#25 Entrée - McKenzie's synopsis

We've got a lovely guest review from the one and only McKenzie! Check it out below:

Entrée

Hi all, I am guest reviewing for Sam and Sandy!

For my guest review we went to the restaurant Entrée located at 1608 South Street. The restaurant was small but had a lovely atmosphere and beautiful wood work. The art was interesting and varied. From a painting of cardinals to an octopus. There weren’t that many tables and the menu was small but so many things we wanted to try. This restaurant is also BYOB so we had brought along a couple of bottles of wine (a red and a white) We decided to get a couple of appetizers to share and we pretty much each ordered one of the 5 or 6 listed entrees to try.

Appetizers

Calamari was excellent! The balsamic vinegar that was cooked into the batter was super yummy and made the rings a pretty color. I do wish they had included some of the tentacles, and not just rings, but that is a personal preference.

We also got the wedge salad. The salad dressing was excellent!

Entrées

Of the four entrees that we split, I ordered the steak with blue potatoes and asparagus. I asked for medium rare but it was a bit more on the medium side. It was also a bit salty for my taste. It was quite a large piece of steak and the blue potatoes were a nice compliment.

The chicken portabella was also delicious, especially with all the elements together the goat cheese was especially pleasing.

The broccoli rabe ravioli was very creamy.

The duck with butternut squash hash was delectable. I think the butternut squash hash was my absolute fave part of the meal. It was a little spicy and very nice!

Dessert

Since we couldn’t decide, we decided to get all 3 of the listed desserts. The mascarpone cake was very lemony, but since I don’t really like citrus fruits, was not my favorite. The fried oreos with pecan ice cream and caramel sauce was delicious even though I don’t even like oreos! The fry batter it what made it so good! I do have to say that my favorite was the Cannoli with ricotta and Nutella filling. I could totally have eaten the whole plate of them!

Not related to dinner, but I loved the bathroom. It had really fun sketches of statues and loved the mint green walls.

All and all we had a great time. Definitely would love to go back! Hopefully I will be back to guest review again!

~McKenzie

Entrée
1608 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 790-0330

#25 Entree BYOB - Sandy's synopsis

This block has really showed us some gems for good quality food. Magpie Pies, Miles Table and now Entree, have made this block the most delightful so far. So, prior warning, this review contains words like, scrumptios, delicious and some made-up words like fantabulous.

Entree is a BYOB with a very classic menu or in their own words "creative, balanced & simple". They tweak the classics in a fantastic way and every single item we ordered was delicious.

Here is a link to their menu: http://entreebyob.com/?page_id=264

While we perused the menu, our wine was openend and poured. Good start to, well, anything really. We were given bread (nothing special) with this amazing, scrumptious balsamic vinegar. I don't know whether it was just fantastic quality balsamic or they added something to it, but either way - it worked.

We decided the best way to go about things was for each to order what we want most and then share.

This is what ensued.

To start - the fried calamari and the wedge salad. I unfortunately do not have photos of these as they were devoured quickly and with much pomp. The calamari batter was very interesting, tasting more like a lentil batter used in "bajjis" from India. The wedge, was also good - although I generally find the mechanics of trying to eat a large wedge of lettuce to be very clunky.

It was hard choosing our dishes for the restaurants namesake course. They all sounded very good but here is what we settled on:

The grilled Angus NY strip with goat cheese mashed potatoes, caramelized red onion and grilled asparagus with a cabernet demi.

The chicken portobella with artichoke hearts, goat cheese and balsamic marsala pan gravy.

The seared duck breast with roasted purple potato and sunchoke and a sun dried cherry port demi.

Last but not least - A brocolli rabe ravioli special with roasted garlic marsala cream sauce and grilled asparagus. 

All the entree tasted great but there was a clear favourite - the chicken portobella was deemed the best of the group. If one HAD to choose. Which you wont have to if you go in a big enough group. 

After a very enjoyable meal with hilarious conversation involving the swiss cheese man, it was time for dessert. They had fried oreos with salted caramel and vanilla ice cream. Since I hadn't had a deep fried candy/cookie before, this was as good a time as any to try it. We also got the other two desserts on the menu - the lemoncello marscapone cake and the nutella ricotta canolli.

Fantabulous. Just amazalicious. They should deep fry everything. 

I'd like to end with letting everyone know that Restaurant Week is still going on next week and Entree is on their list. All the above dishes are on their 3-course menu so - if you are having difficulty deciding on a place to go - I would absobloominutely recommend Entree BYOB. 

Entree BYOB

1608 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

215-790-0330

#24 Pure Fare - Sandy's synopsis

Pure Fare caters to two specific populations very very well: 

1) People on a gluten-free diet

2) People who like smoothies

The first - I was unaware off until getting there. The latter was why I was mildly excited about this place - to have my first "green" smoothie. 

Let me address each of these in order. Pure fare has a list of sandwiches, which all sound pretty delectable. Everyone I had spoken to who had eaten there however never spoke highly of them. How bad can a sandwich be right? Well, what I hadn't heard was that all their sandwiches use gluten-free bread. Now people on a gluten-free diet would call Pure Fare's bread the best you can get. If you're used to eating bread with flour-filled deliciousness - gluten free bread will not cut it. My partner, who has celiac's disease, had their turkey honey mustard sandwiches and called it "Very good. A little expensive". So there you have it folks. 

The smoothie thing - I've heard everybody talk about it and the thought of kale and spinach liquefied with fruits sounds both repulsive and appetizing. I needed to know which it was.

Here is their menu:

I tried to go with the greenest of the green - the Leafy Green.

Sorry, that was a very boring photo. Proof that was indeed green? Well, it was definitely appetizing. It was not overwhelmingly any flavour with light hints of mint, green leafy vegetables and apple. I enjoyed it very much and definitely want to go back to try some other smoothies on their menu.

Pure Fare isn't for everybody. It is a mostly take away place, so the decor, though good, is irrelevant. The cashier/smoothies maker seemed extremely bored to be there - but it was a cold Monday with nary a customer in sight. i was bored to be there. The smoothie was really good however and I feel a smoothie obsession beginning with me. So I will be back to be bored with the cashier at Pure Fare as I drink my smoothie (that banana cashew one sounds delicious!).

Conclusion - if you want a smoothie or a slightly expensive gluten-free sandwich, Pure Fare is your place.

Pure Fare

1609 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

267-687-2292

#24 Pure Fare - Sam's synopsis

filling = yum, bread = yuck

I think that the attitude of the barista at Pure Fare best describes my opinion on the place - blasé.  I can appreciate that everything they serve is gluten-free, even though I do not have a gluten allergy. However, lack of gluten does not always make for tasty treats. That's not to say the sandwich I got, goat brie with figs and arugula, was bad - but the "bread" it was on really ruined the sandwich for me. Bread can make or break a sandwich, and this bread really broke it. It was made with quinoa, and was too dry and flavorless to save the wonderful balance of salty and sweet flavors found in the sandwich filling. I get that it's tough to make good bread without, y'know, the major ingredient of bread, but this tasted like they didn't even try.

touting their healthy options

I got a very nice floral green tea - loose leaf and all. I also had a sip of Sandya's smoothie - it was actually rather tasty, although a bit leafy green for my liking (again, I have texture issues, and that plays a role in smoothies for sure). But, I didn't find that Pure Fare had anything special to offer to me. I imagine my friends with gluten allergies are happy to have a place like this, but wouldn't you rather get a cookie down the street at Sweet Freedom?

And to go back to my initial comment, our barista was in no way rude, she just didn't seem like she cared one way or another about what we ordered, or about anything in general, really.

Pure Fare
1609 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(267) 687-2292

#23 Miles Table - Sandy's synopsis

Our evening at Miles Table was fantastic. Their decor reminded me of Magpie Pies, which is always a good way to start the meal. 

Everything looked clean and organized but what made things very homey and took the edge off the pristine white decor were the pictures of Michael and Marybeth's (the owners') children scattered around the restaurant.

The best way to describe Miles table in my book is casual dining with very high quality ingredients and food. They have breakfast available all day and have sandwiches and pizzas as alternate food options. They also have entrees on a specials board next to their register. Their entrees were on the expensive side ($18 and higher). Well, expensive for a casual dining experience but not really out of the norm for a good sit down restaurant.  Based on my last sentence, it is apparent I seem to have this unconscious notion that places where you order up at the register cannot possibly serve "good quality" food. Well folks, Miles Table has opened my eyes and cleansed my soul of.... unnecessary restaurant....prejudices.

THE FOOD HERE IS AMAZING!

Roll the food porn reel:

The Kennet Square - Mushroom, tallegio, arugula and truffle

Sausage and fennel pizza

The Miles Table falafel burger

Complimentary stuffed fried balls

Cute little apple juice

Lastly, our dessert - chocolate chip bread pudding

If the pretty pictures do not sway you - let my words. The food was as good if not better than it looks - at very reasonable prizes. I wanted that bread pudding to last forever. I wished the pizza was as large as Lorenzo's largest. Miles Table exceeded my expectations and I look forward to eating there again. 

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Miles Table

1620 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19146

267-318-7337

#23 Miles Table - Sam's synopsis

the neighborhood should be eating here

Guys, I think this is a first for me. This is the first time I've been to a place and really been blown away by how great the food was, without expecting much beforehand (I clarify here because I was fully expecting Pumpkin to be great, which it was, but I didn't know much about Miles Table beforehand). Although now, as one downside, I had to look up if there was an apostrophe at the end of Miles, because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be possessive or not. 

what a cozy booth!

So the first thing I want to discuss about Miles Table is the music they were playing. I was very happy with their selection, but it was also best described as "sad music that might accompany someone contemplating suicide in a Wes Anderson movie," although they did not play "Needle in the Hay" by Elliott Smith. They did however play Sun Kil Moon's cover of "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," which is a song I never thought I would hear in public, let alone in a cheery-looking restaurant and "Piazza, New York Catcher" by Belle and Sebastian, which IS on the Juno soundtrack. Anyways, I'll stop convincing everyone how cool I am with my somewhat obscure musical tastes and get to the actual food part.

long restaurant is long

The restaurant itself was very cozy, although rather long. We sat in the big leather seated booth near the front, and I felt like the order counter was very far away. Not a bad thing to be a spacious place though, just an observation. The menu was full of really delicious sounding food, but I settled on an avocado BLT. The perfect balance of breakfast and dinner food (they serve breakfast all day!), made even better by the addition of a fried egg. Have I mentioned how much I love any dish with a fried egg as part of it? So there's that. My sandwich was fantastic. The bread was perfectly toasted, the bacon was a great balance of crispy and fatty, and the veggies on the sandwich tasted very fresh. The sandwich came with homemade potato chips, which were the right amount of crispiness but could have used some seasoning. I only had half of it, but I ate the rest for breakfast the next morning, and it was somehow even better after sitting in the fridge overnight. It's always a good sign that your food gets better with age, right? I also had a bite of the falafel burger and french fries, and they were both heavenly.

soo... tasty...

We were the only ones in the restaurant, and I think we were overly excited talking about how great the menu was, so the chef sent us out some complimentary empanadas, which was a very pleasant surprise! There was a veggie one, a seafood one, and a meat one (I think it was spicy pork?). The veggie one was a little bland, but the pork one was rather savory. I heard the seafood one was amazing, but I don't really like shrimp, so I skipped out on it. It was a nice gesture regardless, and the guy who took our order was also very friendly, so in addition to delicious food, there's a friendly staff to boot.

bread pudding!

Despite the fact that we were stuffed, we decided to split dessert - but there were 5 of us, so it was definitely doable. We ordered a chocolate chip bread pudding, topped with vanilla ice cream and a sliced strawberry. It was the perfect way to end our dinner. Great consistency, not overly sweet, and all flavors that I enjoy mixed together.

So basically, Miles Table = delicious comfort food + friendly staff + bright, cozy interior and is well worth a visit. One thing we did not take advantage of was the fact that its BYOB, so I would love to go back for brunch, eat more tasty breakfast foods and drink mimosas.

Miles Table

1620 South Street

Philadelphia, PA

(267) 318-7337

#21 Indian Restaurant and #22 Magpie Artisan Pies- Sam's synopsis

Okay, so I have been terrible about keeping this updated. My apologies, the holiday season work craze has taken over my life, but I will give the people what they want!  So here it is, in all its glory, because I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting to read this:

Because we are adults and get to decide when we eat dessert, we actually did this jaunt of the saunter in reverse and went to Magpie first. However, for the sake of continuity, I will share my thoughts on Indian Restaurant first, then fill you in on dessert-before-dinner.

delicious papadum

So, I order take-out from Indian Restaurant a lot. I'm pretty sure the delivery guy knows me by face, because he always seems to recognize me when I answer the door. I always get the same thing too - an order or two of papadum, an order of garlic naan, and an order of palak paneer. Since I am not of Indian origin (unlike Sandya), my opinion on what authentic Indian food does not exist so you real foodies may want to take my assessment with a grain of salt. However, this is one of my favorite take-out spots - it's fast, it's tasty and it'll fill you up so you can bring the rest in for lunch the following day. I absolutely love their papadum, I think it's some of the best I've ever tasted. For those of you who don't know what papadum is, it's a very thin wafer that often has lentils and other spices baked into it and it is delicious, non-harmful crack. So, of course I get us a double order for the table and I'm pretty sure I ate at least 50% of the 10 or so wafers myself.

We were quite the sizable crowd, so we decided to get a few dishes for the table to share (at least, those of us who either hadn't already eaten dinner or who don't have a gluten allergy). We decided on chicken biriyani, lamb and vegetable kofta. I enjoyed the kofta the best, the biriyani was not super flavorful and I'm not a huge lamb fan. But, I think in the future I will stick to my take-out staple of palak paneer, as I find that more flavorful than the dishes we had.

Also, let's not forget to mention the creepy mannequin that greets you as you enter and leave the restaurant. She's got quite the wig. Check out Sandya's post if you want to be a little terrified.

Prior to stuffing our faces with all of this food, we went to Magpie for you guessed it... pie. Magpie is an adorable shop. For those of you who watch Portlandia, it is the physical embodiment of "put a bird on it," but I mean that in the nicest way possible. The inside is soothing and really makes you want to settle in and eat a slice of pie while sipping a warm beverage, which is exactly what we did. I was also a big fan of the music selection - and at some point I'm pretty sure Andrew Bird came on which made me smile for multiple reasons.

such cute decor!

mmm.... pi(e)

I ordered a chai, of course. I'm pretty sure it was Oregon Chai, but it DID have a lot of foamy milk on top, which is my favorite. For pie, I went with a slice of the pumpkin streusel - they had chocolate peanut butter mousse but it was all sold out by the time we got there, which made me very, very sad. But, as it was (and still is) deep autumn when we went, it was easily the next best option. The pie was very delicious - the crust was perfectly flaky and the filling was smooth and creamy. Th color was also very pleasing (hello fall!), and there was caramelized pie crust/brown sugar generously sprinkled on top, which I imagine was the streusel portion of the pie. My only complaint was that the spice was a little overwhelming - I would have preferred a slightly more subtle flavor. But as you may have come to realize, I don't tend to enjoy loud flavors of anything (what can I say, my tastebuds were not trained very well growing up). I did try a bite of some of the other pies and they were fantastic - especially the chocolate coffee cinnamon pecan. When I go back, I will likely get a slice of that, unless there is some fantastic monthly pie still available.

I think I'll stick to ordering take-out from Indian Restaurant, but Magpie is a quaint little shop that fills its niche rather well.

Indian Restaurant
1634 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 964-9451

Magpie Artisan Pies
1622 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(267) 519-2904