Craig LaBan

I joined the Inquirer as its restaurant critic in 1998, after a stint covering the food beat for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Having eaten about 500 restaurant meals a year here ever since, I never cease to be amazed by the diversity and sophistication of Philadelphia's kitchens. To travel from its many authentic ethnic neighborhoods to the gastronomic temples of Walnut Street to its beery gastropubs, cozy BYOBs and multitude of greasy-but-great steak joints, is to know this town delivers satisfaction at every level of the food chain. Including online dish.

Live chat: Join Craig at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays in the chatroom.

Book: The Philadelphia Inquirer Restaurant Guide is available through our online store.

4 Bells: According to Craig, the best restaurants in the Philadelphia area.

Craig LaBan's Drink: Wigle White Rye Whiskey

Craig LaBan

Posted 05/10/2012

A Pittsburgh spirit.

Video: Hickory Lane
Gallery: Hickory Lane

BEVERAGES Italian beer making a splash - 05/08/2012: By Craig LaBan, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Craig LaBan: The word "birrificio" may not yet quite roll off the tongue. But if Philadelphians continue to plunge into the exotic new beer,s the Italian word for "brewery" should become a familiar one, indeed.
Craig LaBan's Italian beer-tasting notes - 05/08/2012: Craig LaBan

Here are tasting notes on some of my favorite Italian beers tasted recently in the Philadelphia area. Prices are retail, unless otherwise noted. Bruton Bianca, 750 ml, $19 at Pizzeria Stella (Second and Lombard) — similar to a Belgian wit, but creamier in texture due to the use of Tuscan spelt, with finely woven coriander, orange peel, and white pepper.
Craig LaBan's online chat: A romantic dinner - 05/09/2012: Craig LaBan

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan’s online chat:
Drink: Chateau D’Esclans Whispering Angel Cotes de Provence Rosé 2011 - 05/03/2012: Craig LaBan

Provençal rosé is doing the quick fade, at least when it comes to color. Popularity of the refreshing southern French pink, in fact, has never been stronger, with a 62 percent growth in U.S. imports between 2010 and 2011, according to the French customs agency Ubifrance. “It started with the yacht crowd in the Hamptons,” one distributor told me, “and spread from there.” The fashion among Provence’s modern rosés, however, has been to make them as pale as possible, and the best, like Château D’Esclans, manage to achieve this without sacrificing fullness of flavor. Just north of St. Tropez, this relatively young estate owned by Sacha Alexis Lichine allows the grenache grapes to ripen deeply, but uses high technology to keeps the grapes chilled, minimize skin contact, and prevent oxygen exposure. With the addition of aromatic vermentino, winemaker Patrick Léon has crafted some high-end rosés with complexity and aging potential (like my fave, the hard-to-find Les Clans, $59) Their entry-level bottle, though, Whispering Angel, is worthy in its own right, with limestone brightness and notes of strawberry and cassis that leap from the glass, with a creamy mouthfeel from extended time on the lees. The color may be pale, but the flavor sure isn’t.
LABAN REVIEW La Calaca Feliz, in Fairmount - 05/03/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan: With cooking this tasty, it’s no wonder the skeletons look so joyous in the colorful murals that line the walls.
LaBan chats about a new food cart, whose owners butcher their meat - 05/02/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan: Mike Klein and I popped by this adorable little cart, Spot, to try their house-ground burgers, and cheesesteaks. They butcher the meat themselves from a big top round, pretty impressive for a place that’s 6 feet long.
LOCAVORE Cheese, in small baaa-tches - 05/01/2012: By Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan: Valley Shepherd makes sumptuous, cave-aged sheep’s-milk cheeses in North Jersey — and, starting in summer, at Reading Terminal Market.
Drink: Del Maguey Mezcal Vida - 04/27/2012: Craig LaBan

Del Maguey’s “single-village” mezcal series almost single-handedly pioneered the image of the agave spirit’s makeover from “tequila’s wormy rotgut cousin” into one of world’s most intriguing premium pours — smoky and mysteriously complex, made to 400-year-old artisanal Oaxacan traditions. Accordingly, most are quite pricey. The relatively recent release of Vida, however, brings a less expensive bottle to their line, still ringing with roasted agave smoke, sandalwood, and bright citrus notes, but affordable enough to also use as a blender. And Philadelphia’s best cocktaileros have obliged. At the Farmer’s Cabinet, Giuseppe D’Angelo sees mezcal as a natural for fans of smoky Islay Scotch, and turns this Mexi-twist on an Old Fashioned, blending 2 ounces of Vida with half an ounce of simple syrup and two dashes each of Fee Bros. orange and Angostura bitters. Stir over ice two minutes, then strain over a big ice cube with zest of lemon and orange. At Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co., meanwhile, Colin Shearn taps mezcal’s natural citrusy tones with this simple soda-pop riff on a Paloma – 2 ounces of mezcal and the juice of one lime over ice, topped with the fizz of Jarritos grapefruit soda. (Bueno with tamarindo, too.) ¡Feliz Cinco de Mezcal Mayo!
LABAN REVIEW Heirloom, in Chestnut Hill - 04/27/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan finds an "earnest warmth to dining" at chef Al Paris' homespun BYOB at the Top of the Hill.
Rave for Nom Nom;  a chef and the hype machine - 04/25/2012: Craig LaBan

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan’s online chat:

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