Our Diet in Maps

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so visit the Food Environment Atlas and see all kinds of fun stats about how we eat, what we eat, how much we pay for food, etc. It puts the data into national maps (or state/county) to see how each state or region compare. Fascinating stuff.

Now, to save you some time and keep this simple, the folks at Daily Yonder have posted some of the best maps that provide us with some of the most striking information from the Food Atlas. Please visit the article here and thanks to one of my favorite writers/columnists Ezra Klein with the Washington Post for mentioning this on his blog (a must read).

Here is my quick recap of PA/Philly vs US from the maps in the Daily Yonder link above:

Fast foods restaurants per 1000 people - upper levels of the US

Fast food spending per person: one of the lowest in the US

Percentage exercising enough: top half of US

Pounds of meat/poultry eaten person: we like out meat! one of top in US (Philly especially).

Gallons of soft drink person: PA high, while Philly is near bottom

Pounds fruits/vegetables per person: PA good. Philly one of the best.

Percent of adults obese: PA middle. Philly one of the lowest rates

What's amazing how poor the southeast US is in many of these maps. Your thoughts?

Some pics with Jose Garces

We went on a progressive tour of all the Jose Garces restaurants a few months ago (sorry way delayed on a blog post on that). It was amazing. We went around in a trolley and Jose was with us the whole time. It was right before the final show of Iron Chef.

Here are two pics. One of the two of us with Jose at Tinto. And another with a couple we met on the tour at Amada (w/Jose of course).

Quick take on Garces Trading Company

The latest venture in the quickly expanding Jose Garces empire is the Garces Trading Company, a gourmet market/cafe at 11th and Locust in the Western Union building. Like anything new from Jose, it has received much attention and rightly so (we are huge fans of Jose Garces!). Check out this article from Michael Klein with the Inquirer for pictures and more details.

I was super-excited to check out this place out as one of my favorite things to do is go to a market and try new things and buy things for a nice Sunday meal. As I've written before, Di Bruno Brothers is one of favorite places. So I visualized the Garces Trading Company as a new alternative.

Well, I hate to this say, but I came away disappointed. Di Bruno's is light years ahead in terms of meat, cheese, prepared foods, service, space, coffee, food samples, etc. Just about everything. Honestly, my visit to Garces Trading Company only made appreciate how awesome Di Bruno's is. That is less a knock on Garces as it is a testament to how much I like Di Brunos.

Another view is that Garces Trading Company is not meant to be an alternative to Di Brunos. The first thing that stood out was how small the cheese and meat section was compared to Di Brunos. It seemed that the meats/cheese had more of a Spainish feel than Di Brunos. Second, the bulk of the space is for reserved sit-down seating, which looked to be waitress served rather than do it yourself. That section was crowded and the menu can be found here. Looks great and I did not try anything, but would definitely like to go back for lunch sometime.

There is a cool section where olives oils, balsamic vinegars, etc are in cool coffee-looking holders. You can have small samples with bread. Something I would love to see at Di Brunos.

The wine section is cool. Kudos for trying something new and it is worth checking out. I couldn't tell you if the wines are good or expensive. They are housed in a special walk-in wine case and you can drink right on the spot. I like the concept.

My takeaway. I will not be making a regular hike to Garces Trading Company for any of my weekend rituals. I would like to go back to try for lunch sometime. Also, please do not compare it to Di Brunos. It's not fair to either.

Smith's Restaurant and Lounge

It's a Friday after work. You call some friends and agree to meet up for some drinks and food. Where to go besides an overly-populated bar? Sound familiar. We are always searching for places with good drinks with atmosphere as my grandfather used to say.

We faced this decision last Friday when Kristy mentioned Smith's. For whatever reason I always forget about this place. We've been several times and I always come away impressed. It is a simple yet quality, place.

Smith's has a nice listing of beers on tap consisting of all the Yards beers as well as PBC (Walt Wit is fav of Kristy's). But, they also have a nice selection of others beers.

The food is decent too. The burger I had did the job. It is nowhere close to Village Whiskey, but good pub burger. I enjoyed the wings and our friends had the buffalo dip, which looked good. I had the hand carved turkey in the past. It was good albeit a bit "heavy."

In the end, you don't go to Smith's for the food only. It is a cut above a pub such as Irish Pub. You can sit and enjoy good drinks and food with friends.

Frankly, I enjoy the place and will be adding to my places to remember for get togethers on a Friday or Saturday night. I would recommend to anyone looking for a good time with friends over some beers and food.

One note. The TVs are in odd places so it is not the best place to watch a game, etc. It can be done, but I would suggest other places if you want to watch a game. Go to Smith's for good conversation, beer and food.

New Year's Fondue Celebration

For as long as I can remember, my parents and I (and sister) have had fondue after News Year's Day. . It is always a good time as we celebrate another year together! It was a pleasant surprise to see a food column in the Inquirer focused on fondue. Read here.

My parents have always certainly kept their hippie roots alive ( we also traveled the US for over a month in a VW van). Fondue is one of those traditions.

We have a simple menu of quality steak and hot dog. We have also had chorizo, sausage, kielbasa, etc. We now have two fondue pots - one is oil and the other is a wine broth. My mom makes a few rice dishes (a favorite of mine), breadsticks, salad and a range of sauces for dipping (butter, thousand island, sour cream). Add in a lot of wine, loud conversation, laughs, etc. and you have yourself a New Year's fondue!

Oddly, I love cheese and we have not had a cheese fondue at the New Year's celebration. next year.

I encourage everyone to try fondue on your own (not just at the Melting Pot) and start your own tradition around it. Food is best enjoyed with family, drink and tradition.