Polystyrene Thermal Insulation
YAAY to Phileo Yogurt for switching their bowls from styrofoam to paper! A bunch of us headed over tonight after Liz Phair's 15th anniversary concert of
"Exile in Guyville"* and were happily surprised to notice the change. be even told the owner he was glad for it! This time we counted exactly 16 flavors offered. I got a mix of blueberry tart with fresh blueberries, and peach with blackberries and Oreo bits. be stuck with plain tart yogurt + fruit, while dude got a mix of plain, blueberry and strawberry + fruit. be's sister had a small bowl of peach while her bf R got cheesecake with cheesecake bits, Cap'n Crunch and other cereals.
But on a bad styrofoam note, our lunch at
Bitar's was served on a multitude of foam bowls, plates and platters. How is it that foam is so acceptable now? Maybe i'm old, but wasn't there a huge fight to convince McDonald's and other fast food joints to get rid of foam in the '80s? Is it cheaper to buy than paper? BTW the "bitzza (or was it "bizza?") was sprinkled with an awesome zaatar (spice mixture with herbs and sesame seeds) that i can't stop thinking about!
* This album defines my first year of college! Great concert. Now i must upload the album to my iPod to listen on the bus.
Yogurt Love
Tonight be, the Rice House and i checked out the new Phileo Yogurt on South Street (btwn 4th & 5th Streets) in Philadelphia. The frozen yogurt + toppings concept is not new -- i have plenty of experience with eating that thanks to Pinkberry in Midtown, New York -- but what makes Phileo Yogurt BETTER is that it's 100% self serve!
First of all, the decor is ultra modern but quite nice in a kiwi-green kind of way. There are a few small tables and stools for you to eat in the shop but most customers we witnessed opted to take out. At the back of the shop is an incredible row of yogurt machines, offering every flavor from plain tart yogurt to strawberry to things like snickerdoodle and taro! I asked if i could sample some flavors and was given two tiny paper cups to do so. Once you fill up your bowl with frozen yogurt, you walk over to the toppings bar, which had many kinds of chopped fruit, candies and cereals, but also chocolate syrups, cheesecake bits, cookie dough bits, crushed graham crackers and red bean sauce! Right next to the toppings bar are two registers where your bowl is weighed. At 49 cents per ounce, you can keep it under a few bucks by using restraint, or go nuts and pay a hefty sum. All of us pretty much filled our bowls and the prices ranged from $4-5 each. Note that fruit chunks are definitely the heaviest topping but totally worth it.
I ended up tasting mango, plain, blueberry and taro yogurts. I finally decided on a bowl of mainly plain yogurt with granola and Oreos, with some blueberry yogurt with fresh blueberries and kiwi chunks. I LOVED the blueberry on blueberry -- the blueberry yogurt was so flavorful and tart -- while the plain was a solid standby. I thought granola and Oreos would be neat but i actually could've just done with one or the other, not both. Dude ate his yogurt the quickest and spent the rest of the time looking sad while watching us finish, while be ate his very quick and convinced himself to be satisfied with the amount he ate (instead of getting another bowl). Maybe that's why it's a good idea to take out; watching numerous other folks making their fro yo creations is just too tempting.
We all loved Phileo Yogurt. Great concept, addictive yogurt, fun place for a treat. We're going at least once a week, although we all really would love to go every day! My *only* complaint is the use of styrofoam bowls. Hopefully they'll switch to paper and/or offer an edible bowl soon!
Pizzito
I'm happy to report that we've finally discovered "our" pizza and burrito joints in Philadelphia!
1) L's friend tipped everyone off to
La Fourno on South Street. We must have walked past it dozens of times without giving it another thought; it looks like your average Italian restaurant and not particularly like a neighborhood pizza joint. Our waitress was extremely nice and helpful. We opted for half Margherita and half Pesto because we couldn’t decide. The small pie was cut into 6 slices, the equivalent of 1.5 regular big pie slices for each of us. Both be and I loved the pizza. The problem we’d been having with pizza in Philly was the crust – toppings, cheese and sauce were usually fine to great, but all the crusts we’d come across were soft, floppy and lacking in salt. La Fourno gets it right, with a thin crisp crust, flavored well and a pleasure to eat. Note however, if you’re ordering a saucy or topping heavy pizza, you’d better eat fast lest your crust gets soggy and wet!
2) Yesterday, on L's recommendation, we had burritos at
Santa Fe Burrito on 11th Street. We've had good burritos all around Philadelphia but nothing so far had been exactly what we've wanted. For instance, the guacamole at
El Fuego was excellent but the beans and hot sauce were lacking. Walking into Santa Fe, we were delighted to find numerous vegetarian, vegan and unusual burrito options that included things like tofu, jalepeno hummus, roasted vegetables and even FAUX MEAT made from wheat gluten! I opted for a "mini" burrito with beans, rice and cheese while be pounced on the faux meat large burrito. Both were very well flavored and delicious. The wheat gluten was cooked in a spiced sauce and was so meaty that we were a bit worried they mistakenly gave us real meat! My rice was real rice (not converted as many places tend to use) and the black beans were addictive. Next time i'm going to ask for hot sauce or chiles but otherwise my burrito was perfect!
New New Samosa
Last night we decided to try
New Samosa again. This all vegetarian Indian restaurant recently added an ice cream counter in the front and revamped their menu. When it first opened last year, we checked out the buffet and proclaimed it fine -- nothing excellent but nothing horrible either. be's coworkers (none of whom are vegetarian) went a few weeks ago with him, all got the buffet and loved it. be ordered two samosas and really liked them, so we went again to try the menu items.
Two things really make New Samosa stick out: 1) they have SOUTH Indian specialties like dosas and uttappam! and, 2) they use various soy proteins (fake meats) to create vegetarian versions of meaty dishes (ie: tandoori grilled meats, chicken tikka masala). The only other Indian restaurant i've ever seen use soy protein was
Madras in New York.
Two other small things: 1) ice cream with mix-ins can be purchased in the front! We didn't confirm this, but it seemed that the ice cream was made in-house. At the very least the owner made all the cones herself. and, 2) they offer vegetarian chicken cheesesteaks, wraps and sandwiches. Basically think of an Indian restaurant with a Cold Stone and mini
Govinda's Gourmet To Go up front.
The bottom line is: definitely order off the menu. The samosas we got were so freshly fried they were too hot to touch, but not oily or greasy at all. My dosa came with a deliciously spiced potato filling. (I'm glad there's a place even offering dosas at all in Philadelphia!) be ordered a mixed tandoori grilled meats plate, containing fake shrimp, fish, chicken and lamb. He really liked it except for the red peppers and onions. We're certainly going back to try more dishes.
