Famous 4th Street Deli (19th Street)

There are times in one's life where massive quantities of comfort food are in order.  The day after my cat died, suffering from a sinus infection, I knew there was one place that could give me what I needed:  Famous 4th Street.  I wanted matzoh ball soup and several different forms of carbohydrates; I wasn't too picky about which ones.  I knew Famous would have things in fantastical, Disney-like proportions, as though eating in the eighth Epcot country of overgrown Jewish delicatessens.  Proportion-wise, I was spot on.  Taste wise, well, stick with the soups and bagels.

The matzoh ball soup, pictured above, was amazing -- with white meat chicken and the matzoh ball being substantive without crossing the line in density.  The grilled cheese tasted purely of butter and of this, I can never complain.  The stuffed cabbage, serve with potato pancakes and kishka.  Kishka, I asked?  Our server was dubious, noting it was an acquired taste.  It turns out to be sausage or stuffed intestine with a filling made of meat or meal (so says wikipedia) and a taste that I did not, in fact, acquire that evening.

The stuffed cabbage was apparently done in traditional Jewish deli style, not in my traditional Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother's style, meaning it was bizarrely, sugary sweet.  Not my favorite.

We got some sides with our grilled cheese (did I mention the need for massive amounts of carbs?).  The challah stuffing was also strangely sweet and the onion mashed potatoes, pictured left, while enough to feed a small army, were strangely less than great.  Both simultaneously buttery and dry, the potatoes had too many onions for a skewed flavor balance that didn't work for me.

For dessert, however, after much debate and eschewing of the ever-popular black and white cookie, we opted for the checkerboard cake, with mocha-like buttercream frosting.  It was the size of my arm and I ate leftovers from it for three days - after I split it with MDC.  Really amazing, moist, tasty cake.

Around since 1923 and best known for being the central gathering on many an election day, Fourth Street reinvented itself in 2005, changing hands, and ultimately expanding to its Rittenhouse location.  I like the atmosphere, white subway tiles, and older crowd.  Where its food sometimes fails, its scale still wows.  Someday I will learn the scientific nomenclature around the high one gets from massive amounts of carbohydrates.  In the mean time, I will call it comforted.

Famous 4th Street Deli is located at 38 S. 19th Street, Philadelphia, http://www.famous4thstreetdelicatessen.com/. 

Nam Phuong

There comes a point, in the middle of an east coast winter and a bad cold, after the Sudafed and Niquil and hot steamy showers have done some of their magic, where I can just begin to taste again.  Where the only thing I want is the perfect bowl of pho.  This time, I remembered the place I had been meaning to try, generally hailed as the being the best pho in Philadelphia:  Nam Phuong.

The atmosphere at Nam Phuong is a bit better than my old standby, Pho Ha, and the hours are better - 10 to 10 every day.  Also nestled in a chaotic Asian grocery store strip mall on Washington Street, Nam Phuong turned out to be the respite for which I had been looking from the icy snow and my sinus infection.

After a brief flirtation with predictably good summer rolls (with shrimp and pork), we moved onto the pho, with my opting for pho with eye round steak and well-done flank (yes, I know tripe and soft tendon taste better, but I was feeling less than adventurous), and MDC going for pho with beef balls, which the server kindly clarified to "meat balls." 

Arriving with all of the fixings of Thai basil, bean sprouts and sliced chili peppers, the pho satisfied my ultimate soup cravings.  This was a broth that reflected the hours of preparation that should go into all good broths, with vaguely fragrant notes of cilantro, onions, ginger, beef, star anise, and clove melding into one profile that is both comforting and intriguing all at the same time.  The beef itself was tender and flavorful, melding nicely with the hoisin sauce I dolloped on top.

Of course it's pho, which in and of itself can feed a family for days.  Coupled with hearty beef additions, MDC and I did our best to get through it in a couple of hours, with plenty left to take home.  And a further abated cold.

Nam Phuong is located at 11th and Washington Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa, http://www.namphuongphilly.com/. 

Flying Monkey and Reading Terminal

Bananas Foster Whoopie Pie by Flying Monkey Patisserie

When I talk about my blog with people, I invariably get asked by the more results-driven folks out there, "what are you going to do with that?"  I mumble something about not wanting a second job and that it's just a fun hobby, but I often conclude with the story of Elizabeth, a woman I met at a Philly blogger potluck several years ago. 

At the time, she worked part-time as a baker but otherwise maintained a desk job and wrote a food blog on the side.  Today, she owns Flying Monkey Patisserie at the Reading Terminal Market and has invented such creative items like the Pumpple Cake, a thanksgiving cake combining apple and pumpkin pies and cake.  Together with her baked creations, she has appeared on the Today and Rachel Ray shows.  Now that's doing something with your blog.

At her recommendation, I tried the peanut-butter-and-jelly bar, which I highly recommend for its taking one of my favorite combinations and making it a bit more refined and cookie-sweet, but retaining its comfort food nature.  I also tried the whoopie pie above and the creme brulee whoopie pie, below.

The caramel sweetness was unmistakable and the sugar crystals made for a nice nod to a traditional brulee topping.  The Bananas Foster whoopie pie, though, hit the mark for me -- a subtle blend of a banana bread with a mildly sweet creamy filling.

But it's Reading Terminal, and I can never visit just one store.  I had to pick up curry in the Spice Terminal and swing by Iovine Brothers' Produce, the massive produce market in the "back" corner of the market.  Fresh herbs, pounds of squash, shiitake and portobello mushrooms, onions, and other ingredients to comprise the lunch for 8 I'm doing on Monday came to about $20.  I love this place.  It's normally chaos, but sneaking in on a sleepy Saturday morning is perfect.

Last but not least, I stopped in Chocolate by Mueller to pick up a chocolate brain for my neurosurgery peeps at work.  They also have chocolate hearts, ears, liberty bells, and pretty much anything else you're interested in getting, in chocolate. Including the chocolate onion pictured below on top of the brains.  I have no idea of the appeal of that one.





The Reading Terminal Market is located at 12th and Arch in Philadelphia.  Check out Flying Monkey at www.flyingmonkeyphilly.com.

Noble

Amidst a movie theater, comedy club, dance studio, and comic book store, sits Noble, a two story bar restaurant. Like the block, Noble is filled with interesting possibilities, a lot of which don't actually work well together. 

Much of the menu presented a conundrum -- the winter vegetable soup sounded wonderful, but with pancetta-granola?  A roasted beet salad is always a crowd pleaser, but with black olives?  Even the cocktail menu, a happy place for me generally, offered mixes with bourbon, which would then be topped off with ... sparkling wine. 

Our server, who was pleasant and seemingly smart, when asked about "what was good here," directed us to the most frequently ordered options.  Well, okay, we'll sign up for the lemming plan.  As it turns out, the gnocchi parisienne, which can be ordered as a starter or main dish, was pretty amazing.

We are told that "parisienne" means the gnocchi is prepared almost as a pate au choux, so a lighter, flakier gnocchi.  After such a highbrow description, our server added, "they're sort of like Combos."  Again, with the odd mixes.  Their taste appeal was anything but highbrow; it was straightforward floury, cheesy, fried goodness.  MCRF wisely ordered the dish without the pancetta; nothing about the dish needed the bacon.  Rather, it might have benefited from something a little less heavy and salty.

MCRF opted for the most-ordered-dish as an entree, the grilled spanish octopus, which was reportedly "very good."  I went with the duck breast, as I am unable to turn down anything served with "sweet potato bread and persimmon."

So yeah, there's a lot going on here.  The sweet potato bread was good, but didn't quite work with the duck (it's that tiny loaf sitting on top).  The duck breast, executed well, worked with the braised cabbage but the other three elements seemed a bit out of place.

Intrigued by the cardamom coffee pot de creme (say that three times fast), we ended up with dessert.  The pot de creme was served with a brittle/rice krispy-ish topping that made it hard to eat, frankly, and the pumpkin ice cream, while tasty, seemingly belonged to another dessert.  MCRF's mexican chocolate pate was good and very dense, with a spiced sauce rubbed on the plate. 

A small amount of controversy surrounds Noble, which was founded on offering local and sustainable foods only, but has since departed pursuing that endeavor 100% (so yes, a little less "noble").  Also incongruent was the downstairs offering a bar menu, including what looked like a great burger, while the upstairs does not, although a table next to us did without our realizing it was an option.

From its hand drawn sign contrasted against its stark white and dark wood interior, its young male bar crowd against its more staid professional crowd, and all of the other strange combinations here, I am at a loss to understand Noble's identity and hesitant to recommend.

Noble is located at 2025 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, www.noblecookery.com.    

The Four Seasons

The lobster bisque

Classic food is classic for a reason.  While perhaps less intriguing, it can be reliably sublime.  Add giant endless tall sprays of flowers amidst wood paneling and banquettes, and a server who kisses your hand when you leave, you could only have the Four Seasons, which has been delivering such classics  for fifty years here in Philadelphia.

I received the invitation through the Four Seasons' email list -- $50 for three courses (and what turned out to be several amuse bouche's) and a champagne toast, in celebration of their fifty years.  I stayed on the wait list for several weeks, before receiving a kind call from the maitre d'hotel that I had made it into the dinner.  Was I excited?  Having never had Beef Wellington or Baked Alaska, why yes, yes I was.

I am tempted to say that the tarragon, purple potato and plenty of lump lobster meat made the bisque, but in reality, it was the servers' gently pouring the bisque into our bowls, on top of the solid ingredients, that made it special.  Similarly, the tenderloin of Beef Wellington did melt in my mouth, aided by the strong but nuanced red wine sauce.  But what stood out was how the tiny vegetables were each delicately carved.  The grouper, pictured at left, was topped with a medley of spinach, golden raisins, carrots and, of course, preserved kumquat.

I probably don't need to tell you that my Sidecar, served with the classic sugar rim, was amazing.  It's precisely this kind of place that can make a perfect Sidecar.

But the Baked Alaska -- several hosts were carrying around the larger flaming volcanic version -- was classically fun.  A meringue exterior insulates ice cream from melting.  The textures are appealing and the ice cream refreshing.

Was the food great?  Of course it was.  But what makes the Four Seasons special is its consistent priority on service and reliability.  Whether it's the maitre d' personally introducing himself to me, or how, when I used to walk to work every day past it, the door man would go out of his way to say hello, the Four Seasons remembers what great manners and service mean.  The excellent food is superfluous.

The Four Seasons is located at 18th and the Parkway, Philadelphia, http://www.fourseasons.com/philadelphia/.

Dandelion

The devil is in the details. Stephen Starr knows this, much in the way Walt Disney knew this.  Dandelion masters the details of an English pub, albeit a bit of an Epcot version of an English pub, with little pretense of calculation.  Surrounded by wood paneling, cask beers, and mounted animal heads, I got the pub vibe, minus the heavy smoke or drunken regulars.

And the details.  From the precious salt shaker (and accompanying miniature pepper mill) to the actual flavor of butter in my eggs benedict, Dandelion is paying attention. 

I've been on a brunch kick.  I love a lazy morning in the city, walking around, enjoying great food while people watching.  This weekend, with spring weather peeking out, was no exception.  And so I found myself around Rittenhouse Square, across from Tria, at the three-month-old Dandelion.  Of course, another perk of brunch is the interesting drink selections.  Dandelion, like most Starr restaurants, offers some interesting ones.  I opted for its take on my fave Pimm's cup - this one made with Pimm's, gin, lemon and muddled cucumber, allowing one to actually taste the cucumber.  Refreshing.

A better reviewer may have gone with the server's recommendation of the English Breakfast (blood pudding, baked beans, the whole nine yards) or maybe the Lamb Shepherd's pie, offerings more indicative of the pub experience.  I am not that reviewer and I enjoy my eggs benedict.  

I'm going out on a limb here to say this was one of the best eggs benedict I've ever had.  I could taste the butter on the English muffin; the hollandaise was rich and flavorful while still conveying a hint of lemon; and the proportions were perfect.  But no potatoes!  We quickly remedied.

Catch the details here of the perfect tin cup, the charming saucer.  The chips were more of the steak frites variety and less likely to perfectly sop up extra hollandaise, but would be perfect as a burger accompaniment.  My dining companion opted for the aged cheddar and smoked ham omelet, which he reported was "perfect."  It looks fairly perfectly done, doesn't it?

Goes nicely with his beer, a great pub brunch.

Dandelion offers only a small placard over its door with a "dandy lion" character.  Easy to miss in cold weather, when the windows remain closed.  It's worth finding, however, whether it's to stop at the bar for a beer (especially if you like the under-carbonated cask beers they offer, in addition to more of a wide selection), brunch, or dinner.

Dandelion is located at the northwest corner of 18th and Sansom, Philadelphia,  http://www.thedandelionpub.com/. 

Tinto

Brunch is one of those perfect meals offering everything -- savory and the sweet, breakfast and lunch, fruit juice and drinks.  A great restaurant doesn't make you choose, but bundles everything into manageable, appetizing selections.  Tinto does exactly that, and has been doing it for years.  With its great brunch package - a $25 fixed price menu of appetizer, entree and dessert - it also throws in some of (Iron) Chef Jose Garces's plot twists that transform average brunch food into something amazing.  The only downside?  You will crave the maple grits.  For a long time.

Like many good meals, this one started with the perfect drink - an Iraty, consisting of muddled lemon, aperol and bourbon fizz.  Aperol is a lighter, sweeter Campari and a nice pair with the bourbon flavor.  The drink menu also offers interesting twists on a Bloody Mary (with celery vodka and chorizo) and a Mimosa (blood orange and gran torres in cava). 

The appetizer selection presents some tough choices -- with tapas standards like the mixed cheese plate or serrano ham, or the tortilla espanola.  Somehow, I always end up with the cured salmon plate, the highlight of which is the chive cream.  I don't know how they create this lighter-than-air shmear, but it's flavorful and perfect without being heavy.

Yes, that's old school egg salad with cornichons to top your bialy there.  The egg salad was a bit standard, but I got a kick of the nod to the traditional brunch offering.

Entrees get trickier.  Whether to get the Huevos Benedictos with truffle hollandaise on brioche toast with serrano, or the Padre de Hijo, crispy duck confit, tinto hash and duck egg, is the type of highly difficult problem I love to tackle.  Again, I find myself opting for my standby - Revuelto de Hongas, wild mushrooms, goat cheese espuma, and truffle butter.  Yup, that's truffle butter on my toast and goat cheese foam on my eggs.  It's tempting to ask for seconds. 

But the secret happiness here are the maple grits.  I know what you're thinking -- insipidly sweet, right?  Wrong.  They walk the perfect balance, much like brunch, of a savory flavor of cheese against a sweet but simple topping of maple syrup (think when you were a kid, or yesterday, making sure your sausage had syrup on it).  Sublime.

The only thing holding you back from devouring these quickly is knowing you still have dessert coming.  Tinto offers a "brulee of grapefruit" or Gateaux Basque, a cake with pastry cream and black cherries.  Eschewing anything vaguely healthy here, I opted for the cake.  While not the highlight of meal, it offered a restrained sweetness I appreciate.

Unlike some restaurants offering lavish brunch buffets at high prices, Tinto manages to strike the balance of decadence and affordability, with interesting twists on brunch favorites.  Most importantly, though, get the grits.

Tinto is located at 20th and Sansom Streets, Philadelphia, Pa.  www.tintorestaurant.com.  

Marathon Grill


After I've been away for a while, I like to reconnect with the city.  Wander around Rittenhouse, shop, pick up produce at Sue's, browse DiBruno's, maybe stop in a bookstore.  These days always begin on a weekend, at the Marathon Grill at 16th and Sansom.  I grab a window seat and watch the world go by.  Over eggs benedict.

I try to take the New York Times crossword puzzle, kindly delivered to me ahead of schedule on Saturdays.  I always dream up wonderfully productive plans for my day and realize mostly none of those plans, aside from walking around Rittenhouse Square.  Marathon has been there for me through thick and thin, predating my arrival in Philadelphia.  When I worked at the Big Law Firm, I knew the menu by heart - lunch and dinner, of course.  I knew the phone numbers, our account numbers; it was a staple.  But brunch was always all mine, devoid of work.

Marathon was also around before the Stephen Starr or Jose Garces restaurants.  It made a name for itself by using higher end ingredients, offering a lengthy menu where everyone could find something, and delivering that something pretty speedily for workday crowds.  Different Marathon locations have different vibes.  The 16th and Sansom Marathon offers amazing people watching through its glass windows that surround half the restaurant.  Over the years, it added a bar and scaled back its options.

It still offers the Eggs Benedict with spinach and Canadian bacon (formerly Eggs St. Bernard) or with smoked salmon.  I opt for the more traditional.  The Hollandaise sauce is on the money, frothy and rich without being overpowering.  The potatoes are done to a crisp exterior with plenty of flavor, managing to hold their warmth through the consumption of the eggs.

If you go, get their early to snag a choice seat.  And enjoy the city.

Marathon Grill has locations at 13th and Chestnut, 19th and Market, 10th and Walnut, 19th and Spruce, 40th and Walnut and 16th and Sansom, www.eatmarathon.com.

Zama

Over a year has passed since this Rittenhouse sushi spot opened to much fanfare.  Although I'm arriving late to the scene, I'm pleased to report that Hiroyuki "Zama" Tanaka, formerly of Pod, Morimoto, and Genji, is still delivering fun, high-end sushi in a sleek-but-social atmosphere.

Slightly less publicized, but equally pleasing as the sushi, is Zama's extensive drink menu.  I started with a yuzu gimlet, which featured yuzu juice, citrus vodka, and simple syrup, a great blend that highlighted the yuzu flavor (one of my favorites).  Of course, warm house sake hits the spot on a cold night.  But interestingly, Zama offers warm sake after-dinner drinks.  I indulged in the ginger version -- warm sake with ginger liqueur.

After starting with the seaweed salad, which featured an unusual mix of the "usual" seaweed with more lettuce- and radish-like varieties, we moved onto the roll menu.  I opted for the "Bronzizzle," Zama's "cucumber and avocado inside out roll with Bronzino finished with yuzu-soy sauce and hot sesame oil."  Surprisingly refreshing, the roll hit the high notes of a crispness mixed with a sharper flavor.  I was most interested, however, in trying the "super crunchy" maki, pictured below.

I was expecting tempura flakes, but instead got this interested rice puff exterior, which was indeed crunchy.  Unfortunately, it was also spicy, which I was hoping to avoid as Zama offers both spicy and crunchy, but the rice puffs balanced out the spice.  Certainly a change of pace.

Zama picks up on the dessert sampler scene (a favorite of mine at Continental, which offers $3 dessert "bites"), where you can choose three desserts for $10.  The hazelnut bread pudding was warm and heavenly, as was the sake soaked pear upside down cake.  Combined with the warm ginger liqueur sake, the experience was a perfect antidote to a cold winter night.

Zama is located at 128 S. 19th Street, Philadelphia, http://www.zamarestaurant.com/.  First photo with thanks to http://www.opentable.com/. 

Thirteen

On the 8th day of Christmas blogging... I am reminded that a public relations firm invited me to a fun meal at Thirteen, the restaurant in the convention center Marriott downtown. Thirteen had distinguished itself to me in the past by providing refuge from more crowded bars in order to watch some crucial Phillies game. It is a serviceable hotel restaurant, with modern, earth-tone decor and plenty of space to accommodate convention center guests and private parties alike. This past November, I found myself in their semi-posh private dining room enjoying a multi-course meal.

Chef Judson Branch's food choices were a bit ambitious and occasionally delivered. The scallops were done well, but lacked a flavor punch. Thirteen's take on the beet-goat cheese salad was mildly engaging, but I had hoped for more of a flavor variety on this common combination.

The entrees arrived, and with them a risotto that was at best comforting, at worst, a thick mass. Heavy and seemingly overcooked, I was able to, for once, resist its cheesy rice appeal. The meat was done well, however, flavored with a tangy sauce accompaniment that highlighted both it and the risotto well. Desserts were well prepared, with a chocolate raspberry sauce in a lovely presentation. The dessert proved to be fairly delicious, a decadent combination. 

All in all, although the food was hit or miss, I would recommend Thirteen's private dining room for an office party or a good mixing space during the convention and remain loyal to their expansive bar for the key sports events. 

Thirteen is located in the Philadelphia Marriott, 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

JG Domestic

Jose Garces's newest venture, JG Domestic, is unusually located in the thoroughfare through which I normally am running between the parking garage and 30th Street Station. Which is to say it's in an office lobby. Not all of it, but at least a third of it, and the effect is a little strange.

Undeterred and armed with our opening night reservation, however, we were seated and our amiable server explained the menu. It, like many a Garces menu before it, features smaller and larger plates. Our server somewhat non-comittal-ly recommended around 2 smaller plates and 2-3 larger plates, depending on what you order. She also pushed the "snack" portion of the menu, featuring pecans with maple and bacon ($8), popcorn with cheddar and horseradish ($5), and kettle chips with malt vinegar aioli ($4). Kudos to you Chef Garces for getting folks to order those, but I imagine that I can whip that up on the way home with a stop at Wawa.

The menu's second page featured a description of the local farms from which the food derives, an impressive footnote. Non-snack options held more appeal and we settled on the oysters with mignonette and the Keswick Creamery Fondue to start. The Cape May oysters with a concord grape mignonette were good albeit lacking a huge flavor punch, but the tiny slivers of tarragon were overpowering for the relative mildness of the oysters. The fondue, served with toasted bread crisps, apply and onion jam, was strangely thin, akin to a more foamy cheese sauce rather than a fondue and worked better with the bread served with dinner than the crisps. Good concept, however.

Here's where the lesson about not coming on anyone's opening night comes in. We had ordered two selections from the vegetable section of the menu as our entrees, so to speak. After the oysters and fondue arrived, we then waited 45 minutes for the beet salad to arrive. Our disappointment in what came after so much prep time can't be understated.

Pretty? Absolutely. But nine dollars and two bites later, I was left wanting more. And we had ordered more, specifically the white turnip manicotti, topped with quince puree and pistachio. Another half hour passed before that arrived and it was easily the best dish we had chosen. It arrives as a single long roll, filled with what tasted like roquefort and white turnip pieces, topped with the perfect sweet balance of quince.

Should I tell you that we then waited another 45 minutes in the asking-paying-waiting vortex of time for the check? Or that I had to ask for the complimentary truffle bites that other tables had received at the end of their meal? Nah, you probably could have figured that out. I will chalk it up to opening night and a good lesson learned. Here are a couple of more shots from our respective and surreal views. Look out for the cameo from my giant earring.

And last but not least, a sighting of Chef Garces himself, who could be seen cooking in the large open kitchen and was kind enough to inscribe my dining companion's cookbook.If you go, ask for a seat in the back. In addition to the bar area, there are two dining rooms that deliver on the atmosphere lacking in the front. And give the place at least a few months to iron out the kinks.

JG Domestic is located on the first floor of the Cira Center, at Arch and 30th Streets in Philadelphia, Pa., www.jgdomestic.com.

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.