Koreana

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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