"W" is for Wine Thief Bistro

As someone who has been proudly taking Lipitor since I hit the ripe old age of 30, my cardiologist probably wouldn't be very happy that I loves me some fried chicken. That's if I had a cardiologist (I don't... yet). And that's if I cared (which I wouldn't -- doctors don't have all the answers).

There is a little part of me -- we'll call him the Colonel -- who does a double take every time I walk past the Crown's Fried Chicken next to the entrance of the Reading Terminal. "Does that fried chicken smell good? We should get some," the Colonel will plead. Fortunately, he is overruled by the sensible part of me which sees the disgusting interior, can hear the grease dripping onto the floor, and see the pile of ooze-filled napkins on the table. "I think we'll pass, Colonel, but maybe next time."

Now, there are times when the Colonel gets his way -- not at Crown's mind you, but at reputable restaurants that feature crisp, tender fried chicken. So when my cousin Josh listed fried chicken first on his list of recommendations at the Wine Thief Bistro (he's close friends with the head chef), I stopped paying attention. I knew what I was going to get. The Colonel would be fed.

And it was... good, but in a different way. Kind of like most of the things we tried at the Wine Thief. There weren't a lot of subtleties to their food. Everything that was tricked up, be it with celery seed, ginger, or bacon, was very clearly tricked up. Some times that worked, some times it didn't. On the fried chicken for instance, the crispness on the skin wasn't crackling as much I usually like it to, but it was still very tasty and had a definite hint of celery seed (or at least something similar). I bit into the first piece, and said, "Huh, this is different, but I think I like it"). Fortunately, that feeling held up throughout the meal and the Colonel left very happy.

Unfortunately, that same feeling didn't carry through to everything. The most notable example was the wife's jicama salad, which had a very, very strong ginger-like flavor. On the first bite, we both said, "Huh, this is different, but I'm not sure if I like it." By the third and fourth bites, we realized we didn't and shoved it aside. It would have worked as a very small garnish, but as a full side dish? Not so much. Same goes for the mound of collard greens that came along with my fried chicken. One bite, and then two, and then three, were good. But it was way too much of a middling vegetable that is often an acquired taste.

Now, for those few misses, there was a good deal to like about the Wine Bistro. It's on a very quirky strip in Mount Airy -- a row of restaurants just appears on Germantown Pike out of nowhere. I wasn't crazy about the interior, but I did like the cutesy quotations that were written on many of the walls. It was a unique touch.

The menu isn't fancy, which is fine. They have a lot of what I would call comfort food -- fried chicken, meatloaf, hangar steak -- with an upscale twist. We shared a tuna tartare tempura appetizer that was good, but definitely unusual. I thought the tuna would have more of a sushi-like raw texture to it, but it seemed like it was almost lightly seared. You know what I got for my entree. The collard greens on the side were too much, but the cornbread stuffing was solid. The wife wasn't nearly as pleased with her hangar steak. She doesn't like fatty cuts of meat that she has to work around, and anytime I get the "Is this cooked through enough for medium?" look, I really should tell her to send it back because it means that she doesn't think so. My bad.

On to the full review...

THE FOOD: I knew that this meal would live and die, for me, with the fried chicken. And as I said, it was good, but not so much better than some local favorites (Jones, Bridget's) that I'd be willing to drive 30 minutes to Mount Airy for it. But yes, were I in the neighborhood, I would get it again.

THE DRINK: Wine Thief has a sensibly priced list mostly by the glass. I ordered a pretty bad California chardonnay. The wife encouraged me to send it back, but it wasn't as if our waitress recommended it. I just dove in blindly and suffered the consequences.

THE STAFF: Very young, but very friendly. I assume these were mostly neighborhood folks at the tables.

MAD PROPS FOR: The neighborhood feel. Mount Airy certainly is a very livable area, and the Wine Thief is the kind of place I could see going to frequently if I lived nearby. It does have a very comfortable vibe to it. Kind of like it's menu.

OVERALL: A solid meal, and I'm glad the Colonel got his fix in. I try not to indulge too often, especially when the results may be unpredictable, but Wine Thief worked out just fine.

THE CHECK: $70, with tip. We skipped dessert.

On to the Xs...

Ineligible restaurant for round 24:

• Xochitl -- Philadelphia's best Mexican restaurant. Margaritas and guacamole at Happy Hour are always a solid choice.

Obviously, as we near the end of the alphabet, there are not going to be a lot of letter-specific choices so I'll present options in a few different categories. For this round, we'll look at restaurants that have opened in the last year since we passed specific letters of the alphabet. Candidates for round 24:

• Bibou -- Once a staple of high-end food in Philly (think Le Bec Fin), fancy French food has nearly disappeared in the city. Bibou is bringing it back. http://www.biboubyob.com/
• Fish -- The owners of my favorite restaurant in the city -- Little Fish -- opened an outpost off of Rittenhouse that I have been waiting to try. http://www.fishphilly.com/
• Kong -- Northern Liberties' latest new restaurant goes Korean. http://www.eatatkong.com/
• Percy Street Barbecue -- From the owners of Zahav, another attempt to bring barbecue into the city. Brand spanking new. http://percystreet.com/

"V" is for Vetri

I won't lie -- this is the meal I had been waiting for since the start of our yearly culinary journey. For various reasons, plans we had to go to Vetri -- once in 2007 and again in 2008 -- had ended in cancelled reservations. Again this year, after I got the date of our reservation confused, doom was looming. Fortunately, thanks to a flurry of cancellations, first from ex-coworkers I supposed to get together with and then from an unlucky party who found they too couldn't make it to Vetri when they initially thought they would, the restaurant was able to squeeze us (as I always assure the wife, it all works out in the end) at 6:45 p.m.

As the witching hour neared, I was very excited. Almost as excited as I get on Sunday afternoons in the fall at approximately 1 p.m. Almost as excited as I get when I hear that Bryan Adams is coming around in concert. Almost as excited as I get when I hear the words, "open bar." You get the idea. I had eaten very little all day to prepare my appetite. I had looked up the address (Vetri is surprisingly restrained from the outside with only a small sign outside what looks like a regular brownstone). I had my wardrobe all picked out. I was expecting big, big things from a culinary heavyweight in our city. I was ready.

Three hours later, I was stuffed. That's what 8 courses (or so) of food with 7 changes of silverware, 4 glasses of robust red wine, and a pair of pants about 1 size too tight do to me.

Many, many weeks before the wife and I stepped foot in Vetri, I knew we were going to get the Grand Tasting menu. It was one of those, "if you are going to go big, go all in" theories. And I will admit, I felt a surge of power when our waiter came over and asked, "Do you need me to explain anything on the menu?" and I responded, "Not tonight, chief. We're putting ourselves at your chef's mercy."

I was envisioning seared fois gras, wacky foam emulsions, caviar, truffles, sea cucumber, cockles, you name it. The weirder the better. And from that standpoint, I'd have to say I was a bit disappointed. There was nothing too terribly exotic that was placed in front of us, nothing that I hadn't seen or tried before it some form or another. Obviously, the combinations and presentation of dishes was unique, but I was hoping for lots of new culinary experiences and didn't get them. A minor complaint, for sure, but worth noting.

Ordering a tasting menu is an interesting concept. You truly have little power over what is placed in front of you. The wife gave our waiter a short list of her personal "don'ts" -- lamb, raw quails egg, anchovies -- but we otherwise were completely blind as to what would be served. It's actually pretty exciting as you sit there and wait to see what you will be served next.

Interestingly, for most of the courses, each party gets a different dish. I'd say of the 12 of so items put in front of us, 6 were individualized, which meant more to taste, which was great.

I don't pretend to remember everything we ate (alas, my photographic memory has failed me yet again), but here were some of the highlights:

• Lardo draped beignet (sort of a sugar donut with a thin shaving of fat on top of it). Sounds weird but you don't really taste the lardo.
• Cauliflower flan with a raw quail's egg. Delicious.
• Sweet onion tart. Very rich and powerful.
• Baby scallops with minced carrots and pineapple. Incredibly delicate and sweet.
• Spinach gnocchi in brown butter sauce. The sauce was a bit too rich, especially since it came in my next dish as well, but the gnocchi was incredibly silky and delicious.
• Rabbit tortellini. Cool presentation.
• Roasted skate with wild mushrooms. The mushrooms were particularly exceptional.

There were a few misses as well -- I could have done without the almond tortellini and the local veal served on a hot stone over a bed of rosemary was very dull. Our waitress kindly gave us an extra "entree" to try after seeing how unenthused we were about the veal, which was definitely appreciated.

Overall, though, it was hard to complain. A great meal in a great restaurant with great company. Are there things I would have changed about the evening? Sure (but that's how I am). Our table was so close to our neighbors that it was hard to have a private conversation. Some of the portions were a little too heavy (specifically, the wife got a massive portion of fettucine with wild boar ragu that was way, way too much for this sort of menu). The whole change of silverware for each course was a little much. Overall, though, while Vetri perhaps didn't quite meet the "best meal of my life" standards, it definitely didn't stray too far off the mark.

On to the full review...

THE FOOD: When you know you are going to have a huge meal, you have to mentally and physically prepare for it. Yes, the portions are usually going to be on the smallish size, but it wasn't as if these were single bite plates. The wife and I managed to finish everything, but I'm definitely glad they didn't have a scale we needed to step on on the way out.

THE DRINK: A lavish, expensive wine list. I expected no less.

THE STAFF: No complaints. The wife asked the sommelier lots of questions about the wine list, which he patiently answered. And our waitress did hook us up with an extra dish.

MAD PROPS FOR: The self-important douche sitting next to us trying to impress his bimbo date. As I said, the tables were very close together. I enjoy listening to idiots trying to talk to one another.

OVERALL: You know, this is a tough one. It was a great meal with lots of memorable dishes, but a small part can't help but be a little bit disappointed that we didn't get lots of lots of "Oh my God, this is amazing" dishes. The scallops, the spinach gnocchi, and the cauliflower flan were all stellar, and lots of other stuff was very yummy, but it wasn't as if we got anything really unexpectedly interesting. I guess I'm just too tough to please.

THE CHECK: If you need to ask, you can't afford it. Seriously, though, this is a once a year (2 years, 5 years) kind of thing.

On to the Ws...

With a little more than a month left in 2009, we'll have to pick up the pace a little bit down the stretch, but four restaurants in a little more than a month should not be too much of a challenge. It'll just take some good plannin and lots of writing. We'll git er done.

Ineligible restaurants for round 23...

• Warmdaddy's -- Back when I was in college, this was a cool jazz joint over near Old City. Now that it moved into a strip mall on Columbus Boulevard, it's not even close to being the same.
• White Dog Cafe -- I admire the dedication that the old owner, Judy Wicks, had to the city, but I was far from wowed the one time I went.
• William Penn Inn -- My first meal after becoming a man. Get your mind out of the gutter. It's where I had my Bar Mitzvah celebration. Sicko.
• Winnie's Le Bus -- A solid alternative to Honey's for Sunday brunch. Consistently good food, relatively short wait, and kid friendly.
• World's Cafe Live -- The best venue in the city to see a concert. The food is passable.

Candidates for round 23:

• Water Works Restaurant -- There was a huge PR surge when this restaurant down by the Art Museum opened up, but I frankly don't know anyone who has gone. I do read that Donovan McNabb is there a lot so I'll be sure to where my jersey. http://www.thewaterworksrestaurant.com/main.cfm
• Warsaw Cafe -- Pierogies, borscht, and vodka near Rittenhouse Square. http://www.warsawcafe.thekalon.com/
• Wine Thief Bistro -- My cousin friend is the chef at this interesting concept out near Chestnut Hill. http://www.winethiefbistro.com/
• The Witch -- Trick or treat. New age bistro in South Philly. http://www.thewitchbistro.com/

U is for Uzu Sushi

In a city of culinary behemoths (Stephen Starr, Jose Garces, etc.), it's sometimes nice to step back and recognize that the little guy still has a place in Philadelphia, tenuous as it may sometimes seem to be. These are people whose livelihood depends on their day to day flow of customers, the ones who stare at the door for hours and hours, hoping and praying for another customer to walk in the door. They try everything they can -- lowering prices, tweaking the menus, greeting customers with a free morsel of food or two -- just so they can stay alive for another week.

On average, I would guess that one restaurant in Philadelphia closes every day. Some close for good reasons -- the food is bad, the place is dirty, the menu is poorly thought out, the location sucks. Others just find that, though they do everything right, they simply can't compete with the big boys and it becomes financially unwise to stay open.

Which brings me to Uzu Sushi on the fridge of Old City, a very small sushi place that has been around for a few year but changed hands what looks like (in online reviews, at least) about a year ago. The new owner is the kind of guy you just have to root for -- he speaks in halting English and obviously only understands some of what you are asking him, but he is constantly checking in on you (which can be a little eerie, to be honest), and laughing when he thinks you are making a joke.

Uzu is perhaps the smallest restaurant I have ever been in, with a capacity of about 15 people. Maybe. We went on a Monday night, figuring that the crowd would probably be sparse. We were right. There was one person at the bar, but I got the sense that he either worked there or was related to the owner. Maybe it was because no one ever checked on him the whole time. So basically, we were the only customers there the whole time. Frankly, since it was such a random night, I was not surprised.

Uzu is sort of a romantic spot -- dimly lit, with "Enya lite" music in the background. But since you have to sit so close to the other tables, were there other customers, it would have been hard to have much privacy. I guess we lucked out there.

For such a small sushi joint, Uzu has a surprisingly large menu that compares to most other high-end places in town. As with lots of other sushi places, they give you a printout of all of the possible pieces of fish and roll combinations you can choose from, and you just mark off what you want and hand it back. If nothing else, it prevents confusion. You can also order combination platters, essentially choosing a number of pieces of basic sushi and/or sashimi with some more common rolls (ie, salmon/yellowtail). I certainly was impressed with the selection, although a bit wary. Since they obviously don't have a lot of turnover of customers and therefore product, I wondered how fresh their fish would be. Thankfully, it was an unfounded concern.

On to the full review...

THE FOOD: Admittedly, the pieces of sushi were not as large as I've gotten as other places. And being the only customers, you would think that, especially with two people preparing the sushi behind the counter, we would have been served quickly, but it did take them a while to get everything together for us. Still, I had few complaints about the taste and quality. We ordered quite a bit of sushi and sashimi and, with the exception of the octopus which was a bit chewier than usual, everything was excellent. My latest sushi quirk, sea urchin, which tastes sort of like fish custard (I know it sounds disgusting) was very, very creamy and very, very good.

THE DRINK: Uzu is a BYOB, which of course is great. We did have to pour our own wine (at least he opened it for us), but it wasn't a huge deal.

THE STAFF: As I said, the owner is just one of those people you have to root for. He isn't the greatest at service -- I often had to point out to him that I needed more water, and he kept waiting and waiting to give us the check when we were finished (I finally had to ask him). But he was very kind to us in general and had a good nature to him.

MAD PROPS FOR: When we finished our initial mound of sushi, which was preceded by a bowl of OK edamame, the owner made up a few special rolls for us. He had a hard time describing them to us beyond indicating that they were a lot of different types of fish thrown together. Still, we weren't about to complain. In my book, free food is good food.

OVERALL: Have I had better sushi before? Sure. Has there been better ambiance? Of course. Is this going to be a meal I remember for ages and ages? Probably not. But there is something very comforting knowing that a place like Uzu Sushi can survive in Philadelphia. With all the hubbub you hear about the latest splashy new space in the city, the little guy can easily get squeezed out. So when one of my co-workers asked me the day after our meal where she should take her dad for good sushi that night, I directed her to Uzu. I told her to tell the owner the goofy looking tall guy from last night had sent her. She said he laughed when he heard that. My little contribution to his life. My parents would be proud (OK, not really, but it sounds good).

THE CHECK: We dropped about $90 with tip. Considering how much food we ate, I was OK with that.

On to the Vs....

Ineligible restaurants for round 21:

• Vietnam Restaurant -- I remember going on a very unmemorable date here years ago.
• Vintage -- I really wish Vintage was better than it is. It has so much potential, but it just never quite nails it.

Candidates for round 21:

The wife and I have been waiting a long time to go to Vetri. Two cancelled trips (one in 2007 and another in 2008) make it the eligible restaurant I've been waiting to try since we started this journey back in November. No voting this round because I am making an executive decision. Plus, we made reservations 6 weeks ago.