Twenty Manning Grill Review

One of the best foodie experiences in Philly is COOK - a state-of-the-art sixteen-seat classroom where guests enjoy tastings and demonstrations from the city's premier chefs. Want a sneak peak of Chef George Sabatino's Aldine? Want a Chopped-style battle between two of Kevin Sbraga's chefs at his eponymous Sbraga or Fat Ham? COOK has you covered, though at a price. 

However, if you're looking for a more traditional, yet relaxed experience showcasing seasonal cooking in Rittenhouse? Check out the sister restaurants - Audrey Claire or Twenty Manning Grill. Though the post is more than a few months late, this past New Year's Eve, the GF and I had a tasting of sorts at the latter.

Bread Service
 

Dinner started with our server dropping off a bakery bag filled with fresh mini-baguettes, served with a couple of pats of room temp butter. A nice touch.

Formula 46 [$12]
Maker's Mark 46 Bourbon, Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, rhubarb bitters, brandied cherries
 

I started off the night's drinking with a bourbon-based tipple, which offered clean flavors. The rhubarb bitters added an herbal grapefruit essence, but the real star? The rich bandied cherries, which were a great intermezzo in between sips. 

TMG Bellini [$9]
Lunetta prosecco, white peach puree
  

The GF went with the bellini, prototypically offering light peach flavors amidst the prosecco's dry effervesence. 

NYE Prix Fixe [$50 pp]
 
Amuse Bouche
Herb mascarpone stuffed cremini mushroom
 

The amuse from the kitchen provided an earthy bite, heightened by the cheese and herbs. The balsamic glaze underneath helped to provide some acidity. 

Pan Fried Haloumi Salad
Micro greens, kalamata olives, blood orange, lemon vinaigrette

For the GF's first course proper, she went with the haloumi salad. Admittedly, Zahav's haloumi is better. TMG's iteration seemed a bit disjointed - the microgreens were few and the pan-fried haloumi was a bit greasy. In fact, the cheese lacked seasoning, though the mix of kalamata olives and blood orange offered some much needed salt and acid for each bite. 

Butter Roasted Skate Wing 
Truffle mashed potatoes, lemon-caper mineure 
 

In contrast, my first course was definitely a hit. Skate is one of my favorite fish to eat and this was well-prepared. Not overdone, it was completely meaty, yet tender and flaky. The fried leek chips offered some textural contrast and the lemon-caper butter sauce offered countervailing acidity to the heft of the truffle mashed potatoes. 

Pan Seared Butternut Squash Ravioli
Fresh ricotta, parmigiano-reggiano, caramelized onions, crispy sage brown butter, leek chips 
 

For her main, the GF went with the ravioli. Unfortunately, this was also a miss for her. The pan-searing rendered the ravioli dry and a bit too crisp. The innards fell flat as the caramelized onions and parmigiano-reggiano overpowered the butternut squash and ricotta. This ate more like fried perogis and seemed to be more of an accompaniment than an entree. 

Grilled Black Angus Filet Mignon
Rosemary golden Yukon potatoes, truffle cream sauce
 

Luckily, I went down the meat and potatoes route. Though the steak lacked any amount of char or grill marks on the outside, it was certainly tender and seasoned quite well. The truffle cream sauce lacked any truffle essence, but provided additional beefy heft to each bite. And to be frank, truffle may have adulterated the flavor of the beef. As an accompaniment, the potatoes were nicely tender, yet crisp on the outside.

Homemade Dessert Sampler

For dessert, the GF and I received our own plate of homemade dessert samplers. Fresh halved strawberries, an apple muffin, and a peach tart provided a decent end to the meal, in addition to a nicely tart cheesecake and decadent molten lava cake.

Champagne Toast

Always a nice touch for a NYE menu, TMG offered a complimentary champagne toast to send us on our way out into the night.

Though there were a few misses on our NYE tasting menu, Twenty Manning Grill offers decent flavors. The skate was on point and I'm definitely willing to give TMG another try the next time I'm in the South Rittenhouse area.

www.twentymanning.com

Potito's Bakery Review

Potito's is a South Philly bakery that specializes in some of the best Italian pastries and baked goods in the area. And based on Potito's current expansion, including a recently opened outpost in Fairmount, their award-winning cakes have been serving them well. In fact, if you follow them on Instagram you can see some of their gorgeous creations.

And in the spirit of celebrating Easter, who can say no to some baked goodies and red velvet cake?

Red Velvet Cake [$21.95]
7'' inch cake
 

Their red velvet cake was extremely moist, with the smooth and slightly tart cream cheese offering even more flavor. Definitely one of the better red velvet's I've had!

And we couldn't stop with just a cake. Some Italian pastries were needed as well including buttery almond and rainbow cake cookies.

So Happy Easter everyone and if you've still got a hankering for some sweets, be sure to stop by tomorrow for some treats - there's a good chance there will be a good deal! 

www.potitosbakery.com

Brandywine Pizza Review

Another day, another pizza joint to try. This time around, the GF and I hopped on Grubhub and settled on Brandywine Pizza.

Chicken Tenders ($7.75)

The GF was in the mood for chicken tenders and Brandywine Pizza was on point with fairly standard, yet effective ones. Crispy and moist, these hit the spot. The accompanying sweet honey mustard was a nice complement. They also came with crispy waffle fries that were great.

Cheeseburger Platter ($9.75)
 

We were also in a burger-kind of mood so decided to try their cheeseburger platter. The burger was decent and came on a seeded bun - nothing special, but not that bad either. These came with waffles fries as well and a pat of mayo-based cole slaw.

Sicilian Pizza ($15.95)
 

And of course, the raison d'etre (at least for me). I was in the mood for Sicilian, but unfortunately Brandywine Pizza's iteration was lacking. The dough was incredibly dry and likely frozen. There was lots of cheese and marinara, but was the type that falls completely off the pizza. Sicilians should be airy, almost foccacia-like. This was the opposite unfortunately.

The one thing about Brandywine Pizza is that their delivery service is pretty quick. Pro-tip: orders above $30 come with a free two-liter and those above $35 come with a free small pizza (though likely made from the same frozen dough as the Sicilian). You had to mention it when you order though. I don't know if I'll try Brandywine Pizza's pizza again, but chicken tenders and waffle fries? Done.

http://www.brandywinepizzatogo.com/

Trio Review

In the mood for Thai takeout, the GF and I decided to check out Trio. Located in the Fairmount area, the praise-worthy reviews appear to be on point. 

Beggar's Pouches [$9]
Crisp dumplings filled with minced crab, shrimp, sweet chili sauce

We decided to try the beggar's pouches, which were beautifully hand-wrapped. Despite this being takeout, the pouches retained their texture. Crunchy on the outside and filled with well-seasoned minced crab and shrimp, these were a great starter. Take it all in one bite though or you might have pieces all of your plate - or your shirt.

Drunken Noodles [$13]
Crispy tofu, vegetables, wok-seared wide-cut rice noodles, broccoli, egg, onions, bell peppers, Thai basil

The drunken noodles had good chew and the bits of tofu, broccoli, carrots, peapods, peppers, onions, and egg helped to create a nice bite that wasn't too spicy. Salty, sweet, savory, and slightly sour - the Thai flavors were all there.

Pineapple Fried Rice [$12] with Chicken [+ $1]

Jasmine rice, cashews, pineapple chunks, Madras curry powder 

The GF was itching to try the pineapple fried rice, which had a nice creamy gluttonous texture to each bite, which was studded with bits of fresh veggies, cashes, and tomatoes. Despite the creamy texture of each bite, you could still make out the bite of each grain and the bits of chicken were plentiful and juicy.

Trio may be our new go-to Thai place and I'm looking forward to trying some of their more authentic dishes - as well as some pad thai, natch. Trio is also BYO - so head on over with a bottle of vino and you won't be disappointed! 

NYPD Pizza Review

Being from NY, I knew I had to check out whether NYPD Pizza represented its name appropriately. As much as I enjoy a great deep dish pie from Chi-town, nothing beats a NY slice.

So on a recent weekend, the GF and I ordered from NYPD Pizza. Unfortunately, even in this day and age, they don't offer online ordering nor do they have a website. There is a menu on Yelp, but it doesn't seem to be accurate.

Sicilian Pie ($17.95)

The menu lists a "new" half-Sicilian item, but when I attempted to call and order this, the employee was incredulously clueless. On top of that, the actual prices seem to be about $2 higher than those on Yelp. In any case, we still went with the Sicilian, looking for pillowy dough, buttery crust, and a nice topping of cheese and marinara.

NYPD Pizza's Sicilian was, for the most part, on point. This one was more of a thin-crust Sicilian, topped with a well-seasoned marinara and a nice amount of mozzarella. The bottom crust was nicely buttered, but the outer crust was a bit dry and underseasoned. 

Eggplant Parmigiana Sub [$7.95]
 

The GF was in the mood for an eggplant parm sub, which was decent. The bread could have been crustier, but seemed relatively fresh. There wasn't much eggplant though, so each bite was more cheese and marinara than anything else.

French Fries [$4.95]

Of course, we had to get some fries, and these were pretty good. Well seasoned and crispy, the innards were nicely creamy. 

Overall, NYPD Pizza gets the job done, but not exactly on the scale of the best single-slice NYC pizzerias. Delivery is prompt and after 5PM, it's $2 (as opposed to free).  If they want to up their game, I'm sure a website and online ordering through a GrubHub or Seamless wouldn't hurt.

NYPD Pizza
140 S. 11th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 733-0651
http://www.yelp.com/biz/nypd-pizza-philadelphia

Gooey Looies Review

In my search for the best cheese steak in Philly, I've received dozens of comments suggesting places. Several have pointed me towards Gooey Looies. It's no excuse but with the establishment being a bit in South Philly, I haven't really had a chance to check it out until fairly recently.

So I stopped by the Pennsport Mall, a nondescript parking lot leading to an iron-arched gate. 

Within, there's a deli shop in the style of a bodega - selling pretty much any food item under the sun. They've got the Food Network show that showcased their cheese steak on constant replay - Jeff Mauro's the Sandwich King if I'm not mistaken.

This is a cash only establishment - and that's OK. Especially when you see how much they put on each sandwich or hoagie. The prices are incredibly reasonable as well. At the time, the bread was from the now defunct Hesh's bakery. You can see the back of Gooey Looie himself in the picture below.

But onto the food! 

Large Turkey Hoagie ($8.15)
 

The GF opted for the turkey hoagie. This came with a health heaping of moist turkey, lettuce tomato, American cheese, and a dash of oregano. But what really makes the sandwich? The fresh bread and the mayo.

But what we're really here for is the cheese steak. As one of the customers said, it's hard to breathe after inhaling this behemoth. 

Large Cheese Steak ($8.95)

 

And indeed, this was a monster of a cheese steak. Unfortunately there's no sharp provolone in this establishment, but the cornucopia of beef and fried onions takes center stage here. The meat was well-seasoned and the bread gets soaked from the grease. It's definitely one of the better cheese steaks I've had in Philly. Quantity certainly takes precedence here, but the quality is not lost. What's even crazier? It's cheaper than Jim's Steaks.

Gooey Looies was on point for a Philadelphia cheese steak. While I still haven't found one that holds a candle to Philly's Best in Chicago, I have no problem continuing my search and enjoying it.