Guest Post: Where to Eat in Ardmore During the U.S. Open

What's up Tiger Woods

It's U.S. Open week at Merion Golf Club! We were both lucky enough to get Practice Round tickets on days that aren't pouring rain and have been soaking up the chance to see golf's greatest players up close.

The Open is bringing people from all over world to little Ardmore, PA, so our good friend at Lunchboy's Lunchbox helped us put together a list of the best places to eat while in the area. Here's a guest post from Lunchboy. Check out his Facebook page for his always clever take on lunch options in the Philly area, good photos and banter among his many fans.

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As golf fans near and far descend on Ardmore, PA, to catch a glimpse of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott at the Merion Golf Club, they’ll hear plenty of tips on how to navigate the town and areas to park.  Any broadcast outlet, especially sports talk and our TV choppers, are all over the story.

Sadly, news reports are missing out on what should be the top story of the day, especially between the hours of 12 and 2 pm ET:  what’s for lunch?  While I might not know a lot about golf, I do have some knowledge to share about the most important meal of the day.  Here are a few places to consider in the heart of Ardmore, PA, while in town for the U.S. Open.  All places are found near the Ardmore Train Station and within walking distance to the parking lots on or near Lancaster Ave (Rt.30).

Lunching during the U.S. Open 2013:  The top picks by the founder and chief eater of Lunchboy’s Lunchbox, consider:

Recipes and Tips for CSA Beginners II: Easy Sausage & Kale

Here's the next post in our series on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Bradd's sister Julie is writing about her experience as a member of the Greener Partners CSA at Hillside Farm in Media, Pa.

In my last post, I shared all the great produce I took home from the CSA at Hillside Farm, accompanied by what to make with squash, eggplant, corn and other ingredients. I also picked up kale, which I used to be afraid of buying because I didn't know how to cook it. Then I read some examples and came up with my own recipe for Sautéed Sausage & Kale. It was so good I make it weekly now.

I became a big fan of kale cooked like this after discovering the way it melts down in sauce and loses some of the bitterness typical to collard greens, spinach and cabbage. The rainbow stems also make the meal more appealing to the eye.

Recipe for Sautéed Sausage & Kale

Recipes and Tips for CSA Beginners

Here's the latest guest post from Bradd's sister Julie on how to choose produce from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and cook throughout the week with it. This series on CSA memberships is being written in partnership with Greener Partners and Hillside Farm in Media.


My first few weeks as a member of the CSA at Hillside Farm have been very productive. I found that I used pretty much everything with the exception of one ear of corn that had a large worm in it. I hear this is a sign of a good piece of corn but unfortunately I dropped it in the trash can from fright… it was a big worm.

Last time I wrote about what to know before joining a CSA. This post will cover some of the items I picked out last week, what I made and some additional first-hand tips for using a CSA.

New Series on CSA Memberships

We’re excited to announce a special series of posts courtesy of a cool arrangement with Greener Partners, a farm-based non-profit focused on local produce and food education.

Some background before we tell you about the arrangement, which we think you are going to enjoy...

Regular readers might think that we eat out all the time. Truthfully, we cook at home most weekdays. And one of my favorite things is to spend a good portion of every Sunday preparing my best "amateur chef"  meal.

We use meats, vegetables and fruits from local sources whenever we can. The Fitler Square farmer’s market is our go-to shopping spot, or else our own urban garden. If you’re like me, you tend to stick to the well-known basics (broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes, etc). I’m hesitant to purchase items I don't already know how to cook or may only use once, because the rest goes to waste.

Guest Post: Tips to conquer your first Turducken

Serving a Turducken at your holiday feast this year? Our ever-witty friend Tim shares his first Turducken experience in this entertaining guest post. Pick up some pointers for ensuring your own chicken/duck/turkey mashup makes it to the Christmas dinner table on time, after fun-filled day of team cooking, and in a way that would make John Madden proud.

Turducken: It's What's for Dinner 
by Timothy Rapp

To make a Turducken is to scoff at Mother Nature. It is to snicker up toward the gods and say, “One of your measly little birds cannot satisfy the feast that I require. Nay, I shall slay three winged creatures—a chicken, a duck and a turkey—and I shall eat heartily as is my wont.” Remember your priorities, of course. Thanksgiving isn’t just about pigging out. It’s also about giving thanks for your blessings and loved ones and all that good stuff.  But make sure to do that quickly so you don’t delay the lusty eating for too long.

Turducken (photo courtesy Boston.com)

Now, I’m no expert cook and I’m not going to act like one. I am but a mere man who attempted to make a Turducken and lived to tell the tale. I’ll save the techniques and pairing options for the Food Network or your favorite food blogger.

Rather, the following is an outline of the basic steps needed to create a Turducken along with some advice (read: an account of the dumb things I did you’ll want to avoid repeating) should you decide to travel down this delicious path of poultry.

Three Birds are Better than One

Your first priority is to obtain the three birds required to create your Turducken. I recommend a three-pound chicken that will be stuffed into a six-pound duck that will be stuffed into a 16-pound turkey. And all three need to be deboned.

This next part is vital: Do not assume that the deboning process is a simple one.

It isn’t.

Reader Contribution: Operation "Whiz Wit" Reveals the Best Cheesesteaks

Here's an idea for a party: Bring home eight different cheesesteaks from eight different places, hide the labels and conduct a taste test with your friends. Let the crowd decide: is Pat's really the King of Steaks? Or is there a hidden gem somewhere else?

22nd & Philly reader Sarah recently conducted this experiment with her friends and sent us her results. We've stayed away from reviewing cheesesteaks to not feed the stereotype about Philly's claim-to-fame, but this taste test party was a really cool idea. It covers some steaks we've never heard of and was done by regular joes like us. We appreciate the chance to share it with our hungry audience.

The competing cheesesteaks were chosen based on Yelp reviews, where Sarah is an Elite member. Her friends divided into small groups to pick up the cheesesteaks and get them all home within a 10 min. window, so none got cold/soggy. Labels were hidden and they started eating.

After trying each cheesesteak, Sarah and her eight friends rated them on a scale of 1-10 for six categories: visual appeal, aroma, roll texture, meat quality, toppings and overall taste. Each participant also jotted down comments/notes. Results were analyzed and the pro/cons of each are shared along with the rankings.

The overall winner was Cosmi's, which we've never heard of but according to Sarah, "you'll definitely have to give it a try -- totally unassuming little corner deli but man, that cheesesteak was delicious!" We'll have to add it to our Sandwich Quest (where, in case you missed it, we just reviewed Q.T.'s banh mi).

So, think about what's important to you in a cheesesteak - the quality of meat? the roll? the toppings? Perhaps the next time you're jonesing for the Philly classic, Sarah and her buddies can help you decide where to go.

Click here to open up this Google doc PDF of the competition results and analysis:


Where to find each of the competitors:

Cosmi's Deli - 1501 South 8th Street (at Dickinson)
Ishkabibble's Eatery - 337 South Street
Jim's Steaks - 4 locations (who knew?) but famous one is at 400 South Street
Kite & Key - 1836 Callowhill Street (random but only included because John's Roast Pork was closed that day)
Mamma's Pizzeria - 426 Belmont Avenue, Lower Merion
Max's Steaks - 3653 Germantown Ave
Pat's King of Steaks - 1237 East Passyunk Avenue
Tony Luke's - Multiple locations, original at 39 East Oregon Avenue

Guest Post: Media, Pa., is a Hit with Foodies in the 'Burbs

A guest post from one of our Suburban contributors, my sister Julie...

The city of Philadelphia isn’t the only place in the tri-state area where you can get a nice diversity of culinary delights. For the past decade, I have made the Borough of Media, Delaware County, my home and go-to place for dining out. Media is the county seat which makes it not just a dinner community but a lunch one as well – a place for county workers, lawyers, and jurors to appease any craving during the work week.

Guest Post: Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar in Glen Mills, Pa.

This is the first post from our new suburban contributors – my sister Julie and her co-worker Rebecca.  There are excellent places to explore all over the Philly region and since we cannot visit them all, Julie and Rebecca will occasionally share some of their experiences from Delaware County and beyond.

First up is Harvest Seasonal Grill, a seasonal, organic restaurant that is supposed to be one of the hottest places in the 'burbs right now. Here is Rebecca's take.

Located somewhat in the middle of nowhere Delaware County in an up-scale strip shopping center, Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar draws a huge crowd on a Saturday night.  After our visit we found out why.

We had to wait a few minutes before being seated and the little waiting area looked charming with a modern fireplace and cozy leather seats, but it was overflowing on the freezing midwinter night we visited.

The offerings at the bar more than made up for the wait and the crowd.  There was an extensive wine list, decadent cocktails, and a sizable selection of beer including several local offerings and even one seasonal organic. Wines are available in small (4 oz) and large (7 oz) sizes, which is not something often available at restaurants.

We were seated in a cozy elevated booth at the back of the restaurant where we could survey the entire scene and see into the bright open kitchen.  Our server was chatty and personable (although he told us his co-workers don’t like him), and very attentive.  He was not shy about making recommendations and obviously had a great affection for all the fare he was peddling.

He explained to us the seasonal nature of the menu (and thus the need to come back in another few months to try the newest offerings). The local farms from which they purchase their supplies are listed right at the top of the menu, and show just how local the food really is.

First we debated over appetizers.  The waiter highly recommended the flatbreads, their specialty, so we ordered the steak & wild mushroom variety featuring the locally-famous Birchrun Blue cheese.  I am not generally a fan of blue cheese, but this variety was so creamy and sweet, and melded so lusciously with nutty flavors of the wild mushrooms and the saltiness of the bits of steak that I may yet be won over.

We also ordered the organic hummus trio (which was unremarkable) and the nut encrusted goat cheese (which was transcendent – I could have eaten a whole plate of it.)

Moving on to the entrees, we were once again in the position of deciding among an abundance of equally delicious-sounding choices.  Add to that a handful of exotic-sounding specials and some of us were positively stumped.  Thank goodness for our server who was able to aid in the decision-making process.

I went with the cedar-roasted Atlantic salmon with asparagus, roasted carrots, and fingerling potatoes (health fans, most items on Harvest’s menu are less than 500 calories each). My fish was very good, but everything tasted a little too salty since it seemed they tossed a handful of sea salt flakes on there before serving.

My boyfriend went with the seared sesame tuna which he said was very good.  Julie and her boyfriend both went with the rack of lamb which was apparently SO good that they had to resort to rather unrefined eating practices in order to pick every last savory bite off the bones.

I have to say I really appreciated the reasonably-sized portions of the entrees at Harvest once it was time for dessert (I usually don’t have room for three courses).



Harvest has struck upon a brilliant concept for dessert: the six choices they have – key lime pie, white & dark chocolate mousse, peanut butter mousse, s’mores, apple crisp, and seasonal fruit & organic yogurt – all come in little tumbler glasses just the right size for an individual serving.  They just bring the whole lot out to your table on a tray and you take your pick.

The common theme throughout our visit to Harvest – from the first taste of the wine to the moment the dessert tray was brought out – was that there's such an array of delicious looking options that it was tough to make a pick.  Luckily, everything is so good it’s hard to go wrong.

As a restaurant focused on fresh seasonal food, Harvest changes its menu often and I would definitely go back to see the next season’s offerings.  There were also so many things I wanted to try that I didn’t get a chance to taste that I would love to return before the menu changes!