Italian Gastropub Amazingness...

Alla Spina

1410 Mount Vernon Street

Philadelphia, PA 19130

www.allaspinaphilly.com/‎ 

Alla Spina, another gem in the empire of Marc Vetri, had been on my radar since it opened. I had heard numerous things about the place, from both print and word of mouth, and I really liked what I was hearing. My girlfriend and I made a reservation for a Friday night and we headed up to North Broad to check it out.

When we got there we had to wait, and it turned out to be a bit longer than they originally let on; it was almost 40 minutes by the time we were seated. I really get mad when you have reservations and they make you wait a significant amount of time. While this did make me pretty annoyed at first, I am actually glad we got to sit at the bar for a little bit, because the bar snacks that they offered up were incredibly delicious! It was like a gourmet homemade chex mix, and it was highly addictive. It had parmesan crisps, spiced nuts of a lot of different varieties, and all sorts of different croutons and things of that nature. They seriously could charge for it because it was so good.

Once we were finally seated, we ordered a few more of the delicious craft beers that they have, and settled in. When we started looking at the menu, my head began to spin a little bit. There were so many deliciously porky options on the menu. I probably should have prefaced that with a sentence saying that Alla Spina is known for its head to tail cooking of pig, so at least you know now. After much deliberation, we decided on everything we would share, making sure that we got some of the dishes I had read about over the prior months. We ordered the guinea hen poutine, Schisola polenta, cucumber with peperoncino and mint, the pig pot pie, the mortadella hot dog and the espresso budino. 

The poutine, polenta and cucumbers all came out together. I thought it was a nice pairing to come out together because we could cut some of the richness of the other two dishes with the cucumbers. It was an incredible height to start the meal at. The guinea hen poutine was spectacular. Poutine in any form will always catch my eye, but this particular one contained elements of fine dining, yet stayed true to the original version. For those of you that don’t know, poutine is a dish that originated in Canada and is traditionally French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. I had never had guinea hen before, but it was actually a nice topping with the gravy and mozzarella cheese curds.

The polenta balls were fantastic as well. They were balls of polenta, stuffed with tellagio cheese, an Italian cheese with a bit of tang.  They were served with a brown butter sauce and fried sage as well. I could have eaten a plateful. Interspersed throughout were the cucumbers, and their wonderful acidity and spice that cut through the richness of the other two dishes beautifully as expected. 

The richness didn’t stop there though. The pig pot pie and the mortadella hot dog were up next, and they didn’t disappoint either. The mortadella hot dog was one of the dishes that I had read about from quite a few different writers and when my friend, Eve, recommended it, I vowed to try it. My only gripe was that it wasn’t hot when I got to it, but that may have been because my girlfriend had it before I got to it. The salt and vinegar chips that were served with it were forgettable unfortunately, not because of their lack of flavor, but because they were flimsy and nowhere near crispy enough. The pig pot pie was heavenly. I don’t know what cuts of the pig they used in it, but the breading on top, mixed with the piping hot gravy, bits of pork, and deliciously tender vegetables was truly a revelation. 

Not to be outdone, dessert was up last and surprise, surprise I ordered yet another budino at an Italian restaurant. While this one wasn’t as good as the others I have had, it was nothing short of delicious. It had a mountain of coffee flavor, and it was creamy as can be. The texture of these budino puddings I have come to love is simply unmatched. It’s as light as a cloud and I could eat it over and over again.

A solid three and a half pints for Alla Spina. I love the concept, and Marc Vetri along with his partners have really hit home with this amazing upscale bar food scene. The food is very homey and comforting, but you still get that type of flair that makes you think you are sitting in a white linen, shirt and tie kind of place. I loved it and I think you will too, so go try it and let me know what you think! Cheers!

Tacos, tacos, tacos...

Las Lomas

8 Railroad Avenue

Hammonton, NJ 08037

http://www.yourareacode.com/listing/145442 

My former coworker and I had plans to dive into the Mexican food scene in Hammonton before he bailed and left my firm. Lucky for me he didn’t go far, and we were still able to go out to lunch when I was down in Hammonton. I had read an article about how the food scene in Hammonton was moving from old school Italian to a mix of both Italian and Latin because of the high population of Latinos in town that work for the farms during the growing season. The first place that we wanted to try was a small joint called Las Lomas. 

I met him there, and we grabbed two seats at the counter.  I couldn’t resist ordering a Jarritos, a delicious brand of Mexican sodas that come in various fruit flavors. I decided to try the Mandarin flavor, which turned out to be delicious. I was a bit worried because fruit and soda seem to be doubly sweet, but the soda wasn’t overly sweet so it worked out perfectly.  I ordered up some carne enchilada (marinated spicy pork) tacos and some carnitas tacos, two of each, and we sat back and waited for our food.

They brought us some chips and salsas while we waited for our tacos. As with most Mexican restaurants, they offer many different kinds of salsa. We asked for a normal variety, simply a salsa roja, and the spiciest one they had called salsa endiablada, or devil's salsa. Both were very delicious. I always prefer my salsas, or anything for that matter, to have as much of a kick as I can handle, so I was more particular to the salsa endiablada. It had a really nice amount of heat, while not losing the integrity of the salsa. Fresh tortilla chips are always the right choice, and these were as good as any. The deliciousness of the chips and salsa made me really excited for our tacos to come out. 

When the tacos came out, the blissfulness of the meal continued. Fresh corn tortillas, perfectly seasoned meats, just the right amount of cilantro, onion and lime juice, were enough to make me feel like I was sitting on the street in Mexico enjoying some tacos. The perfect marriage of those flavors is truly unparalleled, and the more I have it done right, the better it becomes to my taste buds. I devoured them all, barely stopping to take a breath in between. 

Three pints for the delicious Las Lomas. The only thing that really threw me off was the decoration and feel inside. It clearly used to be a diner at some point because they have the counter set up like a diner still. It is a really cool little place in Hammonton, and apparently they have a location in Vineland so feel free to check that one out too. You will get some authentic Mexican fare for an affordable price. Check it out and let me know what you think! Cheers!

Restaurant Week 2...Chops!

Chops Steakhouse

700 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106 

www.chops-restaurant.com/‎

I usually try to take my girlfriend to one steakhouse during one of the two restaurant weeks that Philly offers because it is obviously much more affordable to do so then. The one that we chose this past winter was called Chops. The menu I looked up was very interesting, and the place looked great and had good reviews, so we were pretty excited to spend our evening there. Unfortunately for us, it all went downhill from the moment we stepped in the door.

 

When we were seated, our waiter took his sweet old time getting over to us. Once he did arrive, we ordered our drinks and when he brought them to the table we ordered our food. He walked away and we both took a sip of our drinks. We both made similar faces, because the drinks were straight up awful. Mine was supposed to be a gin gimlet, but it tasted like water and gin with a few cucumber seeds dispersed throughout. The pulp of the cucumber was still very whole as well, which made the drink extremely unappetizing. I was not happy with the start to our meal and I really hoped it was going to get better. 

Next up were our appetizers, fried calamari for me, and gnocchi with mushrooms for her.  My calamari was ok, but nothing amazing. I doused it with a healthily amount of lemon juice, and dipped each bite into the somewhat watery marinara sauce. Her gnocchi was gluey and dense, really rather bad. It was another huge misstep in our meal, and we kind of knew the meal was doomed from there. 

Our entrees were the crab cakes and the filet with mashed potatoes and broccoli. I don’t even know where to begin with the steak. It was cooked well, but it had zero seasoning. The same was true of the mashed potatoes, in addition to them being lumpy and cold. The broccoli wasn’t cooked long enough, because it still had a lot of resistance to it when we bit into it. Again it didn’t have any seasoning at all, so it was another epic fail. The crab cakes had decent flavor, but they didn’t have any lump meat in them, and they really didn’t hold together well. I don’t know how they were made, but I really wasn’t a fan. The sauce on them was bland, and even the addition of lemon couldn’t save these doomed crab cakes. 

We were just looking forward to getting out of there by them time dessert rolled around, but if you can believe it, it actually got worse. Both my slice of chocolate cake and her carrot cake came out freezing cold as if they had been sitting in the fridge or worse yet were frozen and not quite defrosted all the way. To me that means they were bought, not made and it really was presented and prepared poorly. It was the tip of the iceberg for this disastrous meal. I took two bites before pushing it away.

Zero pints for Chops. The service was awful all the way through, with our waiter paying more attention to others than us, but even better service would not have saved this restaurant. The food was below mediocre. I had high hopes for this place going in, but we left with a bad taste in our mouths having paid for a meal that we felt was terrible. I will not be back to Chops and I hope you heed my advice and avoid it too. Actually I heard recently that it has been closed, so I guess you have to avoid it! Cheers!

Mexican Fiesta...

Mexican Food Factory

601 West Route 70

Marlton, NJ 08053

‎http://www.yelp.com/biz/mexican-food-factory-marlton 

One of my supervisors at my former job and I spent a week out a client in Marlton once a quarter. We used to hit up a lot of the same spots, most of which I had reviewed on this blog in the past. One place we hadn’t ever been and actually forget about a lot of the time when deciding where to go for lunch is the Mexican Food Factory. We shot over there one day when I suggested it. It was my first time ever being there, and it seemed pretty legit. It has been in the same spot for as long as I can remember, so I figured it must be pretty good.

They brought us out some chips and salsas, two different kinds to be exact, while we perused the menu. I was as always in the mood for some tacos, and the carne asada tacos caught my eye. I hadn’t had steak in a while and I love me some carne asada, so I figured it would be a nice treat. We devoured the chips and salsa. They were delicious, clearly made fresh in house. The salsas were pretty tasty as well. One was more of a pico de gallo than a salsa in my opinion, but it was flavorful nonetheless. I prefer my salsas pureed a bit more. Chunks are always ok, but they have to be a little bit blended for my preference.

When our order arrived I was pretty impressed. The tacos were served as they traditionally should be, doubled up corn tortillas and topped only with cilantro and onion, and garnished with a lime wedge. The steak was cooked well, but I wish it had a bit more char to it. I am a freak for texture, especially when it comes to tacos, so for me they were a tad bit too one note with the textures. The flavor was very good though; hitting all the points I wanted it to. The herbaciousness of the cilantro, the acidity of the lime juice, the bite of the onion, the heat from the sauce, and the richness from the beef provided for an excellent taco. As you all know my now, I also love refried beans. Actually I love beans of all sorts, which I can attribute to dating a Latin woman, because I never really ate them before her. These particular refried beans were very nice. They were very smooth and deeply rich and creamy.

Two and a half pints for the Mexican Food Factory. I will definitely be returning, as there were a few items on the menu that really caught my eye. As I have mentioned before, I am currently obsessed with Mexican food, especially tacos and sopes, so anytime I can get them I do. Check it out when you get a chance and let me know what you think! Cheers!