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12:31

Philly.com - Craig LaBan will be available for questions and chat at 2 p.m. Until then, please submit your questions and comments in the box below.

2:01

Craig -

Good afternoon, my hungry friends, and welcome to the Philly food chat that chews back! It’s been an interesting week to say the least. Just seven days ago, I griped in this space about the lack of good Chinese delivery around Rittenhouse Square. And then, just like that….Susanna Foo announces plans to start delivery on February 1^st. That’s right: braised Wuxi short ribs, Berkshire mooshoo pork and Mongolian lamb pillows to go! Coincidence? Perhaps…Or maybe this online forum really is THE PLACE where your culinary desires come true. In that spirit, let’s come up with a wish list along the lines of the question last week that prompted my own request: what kind of restaurant or concept do you think Philadelphia (or your neighborhood) is lacking?

2:03

Craig -

Speaking of dreams come true, this topic will suit my young kids. I’ll be off from the chat next week as my family and the all-generous grandparents head-off on a long-planned trip to Disney World. I haven’t been since I was 7 (my son’s age), when Space Mountain was the hot new thing. I'm hoping I'm big enough to go on all the rides this time. But I’m also looking for some culinary advice from you here. Should I be resigned to a week of chicken nuggets, or are there some spots in Disney that we really shouldn’t miss?

2:04

Craig -

In the meanwhile, I’ve been busy eating my fill in Philly, and some of the highlights are included in this week’s Crumb Tracker Quiz. Be the first to name all three places I ate these dishes in order, and win a prize: 1) shrimp and crab Louie; 2) pollo Moctezuma (and a bowl of excellent pozole); 3) toasted marshmallow malt. Ready, set… start crumbing!

2:05	[Comment From TPS ALUMNI] Really good barbecue in Center City

2:06	Craig - That was an easy one, TPS. But yes, our 'cue scene needs some serious work.

2:07

[Comment From TPS ALUMNI]
Hey Craig, I'm sixteen and my family and I went to Melograno before your review was issued. My experience was not nearly as good as how the review made it sound. I got the pasta alla' ammatriciana which you raved about. It was waaaaay too salty and had waaaay too much black pepper. My parents didn't really like their food that much either. Is it just that we are too sensitive to salt, or were your dishes salty too?

2:08	Craig - TPS - Sensitivity to salt is a very individual thing, but I had no issues with seasoning at Melograno. But also, amatriciana is meant to be a forcefully flavored dish, what with the house-cured pancetta, a flicker of heat from the chile flake. So perhaps it isn't for everyone.

2:09	[Comment From Philly Ray] Why can't someone open an informal New Orleans style place where you can get a decent po boy, muffuletta, or just a simple bowl of jambalaya in Philadelphia (especially in South Philly, which is where I am)?

2:15

Craig - Philly Ray - I agree with you here. There are very few places in this region that come close to true New Orleans cooking - with a few exceptions - Cajun Kate's in Boothwyn is probably my current favorite, Ted's on Main (elegant updated Creole in downtown Medford) is another. But having lived in New Orleans, I can only liken the search for recreating those flavors to looking for a good cheesesteak outside of metro Philly. It's virtually impossible to find someone with the culinary sensibility and the ingredients to make it taste right. I will say, however, that there is a new cookbook, Cooking Up a Storm, published by the Times-Picayune, that could be useful. It gathered favorite recipes requested by readers who lost their recipe boxes and files in the Katrina flood - and it is an absolute treasure trove of Louisiana home and restauarant cooking. There's even a recipe for Oysters Mosca that I cooked up for New Year's eve (basically oysters baked beneath spicy, buttery, Italian bread crumbs) and it was like being back at the old Italian roadhouse on the West Bank - Mosca's - that still ranks among my most favorite restaurants anywhere.

2:15	[Comment From Nick] Do you ever eat at chain/fast food restaurants? If so, do you have any guilty pleasures that you would admit to?

2:20

Craig - Nick - I try them all out of professional curiosity, and with very few exceptions, chains disappoint me. Perhaps it's because Philly is such a rich town for independent restaurants, but there is a lack of soul and human touch to so many chains that leaves me cold. At the moment, In & Out burger in California is the only chain I think of fondly, but then, perhaps I'm just romanticizing that too, as it's been a while. There are a couple chains in the steak world that do a good job - Capital Grille, Fleming's are two examples - but that's it off the top of my head. Is there any chain love out there amongst the chatters? Am i missing a worthy restaurant?

2:20	[Comment From jay] Any new inside info on the restaurant that will take over the old Pif location? What price range might we expect?

2:23

Craig - Jay - all I know is what you've heard, that Pierre Calmels, the longtime dinner chef at Le Bec-Fin, is going in. No word yet on what he'll be cooking, but he is an excellent chef, and one of those unsung cooks who is long overdue for a chance to make his own name. If he does as well as Ansill did at Pif, or as a previous LBF chef, Peter Gilmore, did at his charming self-named bistro in W. Chester, South Philly is in for an ambitious new hot spot.

2:23	[Comment From Nick] 1. Butcher and Singer 2. El Sarape 3. No idea so I'll say Nifty Fifty's?

2:25	Craig - You got #1 right, Nick, but we have some work to do on those other crumbs. Yes, that crab and shrimp Louie was from Butcher & Singer, which is going to be reviewed on Feb. 15.

2:25	[Comment From Nick] To Philly Ray....Crawdaddy's in West Chester has decent Po Boys and jambalaya on their lunch menu. Unfortunately the Po Boys aren't available at dinner.

2:25	[Comment From Karp] We need good authenticMiddle Eastern Food, other than the Penn Lunch Trucks! It seems that the entire cuisine between the West Bank and Iran is ignored .(Special kudos to Zahav for solving our Israeli food problem and the Sansom St Kabob House for providing tasty Afghani food)

2:29

Craig - Karp - I ABSOLUTELY agree with you on the dearth of good Middle Eastern food in town (with the exceptions you noted). I grew up in Detroit, where the Middle Eastern food is awesome. One of my first jobs was as a busboy in an upscale Lebanese restaurant, Phoenecia, where I became addicted to raw kibbe. (There is no 12 step cure for this). In Detroit, you are not worth mentioning if you don't, at the very least, bake your own pitas. But there is very little in this area that quite reaches that level of refinement. We had a brief falafel/shawarma revolution before a bunch of those places went out of business with surprising swiftness. I'd like Maoz better if the service weren't always so darn surly. I will say, however, that Mama's Falafel, and also, the falafel cart at the northeast corner of 20th and Market, remain as bright spots. But an ambitious updated Middle Eastern dining experience beyond Zahav, we've yet to land.

2:30	[Comment From JC] What happened to Susanna Foo's at the Comcast Center? The sign for her new dumpling place has disappeared!

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