North Bowl

Visited the swanky (but, not so swanky it needs a dress code) and approachable lil' bowling alley, North Bowl, in Northern Liberties a while back for some bowling on Shabbas in the name of charity. Us do-gooders packed the house, but I hear a reservation is always a good idea at North Bowl, as is at any bowling alley, urban or suburban, during prime time.

Bowling is always a good time, but I don't take it seriously (my scores are in the gutter). I do take food seriously, even if it's junk food, and North Bowl takes their junk food -- tater tots, corn dogs, quesedillas, mac and cheese, wings, and burgers, just to name a few -- seriously. Or just about as seriously as you'd want while bowling drunk (full bar is in effect). Not drinking? Have a bowl of miso soup, or Ceasar salad. And end it all with an ice cream sandwich or funnel cake.

Oh, man, does this platter of perfectly fried, hand-dipped, vegetarian, mini-corn dogs, and crispy Tater Tots bring on flashbacks of summer lunches prepared by my brother when I was a young'un! Ketchup and yellow mustard! Perfection! As a note, before ordering the vegetarian corn dogs, a friend in the neighboring aisle leaned in to recommend the veggie corn dogs over the meat corn dogs, saying the veggie ones are less greasy.I'm a sucker for trying vegetarian wings or any faux facsimile of meat. It's fun, not weird, to me. North Bowl's toothsome seitan wings with overly sweet and salty Asian sauce (buffalo sauce is also available) killed it in the fun department by skewering the perfectly tapered wheat meat nuggets with short and stout wooden bones. Loved the wooden handle to hold onto as I tore into the wings. Best fake version of wings I've seen yet!
Hankerin' for some more Tater Tots we delved into the more creative Tater Tot concoction on the menu, and came out with the Spanish Tater Tots topped with fried hot peppers and onions, and paprika aioli. The paprika aioli was pretty tasteless and greasy, and the toppings were just a distraction from the Tots that were what we all really wanted. My suggestion: go straight up Tater Tots. It's classic!

Not pictured, but I also sampled a huge plate of cinnamon pretzel bites drizzled with a sweet glaze. It's a huge plate o' carbs best eaten while hot, not to come back to cold after you've bowled a few rounds.

Next game, it's mac and cheese time! How could I have been so remiss?

North Bowl
909 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-238-BOWL
Mon-Fri: 5pm-2am
Sat-Sun: 12pm-2am
21 years and over after 9pm

Dmitri's

The original Dmitri's (a second location is at 23rd and Pine, and a third location is in the works for Northern Liberties) is a tiny Greek BYOB on a corner in Queen Village, and is consistently on lists of top recommendations for anyone dining in Philly. Now, with a few visits under my belt, I'm scratching my head as to why.

But before you beat me over the head with comments, it's not that Dmitri's doesn't serve up some good food, it's just that I think the food and atmosphere are not flashing-lights-wow worthy of a visit from out-of-towners.

As an early forerunner in Philly's BYOB game, and with a quaint neighborhood location (if not tight and with a long wait), I will warn anyone with Dmitri's on their must-do-while-in-Philly list that Dmitri's is more of a beloved neighborhood institution, and not a destination restaurant. Although, devotees will surely disagree.

The one thing Dimitri's is renowned for is their grilled octopus, and while I don't eat octopus, on a recent visit three others at our table did. The unanimous sentiment was that the octopus was tough and over charred, with some bits burned to a crisp. Bad night for octopus at Dmitri's?
Dmitri's loves their grill, and they seem to grill things a bit too long, giving food an almost unpalatable char. The grilled pita bead was almost inedible. Thankfully there was also French bread. The baba ganoush also suffered from many charred bits, but not enough to make the roasted eggplant dish unpalatable.
Cucumber and dill soup was a special of the evening, and this huge bowl of what was more like a thick yogurt tzatziki sauce came out. Delicious, but not soup. We used it as a dip for the bread.
My favorite at Dmitri's are the beets with onions and vinaigrette. Simple, tangy, yet balanced...and huge! This 'little dish' was enough to feed our entire table, and then take some home. All of Dmitri's plates are on the large side. No small plates here, or going out for a late snack after eating at Dmitri's.
Dmitri's spinach pie is excellent, with flaky crust and ample spinach filling. Again, the portion is huge.

Back to the fish and meat eaters at our table, two of whom ordered the fried scallops and the seared scallops: both scallop dishes were cooked perfectly, with the fried scallops winning the taste contest (who doesn't like fried better?).

The seafood combination, an impossibly large bowl of garlicky broth containing shrimp, clams, mussels, fish, and scallops, was also ordered, and was declared winner of the entire evening not only for taste and variety (the whole ocean's in there!), but for value. Seriously huge!

So, Dmitri's serves up some good Mediterranean grub with simple flavors and ingredients at reasonable prices and large portions, and does a bang-up job with the seafood (octopus? meh). I can see why the place gets recommendations, but, still, if I had only a weekend in Philly I'd be miffed as to why I was sent here. Dmitri's really is a local love affair.

Dmitri's
795 S. 3rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-625-0556
BYOB

Orillas Revisited

Wilmington's downtown Spanish tapas restaurant, Orillas, opened it's doors November 2008, and my initial visit was only a few weeks after their opening, which, admittedly, is too soon to judge. On that initial visit I noted a few things that needed changing, and it seems that with my most recent visit almost all of those changes have been implemented.Orillas revamped their menu, and even included a section listing vegetarian dishes. Before I had to quiz my server on what was and wasn't vegetarian. I still think there are some items not in the vegetarian section that can be easily made vegetarian, so don't limit yourself to this one section of the menu.

You can now order a cheese plate with just cheese on it. Before it was a cheese and meat plate, or at least that's how the menu read.

The uncut flat bread served on a curved ceramic plate that I struggled to cut with a butter knife, now comes pre-sliced on a wooden plank.

Servers are still a little odd. This go round, our server asked if we had heard of tapas before, and also explained each menu page. Um...my Mom was eating tapas in her podunk hometown before you even entered high school, and I'm quite capable of reading menu headings. Pleasant server, otherwise.

These marinated wild mushrooms were not the marinated I was thinking of -- tangy vinegar-- but were straight-up earthy with oil and balanced seasonings with a squirt of roasted pepper sauce.
The breaded and fried baby zucchini paled next to the accompanying sweet and tangy tomato mango salsa. Really can't fault the zucchini, it's just that the salsa was so vibrant. And the squirt of roasted red pepper sauce, while pretty, is unnecessary with such strong flavors from the salsa. Squirts of roasted red pepper sauce made appearances on many dishes, and is a bit overplayed.I tried the crema Catalana, a Spanish version of creme brulee. Light citrus flavors were nice, but the custard was grainy, and the caramelized top was thin and only caramelized in the center.

Sampled but not pictured:

Mushroom, roasted garlic, and Manchego Flatbread - great flavors, but melted cheese made for extremely greasy finger food.

Tomato salad with sherry vinaigrette and Cabrales - bright tangy flavors, but some of the tomatoes were grainy, and this should not be so in the middle of summer.

Patatas - roasted fingerling potatoes serving as fancy french fries. I thought they were seasoned perfectly, another thought they needed more seasoning. It's true, no one can agree on salt levels!

Rice pudding - Oh my god, this was the best thing I put in my mouth all night long! This warm, buttery, raisin and spice-spiked rice pudding might even be the best rice pudding I've ever had. Get it!

I enjoyed the food a little more than before, simply because I sampled more things. Chef Julio Lazzarini is cooking up some solid tapas, but nothing arrestingly sublime like Garces is doing in Philly with his every expanding tapas empire that currently includes Distrito, Amada, Tinto, and Chifa. It is unfortunate to be serving tapas in a town so close to Garces.

But like Garces, Chef Lazzarini will be giving Wilmingtonians more -- or so that's what he told us when he visited our table to chat. Hot off his appearance on the Food Network's chef competition show, Chopped (I missed this show in it's entirety, including Chef Lazzarini's appearance), Chef Lazzarini mentioned offering a weekend brunch at Orillas.

Yes, y'all! Brunch! In downtown Wilmington! I swear, if this happens and y'all don't go and support what will be one of only a few businesses open in downtown on the weekend, I'll stomp around and make a pissy face.

Chef Lazzarini also mentioned opening a Nuevo-Latino tapas restaurant in the future. I approve.


Update: Orillas has moved up the street to 902 Market St.

Orillas 413 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE 19801
Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11am-2:30pm
Dinner: Mon-Thurs, 5-10pm; Fri & Sat 5-11pm

Haru

Update: no longer open.

Behold Haru's veggie sushi platter! I've eaten this ensemble on two different occasions, not because I'm a fan of Haru (I'm not a hater, either), but simply because Haru's Old City location is conveniently located near whatever it is I was doing (it's top secret...not really, but my coming and goings are utterly boring).

On the plank are: marinated mushroom gunkan, diakon nigiri, avocado nigiri, asparagus nigiri, shitake nigiri, eggplant nigiri, tofu nigiri, tofu by itself (!?), and a cucumber and avocado roll.

These are most of the usual veggie suspects offered at sushi joints that offer more than just avocado, cucumber, and daikon rolls. Presentation is simple; nothing stunning. Sushi is fine. When you don't eat fish, there's not much to nit pick (freshness of fish and knife skills). With veggie sushi, variety and flare is what counts, and Haru is only wearing fifteen pieces of flare.

At night, their formal dining room with bar in a bi-level bank building is dark and castle-like. Daytime, the formal dining room sees plenty of light due to the tall, vaulted windows. The back room with sushi bar is more modern and light. Sidewalk dining is also an option.

Haru
241-243 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-861-8990
Mon-Tues: 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-11pm
Wed: 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-12am
Thurs-Fri: 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-1am
Sat: 1pm-1am
Sun: 1pm-11pm

Teri's: Day & Night

While I've walked past Teri's, the Italian Market diner just south of Washington St., a million times, it wasn't until word got around that Teri's pulled out the linens and candles at night to become a fine dining BYOB destination that I actually took notice.
During the daytime, Teri's serves a very reasonably priced breakfast and lunch (nothing over $8.50). Go on a weekend, like we did, and you can call it brunch!

Inside you'll find a long, narrow diner with aqua booths and green walls, and an open kitchen. Very casual; very diner-ish.

On the menu: eggs, omelettes, pancakes, french toast, sausage, and other breakfast standards; plus burgers, crab cakes, pulled pork sandwiches, and spare ribs.
I went with the French toast with sauteed bananas and cashews (pecans were what actually arrived). I was immediately transported back to Mom's French toast on Saturday mornings, and this is a good thing.

The banana French toast at $6 is Teri's fancy French toast, and it's a more reasonable and sane breakfast than some of the massive dessert-like French toasts out there. But, you know, I think I'll hit up the $3.75 plain ol' French toast next time, 'cause Mom didn't do bananas or nuts.

Oh, and I'll hit up the roasted corn pancakes with chive butter (minus side of glazed ham) next time, too. Knew about these beauties from watching this video, but spaced it when ordering.
My partner had the three egg cheese omelette with spinach, side of home fries, and toast. This omelette was large, perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, and stuffed generously, but not overstuffed, with perfectly garlicky sauteed spinach. I'm not an omelette person (too much egg), but this was one of the better omelettes I've tasted.

Home fries are thinly sliced potatoes that are of the kind not cooked to a crisp, and are also perfectly seasoned. I know there are crispy and non-crispy camps when it comes to home fries, but even crispy-boy got behind these taters!
Interested in what goes on in Teri's at night, we hit it up again, this time bringing a bottle of wine to take advantage of their BYOB/no-corkage-fee policy. Teri's also offers a $30, three-course, prix fixe deal in the evening.
Ooh, table cloths and candles are laid out, the server is dressed all in black, and jazz is playing in an attempt to make the diner classy!

No, you won't confuse Teri's at night with other fine dining establishments, but the combo of diner kitch and linen class is so charming and honest, it feels like home -- or your friend trying to spiff up his apartment for that special dinner. So cute!

Our server at night, John, was the same server we had during the day, and whether he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt for the day shift, or all black for the night shift, he is the perfectly attentive and appointed server.
Warm, toasted Italian bread with sesame seeds accompanied by butter was complimentary.We started with eggplant rolatini, an off-the-menu appetizer special of baked, sliced eggplant rolled around herbed Ricotta, topped with melted Mozarella, tomato sauce, and basil chiffonade. With the first bite of this dish, I knew the rest of the night was going to be good. I breathlessly exclaimed, "Excellent," when our server asked how everything was, and I never say that.

Eggplant is a difficult vegetable to prepare because of it's potential bitterness, but the thinly sliced eggplant had no bitterness. And the scant tomato sauce was in perfect proportion, avoiding drowning the delicate eggplant rolls.

Seriously, these eggplant rolatini might be one of the best Italian dishes I've eaten in a long time.
The boy went with the tilefish with white beans and sauteed spinach. Again, everything was perfectly seasoned.
I was happy to see the butternut squash ravioli came with roasted corn and an herbed cream sauce instead of the greasy, butter sage sauce that usually accompanies butternut squash ravioli. At first, it was a little weird biting into chewy, roasted corn kernels with a forkful of ravioli, but it was a happy marriage. The butternut squash filling was sweet and plentiful inside the large pasta pockets.

Service was perfect at Teri's. No rushing from our server, comfortable breaks between courses, and the food was pipin' hot out of the kitchen. We were genuinely encouraged to stay and finish our bottle of wine after the check arrived, and the chef even thanked us on the way out.

Because of the quality of the food (grub's great), more than reasonable prices (a bargain), excellent service (John is awesome), and honest atmosphere (no salvaged European fixtures, or saucy plate flourishes), I don't think I've had a more pleasant dining experience in a long time. I cannot recommend Teri's enough, for brunch or for dinner.

But what worries me is that we were one of only two tables dining in during our brunch visit, and during our dinner visit. Show Teri's some love and get on down there. Don't sleep on this gem!

Teri's
1127 S. 9th St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
267-761-9154
Breakfast/Lunch: 7am-3pm, 7 days a week
Fine Dining: 5pm-9:30pm, Wed-Sun
BYOB

Mas Cantina

What's this? Another post on Cantina los Caballitos, the South Philly Mexi-bar that holds the honors of having the most posts on this blog of any other restaurant? Nope. It's a post on Cantina Dos Segundos, Cantina los Caballitos younger sister restaurant in Northern Liberties.

Cantina Dos only differs slightly in the food menu from the South Philly location (although brunch is served daily at Cantina Dos, but only on the weekend at Cantina los Caballitos), and all the fabulous margaritas are still there, as are the relaxed vibes, so I can't say it's worth going out of your way to visit Cantina Dos if Cantina los Caballitos is closer. But I was already in Northern Liberties, and a pitcher of margaritas sounded right on!

I have my favorites at Cantina -- vegan fajitas, big-ass bean and rice burrito, and Mexican corn on the cob -- but decided to try something different.Not on the South Philly menu, the salad of julienned green papaya, papaya escabeche, avocado, red onion, radish, cilantro, and papaya seed vinaigrette is a snazzy, snappy, fresh salad with lots of flavor and acid, and I was glad I tried it, since their nopales salad I've tried on previous occasions has left me bored. Papaya salad: upgrade!
The vegetarian sopes with vegan refried black beans, lettuce, salsa verde, salsa rojo, queso fresco, and crema are also not on the South Philly menu, but are not an upgrade. I've been spoiled by eating many sopes in Mexico (sopes are one of only a few vegetarian items on Mexican menus), and these fluffy corn cakes lacked the density and corniness of the sopes in Mexico. Also, the vegan refried beans (not visible in picture, but are underneath all the toppings) were watery and the beans were almost non-existent. Yeah, as much as I love Cantina, I'll admit that not everything there is stellar.The boy had the special of the day, grilled baby octopus in garlic oil sauce. He loooved these! I, on the other hand, a person who is not at all squeamish -- talk about poo or maggots all you want while I'm eating, or skin a deer in front of me; I don't care -- covered the view of his plate with the basket of tortilla chips. All I could think about while he happily chewed was these critters crawling out of his ass in the middle of the night and attacking me in my sleep Alien-style. TMI! And TMM (too many magaritas)!

Cantina, whichever one you visit, is always a good time.

Cantina Dos Segundos
931 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-629-0500
Open daily, 11-2am
kitchen open 'til 1am
brunch served daily, 11am-4pm

Pig Out BBQ Pit

A reader recently called my attention to the fact that Pig Out BBQ Pit, with locations in downtown West Chester and Glen Mills, serves vegetarian barbecue alongside the normal meat barbecue. I said, "sign me up," and then did little poking around the internet to find their menu and see what others had to say about the place.

Main Line Today voted Pig Out "Best NC BBQ" in 2009, but, interestingly, over on WC Dish, a great food blog focusing mainly on West Chester eats that also has listings of restaurants where readers can comment, had widely conflicting opinions of Pig Out, and even a comment from the owner speculating that the negative comments were from jealous competitors.

So what's the real deal? Were there comments from those out to sabotage, and possibly even comments from those close to the owner hyping the place (oh, both happen all the time), or was it all just simply people with differing opinions? (Update: Do check out the comments on this post!) There's only one way to find out, and that's to go and form your own opinion.
First, we had to choose which location. The Glenn Mills location in a renovated 18th century blacksmith shop won out simply because they offer two free beers (Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite, or Yuengling Lager) to diners who choose to eat on the premises. Free beer does not apply at the West Chester location.
Even with free beer, no one seemed to opt for the dining in option at the Glen Mills location when we were there, but there was a brisk takeout action going on when we first arrived.
The haul: Two small vegetarian spicy chicken sandwiches, coleslaw, twice baked potato with cheddar cheese, mac and cheese, corn muffin, and Yeungling beer.
But wait...these are real chicken sandwiches!

When ordering, we originally asked for the vegetarian bbq sandwiches, to which one of the two college-aged boys had to ask the other if they even had any. They didn't. He said they had the chicken. (Just so I get you straight here, in the vegetarian bbq department, Pig Out offers what they call a vegetarian bbq sandwich and a vegetarian spicy chicken sandwich) So, to be clear, since the boy said chicken and not veggie chicken, I said, "So, you don't have the veggie bbq, but you've got the veggie chicken?" Then proceeded to order two veggie chicken sandwiches. This was obviously very complicated for the two boys.

It turns out, the Glen Mills location had neither the veggie bbq nor the veggie chicken. We were not charged for the sandwiches, although the boys did briefly argue (not in a heated way) that we did order the chicken. Not cool.

Stuck my finger in the honey mesquite sauce and spicy sauce topping the sandwich, though. The honey mesquite is the redder sauce to the left, and is an extremely sweet ketchup-based sauce with mustard tones. The spicy sauce is the darker sauce to the right, and is also a very sweet ketchup sauce, but less so than the mesquite sauce, and not really spicy. The spicy sauce tastes exactly like the barbecue sauce from Kraft.

Other barbecue sauces available are mild, hot, raspberry chipotle, and buffalo wing sauce. Absolutely no vinegar or light tomato sauce available on the menu, which begs the question, how did Main Line Today award Pig Out BBQ Pit "Best NC BBQ" when there are no North Carolina-style barbecue sauces at Pig Out?If getting served chicken wasn't bad enough, the corn muffins are the kind you buy from Costco -- very little corn meal and dessert-like sweet. Does any one eat these things, outside of business meetings and desperation?
Does that mac and cheese look gluey? It is. And bland and a little chewy. And unbelievably, it's not the worst mac and cheese I've ever had. It's barely passable, though.
I laughed when my partner ordered the twice baked potato with cheddar, but this small, limp potato was the best thing we ordered. It's kinda hard to mess up a potato (well, you can under cook it) with cheese on top.
The creamy and sweet coleslaw tasted like it came from one of those large food service containers, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
And this is what we left behind. We ate the twice baked potato because it was the best thing, and we ate the mac and cheese and a few bites of the coleslaw because we were starving.

Needless to say, I was very upset with driving out to Glen Mills and not getting to try the veggie bbq, but I was even more upset about the sides. The Costco muffin (or what ever brand it is) is just unforgivable. What we could eat of our meal was comparable to a meal in a school cafeteria.
I never got the veggie bbq sandwich I originally wanted, and thought the review would be incomplete without trying one, so called the West Chester location first to see if it was available before trekking out there. It was, so we headed out thattaway.

This time the owner was at the helm of the register in West Chester, and was much more engaging and, well, intelligent than the two hapless boys at the Glenn Mills location. The owner asked for our feedback on the vegetarian bbq sandwich and vegetarian spicy chicken sandwich, since he's never tasted them.

What? Shouldn't you taste what you serve?The vegetarian bbq sandwich is made of a shredded dark "beef" that my partner said had a brisket-like taste. We got the hot bbq sauce since the spicy was not to our liking. The hot bbq sauce is still a sweet ketchup-based sauce, but actually is spicy (hotheads will think it's not hot, wimps will think it's hot), and is the better of the three sauces we sampled.

Sandwiches are served on a soft hoagie roll, which suits the fillings fine. I know this is hoagie territory, but hoagie rolls are not the best bread for all sandwiches. A soft hamburger bun would do nicely here, providing less bread and a more authentic Southern barbecue experience if that's what Pig Out is aiming for.
Same sauce and same roll for the vegetarian spicy chicken sandwich, but the veggie meat is lighter and has breading on it, from, I assume, when it was a whole breaded chicken patty or nugget before it was shredded. The breading soaked up the sauce and became this weird, gunky, saucy substance.

If you have to go vegetarian, get the veggie bbq sandwich and skip the veggie chicken. (And I did tell the owner that the veggie bbq sandwich was better than the veggie chicken, and that the breading on the chicken was weird.)
We also tried the potato salad, since we missed it the first go round. Very creamy (almost soupy) and very sweet...just like from a large food service container! Now, I'd hate to call the potato salad and coleslaw food service items, if they're not, but I've never tasted coleslaw or potato salad that tasted like these except for when they did come from a food service container.

The vegetarian sandwiches are decent, although nothing you couldn't make at home with some soy meat, a hoagie roll, and a bottle of barbecue sauce. The gesture to the vegetarian community is nice, though.

Of course, the true testament to a barbecue joint is the real meat, but I can't speak to that. For me though, the true testament are the sides, and Pig Out failed miserably. Obviously they don't think it's worth the effort to make all of the sides from scratch, but it makes a world of difference. And it's easy, too. Well, maybe not as easy as buying from Costco.

Gordon Ramsay, are you out there? Pig Out needs you.

Pig Out BBQ Pit
138 Glen Mills Rd, Glen Mills, PA 19342
610-361-8200
Sun-Thurs, 11am-8pm
Fri-Sat, 11am-9pm

134 E. Gay St., West Chester, PA 19380
484-887-8107
Sun-Wed, 11am-8pm
Thurs-Sat, 11am-9pm

One Lucky Duck

Had some really good eats in New York recently, despite the fact that we traveled on a whim and didn't do any research into restaurants. One of those places was One Lucky Duck, the teeny-tiny raw foods takeaway with three teeny-tiny tables that's around the corner from and connected to the kitchen of Pure Food and Wine. Pure Food and Wine is one of New York's most hyped raw food restaurants, but, alas, it's only open for dinner. That's how we found ourselves around the corner at One Lucky Duck, essentially Pure Food and Wine's takeaway venue.

I've been interested in a raw food diet for a couple of years now, and have only recently started purposely trying to incorporate more raw food meals into my diet (going solid for even a week would never happen with my zero willpower), for no real reason other than I'd like to eat a little more healthfully. I have no intention of giving up cooked food, but am simply looking at raw foods as a new type of cooking...or, I guess, that would be non-cooking.

You probably eat raw occasionally without even thinking about it. That smoothie with bananas, berries, and ice: raw! That salad with lettuce, cucumber and tomato dressed with vinegar and olive oil: raw! Well, maybe the olive oil and vinegar you used weren't technically raw, but there is raw olive oil and vinegar out there to be had.

Those are simple raw dishes to make, but the lengths that some raw foodists go to make some foods -- soaking nuts and blending them into creams, sprouting grains, dehydrating flax slurries to make crackers -- is more than I have patience for, or proper equipment for in my own kitchen. And that's why I was excited to have Pure Food and Wine's kitchen do the prep for me.These spicy Thai lettuce wraps with mango, pea shoots, carrots, cabbage, cashews, and tamarind sauce were great, and not unlike lettuce wraps found at non-raw food restaurants. The outer wrap was actually a collard (or maybe a cabbage) leaf oiled and lightly massaged to make the leaf more tender. The spicy sun dried tomato tortilla wraps with corn cilantro guacamole, tomato-lime salsa, and cashew sour cream were my least favorite, and I would not order them again. The sun dried tomato wrap was a bit salty, and that's a lot of guacamole! Even eating just one was a bit much, so don't ask how one eats all three. Since I'm not on a 100% raw food diet -- heck, I'm not even on a 10% raw food diet -- I don't need to fat-load on avocados and nuts like raw foodists do to get fats and feel sated. I have baked cookies and bread for that. I did enjoy the cashew sour cream, as it reminded me of Tofutti sour cream, and for some reason I just love Tofutti sour cream. Remember back on Top Chef season 4 when the lovable spaz, Andrew "I've got a culinary boner" got kicked off for making raw sushi (not with raw fish, but with all raw vegetables) as a healthy lunch for fatso cops, and Padma and Tom were less than thrilled? Well, I thought it was a brilliant idea, and afterward was just dying to try raw sushi, so jumped at the chance to try One Lucky Duck's sushi rolls.

There's not much different with a raw sushi roll than a regular veggie sushi roll other than the soy sauce is unpasteurized, the nori is untoasted, and, well, you gotta substitute something for the cooked rice. One Lucky Duck subbed grated jicama and pine nuts for the rice (Andrew used parsnips and pine nuts), and the results were quite nice. There was a slight textural difference with the "rice," but nothing that would make me twist my face like Padma and Tom. Really, the raw sushi was almost identical to normal sushi. I even dug the raw slices of ginger. Oh, good God, the raw desserts looked decadent. And they had decadent price tags! Most single servings of desserts were in the $5-$12 range, but a square of tiramisu will set you back $15!

Yeah, nothing at One Lucky Duck is cheap. Raw food restaurants ain't cheap, people. But it can be amazingly good...and good for you.

One Lucky Duck
125 1/2 E. 17th St., New York, NY, 10003
212-477-7151

Cafe Pendawa Lima

There's a pocket in South Philly's Point Breeze neighborhood called "Little Indonesia" with Indonesian restaurants and stores that I've been meaning to explore for years now (that to-do list is massive), and I finally got around to one of those eateries, Cafe Pendawa Lima.

Well, Cafe Pendawa is not really a restaurant like the highly praised South Philly Indonesian restaurants, Hardena and Indonesia, but Cafe Pendawa, is more of a corner bodega (check out this Chowhound listing for a list of more Indonesian bodegas in Philly).

Cafe Pendawa has a small selection of Indonesian grocery staples in back, and quite an impressive selection of freshly made food. Meals in plastic clam shell boxes are stacked in a large refrigerator along the wall, and sweet and fried goodies are displayed on a table running down the middle of the narrow building.

Scanning the refrigerator and all the plastic clam shells -- some without any identifying sticker, some with just the Indonesian name of the dish, and some with the Indonesian name and a list of ingredients -- I was a bit unsure what was what, and what did or didn't contain meat. I had to ask the friendly employee for assistance. He looked in the case, and said, "Sorry, they all have meat," but I spotted one without any markings that looked promising. "Ah, yes, Gado-gado has no meat," exclaimed the employee.Gado-gado might be one of the only Indonesian dishes I'm familiar with and have eaten before. If you're unfamiliar with Gado-gado, it's a salad with all sorts of varying ingredients of varying textures, but is always dressed with a sweet peanut sauce.
Pendawa's Gado-gado comes with the individual ingredients separated or in containers so every ingredient keeps it integrity until you're ready to assemble the salad and eat it. Chopped lettuce, Lontong (compressed rice cake cut into pieces), Kerupuk (Indonesian fried crackers), tempeh, fried tofu, mung bean sprouts, shredded steamed cabbage, half a hard boiled egg, chili sauce, and peanut sauce (heat up first to get ingredients combined) all came together for an excellent and filling salad that I would not mind eating every day. The ingredients were super fresh; no scary lettuce here!The desserts also don't have names or ingredients listed on their containers (when there even is a container; some are just hanging out in baskets), so I needed help in that department, too. Good thing I asked, because some desserts are made with meat!
The helpful employee recommended Nagasari, explaining it was a banana cake. Inside the banana leaf parcel was a firm, pudding-like dessert made from steamed coconut milk and flour surrounding a firm banana nothing like the soft, pale banana from the grocery store you're familiar with. I was conflicted by the smooth and firm gelatinous texture not common in most Western desserts, but oddly compelled by it, too. I ate it all in a jiffy and wanted more.I also grabbed Terang Bulan to try. Unfamiliar, yet yummy, I can only describe this dessert as minced peanuts, chocolate jimmies and cheese sandwiched between a condensed milk-soaked pancake. I'd definitely get it again.The freshness and quality of the food at Cafe Pendawa is exceptional. You just never know about some of these corner stores in Philly; they'll surprise you in a good way sometimes.

With the exception of a couple of dishes under my belt, I'm practically an Indonesian food newb, but so far so good! I can't wait to try some of the other Indonesian places in Philly, and might even get on it sooner them later.

Cafe Pendawa Lima
1529 Morris St., Philadelphia, PA 19147