game. Best Hash Browns in the city hands down.

Grilled Homemade banana bread with peanut butter and jam. SOOOOO secret genious.

And with that this summer is too rad.

Tamales Benedict

2011-04-22T11:56:00.009-04:00

Caroline's delicious leftover tamales from today's Cook The Book recipe out of the awesome Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook.

Topped with ultra fresh local-pastured-organic eggs from Your Family Cow that made the most beautiful poached eggs I've ever seen in my life. Some herbs from the garden and a dash of Texas Pete. Best breakfast ever.

New Prints!

2011-04-20T12:05:00.006-04:00

New hot dog prints!!

•Yesterdog
Super cool hot dog place in Grand Rapids, Michigan that's been there since the 70's. No burgers and trying to order a "plain hot dog" might get you kicked out. Big thanks to photographer Mike Donk for tipping me off and sending awesome photos.

• Blackie's
Old School Connecticut hot dog joint, one of many featured in the documentary A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour. Blackie's will also be selling these prints at the restaurant in a few weeks!

• Rolf's Pork Store
Mind blowing traditional German sausage shop in the middle of Albany. Hand made frankfurters, kielbasa, ring bologna, everything smoked in house. Amazing.

• Fricano's Deli
Awesome sandwich spot in Austin, Texas. Great sandwiches and a bunch of signature dogs including Chicago style and the Reuben Dog. They also do specials every once in a while like a pretty damn authentic Venezuelan Dog. The Reuben dog as well as a few of my other prints are available for sale at the Deli itself, thanks guys! My buddy Garrett Morlan has also done some awesome posters for them, which I'm fairly sure are also available to purchase.

All of these and more are available at hawkkrall.net.

•Taco Prints
Also - these limited edition prints are only available at LATACO.COM! Only a few left!
lataco.bigcartel.com

Broad & Morris Hot Dogs

2011-04-20T11:15:00.006-04:00

Thanks to Tim Gough for tipping me off to a hot dog cart that appeared out of the blue. Nothing fancy just some dudes selling hot dogs on Broad Street. The vendor told me they were moving around the corner to Morris (apparently food carts are not allowed on Broad?, or at least that stretch. He also thought I was from the health department after I took a picture ) but they will be there all summer.

My hot dog was sort of gray but the hot sausage was decent. Interesting system of topping your own dogs from plastic deli cups of chopped onions and relish. The meatball sandwich looked good, they do hot roast beef too.

Apparently this corner is street food central in the summer with Cambodians frying whole fish and all sorts of "stands" that are not much more than a flame and a piece of metal to cook stuff on. I really see no reason for me NOT to go out there with a grill and a sack of Sahlen's hot dogs, or maybe one of those awesome German grillwalker suits.

La Copine

2011-04-05T22:37:00.001-04:00

Nikki Hill from Barbuzzo and her sweet babe Clare Wadsworth are starting a sweet supper club soon and kindly asked me to help out with my crow quill penmanship.

Anything for these guys.

Atlantic City Dirty Water Dog

2011-04-05T15:18:00.004-04:00

After the Atlantic City Beer Festival, half drunk from a few dozen 2oz glasses of Harpoon and Chimay, on my way to losing 30 bucks very slowly by betting 1 cent per spin on the slot machines. Couldn't resist this dirty water dog cart.

Delicious Sabretts dog for a whopping $3.75. The "red onion sauce" was a little sketchy and more like chopped onions in some tomato juice. Not as good as New York, but better than Philadelphia.

Taipei Town

2011-03-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

Taipei is a fun place to eat. This happened to be the most Chinese food I had eaten in a while, but not the saucy fried Chinese food we know as Chinese food. But more I suppose Shang Hai style Chinese food, like soup dumplings, smokey silky tofu, and peanut noodles. Either or it was awesome and I dream about it.

Tyson Bee's Interview

2011-03-21T20:26:00.000-04:00

I recently raved about my food truck dreams being lived by Tyson Bee's and they were kind enough to grant Drawing For Food an interview. Thanks sweet Dudes.

DFF:Where are your favorite places to eat in Philadelphia?

TB: My favorite spots to eat in PA include:
       Girasole restaurant
       Sketch burger
       Dim Sum Garden

DFF: Who did the sweet artwork on the food truck?

TB: Yis Goodwin aka NoseGo did the beautiful artwork for Tyson Bees truck.

DFF: Where did you get the idea for these dishes and what to include on the menu?

TB: The menu was created by my partners and I. We came up with the menu by cooking what we like to eat. Just naming some of our favorite foods we like to eat included Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican, etc. Thus, decided to come up with a menu that would satisfy our appetites for such ethnic foods. There are things that didn't make the cut, but might show up later on the menu. We want to keep our menu seasonal, but of course there will be main staples that will stay on the menu. But we want to keep the menu exciting and different.

DFF: Where do you get your kim chee?

TB: We get our kimchee from the H- Mart in Upper Darby. We were testing out the different kinds, but we like this particular one we got from H mart. We would make our own kimchee, but u know very well that good kimchee takes time to make.

DFF: Where are you originally from?

TB: Originally, parents are Chinese, but I was born in Laos. Grew up in France, worked in New York for 20 years, worked in West Coast for four years, and now ended up in Philadelphia.

DFF: Why start a food truck in Philadelphia?

TB: City is manageable, cost of living is reasonable, opportunity is still growing for hard working people like us. Plus, Philadelphia is a very sport oriented city, which I enjoy very much. Philadelphia is also known for their education in not only fine arts, but music as well. In the future, I would like to go back to school after I make it out here in Philly and study music to learn how to play the violin.

Sorry Dearests

2011-03-21T20:09:00.001-04:00

For not updating this darling Food Blog. We've been busy with personal projects and Hawk has turned writing about food and drawing hot dogs into a real job. YES!

But more food projects and news and eating eating eating soon. Because we still love drawing and food.

Koreana

2011-01-14T12:49:00.005-05:00

Tucked away in a University City parking lot, sandwiched in between an Indian buffet and a strip club is Koreana, a tiny counter service Korean place catering mostly to Penn students. It's a barebones, family run operation serving a full menu of Korean standards including kimbap, mandoo, omurice, and lots of hot pots.

Quick service combined with affordable pricing and homey offerings makes Koreana a campus restaurant through and through. Be prepared for gaggles of Penn students involved in intense conversations about coding and grad school. But if you can get around the collegiate atmosphere there are some great Korean eats to be had.

A recent lunch of of soondubu, a spicy stew of soft tofu and pork, was a touch spicier than I've had before, with a heavy dusting of chili powder lining the lip of the stone bowl that it was served in. The soup had an almost wood-fired smokiness to the broth, making the spice even more pronounced and wonderfully warming. The chunks of tofu in the bowl were soft and custardy and slices of pork were fork tender. A quick poke around the bowl uncovered a poached egg just below the surface, ready to be broken up into the soup.

The mandoo weren't the best I've had, most likely frozen. The soy-sesame dipping sauce that accompanied made up for some of the blandness. But then again that might be my fault for ordering them steamed instead of fried.

I suppose my one qualm with Koreana is the lack of banchan, just a tiny cup of kimchi to accompany the meal. Other counter service Korean joints including the H-Mart in Elkins Park serve at least a three small dishes along with your main. But banchan aside, Koreana is a great option for quick fix Korean.

Koreana Restaurant
3801 Chestnut Street, Phila, PA 19104
(215) 222-2240

Tyson Bee's

2011-01-02T15:01:00.002-05:00

These guys are living my food truck dreams. Tyson Bee's food truck, is delicious, and perfect to be parked on Bainbridge and Broad on New Year's day.

Smartest peeps. Which I think they might be parked here every Saturday, so get in line. Or normally during the week on 33rd and Spruce.

The Endamame Taco, even though I am not an endamame fan by far, was really delicious and surprising. Mack got 2!

Of course I got the pork belly bun, which was a braised pork belly in hoisin sauce and cilantro, super yum.

But we ran into our friends who got the Thai Basil Chicken bowl and The Korean Beef Bowl, both looked and smelled awesome.

What I loved about these guys serving it up on New Year's Day on Broad Street, was a moment when a police officer came up the the truck and said:

" I dont know what a Thai Basil Chicken Bowl is, but I want to try it"

Which made me smile hard.

Cafe Chau

2011-01-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

check out the jar of fresh chili peppers

I love getting tea in this little guy

That's right drop ceilings and tiling, ahhh reminds me of my grandma's.

Bo Kho

Bun Rieu

No Cafe Chau is not my house, it's WAY better because it has flourescent lighting and a widescreen TV. Which every delicious Vietnamese restaurant should have at least one or the other.

Adam Erace wrote about Cafe Chau in last week's City Paper and as soon as I saw the article:

1) um it's called Cafe Chau, I mean I had to know
2) I whipped out my phone and mapped how long it took to get there from the apartment.
3) Hey more places to get a banh mi, Holla at me.

And the people there were the nicest sweetest people. The Bo Kho, Vietnamese Beef Stew, was stellar. The bread was really good and just toasted hot, and not everyone makes this dish which is great in the winter. The Bun Rieu is the tomato broth and crab meat soup, which I have to say I prefer the Nam Son version of this dish. But the iced coffee, um it's love is like whoa.

Cafe Chau
7th and Jackson St.
(215) 463-1095

Daily News

2010-12-27T12:52:00.008-05:00

Check out this article in the Philadelphia Daily News about Drawing For Food and a bunch of other awesome Philly food artists - Mike Geno, Matt & Gina and also Martha Rich who Chau interviewed here a while back.

Great article overall although I cringed a bit at the gratuitous use of the word "foodie" (my hatred of the term a relic of my restaurant days, when it meant "those annoying people out there taking pictures of the bread, talking about Bobby Flay and pronouncing things wrong" which pretty much describes me now anyway).

We also talked about the "Best Of Philly" post that we did in 2008 and basically committed to doing another one, so watch for that in the near future. There's even a video where we ramble on about hamburgers and Chau draws an entire mural in about 5 seconds. Enjoy!

Daily News - How a hot dog led to their food blog

Daily News - Artists' food cravings become savory creations

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T13:30:00.005-05:00

Everybody gets barbecue sauce!

Made with - delicious Heaven Hill whiskey, vinegar, crushed tomatoes, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla bean, mustard seeds, and 3 different dried chilis.

Buy Our Stuff!!

2010-12-01T12:05:00.009-05:00

Just in time for the holidays! Buy some awesome stuff made by us and/or stamped with the Drawing For Food seal of approval.

I've got a bunch of new giclee prints available including a brand new Philly Cheese Steak print and lots of new hot dog designs. Also highly recommended is Mark Kotlinkski's documentary A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour on DVD and a great deal for both the DVD and a sweet print of the artwork.

•Cheesesteak and Hot Dog Prints - $29 each from hawkkrall.net
•A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour - $7.99 from ctoriginals.com.

Chau has some amazing new prints on her site as well including the famous Smoke Monster in a giant poster size for $65 or mini-prints (great Idea Chau) for only $18.. printed by our wonderful friends at Silicon Gallery Fine Art so you can be assured these are pretty much the best prints you have ever seen in your life.

•Smoke Monster Prints - $65 / $18 from krischau.com

Then just released is this wild tote bag I designed for Philly blog Foobooz featuring an illustration of the bustling East Passyunk corridor. Great for carrying home your haul from Green Aisle and Tom's Meat Market.

Foobooz also has a bunch of new T-shirts for sale.Or for even more stuff with my art on it don't forget the Serious Eats reusable shopping bag and VendrTV wallet that I did this year.

•East Passyunk Tote - $15.00 from foobooz.com
•Epic Sandwich Shopping Bag - $10.00 from seriouseats.com
•VendrTV Wallet - $25.00 from vendrtv.com

Earlier this year Drawing For Food interviewed Martha Rich who among other things has been doing these amazing food paintings of cakes, pies, hamburgers, hot dogs, and I think a Filet-O-Fish. There's tons still available at reasonable prices.

Martha Rich original paintings, $100-$300 from cakeandlobster.com

I have this old Tim Gough print hanging on my wall of a hairy dude thinking about hot dogs and coffee. No longer available, but Tim has tons of brand new prints and shirts in his store that he screens by hand in his basement while drinking coffee and probably eating hot dogs. Free shipping until December 20th!

Tim Gough Prints and Clothing, $10-$32 from timgough.org

If you're looking for books related to food other than Bobby Flay's Gluten-Free Chipotle Mayo Christmas or an oversized coffee table book about cupcakes from the discount bin at Costco check out our wish list.

#1 on my list is Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin who is pretty much the Daniel Johnston of the culinary world. Watch I Like Killing Flies, a documentary about his restaurant and life and you will be an instant convert.

Next up is Carolyn Wyman's Great Philly Cheesesteak Book, a terrific guide to the history of almost every notable Steak spot in the Philadelphia area. I have this and love it. Only 11 bucks on Amazon. Another one I own and love is John T Edge's Fried Chicken- An American Story. 8 bucks and absolutely essential.

Or check out Hellbent For Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook which Caroline reviewed earlier this year for Serious Eats. Don't be scared by the cute cover... This is NOT the lame collection of "funny" recipes like "white trash mac & cheese with tater tots" from the backup bassist from Korn that you might expect. These are actual good recipes written by dudes in real black metal, thrash and grindcore bands like Amebix, Gorgoroth, Sepultura, Kreator, S.O.D., and Mayhem. Amazing.

Of course this list wouldn't be complete without a selection of hot dog gifts, so if you're dying to pick up a $7000 european hot dog cooker or a sweet retro Jimmy Buff's T shirt check out my Hot Dog Gift Guide on Serious Eats.

White House Subs

2010-11-29T16:48:00.012-05:00

I first read about Atlantic City's legendary White House Sub Shop while doing an illustration for this awesome NY Press article about offbeat Atlantic City stuff. The whole article made me sort of bummed that I'd been to AC a handful of times and never been anywhere but douchebag nightclubs and crappy buffets. So there was no way I was leaving again without checking this place out.

Walking in to a counter and handful of well worn booths filled with a healthy mix of Atlantic City locals and tourists walking out with massive brown bags stuffed with dozens of giant sandwiches, I knew right off the bat this was my kind of place. Along with the walls plastered in Sinatra's towel and greasy framed photos of Bernie Mac eating a Sub - even if the food was bad I would rave about this place. Good thing the food was terrific.

Not really a South Philly Hoagie but something different. Super thick cut slices of ham and black pepper studded salami. Romaine lettuce (on the bottom) and tomatoes topped with a confetti of hot pepper relish and oregano. Slight crust to the long rolls, soft in the middle but sturdy enough to stand up to the generous oil dressing .. and it still wasn't soggy hours later when I finished the 2nd half at home in Philadelphia.

The bread really makes it here. Delivered uber fresh 4 times a day from nearby Formica Brothers in the form of the old guy transporting them across the street in a beat up grocery cart while we were there. Awesome. Took me back to the hoagies I grew up with in the suburbs from spots like Lee's.

Nothing like the super premium seeded Italian hoagies from Cosmis and P&S with the mortadella, proscuitto and real capicola that are basically Italian Charcuterie on a roll. This more "American" style of hoagie (or Sub) is everywhere but usually made with carelessness and even contempt (wawa) so it was amazing to find it done so well. Apparently their Steaks are pretty damn good too, definitely my first stop next time I'm in AC.

White House Sub Shop
2301 Arctic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ

Canh Chua and Ca Ko

2010-11-18T21:50:00.000-05:00

Canh Chua ( Sour Soup ) and Ca Ko ( Claypot Catfish ) are both Vietnamese dishes that is kind of the epitome of Vietnamese cooking for me. Even though for much less effort you could easily get it at a Vietnamese restaurant for very little money, there's still a huge sense of pride making it yourself exactly the way you like to eat it. I felt really good about making both of these things from scratch this past weekend.

PW Food Issue

2010-11-10T14:48:00.003-05:00

PW's food issue is out, with a great article by Emily Guendelsberger rounding up favorites of the city's food writers and bloggers. I do some rambling about Texas Weiners (pictured above) and that amazing Mexican pizza from San Lucas.

It's a really great list, with a lot of stuff you haven't already read about 400 times like Cambodian Phnom Penh Noodles, Whiskey Doughnuts and Yugoslavian Stuffed Cabbage.

I Dunno, Where Do You Wanna Eat? - Philadelphia Weekly

French Korean Croissant Dog

2010-11-01T20:21:00.009-04:00

Wow. Caroline brought back this hot dog from Paris Baguette (French Korean bakery coffeeshop) in the Cheltenham H-Mart shopping center.

Hot dog wrapped in a delicious flakey buttery croissant roll and some sort of cheese and parsley garnish. Threw it in the oven for 5 minutes and it was awesome. Dog was actually good despite being sort of shriveled, tasted more towards spicy beef dog than bland cheap chicken dog. Good stuff.

Paris Baguette
7320 Old York Rd
Elkins Park, PA 19027

Toyose

2010-10-20T23:16:00.001-04:00

This is some crazy asian hip movie crap happening, thank you San Francisco, Jane and Frank.

Toyose is where Frank and Jane took me right when I landed in San Francisco. Of course its a hidden Korean Village Bar inside, literally, a garage. Serves Korean bar food, we had Kim Chee Fried Rice, Korean Fried Chicken Wings, and of course Duk Bok Gi aaaaaannnnddd shots of Soju. I felt like I was going to die, but it was of course all amazing and delicious and hit the spot. A little too well.

and it's a garage

and now it's a Korean Village in the country

and its amazing

Jane and I did not get this glass, but Frank here got the lady at the bottom of the shot glass rooting you on

Soju and lemon Flavoring

OH fried egg on kim chee fried rice, stop my heart

Korean Fried Chicken

Duk Bok Gi

And there it is

Toyose

3814 Noriega St

(415) 731-0232
Open till 2am

San Lucas Pizza

2010-10-14T19:13:00.008-04:00

Just in case you missed my post on Serious Eats, this is pretty much the craziest pizza I've ever had. And the wildest thing is that it's actually good. On Mckean between 17th and 18th, they also sell phone cards and cigarettes.

I kind of expected maybe some canned jalapenos and olives slapped onto a pizza. But this things have real carnitas and al pastor meat drizzled with homemade hot sauce and garnished with cilantro and fresh limes for squeezing. The slices are huge, folded over each one is about as much food as a giant burrito, for 3 bucks.

San Lucas is open 'til 1am on saturdays and only 1 block north of a certain infamous after hours bar. Maybe just stop here and take home some pizza instead of something you'll regret.

San Lucas Pizza
18th & Mckean

Krystal

2010-09-30T13:30:00.011-04:00

The hardest part about driving across the South to eat hot dogs was NOT stopping at every barbecue shack and brightly colored exotic regional fast food restaurant along the way. Anyway after a few days of focus we broke down and pulled into a Krystal which are all over the south.

Sort of like White Castle but with more variations, double and triple stacked sliders, chicken sliders, hot dog sliders, anything you can imagine. I held off on ordering the whole menu and grabbed a sampler pack. The slider was your standard steamed gray patty, pickles, onions, and not as good as white castle.

But the chicken was awesome, and the mini hot dog was actually good, with real gas station American chili and cheese which was a nice break from all the heavily spiced greek-style hot dog sauce we'd been eating.

Check out the menu and you'll be ready for a 12 hour drive to grab a sack of sliders and a banana pudding milkshake.

Krystalist.com
Wikipedia - Krystal (Restaurant)

Shabu Shabu

2010-09-29T03:40:00.001-04:00

Nothing says home like Shabu Shabu with the Tanaka's. And those fried wonton pocket things. Amazing.

F Train to Kotakemukaihara Station

2010-09-28T20:52:00.000-04:00


Byron and Jill on the F Train


Soba House, so stoked

yummy somen noodles in smokey miso broth with potatos and carrots

oolong High, oolong tea and sochu

um comfort yummyness

Chicken Karaage, fried deliciousness

Saya giving out the yummy sauce

handing out the grated radish

Tempura god

Sukiyaki udon

hair twins

Right up the hill from the Kotakemukaihara station from the F train line in Tokyo is a little old soba house that is Saya's favorite.

I of course am staying in Shibuya and she politely told me that the food in Shibuya sucked and was expensive (which is true, its kind of like touristville) so to come up to her neighborhood.

Which was totally worth it.

The statement of the evening was "Isn't this Tempura GOD?"

It sure was. Oishi!!!!!!!

Not pictured here but deserves ample notice, was the absolutely delicious Zaru Soba, and of course the Duck Soba. Um yea, duck soba, delicious broth.

Dill Pickle, Winston Salem NC

2010-09-26T22:25:00.009-04:00

While Chau was eating french fry hot dogs in Korea, Caroline and I were on an exhaustive hot dog tour of the South (and 1 day in Jersey for the 7th annual NJ Hot Dog Tour). Had some time to squeak in a few non-hot dog stops and checked out the Dill Pickle for super early breakfast on day 2 of the tour.

The old guy at the grill yelled at me for taking pictures so I knew it was going to be good. Bare bones lunch counter serving sausage, biscuits, eggs, grits, country ham, hot coffee, nothing fancy just old school cheap breakfast with a southern twist.

My first time having real country ham and now I see what all the fuss is about. Right across the street from a fancy cocktail place we checked out the night before - which seems to be the theme in the south of old and new side by side.

Dill Pickle
214 W 4th St
Winston Salem, NC 27101-2824
(336) 723-5

Hold the Presses

2010-09-21T06:05:00.000-04:00

In Seoul there is an area where you can shop untill 5AM. That by itself is already nuts, but the best part is that with night shopping comes night eating. Then the food vendors show up. This is where I discovered quite possibly the most amazing thing I have laid eyes upon.

Ready?

A Crinkle Cut French Fry covered HOT DOG!??? Slathered in ketchup.

Samson was good enough to try one at 5 AM for me. Since I was to much of a sleep zombie to figure out how to buy one.

He says it really hit the spot.

Cacia's Bakery

2010-09-18T12:21:00.008-04:00

Check out Cacia on Ritner for square pies of all variety. On a friday afternoon the tiny storefront was packed with customers lined up for take out, by the slice or "by the box". Not quite sicilian, the crust is thinner than La Rosa, similar to Stogie Joe's / Santucci's style, but with a softer crust and bigger slices.

I had to try the Pizzaz - I haven't had the courage to order an entire Pizzaz pizza - which, if you don't know, is a crazy obscure only found in (usually south) philly pie that's topped with fresh tomato slices, AMERICAN CHEESE, and pickled sweet yellow peppers. It was stranger than I expected but actually kind of good, think grilled cheese pizza with a hoagie twist from the peppers. I would eat it again, but don't know about a whole pie.

People were ordering it by the box, pronounced "lemme getta boxa bazzaz"... on some of the red white and green south philly menus that land on my doorstep it's even spelled "Bazaz". Awesome. The tomato pie was OK, the white was delicious. And the stromboli looked AMAZING, definitely my next order. I had no idea but they actually have 6 locations - nothern liberties, jersey, etc so there's probably one near you.

Cacia Bakery
1526 W. Ritner Street
Philadelphia, PA 19145

Tuthilltown Distillery

2010-09-14T12:39:00.006-04:00

Stopped here earlier this summer - micro-distillery outside of New Paltz, New York. Literally two shacks and a staff of maybe 3 people surrounded by cornfields. Actual artisan, small batch action here - all the grain comes from within a few miles.

Unfortunately they were closed for tours (although I got a peek into the distillery shack) but the gift shop (shack #2) was open and they do tastings for 10 bucks. We tasted 4 different whiskies each - including some crazy super-exclusive limited edition stuff that no longer exists. Also you get to keep the glass.

Tuthilltown produces the Hudson line of whiskies that are almost impossible to find in Philadelphia. Corn whisky which is sort of like upscale moonshine and awesome. 4 grain bourbon and their Single Malt are also incredible. I may never go back to 9 dollar bottles of Heaven Hill again.

Bottles to take home were a little steep at 40 bucks for a small bottle- that is until you start looking for it in Philly and it's more like 40 dollars a glass. But you can feel secure that your money is going to a couple of dudes with a plot of land and a still and not just something made in a factory with a faux-eco hipster shabby chic logo thrown on there.

Tuthilltown Spirits
14 Grist Mill Lane
Gardiner, NY‎
(845) 633-8734‎

Where to get it in Philadelphia
Village Whiskey - $36 for 2oz
Joe Canal's Discount Liquor - Jersey - $??

Sky Cafe

2010-09-12T14:40:00.002-04:00

O was reading the Philly Weekly and Adam had reviewed a new Indonesian Restaurant called Sky Cafe, right by where we lived. I already love that strip of West Ritner, and now I love it even more. I really love a new Indonesian Cafe in the heart of a very Italian neighborhood.

When we got there the first thing I asked was what they liked on the menu. The reply,

" White People like to order this ( points to something )"

Um, yea.

" That isn't what I asked, I asked what do you like to eat here "

So we got the Soto Medan, coconut broth chicken soup with rice noodles. It came with rice and shrimp chips.

Um delicious, the fried potato on top, yum.

So then we were addicted and came back and ordered the Nasi Lemak ( Fried Chicken or Beef Rendang, coconut rice, fried anchovies with peanuts and pickles in peanut sauce) and the Emie ( gravy with lo mein noodles and a hard boiled egg ) Today we had the Kari Bihun, rice noodles in coconut curry broth and a fried egg (which is a fried hardboiled egg, the Indonesian Scotch egg if you will!)

All amazing and delicious, Eddie and Betty are our favorite people.

Here is a sweet description from their facebook page:

"A new Indonesian restaurant just established in the heart of South Philly with the touch of Medan taste. The chef who is originally from Medan ( capital city of North Sumatra ) has more than 20 years experience in catering business. Try our delicate homemade egg noodle, it will bring your memory back as if you are in Medan or Jakarta again."

The anchovies and peanuts teri kacang we bought in a bucket to go because it was the most delicious thing, fried, sweet, peanuts salty, best beer snack. If they started selling the assorted pickles in peanut sauce I would buy that by the bucket too.

Sky Cafe
1540 Ritner St
Philadelphia, PA 19145
(215) 271-1983
Open everyday 11-8
Closed Thursday

Smucker's Hot Dogs and NFNS

2010-09-07T09:40:00.010-04:00

Drawing For Food went to the casting call for The Next Food Network Star (well, Chau auditioned, not me) and get ready to watch her on TV because the only competition were some hard luck looking line cooks and middle aged housewives from south jersey talking about eggplant. Oh and a scary looking pepto bismol plastic faced woman with pink high heels, pink lipstick and a pink apron.

Afterwords we hit up the Reading Terminal and went right to Smucker's for some Amish hot dogs. It's a great stand that I think used to be just a butcher / deli but now they do breakfast sandwiches, sausage, even a pot roast sandwich drowned in gravy that looked amazing.

The dogs are not natural casing but are of Lancaster origin and delicious. Short and fat franks covered in kraut. Also the hash browns were delicious like Mcdonald's style but better. It's worth noting they are open on the days (at least Tuesday) that the other Amish stuff is closed. So if you come to go to the Dutch Eating Place and it's not open Smucker's is a great plan B.

Smucker's Grill
Reading Terminal Market
Philadelphia

Fresh Roasted Corsica Blend

2010-09-04T23:06:00.000-04:00

Okay, the jig is up, during the day I work at Hipster Village ( the real name of my morning job will remain private ) and I admit, we get some pretty ridiculous events. The highlight of the last few events have been the little La Colombe gypsy truck. It comes hauling a roaster from 1927 that is a work of art. So of course they are roasting beans right there at the Navy Yard, and the smell is heavenly. I was lucky enough to get a little bag of the fresh roasted beans, that is making the best coffee in my chemex.

Hamifgash Glatt Kosher Grill

2010-09-04T22:52:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I think about everywhere I've gotten to eat across the U.S. of A and I am so stoked. Hamifgash is something I would never see in Hawaii, and I am so glad to have discovered it here in Philadelphia. It's located in Jeweler's Row and it's delicious.

The avocado salad is one of the most delicious dishes I have eaten in quite awhile, whipped avocado and chopped hard boiled eggs. The tabule is really fresh and the hummus is really tahini tasting and creamy. All served of course with fresh warm pita. I could have eaten here forever.

Hamifgash
811-13 Sansom St.
(215)925-3550

Mayonnaise Sammy

2010-08-22T15:48:00.001-04:00

Delicious Mayo Sandwich Special from the South Philly Taproom. Thick cut fluffy bread, jersey tomatoes, and lots of mayo. Super Yum. That day was a hard decision in specials, I ended up getting the corndog, mayonnaise sandwich, and the cheesesteak sliders. What's wrong with me?

South Philly Taproom
1509 Mifflin Street,
Philadelphia, Pa 19145

Ja Jang Myun

2010-08-21T22:57:00.001-04:00

Beautiful

MinHee, super cute, only buys little kid food at the HMart

Most Genius invention, split bowl

Korean cheezy pasta type thing?

attacked

H-Mart tour, this time I was taken to the one in Upper Darby. The actual market was okay, I didn't enjoy it as much as the one in Cherry Hill but the food court was awesome. Here MinHee ordered the Ja Jang Myun split bowl for me, and so far the unanimous answer to the reason for the split bowl, no one could decide between the 2 dishes so the split bowl was invented. True story, asked 2 different Korean people, who didnt know each other, and this was their answer.

This dish is a Korean take on Chinese food, black bean sauce with an al dente ramen noodle, the other side is a spicy seafood soup with the al dente ramen noodle. This dish is hands down delicious. I could eat this everyday any hour of the day and be stoked. Minhee, explained to me that this was super cheap take out food in Korea. This didn't even make me feel gross.

That strange cheezy pasta dish photo up there was like a wierd guilty pleasure I needed to know about. It was duk bok gi, rice cake thingies, covered in this spicy kind of sweet tomato sauce thing, covered with cheese and served with a hard boiled egg. Amazing and delicious and totally guilty. Wasn't the most delicious, but I could see myself drunk really really wanting this.

Thanks Hmart and Minhee.

H-mart
7050 Terminal Square
Upper Darby, PA 19082
9am-9pm

The Jerseys Are In

2010-08-19T12:44:00.010-04:00

A week or so ago I was at Cosmi's waiting for some "soprasud" on seeded bread (next time you're there don't miss the hand written signs for "perjoot" and "gabagul" - not poking fun, I love that shit.. this is Philadelphia, not Italy ) when a truck pulled up out front and the tattooed guy behind the counter announced "da Jerseys are in!"

The "Jerseys" above (smaller ones on the right) are from the Italian Market, 50 cents a pound.. a bit banged up but fine for cooking. The Pennsylvania heirlooms on the left are from the Amish dudes at the Passyunk Square farmer's market (every wednesday 3-7pm) - 2.25 a pound for some GIANT yellow and red ugly ripe jawns.

Iovine Brothers at the Reading Terminal also has heaping piles of local zebra striped green, yellow, orange and dark red tomatoes for next to nothing. Another good spot for heirlooms is the saturday Rittenhouse Square market, and I'd bet Sue's Produce on 18th street has some good ones too.

So obviously we've been living off of tomato salad and gazpacho for the last 3 weeks.. plus I just turned that pile above into some killer "gravy" that I planned to freeze for the future but I'll probably just eat it all in the next few days.

A Burger Joint

2010-08-15T21:34:00.002-04:00

I swear Hawk briefly covered 500 Degrees but I can't seem to find that posting. But I wanted to try it out, and I was pretty stoked with my findings. Here's the low down, it's not a chain, it's actually the same owners as Rouge across from Rittenhouse Square.

I was never compelled to eat here because it does look like a Chipotle like burger chain. But it doesn't have the real fast food look of something like 5 Guys and Fries.

It made me think that it would taste like a Marathon Grill Burger by the looks of the decor. Which is not bad, just not something I am looking for.

But I was fooled. It's actually quite quality, local products, and done well. The rolls I'm pretty positive are the Challah rolls from Wildflour bakery ( only because I eat one everyday for breakfast ) They have Birch Beer at the fountain ( super points ) some kind of microbrew ginger ale which was awesome ( not too sweet, mild ginger flavor ). The kicker for me, or table slammer, are the milkshakes. They are made with Bassett's ice cream. This made me very happy. And it was delicious.

The French fries were restaurant quality and I ordered the truffle fries. Delicious, not too truffley tasting and they were sea salted. I also asked for the homemade 'Fry Sauce' and 'Spice Sauce'. Both crazy awesome and at no extra charge. The tables all have- malt vinegar, BBQ sauce, spicy mustard, and ketchup. They were all filled to the top and clean.

Shout out to the BBQ sauce, um it was smokey, peppery, and vinegary but had that yummy glazy consistency I like with BBQ sauce.

Overall, a stoked experience and now my favorite casual burger. Although my medium was a little overcooked but still juicy. I did say that when I got to know them better I would start ordering it medium rare. I hope next time I get more pink.

500 Degrees : A Burger Joint
1504 Sansom St
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Rutt's Hut

2010-08-13T13:52:00.005-04:00

Stopped at Rutt's at 9 in the morning on the way to 5 days of camping. Deep fried hot dogs with relish and cheese whiz washed down with breakfast Budweiser. Also corn on the cob.

The Bar / Dining room is pretty much the greatest place I have ever seen in my life. Once South Philly is completely gentrified I might just move to New Jersey and hang out here all day drawing hot dogs at the bar.

Read my full, official Rutt's Hut article over at Serious Eats.

Rutt's Hut
facebook page
417 River Road
Clifton, NJ

Noon Mark Diner - Keene Valley NY

2010-08-10T12:30:00.010-04:00

On the drive home from camping in the Adirondacks, rolled up to this amazing diner in the small mountain town of Keene Valley (maybe 10 miles west of Lake Placid). Huge place, used to be a farmhouse, packed with people. It's also a bus stop.

The vibe and menu is small town but with homemade everything, maybe a touch of healthiness with the 7 grain bread and overall much more than you would expect from a diner. Really fast and friendly service especially considering our group consisted of least a dozen bearded dudes recovering from a week of whiskey, cliff diving and grilled meat.

All the bread, donuts, pies and pastries are made there - super simple, choice of donut is sugar or plain. Delicious. Breakfast was awesome. Big slab of ham steak, great corned beef hash, fresh eggs, endless refills of coffee. Dinnertime they have BBQ night on the patio in the back and even fresh Trout pulled right out of the river.

Also "Michigan Hot Dogs" are on the menu which I didn't try since I had plenty of them over the course of the trip. I was surprised to see Michigans this far south of Plattsburgh (where they originated) but hot dogs are everywhere up here.

Great example of everything a diner can be. Classic and comfortable and modern at the same time without any gimmicks but just great real fresh food. Please for the love of pete can we get one of these on Broad Street?

Noon Mark Diner
1770 Nys Route 73
Keene Valley, NY

Kewpie Cutie

2010-08-09T08:24:00.002-04:00

I love mayonnaise, it's no secret. And most of all, I love Kewpie mayonnaise, with a little naked baby arms stretched out asking me to squeeze. Creepy. The best part is the opening is a pastry top, so the mayonnaise comes out looking like frosting.

Oh the Japanese.

Hot Dog Madness - New Mexico Chile Dogs, Italian Dogs in Toms River, and Philly's Dapper Dog

2010-08-03T18:54:00.024-04:00

Drawing For Food correspondent Caroline Russock recently came back from New Mexico with some fantastic photos of Albuquerque's Dog House Drive In, a route 66 truck driver counter joint packed to the gills with "rough and tumble dudes who looked like they've been baking in the New Mexican desert for their entire lives" and known for their hot dogs.

The Dog House serves foot long, split and grilled beef & pork dogs served on toasted rolls and slathered in red New Mexico style chile. Also on the menu - frito pie and green chile cheeseburgers. Read the full story on Serious Eats.

Dog House Drive-In
1216 Central Ave SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505) 243-101

•••

Finally had my first authentic Italian Hot Dog at Joe-Joe's in Tom's River and it was awesome. A real New Jersey style Italian dog is deep fried and served on either a half or quarter loaf of "pizza bread" (a unique product made by a few old-school bakeries in North Jersey) and topped with peppers, onions, and deep fried potato wedges. Awesome.

A lot of places sell a watered down version that's basically a hot dog on a sub roll with hash browns and sauteed peppers. Which is fine but doesn't compare to the places like Joe-Joe's or Jimmy Buff's that specialize in Italian Hot Dogs. Do yourself a favor and check out what might be the country's least well known and most delicious hot dog variation. Read the full article on Serious Eats.

Joe-Joe's Italian Hot Dogs
2039 Route 37 E
Toms River NJ
(732) 270-9720

•••

I tried several times to catch Philadelphia's Dapper Dog cart at lunch at their main spot on the corner of 3rd & Poplar (across from the Standard Tap) but they were closed due to rain or technical difficulties. I was about to give up on them until my buddy Nick stumbled out of a bar and right into the Dapper Dog cart and stopped by with a pile of hot dogs.

The special (and my favorite) was a grilled dog topped with mounds of mashed potatoes and grilled scallion. Sounds weird but it wasn't bad, especially since the potatoes were damn good themselves. The beans on the "michigan" chili dog turned me off a bit but damn do they give you a lot of toppings for $3.50. Mac & Cheese dog was decent, some serious carb-on carb action to soak up all the alcohol in your system.

Other toppings include tomato sauce, pepperoni, asparagus, fried eggs. After 2am you can get one with anything (or everything) on it for 5 bucks. As well as setting up in Northern Liberties on weekend nights, Dapper Dog does a lot of street fairs and special events, follow their twitter and facebook for info. For more on Dapper Dog check out the feature on Serious Eats and a write up over at Don't Buy All The Hot Dogs.

Dapper Dog
2nd & Poplar
Philadelphia

Water Ice for Days

2010-07-28T13:57:00.011-04:00

One day after work my friends Steve and Bunny took me out for water ice at Italiano's. Steve told me he grew up around the corner and would see the old italian men squeeze lemons into buckets for the lemon water ice.

It's still made that way today and its magical. It looks exactly the way you want a water ice place to look with the all the signs and and a little window. I love that they have the italian gelati which is coffee ice cream in hazelnut water ice, AMAZING, fit to be a high end restaurant "ironic" comfort dessert. Bunny got watermelon, which was amazing and actually tasted like watermelon rather than bubblegum, Steve got pina colada which had a pineapple on the bottom, and my favorite was vanilla.

You know how you always want vanilla extract to taste how it smells? Well Italiano's vanilla water ice taste the way vanilla extract smells, awesome!

Italiano's Water Ice

12th and Shunk St.

Adsum

2010-07-27T12:24:00.009-04:00

Over the top comfort food from the former chef of Lacroix. The kind of things cooks dream and joke about making but they can't because all their customers are 80 year old ladies from the main line.

The already infamous foie gras poutine was decent but seemed a little bit too refined for such a guilty pleasure. But the KFC sweetbreads were delicious. Breading that really tasted like fast food but fancied up with light pea risotto. Smoked buttermilk pierogies so good we ordered a 2nd plate.

Fried oysters, tater tots with with green goddess dressing, bone marrow... all really good, and the vinegar chicaharonnes were insane, crispy on the outside and an explosion of filthy hot squirting fat on the inside. We were drunk and ordered a side of carmel sauce to dip them in. Delicious. Great desserts too. Ricotta Doughnuts and some sort of apple crumb cake served in a skillet. Super homey but still kinda modern like everything else on the menu.

The only thing we didn't like about this place was the awful house music they were pumping in. I can't understand why a place with food this good has to go for the douchey old city dance party vibe.

Oh and the 14 dollar fancy cocktails were actually really good. Not usually my thing but the grapefruit / poppy seed drink is perfect for this 100 degree weather (and not as sweet as I expected). And for a restaurant only open a few days (we went the 1st weekend) It ran like a place that had been there for 2 years. Also awesome that the kitchen is open 'til 1am.

Adsum
twitter.com/adsumrestaurant
5th & Bainbridge

Rock n Rob

2010-07-27T12:08:00.007-04:00

I checked out Texas Weiner on Snyder for the first time in a while.
The "Rock n Rob" sausage and broccoli rabe with melted provolone was awesome. Seems like what they were going for with the South Philly Dog at Citizens Bank Park but this is done right.

Also got a regular TW with the greek sauce and cheese wiz.
Love how they split the dogs and smash the rolls into oblivion and everything oozes together. Hopefully they will be around for another 90 years. Get a "blackjack" for your next party- 21 dogs and I think it comes with a free tote bag.

Texas Weiners
1426 Snyder
Philadelphia

P & S Hoagies

2010-07-26T11:09:00.004-04:00

Add another to the list of awesome South Philly Hoagies. P&S Ravioli has freezer cases full of homemade meatballs, ravioli and "gavadeels" but the people were all lined up for sandwiches like the Godfather, jam-packed with sopressata and dry capicola on Liscio's seeded bread, with roasted longhots added for 50 cents.

We tried 2 other specialty hoagies, all some combination of prosciutto, various kinds of capicola, mortadella, etc - the meats here all top notch and thinly sliced to order. Also tried a Turkey hoagie which was fine but looked weak next to the jam packed italian specialty hoagies.

They also do hot sandwiches, chicken cutlets and all that but not on Sunday. Don't know if it has something to do with zoning laws or church or maybe the cook's day off. I was dying to try the homemade meatball parm but having to settle for a cold sandwich wasn't so bad since it was 109 degrees. Also every deli side under the sun from pepper shooters and broccoli rabe to macaroni and potato salad.

They have two other shops in the city, plus locations in Havertown and Jersey but not sure if they all do sandwiches. Counter ladies were super nice especially considering our sweaty, hung over state on a Sunday morning. Actually it's pretty surprising they are open at all because most everything else down that way was closed Sundays.

P & S Ravioli and Deli
1722 Oregon Ave
Philadelphia

Torta Cubana

2010-07-20T08:30:00.006-04:00

Awesome "Cuban" Torta from Los Gallos. (10th & Wolf)
Breaded beef, shredded pork, ham, refried beans, mayonnaise, avocado, pickled peppers, mexican cheese, etc.
This thing is HUGE.. enough to feed about 2 or 3 people.

Since writing about them a few weeks ago I order from this place at least once a week. Always fantastic plus they deliver.

Los Gallos
10th & Wolf
215 551 1245

La Croix at the Rittenhouse Hotel

2010-07-14T18:06:00.006-04:00

For my 30th Birthday Nicki called me up and told me she made reservations for Birthday Brunch at La Croix. Nicki is the kind of girl who always told me if she could live in a hotel, she would. She's that fabulous. She works hard and leisures hard. So who am I to turn down this fabulous gift. I admit I had no idea what kind of food was in store for me at La Croix. I had just assumed because it was the Rittenhouse hotel ( yech carpeting...) that it would be fabulous old lady food. I'm a fool, and it was delicious, and clever.

There was a raw bar, a dessert bar, and into the kitchen lies the goods, a charcuterie spread, and HOMEMADE PORK ROLL with smoked ketchup. Smoked ketchup might be what dreams are made out of, and having it all served by dreamboat kitchen dudes, made the birthday brunch. I would have eaten more but French Champagne got in the way......

Everything was amazing, I could barely get through it all, it's a good thing the portions were small. But here are the highlights:

avacado tart ( a darling mousse-y thing)
some sort of bacon coleslaw situation ( 2 servings please )
deep fried french toast with (gasp) salted toffee syrup
a savory bread pudding ( I missed it but Nicki loved it )
Spicy Bloody Mary Bar
Some kind of baby crunchy croissant
duck pate and that white chocolate mustard
Homemade Pork Roll with Smoked Ketchup ( HOME RUN)
Foie Gras Frosted Banana Bread

Thanks Nicki, it was lovely.

La Croix

The Rittenhouse Hotel

210 West Rittenhouse Square
(215) 546-9000