Old Towne Wings & Sanna's Middle Eastern : Philadelphia

When I first came upon Old Towne & Sanna's, a half pizza-sub shop / half Middle Eastern food  delivery/takeout place, a store in Massachusetts, called Dave's Soda & Pet Food City, came to mind, which somewhat bemusedly sold both soda (as in Coke & Pepsi) and pet food.  (This is explained on their about us section.)

Similarly, the serving of all-American fast-food, such as pizza, wings and subs alongside Middle Eastern food was and still is surprising to me.

And no, I'm not going to make a Jerry Seinfeld Black & White cookie-esque joke about how the Middle East and American people could learn about political harmony from this place.  Sheesh, I'm beyond that.  Plus, this is Philly, buddy.  Obviously, we know that the best way to solve political conflict is through boxing matches and inspirational speeches.

Anyways.

I've tried this place twice now.  Once for their Middle Eastern food and once for their sub and this isn't a destination place by any means.  But I must say that their Middle Eastern food was eye-opening for me.  Yes, I recently ate at Zahav, which was great on the high-end level of restaurants.  However, this was the first time, I really *got* Middle Eastern food on the lower end of the range.

Lamb Shawarma Platter - Yes, the wheat pita was dry, which I normally would protest, but here its dryness almost seemed necessary to complement the decent hummus.  They provided a small container of  garlic sauce, which I loved, because it was essentially lightly flavored, mashed raw garlic with all of its intense, natural spiciness.  The tabouli salad was juicy and didn't overdo the olive oil or spices, which can sometimes make this inaccessible for the untrained palate.  The lamb wasn't outstanding - it actually reminded me of Americanized Chinese places with their meat.  And similarly, the rice reminded me of Uncle Ben's.  Nonetheless, the combination of flavors, textures and ingredients just kind of finally clicked, which has not happened for me at Kamal's in RTM or any Middle Eastern food trucks so far.

Grilled Chicken Hoagie w/ Spinach - Not bad. As evident in the photo, a touch on the greasy side, but the chicken tastes like dark chicken meat that someone cooked at home, unlike mystery meat (and mystery grade) chicken that can sometimes be passed off at sub shops.  Same goes for tomatoes and spinach, which tasted relatively fresh.  The ranch dressing that I asked for on the side almost tasted home-made and was noticeably less heavy and flavored than the normal stuff.

At the end of the day, this is a take-out/delivery shop.  I'm certain there are far better pizza/sub shops in the city and I'm hoping (but have yet to be aware of) better cheap Middle Eastern places as well.   But having experienced this and Zahav, I feel slightly better prepared to try out some other Middle Eastern restaurants in the city now.

PS. One last thing.  Both times, getting my food has been incredibly slow.  I'd recommend calling first for take-out.


Old Towne Wings & Sanna's Middle Eastern
2301 Grays Ferry Ave Philadelphia, PA 19146 (Map)
(215) 731-1911
www.oldtownewingsandpizza.com

Hardena : Philadelphia

I've got no pictures, nor names of dishes. The local foodies have known about this place for some time already. But Hardena deserves a shout-out/reminder nonetheless.

Hardena is a home-style Indonesian hole-in-the-wall place that reminds me of the small Salvadoran and Puerto Rican places in Hartford. It serves up relatively straight-forward, but delicious food.

It's mall eatery buffet-style, where you pay $6 for 3 choices of entrees.

This post is obviously lacking, so I'll link you to some other proper reviews of the place:

• Philadining's eGullet review
• Philadelphia Weekly
• Finding Philly's Review

If you do go, be sure to check out the Indonesian grocery store, Friendly Grocery, a block away, which sells Indonesian groceries, such as flavoring mixes and various deep-fried goodies.


Hardena
Moore St & S Hicks St Philadelphia, PA 19145 (Map)

Muss & Turners : Atlanta

I recently found myself in the Atlanta area for a little less than a day. I had an open dinner free, so I stopped by a place called Muss & Turners, an artisanal deli /pub with an emphasis on local produce and making their own ingredients.

I must admit that if I was just going by their website, it's a bit chichier than I would usually go for.  And even when I stepped into the place with my usual t-shirt and jeans, I felt the same pang of "oh god, this is a suburban yuppie place" panic that I get when stepping into Williams Sonoma or a Whole Foods.  (Sorry if you like those places, there's just something about them that triggers a visceral reaction from me.)

However, after a glass of wine and being in the company with a few more lively co-diners /drinkers at the bar and the laid-back bartender and owner, who were taste-testing a few sample beers, I started to relax a bit.  Also, the food certainly helped too...

Pork Sobu The freshness of the ingredients was refreshing. It was a house-made pescadorre (sp? a wide pasta noodle), with pulled pork, the pork I believe from New Orleans, some tomato bits and a cheese that I can't quite recall the name of.  The pulled pork had a good earthy flavor to it.  Perhaps it could have been even more tender, but it was satisfying.  The pasta was decently cooked, although I admit that the house-made aspect was pretty subtle and I'm not sure I would have caught it had I not known beforehand.  I think the most interesting part of the dish was the somewhat shrill cheese, which had the texture of a rough, slightly chalky mozarella, but without that wide aftertaste.  All in all, the dish didn't quite come together as memorably as at my recent dining experience at L'Angolo, but the fresh ingredients were quite evident, a large quibble I have at most places.

After finishing dinner, I couldn't resist and picked up a couple of cookies to go.

Dark Chocolate ginger Cookie - More on the dry and dense side.  A nice thickness, about 1/2 inch.  As for flavors, I like pretty dark chocolate and thought the chocolate could be darker and more complex.  There's a noticeable "ginger" flavor, it tasting more like candied ginger than fresh ginger with its natural and fun kick.  But the ginger flavor it did have worked well to tamper down much of sweetness of the chocolate.  All in all, it wasn't bad, but the flavors feel toned down and strike me as pandering to suburban yuppies with less adventurous palates.  Eating it just made me imagine what rich, dark chocolate and feisty fresh ginger flavors combined in a cookie would taste like.

Oatmeal Raisin
Smells like a blend of spices and butter. A nice chewy, moist cookie.  A slightly strange after-texture, a lingering dryness on top (probably the oats), yet a slight oilyness on the bottom. Flavorwise, it was better than the average.  The oats tasted more natural and there was a decent blend of spices.  Like the dark chocolate ginger, I could have used a bit more personality and adventurousness in flavor, but it wasn't bad.

Critiques about yuppiness aside, I had a fairly solid dining experience at Muss & Turners, which was a particularly refreshing change of pace from the airport and other on-the-go meals that marked the rest of my travels.


Muss & Turners
1675 Cumberland Pkwy SE # 309 Smyrna, GA 30080-6361 (Map)
(770) 434-1114
www.mussandturners.com

Pho Cali : Philadelphia

We were craving some noodle soup and decided to try out Pho Cali, after having passed by for some many times.

Cha Gio vietnamese spring roll (4)
Not bad. Crunchy, but surprisingly not oily (how do they do that?). Insides an interesting texture, almost as if there's breading inside. Taste-wise, well, it's nothing too afar from what you'd expect of spring rolls.

House Pho
Not bad. The broth is pretty light in flavor, but I think all of the meat somehow seemed slightly tastier than the the pho at Pho75 (in Chinatown).  But I think I'm still looking for an impressive bowl of pho here in Philly.

Bun Thjt Nuong - Grilled pork over vermicelli
The grilled pork had a complex charred flavor. My guess is that it's picked up the flavors of other stuff from the grill, but it's gains a surprisingly subtle and intriguing flavor that way. Together with the fried crispy garlic slices, it was better than the standard Bun.

All in all, this wasn't bad.  The service was responsive and slightly friendlier than your average Chinatown restaurant and the grilled pork bun in particular was intriguing with its charred taste.  But a number of favorites  already and a number of restaurants still to try in Chinatown, I'm not sure when I'll be back here again.


Pho Cali
1000 Arch St Philadelphia, PA 19107-3002 (Map)
(215) 629-1888

L'Angolo : Philadelphia

After spending a couple of days in New York, my parents came down for a night and a morning in Philly and gave me free reign over dining choices. We had eaten Chinese food for the last the last four meals, so that was scratched off. And we had a car, which just begged to be used towards a restaurant that my gf and I normally couldn't easily get to.

Hence, L'Angolo, a small Italian BYOB, in South Philly, quite a bit down south.

I had been wanting to further explore Italian restaurants after reading this Chowhound thread on South Philly Italian Restaurants and the independent suggestion of L'Angolo, by commenter John further pushed this place up top on my to-try list. (btw, John, thanks again for the suggestion. It really was an excellent one.)

This is a darling of a place.  A narrow passage goes by the kitchen to reveal the small and canary yellow dining room.  It's cozy and cute and what I'd picture if someone mentioned hidden gem restaurant.

The wait-staff were a joy.  Cheery, friendly and welcoming, they added a delightful warmth to the already comfortable atmosphere.

And the food was just lovely.

Gnocchi Alla Crema Di Gamberi - Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi, light Cream Sauce, Shrimp
This was like being hugged by hundreds of cuddly teddy bears. The gnocchi had a lovely texture, almost like biting into chunks of a soft cheese, but instead of the usual heavy feeling in your stomach after cheese, this was just surprisingly light, bite after bite after bite.  The shrimp were cooked well and the sauce was quite flavorful.

Grilled Salmon, Shrimp & Calamari special (?)
Nicely done, the seafood all grilled with an assured hand.  This probably had the lightest flavoring of all of the dishes, but still surprisingly managed to be tasty.

Orecchiette All'anatra - Shredded Duck, White wine, Shaved Parmesan.
At first I wasn't that impressed by this, the shredded duck being only decently tender and the orecchiette pasta being slightly too al dente for my tastes.  But the duck jus at the bottom, oh man.  It had a great duck flavor and wonderful creaminess, like a duck flavored chicken a la king.  After mixing this up a bit, I was locked in, downing this like nothing else.

Orecchiette Shrimp Special (?)
It was interesting tasting this alongside my duck orecchiette.  Although they had the same pasta (which I should mention, this one was cooked longer and which I preferred), it was just a completely different flavor vector.  You might be think that's pretty obvious given the contrasting flavors of their ingredients: shrimp & sun-dried tomatoes (?) versus shredded duck, but all too often there's a same underlying sauce that makes two dishes similar.  Here, instead of the rich meaty duck jus in my dish, it was a lighter seafood and herb flavoring.  Still good stuff.

Home-made Marscopone cheesecake - My parents and I aren't usually fans of cheesecake, but this was just simple, light and delightful stuff.  Not overly sweet, not overly heavy.  It's served with a couple dabs of raspberry sauce, which if looked at the right angle...

... looks like an alien face.   Anyway, kidding aside, it was a great way to end a very satisfying meal.

And just if you were curious, we brought along a bottle of Pride Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay, a bottle that my gf and I had picked up when I was working in the bay area a few summers ago.

I highly recommend L'Angolo.  We were served some flavorful and flat-out delicious food, had joyous wait-staff and it's a BYOB to boot. I wish this was closer to Center City, but they do have a sister restaurant, Salento, which is in CC and which has now been put on my to-try list.

(One more thing, a significant number of other customers ordered the veal chop, which was impossible not to notice since it was so massive.  None of us were in a meat-heavy mood, but for what it's worth, I did notice it recommended on this Chowhound thread.)

L'Angolo

1415 W Porter St Philadelphia, PA 19145-4432 (Map)
(215) 389-4252
www.langolorestaurant.com
(Other helpful links: Chow: Quintessential South Philly Italian 2009, Chow: L'Angolo 2008, Chow: L'Angolo Recs 2005, Craig Laban 2003)

Solo : Philadelphia

There's another new restaurant opening in Chinatown!  In between Yummy Yummy and Q.T. Sandwiches.   This requires exclamation points, one because it has such a rad sign with flames:

And two, because you can apparently sing karaoke in here!!  (Ooh, another place besides Yakitori Boy)

We were just passing by and there looked to be a big grill, where they were grilling up meat kabobs.  But I'm not too clear on what else they're serving just yet.  I've taken a picture of their Chinese menu and will try to translate when I have the time.

Solo 
50 10th St Philadelphia PA (Map)

Update Summary Nov 4, 2009

I'm traveling today, so today will be a bit sparse an update and a new restaurant...

Dutch Eating Place - I went here with my parents and I'm hoping that our meal wasn't a sign of changes to come, because it wasn't the usual delightful meal it normally is.

Sun Mary Bakery - Just posted the name of one of the baked goods.

The Vegemite Naming Fiasco

I have still yet to try Vegemite, but I was amused to read about Kraft's Vegemite naming fiasco. They ran a contest to get ideas for the name of a new Vegemite product and selected...

Vegemite iSnack 2.0

Thud.

There was understandably significant backlash over the choice and they've since picked a new name (Cheesybite), but I'd be really curious to hear from someone at Kraft who was responsible for that decision. Did they think they'd get iPhone users in mass buying the stuff?

For the Philly folks, Vegemite (and Tim Tams) is available at Ants Pants Cafe on South St. You can also buy online, as mentioned previously.

No food on the bus.

It was raining by the time we finished our dinner at Zahav, so I opted to take the bus back home. I was full, happy to have had a good meal and content to be on a dry bus.

A few stops ahead, a kid (maybe high school age), got on with a soggy pizza box, which normally isn't something memorable. Only a few seconds later, the bus-driver started yelling:

"Hey!! In the back, put the food away."

A few seconds later.

"Hey!! You, in the back!! Yeah I'm talking to you, put the food away."

...

"Hey!! Yeah, you! PUT THE FOOD AWAY!!"

Other passengers curiously glance at the back of the bus. It was the kid with the soggy pizza box, looking defiantly back at the driver. He looked like he was going to go back to his food the minute the driver started driving again.

Finally, the driver stopped the bus, got up and walked to the back.

"Hey! I asked you before. You can either put away the food or get off the bus!"

More curious glances from the passengers. The driver goes back to driving, but the kid isn't going to let it go, cussing at the driver and throwing in some terms derogatory towards homosexuals...

Which ended up ruffling the feathers of a fellow passenger.

"Would you stop using those terms? Those are incredibly insulting."

Which led to an argument between the two.

"Shut up, man. Just shut up. I wasn't talking to you. I don't even know you."

The other passengers at this point have started to nervously laugh, to exchange increasingly awkward glances and to whisper/describe the situation to others on their cell phones. A more anxious couple departs at the nearest bus-stop. A few minutes later, the bus driver, without a word, steps off the bus...

...and returns with a couple of large, stern cops, who proceed to yell at the kid to get off the bus. After shouting back at the cops, the kid is grumpily led off the bus and back into the rain with a half-eaten slice of pizza in a soggy box.

I'm not sure why I brought this up.

Clearly the kid's reaction was rash and stupid, and I applaud the driver (and the passenger) for not taking any nonsense from him.

But thinking from the kid's perspective for a second, it just sucks to be sopping wet, to finally be able to get in somewhere dry and to not be able to enjoy your food. I mean, that's almost a primal feeling of enjoyment.

I understand the reasoning behind the rule prohibiting food on the bus, but it was just another one of those city experiences that was a little saddening that things didn't somehow work out better and that seemed especially affecting, having just enjoyed a fine meal myself.

Anyways, I'll get back to more food tomorrow.