Frankford Hall

According to the social media that I follow, everyone in Philadelphia has already stopped by Stephen Starr's Frankford Hall, the barely week-old German beer garden in Fishtown.

And why not! With spring in the air, and people itching to dine al fresco, Frankford Hall certainly has the space to pack in the hoards — 240 seats outside and 160 seats under cover of the open air industrial dining hall.Starr is undoubtedly a master of creating a themed atmosphere to accompany his restaurants, and he's done an excellent job of transporting diners to a huge, outdoor German beer garden complete with long communal tables and benches, four trees for shade, two ping pong tables, and even an oompah band in lederhosen and dirndl playing traditional Bavarian songs!

The atmosphere is relaxed and convivial, with patrons ranging from families with strollers, bros, the indie crowd, and your mom and dad. Everyone can rally around a stein of beer!There are 9 beers on draft, with most available by the half or full liter, and 10 beers available by the bottle. Most of the beers are German, but Yuengling, Miller Lite, and couple of Dogfish Head beers make the list, as well.

If you don't drink beer, a very short list of wines is available — one sparkling, one white, and one red. There is also liquor available, but the selection is limited. The bar doesn't even have the bottles on display, so you'll have to ask.Frankford Hall is set up like a fast food establishment, in that you order food at the walk-up counter, and if the food needs time to prepare a server will bring it to your table. Where you sit is up to you; find a spot and slide in. Drinks are ordered at one of the two bars. Beer and liquor can be ordered at the indoor bar, and beer only can be ordered at the outdoor walk-up window.

The menu is short and sweet, but filled with German classics like sausages, spaetzle, soft pretzels, German potato salad, red cabbage, and sauerkraut.Starr thoughtfully included a vegetarian sausage on the menu, which seems to be very similar to a Tofurky beer brat (our order taker was unsure about the sausage's origin). These are big, peppery, soy-based sausages that come with your choice of either sauerkraut of red cabbage. The warm, sweet and sour red cabbage is stewed with apples and spices until tender.

If you want to eat these like a hot dog, be sure to add a bun to your sausage order, otherwise all of the sausages come as is.You can further dress up your sausage (or pretzel and fries) with condiments from a couple of carts in the center of the beer garden. The curry ketchup has just a hint of curry, the sweet mustard has whole mustard seeds and is perfectly sweet without being cloying, and the Dijon mustard is quite spicy.
I was excited for the spaeztle, a little German egg noodle that can be so good, but the spaetzle with cheese and onions is a hot mess. Drowned in a grainy, heavy cheese sauce studded with caramelized onions, this is not a dish anyone would want to eat on a warm day. Not even sure a couple steins of beer could make this dish appetizing.

There is a non-vegetarian spaetzle with gravy on the menu, and, hopefully, it is much better.If you like to include something from the vegetable food group in your meal, there is a mixed green salad with radishes, as well as a cucumber salad on the menu. A sucker for all cucumber salads, we got the cool cucumber salad with red onions and dill sour cream dressing. Refreshing with just a hint of dill, the cucumber salad is perfect warm weather food.

Pretzel hawkers walk around with baskets of massive pretzels, but I couldn't bring myself to eat the equivalent of a loaf of bread. When I laughed at their size, the pretzel hawker informed me that smaller pretzels can be ordered at the food window. Next time.

The food is simple at Frankford Hall, and is probably not intended as the main draw. The outdoor dining and steins of beer are where it's at, mein Schatz!

Frankford Hall
1210 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
(215) 634-3338

Kraftwork

With the help of some friends, I worked my way around most of the vegetarian offerings of Fishtown's industrial beer den, Kraftwork, the new sister bar to Graduate Hospital's much-loved The Sidecar Bar and Grille. It's not hard to work your way around the menu, since it's on the small side, and even briefer if you cut out the meat.A huge bowl of thin-cut garlic and herb fries with mustard aioli were just the sort of thing to pair with a drink — try one of their 25 rotating beers on tap or one of their 6 specialty cocktails.

Ricotta dumplings covered with roasted red pepper harissa sauce were light with the first bite, then became a chore.

Squishy falafel balls brought down the lone veggie main. A side of sweet and wet apple and cabbage slaw was so large we suffered fatigue.

For brunch, there are no veggie meat substitutes, so you'll be paying full price for that egg and cheese biscuit minus the meat.

All of the dishes above were just fine, but nothing to write home about — or include a picture of. There is one item on the menu that I would like to write home about, though — the vegetable board.Kudos to Kraftwork for creatively and beautifully revamping the boring veggie humus plate into something wholly unrecognizable as such, and creating something simply delicious. If it weren't for this dish, I'd say skip Kraftwork if you're hungry, but I enjoyed the vegetable board so much I made a return visit.

Down the center of the board is a colorful line of seasonal vegetables (and perhaps not so seasonal, but who doesn't love a Brussels sprout or asparagus spear year round?) cooked until just tender, but still snappy, with nothing more than a little salt to bring out nature's flavors. Brussels sprouts, asparagus, beets, roasted red peppers, baby carrots, radishes, and green beans are represented. On a previous visit sweet corn payed a visit.

In the top right corner is a square of roasted eggplant and squash terrine topped with tomato sauce and tofu ricotta tasting like the healthiest cold lasagna you've ever eaten.
The nutty, white sesame puree is a tad salty, but is just right paired with the large wedges of olive oil and rosemary-brushed crispy flat bread.The piece de resistance is the slab of seared faux gras siting in the lower left corner. Faux gras! Did you catch that? Cute, huh?

Chickpeas, butter, garlic, and truffle oil go into the faux gras, and it is just about the tastiest chickpea puree I've ever had. My guess is that it's the butter that's so delicious, which brings us to a little problem . . .

If it weren't for the butter in the faux gras, vegans could go to town on the vegetable board, which, really, like a traditional hummus plate should have their name all over it. Maybe Kraftwork can whip up a tiny batch of vegan faux gras so as not to deny any diners, because this vegetable board is at the top of my list of best veggie humus plates ever.

Yes, I said ever.

Kraftwork
541 E. Girard Ave, Philadelphia. PA 19125
215-739-1700
Mon-Fri: noon-2am
Sat-Sun: 10:30am-2am, brunch 10:30-3pm

Tiffin Etc.

Everyone's beloved Indian delivery restaurant, Tiffin, finally decided it could travel the extra half block south into Pennsport (and possibly farther?) to deliver food to our house. And it's about time! With Tiffins opening up in the burbs, it seemed unusually cruel that Pennsport was left out of the delivery zone. So, we jumped on the opportunity to get delivery from Tiffin Etc., Tiffin's sister restaurant and Girard Ave. next door neighbor serving Indian pizzas and street food.

Tiffin Etc.'s menu is broken into four categories: Pizza, kati rolls, stuffed parathas, and beverages. With exception to the beverages, some of which sound quite interestingly spiced, we hit it all. A personal pizza is plenty of food for one hungry person, but a larger pizza is also available.

Above is the Tandoori Saubzi personal pizza topped with tandoori grilled seasonal vegetables — squash, zucchini, red and orange peppers, and onions in our case — roasted garlic, cilantro mint pesto, and fresh Mozzarella. Loaded with flaccid vegetables atop a sweet and not particularly interesting cilantro and mint pesto (not sure how that's possible with those two herbs), this pizza was simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming — too many toppings, not enough flavor umph.
The Paneer Tikka and Hari Mirch personal pizza is topped with tandoori grilled cottage cheese, makhani sauce, green chilis and mint. The thin smear of sweet, Indian spiced makhani sauce (same sauce on butter chicken) could have been more generous, but the simplicity of the toppings — just cheese with a smattering of hot green chilis and mint — made this pizza more successful than the other. The simple Indian flavors with no distracting toppings melded better with the pizza crust.

The pizza crust is a neutral thickness — not ultra thin or thick — and despite our pizzas arriving cold, the crispy crust held up through the delivery.
Kati rolls are billed as traditional Indian street-style wraps with a fried egg and either meat and/or veggies rolled in a flat bread. We went with one of the two veggie Kati rolls on the menu, the Masala Aloo wrap filled with a fried egg, pan fried spiced potatoes, herbs, pickled red onions, and mint and chili chutney. Not happy with the cold, greasy, dense and chewy flat bread, I ate the spicy masala potatoes on their own. Perhaps the bread on the Kati roll doesn't travel well, and is best eaten right out of the kitchen, but I longed for either a crisp, delicate dosa wrapper, or a wrapper of soft, fluffy naan.
Parathas are pan fried whole wheat flat breads stuffed with various fillings and accompanied by raita and pickles. A lover of onions, I went with the Pyaz paratha stuffed with marinated onions and herbs. Wrapped in foil, the still warm paratha suffered from steaming during travel, which rendered the paratha a little limp. Generously packed with onions, the paratha dipped in raita was my favorite dish of the evening, perhaps because it felt familiar and like the Indian food I know and love.

Gosh, I don't even know how to conclude. My feelings are so mixed.

I'm a little upset with myself, as I willingly embrace adventurous eating, but I can't say that I was impressed with the pizzas. They satisfy neither an Indian craving nor a pizza craving. But I can't help but think that I would do a happy dance if presented a hot slice of Indian pizza from a real street cart after a long night on the town. Another Indian pizza joint is on my list, and perhaps with something to compare Tiffin Etc.'s pizza to, I can better develop my feelings about Indian pizza.

Tiffin Etc.'s food is probably better judged by a restaurant visit, but Tiffin markets themselves as more of a delivery restaurant than a sit-down restaurant, so most patrons will be eating the food at home. Tiffin Etc.'s food does not travel as well as Tiffin's rice and curries do.

Delivery took a little over an hour, which is what we expected. All of the food arrived cold, except for the paratha, which was still warm.

Prices are extremely reasonable, so it's worth ordering at least once to see how you feel about Tiffin Etc.

Tiffin Etc.
712 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19123
215-925-0770
menu

Sketch

It took a little less than a year after the grand opening of Sketch, Fishtown's beloved vegan friendly burger joint, for me to get there, but I finally did. The limited hours of operation initially kept me away, but now open seven days a week for lunch through dinner, it's much easier to stop by.

The brightly colored Girard St. store front holds an equally colorful and funky interior with a long bar and stools along the wall and front window, and three large booths with church pew seats to dine at. Bored? Scrawl on the chalkboards on the wall with chalk or the construction paper on the tables with crayons. Cute, but I was not moved to artistry.

Up the ramp from the main dining room, you'll pass a chalkboard of menu items, and a chalkboard of daily special like antelope burgers, birch beer pulled pork sandwiches, and sesame noodles.

Sketch's mainstay are their sirloin beef, Kobe, turkey, vegan, chicken, and smashed onion beef burgers, but you can also grab a salad, burrito, or fries (yeah, they got rid of the cheese puffs after so many people bitched about the absence of fries). Oh, regular and vegan milkshakes are also a specialty of Sketch, and I hear they are the bomb, but I had to skip. Just don't know how anyone has room for a burger and a shake!

Mosy a few more steps, and place your order at the register, take a seat, and your order will be brought out to you. Do you tip for this service? With signs at the register and on every table suggesting you tip your server (a bit much, but I guess they've had misunderstandings), you best tip, you ingrate.I went with the vegan burger with the included toppings of tomato, lettuce, and choice of sauce -- cheese and fancier toppings cost $1 each. The falafel-like vegan burger was fine, but had an overriding Mediterranean spice (neither of us could name it, and I forgot to ask) that put me off. I was fond of the soft, toasted, challah-like onion roll and generous vegan harissa aioli (love sauce, and Sketch is the first place in a long time that did not skimp on sauce), but not the pale, out of season tomato slice. Overall, the vegan burger was just meh. I'd eat it again, but I'm not in love.My partner tried out one of the specials, a grilled seitan and vegetable sandwich with an Asian-influenced sesame sauce. This thing was massive! And not bad, even though the grilled seitan, onion, red pepper and cabbage sandwich seemed a little homey, like, "Oh, I had some leftover stir fry, lets put it on a bun." The seitan sandwich was odd, but the better of the two sandwiches.

I really, really wanted to love Sketch, since so many people do, and especially since the owner was incredibly friendly, and you could tell she poured her heart and soul into the place, but I just didn't. The food is decent, and the vibes are casual and fun, but I'm just not that into it. Philly has spoiled me.

Sketch
413 E. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-634-3466
open 7 days, 11:30am-9pm

Paesano's

Meat-lovers just can't seem to get enough of Paesano's sandwiches, and the way they talk about them, it almost makes me want to order the famed roast beef or suckling pig sandwich from the Fishtown sandwich shop located just across the street from big sis' Modo Mio. Fortunately, Paesano's threw us vegetarians a bone and included one veggie sandwich in their line up of six sandwiches.

Paesano's is not large inside, but you can dine at an "L" shaped counter with a half dozen or so stools, or, if you like, sit on the sidewalk at one of the two-top tables and the friendly staff will hand the sandwich out the window when your order is up.
The Panelle is wrap sandwich filled with a Sicilian chickpea pancake, roasted tomatoes and fennel, and "godzuki" sauce (sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and hot sauce). When asked if I wanted long hots, I said yes. I also spied some onions and lettuce in my wrap.

The tangy sauce and mildly spicy peppers contributed most of the flavor, while the very mushy chickpea patty provided bulk to the sandwich. The handmade flat bread that wrapped the sandwich was crispy and excellent. No store bought tortilla wraps here!

The Panelle is a good, cheap ($4!!) sandwich, and I'd gladly order another, but the Panelle did not make an addict out of me like some of Paesano's meat sandwiches apparently do to others.

I will give Paesano's kudos for creating a veggie sandwich that I've never seen or experienced anywhere else. Paesano's could have offered the mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich; portobello sandwich; ALT; or hummus wrap, which all can be great sandwiches, but are so overdone that the sight of any of these on a menu as the lone veggie offering makes me weep.

I think Paesano's offers good, cheap ($4-$8 and includes a free drink), creative, gourmet sandwiches. Paesano's also offers a soup and sandwich of the day, bread, roasted potatoes (ask for them veg or else they're cooked in pork fat), and an Italian Nutella and apricot crepe. If I'm back in the area, I'm hitting up the $2 crepes!

Paesano's
152 West Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19123
267-886-9556
Tues-Sat, 11am-7pm

Ekta

We decided to get Indian food delivered on Thanksgiving Eve last week, what with all the cooking that would take place the next day.

Hmm. Where should we order from? There aren't a lot of Indian restaurants in South Philly, and the closest one to us is passable, but not a favorite. Philly's beloved Tiffin doesn't deliver to Pennsport, and the place we just called in Center City doesn't deliver to Pennsport, either. Is it possible that Ekta, the Indian take-out restaurant opened this summer by Tiffin's ex-head chef in the same Fishtown neighborhood as Tiffin, delivers to Pennsport?

Yes!

We didn't balk at the estimated one hour and thirty minute delivery time since it was the eve of a major holiday, but we were very happy when our doorbell rang thirty minutes after we placed our order over the phone.

We ordered the navratan curry and baigan bharta (already had naan in the freezer), but delivery also packed complimentary raita and pickles to accompany the main dishes, and fragrant, cardamon-spiced kheer for dessert. I love free dessert!No one can help but compare Ekta to Tiffin, and I guess I can't help it, either. Firstly, Ekta's menu is similar to Tiffin's, but Ekta has cheaper prices.

Overall, both curries were very similar in flavor and consistency to Tiffin's. Ekta's curries were spicier than Tiffin's, and that is a plus in my book. Ekta also throws a little more -- just a little more-- vegetables in their curries, so as not to be just a bowl of sauce. I'm a huge proponent of sauce, but I do want some veggies in my veggie curry, so Ekta's about even with Tiffin there.

The only disappointment of the night was the baigan bharta, a smoked eggplant curry in a tomato sauce, that was overly salty. The dish was not inedible, but salty enough that we avoided the bagain bharta, and, instead, devoured the navratan curry with creamy cashew and onion sauce. Since the navratan wasn't overly salty, there's hope that the cook is not salt-insensitive, but just made a mistake that night.

With delivery to Pennsport, cheaper prices, and spicier curries, Ekta has Tiffin beat -- even with an overly salty curry. The delivery is the key, though.

Ekta
250 E. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-426-2277
Mon.-Fri., 11 am- 9:45 pm; Sat., noon-9:45 pm; Sun., noon-9 pm

Tiffin Store

How long has the Indian delivery and sit down restaurant, Tiffin Store, on the edge of Northern Liberties and Fishtown been open? And how many glowing reviews has this place received? And why have I just gotten around to trying out Tiffin?

Answers: about a year; many glowing reviews ; and my Philly outpost is – get this – one intersection and twelve row houses outside of their delivery area. How frustrating is that?

I know I can haul my ass up to Tiffin’s small store front on Girard Avenue and pick up some grub, or dine in, but Tiffin’s whole shtick is that they deliver tasty Indian food and have convenient online ordering. I want to push keyboard buttons and have Indian food magically appear at my house. No fair!

So...I finally went all the way up to Tiffin. Tiffin’s bright yellow exterior is not easy to miss. Open the door, proceed down the hall, and hang a right into Tiffin’s humble dining area outfitted with five or so bright yellow Ikea tables and black Ikea chairs (gotta love Ikea…or not), a beverage cooler stocked with American and Indian sodas, a counter and laptop computer for taking orders, and an open kitchen. The interior is not fancy, but Tiffin does most of their business through delivery, so you’re just fortunate that they even have tables for dining in.

The menu is definitely Northern Indian, so you’ll find lots of unleavened flat breads, and mild, creamy curries . Unfortunately, the bread oven was on the fritz the day of our visit, so no breads were available.

onion bhaji

We started with onion bhaji (pakora or fritter), a fried appetizer of onions, potatoes, and spinach dipped in gram flour. Mmm. Fried. I rarely eat fried foods, but, when I do, I enjoy the heck out of them. These fried balls had subtle Indian spices peeking through the grease.

aloo papri chaat

My favorite Indian appetizers are chaats, a savory snack or small dish made with varying puffed flours. We tried the aloo papri chaat made from lentil wafers and topped with potatoes, chick peas, yogurt, and chutney. There’s something about crunchy puffs and creamy yogurt paired with sweet and sour chutney and hot spices that really pleases me. It pleases me so much; I’m declaring Tiffin’s aloo papri chaat my favorite dish of the visit.

malai kofta

I admit that I’m partial to spicier Southern Indian cuisine over Northern Indian cuisine, but I do enjoy (and frequently eat) Northern Indian food. My litmus test for Northern Indian curries is malai kofta, a mild, cashew cream curry with vegetable dumplings. I’ve had malai kofta as mild as primavera sauce (tasted like it, too – yuk), but I like my malai kofta creamy, yet tangy and spicy. Tiffin’s malai kofta passed my approval on flavor (tangy, not bland) and was mildly spicy. The vegetable balls were probably the softest malai kofta balls I’ve ever had – and that’s not a bad thing.

The navratan korma was the mildest of the curries we ordered – you could have fed it to a two year-old. The sauce was thick and creamy, but bland on the scale of Indian curries. Spice – and I mean heat – levels, of course, are subjective. If you like very mild dishes, or find yourself red and dripping sweat when eating Indian food (and don’t like that), you might want to try Tiffin’s navratan korma.

baingan bharta

The baingan bharta, a curry of smoked eggplant sautéed with tomatoes, onions and spices was the spiciest dish we ordered and the tangiest curry thanks to the tomatoes and lack of cream. I found this dish pleasantly spiced and smokey, but another found it too spicy. Again, heat levels are subjective.

All of the dishes we had at Tiffin were delicious, and probably even some of the better tasting Indian curries I’ve had in Philadelphia, but, of course, I’ve got a gripe.

A kofta ball, lots of peas, one carrot slice, and, what, is that a bean?

Where were the vegetables in the vegetable curries? Yeah, malai kofta never has vegetables – just those vegetable dumplings – so that curry is off the hook. But the navratan korma had about four slices of carrot and a few beans. If the baingan bharta had eggplant, it must have been pureed, or maybe it narrowly missed the spoon that ladled our curry into the bowl. Peas seem to have made it into every curry, but that doesn’t compensate for the lack of substantial vegetables in the curries.

Tiffin’s vegetable curries are huge bowls of sauce – outstanding sauce – but that’s about it. I usually have the opposite complaint of not enough sauce on sandwiches, or atop rice or pasta. I’m not requesting less sauce, but I’d like to see more vegetables in Tiffin’s vegetable curries. And delivery to Pennsport.

Tiffin Store, 710 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA, 19123
215-922-1297