http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban RSS Feed for Inq Col Craig LaBan en-us Sun, 27 May 2012 11:04:11 GMT http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120527_Craig_LaBan_review__Nomad_Pizza_goes_for_the_best_in_Neapolitan_pies.html There is a delicate line with pizza these days — as thin as the finest Neapolitan crust — that separates mere love from absolute obsession. Tom Grim knew he’d begun to spiral into the pizza-geek abyss when he nearly burned down his house by rigging the self-clean function of his brick-lined oven to reach optimal pizza-making temperatures of 800-plus degrees. But that didn’t give him pause. Instead, he installed a $10,000 wood-fired pizza hearth in his home kitchen. Then he put one onto the back of a refurbished 1949 REO Speedwagon that his business partner, Stalin Bedon, bought on eBay ("after more than a few beers"), so they could drive their pizza passion anywhere. First came Hopewell, and their first actual restaurant, a picturesque carriage house with stained-glass windows and a breezy patio that is a paradise for puffy-crusted rounds topped with sweet clouds of buffalo mozzarella and the freshest local ingredients. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120516_Craig_LaBan__A_diverse_menu_of_Jersey_Shore_dining_spots.html Revel, Revel, Revel . . . . http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120527_Craig_LaBan_rsquo_s_Drink__Dupont_Sp_eacute_ciale_Belge.html 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.) http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120524_La_Pe_ntilde_a_Mexicana__One_of_the_best_authentic_Mexican_kitchens_around.html It’s tucked away on the easy-to-miss one-way drive of West Cypress Street in Kennett Square, but La Peña Mexicana has a paint job that’s impossible to miss, its shedlike buildings striped like a bumblebee draped in a Mexican flag. Now that I’ve been inside this modest, five-year-old taquería (with roots in the northern coastal state of Guerrero), its food shouldn’t be missed, either, as it’s one of the best authentic Mexican kitchens in our region. Adventure diners should go for a super-crisp chimichanga stuffed with tongue or cabeza. But more conservative eaters can try something new as well, with one of the huaraches, soft, sandal-shaped ovals of hand-pressed corn masa dough that come layered with creamy frijoles, crunchy lettuce and radish, zippy green salsa, cilantro and chicken stewed tender in mild but soulful guajillo salsa. Chicken huarache, $6, La Peña Mexicana, 609 W. Cypress St., Kennett Square, 610-925-2651. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120520_Craig_LaBan_Review_Jamonera.html It may come as no surprise that the Spanish world of competitive ham-slicing has long been a manly art. At least it was until last spring, when Lourdes Corbacho became the first woman cortador to ever be crowned Spain’s national ham-cutting champ. If the platter laden with Iberico de Bellota ham set before me recently at Jamonera was any indication, its papered wooden board covered with a cured-pig mosaic of crimson ham chips laced with creamy fat, Corbacho’s influence has made its way to Philly in the best way. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120520_Craig_LaBan_rsquo_s__lsquo_Drink_rsquo___La_Cigarrera_Manzanilla.html ‘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. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120513_Craig_LaBan_review__Hickory_Lane.html Matt Zagorski is haunted by burgers. He knows how to cook other things, of course. But his prowess with the patty, ratcheted up to great renown during his previous stint at Rouge, has become something of a professional burden. True, his blazing hot cast-iron pans can sear such a crust on a 10-ounce beauty that one bite can make a grown man sing. But his rep as one of the city’s undisputed gurus of ground-meat goodness had also generated its own kind of inescapable gravitational pull. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120517_Chatting_with_Craig_LaBan.html 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! http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120517_Good_Taste__Empanadas_in_Collingswood.html Elaborating on empanadas The empanada is having its creative Philly moment. You can get them authentic Argentine-style at Gavin’s Café near Schuylkill River Park (2536 Pine St.) where they’re filled with piquant ground meat, and aren’t complete until you also devour a maicenita cookie sandwich filled with dulce de leche caramel for dessert. You can get them Fishtown hipster-fusion style at Sketch Burger (413 East Girard Ave.), where they’re stuffed with green chile cheese fries or “Bombay” seitan tingling with Indian spice. For the BBQ pitmaster rendition, meanwhile, head to Little Louie’s in Collingswood, where chef-owner Gerald Dougherty shreds brisket smoked for 20 hours over hickory wood, then blends it with black beans, onion, yam, and the tangy house BBQ sauce. Tucked inside the flaky fried pocket of Dougherty’s homemade dough, these irresistible little turnovers may very well be Louie’s single best dish. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/craig_laban/20120510_Italian_beer_making_a_splash_in_Philadelphia.html The word birrificio may not yet quite roll off the tongue. But if Philadelphians continue to plunge into the exotic new beers that have recently begun appearing here from Tuscany, Piedmont, and Emiglia-Romagna, brewed with everything from chestnuts to barbera grapes, chinotto peel and myrrh, the Italian word for brewery should become a familiar one, indeed.