Creperie Beau Monde

August 12, 2006 Cuisine: French, Desserts & Bakeries, Other 624 S 6th Street, Philadelphia 19147 At Bainbridge St Phone: 215-592-0656 Website: www.creperie-beaumonde.com -- Appetizer: Escargot with garlic butter, crostini and bread Entree I: Saumon Fume - Smoked Salmon served with roasted leeks & creme fraiche Entree II: "Rich Man's Egg McMuffin" - eggs over easy with ham and goat cheese Dessert I: Sweet Crepe Special - Filled with peaches, blackberries, a ginger creme anglaise, and topped off with vanilla ice cream Dessert II: Dulce de leche with bananas -- Excerpt from El Pork Logs - August 14, 2006 - with new insights: Earlier this week I was reading the Astronomer's travel journal from his trip to Europe and started craving crepes, especially since the Astronomer thought that the crepes he enjoyed in France were on par with the ones served at Creperie Beau Monde in terms of taste and authenticity. I think that food tastes best when I've been craving it for a couple of days. We started off our feast with some escargot with garlic butter, crostini and bread. I was hoping the escargot would be served inside their shells, but sadly those preparations are only executed outside the US. The crostini and bread were excellent vehicles for dipping and consuming the escargot. For our savory crepes the Astronomer ordered the Saumon Fume, while I ordered my all-time favorite combination of eggs over easy with ham and goat cheese. Both crepes were spectacular. The crepes were a good size and expertly filled with the perfect amount of each ingredient. The crepes themselves were made of buckwheat flour, as is traditional in the region of Brittany. It always surprises me how crepes manage to fill me up even though it seems like very little food. For desert the Astronomer ordered the sweet crepe special of the evening which contained peaches, blackberries, a ginger creme anglaise, topped off with some vanilla ice cream. I ordered my favorite dessert combination of dulce de leche with bananas. While the special was tasty, I adored my sweet crepe more. There's just something about ripened bananas accompanied by a caramelized sauce within a crisp crepe that gets me every single time. Creperie Beau Monde has been a constant in my restaurant rotation since Swarthmore and remains a favorite today. The Astronomer and I have dined at Beau Monde at least four times together, maybe five. We love this place.

Ajia Japanese Fusion

September 16, 2006 Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi 3131 Walnut St, Philadelphia 19104 Between 31st & 32nd Street Phone: 215-222-2542 Website: none -- Entree I: All U Can Eat Sushi (see below) -- Three friends and I went to Ajia this evening for the All U Can Eat Sushi offering priced at $21.95 per person (tax and tip not included). This was my fourth visit to Ajia and my third time doing the All U Can Eat special. As always, Ajia did not disappoint. My eating companions and I gorged on a ridiculous amount of sushi:

1. Sweet Potatoes
2. Salmon Avocado
3. California Roll
4. Philadelphia Roll
5. Salmon Skin & Cucumber
6. Boston Roll
7. Tuna Avocado
8. West Roll (Smoked salmon, cream cheese & scallion)
9. East Roll (Salmon, avocado, cucumber)
10. Spicy Tuna Roll
11. Spicy Salmon Roll
12. Rock N Roll (Spicy tuna inside wrapped around avocado)
13. Kani (Crab Stick)
14. Tofu Skin
15. Surf Clam
16. Ika (squid)
17. Tako (octopus)
18. Tuna sashimi
19. Salmon sashimi
20. Yellowtail sashimi
21. Spicy Crunchy Tuna
22. Spicy Crunchy Salmon

The sushi rolls were of high quality fish and were not overly stuffed with rice. The sashimi pieces were very fresh as well, but unfortunately were accompanied by rice. Oh, fillers. My personal favorites are the shrimp tempura roll, inari sashimi (tofu skin), Philly roll, and crunchy spicy tuna and salmon. We did not keep track of exactly how many rolls of each kind, but I assure you that it was well worth our paying price. I left completely drunk off mercury poisoning. Whatta feeling! Service at Ajia is usually pretty horrible. Luckily the evening we went was fairly quiet so service was pretty decent. Note to self: avoid Friday nights, go early Saturday evenings. The waitress was quite militant about us finishing our sushi before ordering more. I don't remember them being so adamant about the whole ordeal during my previous visits, but I guess that's how it goes with an All U Can Eat special. I crave Ajia every couple of months, so I'll definitely be returning for another sushi fest soon.

Wong Wong Restaurant

September 14, 2006 Cuisine: Chinese 941 Race Street Philadelphia, PA 19107-1805 Phone: 215-928-8822 Website: none -- Entree I: Cashew chicken

Entree II: Beef noodles prepared "Hong Kong" style

Dessert: Fortune cookies

-- I do not care much for Chinese-Americana fare, but the Astronomer loves it very much. Every so often I indulge the Astronomer and we go out for Chinese food. I had a meeting last night near Chinatown so we hit up Wong Wong afterwards. We had not read anything about this restaurant beforehand and chose it on impulse. My rationale is that one can't go too wrong picking a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, especially a restaurant of the "non-banquet" variety; they are more or less all the same. Although I must admit that the barbecued roasted ducks flanked on the outside window of the restaurant helped to draw me in. It was late in the evening so we each only ordered an entree. The Astronomer had the cashew chicken with white rice while I had the beef noodles. We shared each dish. The cashew chicken was tasty and mild, nowhere near as spicy as a Kung Pao preparation. The chicken was good quality white meat stir fried with peas, carrots, water chestnuts, straw mushrooms, celery and topped with toasted cashews. All winners but the celery. The sauce seemed a bit too light in color, but was satisfying in flavor which is what really matters. The beef noodles were not exactly what I had anticipated. I wanted a thin pan fried egg noodle, but instead I got a thicker more chow mein like noodle. Nevertheless, it was still quite good. My only complaint were the bean sprouts. I've disliked bean sprouts since my youth. The beef was very tender and really hit the red meat spot. All in all this was your average Chinese establishment. I enjoyed the food for what it was--cheap, warm, and salty. The noodles were priced at $6 and the chicken was $8. Fair enough.

Monk's Cafe

September 9, 2006 Cuisine: Burgers, Belgian, Other 264 S 16th St, Philadelphia 19102 Between Latimer St & Spruce St Phone: 215-545-7005 Website: www.monkscafe.com -- Appetizer: Monk's Mussels prepared "Ghent" style - Saison Dupont, fume, parsley, caramelized leeks, bacon, bleu cheese & garlic. Served with frites, bourbon mayonnaise, and bread rolls. Entree I: Monk's Burger with Monk Topping - caramelized leeks & blue cheese in between a roll from the Metropolitan Bakery. Entree II: Steak Frites Salad - sirloin steak (grilled to order) over baby greens served with fresh cut frites. -- After so much superb eating this week, I was a bit disappointed by dinner at Monk's Cafe. The food was good, but not great which is somewhat understandable given that Monk's is better known for their 200+ beers on tap. However, prior to my visit I had heard many positive things about their food, especially the mussels. I found the mussels to be very average. The Ghent preparations did not penetrate the mussels so they just ended up tasting like mussels, which isn't terrible but did not meet my expectations. The bread that accompanied the mussels were not ideal for dipping. Crostini is definitely a better mussel complement due to the crunch factor. The frites were tasty, as was the bourbon mayo dipping sauce, even though I usually steer clear of mayo. The Astronomer ordered the Monk Topped burger that I thought was pretty decent. The fixins (cheese and leeks) were fantastic, but the burger itself seemed a bit dry. I like my burgers juicy like the Kobe Beef Sliders from Barclay Prime. Additionally, the hamburger patty was smaller than the bun which is a big no no. The actual bun was alright, but could've been softer. For my entree I ordered the Steak Frites Salad. The steak was prepared rare (just the way I like it) and the greens and dressing were fine. The salad was exactly what I expected; nothing more, nothing less. Since I'm not a beer connoisseur and found the food just average, Monk's Cafe will most likely be a one time deal.

Audrey Claire

September 2, 2006 Cuisine: American (New), Tapas 276 S 20th Street, Philadelphia 19103 Between Rittenhouse Square & Spruce Street Phone: 215-731-1222 Website: http://www.audreyclaire.com -- Course I: Grilled flatbread - Spicy Hummus, House Cured Salmon and Mesclun w/herb vinaigrette Course II: Goat cheese and leek tart with a polenta crust. Course III: Pork tenderloin (but of course!) with a sesame and fig puree served with a lentil salad and haricot verts. -- Audrey Claire was recommended by Professor Caskey back at Swarthmore. I loved the flatbread immensely even though smoked salmon is pretty common. By the way, flatbread refers to a pizza-like concoction much like Mario Batalli's at Otto - extremely thin crust with fixins. The tart was a bit too heavy for me. The goat cheese needed to be balanced out by something more complex than leeks and polenta. The cooks did drizzle a balsalmic glaze around the plate, but it wasn't really enough to counter balance the strong cheese. The Astronomer enjoyed the majority of the tarts. The final course was divine. The pork was so moist and tender and the fig puree offered a fruity pairing that really worked. Audrey Claire is competing with Melograno to be my favorite restaurant within a two block radius of my apartment.