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12:54

philly.com - Craig LaBan will be here at 2 p.m. Until then, submit your questions and comments in the space below.

2:00

philly.com - Good afternoon, my hungry friends, and welcome back to the Philly food chat that puts some tasty sunshine on those snow drifts. I hope you’ve all managed to feed yourselves well during Blizzard Part One – you need energy for all that shoveling. Hopefully, we’ll get some good material today to keep the sustenance up to snuff for Monster Storm Part Two. I know the first wave was murder for a lot of special occasion restaurants, but my discussions with operators of neighborhood restaurants were surprisingly positive – a few flakes, apparently, won’t stop Philadelphians with boots from tromping to their local bistro.

For me, it was prime time to cozy up and cook at home, a giant pot of jambalaya for a Super Bowl party (we all know how that turned out, but read the details, plus recipe, in this Thursday’s food section.) I also braved the Reading Terminal mobs to load up on quality poultry at Godshall’s for some kitchen projects. Obviously, with the half-hour wait for birds, I wasn’t the only one girding for the storm. But it was worth it. I got some wonderful turkey cutlets that I turned into an Italian night at home, with a turkey Milanese to go alongside my wife’s special baked ziti, and a quite surprising sangiovese-barbera blend from Chaddsford.

2:00

2:01

philly.com - Of course, I did some good eating “out there,” too. That Milanese (above) was inspired, in fact, by a similar dish that makes up one of this week’s Crumb Tracker clues. Name the three places I ate them in order, and win a prize: 1) turkey Milanese; 2) smoked salmon club (with a side of oyster scrapple); 3) an actually good, surprisingly classic cassoulet…. Ready, set… start crumbing!

2:01	[Comment From tim] Is Rick Nichols on vacation? Haven't see an article from him in a couple weeks...

2:03	philly.com - Hi Tim, yes, Rick's been on vacation in sunny L.A. But he got back just in time for some shovelling. In fact, I have to concede, he was the poet who came up with today's "sunshine on snowdrift" line. Boy, did I miss him.

2:03

[Comment From Guest]
Craig- I recently went to Fish to experience their Sunday prixe fixe after hearing endless praise about their new location. I was so disappointed that it was in fact a tasting menu in which we received miniscule portions that made Susanna Foo look like China Buffet! What's up with this? I feel so disappointed I did not get to fully experience the food I have been reading so much about! ---Christina

2:07

philly.com - Christina - I never got a chance to try the tasting menu at Fish, but I've sure been hearing from people who did. Unless you cloned yourself into multiple Fish complainers, the tiny portion size of the tasting seems to be a consistent gripe. A la carte, however, I didn't notice any abnormally small portions. IN fact, they seemed to be about exactly the same size as those of Little Fish. Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective, though. When you take the same plates from a tiny 20 seater and suddenly put them in a regular-sized dining room, they suddenly don't seem so grand. Actually, I really really liked my meals at Fish. I think Mike Stollenwerk has established himself as one of the city's premier seafood chefs - a dwindling breed, to be sure. Then again, I'm not a portion freak, either. In fact, I think a lot of restaurants put too much food on the plate. So this would be something to reconsider if I ever get back there for a tasting meal later this year, when I understand he's hoping to open a space upstairs wrapped in wine cases dedicated to just such menus....

2:08	[Comment From lisa] We have had a lot of mediocre bbq from some of the new restaurants lately. BeBE is a little spicy for my crew. Do you or your chatters have any favorite bbq place?

2:10

philly.com - Lisa - If you think Bebe's (and some of the other new places, like Percy St.) are mediocre, then you didn't have to eat barbecue in Philly before. We are definitely taking a step forward this year in our roster of go-to barbecue pits. Of course, this is one of the most personal and varied cuisines out there - Bebe's signature is its rub, so maybe that one isn't for you. I still think my old favorite, Sweet Lucy's, holds up pretty well to the new competition. I'm not saying it's better or worse - I've yet to get to that point. But mediocre? Definitely not.

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