Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Potato-leek soup: Simple and sublime

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat: Craig LaBan: You all know I love a good, simple farm-market meal, and I scored big this weekend with my first potato-leek soup of the season. Potatoes, leeks, and water are like best friends. Why anyone would ruin this classic French peasant trio with chi

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

Craig LaBan: You all know I love a good, simple farm-market meal, and I scored big this weekend with my first potato-leek soup of the season. Potatoes, leeks, and water are like best friends. Why anyone would ruin this classic French peasant trio with chicken stock or bacon is beyond me. This soup is one of the most sublime examples of simplicity perfected. My version: Potatoes (four large ones, peeled and diced); leeks (four mediums, just the white, sliced down thin and sautéed in butter); salted water (enough to cover); a splash of cream to smooth the edges; and a little dusting of nutmeg to give it warmth. Boil the first three ingredients till they're soft (about 25 minutes), buzz with an immersion blender, then add a quarter cup of cream, nutmeg, and season to taste. Serve with fresh croutons, lots of chive, and you'll consider yourself lucky if there are leftovers.

On the restaurant front, one pet peeve that's grown even larger: Restaurant Week. It has become so huge that some Center City restaurants exclude all other options - the Attack of the Bargain Menu Week. For those exploring $35 menu-ville, I'd love to hear your most positive experiences.

Reader: I was just down in Charleston, S.C., for vacation and it happened to be restaurant week there. As opposed to PRW, I didn't feel cheated in terms of quality or quantity of food. In fact, I was delighted to learn that Husk featured its full menu as its RW menu. Three courses for $30 . . . couldn't beat that.

C.L.: I'd be more OK with Restaurant Week if the regular menu was also an option. I understand for restaurants dealing with mass crowds going for the prix fixe, though, that can be hard to execute at the level you'd like.

Reader: I've completely avoided Restaurant Week. I had a great [non-RW] meal at Little Fish this week. I think Mike Stollenwerk might be a scallop genius.

Reader: We went to Zama, not knowing it is Restaurant Week (actually, I actively avoid it). Two of the four diners had the Restaurant Week menu, which had copious numbers of options, and the food was delicious. Zama is really top-notch, and the quality of the fish was sublime. It is truly a star.

C.L.: Thanks for those two good reports, guys. Zama is a favorite, so I'm glad to hear they've followed through on bargain week. And yes, I agree: Stollenwerk's scallop I.Q. is off the charts.

Reader: Went to Farmicia for RW and the menu seemed to consist of the three to four best dishes off their normal menu (I have eaten there on several occasions), with portion sizes not being affected by RW. . . . Very good meal and always love that you can BYO wine even though they have a full-service bar.

C.L.: Nice to hear a good word about Farmicia, too, which, it now occurs to me, was probably one of the first local restaurants to use "Farm" in its name.

Reader: Any idea on the menu direction Jason Cichonski is leaning toward at his new space at Third and Bainbridge Streets?

C.L.: He's one of the most talented young chefs in the city, and Ela is going to be a more accessible and relatively affordable version of what he does. Looking forward to that one - a lot. An early prototype menu from Ela included: Scallop chips with kimchi mayo; smoked french fries with honey malt; brioche gnocchi with smoked caviar . . . lots of wines by the glass.

Reader: Saw a one-liner that Talula's had a date at James Beard. Got any info?

C.L.: That's on for Nov. 9, but with all the Garden chef transitions, the menu still isn't set. All that said, cooking at the Beard House is no longer the big honor it once was.