Talula's Table: Food & Beer Geekery

Last week I had the privilege of eating at Talula's Table in Kennett Square, PA. While I've never eaten at the actual "Farm Table," I have eaten at the "Kitchen Table" three times. With reservations booked a year out to the day at "The Toughest Table in America" to get a reservation at, I do consider myself pretty lucky.

Talula's Table seats 8-12 people at the Farm Table, and sometimes, a few guests are able to dine in the kitchen. Having worked in restaurants for the past 5 years, I'd much rather be in the kitchen at a place like this.

Owned by Aimee Olexy and Brian Sikora, this restaurant will always have a special place in my heart. I actually dined at their restaurant in Philly, Django, for my 19th birthday. This was way before I was a foodie, and I remember something about an organic game hen and local vegetables. The meal was delicious, but I didn't even know what I was partaking in. Looking back, I view it as my first foodie experience.

Anyway, enough reminiscing. Last week's dinner at Talula's was perhaps the best experience I've had to date. Interestingly, I have been one of the few quests to bring beer to dinner. I happen to know the other two groups; one of them being Tom Peters of Monk's, and the other, my friends Vicki and Scott.

I've always used Talula's as an excuse to break out good, rare beer, and attempt to pair it with delicious food. After the food pictures, I'll go over the beers.

Carpaccio of Zucchini and Button Mushrooms, Parmesan Lace, and Truffled White Bean Puree

Porcelet Ravioli, Sweet Corn Broth with Hand Stretched Mozzarella


Shrimp and Scallop Sausage with Garden Cucumber Relish and Roasted Bell Pepper Foam


House Smoked Mid-Atlantic Bluefish, Carmelized Potato Hash, Braised Chard, and Mussel Bisque


Creamy Risotto of Glennrose Farm Heritage Chicken with Fava Bean and Chicken Liver Mousse (forgot I was taking pictures, so this isn't the original plating...)


Summer Roasted Tomatoes Stuffed with Chester County Lamb with Tomato Lamb Jus and Crispy Eggplant Frites


"Grassroots" A collection of local cheeses

Sugar Plum and Bing Cherry Soup with Cardamom Ice Cream

Eclat Chocolates


And...the beer line up:
- Les Deux Brasseurs - Allagash
- Russian River Temptation Batch 4
- Russian River Consecration Batch 1
- New Belgium La Folie 2008
- Jolly Pumpkin Noel 2008
- Westmalle Tripel 2007
- Hanssens Artisanal Cassis
- Avery The Reverend 2008



I have to thank my friend Ryan for contributing to our beer line up. Only someone with a few connections can bring Russian River Temptation to dinner.

Best Dish: Carpaccio of Zucchini and Button Mushrooms, Parmesan Lace, and Truffled White Bean Puree. Say what you will of truffle oil, and I'm certainly one to avoid it's overuse on every menu these days, but this dish was a cornucopia of flavor. The truffle oil enhanced every other ingredient on the plate perfectly.

Best Texture: Shrimp and Scallop Sausage with Garden Cucumber Relish and Roasted Bell Pepper Foam. The shrimp and scallop sausage was pretty unbelievable. This isn't the first time I've seen Bryan take items and make them into entirely different forms.

Best Beer: New Belgium La Folie 2008. This beer is special: a sour brown ale, aged in French oak for one to three years before bottling. Without a doubt, it's one of my top 5 favorite beers. This one had mellowed nicely, but still retained the perfect amount of tartness and great acidity.

Best Pairing: Porcelet Ravioli, Sweet Corn Broth with Hand Stretched Mozzarella and Russian River Consecration. This one happened by accident. Basically, we drank the Russian River Temptation way too fast. I had meant to enjoy Temptation for two courses, but that didn't work out. I thought the Consecration, a strong dark ale aged for 6 months in Silver Oak Cabernet barrels with currants and brettanomyces, would be too much for the sweet corn broth and mozzarella. However, the delicious baby pork inside the ravioli was perfect with the dark beer. Additionally, the beer was actually light enough, and had enough acidity to not overtake the more delicate flavors of the dish.

Most Sour Beer: Hanssens Artisinal Cassis. I've been holding onto this beer since last October. I received it by chance, at Tria, after a Fermentation School class with Matthias Neidhart of B. United imports. I remember it being sour, but the additional 10 months aging in the bottle made it even more sour. It was perhaps the most sour beer I've ever had. It was out of control with wet horse blanket and musty basement flavors.

I have to thank Aimee and Bryan for allowing me to dine at their incredible restaurant. They are responsible for 3 of my top 10 dining experiences, lifetime.

Each time is different, and each time is special. And I'm especially thankful that I was able to get there one more time before my move. Not that I won't be back trying to make a reservation in December...

Best of Philly Sommelier: Melissa Monosoff

While I may shamelessly self-promote myself (and Tria), I rarely shamelessly promote my friends and their places of business.

With the Best of Philly awards coming out last week, I'm inspired to write a little homage to my good friend, and Best of Philly Sommelier, Melissa Monosoff.

We first met at a *small-scale* restaurant project you might remember as Maia. While the restaurant didn't turn out so hot, I'm thankful for the people I met at Maia.

Immediately upon meeting Melissa I realized that she was not like every other wine person. She was very down to earth, willing and happy to teach (not preach) at every turn, insanely knowledgeable, and personally inspiring. Her innate love of all things beverage-related is hard to miss. PS. She's also a big beer geek.

I have to credit her for my love of wine, and all of my basic wine knowledge. For as long as I live, Kimmeridgian clay, Salon, and Richard Betts will always remind me of Melissa.

So congrats, MM, you deserve it! :)

Currently, you can find Melissa at Savona/Bar Savona in Gulph Mills.
And, in case you missed it, here's what Philly Mag has to say:

"Sommeliers, with their esoteric winespeak and predictably expensive recommendations, can ruin a nice dinner out. Not the laid-back Monosoff, who’s more supportive wine cheerleader than intimidating salesman. She’s added handy features like a half-bottle list at Savona. And while her wine list is terrific, nothing beats getting her friendly, jargon-free, budget-sensitive wine recs."

Savona / Bar Savona
100 Old Gulph Road
Gulph Mills, PA 19428
610-520-1200

Philly Mag's Best New Restaurant: Distrito

Yesterday I went to what is now officially Philly Magazine's Best New Restaurant 2009: Distrito. I made my first visit right after Craig LaBan's 3-Bell review last September. My 10 month lapse between visits might indicate that I was less than excited about the place. It just didn't quite live up to the hype. The food was alright, but, yes, as everyone likes to say, "It just wasn't as good as Amada."

I owed a "frequent" Tria guest a visit to their place of work, so I decided to trek over to West Philly for some "modern Mexican cuisine." Turns out, it was also University City Dining Days. The menu I had hoped for was abbreviated into a $30 prix fixe. I decided to go à la carte anyway.



After being sent out guacamole with chips, I went with gazpacho - watermelon, tomato, red chile, crab, cucumber. While the cool watermelon flavor, enhanced with just a touch of spice was fantastic, the completely pureed texture wasn't what I expected. The crab and cilantro wasn't enough to give this soup the perfect textural experience.



Next, I went with a salad: jícama, honeydew, watermelon, chile piquin, lime zest. The finely diced ingredients were perfectly chilled and crisp. Seeing as it was hot and humid yesterday, this was actually exactly what I wanted to cool down. In fact, both the soup and the salad were weather appropriate food choices.



Apparently, I ended up dining vegetarian; obviously not something I normally do. Last time I visited, the bone marrow tacos were the highlight. Unfortunately, they're not even on the menu anymore.

I realize I did some lame ordering. I didn't choose their most exciting items, and I didn't even get tacos. But, I wasn't that hungry and the weather wasn't exactly pushing me towards hot dishes.

In the end, I'd go to Distrito again. And do some better ordering.

Distrito Restaurant
3945 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3621
(215) 386-1072

Oysters and Bubbles

Yesterday, my day off eating tour began at the newly reopened Oyster House. I work just down the street, yet somehow hadn't stopped in yet. Naturally, in the mood for decadence, I went with the classic pairing of oysters and bubbly. Really, sometimes, there's just nothing better in the world.



I started out with a glass of Paras Balta Cava Brut from Penedes, Spain to go with my half dozen Royal Miyagi oysters from British Columbia. The oysters were incredible. They were really creamy with a somewhat fruity/salty aftertaste.

I have to give the Oyster House credit; they were the best shucked oysters I've had in Philly. I really do take issue with restaurants that want to serve oysters for between two and three dollars a piece, yet do a terrible job of cleaning them. I'm willing to deal with a little grit, but if the oyster isn't even separated from the shell, I have to draw the line. So, kudos to the Oyster House. I suppose, based upon their name, they really couldn't get away with anything less.



After the oysters, I moved onto a glass of Bouvet Brut Rosé from the Loire. To somewhat pair with the rosé, I went with a version of my favorite Tria dish: Roasted Beets with Feta. At Tria, the beets are roasted with red onion, honey, and lemon. In comparison, the beets at Oyster House were much less sweet. They were also unevenly roasted and covered in parsley. The Feta was also pretty low quality. Between the pervasive parsley flavor and the boring feta, these beets really didn't match up to Tria. I may be a little biased, but really, I don't want parsley on my beets.




So, I guess I should just stick with oysters at Oyster House. And, well, there's nothing wrong with that.

Oyster House
1516 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-567-7683