Marty: Craig, my girlfriend and I had an amazing meal at Marigold Kitchen. We both ordered the tasting menu and were delighted by the chef's choices. The cheese plate was fantastic, there was a chevre from California that I meant to write down but I totally forgot what it was called ... do you or any of the chatters know which cheese I'm talking about?

Craig: Marty, I'm glad you had a great meal at Marigold, and you're right, they offer an excellent cheese selection, usually a trio paired with some very creative accoutrements (e.g., shaved white chocolate, cider soaked raisins, green olives). That said, chef Erin changes the cheese platter regularly - I had six different cheeses in two visits. If it's a California goat, though, I'm guessing it was a Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove. It's one of the nation's best goats producers, and they had some great cheeses at the recent Fancy Food show, including a truffled chevre, Truffle Tremor, that is totally addictive.

Marty: Absinthe is legal ... but no wormwood means no thujone! Who drinks absinthe for the taste?!

Craig: Actually, Marty, all the new absinthes do have grand wormwood, which is the original ingredient, but they have managed to remove the thujone, which is the toxic ingredient. So, really, no psycho visions may hit you, but I found these absinthes do give an exceedingly mellow warmth to the evening. Plus, I actually really do love the anise taste of absinthe. It reminds me of a hot summer's day in Avignon (many, many years ago), at an outdoor cafe watching all the old men play petanque on the gravel alleys of the parks.

KL: I stopped by the West Chester farmers market on June 28 for some supplies for vacation, and there was Talula's Table, offering samples and selling their pate and sausages. Samples were great, and I'll be shopping again. They're there every other weekend, and closer than Kennett Square.

Craig: Thanks for this dispatch from the WC farmer's market, KL. Actually, Head House Square's Sunday market is even closer for Center Cityzens than West Chester, and the Talula's folks set up there, too. I'm amazed that Bryan and Aimee (Talula's owners) have as much energy as they do - but they do make some seriously good party nibbles. I was at someone's Queen Village bbq the other night, and we were all fighting (kids and adults) over the cheddar-beer dip and the smokey slices of artisan sausage.

Corinna: Craig, I am an Asian dumpling fanatic. I've been to Joy Tsin Lau a couple of times, but I wasn't that impressed with the quality of the meat. Where can I get Susanna Foo quality dumplings? Are there any dim sum places in Chinatown worth trying now that Lakeside Chinese Deli is closed? (Sadly, I never got to try it before it closed, but I have a feeling it was exactly what I was looking for.)

Craig: Corinna, we all miss Lakeside, but there is hope. Susanna Foo is actually planning to open up a dumpling stand in the intriguing new food court that just opened under the Comcast Center. (More about this venue at a future chat.) I understand she's aiming to open in several months, still. Meanwhile, in Chinatown, have you tried Dim Sum Garden yet? They're one of my new favorite Chinatown dives, with great Shanghai soup dumplings (or "souplings" as an in-the-know New Yorker corrected me), as well as some great veggie bao, cleaver-shaved noodles, and handmade dumplings. Check the archives for the review, which ran a couple months ago.

Chris: I think it has been pretty clearly established that absinthe never had enough thujone or anything else to cause hallucinations. In fact, there's no evidence that thujone causes hallucinations even in extremely high doses.

Craig: Thanks for chiming in on the thujone matter, Chris. Absinthe, as a genre, has pretty much been exonerated of all the bad rap it acquired in the Belle Epoque, when it basically became a scapegoat for a lot of other social ills. That said, my understanding is that these new absinthes do have to be "thujone free" to pass muster with the FDA. All I can say is, I haven't missed it in my recent absinthe adventures.

Kate: Hi Craig, I'm wondering if you know of any places in Philly that have good chilequilles (sp?). I had them once down in a little place in AC and would love to have them again.

Craig: Kate, I haven't explored the wonderful world of chilaquiles too much at our growing roster of authentic Mexican restaurants, almost all of which do a serious breakfast trade. But I did have some very tasty ones recently for brunch at the new Memphis Taproom on the northern fringe of Fishtown. They were actually quite excellent, with sausage, chiles, and corn tortilla strips all tossed into the scrambled eggs.

Had a great meal at Modo Mio last Friday and service was not an issue. The $32 four-course on the whole menu is unbeatable. Loved the octopus and salmon starters, the gnocci in calamari ragu ... quite a good veal cheek, too!

Craig: Don - thanks for this report on Modo Mio, which a few weeks ago was catching flak for service. I also went back there since that chat, and found the service to be pretty good - a little frantic, but outgoing and enthusiastic. Food was also excellent, albeit a little salty. My favorite thing, though, at this Girard Ave. BYO is the 20-pound loaf of rustic bread they slice up near the door. It may be my favorite single loaf of bread in town (although, Metropolitan Bakery's organic miche is up there, too).

JD: Craig, are there any spots to get some good homemade Polish food? I've been craving some decent pierogi, kielbasa and golabki.

Craig: JD, there is no fancy Polish place in town that I'd send you to, per se, but there is an excellent Polish cafeteria in Port Richmond I'd definitely send you to: Syrenka, at 3173 Richmond St. The service is a bit cold, but the food is pure comfort - go for the bigos cabbage stew, the pork cutlets, the pierogies, the stuffed cabbage. Personally, though, I'd wait till winter.

Matt: Hi, Craig. Trying to find the best gnocchi in the city. Ever since Felicia's closed, haven't found anything close. Paradiso seems to come in a close second, but any suggestions for an alternative?

Craig: Matt, I've been avoiding this question for months, mostly because there are so many good gnocchi makers in town. But I just took a quick look back (about five years) into my "gnocchi files" and have come up with a few worthy names. Can we just exclude the Vetri restaurants right off the top from this competition, since I consider them already in a class of their own? I'm not trying to start another Vetri thread, just let's consider some others: In South Philly, you have Mezza Luna and Cucina Forte, who make the same amazing cloudlike ricotta gnocchi; also, in South Philly, there is L'Angolo, Tre Scalini, Pesto, among others. In town, Modo Mio makes some excellent gnocchi, but so does Lacroix (I once had them there with crispy guanciale on top). So does Radicchio, which serves them in a ricotta blush sauce. I also recall some fabulously light, little ones in a tomato essence at Alex Capasso's Blackbird in Collingswood, where Nunzio Patruno also makes some outstanding, classic gnocchi.

Craig: Two more gnocchi spots: Restaurant Alba in Malvern, where I once had them with braised rabbit and chanterelles, and Rylei in Northeast Philly, where they're serving some very ambitious food for Frankford Avenue.

BGC: Is #3 the new King of Tandoor in Fairmount?