Review: Green Eggs Cafe 2

J & I met up for brunch at Green Eggs Cafe. I wasn’t wowed by my first visit there, but now I’m definitely a fan! Usually I like to share dishes at brunch, and J agreed, but instead of opting for one sweet and one savory, we chose two savory dishes, because they sounded incredible.

The Kitchen Sink had scrambled eggs with cheese and home fries with peppers and onions in a cute cast iron skillet. The eggs & potatoes were topped with a large fluffy biscuit and drenched in amazing sausage gravy. I know how to make good sausage gravy, but Green Eggs makes EXCEPTIONAL sausage gravy. The combination of tender eggs and gravy, really, anything in the skillet with gravy, was delicious.

Shrimp & grits benedict. I think I’ve mentioned before that shrimp & grits have become a “thing” for me – if they are on the menu, I order them. This was another fantastic dish. The grits were flavorful and cheesy, the shrimp were very well seasoned, the poached egg yolks were nice and runny, and the potatoes, while not quite as crispy and perfect as Sabrina’s Cafe home fries, were solid. Instead of hollandaise, the benedict was topped with a Vermont cheddar sauce. It was so rich and creamy I didn’t miss traditional hollandaise at all. LOVED this. The only superfluous thing on the plate was the toast points. I’d rather have more grits.

Even with both of us digging in, we barely ate half of the food. Green Eggs Cafe hit it out of the park on my second visit. Now I see why they are popular enough to open multiple locations! I will definitely go back.

Green Eggs Cafe
719 North 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123-3007
(215) 922-3447
http://www.greeneggscafe.net/

Review: Underdogs

Underdogs is a fairly new spot that opened a couple months ago on 17th near Sansom, next door to Bonte. H heard about it first, and we were all excited to try it, so H, R, & I stopped there for dinner one night. The menu offers 24 different styles of sausages, from a simple hot dog to the Adonis – lamb sausage with lettuce, tomato, onion, and tzatziki. All sausages can be ordered alone or in combo with regular fries and drinks. They also offer a dozen different dipping sauces for the french fries.

R picked the Chicago style – yellow mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomato slices, sport peppers, dill pickle spear, and celery salt.

H went with a more unusual choice – Pero Caliente – pico de gallo, chocolate cayenne mole, jalapenos, and sour cream. She liked it.

I picked another classic choice – the Michigan – beef chili, cheddar, mustard, and chopped onion (I asked for it without). I enjoyed this a lot. The bread to meat ratio was good, and the buns were a step above the standard supermarket cottony hot dog buns. I also thought the sausages were all assembled with attention to detail, evident in the careful layering of toppings.

The fresh french fries were excellent. We tried both the malt vinegar aioli and garlic aioli and both were really good too!

I’d definitely stop back at Underdogs to try some of the other sandwiches and to get more of those addictive french fries. Next time I want to try the curry aioli and the Tryp – smoked turkey sausage with stuffing, gravy, and cranberry relish!

Underdogs
132 South 17th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 665-8080
http://underdogsphilly.com/

Review: Continental

I pass Continental all the time but only ate there once, for lunch. Lunch was a little underwhelming, so even though I thought the interior was fun I never went back. V recommended a couple dishes though, so we met up there for a girls’ night.

We started off with the calamari salad. I’ve eaten Starr’s version before, at Buddakan, and the Continental one seems identical. Simple – greens, carrots, sprouts, and soy-sesame dressing. A great salad to share, but a little boring as a whole plate.

I saw the shoestring fries on some other tables and really wanted to try them. The huge mound of crispy potato tendrils was visually impressive, but there wasn’t much potato flavor. Instead they mostly tasted like old oil. I liked the mustard sauce drizzled on top though.

Lobster mashed potatoes – one of V’s favorites. I was impressed by the amount of lobster in this small dish and the mashed potatoes were excellent. I’d definitely order this again.

Jumbo lump crab pad thai. Solid, but not outstanding. I think the noodles needed more wok flavor.

Chilean sea bass with sweet potato puree. The fish was cooked perfectly and I really enjoyed the sweet potato puree on the side.

Continental surprised me. I thought it was mainly a bar that served kitschy food as an afterthought but I enjoyed our dinner far more than the first lunch I tried. I’d like to go back and try some of the fun cocktails on the menu along with ordering the decadent lobster mac & cheese or lobster mashed potatoes. (I still had the flu when we went to Continental, so no drinking for me).

Continental
1801 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 567-1800
www.continentalmidtown.com

Review: Woody’s Crab House

I spent a weekend in Maryland a few months ago and Woody’s was our last stop before heading back to Philly. It’s a big roomy restaurant filled with nautical knickknacks and a big menu featuring crab. Not surprising, since it’s in Maryland.

The table shared an appetizer of clam strips. I think I prefer fried calamari to clam strips because I don’t expect much flavor from calamari. With the clam strips, even though they were well fried and tasty, I wanted more of the clam. Good for sharing, but I think a whole basketful would be wayyy too much for one person.

I was a little tired so the only plate I took a picture of was my dish – the Woody Melt. Crabcake with bacon & provolone on grilled sourdough. Delicious! The crabcake was really good, and the bacon added some nice saltiness without overwhelming the rest of the sandwich.

Everyone else seemed happy with their choices, so I feel safe recommending Woody’s, especially since many of the other dining options in that town are chain restaurants. If you’re in the area, Woody’s is a great choice!

Woody’s Crab House
29 S. Main St.
North East, MD 21901
302-410-287-3541
http://www.woodyscrabhouse.com/

Review: Sammy Chon’s KTown BBQ

Sammy Chon’s KTown BBQ has a Cherry Hill outpost and just opened in Philly Chinatown. I enjoyed one of their patented Koagies previously so I was interested to try a different sandwich this time and see how some other Korean flavors translated to Koagie form.

banchan

Chicken Koagie – I made a bad choice. This was really dry. I ended up dousing it with sauce (tasted like mayo + sesame oil?) but it was only so so.

R went with the spicy pork option and thought it was good but too greasy (it was dripping orange oil).

H said her bulgogi sandwich was only okay too.

Others in our group enjoyed their more traditional soups/dishes though, so I guess that’s the way to go at Sammy Chon’s. Skip the Koagies, unless you’re willing to take the greasiness of the spicy pork one.

Sammy Chon’s KTown BBQ
911 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 574-1778
www.ktownbbq.com

Review: Route 6

Route 6 is one of the newest Stephen Starr restaurants in Philly, specializing in New England seafood. I enjoyed a happy hour there so when R wanted to try Route 6 for Restaurant Week I was happy to go.

B & I were a little early so we enjoyed a drink in the large bar area. I tried the Route 6 Ale, brewed exclusively for the restaurant by the White Birch Brewing Company.

RW menu

M started with shrimp cocktail.

The rest of us all chose clam chowder. Route 6′s version is excellent. Creamy without being overly rich, with lots of chopped clams.

We also shared a special starter of shrimp & grits. This was really tasty, and I was sorry to just get a bite. The grits were particularly good, with lots of cheese.

Another shared starter of spicy fries. Decent, but I prefer Chickie & Pete’s crab fries.

Lobster platter with twice baked potato (the “rose”) and creamed corn. I enjoyed everything on the plate, especially the super rich creamed corn. I think it may have been more cream than corn. We all picked lobster because well…when given a choice between lobster, chicken, or crab…really, there’s no contest.

Most of us chose the chocolate bread pudding with banana ice cream and bourbon caramel sauce. I love bread pudding, and this was really outstanding. The banana ice cream was incredibly good too!

M went a different route again with the apple pie. I tried a bit and it was good…but I think the bread pudding was better.

Route 6 put out a solid Restaurant Week menu. The regular menu is definitely on the pricey side, as is typical of Starr restaurants, but at least you know you’ll get a solid meal with some standouts. I do like Route 6 a lot more than some of the other Starr spots. I really liked the open layout of the restaurant although the decor does veer towards the kitschy side of things. I’d go back.

Route 6
600 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 391-4600
www.route6restaurant.com

Review: Tria

I’ve been meaning to go to Tria for quite a while, but for some reason it never seemed to work out. I pass the Rittenhouse location frequently and the narrow space is always busy. A & I had lunch there with G & J. Unfortunately I was fighting the flu so I couldn’t take advantage of the fact that Tria is a wine bar. But, we still tried a nice variety of dishes.

Truffled egg toast with fontina – this was probably the dish I was most excited about. Cheese, bread, egg yolk…so many of my favorite things together! The bread reminded me of the Asian square toast bread and was really good with the cheese and yolk. The only thing I didn’t like was the runny white on top of the cheese, but YMMV.

Truffled mushroom, brie, & spinach panini – half. I am not a huge truffle fan but the mushroom flavor was really nice and I don’t think you can go wrong when spinach & brie are involved.

Roasted butternut squash, farmer’s cheese, and hazelnuts. I liked the squash, didn’t care for the cheese and hazelnuts. Maybe if the nuts were roasted with the squash…

G & J shared the Spanish tuna, black olive tapenade, piquillo pepper, and arugula panini.

Tria has a “Sunday School” special cheese, wine, and beer every Sunday. This was a blue cheese…and I don’t remember anything about it. I blame the flu for my bad memory.

Housemade lamb sausage with white beans, piquillo pepper, and mint-feta sauce. G & J’s dish. Looked great!

Overall we had a really nice lunch, and I definitely want to make it back sometime to try the main feature. Maybe I’ll visit the other Tria location in Washington Square West to see if there’s any difference.
Tria
123 South 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 972-8742
www.triacafe.com