Good rainy afternoon, my hungry friends, and welcome back to the Philly food chat that keeps you well fed. What’s been exciting your tastebuds this week? I’ve had a lot of fascinating flavors – some good, some not so good – as you can tell from this week’s Crumb Tracker quiz. Name the three places in order where I ate these dishes, and win a prize: 1) salmon-shiitake burger; 2) a syringe of warm dark chocolate ganache; 3) “Beef on Wreck” (at least that’s my new name for this current local version of the Buffalo sandwich)…. Ready, set…start crumbing!

And one more thing…this Crumb just in!! Sorry folks, but this sandwich broke too late for today’s Crumb Tracker quiz (in fact, I’m still licking the sweet membrillo from my lips), but it bears an honorable mention: The Man of La Muncha!

I’ve been somewhat critical of Di Bruno’s ability to make a decent sandwich over the years – despite having some of the world’s best ingredients on hand. But this one (with the exception of the slightly chewy roll) is a hit – handmade chorizo layered with rich Campo de Montalban (a mixed milk manchego), a sheen of olive oil and   sweet and tangy schmear of membrillo (quince paste). It was a perfect confluence of spicy, earthy, creamy and tangy fruit on a roll – being sold for $5.99 from the small sandwich case at the back of Di Bruno’s original Italian Market location on 9^th street…  

And on yet another side note, I’m celebrating a special anniversary this week: the first year of my solid food life without eating McDonald’s! Like so many American kids, the flavors of a Big Mac are deeply wired into my craving DNA. I ate them weekly growing up in the suburbs of Detroit. They sustained me as an occasional “treat from home” during my otherwise intense immersion-eating travels abroad, whether it was Mexico City or Paris. But as I grew older, and especially as I began to raise my kids, something strange happened – I began to despise this food. Either it’s gotten worse over the years, or my tastes have changed, or both. But every time I ate a McDonald’s burger in recent years, it tasted less and less like real food. As a parent, fast food became almost impossible to avoid, whether by pure convenience or the advanced food engineering and marketing that makes them crave it. I swear: my kids' first complete sentences involved “McNugget” and “Happy Meal.”

But then last year we all had an epiphany, and made a clean break, thanks to a seemingly small but offensive moment at the McDonald’s in the Andorra shopping center: they refused to give us a side of pickles! Incensed, I insisted on paying for them, and the manager only reluctantly gave us a measly portion of pickles for 57-cents. I had gone on and on for years ranting about the politics of food and bad nutrition to my family and all I’d get was blank stares. But no side of pickles? Even my kids (10 and 7) could see the injustice of it. And we haven’t been back since. Alas, it was the pickle that broke Ronald’s back…