Weeks back
Mr. Ass and I met up and finally went to
Supper. When we went to
the Yelp event in March we stopped by the Supper table and the chef encouraged us to come down and try out the place during happy hour, which is just what we did. I had a glass of white wine, Mr. Ass had a beer and then we proceeded to try almost every one of the six or eight happy hour appetizer specials on the menu. Also: the bartendress was quite friendly; she complimented my fake red glasses.
So this was the smoked chicken wings w/ birch beer, black pepper & buttermilk dish. We were both less than amazed. I thought they were too sweet with no balance of savory or salt. Ah me, so subjective, someone else probably loves them.
Next up - well, they all arrived at the same time - were the housemade soft pretzels with green chile-and-beer fondue. Mr. Ass felt that everyone and their mother is doing a fancy form of soft pretzels, and wasn't all impressed by this version. I was a little more forgiving. I thought the fondue had a nice little spice and if you have ever read my blog, you already know how I feel about cheese.
While there wasn't necessarily progression from dish to dish, for the narrative arc of this post let's pretend that this was we ate next: four versions of deviled egg, which Mr. Ass cut into halves so we could each have a taste. It was a while ago, so it's kind of hard for me to remember each one. But one had truffle oil, and was absolutely delicious. Another had old bay with a bit of crab on top, also nice though maybe just a little too much Old Bay-y. And there was another one, but I forget what it was.
I think we agreed that our favorite of the dishes was the duck fat fingerlings w/ truffle mayo. Nicely crispy on the outside and yet creamy on the inside, with the perfect level of salt. The truffle mayo was a nice touch too. Can't have too much truffle, no matter what any one might say.
Because we were less than blown away, we decided not to explore the menu further. Mr. Ass was, according to me, a tad more snooty about the whole thing. But he did have a point: there are a lot of Philly 'gastro pubs' around these days and all of them do have these similar dishes...and truffle fries are definitely taking over the city. So we walked around South Philly a bit looking for inspiration for a second round of eating and drinking. This is when we found
James. I know I've heard about the restaurant but it was never on my radar/places I must go list. It was still early evening, and on a Tuesday or Wednesday I think, so we were the only two people to sidle up to the bar and ask to look at the menu, which we liked the look of, so we sat down. I decided to go with the girly pink drink, even though their 'hour of happiness' specials didn't make a dent at its $13 price. It had tequila and grapefruit and other tasty things in it, and I liked it.
For my James gnosh, I went with the charcuterie platter. And boy howdy, was that the right freakin' call. Seriously. Like dead serious. No joking around. Don't you dare even think about making a joke. Really, really, really good. It's been so long I can't tell you what all the different meats were in any detail. But the prociutto, which is usually a cured meat I don't really care for, even that was just fantastic. Oh and the chorizo? Don't get me started on the chorizo. Or the pickled turnips, carrots and ramps with accompanying tasty little mustard relish tasty treat things. Wow. I bet you can totally picture what I'm talking about with my awesome powers of description.
Mr. Ass ordered the hand-cut tagliatelle, duck ragu, shaved chocolate and orange. I had a bite; it was also incredible.
Bask in the glory of cured meats. BASK! There was so much of this that I was able to bring more than half home with me, which I then made into lunch and dinner snacks for a couple of days. Oh man. All the meats were cured in-house, and we were told they change from time to time...ie the pate I had was chicken and something, whereas the week before they did a pork version with fennel.
Definitely. Most absolutely. No if, or and, or but about it. I'm thinking about starting a Paypal donation button on this blog, and then maybe you four readers will donate to it, and then I will start a survey giving options of where that money should be spent (the list is so crazy long). Doesn't that sound nice and interactive?
So this was the smoked chicken wings w/ birch beer, black pepper & buttermilk dish. We were both less than amazed. I thought they were too sweet with no balance of savory or salt. Ah me, so subjective, someone else probably loves them.
Next up - well, they all arrived at the same time - were the housemade soft pretzels with green chile-and-beer fondue. Mr. Ass felt that everyone and their mother is doing a fancy form of soft pretzels, and wasn't all impressed by this version. I was a little more forgiving. I thought the fondue had a nice little spice and if you have ever read my blog, you already know how I feel about cheese.
While there wasn't necessarily progression from dish to dish, for the narrative arc of this post let's pretend that this was we ate next: four versions of deviled egg, which Mr. Ass cut into halves so we could each have a taste. It was a while ago, so it's kind of hard for me to remember each one. But one had truffle oil, and was absolutely delicious. Another had old bay with a bit of crab on top, also nice though maybe just a little too much Old Bay-y. And there was another one, but I forget what it was.
I think we agreed that our favorite of the dishes was the duck fat fingerlings w/ truffle mayo. Nicely crispy on the outside and yet creamy on the inside, with the perfect level of salt. The truffle mayo was a nice touch too. Can't have too much truffle, no matter what any one might say.
Because we were less than blown away, we decided not to explore the menu further. Mr. Ass was, according to me, a tad more snooty about the whole thing. But he did have a point: there are a lot of Philly 'gastro pubs' around these days and all of them do have these similar dishes...and truffle fries are definitely taking over the city. So we walked around South Philly a bit looking for inspiration for a second round of eating and drinking. This is when we found James. I know I've heard about the restaurant but it was never on my radar/places I must go list. It was still early evening, and on a Tuesday or Wednesday I think, so we were the only two people to sidle up to the bar and ask to look at the menu, which we liked the look of, so we sat down. I decided to go with the girly pink drink, even though their 'hour of happiness' specials didn't make a dent at its $13 price. It had tequila and grapefruit and other tasty things in it, and I liked it.
For my James gnosh, I went with the charcuterie platter. And boy howdy, was that the right freakin' call. Seriously. Like dead serious. No joking around. Don't you dare even think about making a joke. Really, really, really good. It's been so long I can't tell you what all the different meats were in any detail. But the prociutto, which is usually a cured meat I don't really care for, even that was just fantastic. Oh and the chorizo? Don't get me started on the chorizo. Or the pickled turnips, carrots and ramps with accompanying tasty little mustard relish tasty treat things. Wow. I bet you can totally picture what I'm talking about with my awesome powers of description.
Mr. Ass ordered the hand-cut tagliatelle, duck ragu, shaved chocolate and orange. I had a bite; it was also incredible.
Bask in the glory of cured meats. BASK! There was so much of this that I was able to bring more than half home with me, which I then made into lunch and dinner snacks for a couple of days. Oh man. All the meats were cured in-house, and we were told they change from time to time...ie the pate I had was chicken and something, whereas the week before they did a pork version with fennel.
Definitely. Most absolutely. No if, or and, or but about it. I'm thinking about starting a Paypal donation button on this blog, and then maybe you four readers will donate to it, and then I will start a survey giving options of where that money should be spent (the list is so crazy long). Doesn't that sound nice and interactive?
2 comments:
Yes it does. Count me in.
That looks beyond amazing. Beyond!
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