Pat's vs. Tony Luke's Cheesesteak in Philadephia, PA

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I love Philadelphia: great city close to New York, with a fantastic food scene! Imagine that it is where there is the original Morimoto restaurant, where Marc Vetri has his amazing venue (review to come)! I will also mention the Reading Terminal Market, Sabrina's or Honey's for brunch!

But for sure, you cannot go to Philly without trying a Philly Cheesesteak! Now, there are many, many places serving this delicious sandwich, but not all of them are great. I remember that way back, we went to Philly with Jodi and a friend of mine from France, Malika. We found this amazing place close to the university that served us an amazing cheesesteak. It was not a popular joint and dinners were mainly students. Too bad that at that time I did not have the blog: no photo and no address! I then tried Geno's: this was fabulous! I remember the delicious bread and this incredibly tender meat. Then last year, we went to Geno's main competitor: Pat's King of Steaks.

Although the cheesesteak looked amazing, it was not good at all: not enough cheese when ordering something else than cheese whiz (provolone for instance), the meat was tough and the bread just ok. It left a sensation of dryness that was very disappointing!

This year, we went to Tony Luke's, thanks to the show Man vs Food (I always check where Adam goes). To be honest, I thought that Geno's was in fact Tony Luke's!!! But when we arrived there, after a 1h30 walk in a terrible heat, I realized it was not that! So, anyway, we ordered two foot long cheesesteaks. 

The first cheesesteak was with cheese whiz.

The second one with provolone.

Note that the color of the photo can be a bit greenish because of the lighting where we were sitting. 

So, let me tell you: this was amazing! I inhale mine and got part of Jodi's cheesesteak (no choice: it is solely for the blog - and yes: I am fully dedicated). First of all, not only were they generous on the meat portion, but it tasted amazingly good! It was made of ribeye and was tender, juicy and cooked to perfection. The bread was perfect too, very soft. Last but not least was the cheese: nice amount! It was the first time I tried cheese whiz and found that it was it was pretty good with the steak!

So definitely a good joint! A bit far from the center, but worth the trip!

Enjoy (I did)!

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The Spotted Pig in NYC, New York - Overrated?

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So we made it to The Spotted Pig over the week end! It has been a while since I wanted to try: I heard many people talking about this place and about what is supposed to be an outstanding burger! You do not need to tell me that twice to have a restaurant in my radar!

The place has its charm with a bunch of piggies all over the place! There is even a frame that reminded me of the movie Delicatessen!
From outside, it gives a feel of a house in the country, with all the plants.

Not only can you see pigs from outside, but they are everywhere inside, giving a playful feel to the warm decor.

With a name like The Spotted Pig, you could imagine that the restaurant is all about the edible parts of this animal, but as you will see, it is not the case. In fact, all drawings and photos are not only about pigs, although they are the majority.

So we went on a Saturday and decided to show up for brunch at 11:30am, fearing that, with no reservation, we would have a problem to get a table. Yes, this restaurant is popular; also because some celebrities like to hang out there.

When we arrived, we gave our name and were told that we had to wait 10 minutes. This was interesting considering that there were plenty of available tables! So I had two explanations:

1. They do like Pastis: use this as a way to make you consume a drink at the bar.
2. The kitchen just opened and they did not want to be swamped by orders. I would go with this one.

So, few minutes after, they brought us upstairs. On our way up, we could not miss the multitude of drawings of various animals. They sat us at the tables with stools. 

We started off with the deviled egg (the menu says "eggs", but it is only one!).

I liked it: the egg was cooked beautifully (overcooked whites taste funny) and there was the perfect quantity of mayonnaise. The egg was topped with was I believe were chives. So it started well.

Then we shared the grilled cheese.

It was served with onion marmalade and mustard. I like it a lot! First of all, the sandwich itself was very good: the bread was soft inside and crispy outside, not greasy. I guess the cheese was swiss.

Besides the sandwich, what made this dish unique was the onion marmalade! It was a fantastic pairing and I truly appreciated the fact that it was not too sweet.

Then, came the star of the brunch: the burger!

So, the burger is served on a brioche bread, with roquefort cheese (kind of a blue cheese, roquefort has a strong taste) and shoestring fries.

The presentation is awesome with the mountain of fries and the marks on the toasted brioche. The bread is fantastic; in fact, I think that brioche bread is my favorite for a burger. I hate when the bun is dry as it is the first thing you will taste when you bit on the burger!

I asked for the meat to be medium, although I hesitated to ask for medium rare as a patty can dry out pretty quickly if overcooked.

As you can see on the photo, the meat was medium rare. It was very juicy and had a nice char taste outside. However, the roquefort was too overpowering! I think it would have been a phenomenal burger with either swiss or cheddar cheese. 

For your information, these sauces you see on the photo above are ketchup and mustard: they do not have mayonnaise.

The shoestring fries were just of for me: too thin, I could barely taste the potatoes...

So, surprisingly, the star of the meal was not the burger but the grilled cheese! I am not sure I would go back there: the food was decent but overpriced! $20 for a burger: it has to rock and it was not the case. The grilled cheese at $16 was also expensive for what it was.

Last, the service was average. At the exception of the waitress and the guy who brought the burger, people there were a bit rude. I guess it is the price to pay to eat in a popular restaurant. At least, it is what they think!

Enjoy (I barely did)!

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Food Truck Festival at South Street Seaport on August 4th 2012 - NYC, New York

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Great news! The Food Truck Festival is back! Discover amazing street dishes!

I went last year (see post here) and had an amazing time. It was crowded for sure and this year will probably be the same, but it is worth it!

Imagine that: over 30 trucks like: Taim mobile (check my review of Taim here), Valducci's pizza (outstanding), The Red Hook Lobster pound (a must have), Gorilla cheese, Kimchi taco truck, Takumi taco...

You can either go anytime or purchase a VIP ticket for a 5pm to 7pm tasting. 

South Street Seaport on August 4th 2012

From 10am to 9pm

Enjoy (I will certainly)!

And remember: I Just Want To Eat!

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Fraunces Tavern in NYC, New York - oldest building in NYC?

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Recently, on a Sunday, we went for brunch with our friends Jen and Gary who proposed to go to Fraunces Tavern, downtown Manhattan. Fraunces Tavern is said to be the oldest surviving building in Manhattan per the Sons of Liberty who are the lucky owners since 1904. This building is filled with history! According to the Fraunces Tavern Museum website, the current building was built in 1719 by Etienne "Stephan" Delancey, a French Huguenot who married the daughter of New York's Mayor Stephanus Van Cortlandt. Delancey's heirs then sold the building to Samuel Fraunces who decided to open a tavern called the Queen's head. It is in this tavern that, before the revolution, gathered regularly the Sons of Liberty, a political group of American patriots that was formed, pre-independence, to protect the rights of the colonist from the rules set by the British government. 

But, one of the most famous story about this place lies in the dinner that took place on December 4th 1783: the "Turtle Feast". After British troops evacuated New York, the General (soon to be President) George Washington organized a farewell to his troops and said, in the long room: "with a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable."

After that, Samuel Fraunces became Wahsington's Chief Steward and, after the war, at the time New York was the Nation's Capital, the place was rented to the Government to house the Departments of War, Treasury and Foreign Affairs.

All this history is explained in the Museum that is on the second floor of the building. 

The building is pretty impressive in the middle of the skyscrapers. 

On the outside, you cannot miss the multiple plaques commemorating the place, its history or Samuel Fraunces. 

You can also see few windows showcasing bottles of whiskey (it is part of the American Whiskey Trail, an initiative of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States that promotes the history and cultural heritage of distilled beverages in the United States). 

In fact, inside, there is a very comfortable lounge where you can taste this divine drink as well as others.

I snooped around the place:

They sat us in the Long Room where George Washington gave his speech. They really kept it authentic (or at least as you would imagine it was). I noticed for instanced that couple of tables had holes.

We could not get any explanation from the wait staff as to what it was, but they told us that it was not bullet holes!

Next to the Long Room is the Bissel room:

And adjacent to it is the Chef's table room that showcases incredible wines.

There was a last big room, but I did not go there as they were setting it up.

All over the place, you could see portraits of George Washington.

Now let's talk about food! After all this is a food blog!

Fraunces Tavern serves Brunch, Lunch and Dinner. We went for Brunch on a Sunday. The restaurant proposes on its menu some Irish specialties such as the Irish breakfast: black pudding, bacon, Irish sausage, beans, toasts and 2 eggs.
They also propose some classics such as the French Toast, burgers or crab cakes.

With your meal, you can get a beer from the impressive beer list (the Tavern is run by the Porterhouse Brewing Company). That is how I ended up with the Oyster Stout, a dark beer that got its name from the oysters shucked into the conditioning tank! Do not worry, it did not taste like oysters!

We started by sharing an Irish cheese plate.

It was composed of: sage cheddar, cashel blue, port wine cheddar and brie. They served it with slices of apples to clean our palates between cheeses and some delicious port wine fig chutney (ideal for to soften the strong taste of certain cheeses). These cheeses were very good, although I have to say that I am not a big fan of port wine cheddar...
The cheese plate was ideal for sharing!

Then, we tried the fish & chips.

I love fish & chips, but this one was just ok: the batter was missing some crispiness and the fish was too flaky, completely falling apart. It was served with a wonderful tartare sauce and thick cut fries.

The next dish was the French toast.

They were served with fresh berries and of course some maple syrup. I loved it! The bread was perfectly soaked, all the way through. It was fantastic! And the berries added some freshness to the dish. This is definitely a recommended dish!

Jen and Gary got the eggs benedict:

and the corned beed hash:

I did not try these dishes, but they said that it was very good.

For dessert, we ordered the bread pudding.

This was an amazing dessert. Not only the presentation that was beautiful, but also the amazing buttery taste! It was served warm, with whipped cream and strawberries. I loved it!

This was a great brunch (Thanks Jen & Gary for the idea!) and there are plenty of dishes I would like to try: the Tavern burger or the duck leg confit! I guess I will have to go back...At least, you should try and let me know what you think!

Enjoy (I did)!

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TGI Friday's in Iselin, NJ

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Believe it or not, but the first time I heard about TGI Friday's was many years ago, before coming in this country, in Seoul, South Korea. I did not go for food but for drinks, before hitting a Korean BBQ joint for an amazing Bulgogi.

So, this time, I went to TGI Friday's in Iselin, New Jersey, for lunch. It was a Saturday and the restaurant was not that crowded. The service was very courteous and efficient.

We started with mozzarella sticks.

It was served with a pretty good marinara sauce. I liked it: it was golden brown, tasty and not greasy at all. The inside was very gooey. It came very, very hot!

The second appetizer was spinach flatbread.

That was also very good: the flatbread was crispy and the tomatoes added some freshness to it. I was surprised to like it because I am not a big fan of spinach (except a la creme...), but I guess the cheese on top helped...

For the healthy conscious, they propose a grilled chicken cobb salad.

We got it without the chicken. It was made with slices of avocado, eggs, tomatoes, bacon and crumbled blue cheese. It was simple, but good.

The next dish was fried shrimp with seasoned fries and cocktail sauce.

I think it was my least favorite: too much breading on the shrimp. Too bad because they were perfectly cooked, golden brown on the outside, crispy and not greasy. 

Then came the cheese burger.

I heard that TGI Friday's was known for the burgers so I had to try one! The burger was made of black angus beef: it was very tasty and I would add that it tasted like... meat! It was topped with two slices of cheese (I hate when restaurants only put one very thin slice of cheese on a burger!), red onion, lettuce and tomato. The bread was a brioche bread that was toasted. I really enjoyed it. Of course it is not comparable to BLT Burger, Shake Shack or Corner Bistro, but it was pretty good! It was served, similar to the fried shrimp, with French fries, regular cut that were crispy.

The last part was of course dessert! TGI Friday's serves a bunch of decadent desserts such as the Brownie Obsession (a warm brownie made with Ghirardelli® chocolate-fudge sauce, topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel and pecans).

We ordered the Chocolate peanut pie:

It was: chocolate ganache layered with peanut butter mousse in a peanut butter graham cracker crust, topped with whipped cream and a peanut butter cup. I had a bite of it and it was delcious. The ganache was very good and the layers worked extremely well together!

The other dessert was a vanilla bean cheesecake.

It was made with real vanilla beans, layered with white chocolate mousse and baked in a graham cracker crust, topped with white chocolate shavings. I liked it too although I would have preferred a more dense cake (once you tried Junior's cheesecake, you have high standards!). The white chocolate mousse was very good and light and the graham cracker crust was awesome!

So, surprisingly, I had a great lunch there! You see: it is not because it is a chain that you cannot have a great food experience!

Enjoy (I did)!

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Bonefish restaurant in Iselin, NJ

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Bonefish Grill is very popular in Iselin as the long line and the wait the day we went could attest.

The restaurant was packed causing the service to be a bit slow. The restaurant, as its name suggests, is specialized in seafood. Of course, if you do not like it, you can order some beef or chicken. The grilled fish they serve is cooked over a wood burning grill that I did not have a chance to see.

So we started the dinner with the crab cakes.

There were two nice little crab cakes served with a red remoulade. As you can see on the photo, you could immediately see that they use jumbo lump crab. The cakes were nicely seared, golden and came with a red remoulade. Unfortunately, they put celery in it and it was overpowering the crab. I could not even eat it.

At the same time, we tried the Bang Bang shrimp.

It is supposed to be their popular choice. It is fried shrimp in a creamy spicy sauce. This appetizer was pretty good! A bit spicy, but the shrimp were tasty and perfectly cooked.

I also tried the corn chowder with lump crab.

With all the food we ordered, I decided to get a cup, not a bowl. This was very good, although a bit too spicy. I would have liked more crab in it, but it was a decent amount!

The last appetizer was the Ahi Tuna Sashimi.

It was a sesame crusted seared Ahi Tuna with a wasabi and pickled ginger. The sauce was delicious, but the tuna fell short! It was tasteless and there was too much sesame seeds.

The other tuna dish we tried was the Ahi Tuna "Tokyo Style".

It ended up being like the sashimi, but served with vegetables and jasmine rice! So disappointing!

I did not really like my dinner at Bonefish Grill. Too bad because they have a good concept and you would expect that a restaurant specialized in seafood would succeed in making dishes as traditional as crab cakes or sashimi!

I did not enjoy (I did not)!

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