Modo Mio Dinner With The Ladies

I couldn't possibly leave Philadelphia without a last visit to Modo Mio, which I think is perhaps the restaurant to which I returned over and over again during my time in the city. Well, outside of McCrossens and other neighborhood bars. My companions for this meal were entirely fitting and some of my favorites: LW, CPM and L. L. and I discussed a few weeks beforehand my growing worry about actually being able to productively pack up all my stuff...and she was generous enough to offer me her assistance and oversight, which truly was invaluable. But also, it was just important to get to see L. one last time since I wasn't able to make it up to Brooklyn before my departure. So on a Friday about two weeks back we first gathered at my apartment and enjoyed some prosecco before heading out into the cold night for a most epic and lovely of meals. We were seated at the same table as my birthday dinner and our server for the night was one of my favorites...even though I haven't been able to make it to Modo Mio as much in this last year as I did in the years prior, she immediately recognized me/us and that is always a very gratifying experience. I shared my plans with her - re: my imminent departure from the city and plan to travel across the country for a new adventure, and she made the meal quite the send off. So much lovely food. So much lovely company. Just lovely, lovely, lovely. So what did we eat? Well, this first dish was L.'s and was a taleggio cheese, mushroom and maybe balsamic antiapasti...so oozey.

Then we were gifted the appetizer of the day, which I kind of totally forget the ingredients of, but thoroughly enjoyed.

I chose the mussels, white and spicy and was entirely happy with them. The thick crusty bread they provide at the beginning of the meal was perfect for soaking up the delectable broth once most of the mussels were properly consumed.

This, too, is a bit of a mystery to me...I think it may have been another of the specials of the evening, and alas I cannot tell you exactly what it was about...maybe roasted pig of some kind?

Now, years back when KH was in town, I took her to Modo Mio to show off how freakin' good it was. On that particular night, our server strongly encouraged us to try the night's special pasta, which was a delectable and unforgettable raviolo. Since that evening every single time I've gone to Modo Mio, a little part of me has held out the hope that the raviolo will appear again...and while so many other wonderful meals have certainly been enjoyed, it was not until this final Modo Mio meal that the raviolo made its second appearance in my life. I think perhaps its accoutrements weren't entirely identical to that dish that lodged itself in my brain in 2011, but it was awfully darn close and just as satisfying.

I don't know if this would strike someone else as tasty-looking or disgusting, but to me this screams 'I am luscious and delicious!' so I'm sorry if it screams something else at you.

I think that CPM had veal with mushrooms and eggs...

And in another kismet-ic move, the special of the evening was also almost tailor made for my culinary proclivities. Creamy polenta topped not only with pork tenderloin but a soft shell crab as well, ll in a caper tomato sauce so fresh and popping with all things right in the world.

Our server also hooked us up with additional sides. The chickpeas with greens were slightly bitter in an 'on purpose' kind of way ad the roasted brussels sprouts with perhaps leeks were just straight up good to consume.

I'm honestly not entirely sure what this is...maybe L.'s duck.

Another angle of my dish.

Then we split the array of desserts that our server brought us. All so good. So. So. good.

While this, sadly, is not the most flattering of photographs of me ever taken...my expression is entirely accurate, as variations of that face could be seen from the initial introduction to the specials all the way through dessert and coffee.

Thanks to LW for having the common sense to take photographs of people...I managed not to get a single photo of the four of us together and I regret it. Such wonderful ladies with whom to spend one of my last weekend evenings on the east coast!

Cocktails, Foie Gras and Duck c/o Bolete

Though we weren't unable to meet up for New Year's, M&A were on the east coast for the holiday season, so I did very much want to see them. This ended up possible the weekend after New Year's. The Saturday I drove out to the country to see them, A was still visiting with friends and family in New York, so M. and I went to Bolete just the two of us. This was a bit of a last minute plan, so we weren't able to get a reservation in the dining room proper. Instead we made ourselves comfortable at the bar, where I ordered one of their special cocktails, which had blood orange in it among other things.

M. tried their bone marrow consomme dish. I tried the broth and boy was it rich, but in the best possible of ways.

I chose to try their foie gras two ways: a little paté disc and a seared lobe served on brioche with huckleberry jam. Oh man. This was a no joke tasty plate. Delightful to look at and transformative in the buttery, buttery wonder of well prepared duck liver.

Oh yeah.

The color balance of the photograph above is wacky. Definitely not that green in person.

We then split the seared duck special entree of the evening, medium rare, which was served on a bed of risotto with, if I recall correctly, some very tasty mushrooms.

Mmmm. Yes. Such good stuff. Though I spend a fair amount of time up in the Bolete region, I rarely go alone, so it was good to both see M. for the first time since our Adirondacks meet-up while also enjoying a fully satisfying dinner. Thanks to M. for the entirety of the evening, which we concluded back at the house with fire, champagne and more talk.

Brooklyn Birthday Dinner for L. c/o Bar Tabac

The season of November birthdays arrived in, well, the month of November if you can believe it. A great number of my dearest and nearest enjoy birthdays of the Scorpio and Sagittarius persuasion, and that includes one Mrs. L. I made my way to Brooklyn for L.'s b-day much as I had the year before, and enjoyed a few hours of silliness time in Fatty and L.'s apartment before the real festivities began. This time may have been spent lolling about, telling stories about this and that, putting a belt around my head in the style of a fascinator and generally just cutting loose.

But that was just a precursor to the real events of the evening: dinner and dancing. L. had a dinner with about 14 of her favorite folks at Bar Tabac. We had a nice spot in the back at a long table far away from the craziness of the first room and constantly in motion front door. Bread was served. Delicious. Delightful.

M., who was seated to my right, ordered the paté as a starter, it came with the tomatoes on its surface, but we added one of the cornichons to truly let its face shine. It was the good hearty version of paté that has a lot of texture to it and a nice earthy heartiness. Eaten with a smile of course.

I went with their friseé salad with poached egg, lardons, a few stray potatoes and a nice balsamic reduction. This salad may look simple, but once the yolk got involved its overall taste profile was off the charts as far as tastiness goes.

Fat T. loves his wife.

I went with the duck confit for my main course and boy howdy did it deliver. So rich and fallllllllll offf the bone tender! I believe this plate may have had a few lingering fries and lettuce at the end of my consuming its contents, but as far as duck was concerned only bones remained.

L. is notoriously not that interested in sweets, so when our server asked us what she might like as a birthday treat it was quickly decided that cheese, not cake, would most certainly please her. I believe that this was a very sound decision.

M. and me, holding the far corner down.

We then went to the Bell House, where I took copious photographs of shenanigans, hijinks and dancing...but share only the photograph I took in the bathroom, which makes it seem like I was all alone. Of course the reality was that there were about a million ladies all in line but the angle of the mirrors and their bodies made it seem like a ghost bathroom. Point, me.

A very lovely evening celebrating a dear friend, full of good company, great food, and music with a 'Party Like It's 1999' theme. Which is a great theme for those of us who graduated from high school in that year. Though I didn't actually do much partying then. But I can pretend that I did and then relive those days that never were at events 10+ years later and it almost becomes fact. Almost.

Restaurant Week Dinner c/o Bistro St. Tropez

For my second outing for restaurant week, I met up with BC for dinner at Bistro St. Tropez. I arrived a bit early and was seated at the bar to wait for BC and our table. It was a good view of 30th Street Station and the river, which was funny because it was sort of like the zoom version of the view LW and I had at our restaurant week meal the week before. When I sat down - and during the entirety of the ten or so minutes I sat there - I was the only actual patron at the bar. It was brightly lit, with the residue of the neon lights up against the western window further messing with the bright lights of the bar that seemed to come from everywhere. It was, shall we say, difficult for me to get decent photos, especially once we were seated by the window. Anyways. When I sat down I asked the bartender if they had any signature cocktail that had champagne or sparkling wine in it. He didn't know off the top of his head, but another server/FOH dude quickly said yes and pointed me in the right direction. I can't tell you the name of the cocktail because I can't find that menu on their website. But it involved champagne, aperol and a cherry. How could I not like it? The other bartender be

As with other restaurant weeks, we had a few different choices for three courses. So basically it was a menu prix fixe.  The restaurant also started all meals with a watermelon gazpacho, which was quite good and compelling. BC and I both reached and struggled to find the exact words/spices we were picking up. But had an enjoyable back and forth in the process. My main pick up was cumin...but there were a few others. It was interesting, but also just plain good.

This was BC's tart-type starter, which involved goat cheese, cornichons, a poached eggs and about a million other ingredients I can't recall.

I tried the sausage etc. stuffed calamari. I need to find a description of it in order to tell you how it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. While I did eat it and happily, I can't say this was really a dish I'd rave about or recommend.

BC's duck with lentils and other things, was much more of a hit. I took a bite and the meat itself was nicely prepared, delicate, and tender.

My main course was scallops. I'm not overly useful about the details.

I ended my meal with the creme brulee.

And a decaf capucinno.

It was good to catch up with BC, and the view we had - having been seated right by the window - was quite nice. There was a problem with the temperature of the room itself. When we were first there, it was quite warm, and then at some point we both wanted to take out wraps or jackets. Definitely drafty by the window. Nothing so impressed me that this would be a destination for a second venture at full menu prices, but it was quite busy and yet the food came out in a timely fashion and our server was anything but surly; she kept telling us how much she'd be enjoying herself if she wasn't working.

Tent and Ducks at Cranberry Lake Campground

I bought a sleeping bag in preparation for this trip, as I remembered just how ill prepared and cold that one night's sleep was back in 2009. So now my tent is totally tricked out with air mattress, sleeping bag and foyer. This is what it looked like on Monday morning.

That morning one of the lakeside sites was unoccupied, so I walked down and perched on a rock and interacted with some ducks. Interacted isn't quite the word. I sat on a rock with my feet in the water and the ducks paid me no mind, neither in terms of fear or curiosity.

I liked the secret bit of blue they had going on in their tail feathers. I wonder what purpose it serves.

Soup and Scallops c/o Black Bass Hotel

The Sunday of my dog watching weekend was a quiet one. I cleaned up the house a bit, watched some Vampire Diaries and putzed. M. and A. came back in the late afternoon and we hung out for a bit. It was A.'s birthday so we went out to celebrate it. They also wanted to thank me for hanging out with the dogs, which was unnecessary as hanging out with two dogs in the country isn't really something I consider a burden. In any case, M. suggested the Black Bass Hotel because she had always been curious about it. We took a twisty, turny Bucks County drive to get to the establishment, which is right along the Delaware River. It's one of those set ups where the main building is on one side of a narrow road and then parking and perhaps additional rooms are across the street. A very river-country set up. We were seated in the main dining room, which had what I'm sure was quite a spectacular view of the river. It was dark, so it was hard to get the full effect, but the light reflecting on the dark water below was pretty neat. M. and I had cocktails to start, I went with a dirty martini. M. was a bit more adventurous and went with the 'Basstini," which was Earl Grey tea infused Beefeater Gin, simple syrup and lemon juice. I actually thought it had a few other things in it, but that's what the menu says so...Her cocktail was a real surprise. Definitely had Earl Grey and citrus notes. Different, but successful. She and I also decided to try the crab chowder. The menu described it as spicy, but I don't think that was really true of this bowl. I guess my own preference for cream-based chowders made this a bit of a let-down. I didn't ask the question, made the assumption, etc. Still good, but not magical.
For my main course I was drawn to the Seared Sea Scallops with House-Cured Pork Belly with caramelized fennel, potato pave and brandied apricot glaze.
I had no idea what potato pave was, and when I first saw my plate, I thought that the potato pave was actually some extremely fatty form of pork belly. Once I established that wasn't the case, the dish made a little more sense. I would actually preferred more pork over the potato portion. The scallops were nicely seared but still tender. The sauce was interesting.
M. went with the mushroom risotto appetizer as her main course, while A. went with the Coffee Lacquered Duck served with pear ginger chutney and coffee sauce. I think I tried a bite and liked it, but that somehow there was a slight disconnect between what I expected from the menu's description and the actual taste profile of the 'lacquer.' I think that A. felt similarly, but I could be remembering incorrectly.
This was a lovely meal, and I enjoyed having a nice dinner with M. and A. The issue with the establishment itself, I think, was that the prices for the food are definitely a bit high for what you actually get. It's not bad food, but it's not transcendent either. And for $28 (the price of the scallops), I hope for a really special experience - even if I'm not actually footing the bill. Our server was friendly and nice on the whole, though at some point in the meal she became perhaps a little too familiar for the environment. In a diner or greasy spoon I think waitresses can call you honey or sweetie with impunity, but in what is selling itself as a 'fine dining' establishment, calling first time guests by this kind of endearment strikes me as a bit odd. But, again, it was a lovely night and I thank M. and A. for their company and for the meal!