Seeker

Do you have access to a butcher? If so, for beef try to get the neck bones and adjacent meat. (This is chuck meat, and the best for stewing.) You can either stew with the bones in which adds flavor or cut the meat off the bones before you cook.

Makes the most incredible Hungarian Goulash. I feel myself getting inspired to visit the Reading Terminal Market. Let's see: Hungarian paprika - check. Lots of onions - check. Butter - check. Chicken broth - check.

To buy: Meat and noodles..

When I was traveling to DC on business in 2001 and 2002, I regularly stayed at the Radisson Barcelo in Dupont Circle. The rooms were large, and room service provided by Gabriel was a joy. Who wouldn't love polenta with mascarpone and fresh strawberries for breakfast?

The service was always exquisite. One week I rolled in from Philadelphia with an upset stomach and threw myself into the hands of my server. (No, not literally.) He was able to steer me through a full meal avoiding anything that might make my situation worse -- I was well satisfied and felt much better after a night's rest.

When I returned to the restaurant for a special dinner after not being there for over a year, the hostess inquired about my name. I didn't know why, and asked if there was something wrong with my reservation. Actually, they wanted to seat me at my favorite table. Now that's service.

I selected zucchini, eggplant, peppers and (yes!) tomatoes at the market yesterday to make a big pot of ratatouille today.

Thanks for sharing the photos. What a great day for your family!

Santa Fe Cafe in Mt. Pleasant in the basement of an apartment complex on 16th. 14K, a hotel restaurant in the Crowne Plaza (?) on 14th and K. I pass by these places all the time. Are they any good?

Had a memorable meal at 14k last year. As the weather was warm, we dined outside relaxing and enjoying the view.

The menu was limited, but excellent. They had both a few fine dining options and the usual steak house selections. Makes sense as they are in a hotel catering to business travelers who find comfort in the likes of Ruth's Chris, Morton's, The Palm, Capital Grille, etc.

The scallop appetizer though pricey was well worth it -- the absolutely most melt-in-my-mouth sea scallops ever. Oh, so delicately cooked!

Steak Diane, brown rice, green salad with balsamic vinegarette, fresh peach for dessert.

At Chez Fritz.

For the most part though, NC BBQ is very much a rural, home-grown tradition. Most of the best BBQ I've eaten wasn't at restaurants which have to focus on serving a set number of people whenever they show up, but rather at pig pickin's where you eat when the pig is done (which granted you can gauge pretty well, but it still could be variable by a bit) and that pig is watched over by a team of guys just sitting around, drinking beer, and making sure that pig is as good as it can be (though of course only opening the lid of the pig cooker once an hour). . .

Yes, that's what I think of when I hear barbecue -- pork which has been roasted and basted with a vinegar-based sauce, served on a bun with 'slaw. The choice when I was a kid visiting in central NC was chopped or sliced. I preferred chopped.

Holly Moore has done extensive research on this style of barbecue:

http://www.hollyeats.com/NorthCarollina.htm

However, his Web page hasn't been updated since 2004 which may be why Chubby's is missing.

On my last visit to Philly I had the roast pork with sharp provolone and greens at DiNic's. Without equivocation I can say it was the best sandwich I've had in the last 5 years. Cheesteak with the Wiz? (stifling gag reflex)

Truth be told (and I'm all about the truth), the article in Philadelphia Magazine was about roast pork sandwiches. And, yes, DiNic's at the Reading Terminal Market was #1.

The statistic about cheesesteak consumption was a just sidebar, but one I thought worth noting.

PS If you read up thread, you'll see that cheese from a can is not what discriminating diners consume on our cheesesteaks.

See, that was my recollection growing up in Philly. I ate pizza steaks, not whiz, and the "place around the corner" was where the locals went. I definitely spent a lot of time eating steaks and hoagies from Lee's. Back when there were only a couple of Lee's...

News Flash: According to Philadelphia Magazine (Sept, 2006) 18% of Philadelphians eat a cheesesteak once a week. Yo, Philly!

I enjoyed a Sunday lunch Monk's this weekend. Charming little Belgian-ish bar with a gorgeous monster list of bottled beers and a few fine draught Belgians. . . I'd be a regular if this joint were in my neighborhood.

My lovely and accomplished daughter came up to Philadelphia on Sunday. We celebrated my birthday just a block down 16th Street from Monk's at The Warsaw Cafe. Unusual place that has served Eastern European (yes, Polish) food with a continental flair since 1979 - borscht, chilled berry soup, Russian crepes (stuffed with smoked salmon and topped with caviar), wiener schnitzel, crab cakes were all delicious. After walking around the Rittenhouse Square area, we went to Old City for ice cream at the Franklin Fountain, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that serves homemade ice cream just down the block from the Continental. Wonderful way to spend a summer evening.

I'm not looking for a specific restaurant in one city (i.e. Per se in New York), but rather a destination that offers an array of choices, a place that would have something like Michelin three-stars as well as eclectic, quality street food. I'm looking for a better way to spend Thanksgiving this year than with Mom's variations on Butterball.

I've heard great things about Quebec City from a few friends. One of them goes there for our Thanksgiving annually. He says the food is wonderful, and the people are friendly.

A minor peeve of mine has to do with when I order an iced tea . . . But, perhaps even more bothersome, is when I get a refill of the glass. 98% of the time, I get extra tea poured in the same glass and they bring no extra lemon wedge. Argh! Why?

I am similarly clueless about what do to when a well-meaning server dilutes my beverage by adding more. Just because it's free doesn't mean I want more because there's room to top off my glass. I like to finish what I have first, as it is just the way I like it (lemon, cream, sweetener, or whatever), and then get more.

Any suggestions??

The proper way is to chop the steak and onions together, and then, at the last second, mix the sauce and cheese into the mixture on the grill. Then scoop the whole mess into the bun, and off you go. I'm not saying it's not still a gooey mess, but the sauce and cheese mixed in makes it less likely you WEAR the mess.

Well, I held off the craving for over a week, but today I strolled down to Ted's (at the corner) to pick up a pizza steak with grilled onions. It was actually a hybrid version -- they chopped the meat on the grill then mixed in the grilled onions and tomato sauce before popping it in the oven for the provolone cheese to melt.

I was able to devour the gooey mess in the comfort of my own home with a towel on my lap while still warm. Yummmm.

I'm a member of egullet.com and dr.com, and travel frequently for business and pleasure. When dining out, is it a faux pas to identify myself as a member of one of these communities to a restaurant?

I'd be a regular if this joint were in my neighborhood.

Good to hear you enjoyed Monk's. There are a lot of hidden gems in Philadelphia.

I've been a bit intimidated about posting here because many of my favorites do not rise to the "fine dining" level that seems to be the standard many people here aspire to when they eat out. Me, I like eating. I was raised in NYC where my family motto was "You can't eat the atmosphere." One of my clearest childhood memories is eating a fish sandwich for lunch at the Fulton Fish Market at a place called Sloppy Louie's. There were picnic tables and benches where fishermen sat side-by-side with stockbrokers enjoying incredible fish at a great price.

Kind of like the atmosphere at Reading Terminal Market where you get your lunch from one of the stands (Mexican, vegetarian, Italian, Syrian, Greek, Chinese, cheesesteak/pork sandwich, Japanese, etc., etc.) and then find a table. The etiquette is just to ask if the seat is taken. That often breaks the ice, and you get someone to talk with if you've come alone. Everyone eats there. It's a true cross-section of humanity.

PS You can also shop at the various food, farm, vegetable, and meat stands for dinner, or pick up the odd used book. Quite a place.

See, that was my recollection growing up in Philly. I ate pizza steaks, not whiz, and the "place around the corner" was where the locals went. I definitely spent a lot of time eating steaks and hoagies from Lee's. Back when there were only a couple of Lee's...

Now I'm waxing nostalgic. I had a theory that there was a "junk food" cheesesteak and a "real food" cheesesteak. The ultimate "real food" pizza steak for me came from Beato's at 25th & Parrish where they lovingly assembled the meat, tomato sauce, grilled onions, and provolone cheese, and then melted it open-face in their pizza oven. Alas, they are now closed . . .

One of the founder's of Pat's Steaks has died.

Kevin

Here's a cartoon from today's Philadelphia Daily News . . .

http://kyw1060.com/pages/59393.php

God bless.

PS I'm all about the pizza steak -- provolone, tomato sauce, and fried onions -- but Pat's and Geno's are tourist traps. I don't care for the meat at Jim's. Tony Luke's and John's are great. But so is the place on my corner, Ted's at 38th and Lancaster in Powelton Village. ~C.

~Carol

What about airport food? Faced with iffy or non-existent in-flight options, where should one head during layovers? My default option lately has been trail mix at the Grove (multiple locations in many airports, including Atlanta). Since I live in one of those can't get there from here places, I have many long layovers.

My mother was from North Carolina, so I have a weakness for soul food. Paschall's at the Atlanta airport has tasty, inexpensive southern cooking served up with love - fried chicken, fried fish, greens, corn bread, etc. I always look forward to indulging myself when I get a connection through Atlanta that gives me enough time to stop by the food court.

Stuck at Philadelphia Airport - Try Cibo's

Cibo's Bistro and Wine Bar has quite good Northern-style Italian food and a waitstaff knowledgeable about wines. I've happily eaten a relaxing meal there quite few times waiting for a flight to leave. PS Philadelphia also has nice shops at Concourse B and enormous rocking chairs all over the airport for relaxing. Don't know if that has anything to do with Ben Franklin having invented the rocking chair . . .

ATL PHL

Hey, Carol, Welcome!

Looks like we did the changing of the guard. I left Philadelphia in 1977, after growing up and getting married there. My sister and her husband are in the business in the Montgomery County suburbs.

I look forward to more posts from you.

Just one question: What kind of cheese do you prefer on your Philly cheese steaks?

Well, I am originally from Brooklyn. I like my soft pretzels without mustard, and provolone on my cheesesteaks along with tomato sauce and grilled onions. That's a pizza steak. Not the classic, but I highly recommend it.

Hello, my name is Carol . . .

I'm a foodie from way back. It started in the 'hood - the real 'hood - Flatbush in the '50s. Wonderful Italian food. Great delicatessens where the male waiters with white aprons told you what to eat (Kishka? No, you don't want the kishka. Trust me, you want the stuffed cabbage.) Ebinger's mocha buttercream cakes. Great Chinese food just over the Brooklyn Bridge in Chinatown. Nathan's at Coney Island where the cognoscenti ate in the dining room. Lundy's incredible seafood. An array of Armenian restaurants on Atlantic Avenue. Kamehachi Sushi on 42nd Street where we ate this new delight in 1966.

Then in the '70s I moved to Philadelphia where the town has gone from nowheresville-to-eat to a Restaurant Renaissance, and now a lively BYOB dining scene as well as full-service restaurants. There are also fun ethnic haunts I frequent with fellow members of the Dangerous Dining Club. Among the cuisines we've sampled recently are Moroccan, Puerto Rican, French, Brazilian, Burmese, and Venezuelan.

I've had some great meals in the DC area when there visiting my daughter and son-in-law. Two weeks ago when I was in town for a professional meeting I had a memorable meal at Notti Bianche - grilled octopus appetizer, raviolini in a cream sauce with morels and fresh peas, and a delicate semi-freddo with a light honey sauce for dessert. We also enjoyed a leisurely dinner in the cafe at Palena in Cleveland Park where my only quibble was the music was inaudible.

Full Disclosure: While my delightful daughter Julia is the assistant manager at Notti Bianche, she had nothing to do with preparing the food. Tony Chittum is a great chef. And kudos to Heather Chittum for the dessert!