Brunch @ Honey's

Checked another restaurant off the list!

Now that the weather has stayed consistently nice, I have been majorly brunching it up - taking long walks or quick jogs downtown and walking back after a satisfying meal. The best part about going to these places on a weekday is that there is absolutely no line regardless of the time.  At Honey's, since J & I had just finished a 30 min. run, we decided to stay (relatively) healthy with our brunch selections. That didn't stop us from wolfing down the amazing biscuit though or the even more amazing (more like out of the world) homemade peach marmalade. 

Potato Latke came highly recommended via yelp but we weren't that fond of it. The scrambled eggs were tasty though with the onions which were crazily caramelized and gave the eggs a nice sweetness.

I usually don't go for the whole wheat options but these pancakes were GREAT, especially with the generous serving of fruit inside. 

The peach marmalade was full when we sat down...almost empty after we left. 

Highly recommend this brunch place and it is so adorable inside! I heard the cakes are great as well, if I go back again, I'll have to order a slice. 

Brinner: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

As promised, some lemon ricotta pancakes inspired by Cafe Lift. I cheated slightly by buying trader joe's buttermilk pancake mix (which I will say is amazing even on its own, perfectly fluffy pancakes every time and all you need to add is water and 1 egg). We had some fun playing around with the toppings and fillings including 1 topped with strawberries soaked in strawberry balsamic (from Garces Trading Co), & strawberry basil jam, 1 filled with begian milk chocolate (from TJ's), topped with Hershey's chocolate sauce and fresh blackberries, and 1 topped with blackberry sauce and mascarpone. Needless to say, it was a very satisfying brinner.

We had to think our batter out with milk since the pancake mix tends to puff up very quickly - probably why the pancakes always come out so fluffy.

Cook pancakes on a lower heat since the ricotta makes it easier to burn.

Mmmmmmmmmm...

Dining Out

Crossed off 2 restaurants of my always growing restaurant list. Lately, I've feel like I've just been returning to the same places repeatedly so with only a few more weeks left in Philly, I made a bigger effort to branch out  more. And what's particularly exciting is that there are quite a few new restaurants that have made Philly Mag's Top 50 Restaurants for 2013.

Dinner at Vernick Food & Drink:

Vernick is a new Italian-ish restaurant which has been receiving rave reviews from critiques and social media alike. We went based on the ecstatic recommendations of a friend. She rarely raves about finer dining so I figured this was a big deal. Our meal was enjoyable and the entree was out of this world but not sure if I'm going to go back any time soon, the appetizers were good but nothing spectacular.

[Beef Tartar]: Horseradish, on toast with some kind of cheese. A very hearty appetizer but still fresh tasting without any gameyness from the meat.
[Pork Steak]: Onion marmalade, mustard greens.  It looks like duck and tastes like duck (actually almost better than duck) but its not duck, its pork! We were mind blown. Easily one of the best entrees I have ever eaten.
[Hamachi]: Ruby grapefruit, jalapeno. We ordered this dish since everyone on Yelp was going crazy about it but I wasn't very impressed. Just a nice cut of yellowtail sashimi with acid to balance it out.

Lunch at Matyson:

Matyson, on the other hand, I am now obsessed with. Lunch was delicious, but what they're really known for are their dinner tasting menus that change weekly. If lunch is any indication of the dinners, I am definitely returning to this place sometime in the next 2 weeks. And did I mention they have fresh hibiscus flowers in the bathroom?

[House Pasta of the Day]: Linguine in Harissa sauce w. cauliflower and I think oysters? Not sure how I felt about all of the components of the dish but it was definitely creative.
[Hanger Steak]: I don't think I've ever eaten hanger steak before, or ordered it, but this was cooked so incredibly well. It was cooked perfectly on the inside, still moist and juicy, and who doesn't love a huge side of truffle fries?
[Mascarpone Cheesecake]: The cheesecake reminded me of the panna cotta dessert we had in Venice. It was light yet creamy. I'm normally not a fan of cheesecakes but this one was so good, especially with the almond crust on the bottom.

Brinner: Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon

Part of the "brinner" series (excited about the lemon ricotta pancakes I'm going to make tomorrow which was inspired by this dish at Cafe Lift). As for the eggs benedict, after sweating over a stove for 20 minutes to try and create hollandaise sauce, I think I'm going to just order this dish from now on...or maybe buy really good hollandaise sauce if such a thing exists.

1) Making Hollandaise Sauce: 

Simple ingredients but a lot of beating required to make the hollandaise sauce nice and thick, which proved quite difficult since all we had was a fork and no whisk. Recipe here from allrecipes. Maybe if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll try and make it again at home before I start work.

2) Preparing the Other Ingredients:

Preparing everything else was much simpler - especially since I was cooking with another person. I still haven't officially poached an egg on my own yet but I have seen 3 people do it for me now...

The hollandaise finally started looking presentable after another 10+ minutes of beating over the stove. 

3) Plating: 

Fortunately, the final product looks about right and it was quite delicious too. 

New & Old Again

 More exploration into the cafes of West Philly and a return to an old favorite.

Dropped into Cafe Renata to do some mild studying with a friend, but we wound up spending 1/3 of the time eating. The homemade mozzarella cheese is outrageous, seriously the best I've ever had. The apple cream cheese cake came recommended from yelp and the owner which was also delicious, although a bit too sweet for me. They've just started serving brunch (free sparkling wine if you buy oj!!!) and Mediterranean inspired dinner. Go check this place out.

$15 prix fixe lunch at distritio? Sign me up! All of the favorites are on there including the guac and mushroom flatbread.

I walk past this place basically every other day so finally decided to drop in. My chai tea latte was quite generous in size and heavily caffeinated but service is veryy slow so only come if you have some time to kill and intend on mostly lounging/studying there.