Dining Out in the City of Brotherly Love

Over the weekend, MG and I went on our second (and my third) weekend trip in a row.  This time, we headed off to Pennsylvania for the wedding of one of MG's college friends.  We had a great time at the wedding!

Sunday morning we got up early and after a workout in the Holiday Inn Express fitness room (where apparently the circuit can't handle 2 treadmills and the TV all operating at once) we drove to Philadelphia to meet up with MG's parents, younger brother and family friends for lunch.  I had only been to Philadelphia once before (so I'm told - I think I was about 4 years old), so we arrived early and did a little sightseeing.  We toured the Old Quaker Meeting House and the Christ Church Cemetery where Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush are buried.  It was very cool, but there are so many other things I'd like to see, so we definitely have a full weekend trip planned sometime in the next year.

 

For lunch we went to the Old City neighborhood where MG's parents had made a reservation at Fork.  It was a fantastic meal with great food and great company!

We started with a roll service - I selected the whole grain and MG had the fruit and nut.  Although there were a lot of really delicious-looking options on the brunch menu, I knew immediately what I wanted when I saw butternut squash soup with toasted pepitas.  I am a sucker for all squash (it might be my favorite veggie ever.  Except for eggplant.  And avocado.  Hmmm...) and the the cooler weather has got me all excited for fall flavors.  I also had a pickled beet salad with garden vegetables, chevre and a lemony aioli dressing.  Beets - another favorite of mine (I'm going to just take it all back and not pick a favorite veggie).

 

Tastes of fall and summer, all in one meal!

MG had fruit salad and a frittata with potatoes, green olives, tomato sauce and almonds.

 

After lunch we stopped for coffees at a local shop and then walked over to Reading Terminal Market.  I was really excited to visit, because I am a big fan of big indoor markets, but unfortunately about 1/3 of the booths were closed on Sundays.  We did find an awesome little shop that sold lots of fun kitchen items and bought some cookie cutters and two mini-springform pans!  I am a sucker for mini-baking items.  I can't wait to make a mini-cheesecake or two.  They are just so cute :)

We spotted this storefront next to the coffeeshop.  I have no idea what it is. 

Possibly something from a Stephen King novel? Obviously I had to take a picture.

We got a little lost on our way here.

Trotters.

 

Why don't we have this in D.C.? I love Eastern Market, but this is way better...

Finally we headed back to the car for the return trip to D.C.  It was a great weekend, although I have to be honest - I'm really excited about the next three weekends at home before we kick off our October of crazy travel.  Despite all the busy-ness though, we have found time to cook here and there, so I promise there will be some recipes in the near future!

Dining Out: Graffiato

Last night MG and I had dinner at Graffiato, Mike Isabella's new small plates restaurant. We enjoyed watching Isabella on Top Chef and we are big fans of Zaytinya, the Jose Andres mezze restaurant where Isabella used to be executive chef. So, thinking quickly, MG made a reservation for us as soon as they announced the opening.

The space itself is pretty cool and when we first walked in, I spotted the owner himself chatting it up with patrons at the bar. We were seated upstairs, which meant no schmoozing with Mike, but it was much quieter up there, so it made for a better dining experience (or that's what I'm telling myself as a consolation prize for not getting to hang out with a celebrity chef).

We started off with drinks - I had a "Saged and Confused" which was a delicious blend of vodka, cucumber juice, lime and sage. It was refreshing and not too heavy on the vodka (but not too light either :) ). MG went with "Staring at the Sun" - bourbon, apricot nectar, ginger and basil. He gave me a sip and it was great! I'm not a fan of bourbon, but I would absolutely order this drink the next time we come (and there will be a next time). While we were deciding they brought us pistachios to snack on, which were, I believe, dusted with a chili-lime coating.

 

We had a total of seven dishes, starting with a dish of marinated mixed olives (I love olives!).  The olives were great, because we had something to snack on as they brought out each plate.

We selected four veggie plates. The first was a sweet and sour eggplant with pine nuts. We enjoyed it, but it wasn't our favorite (although the pine nuts were a nice touch).

Next, we had a baby carrot salad with farro, dates, lardo and radicchio.  This was by far my favorite vegetable dish and a contender for best dish of the evening. I had never had farro before, but we both agreed to pick some up the next time we're at the grocery store. It was wonderful and rich and nutty. The whole dish had an earthy taste with a touch of sweetness from the dates. Yum!

Our third vegetable plate was roasted cauliflower with pecorino romano. This was MG's favorite in the veg category. There was something familiar and nostalgic about the dish - I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the nutty flavor of the cheese or the toasty brown-ness (is that a word?) of the cauliflower reminded me of some happy moment locked away in my food memory vault.

The last vegetable dish was a risotto with asparagus and pesto. It was perfectly prepared; the creaminess of the risotto worked beautifully with the pesto. Plus, I'm a sucker for asparagus in pretty much any form.

Next came our two meat courses. First, the famous chicken thighs with pepperoni sauce! All I can say about that is that I am now a believer. Pepperoni sauce may sound like something you'd expect to find in a can labeled Chef Boyardee, but let me assure you - this was simply outstanding. It wasn't oily at all, which was something I'd wondered about. Just creamy and tomato-y with a distinct bite of pepperoni. The chicken thighs were moist and tender as well. This wasn't my favorite all-around dish, but it was a strong runner-up.

Our final dinner course was the potato gnocchi with braised pork shank, burrata and arugula. This was both MG's and my favorite dish. The gnocchi were very well done (some day I'll have to try making these - is it hard?) and the pork shank was melt-in-your-mouth tender. The burrata melted down over the braising liquid. All the components combined into one rich, decadent bite with a nice bite of peppery arugula to finish it off.

Finally, we treated ourselves to Nutella cookie sandwiches and espressos. The cookies were so cute and little, but man did they pack a big punch! I mean, 1) it's Nutella, so no complaints there, but 2) the cookies had a dusting of sea salt. Sea salt + chocolate = love. Seriously. I had been considering a couple of other desserts, but after I took one bite, I knew I made the right choice.

 

Overall, we agreed that it was an excellent meal. It's not cheap, but you will walk away more than satisfied. One nice thing about Graffiato is that it uses a lot of locally-sourced ingredients. The menu last night featured plenty of summertime produce like corn, tomatoes and arugula. We decided we'd have to come back in the winter to see what a change of climate and vegetable options will bring to Isabella's offerings.

But I'll probably be having the pepperoni sauce again. ;)

Day Trip to Annapolis

Yesterday I surprised MG with a day trip to Annapolis - he knew we were going somewhere for the day, but he didn't know where until we were on our way there :)

Despite the heat, we had a fantastic time.  The city is only about 30 minutes away, so we drove up in the morning, and arrived about 11:30.  After parking the rental, we walked down to the waterfront to start the trip off right - with a dockside lunch!  I had some delicious fish tacos and steamed veggies.  MG had jerk chicken and let me have a bite - also delicious!

I forgot to take a picture of the food, but this was a lovely view.

We knew generally that we wanted to see the State House, the Paca House and Gardens and the U.S. Naval Academy, but other than that had no real agenda, so after lunch we started wandering.  Luckily, a turn down a small street led us to Capital Teas - we though it was just a tea shop where we could buy iced teas, but it was SO MUCH BETTER.  There were no brewed teas, but every flavor (scent?) of loose leaf teas imaginable.  We smelled quite a few, but as soon as we found the chocolate mint flavor and the toasted almond flavor, we knew we'd found our winners.  It's way too hot to think about actually having any right now, but I'm starting to daydream of cooler (possibly sweater?) weather and a glass of hot toasted almond tea.

So happy we discovered this place!

Next we toured the Paca House and Gardens, an historical 18th century home built by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  The house itself was lovely, but the real highlight was the extensive gardens.

Pears!

Peaches!

A beautiful trellis.  I felt like I was in the Secret Garden.

Possibly a pomegranate?

After the house and garden tour we decided to have an ice cream break.  I had a scoop each of sugar-free butter pecan and sugar-free moose tracks, and MG had a scoop of raspberry truffle and a scoop of chocolate peanut butter.  It was fantastic, and fitting way to start my 1 week ice cream/froyo self-imposed moratorium, since I've had one of the two every day for the last 4 days (and twice on Friday).  Oops.

Essential on a hot day of walking.

After our frozen treats we walked the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy, which were beautiful.  There was a whole row of houses where the senior officers and deans live.  They were all in a row, with white porches and red, white and blue bunting and perfectly manicured yards.  I think if I lived there I'd pretend I was in the Music Man every day.

After the U.S.N.A. we wandered the streets for a few more hours, stopping at some antique stores and a book store or two.  Finally, we decided it was time to have dinner before heading back to D.C.  We lucked out and found a tapas restaurant called Level that features locally-sourced produce and meats.  Although Thai food sounded good too, we figured we didn't get a chance to sample locally produced Maryland food that often, so tapas it was.  Excellent decision!  Unfortunately the picture quality below isn't great - it wasn't well lit and I didn't want to disrupt other diners with the flash all the time.  Nevertheless, photo documentation was in order.

Rehydrating.

Potato gnocchi with a pea puree and bison satay in the background.

P.S. apparently they raise bison in MD?!

Japanese eggplant with goat cheese.

Grilled calamari with crispy capers.

Cuban pork spring rolls with habanero sweet dipping sauce.

Sauteed wax beans with red pepper and garlic - clearly we enjoyed these.

The gnocchi and the sauteed wax beans were our favorites.  The grilled calamari was probably our least favorite - MG is not a seafood fan (but was being a good sport in the spirit of trying new things), and I found the squid a little tougher than I'd like.  But everything else was fantastic.  

Why is this book on the table?

Secret check holder!  Fancy :)

If you're in Annapolis, I recommend this place.