Sampan

My experience at Sampan was extraordinary in that I liked our server, enjoyed the food, but would not return. Maybe it was restaurant week, maybe it was the unlucky trick of having a 10 person party of unusually loud teenagers seated next to us, but having our food inappropriately staggered over two and half hours while simultaneously not being able to hear my dining companion made for an unpleasant dining experience.

As faithful readers (e.g., family members) know, I am not a fan of restaurant week. Usually, it's a limited menu, limited portions, and the only extra value is a dessert I wouldn't have ordered anyways. Sampan actually reverses the equation, though -- it offers four courses, plus dessert, chosen off their entire menu, for $35. This is a lot of food. They're also offering this through October, by the way, should you be very hungry for Pan-Asian and high decibel levels this fall.

After about a 20 minute wait, we are afforded the opportunity to order. Our server is personable and knowledgeable about the menu and sells us on the restaurant week deal. Seconds after we place our order, the crab wanton taco and edamame dumplings arrive -- before our drinks. Seconds thereafter, still before drinks, the pork banh mi and the hamachi ceviche arrive.Drinks arrive a little later. I love a good yuzu sake martini, or really anything involving yuzu. The pork banh mi was a great mix of savory, moist pork with tangy pickled onions and vegetables, while the hamachi ceviche's tempura flakes provided an interesting texture to an otherwise straightforward approach to the ceviche. Then we waited. About an hour for the remaining four dishes. Looking back, we simply should have left at this point. We had enough food, and it was around this point that the party of ten was seated next to us, raising an already high noise level to something requiring earplugs. Our server put in for free yuzu lemonades to compensate for the wait, which I'm fairly confident did absolutely nothing for us. An hour later, my dining companion's peking duck and side of pad thai arrived. Despite the lack of hoisin sauce, the duck's flavors were complex, a good mixture of salty and sweet that contrasted well against the soft tamarind pancakes. Truly tasty morsels. I would be remiss by not mentioning my perfectly caramelized brussel sprouts and tasty scallops over a beet salad.

After finishing what we could, we sat with our completed plates for maybe 20 more minutes, until I was able to flag down our server and ask to move on, in lieu of dessert. Dessert still arrived, small ice cream cones with tiny homemade soft-serve ice cream. Charming, much like the rest of the food, if only we were seated in a different restaurant.

Sampan is located at 124 S. 13th Street, Philadelphia, Pa, www.sampanphilly.com.

Trio

Trio plays to its strengths. It's a cute BYO with neighborhood appeal. The decor and service are cozy and professional and its menu has remained largely unchanged allowing one to develop favorite items for which to later crave. The food is not cutting edge or expensive, nor would I be up to returning to a cutting edge restaurant multiple times. And I've certainly visited Trio multiple times, since it's located in my own backyard (practically). Which is how I arrived there this week, with a neighbor friend in tow, both of us looking for something fulfilling but casual.

Opened almost two years ago by Tom Jamavan, Michael Poole, and Van Chau (hence, "Trio"), the restaurant offers Pan Asian cuisine out of corner brownstone in the heart of the art museum neighborhood. Its consistent menu is supplemented by daily specials, all of which seem fresh and, in fact, "special." Its recent expansion to its successful take-out business is delivery and for this, I will always be grateful.

But the atmosphere still remains a draw to the restaurant, with one of the owners usually present to greet you and remember repeat customers. I am one of them, I admit. I have the appetizer menu down -- am I in the mood for the scrumptious, delicately fried Beggars' Pouches filled with shrimp and crabmeat, swimming in a light dumpling sauce, or should I stick with my standard chicken satay with slightly spicy peanut sauce and a cool and tangy cucumber relish? I have gone crazy with the sweet corn fritters (a Pan Asian take on comfort food) or the innocuous but pleasing steamed seafood dumplings. I've also heard good things about the Lemongrass soup, but have steered clear due to its spiciness.

Last night, I succumbed to my favorite entree, the Tamarind Lacquered Pork Chop. Lightly basted in the tangy "tamarind lacquer" and topped with green onion, the chop fits the bill on a cold night. Often, I order the Pad Thai, which also offers a reliably tasty, fresh preparation. I tasted my friend's Basil Chicken last night, which she cautioned to order "not spicy" so the chef does not over-pepper the chicken, and found its basil flavor fresh but not overpowering.

Trio has recently added a dessert cooler, filled with tempting options that we somehow managed to resist last night. The meal ended on a perfect note -- the owner asking if we would add ourselves to an invitation list for an upcoming event for neighbors. I couldn't be more pleased Trio's lasted these two years.

Trio is located at 2624 Brown Street, Philadelphia, PA. Photo of Beggars' Pouches by Philadelphia Weekly.

Pod

It's all about the bling. Much like the other Stephen Starr restaurants, Pod creates a concept and delivers a theme. A theme that weds my love of Disneyworld with my love of feeling hip. Resembling the inside of a spaceship, Pod offers many interest decorational quirks. The "pods," for example, large round booths (all done, like the rest of the restaurant and its seating, in white sculpted plastic) can be set to different colors of light by the diners. Not surprising from the design firm that brought you Nobu and the W Hotel in New York.

Just as I settled in and was deciding whether the plastic dining chairs were, in fact, comfortable (I'm going with "yes"), Mark Wahlberg walks in. Marky Mark. With an entourage (pardon the pun) of behind-the-camera-looking folks. I know this not because I watched him walk in, but because rather suddenly, TPB lit up, smiling widely but conservatively, and giving a warm nod to people passing directly behind me. Soon after TPB whispered Wahlberg's name to me, followed by a reverent rejoinder, I'm not kidding. So began the refrain of stealing glances, commenting on his real-life versus screen appearance, and speculating on his guests.

Which is all just accoutrement to the scene that is Pod. Wahlberg fit in, as did cocktails named after the colors of the rainbow ("Blue," "Orange," etc.), and Tron, which was playing on a loop on the televisions behind us.

Could I describe the food? Sure, but I'm telling you, it's only part of the ensemble cast at work here. The miso soup was among the best I've had, thanks to generous portioning of tofu and fresh green onion. The dumplings were steamed with a tangy dipping sauce inside of them, a magical and satisfying trick. The "tuna three way" special, which featured tuna tartare, spicy tuna with mango roll, and a spicy tuna taco with large pieces of sashimi in a puffed noodle shell, succeeded for both the mouth and the eye. The bulk of our meal was sushi a la carte, including yellow tail and rainbow roll, among other selections. The sushi doesn't rival the freshness of Sagami or even Genji, but it was still very good.

With my second drink, a sake mojito that I highly recommend, I settled into my star-gazing and hipster posturing. Definitely a good time.

Pod is located at 3636 Sansom Street, http://www.podrestaurant.com/.