The lost meals entries consist of meals that occurred at various times throughout 2012 which, for any number of reasons, escaped my documentation – some due to a cross country move and a new job, some due to the Los Angeles Kings run to the Stanley Cup, and some simply as a result of too much travel. Having enjoyed many of these meals with friends or family and with some of them amongst the year’s very best the reality is that with time my memory has deteriorated and as life moves forward I’ve realized there is little hope to ever “catch up” or document these experiences as well as I’d hope, yet in order to preserve them I present these pictures, notes, and thoughts on the experience.
The Dandelion
Butter Lettuce Salad – Honey Crisp Apples, Pomegranate Seeds, Spiced Walnuts, Tuxford & Tebbutt Stilton, Honey Vinaigrette
Chicken & Duck Liver Parfait – Grape Chutney, Cornichons, Brioche Toast
Raisin and Sugar Scones with Raspberry Jam
Lamb Shepherd’s Pie – Mashed Potatoes, Cheddar Cheese, Winter Vegetables
Beer-Battered Fish & Chips – Line-caught Chatham Cod, Tartar Sauce, and Triple Cooked Chips
Blueberry Tart – Vanilla Ice Cream
Sticky Toffee Pudding – Date Ice Cream, Toffee-Rum Sauce
Honey Crisp Apple Financier – Green Apple Sorbet, Caramelized Apples
My last lunch (technically brunch) in Philadelphia, a meal shared with my two lovely friends who’d driven in from New York, would actually prove to be one of the most surprising of the trip – a meal that surpassed modest expectations when we tucked in at restaurateur Stephen Starr’s British themed Dandelion Pub on 18th Street. Admittedly not a fan of ‘theme’ restaurants…or Starr’s restaurants in general…but led to believe by many friends that The Dandelion was different from the rest what the three of us experience that Saturday afternoon was actually some of the best ‘pub food’ I’ve ever encountered and aside from a seating issue the meal was really quite satisfying.
Noting first the space – a large house completely renovated into a restaurant and featuring rooms ranging from a large banquet hall to a sporty bar (complete with televisions showing Man U) to many small nooks and crannies each featuring distinctive seating from rustic chairs to benches and barstools – the feel of the restaurant is both cozy and inviting while service, in our case from a friendly young woman named Mary, is professional and accommodating – even when we requested to be moved because a large family with several unruly children was placed in the same section of the house.
Moving next to the food and drink, while I cannot comment on the two-course cask beer pairing ordered by one in our party, I can say that everything I tasted that afternoon was good while a couple of the plates actually verged on great – the enormous portion of liver mousse with buttery brioche (replenished warm, without request, French Laundry style) and the Sticky Toffee Pudding particularly stunning amongst the eight plates sampled. Taking special note of the oft raved Cod – it is definitely as good as the rumors; a moist and flaky fish with great flavor under a particularly crunchy batter – though at nearly $20 it would be tough to call the single fillet a deal and while the Shepherd’s Pie was good, in my opinion it could have used a bit more heft from the meat and a bit more salt in the potatoes.
Perhaps not “authentic” and certainly not “cheap,” and yet at the same time not entirely disingenuous or “theme park” I think one can best sum up The Dandelion as “you get what you pay for,” and it certainly costs less than a plane ticket to London and compared to other ‘pub’ themed places to watch an afternoon soccer match I’m pretty sure none of them are going to trump The Dandelion’s beer list, liver, cod, or sticky toffee pudding.