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.

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

Craig LaBan’s Drink: Dupont Spéciale Belge

Craig LaBan

Posted 05/23/2012

The air was so bitingly cold this Mardi Gras when a crew from Philly Beer Week arrived at Brasserie Dupont in Belgium to help make a special collaboration beer that everything about the day flashed in high relief — the furnace blaze of a fire jet torching the copper brew kettle, the sweetness of grains being freshly milled, the pungent aroma of peat smoke and toasted barley puffing into the gray winter sky above the malterie, not far from the brewery in Tourpes. To open a bottle of Spéciale Belge just three months later, then, is to discover the magical transformation time and yeast can work. The brew is a richer amber hue than the saison Dupont is most famous for. But the aromatic house yeast is still unmistakably present, in the pop of the bubbles, in the earthy notes of biscuit and black pepper, in the fruity tones (orange zest, apricot, and ginger spice) that circle the tongue before fading into a so-subtle after-puff of malty smoke. What was so boldly vivid on the day of creation has softened and transformed itself into something altogether more refined and complex. Even though I was there, every sip is still full of mystery. Dupont Spéciale Belge debuts Friday, June 1, at Opening Tap of Philly Beer Week, and will be available on draft at several bars (all Iron Hills, Monk’s Café, the Grey Lodge Pub) and bottleshops (the Fooderies, Food & Friends, Pinocchio’s and Landis Deli.)

Video: Nomad Pizza
Gallery: Nomad Pizza

Huaraches at La Peña Mexicana - 05/22/2012: Craig LaBan

The Kennett Square taqueria is worth the trip.
Craig LaBan's drink: La Cigarrera Manzanilla - 05/17/2012: Craig LaBan

‘Terence Lewis is almost single-handedly revolutionizing the way Philly sees sherry,” Mitchell Skwer, a local wine distributor, recently told me, as he’s watched Jamonera’s beverage director grow the restaurant’s list to what may be the largest in the country, with 45-plus offerings. Of course, aside from Amada and Bar Ferdinand, Jamonera doesn’t have much local competition. Sherry, the fortified wine made near the Spanish town of Jerez, is one of world’s most misunderstood drinks, long misperceived as little more than cheap, sweet cooking plonk. But take a sipping tour of just a few copitas of genuine sherries at Jamonera and you’ll discover how incredibly diverse and food-friendly a good sherry can be. Made from white palomino, Pedro-Ximénez, or moscatel grapes, then fortified with brandy, sherry can be as light and bone-dry as fino, as dark and complex as oloroso, or as tangy with dried-fruit sweetness for dessert sipping as a “PX” (short for Pedro-Ximénez.) I loved two, in particular, at Jamonera: a chilled glass of bracing La Cigarrera manzanilla, a subset of fino whose proximity to the ocean in Sanlúcar de Barrameda lends an almost oceanic brininess, ideal for tapas of olives, anchovies, and seafood a la plancha. For richer foods, we turned to the Dios Baco Amontillado, an oxidized, darker fino whose ambered complexity teased sweetness of nuts, nutmeg, and brown sugar on the nose, but was dry on the tongue, perfect for roasted mushrooms, albondigas, and plancha-seared meats.
LABAN REVIEW Jamonera, in Center City - 05/21/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan "So many bold flavors here to love" at this Spaniard in Washington Square West from Valerie Safran and Marcie Turney. And dozens of selections of sherry.
Shore dining: What's new to see by the sea - 05/16/2012: By Craig LaBan, INQUIRER RESTAURANT CRITIC

Craig LaBan says Revel's hype seems to be sucking all the dining-buzz oxygen from that coastal sea breeze. A closer look shows a number of other worthy new ventures.
Empanadas in Collingswood - 05/14/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan likes the pitmaster version at Little Louie's.
Chatting with Craig LaBan: Guess the spinach gnocchi - 05/16/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig: I had a number of great bites this week — including the season’s first al fresco tacos al pastor from Los Taquitos de Puebla, which can only mean one thing: the return of the Head House Farmer’s Market … what a joy! Here ares some other great flavors that make up this week’s Crumb Tracker Quiz. (1) spinach gnocchi with ricotta salata; (2) peanut butter ice cream double-chocolate chip cookie sandwich (3) artisanal ham plate (with Finchville Farms sugar-cured country ham from Kentucky, with drop biscuits, honey butter and green tomato marmalade (people, this is a “wow” ham if there ever was one). Ready, set … start crumbing!
Craig LaBan's Drink: Wigle White Rye Whiskey - 05/10/2012: Craig LaBan

A Pittsburgh spirit.
LABAN REVIEW Hickory Lane, in Fairmount - 05/21/2012: Craig LaBan

Craig LaBan: Chef Matt Zagorski has helped transform a corner space into a sophisticated neighborhood bistro. There's no need to unleash the Mr. Science kit in his cellar.
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.

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