Chris B.'s Profile

Had dinner on day 2 of their soft opening and despite awkward timing of service, had a good time...my friend was comped a beer due to the fact that they forgot side order, so props to waitress.

The space that housed Marathon has been revamped with a spacious bar and plenty of seating.

Tap list contained good local and regional selections, but no showstoppers.

Food was a step up from Marathon as well. I had the lobster corn dogs, a mousse of seafood battered and fried that didn't scream lobster but wasn't disappointing.

The chicken-fried tacos were more like General Tso tacos...oddly unsatisfying in their sweetness and lukewarm doughiness.

The spicy lamb meatball sub was definitely brimming with zesty North African heat but the stewed chickpea side was lackluster.

The side orders of cauliflower and brussel sprouts were also ho-hum...lacking the caramelization that comes with roasted or pan-searing.

Again, this was a soft opening so I'm sure they will tweak the recipes to deliver ( i.e. Lobster flavor in corn dog or crispiness in chicken taco) and time the food to arrive still hot. I'm looking forward to seeing how things are 3 months out.

Egg & bacon bagel was a quick and tasty breakfast; the bacon wasn't greasy or too salty and the bagel was soft enough that I didn't miss the biscuit I would normally use for a breakfast sandwich.

Had the Medterranean sausage sandwich at the Bryn Mawr farmers market...beef& lamb sausage w/chopped tomatoes, red onion,  cucumber, slathered in yogurt.

Hummus spread on bun was a nice touch, although the bun itself, a split baguette, was a bit awkward. Grind on sausage was excellent but flavor wasn't as much as I'd hoped for..mild w/o much lamb-y-ness

Decent sushi option in the N. Broad/Spring Garden area. I had a lunch special- two rolls plus miso soup& salad.
The decor was new and welcoming and I noticed several business people enjoying lunch while I waited for my carryout. Good lunch option, as they were fast and friendly with the order.

Themselves food itself was again, decent.  I ordered a salmon& avacado roll, tuna& cucumber roll as part of the lunch special l. Tuna looked a little dark, but tasted good, while salmon roll was solid.

Great new lunch option in an otherwise spotty area of town for lighter fare options.

Just had drinks here but service was top notch-  multiple servers stopped to refill our glasses. Prices do reflect the quality of service, but this place has a very deep selection of bubbly...worth it if you're in the mood for some old world drink in a new age setting.

Superfriendly staff and great local produce to be found here. Pasteries looked delicious and they had alot of prepared foods as well.

Check out pics of the review here: http://cephood.blogspo...

Zot was a one-of-a-kind place. We dropped in one night, complaining about a dinner service gone bad and were spontaneously greeted with Belgian beers and a trumpet mushroom, lobster & salsify risotto at the bar.

So when we heard about Zot's unfortunate demise and the Headhouse Pub springing up in it's place, we had to stop in and see what was cooking. There have been a few stories covering this re-imagined space and they have mainly mentioned the concept of a beer-centric gastro-pub.

Here's a pic of what we think the Headhouse does well...Asian inspired bar snacks. These are the porcupine shrimp, a shrimp ball chock with crunchy water chestnut & scallions and served with a creamy dipping sauce. The vermicelli poking out from the fried balls gave it the signature 'porcupine' aspect, but overall this is the kind of dish we were expecting...satisfying and delicious small plates.

Alongside the shrimp, we ordered the fontina fritters. These were OK hot, but they quickly cooled into brownish doughballs that were unpleasantly greasy - Elizabeth enjoyed the accompanying cucumber slices & tomato creme fraiche dipping sauce more than the fritters themselves.

Before we go further into the food menu, I will mention the beer menu. There were some great beers on the menu, however the number of hop-oriented selections were sparse...I counted only 2 of over a dozen beers on tap that could be considered 'hoppy' and 3 of the selections were decidedly in the 'fruit'/'sour' category, which creates some problems for hopheads ordering off the menu. The bottle menu was as deep as Zot's, so serious drinkers shouldn't be too worried...we eagerly drank up a bottle of Boon Gueuze that wasn't listed but proffered by the bartender when our request for gueuze lambic was placed with the waitress.

However, this was the biggest disappointment of the evening...mussels. Early predictions of Headhouse were of a fear that a wide menu would lead to problems executing dishes. Mussels are kinda no-brainers in terms of a starting point, but I hate to say that these mussels were only mediocre and suffered from the pan-global concept.

One bright spot? The fries. Delicious. Golden Brown. Crunchy. Bring 'em on.

The 'Spanish' mussels, one of four varieties available, had chorizo...fresh Mexican style chorizo which lacked the punch of a good cured Spanish chorizo. This lackluster sausage left a broth that resembled chicken noodle soup - absent were any flavors of pimenton, paprika or the other spices normally associated with Spanish chorizo. I called this one Jewish Mother's mussels as it reminded me of a schmaltzy chicken noodle soup with mussels more so than it's namesake Spanish mussels. This oversight with ingredients, combined with so-so quality mussels ( undercooked and stringy - we sent 1/4 of the plate back because they were unopened/barely opened) leads me to believe that there is some room for improvement on this dish.

To be fair, the table next to ours ordered the Asian mussels and was very pleased...more evidence than the pan-global reach of the menu may be a weakness of this kitchen.

Although Elizabeth was full at this point, I wanted to be fair to the kitchen and test the final flavor profile advertised on the menu...Latin food. I ordered the pork carnitas with pineapple and cilantro. The pork itself was chopped and seasoned perfectly but overall it was a too dry. The creamy sauce didn't make up for the overall dry character of the pork. I can't help but wonder if the latest fad of Korean short rib tacos wouldn't be a better option on the menu in place of the carnitas?

Stepping back from the food, the space itself was beautifully remodeled; we actually dined in the front room which, those of you that remember Zot, used to house the foozball tables. The service was very attentive. One thing I noticed was that with every beer order, the waitress was quick to offer a sample before the order was placed. I can see this being a great way to ramp casual beer drinkers up into the quality offerings on tap.

Overall, I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't impressed either. It looks like the initial skepticism that I saw emerging about the kitchen may be well founded. To be fair, I saw several tables enjoying sandwiches and burgers, so there may be some better offerings towards that portion of the menu. I wish them luck and I look forward to the bar snacks, but I have some serious problems with the shotgun approach on the menu (calamari, fritters,satay,tacos,mussels, etc.). For now, this is a 'beer first' bar and I would skip it for any serious meals.

Check out pics of the review here: http://cephood.blogspo...

We had heard from an acquaintance that RO-ZU, a new Japanese arrival to the BYOB scene at 7th & Bainbridge, was serving up some excellent product. That recommendation, combined with some positive press convinced us to try the omakase, fixed-price meal where Chef Todd Dae Kulper serves up a series of dishes based on your interests - all you have to do is select the price-point that you'd like to pay per-person, have a seat at the bar, sit back & enjoy.

We went on a Saturday with some last minute reservations being made after I'd read that you should call ahead for the omakase. RO-ZU was busy but not packed when we arrived at 9PM to take our place at the bar.

We selected a modest $50 per person omakase, but you could go to $65 or splash out with the lux $80 - I think that's where the really wild stuff starts to come into play and the chef let us know that if we called a few days ahead to reserve the $80 tasting, they would have some really stunning product ready for your dinner. Each diner receives identical dishes throughout the service.  Chef Todd also mentioned that the omakase never repeats if he can help it and every time you come back, he'll take you a little further into his repertoire.

PHOTOS OF THIS APPEAR ABOVE

Chef Todd first performed a quick interview to find out our likes and dislikes and then set to work deftly shucking two tiny oysters...Kumamoto I believe. Wrapped in a thin blanket of big-eye tuna, topped with a micro-dice of jalapeño and resting in a small dribble of a tangy sauce (ponzu?), the amuse was a great palette opener, with the fresh oyster's hint of salinity livening up the tuna.

Next up was a dish of Scottish salmon, dressed with tomato & sea salt and served with a citrus-splashed salad of tomato & red onion. The salmon was succulent...you can see the banana leaf garnish showing through the translucent flesh. This was my wife's favorite dish, mostly due to the quality of the salmon and the clean flavors of the tomato.

Enjoyed the 'Hot Tuna' dish, a serving of yellowfin tuna topped with a hot pepper ring and garnished with fried garlic & shallot. Chef Todd fired up the blowtorch to superheat a bowl of oil that was then drizzled over the fish, releasing the heat locked in those pepper rings and lightly searing the fish. Combined with the rich sesame oil and fried garlic & shallot crisps, the heat from the pepper was pleasant and not overpowering, with the tuna itself being a good texture and quality.

The big-eye tuna was served with a daikon slaw and a dice of sweet onions. The only thing THIS dish was missing was a slice of bread to sop-up the sauce...wait, wrong cuisine! The sauce was king on this dish, a butter & yuzu combination that had been bubbling away on the one tiny burner behind the bar. It amped up the play of the deep flavors from the last dish, building a great progression from light, clean flavors to the deep and complex.

We reached the end of the progression with grilled eel & asparagus, served over a sweet sauce. This was one of the dishes that I had been looking forward to after reading the review from the Inquirer - the article had made mention of how the sauces were all house-made in small batches with one in particular being made from roasted eel bones. The switch from cool fish & warm sauce to cool sauce & warm fish was a clever switch-up as well...the pleasant smell of the eel searing under the burner of a tiny oven behind the counter replaced the smell of butter & ponzu hovering around the bar.

We thought we were finished and much to our surprise we were greeted with a huge plate of nigiri.
Chef Todd had overheard us talking about the contents of the 'fish locker' at the bar, pointing out the Spanish mackerel fillet in particular, and had decided to set us up witha nice progression containing 4 different types of mackerel.

We finished the omakase over a warm bowl of smoky Shiitake soup. I was taken back by the flavor and asked if there was a type of tea that gave it such a strong 'campfire' flavor. The punch of smokiness came from a type of cured fish flake that is heavily smoked and then shaved. It sounded like a type of bonito but this was the strongest I had ever sampled...not so strong that it was unpleasant though.

I'd definitely recommend making your reservations for the bar if, like us, you're new to the cuisine and are interested in the preparation & thought behind these cooking with these ingredients, as the chefs were very friendly and worked the meal around your interests. Being a new business I hope that they do well...they do a lunch service too that sounds good.

See pics of this on my blogpost http://cephood.blogspo...

I haven't been to the original but I stopped in on a  busy Saturday lunch-hour; the place was packed and people were hawking tables.

They have a good selection of hot/cold sandwiches, a soup, salad, even lasagna. There was a lamb sausage sandwich w/sundried tomatoes that sounded good, as well as a roast pork classic made with suckling pig.

I had a Tuscan Tony - hot dog wrapped in proscutti, with a long hot and bolognese sauce...this was the Italian answer to the chili dog and worth the $5.  Cartoon of this dog is posted in the photos section.

On another occasion I split the Daddy Wad, their version of a classic Italian hogie; served on a Sarcone's roll, it was OK...not as much veg/lettuce as I would've liked but the cheese was sharp and the meat was good quality. At $8, it wasn't really that great.

If you're looking for some interesting hot sandwiches and you're not in the mood for Bebe's BBQ, then this is a reliable stop in the Italian Market.

On a day trip passing through Doylestown we stopped at Jules Thin Crust Pizza.  I figured with a name like that, they'd probably be able to deliver on what has become our latest obsession...thin pizza crust.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect as we walked into the place.  I thought it was going to be a little sit-down place w/a wood fired oven being tended by a pizzaioli...instead, it was like a Subways meets California Pizza Kitchen...but in a good way.

Basically you pay by the slice and choose from a spread of at least a dozen or more pizzas already cooked up...tell them what you're after and they run it through a conveyor oven to crisp the dough up.  

I saw in another post the comment that these aren't real pizzas and I can kind of agree with that if your idea of pizza is circular, doughy, saucy and dripping molten threads of mozzarella (think Pizza Hut commercial). These are more like flatbread pizzas carved up & reheated  for take-away customers like the pizza shops in Rome.

The place seemed to be geared for handling lunch crowds but we found the service was cheerful and patient while we stared out blankly over the row upon row of pizzas to pick from.

Of course, they had your traditional pork-centric pizzas, which looked really tasty..all the meat comes from hormone-free animals and they seemed to have a focus on quality ingredient. They had alot of veggie pies to choose from, as well as whole-wheat crust options.

First, we picked a slice of the artichoke, basil & tomato white pizza...even with all the veg, the crust held up perfectly and it wasn't a gloppy mess as is so often the case with marinated artichoke toppings.

Then we chose the more classic tomato & basil pizza...again, crunchy crust and flavorful toppings made for a great lunch...I wish they had one of these near my office so I could pop out for a slice at lunch.