2010-10-24

Rangoon


112 North 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

 (215) 829-8939


Rangoon specializes in Burmese cuisine. The lunch special's a great deal. For $9 including tip you get a soup and entree. I've been getting L4, Lemon grass beef with soup, there for 10 years now. The thousand layer bread's like Roti Canai at Banana Leaf, but I like this version better. It's a lot less chewy and crispier.
 
Scale is 1-11
Cuisine: Burmese
Lo dinner $6.50
Hi $18.50
Ave. $12.50
food 8
service 9
kawaii 9
Ave. 8.67
$/Pt. $1.44

Chicken broth with squash and vegetables. Soup of the day with the lunch special.
Lemon Grass Beef. Lunch special #4.

Beneluxx


33 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (267) 318-7269

Go down the stairs

Beneluxx has a very friendly knowledgeable staff who are very familiar with their offerings. The menu's not large, but the food's well above average and consistently satisfying.
Great Grilled Cheese sandwich

Roasted Banana Tart

Scale is 1-11
Cuisine: Gastro Pub
Lo dinner $7.00
Hi $16.00
Ave. $11.50
food 8
service 9
kawaii 9
Ave. 8.67
$/Pt. $1.33
Great place to go and a little less expensive than Eulogy.
Seating is limited. Make reservation for holidays.

2010-09-19

Pueblo Grande, VA


Pueblo Grande. 2455 South Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Phone: (540) 437-9919 Fax: (540) 437-9924
Good, relatively mild food with home made hot sauces for those who like them. The food can't be beat for the price. Very popular local place with plenty of seating, but can get crowded during lunch and dinner rushes.






Taco, Fajita stuffings, chicken and cheese enchiladas


Chicken Enchiladas

Scale is 1-11
Cuisine: Tex Mex
Lo dinner $5.99
Hi $13.99
Ave. $9.99
food 7
service 7
kawaii 8
Ave. 7.33
$/Pt. $1.36
There are espaliered vines going all around the ceiling for a very nice effect. The staff are friendly and put up with broken (demolished) Spanish. A very pleasant experience; I can see why the local people flock there for the lunch buffet. There is ample seating and the seats have plenty of space.
The buffet has pretty standard items like enchiladas and tacos. Turn over is constant so they're always fresh. Everything is made to a mild spicyness. The hot sauces at the buffet can make it as hot as you like. All the dishes are competently executed which seems hard to find most places.

Chili Rellenos

2010-08-18

Han Dynasty, Old City Philadelphia

Han Dynasty, 108 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19106-3009, (215) 922-1888.

Han Dynasty's menu specializes in authentic spicy Sichuan cuisine. Since I've never been to China I can only take their word for it, but it seems likely. I've been here twice so far and everything's great. The rabbit dish I had was very good, but has lots of small bones to negotiate which can make it challenging to eat. Nothing for it until we start breeding boneless rabbits I suppose.
Spicy Chinese food's a favorite of mine, so I love the place. Prices are modest considering the quality. I've had $100 per head dinners I didn't like as much, but this is really depending on my personal taste. If I had to cite a comparable experience so far as the quality of the food I would have to say it's equal to Nobu Next Door in NYC., but at $25 per head for dinner with an appetizer and main dish compared to $50+ for Nobu Next Door it's a better value. This is NYC compared to Philly, which is more expensive across the board.
Service is far better than average for this locale and the staff are very knowledgeable and accomidating.



Erin preparing Dan Dan Mien Noodles


3 cup Chicken


.

2010-08-08

Asian Bistro

The Asian Bistro just opened recently and was giving out 25% off coupons with the bill good until 08/31. Good Sake, good service. It looks like these guys are doing decently competing with Restaurant Row. I've gone there twice so far and will go again because with 25% off it's a good deal and right around the corner from me. The decor's decent enough to bring a date to, but not like the really fancy places like El Vez. There was a Korean place here before. I went there with friends and we took bets about how long it would last. Guess we were right about it getting "redecorated" which is code for sold most of the time, except for Xe Lua, where it means a 2 week vacation for all the staff. FYI Do Not go to a restaurant the week before they go on vacation. Xe Lua's great, but the food was sub-par by far when I went there just before they went on break. I'm guessing it was clean out the 'fridge time.

2010-07-04

Sling Blade


You'll need some of these. Almost done with my collection. Most expensive ones last. Tasty

Google KML link

I'm storing my data in a Google fusion table you can see like a spreadsheet or map. You can filter the data and manipulate it.

Put this into google maps or earth search box to see all the data as markers with information.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

"Summer" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo in Fleur De Lys's Men's room. It would be cool to create a real dish plated like these. I may have to get some prints for my kitchen. Perhaps custom tiles, hmm ...

Fleur De Lys, San Francisco




Fleur De Lys with chef Hubert Keller in San Francisco. Very refined taste, but I simply don't care for the style. Seems like expensive ingredients just to have them. Great food if this is your thing. Gallery

2010-07-03

Pho Xe Lua (The Train)


Pho Xe Lua #105
I usually get this Pho with beef and no tripe. Compared to Pho Ha on Washington the broth has less of a beef and more of a vegetal flavor. Not a bad thing, just different. Pho Ha has springy-er noodles.
Comes with: basil, lime, spicy bean sprouts & hot pepper slices.

Google Restaurant Map and Picasa Album


Restaurant Map
Includes prices and notes.
Picasa Album

Zento



Catching up on backlog ... Zento's a small place so reservations might be in order.
I didn't care for the warm double shrimp roll. It lacked something I like about the cold variety. Couldn't find it on the online menu.
All the fish is top notch, although I haven't been to Morimotos yet I have been to Nobu next door in NY. Not as good as there, but 90% or so and MUCH cheaper.