Pig's Head at Alla Spina, Philadelphia

Redneckhunter's brother came to visit and flew into Philadelphia airport, so we picked him up and immediately took him to Alla Spina for dinner. We sat in the "lounge" area, and the whole place was an entirely different atmosphere from brunch.  Much more bar-like with low lights, low-key hip-hop.

As soon as the waitress (the same one we had at brunch incidentally) told us that night's special was a pig's head for 2 served with thick cut toast and a blueberry reduction, we all knew what we were having for dinner.

We got that along with some starters -- homemade pretzels (served in a wooden cute piggy bowl) with beer cheese dipping sauce, rabbit terrine, and poutine with guinea hen ragu. The prices were similar to the brunch prices, so totally reasonable. Redneckhunter and his brother naturally ordered some sampling flights, and we settled in.

The starters were good (if I would have one complaint, it would be that I wished there were more cheese curds on the poutine), but the pig's head was absolutely heavenly!  The meat was falling off tender, juicy, with just enough gooey cartilage to be delicious but not fatty.  It went well with the wonderful sticky gooey sweet and tartness of the blueberry reduction. Even the toast was buttery and divine. I picked that poor piglet's head apart, but it was the perfect size for 3 people to share. 

Alla Spina
1410 Mt Vernon St
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-600-0017

Aux Epices, NYC

On our last LES shopping day, Petitesoeur wanted to try a Malaysian place called Aux Epices she had read about in Serious Eats. So we hiked over to Chinatown to an unassuming pleasant little eatery tucked away on Baxter Street.

We both wanted the Nasi Lemak for sure, and decided to get a couple appetizers as well -- hijiki fish dumplings and duck spring rolls. 

The Serious Eats review had mentioned how the Rendang was less greasy than Nyonya.  We didn't try that, but I felt the same way about the Nasi Lemak - definitely less rich than Fatty Crab's, but still very delicious. The plate was artfully arranged, and I thought Petitesoeur (who likes to keep her food separated) would appreciate being able to mix the curry, dried fish, peanuts, pickles, etc. herself.  I did miss having an egg on the plate though...

I think our favorite dish of the night, though, may have been our 2nd dessert. We first got their signature Maylasian specialty - warm tapioca, taro, sweet potato, coconut milk - I wish I could remember the silly name it had (Petitesoeur reminded me -- bo bo cha cha!) This was comforting, but with most Asian desserts I find them just a bit too healthy and wholesome and not decadent and sinful enough.

So we decided to go for it and order the mango tart on top of that - talk about decadent!  It was warm and flaky and creamy, with a great burnt sugar flavor and freshness of the fruit sweetness.  So good!

The husband and wife team were friendly and inviting too.  The husband was eating his own dinner in the dining room, and came around a few times to check on us.  The wife came out of the kitchen after the meal to say hi.  Definitely a place to go back to with more people, so we can try some of the delicious looking noodle bowls and dishes we saw going to other people's tables.

Aux Epices 
121 Baxter St, New York 10013
(Btwn Hester & Canal St)
(212) 274-8585

Brick Farm Market, Hopewell NJ

Mercer County foodies have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the Brick Farm Market in Hopewell, NJ.  They are finally slated to open next Friday, May 17, but they are doing a sneak preview tonight during Hopewell's Cruise Night. We've been lucky to have tasted some of their wares through the past few months, including delicious salumi -- coppa, lardo, sopresatta, whipped lardo (so good melted over toasted baguette!), and a variety of cheeses.  Can't wait to try more goodies tonight!

Brick Farm Market
65 East Broad Street
Hopewell, NJ 08525
(609) 466-6500

Salumeria Rosi, Upper West Side, NYC

Even though I used to live and work on the Upper West Side, these days I don't often find myself in that neighborhood often, so when we had a concert to go to at the Beacon Theater, even though it was Good Friday, we decided to be bad Catholics and eat at Salumeria Rosi.

Naturally we started with the chef's selection of salumi -- we got their signature parmacotto, mortadella de bologna, proscuitto (can't remember from which region), coppa, and maybe a couple more. 

Also got the cheese selection, though I tried to talk Redneckhunter out of this in favor of something from the main menu. Nothing too special here - we got a parmigianno romano, smoked provolone (our favorite of the 3), and a pecorino.

 We got 2 dishes from the main menu - sweet potato gnocchi and and Pancia -- slow cooked pork belly served with Tuscan chickpeas, blanched greens and crispy skin (which was the best part, naturally).

We had a nice cup of coffee while waiting for our friend who was meeting us, bug instead of staying for dessert, we decided to brave the cold and grab a waffle from the Wafel and Dinges cart we had spotted outside the 72nd Street subway station before the show.

Salumeria Rosi
283 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY

Return to El Puerto, Tampa FL

On our last trip to Tampa we had to take Redneckhunter's brother to our find from our last trip -- El Puerto in Ybor City.  Since he was stuck in traffic, we ordered the biggest entree we could find for him -- the Parillada Argentina, Argentinean sausage, short-rib, skirt steak, chicken breast, pork chop, sweet bread, and morcilla served with two sides (obviously he had more than enough to take home).

Since we didn't want to steal from his sweet bread and morcilla (blood sausage), Redneckhunter and I ordered them as appetizers to share along with ceviche. 

The sweetbreads were big and meaty and the blood sausage was sinfully rich. I could feel arteries hardening...  Luckily the ceviche was vinegary and refreshing with those wonderful big corn kernels from Peru.

 El Puerto Restaurant and Grill
1623 E. 5th Avenue
Tampa, FL 33605
(813) 248-8222

Alla Spina, Philadelphia

Sorry for the long absence in posting!  We're hoping to get more out and about in the spring.  We did have a great meal recently at Alla Spina, part of the Vetri family of restaurants in Philly. We pretty much wanted to eat everything on the menu, so did our best to sample as much as we could among 5 people.

We started with the testina hash poutine (pig head, french fries, mozzarella curd and sunny side up eggs) and donuts as starters.  The soft runny eggs on the poutine were the perfect addition to the Quebecoise classic, and the pig's head has was slightly crispy and very porky.  The donuts (a mix of 3 flavors) were disappointing though.

Redneckhunter and J. happily did a tasting flight of 3 beers - I could not even begin to remember the names, but there was one nice sour raspberry Belgian that even I liked!

K. got a tasty bloody mary, but D. and I were disappointed in our "mocktails." Not only were they very small considering their $5 price tag, but my basil spritz barely had any basil flavor.

But then the entrees came.  I got the alla spina gnocchi (with porcini mushrooms and tallegio).   Wow - such amazingly soft pillows of deliciousness.  Marc Vetri does know how to make great gnocchi - I remember fondly the brown butter spinach gnocchi we had at Vetri. 

K. got a beautiful smoked salmon salad - those soft-boiled eggs look amazing don't they?

Redneckhunter opted, of course, for their spin on his beloved biscuits and gravy -- these were sage biscuits with veal ragu and poached eggs.

D. got pancakes made of squash with bacon-maple syrup and walnut butter, and J. got  the “necci crespelle” chestnut crepe, honey, breakfast sausage and over easy eggs.

We also shared a side order of cheesy parmigiana polenta.

After another tasting flight of beer by Redneckhunter and J. and an after-brunch Negroni cocktail (that no one else liked), it was time for dessert. 

D. ordered the "choco taco" and Redneckhunter got the donut bread pudding. 


As J. put it, this place would be very dangerous to the wallet if it were in our neighborhood...

Alla Spina
1410 Mt. Vernon St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130
P: 215-600-0017

Street Eats, NYC

The other weekend we had some time to kill before meeting friends in the West Village, so we decided to walk around the neighborhood and of course, have a snack... or two, or three.

We saw some Union Jack bags coming out of a store, and were drawn to Myers of Keswick British groceries.  Along with McVities, PGTips, Marmite, HP Brown Sauce all that good stuff, they also make their own Cumberland sausage (the best West of Allonby, according to their website), bangers, and meat pies of many varieties.  We got a Cumberland sausage roll and it was indeed magnificent.  We also got a pork pie with stilton, but decided to save it for later.  Unfortunately our friend's dog managed to scarf it up before we did, but she seemed to enjoy it!

Then under the High Line, we wandered among the food stalls, and couldn't resist getting a Throwdown from Wafel and Dinges.  This is the waffle they beat Bobby Flay with -- topped with speculoos, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.

Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014
(212) 691-4194

Wafels and Dinges
www.wafelsanddinges.com

Cooking Trotters

Redneckhunter brought home a big bag of pig trotters from Double Brook Farm, so we spent a lazy Saturday cooking them one weekend.  This involved first boiling them -- along with onions, herbs, garlic -- for about 4 hours.  This yielded a delicious pork broth, which we saved of course!  Then smoking with hickory for another 2 1/2 hours.  They were already falling off the bone after the boiling, but the smoking really made all the cartilage nice and gooey and gelatinous.