Chickie's

Chickie's, the tiny sub shop near the intersection of Federal and 10th in South Philly has won numerous local awards for best veggie hoagie, and even claims to be the "originator of the veggie hoagie." I'm not sure anyone can claim to be the first to stick veggies in a roll, but I certainly can't resist sampling an award-winning hoagie, especially when it resides so close to home.What exactly is in Chickie's famous veggie hoagie that even meat-eaters love? Broccoli rabe sauteed with garlic, baked eggplant, roasted red peppers, and sharp Provolone cheese nestled in a seeded Sarcone's roll. Very Italian.

But wait. What's that on the menu? A fried tomato hoagie? Aw, I just went ahead and got one of those, too.

You see, I know what I like, and I don't like broccoli rabe (too bitter) or slabs of baked eggplant (mushy) on hoagies -- but I tried one anyway. I've actually had a sandwich similar to Chickie's veggie hoagie elsewhere (not nearly as good, for sure), and it's not for me. Maybe it's the Southern in me and the absence of any Italian, but fried tomato hoagie with roasted peppers, lettuce, cheese, and mayo (hold the bacon and turkey) sounded just right. Yep, I know what I like, and I liked the fried tomato sandwich better. The curious part is that the tomatoes were ripe. I was fully expecting fried green tomatoes, but this ain't no Southern sandwich; it's South Philly, yo. I can't help but think a firm green tomato would hold up better to frying, though, and add a bit of tartness. At any rate, I ate the whole thing, and enjoyed it very much.

While both hoagies are good, you'll know if you like Chickie's veggie hoagie or their fried tomato hoagie best before you order. You might even prefer one of their other specialty hoagies.

Chickie's fried tomato hoagie might be my second favorite sandwich from an Italian hoagie shop, but the veggie turkey hoagie at Capriotti's still remains number one for my taste buds.

Chickie's Italian Deli
1014 Federal St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-462-8040

Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits

This recipe for Parmesan-pepper biscuits comes from the back page of the latest issue of Gourmet magazine. I'm not sure why I made this recipe instead of the other recipes I dog-ear...and never get to. I think the short list of ingredients sold me.

More of a cracker than a biscuit, but, at the same time, don't try dragging these rounds through dip like an ordinary, crisp cracker. These crackers have a consistency of crumbly shortbread, and truly reminded me of the classic Southern tea party appetizer, cheese straws -- a long, slender, cheesy, spicy, buttery stick of goodness.

I've been meaning to make classic cheese straws for some time now. I guess I just did, but flat and round instead of long and slender; Parmesan instead of Cheddar; and black pepper instead of cayenne.

As I was making the recipe, I noticed there was no salt in the ingredient list. Odd, but I figured maybe the Parmesan cheese added enough salt. Nope. I ended up sprinkling salt on the tops of the crackers, which solved the problem.

Parmesan-Pepper Biscuits
Adapted from Gourmet
makes about 35 crackers

1 cup grated Parmgiano-Reggiano
1/2 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
1 teaspoon salt

• Pulse cheese and butter in a food processor. Add flour, egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and process until combined into a dough.
• Roll into a 6-inch log, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Cut log into 1/4-inch thick rounds, and place 1-inch apart on a baking sheet.
• Sprinkle tops of crackers with salt and remaining black pepper.
• Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until golden.
  

Settling In Wilmington

Wilmington. As my mother would say,"God love him, but..." Sometimes you make it just so hard brag about you, dear little city. The Brandywine river and parks surrounding downtown certainly get a good word from me, but the downtown area does not.

I moved to downtown Wilmington specifically so I could walk to restaurants, drug stores, etc., but dang it if the downtown isn't dead after 5, or just doesn't have much going on of interest. A soon-to-come Qdoba on Market St. is actually exiting news. And I can't wait to see what comes to the LOMA revitalization project. Anything that doesn't close after lunch would be good.

What I love about Philly is its walkability. I park my car at the beginning of the weekend, and never use it until it's time to drive back to Wilmington. There's not much to walk to in downtown Wilmington in the evening, and when you do like I did this past weekend, you run up against not one, but two restaurants that are out of food. Seriously. Two.

That all was a longwinded way of explaining how we ended up at Washington Street Ale House, one of Cherry Tree Hospitality Group's three restaurants lined up in a row on Washington St. in downtown Wilmington. Not really great, but at least it was open and serving food. We were quite hungry at this point, so settled.$20 for shrimp scampi pasta with a fried Parmesan hat and dull, rubbery garlic bread stick is a bit expensive for the Red Lobster quality of the dish. (Not my dish, or remarks.)This Cali Reuben Burger with coleslaw, thousand island dressing, and Swiss cheese had a black bean burger subbed at my request. I'm not upset with the store bought puck of black bean burger (expected), but at how dry the burger was. With coleslaw and dressing, this thing should have dripped juices when I picked it up. Instead it was so dry I resorted to dipping my burger into ketchup. The bland, lightly dressed coleslaw added nothing to the burger, and I peeled back the lid to find all the sauce soaked into the bun. My burger was dead cold, too. Probably sat on the line while they were getting the pasta dish ready; it was piping hot.

Beer list is decent at Washington Street Ale House. It's an ale house!

They did a mushroom veggie cheese steak the last time I was there almost two years ago, but not no mo'. Apparently, I had to dip my sandwich in ketchup back then, too.

Wahington Street Ale House
1206 Washington St., Wilmington, DE 19801
302-658-2755

The Rebel Fail

We tried to check out the new Caribbean and Southern food restaurant, The Rebel, on Market St. in downtown Wilmington this past weekend, but were not too successful. This new restaurant has been open a little over one week, but clearly needs more time to get their act together.

We almost weren't even allowed in the door when the doorman with a metal detector wand told us t-shirts weren't allowed. Another man waved us in after a brief discussion with the fashion enforcer. This is no fancy joint, but a restaurant with a bar/club vibe, so knock off the trying-to-eliminate-undesirables dress code bullshit. And you'd think on opening week the owners would want to welcome people, not turn them away.

Once in the door and seated at the bar, we ordered a bourbon and coke which was served in a pint glass with the equivalent of two shots of bourbon. Thanks, bartender, for the liberal pour! The beer drinker had an expensive Leffe Blonde on draft ($7), while remarking about the odd beer list - a few Belgian beers and one summer special Sam Adams on draft, and the major US swill beers in bottles. Where were the local brews, or even just a regular beer like Yuengling (also local)?

The place was hopping at 8:30 when we arrived, and as we waited at the bar for a table, the bartender informed us that they only had nachos and wings left in the kitchen. Apparently the owners didn't count on people actually showing up. Well, they did! And then they left. In the time it took us to finish our drinks and have a most fabulous convo with our bar neighbors, the place pretty much cleared out because there was no food.

I'm gonna give The Rebel a bit longer before I attempt their Caribbean and Southern offerings, and you might best, too.

The Rebel
210 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE 19801
302-658-2018

Banana Leaf

Just a few doors down from The Trocadero in Chinatown, Banana Leaf serves up Malaysian cuisine, which means everyone wins with choices from Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, and Thai influenced dishes. Banana Leaf even throws in some Japanese food for good measure. The menu is staggering at Banana Leaf; you might be better off closing your eyes and pointing, instead of, you know, actually deciding.This huge plate of Thai basil noodles with fried tofu satisfied my craving for greasy noodles. Just as good as any Thai basil noodle dish I've had, the licorice scented basil and liberal hot peppers had my sinuses cleared stat.

Banana Leaf
1009 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA, 19107
215-592-4737

Adobe Cafe, Dos

We tried out the new, second location of Adobe Cafe way down at the bottom of E. Passyunk Ave. a couple of weekends ago. I've never been to the original Adobe Cafe, a Southwestern and Mexican restaurant in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philly.

From our South Philly (almost Queen Village) house we strolled past the authentic taquerias along Passyunk, deeper into South Philly past Cantina Los Cabalittos, and finally reached Adobe's new abode.

One smaller room holds a horseshoe-shaped bar with TV's, and the other larger room (quite large!) holds booths and tables surrounded by walls covered in hand-painted murals and glue-gunned decorations. I felt as though I had been transported to a suburban Mexican restaurant where square footage is cheap, and cheap decor is the norm. Kind of refreshing, actually.

On a late Saturday brunch, there was no one in Adobe. No one! Except for a couple of people drinking beers at the bar. We had the entire dining room to ourselves. The bartender was our waiter, and since we were the only table we got mediocre service. You'd think it would be the other way around, but I guess since we were the only ones there he didn't have much reason to poke his head around the corner frequently.The complimentary chips were tricolor from a bag. I'm not a chip snob or a chip lover, so could care less. The complimentary salsa was slightly spicy with hints of marinara. Huh?
The taco salad with finely shredded iceberg lettuce, shredded cheese from a bag, runny guacamole, sour cream, and diced stewed tomatoes that tasted like a cross between Italian and Mexican tomatoes from a can was the worst thing that we ordered. It came with a side of some very sweet dressing that we never even considered pouring on top. I imagine something of this caliber is offered at college cafeterias. I wouldn't know, though.
What is awesome about the Adobe Cafe is that they have a lot of vegetarian options. I just couldn't resist ordering vegetarian chicken wings. I secretly hoped they'd be in the shape of chicken wings (kinda how you hope someone makes a seitan turkey in the shape of a turkey), but we got hunks of seitan smothered in sweet and spicy barbecue wing sauce. The accompanying ranch dressing, shredded iceberg lettuce, and paltry celery sticks and baby carrots was lame. But isn't that about right with wings? I'd probably feel the same about real wings. Meh. Order this dish on the bar side of the restaurant when watching a sports game, not while eating Mexican.
Adobe's sweet and slightly spicy seitan tips were the best thing that we ordered if you discount the shredded iceberg lettuce, and overly sweet chipotle aioli sauce that didn't taste a thing like chipotle or aioli. Seriously, that little bit of seitan sitting in the blue corn tortilla cup was the only decent thing we had at Adobe.

With Mexican food that's as good as when I reach into my fridge and pull out a tortilla from my grocery store pack of ten and fill it with leftovers and a dab of salad dressing for a quick snack, Adobe Cafe is going to have some stiff competition with the always packed Cantina Los Caballitos just a few blocks north. And the funny thing is that, considering we were the only people in the entire place, we waited longer than we should have to get food comparable to my late night snacks.

I wish any business the best of luck, but I can't see myself returning to Adobe Cafe. I always have tortillas in my fridge.

Adobe Cafe
1919 E. Passyunk Ave, Philadelphia, PA, 19148
215-551-2243

Where Is Veggie Pho?

I just stated in my last post that I broke a record by making a bookmarked recipe in under one month. Here I go and break my own personal record, again. One week! Bookmarked and made a recipe in under one week! Give me a medal, already.

I was so giddy when the fabulous Philly expat living in Vietnam (I'm a bit confused about where she is now), Cathy from gas.tron.o.my, posted her momma's vegetarian pho recipe, I hopped on that pronto. It was mighty delicious. Thanks, Cathy.

Here's the thing, though. I have nothing to compare it to. I've never had pho before this week. Not that I haven't tried. I've poked my head in the door of many restaurants along the Vietnamese restaurant saturated Washington Avenue in Philly in search of vegetarian pho, but came up short. I sort of gave up on veggie pho a few years ago. Now, I certainly didn't check out every restaurant in town, so maybe there's a chance that veggie pho lives in Philly, or perhaps nearby.

Do you know of a restaurant that serves vegetarian pho? By vegetarian I mean a soup made with vegetable broth, and, of course, no pieces of meat floating in it. The vegetable broth is the key part, since meat and toppings are customizable. Help me out if you can. Thanks.