A Taste of Home for the Lady...

Colombian Bakery

4944 North 5th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19120

citypaper.net/Cover/Quick-bites-tempt-at-Colombian-Bakery/ 

While reading up on some food information, I came across a place in the Northeast I knew my fiancé would love. We usually only really get good Colombian food in Miami when we are spending time with her family, so I was excited about the prospect of finding a place here in Philly to take her to for a taste of home. We drove up on a Sunday morning to try a place uniquely named Colombian Bakery. It had a pretty friendly feel to it. Everyone there seemed to know each other. It was like the neighborhood hangout. 

We ordered some of our favorites, of course lots of carbs, because there seems to be carbs in every Latin meal. We ordered an arepa, a buneulo, a pan de bono and a Colombian soda called Colombiana. 

Arepas are corn based dough discs that are used a lot in the cuisines of Colombia and Venezuela. They eat them at all meals with different accompaniments. Here we had ours plain, but made with white cheese as well as corn. Arepas are really delicious. The corn flavor is the star, and the addition of the white cheese really makes it a bit salty and really tasty. Pan de bono is a bread made of cassava starch and corn flour and made with eggs and cheese. The buneulos are the most different of the three. They are a sweeter bread and they have a cruster exterior that is amazing. You can eat it with a cup of coffee or anything. Its sweet enough, but not overly sweet so it doesn’t quite taste like a pastry. 

Three pints for Colombian Bakery. The Colombian breads are fantastic and really flavorful. It was super affordable and the food was fantastic. I liked the breads better than the ones I have had in Miami. My fiancé was super happy and I was glad she got a taste of home. Its really fantastic and and we will definitely be back. Check it out and let me know! Cheers!

An Evening in Abruzzo...

Le Virtu

1927 East Passyunk Avenue

Philadelphia, PA 19148

www.levirtu.com/ 

My fiancé and I dined at Le Virtu a while back because it was on a short list of places we were looking into for our rehearsal dinner. We had been wanting to try it for quite some time because of all the good things we had heard about chef Joe and chef Angela and their team. 

We sat at the bar for a while until our table was ready, about 15 minutes after our reservation time, but no biggie there. Once we were seated our waiter told us the specials and we ordered a bottle of wine before making our decisions on dinner. Unfortunately our waiter was pretty aggressive pouring the wine and some of it ended up on the table. We ordered our food, the appetizer special of the evening, the pasta special of the evening and the braised lamb dish.

The fried dough stuffed with ricotta and rosemary and served over a bed of prosciutto de Parma, the appetizer special of the evening, was ok, but not as good as we hoped it would be. The stuffed dough was good, but it didn't have enough filling for me. The bits that had the filling were great though. And what's there to say about prosciutto de Parma. It's incredible.

The pasta special of the evening was a pheasant ravioli with mushrooms, pecorino cheese, brown butter and rosemary. It was absolutely incredible. The pasta had a great amount of chew to it, and the filling was exquisite. I was in heaven eating it. Its one of pasta dishes I always think about when asked about some of my favorites in Philly. Unfortunately it was a special for the evening, so who knows if I can ever get it again. 

We had a miscommunication with our server on the main course. We wanted the braised lamb dish, but he thought we wanted the lamb pasta. He handled it perfectly though when we said that wasn't what we ordered, he took it back and off of our bill and brought us what we ordered. The dish we ordered was the agnello brasato, braised lamb with cippolini onions, parsnips and Brussels sprouts. The broth was rich and flavorful and the lamb was incredibly tender. I loved the vegetables as well. It all paired incredibly well and the whole dish made me warm inside. 

We couldn't skip dessert, so we ordered the torta di mela, olive oil apple cake, cinnamon streusel and marscapone thyme cream. The cake was incredibly moist and the crumble was outstanding. It was an amazing dessert, however the cream was over whipped, so it had a butter like taste and consistency unfortunately. Other than that the dessert was absolutely flawless.

Three and a half pints for Le Virtu. This is really a beautiful place to have a nice meal. The food coming out of the kitchen is delicious. I really didn’t enjoy dealing with their private events coordinator, so we wound up going elsewhere for our rehearsal dinner, but the restaurant itself is really a treat. I will definitely be coming back for more. Cheers!

Drunken Munchies...

Steaks on South

308 South Street

Philadelphia, PA 19147

www.steaksonsouth.com 

Since I was pretty drunk leaving the bar after the Olympic hockey game, one slice of pizza simply didn’t do the trick, so I walked across the street to Steaks on South to grab a cheesesteak. I wanted to see how it measured up to some of the other big guns on South Street. I was very disappointed to hear from the griddle man that they didn't have any onions to put on the cheesesteaks. How could that be? He said they were coming, but I wasn't going to wait around.

I got a steak with wiz, and it was actually pretty tasty. The steak to bread ratio was pretty good, as was the roll. I added ketchup and pickled jalapeños as well as I usually do, and they added the perfect acidic and spicy touches to it. It was a pretty filling steak, so I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

Two and a half pints for Steaks on South. I really just couldn't overlook the lack of onions. To me, its not a Philly cheesesteak without onions. It really boggled my mind. It's definitely a solid cheesesteak option on South Street, and you wont have to wait in the long lines of Genos, Pats or Jims. Its definitely worth a visit, so give it a shot and let me know what you think! Cheers!

Bigger isnt Always Better....

Lorenzo & Sons

305 South Street

Philadelphia, PA 19147

www.lorenzoandsons.com/ 

I woke up early for the USA/Russia hockey game during the Olympics and began drinking with a few friends at a bar near my house. After the game and ensuing celebration was over, I needed to put some food in my belly to soak up all the booze. I hadn’t tried Lorenzo and Sons Pizza yet since they had reopened, so I figured it was a good time to give it a shot. 

There was no line which was nice, and my slice was ready in mere minutes. But they didn't ask if I wanted it to go or stay, and wound up giving it to me to eat in, so I did just that. The slice is huge!

One pint for Lorenzo and Sons Pizza. I don't really know what all the fuss is about. I guess it's more the fact that it's a Philly landmark, the hours of operation and the sheer size of the slices than the actual quality of the pizza. The crust was nice, but the cheese to sauce ratio wasn't very good. There was far too much cheese and not enough sauce. It was good to try it, but I certainly wouldn't wait in line for it. The line can be ridiculously long sometimes. As I said its worth a try just for history sakes and to say you have had it, but its not really somewhere I will find myself going very often. Cheers!