Wednesday, February 27, 2013

#4 Fuzhou House - Sandy's synopsis


               









My first thought when standing in front of Fuzhou House was acknowledging that I like the colours green and yellow next to each other. My first thought upon entering the establishment was that is was very much like the TARDIS - much bigger than I expected on the inside. It was downright spacious compared to the "just standing room" space I had imagined for a purely take-out place. 

Here is Sam with the bridge photo she speaks about.
Probably helped make the place seem a little more spacious

Considering all the space and tables, we assumed it was not purely take-out and ergo decided to settle in for an in-restaurant sit down lunch and approached the counter to order our food. I even added "for here" at the end. I began to have a few doubts about our plan when I saw this:



They sell Tea-bag dry noodles!!! No. Not that. I actually don't know what that is. It was the big NO Restroom printout that caught my eye. I did have to pee. We then received our order already packed up in bags as if it were delivery. Which cemented our decision - go back to Sam's house to eat while watching Galaxy Quest - much better plan I say! 
So why am I talking about all this irrelevant shit instead of the food. Well, cause it was standard american-chinese takeout and there isn't too much to say. But let me give you the low-down. I gauge chinese takeout places by their dumplings and I loved these pork dumplings - steamed and then slightly fried on the outside, delicious ginger/garlicky meat on the inside. Garlicky sweet/savoury dipping sauce. All very tasty. 


I got the egg-drop wonton soup which was fine. Good wontons. As an entree I got something I have never heard of before - Bourbon chicken. It was actually very tasty - a good mix of slightly honey-sweet with lots of garlic and chilli flavours. I would recommend trying it if anyone was getting take-out from here. It also lasted me three lab lunch meals - which was fantastic. 

Sam's little picnic table
All in all it was fine. Do I wish the place actually was a TARDIS that I can use to go back in time and avoid eating there? No. Would I ever go there again? Probably not. It isn't close to where I live and the food wasn't THAT mind blowing that I'd go out of my way to order takeout from there instead of someplace closer. If you're in the area for some reason and are craving take-out american chinese - it is good. I will end this post with sharing my fortune with you as Sam did. Fortune 1: "Man's biggest mistake is to believe he is working for someone else." Right. Boring. Fortune 2 was more of a definition really: "A schedule defends from chaos and whim". Lies. Even my anal retentive Google calendar where everything is marked down to the minute doesn't defend from chaos or whim. Besides, I like whim - especially when pronounced Stewie style with stressing the "H".

Fuzhou House
2202 South Street
Philadelphia PA 19146



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

#4 - Fuzhou House - Sam's synopsis

Ahh, Fuzhou House.  Every time I walk by this place it brings back memories of freshman year of college, where my hallmates and I would often order food from one of the local chinese take-out places, exclaiming their names in horribly offensive faux-chinese accents. YUUUMMMY GAAAHDEEN!  RIIIIIN'S GAAAHDEN!  I never went inside these holy temples of late-night quenchers of food cravings, but I imagine they looked just like the inside of Fuzhou House - a disheveled counter, a low-tech looking ATM, and a drink fridge full of regular soda but also containing take-out containers full of pink and yellow liquids labeled "lemonade."  After placing my order of wonton soup, vegetable fried rice and sesame chicken, we proceeded to sit at one of the two tables while waiting for our food. Not much else going on in terms of decoration, although there was a neat picture of a bridge. When we sat down, I noticed that a delivery was already being made 15 minutes into the restaurant being open, which I initially took as a good sign,
An outdated ATM, a delivery bike and a visual menu: the three key ingredients to any take-out chinese restaurant.
but then realized it was Sunday morning and someone was probably really hung over.  Soon after that, a group of college frat bros walked in and ordered a ton of food, pretty much confirming my thoughts that a large proportion of customers who eat here are probably trying to recover from a night of heavy drinking.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

We ended up eating at my place again, because the restaurant was too cold to sit in and we decided it was probably a good idea to have a private bathroom nearby, because you can never really be sure with american chinese food.  I started off with the wonton soup, because it was fucking cold that day and I love wontons.  Overall, I was pretty impressed with the taste and quality of the soup.  The wontons were a nice ratio of noodly-outside to pork-and-veggie inside, and the broth wasn't extremely salty.  And the wontons were flavorful too... one time I had take-out from one of those chinese restaurants in west philly (and actually I think there's one around the block from me now) where everything is behind "bulletproof" paneling and it was the worst wonton soup I have ever had.  Tasted like eating paper.  Anyways, wonton soup = delicious.  The veggie fried rice was pretty standard, but just what I was craving, so no complaints there (where standard = tastes salty and has colorful chunks that sort of resemble vegetables).  And finally, we get to the sesame chicken.  I decided to order sesame chicken because it's a staple of chinese restaurants, and I used to eat it a lot.  I probably should have gotten something that I currently find more appetizing (I was eyeing the cashew chicken), because I was really disappointed in the sesame chicken.  The chicken itself was fine, but it was the sauce that I really did not like at all.  It was too sweet, with no balance of other flavors. I took a few bites and that was it - no more sesame chicken for me.  I would not recommend it to anyone, unless disappointment is a hallmark of your life.
looks can be deceiving
mmm wonton soup
eat all the food!
Since I am incapable of ever being seriously mean to anyone, I will leave a slightly nicer note.  Sandya ordered some pork dumplings, and they were among the better ones I've had from any chinese restaurant.  Fried, delicious and paired with the perfect dipping sauce... mmm.  And, like I said above, their wonton soup lived up to my expectations.  So all in all, the dining experience was pretty much what I would have expected, but don't expect to hear me yelling FUUUZZZHHOOOUU HOOUUUSEE! late at night unless my freshman hallmates decide to come to Philly for reunion.

Finally, let's not forget the most important part of any chinese food experience: the fortune cookie.

In case you can't read that second one, it says: "Listen to life, and you will hear the voice of life crying, Be!"  thanks, fortune cookie, because that advice is super helpful.  Also, haven't had a chance encounter or visit since I got that fortune... you can't trust anyone these days.

Friday, February 8, 2013

#3 Ants Pants Cafe - Sandy's synopsis

 


This place is full of lies. It is advertized as an Australian cafe but ne'er did I see a cowboy hat totting crocodile killer for a cashier nor did I hear one Aussie accent. Despite having a kangaroo in their logo, the menu has a Tunisian dish on it and as a BYOB, I wasn't even guaranteed a Fosters. Australian for beer. This was not what Outback Steakhouse has led me to believe anything Australian should be.

What this place is, however, is fabulous. We got free mussels (cooked with shallots, thyme, white wine, garlic and marinara) which was perfect cause I love mussels and free things. That was nice of them. 


Our waiter was great and helpful about gluten-free options on the menu. As far as appetizers went - I think everyone on the table agreed with the sweet potato fries being just amazing. That sweet and chilli sauce was like it was from another continent. 


The Brussels sprouts were good too. I would use the word fantastic here, but the sweet potato fries really did steal the cake (is that the right idiom?). We need to give it its due time in the limelight...



Okay. That is enough time. Here are those sprouts from Brussels...


But to the main course and the thing I've been biting my lip to keep myself from typing until now lest I get caught up in only ranting about it....MAPLE BACON! 
If you take a peek at their menu, I must say they knew exactly how to advertize this dish. That is the name of the dish - maple bacon. Not maple bacon sandwich. Not avocado and bacon on a baguette. Just plain, simple, maple bacon. Cause truly that is all I needed to know. And it was delicious. I'm not a big fan of baguette - there I said it - so I got mine on focaccia. You can get this gluten-free as well just on a salad which I was told was also delish. The photo doesn't do this justice...


Please go there and experience it for yourself. Do what we did, take some wine and good company and have a great night at a cozy little cafe somewhere out there on the prairie...

Or more specifically on 2212 South street, Philadelphia, PA 19146.

**Disclaimer: No kangaroos were hurt during the course of this meal. Unfortunately. I would have definitely had a kangaroo burger or steak if it was on there.**

Thursday, February 7, 2013

#3 - Ants Pants Cafe - Sam's synopsis

Nothin' beats a bottle (or two) of wine on a Saturday night
As I'm sitting here eating instant ramen for dinner, I miss our Saturday experience at Ants Pants this past weekend. I've been to Ants Pants numerous times for breakfast and always enjoyed it (except for the one time I was extremely hungover and our food took far too long to arrive), so I had high expectations for dinner.  The dinner menu does in fact have a lot of items that are served during regular breakfast/lunch hours, but there was a nice selection of dinner-only choices.

The restaurant itself was dimly lit with candles, but not so low that you couldn't read anything - it actually set an appealing ambiance (how's that for alliteration?). There were very few people there, which is probably partially due to the fact that it was 45 minutes before closing and partially because it was restaurant week and Ants Pants didn't have much to offer in that arena.  Either way, because of the lack of business that week, everyone in the restaurant got a free bowl of mussels.  I'm always afraid that I'm secretly allergic to seafood and mussels are particularly scary looking, but I took the plunge and ate a few and they were pretty delicious. I should also mention that dinner at Ants Pants is BYO, so we had two bottles of wine among the four of us (sorry, no guest bloggers this time).  
The sweet potato fries are always as good as I had hoped
our table was pretty full of food and alcohol










Besides the free appetizer, I ordered the hummus and pita to start off.  I have to say, I was pretty underwhelmed. The hummus was bland and the pita was too thin. Not something I would order again.  But I am happy to say, for their sake, that this is the only item I've ever had that I didn't like from Ants Pants. You can't win 'em all. Our table also got roasted brussel sprouts with parmesan cheese which were amazing - I don't usually like the bitterness of brussel sprouts but these were roasted to perfection and the sharpness of the cheese really brought out the flavors. And of course, we got not one, but two orders of sweet potato fries - a staple of Ants Pants in my mind.  Sweet chili dipping sauce and big flaky grains of salt on fat wedges of fried sweet potato... I don't think I have to say much more than that. For dinner, I had the pancetta BLT with avocado, tomato, arugula and garlic aioli on focaccia bread with a side of "chips" (australian for waffle-like fries). The sandwich was hearty and filling, although a little less flavorful than I had anticipated.  Still, it contained some of my favorite things (pancetta, avocado, arugula) and overall the different components blended well together. I would have liked to have heard about dessert, but we were already there past closing and I think the staff were antsy (HA) to get us out of there, so perhaps some other time. All in all, it was a great night of food and friends and I would definitely recommend trying dinner at Ants Pants (or if you go there for breakfast, get the dill scrambled eggs - my favorite brunch menu item there!)

the main course!
And with that, I will bid you adieu until next time, dear readers.  I also promise that for my next blog post I will actually learn how to properly format images instead of using the crappy insert and edit photos in blogger, because it is a real pain in the ass and is really messing with my dreams of making these blog posts more aesthetically pleasing. I haven't used HTML since the days of geocities, so we'll see how well this process goes..

Ants Pants Cafe
2212 South St.
Philadelphia, PA
215-875-8002