Morimoto - Philadephia

Morimoto

7th and Chestnut St

I think I just died and went to sushi heaven. Was the thought that entered my head when I took my seat at the sushi bar at Morimoto last night. I had to wiki Morimoto to determine the establishment date for this restaurant - 2001. I can not believe it's been around for 10 years. It feels like just yesterday that I watched the Food Network special featuring the challanges Starr and Morimoto faced when designing and openning this sushi mecca in Philadelphia.

I've dined here maybe 4 times since 2001 and never once at the sushi bar. I've had the omakase, I've had dinner a la carte and I've even been here for Happy Hour in the tiny bar that floats above the dining room. But never once for just sushi.

Sitting at the bar facing the small sushi station made the restaurant feel intimate. Or maybe it was the company. My dining companion knew the staff well and that (maybe) made all the difference. We were treated not like regular dinner guests but like family. It was great to see Yoshi (our sushi chef for the night) in action carefully selecting the fish and prepping and cutting with precision. The selection of fish for our nigiri, maki and sashimi was varied and unique. It wasn't the usual trio of salmon, tuna and yellowtail that is usually served at ho hum sushi joints around this city. Instead we had abalone, rockfish, fluke, sockeye salmon and a number of other fishes that I cannot even recall. Every piece had it's own distinct flavor and was as fresh as possible.

We were also given an amuse bouche that I greedily gobbled up (it consisted of a slice of whitefish with micro greens and an orange based vinaigrette), there was an oyster course that included beautiful and sweet kumamoto oysters, a whitefish dish with hot oil and soy, a scallop dish with similar preparation and a dish from the hot kitchen of striped bass (i think) and tomatoes. Overall, it was one of the best sushi dinners that I've ever had. I would rank it above the omakase meal I've had at Morimotos a few years back and I'd say my omakase sushi dinner at Jewelbako in NYC would be the only other sushi meal that even comes close.

Since Morimoto opened in Philadelphia, it elevated the sushi offerings in Philadelphia tremendously. Over the last 10 years there has been a virtual explosion of sushi restaurants all over the city and surrounding suburbs..(often run by ex sushi chefs from Morimotos). Coming back here again, 10 years after my first exposure to the greatness that is Morimotos, I was afraid that the meal would not live up to expectations. But instead the meal far exceeded my expectations and I could truly see how this one little restaurant in Philadelphia helped inspire the entire genre of nouveau japanese cuisine and helped to solidify Morimotos reputation as an innovative and great chef.

La Veracruzana

La Veracruzana

Free Chips and Salsa - YUMS

I don't know about you but I love Mexican food. I think perhaps it started with my sister and her frequent trips to head house square's farmers market that started me down this path of salsa, and tacos. The taco stand there is awesome however since the market does not start again until May I have to get my Mexican fix at less transient locations.


Here are a few pics from my most recent meal at La Veracruzana on Washington Ave. This place is one of the first taquerias that I can remember in Philly. It's bright cheery and the servers are always friendly. The tacos are good and cheap. I think the platter is $6 for 3 tacos and you can mix it up. My sister ordered the enchiladas mole. Tasty and very very filling

Tacos platter - 2 al pastors and one chili rellenos

Enchiladas Mole

Le Viet

Le Viet


I am a big fan of Vietnamese food. Although I am ethnically Chinese, I grew up mainly on Vietnamese cuisine unbeknownst to me. It wasn't until I attended college and met my best friend (who is also Chinese but his parents are from Hong Kong) did I realize that a lot of my mother's dishes were in fact not Chinese as I had always assumed but instead Vietnamese in origin.

Bun Bo Hue

The food at Le Viet does not disappoint. Walking into the modern space I feared that the cool decor would somehow lessen the quality and the authenticity of the cuisine. However, this was not the case. The owners somehow managed to build a beautiful restaurant showcasing a large open kitchen that actually delivers good food at a great price point.




I had lunch with my family at Le Viet on a cold post snow storm Saturday afternoon after grocery shopping at 16th and Washington. My father who is ultra traditional when it comes to his food ordered the Bun Bo Hue noodle soup, I got the Banh Xeo, my mother ordered the house chicken and rice platter and my sister got the Bun Rieu.

Chicken Rice Platter

Overall every thing was tasty but the dish that stood out was the humble Chicken and Rice platter. The chicken was poached and served with the house special rice and a traditional fish sauce based chili vinaigrette.  The chicken had an excellent texture. It was moist and not too mushy as chicken sometimes gets when prepared in this manner. My mom (who is hyper critical of all viet cuisine) was very satisfied with her meal.

Banh Xeo

My Banh Xeo which is a viet version of a savory crepe was good but a little bit on the greasy side. And my sister said that her Bun Rieu was the best she's ever had outside of my mother's kitchen. Since we were dining during the lunch hour many of the traditional dishes were offered for a mere $5. I think I've paid more for a side dish in Center City. The regular price of most of the dishes hovered around $6-7. If you love ethnic food but sometimes skeeve the diveness factor of the decor then I think Le Viet is a great choice for you.

It's been a while

I have been busy with life folks. I don't know what happened exactly but I just needed a break from every thing...including blogging. I didn't stop eating out or thinking about eating out ...i just stopped writing about it here. Instead I wrote little reveiws on Yelp. But now I'm back. Look for more postings in the near future.

Plaza Di Garibaldi

I found myself getting that all too familiar craving for mexican food again this past Saturday afternoon. I was driving back from Temple University campus after having picked up my younger sister from her work study job at the library. It was 2PM and I found myself starving. I was up at 6:30AM that morning because my dog had an appointment at the vet at 7:15AM to get his teeth cleaned. Let me just say that I am not accustomed to such early hours and was not in the mood to eat much breakfast.

So at 2PM I had both my sisters in the car and we decided to get some Mexican food. Washington Ave was the logical location. We decided to go to Plaza Di Garibaldi to check out the offerings. I had heard from a co-worker who told me that one of our mexican sous chefs thought that Plaza made the best mexican food in the Philadelphia. I thought to myself that if a real mexican loved this place..... then I should give it a try. 

 

Tostadas

When we arrived there were patrons at 3 other tables and Latin MTV playing in the background. We sat down and a waitress quickly came by with additional silverware and the menus. Soon after we were given menus a young man walked in with a guitar and started singing to the room . He was fairly talented and sang a Spanish version of Last Kiss (It's the B side to Pearl Jam's Solder of Love single) along with other songs that I didn't recognize. Although I am a huge fan of live music, I'm never quite comfortable with people singing while I'm eating or in this case trying to read a menu. I had trouble hearing anything anyone said because the singer was so loud. After his set of about 4 songs, he came by each table to request tips and then was off on his merry way presumably to sing to other patrons at other joints. 

Fluantas

Following our afternoon serenade, we put our orders in and started eating the awesome chips and salsa. I don't think Plaza makes their own chips. These chips although fresh seemed too uniform and light to be homemade. (Not that they were bad) The salsas were heavenly though. We were given a bowl of red and green. Both tasted fresh and we couldn't stop eating the red one and even had to ask for more after we devoured the first offering.

 

SOPES Al Pastor

We ordered tostadas with the ground beef, the fluantas with chicken and the sopes with al pastor. It was way too much food for us 3. We ended up having to take half of it home. Each item came 3 to a plate garnished with lettuce crema and queso fresco. The tostadas were crispy and the beef well flavored generously topped. The sopas all overflowed with the al pastor (however I usually like a little more pineapple in my al pastor..this version was heavy on the pork and light on the fruit.) The fluantas turned out to be the big surprise. We thought that it would be taquitos ( little crispy tacos rolled up like a cigar) however these were JUMBO sized. One was more than enough to fill up my little sister. Her platter came out with 3 of these rolled up crispy chicken filled cigars surrounded by iceberg lettuce and pico de gallo. All in all the meal was great and very filling. it came out to about $33 total after tax and tip ( I almost always tip 20%) Recommended.

Happy New Year! 2010

With minimum shenanigans compared with the previous year, I celebrated the end of 2009 with some of my closest friends and family and kissed it a big fat goodbye. I was happy to see it go even though I had some great times. Visiting my family in Australia was no doubt a once in a lifetime experience but looking back at the year as a whole, I can definitively say it wasn't all fun and games.

I'm looking forward to seeing how 2010 turns out. It's almost like that new kid in class that you keep checking out from the corner of your eye. I'm finally beginning to feel comfortable in my own skin, doing my own thing and just being happy being me. I know it's cliche to say this but I somehow lost myself when I was eyeball deep in my last relationship. I became a person that couldn't recognize, didn't like and couldn't relate to. After the break up it was difficult to find my way back to the person that I knew I was but had somehow lost in the midst of being a "good" girlfriend. I tried so hard to be something that I wasn't in that relationship that it made me resentful of him, of us, of everything as much as I loved him and wanted it to work, I hated who I had become and just wanted out as much for me as for him. So no more looking back and no more thinking about the what ifs. I'm letting it all go and hoping that all the ups and downs of 2009 has made me a better person. With all that said in the words of Joey from FRIENDS, "Hello 2010. How r you doing?"

The French Culinary Institute of New York

**carafe of sparkling water** 

I've walked by the doors of the L'Ecole the restaurant run by the students of the  French Culinary Institute too many times to count. Every time I'm in NYC, I make a habit of going to SOHO and as a result I pass by this school usually on my way to chinatown to grab some much needed food to refuel for more shopping. This past Saturday the weather was cold, rainy, windy and all around terrible. I ended up outside the doors of L'Ecole in dire need of some warmth and food.


They offer prixe-fix meals throughout the day. Brunch and dinner on the weekends and lunch and dinner during the work week. For $19.50 we decided that it was an affordable escape from the wintry weather. The menu offered a little for everyone. Clearly French bistro inspired there were a few non traditional french items but we stuck with the classics. Here's a tip for people who like sparkling but hate to pay the premium. The school offers flat or sparkling filtered water as part of the prixe-fix price. So feel free to order the sparkling. (I ordered it without knowing it was complimentary and my brunch companion who is notorious for being extremely budget conscious almost vetoed my request for sparkling before our waitress informed us that it was complimentary)

 **my burger**

I ordered the seasonal salad hoping for heaps of cauliflower and butternut squash. Instead it was a bed of frisee with a bit of baby arugula some walnuts and a sprinkling of squash and two florets of cauliflower. I am not a big fan of frisee. I don't mind bitter greens but I find frisee to be a bit dry and hard to handle. The curly leaves spring out from my fork in all directions and I find it's always a struggle to get it into my mouth neatly. The salad was a bit disappointing however my brunch companions liked their choices. The terrine was yummny and the butternut squash soup was rich, creamy and comforting. 

**duck confit**

 

I was happy when we moved past the first course and were presented with our entrees. I ordered the burger medium well and it arrived on a brioche bun. Yay! i love brioche buns for burgers. I hate when the buns overpower the patty and with the delicate nature of brioche that's hard to do.  The fries were a bit over salted but well prepared. My other brunch companion got the duck confit and that looked well executed - crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. Brunch at L'Ecole was definitely the right move and at $19.50 a very affordable option.