Now to a happier place, Frangelli’s! Look at this cute sign! I was immediately smitten when E and I pulled up here on the morning of my 32nd birthday. She is a great friend, have I mentioned that recently?. After we enjoyed my birthday breakfast, I mentioned remembering a donut place, being tooted on Twitter, in South Philly but I couldn’t remember from who or the name of said donut place. So I put it out to Twitter asking where this place was and the wonderful and kind Polianarchy led me to the promised land of glazed and jelly donuts. The rest, as they say, is history.

Frangelli’s is more than just donuts. They’ve got cakes, pies, cookies, cupcakes on top of all the delicious donuts. Whatever you’re sweet tooth desires, I am pretty certain that Frangelli’s will have something for you.

But it is the donut that I am obsessed with and more specifically, the glazed donut. I love a simple glazed donut. It is a part of my childhood, having grown up in Southern California where I believe the best donuts live. This might just have to do with the fact that they are the first kind of donut I had and I believe that many of your earliest food memories inform what kinds of food you enjoy later in life. Blah blah blah, where is this going? DONUTS! So the donuts of my youth were light and airy with a little bit of chewiness to it. I did not find the donuts of my youth at Frangelli’s but I still loved them nonetheless. Frangelli’s is straight up South Philly and I enjoyed every part of it. The glazed donut is less cakey than most of the donuts I have had in Philly, like for instance the ones you will find at Reading Terminal. I obviously prefer them this way.  It also has the chewiness I enjoy in a donut.  I loved this donut. It’s my favorite glazed donut in the city. I couldn’t even wait to get into the car once I got one in my grubby little hands. I ate it right on the street.

I really can’t explain what happens to me when I eat something amazing. All I can say is that it involves a little dance, moaning and a lot of cursing. So if you found yourself near 9th and Ritner, on the morning of July 14th, I am sorry for all the commotion.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed their jelly donut as well. I can confidently say that this is the best jelly donut in the city. Why is that? BECAUSE THEY USE THE BEST JELLY EVER, BLACK RASPBERRRRRYYYY! It is such an upgrade from the neon red jelly that fills the majority of the city’s jelly donuts. I would gladly never eat any of those again now that I have gotten a taste of what awesome jelly can do. They also generously fill the donuts so you don’t have to worry that you’ll get a bite of donut without it.

I am terrible to my friends. Here is E, who kindly took me to Frangelli’s and then I do this to her. I did get her permission to post this but still. I’m the worst. She is pretty adorable eating this chocolate eclair style donut.

UPDATE: I should mention that I believe Frangelli’s is going to be closed for a couple of weeks, starting this weekend. Sorry!

Bonus round: watch me eat something awesome

E and I recently made another trip to Frangelli’s and purchased something besides a donut. I thought it would be funny to make a video* of myself eating it. I wasn’t even drunk when I did it.  WARNING GRATUITOUS VIDEO OF ME EATING SOMETHING RIDICULOUS. I might even talk with my mouth full. You have been warned. This could be an ongoing series if you all aren’t totally disgusted by it.

*So clearly my video making skills are DIY at best. If you are a person with ok to great video making skills and interested in making fun and silly food videos get at me via the email machine.

We get this week started of with a $25 gift certificate from South Philly Taproom. You might remember SPTR from this Burger Club report card. It got a solid A and beat Pub and Kitchen for top burger. I believe it still might hold that title, though I have two report cards I am behind on. Some of the highlights of this burger were the bun, juicy 100% local and grass fed patty, and beautifully constructed. I checked back in with the SPTR burger last week and they have changed up the burger a bit but it is still just as tasty.

Description from their menu: 100% Local grass-fed beef bacon cheeseburger with beer braised bacon, Lancaster smoked cheddar, shaved red onion, sly fox beer mustard. Please excuse the iPhone quality picture, it’s all I had with me. This is definitely a burger for mustard lovers.  Again it comes with their fantastic fries and pickled veggies. Also the bun still rocks!

So if you would like a chance to win the $25 gift certificate please leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite burger condiments are. I am of course a big fan of thousand island dressing or a special sauce on my burger. Make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. I will close comments on Wednesday at noon. The winner will be announced on Friday, because I will be traveling to LA on Thursday! You didn’t need to know that but I’m excited.

Happy burgering!

]]> http://frieswiththatshake.net/?feed=rss2&p=2344 35 http://frieswiththatshake.net/?p=2115 http://frieswiththatshake.net/?p=2115#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:51:16 +0000 burgerbaroness http://frieswiththatshake.net/?p=2115 I have found a reason to love the snow. Two words: snow day. I just had two of them. I have come to realize that snow days are really just an excuse to drink during the day.  Here are some tips for daytime drinking during a snow day. Also pretty photo heavy.

1. Find a dimly lit bar with a big window to watch the snow. Bonus points for having a sweet jukebox.

The Royal Tavern has both of the above. Dimly lit but has a big window so you get a feel for the snow without actually feeling the snow. I still hate being out in the snow, but I definitely like it better when I’m sitting in a bar.

2. The bar must offer some kind of warm drink involving whiskey or rum.This is also a warming mechanism. I have found that having a small amount of whiskey flowing through my veins this winter has made me a warmer person. Oh and drunker. Funny how that works.

In this instance The Royal offers a hot cider with rum. Oh and a cinnamon stick which some of my friends may or may not have taken home with them to reuse. Weirdos.

3. Indulge in some kind of comfort food. Preferably a childhood classic and a large serving of french fries. Winter = carb overload. Don’t worry, you will walk it off when you realize that Septa has shut down and you must walk most of the way home.

Vegan Sloppy Joe at The Royal. Look I can eat vegan, I swear! It was good but not great. I think I like my Sloppy Joe a little more on the sweet side. This was more on the spicy side. I still ate the whole thing. CARBS! Their fries are excellent.

4. On the second day of daytime drinking, keep it close to home. You will be exhausted from your previous snow day. Drinking indoors can be exhausting work.

Many of my wonderful South Philly and West Philly compatriots met me at my favorite bar in the city, Johnny Brenda’s. Yes it’s my favorite. You can quote me on that.

They were offering an emergency brunch. I really appreciated this because I was craving something breakfasty.

5. Move to the more brunchy cocktails. You need to slowly sip on these so take it easy. You will be marathon brunching. So have a few cups of coffee and enjoy a mimosa or Bloody Mary. Also hydrate with some water. Basically you will have like 20 beverages in front of you. This is ok.

6. Eat only dishes containing pork and potatoes. Protein for energy and carbs to absorb the booze. Right? Ok, it’s just a good combo. Also alliteration.

Do you see how much pork they have on this menu? Love. You can also get 3 different kinds of potatoes. FRENCH FRIED POTATOES, SMASHED POTATOES, AND GRATIN POTATOES.

One friend followed my strict rules and ordered the Cubano. This is a must try at JB’s. Hot pressed sandwich with pork and cheese. Fries = potatoes, in case you forgot.

Unfortunately, not all of my friends could heed my advice. Vegetarian friend got the french toast. Very good and if you prefer a sweet breakfast this will do it for you.

This is the perfect kind of breakfast for me, ham and cheesy grits. I have mentioned my love for JB’s grits. And again I will beg them to BRING BACK YOUR SHRIMP AND GRITS. COME ON!

Crispy ham, creamy grits and yolky egg.

7. Make sure you do all of the above with awesome friends who will travel miles in the snow for you and brunch for 3 hours.

This is what you get when you play around with my camera while I have stepped away. Ok clearly this logic is false because none of them were holding the camera but still they were accomplices.  Seriously though, thanks dudes for making my snow days so epic.

First to the Mummer’s Parade, you are like a Philadelphia miracle.  Especially because of people like this. Yes that’s a dude dressed as a shake and the lady is wearing a burger. THE LADY IS WEARING A BURGER!

Also look at the passion these guys have for hot pretzels. HOT COALS!

Second to my friends who opened their homes for eating, drinking and resting, thank you for your hospitality. My friends Josh and Martha, who you will hear more about this year, offered up the incredible spread shown below. This is only like 10% of what was going on there. Big ups to Renee for the chili and a stoop right on Broad St. to drink on. It really doesn’t get any better.

So I spent my first day of 2010 with good friends and good food. I think this year is going to be pretty awesome.

]]> http://frieswiththatshake.net/?feed=rss2&p=2035 0 http://frieswiththatshake.net/?p=1914 http://frieswiththatshake.net/?p=1914#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:00:41 +0000 burgerbaroness http://frieswiththatshake.net/?p=1914 OVERALL GRADE: A

I want to start this by thanking the staff at SPTR. They were super cool when I contacted them about our visit and they even went so far as to reserve seats for us. We seriously appreciated it. I loved loved loved the dining room we were in. It’s cozy and I can definitely see myself spending a cold evening there enjoying a burger and a beer or two.

Cozy dining room at SPTR

TRENDS:

Top hits:

1. Awesome bun – overwhelmingly popular
2. “Cooked perfectly” – several people used that exact phrase
3. Tie: pickled veggies/special sauce
4. Atmosphere
5. Tie: ketchup/great service

Top gripes:

1. Ketchup
2. Service

Hilarious quotes of the night:

“I’d order and eat it here again but w/out any particular enthusiasm.” – I don’t think this was meant to be funny but I thought it was

“Tasted like July 4th!!” – aww

“Fucking delicious as fuck. So many ingredients! Kinda gave me all the things I LOVE about a burrito, but in burger form.” – about the Mexican burger special

The Special:

Crazy/awesome special: New York style Mexican burger

I did not try this burger but at least 3 of our BCP members did and loved it, they all gave it an A. I really wanted to try it but had never had the basic burger at SPTR so I thought I should start with the basics. This burger consists of an 8oz patty, lettuce, tomato, thinly sliced red onion, avocado, ham, pineapple, ketchup, pickled jalapenos, and queso fresco (I think that’s the right Mexican cheese but I could be wrong).

IN SUMMARY:

SPTR burger with bacon and all the fixin's

This has been the best burger of BCP’s history thus far. It outranked Pub & Kitchen’s burger, which was the reigning champ since July. The first thing you will notice about this burger is how well constructed it is. While it is generously topped with thinly sliced onion (THANK YOU!), tomato and bacon (if you decide to get bacon like I did and you should), it held together well and never suffered from slippage.  It also came with a generous amount of fries and deliciously pickled veggies. For the price, I found this an incredible bargain.

Beautifully constructed

The biggest highlight of this burger was the bun. Dudes it was awesome. The bun comes from Baker Street Bread and I have a feeling that many of my favorite burger buns in the city come from here. It was soft and squishy but hearty enough to hold together this juicy burger with all it’s toppings. It also absorbed the juicy goodness without falling apart. Score! Have  you noticed  how many times I’ve used the word juicy? Too much right? I hope you get the point. This burger was juicy and wait for it…the patty is %100 local and grass fed. I believe the meat is from Lancaster County. I don’t have any more particulars. I should probably stop drinking at burger club, it does not help with my already selective memory. The patty was 6oz and had lovely grill marks. The bacon was perfectly crisp. Can we talk about red onions for a moment? I love red onion on my burger from time to time but too often it is cut way too thick. This is not the case at SPTR. The red onion is thinly sliced so it does not overwhelm the burger. It is this small attention to detail that really makes me swoon for this burger. As most of you already know, I have a weakness for special sauce so I was pretty happy to see it on the burger as well.

Innards!

Do you see the beautiful construction of this burger and how the burger juices have crept into the bottom bun. All good things. I will mention that the only two semi-complaints BCP had were for the homemade ketchup and the service. I will say that I am on the fence about the ketchup. I enjoyed the fact that it tasted like tomatoes and wasn’t overly sweet but I missed the vinegar. As for the service, I was happy with our server and try to have a little bit more understanding during BCP meatings.  There is usually only one server for the 20+ BCP members.

RESULTS BY BURGER:

Cheeseburger: “medium patty, cooked to perfection! Bun is squishy on the inside, toasted perfectly on the outside. Ketchup is unbelievable.” GRADE: A

Cheeseburger rare: “perfectly cooked and seasoned, juicy, great sauce, great roll. Amazing beer list!” GRADE: A

Cheeseburger well done: “a decent pub type burger. I liked the toppings + bun. the meat was fine, well packed, no super flavorful though. Fries were just good. Crazy problem with service, couldn’t divide bill. I’d order and eat it here again but w/out any particular enthusiasm.” GRADE: B

Cheeseburger medium rare, no onion: “Awesome bun, should have ordered it rare, stayed together well, mild tasting meat.” GRADE: A-

Mexican burger, l/t/o, avocado, ham, pineapple, ketchup, pickled jalapenos, cheese, etc?: “I’m biased, as a semi-regular at this pub, but for a place focused on beer, the burger is a real pleasant experience.” GRADE: A

Cheeseburger: “The burger was good but not great. In a great burger, the ingredients add up to more than their scrumptious parts. SPTR’s burger was equal to the sum of it’s parts. Meat and cheese are delicious…how can they not be? But the burger wasn’t spectacular.” GRADE B-

Cheeseburger medium rare with bacon, no bun: “My favorite burger club ever. PICKLES (four stars for pickles). Meat was seasoned well, cooked perfectly. Price was equal to quality – a bit pricey but good. Service was great! Friendly and prompt. Wished there were other cheeses. Stated local grass  fed beef, but couldn’t tell where from. Salad ingredients were fresh and delicious.” GRADE: A-

Cheeseburger: “Tasted like July 4th!! So good.” GRADE: A

New York Style Mexican Burger: “A little salty…service a little salty too.” GRADE A

New York Style Mexican Burger: “Fucking delicious as fuck. So many ingredients! Kinda gave me all the things I LOVE about a burrito, but in burger form. Huzzay.” GRADE: A

Mexican burger: “Tasted fresh – very filling.” GRADE A

BURGER NOVICE, cheeseburger medium w/ salad: “1st bite – delicious! Removed tomato added pickled veggies – juicy + cooked appropriately. Bun tasty, didn’t fall apart. Very tasty sauce. Loved pickled veggies. Loved that it is local, grassfed burger.” GRADE A

Burger rare, with bacon: “Wow. Just excellently done all around. Good pickle garnish. Please don’t make your own ketchup. Heinz is fine.” GRADE A

Burger rare, with bacon: “Also the pickles were awesome! The ketchup was not. Best pub burger we’ve had. Loved the bun, soft but maintained integrity. The meat was well seasoned and formed into a well constructed patty. Loved it!” GRADE A

Cheeseburger medium: “This was my first burger club burger, but I feel as if there was special attention made to the construction. The bun was outstanding. I also think the ratio of bun to meat is an important one and they nailed it. Looking forward to future burgers.” GRADE A+

Cheeseburger medium with bacon: “Good burger, nicely seasoned. Great smokey flavor, homemade ketsup not too sour/vinegary, very interestingly mild ketsup. No mayo offered but that is ok. Steak fries substantial and hearty but still nice and crispy. Soft bun w/ crispy crusty crust, raw red onions = nice. Great beer list.” GRADE A-

Cheeseburger medium: “bun was crispy, not too doughy. Burger cooked perfectly, nice smokey taste and very juicy. Lots of topping options, great sauce. Side salad was rockin’! Bit pricey, but worth it. Nice relaxed, friendly atmosphere.” GRADE A

3 grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup: “Very cheesy but maybe too much butter in bread. Although, very delicious. And the tomato soup EVER.” GRADE B+/A-

Cheeseburger medium, no toppings: “Great bun!! Nice solid beef pattie with grill marks. French fries were great too! Nicely cooked - crisp but still potato – i.e. home-made katsup was missing something, would have been nice to have some Heinz 57 available. But ok overall. The pattie & bun pair wonderfully. I don’t really have any cons. All good yo! Yeah South Phil!” GRADE A

Regular burger medium with bacon and avocado: “love the bun, perfectly cooked, excellent patty, special sauce nicely lucious, superior burger cohesion while maintaining each ingredient as distinct taste. Huzzah for the South Philly Taproom!” GRADE A

Cheeseburger medium rare with bacon: “Where to begin, this burger is perfectly constructed. A total sum of it’s parts. Bun, my favorite in the city. Patty was well seasoned and juicy. Loved the thinly sliced red onion and the special sauce. Pickled veggies was a nice surprise addition to the plate.” GRADE A+

For further Burger Club fun check out:

Previous BCP Report Cards

BCP Facebook Group

There was initially some confusion at the first stop of the nacho crawl. Royal Tavern, a very popular weekend brunch spot was packed when we showed up at 3. Add around 70 nacho eating freaks and there was some initial stress. Luckily for me and my two nacho eating companions, we scored a table quickly and scarfed down a huge plate of chicken nachos.

They are all here for the nachos

The nachos at Royal come topped with mozzarella and jack cheeses, pico de gallo, lettuce, jalapeños, sour cream and guacamole. You also have the option of adding grilled chicken or vegan beef. My not-a-big-meat-eater friend would have appreciated trying the vegan beef but we felt lucky enough to get a full plate of the chicken nachos. I found our nachos rather cold. I think this could have been due to two things; they were making nachos for like 70 people and there were a lot of cold toppings on the nachos. I will say that the Royal Tavern was the most generous with the guacamole that day. That is huge in my book. It was nice not to have to ration the guacamole. They were actually very generous with their toppings. So much so that we had a lot of left over toppings but no chips to dip them in. I am ok with this problem when it comes to nachos because the opposite problem generally occurs where you have too many chips and not enough delicious toppings. My only other minor complaint is that I would have enjoyed some bean action on the nachos but that is more of a personal preference. Oh and I also realized that I’m not a huge fan of lettuce on my nachos. The things you will learn from a nacho crawl.

Chicken nachos at Royal Tavern

La Lupe was our next stop on the nacho crawl. Again we got there early so we had our pick of the tables. At this next stop, they separated the tables into the kind of nacho you wanted. I kindly left my not-that-into-meat friends and sat with some friendly strangers at the spicy pork table. Mmm. I will leave you for pork, believe it. Oh and hello friendly strangers, if you happen upon this post.

We took over La Lupe, it was awesome.

I was lucky enough to try not one but two kinds of pork nachos at La Lupe. The first was the spicy pork and my least favorite of the two pork nachos. I found the spicy pork not very spicy and a little on the dry side. I did enjoy the generous amounts of cheese and crema on the nachos. I will give them a sad face for the puny serving of guacamole.

Spicy pork nachos at La Lupe

The  non-spicy pork had a lot more flavor than the other pork nachos. I want to say that it was actually carnitas on the nachos but I can’t confirm nor deny this. The fact that we got these non-spicy pork nachos was surprising because we were just expecting to get the spicy ones. I also enjoyed these more because they had refried beans, which was the only time I saw them on any nachos during the crawl. I am a huge fan of refried beans so I am always happy to seem them on pretty much anything. This did lead to a bit of a soggy nacho eating experience. I did enjoy the chopped avocado instead of guacamole on these. I would say that these were my second favorite of the day. I also appreciated that the nacho crawl organizers brought a couple of cases of Tecate for us to enjoy at this BYOB.

Pork nachos at La Lupe

Our final stop was at Cantina los Caballitos and was also our most festive. I’m a sucker for Christmas lights in unexpected places. It was a great end to a great day of nacho eating. I enjoy this Cantina so much more than the one closer to my house.

The Cantina wins for best atmosphere

Their nachos are topped with roasted corn, pickled jalapenos, black beans, pico de gallo, melted cheese, and crema. You can get them with chicken, pork, steak, or vegan beef. During our time at the Cantina we were able to try the steak and vegan beef nachos.  My not-that-into-meat friend was very excited when a plate of vegan beef nachos were set in the middle of our table. I would say that any meat eater would enjoy these nachos. I found them to be much spicier than the steak nachos. While I missed having guacamole on my nachos, I found the nachos at the Cantina to be the best constructed nachos of the day. There was a good balance of toppings and chips. I didn’t eat a single soggy chip during my time there. Also the steak nachos were the best tasting nachos I had that day. The grilled steak pieces that I found on the nachos were well seasoned and tender. Sorry for the bad picture below, I didn’t want to be obnoxious and use my flash. I figured I was being obnoxious enough at this point in the day.

Steak nachos at Catina los Caballitos

Another reason I enjoyed our last stop on the nacho crawl was due to the delicious cocktail listed below. Due to an unfortunate miscommunication with our waiter, I ended up drinking two of these. I know my life is the worst. I was initially set on having a margarita at our last stop but when I saw this drink listed I immediately changed my mind. It was a refreshing end to a long day of nacho eating.

El Amargo cocktail at The Cantina

So with my El Amargo in one hand I raised a glass to a long day of nacho eating. I will end this post by saying that most everyone I met during the nacho crawl were awesome and super friendly. Eating from a communal plate of nachos will bring people together. I could complain about the certain group of people who believed that the nacho crawl was their own personal nacho buffet but I won’t waste my time on them. Too late. I was very satisfied with the number of nachos I ate that day. I didn’t stuff myself but found that I got way more nachos that I expected for the $10 cover. I suggest a future nacho crawl in the Northern Liberties area. We have a few nacho eating options up there.

Final thought: I’m a big fan of the nacho crawl.

El Amargo is el deliciouso

Have I mentioned I love nachos? At this point I guess I am coming off as that girl who loves everything but I guess I kind of do. Especially when it is smothered in cheese and guacamole.

Lee Frank, a Philly boy now living and blogging about nachos in NYC, is coming home next week and wants to eat nachos with you.

It will begin at 3pm at Royal Tavern, continue on to La Lupe and end at Cantina Los Caballitos. To attend you must RSVP to Lee by emailing him at lee@nachosny.com.

I hope you missed it. I know I sure did. My burger consumption for October was extremely low.

Tuesday 11/10 @ 6pm – South Philly Taproom

http://www.southphiladelphiataproom.com

1509 Mifflin Street

November is all about eating a burger in the heart of South Philly. Please do join us.

Earle ordered a regular size vanilla custard in a cone with rainbow jimmies (they are jimmies, not sprinkles, deal with it) and I got chocolate with rainbow jimmies in a waffle cone.  The South Philly kids working the counter thought I was crazy for mixing rainbow with chocolate, but what do they know?  They probably think Buca di Beppo is fine dining and Kendra is as classy as Princess Diana.

in the immortal words of Rachael Ray, “yumm-o.”

Another recent addition to my neighborhood (Newbold) is Ultimo coffee shop (which I’ve been mistakenly calling Brew for weeks now).  Co-owned by the people behind the South Philly Tap Room, the shop owners are for real about coffee and serving fresh, local, high-quality products.  Located on the corner of 15th and Mifflin, Ultimo features a number of different brews daily at different price points,  and works with Counter Culture Coffee.  Their pastry case serves a few different kinds of croissants (almond creme, chocolate, plain) care of Four Worlds Bakery, and instead of boring old bagels they have a multi-grain baguette that you can get with your choice of butter, peach butter, or chevre (available from Green Meadow Farm and Apple Tree Goat Dairy, respectively).  They also feature sandwiches: on Saturday they had tapenade, arugula, and chevre on a baguette.  It looked ultra fresh and tasty.  Word on the street is that they’ll be selling bottled beers as well, once their liquor license comes through.  The inside seating area is a bit wonky and tight – right now there are a few tables outside, but it will be interesting to see what happens come fall/winter.  Either way, a bustling coffee shop is just what Newbold needs right now.  During the short time I was there I saw families, older residents, hipster kids, construction workers, you name it.  Patrons at the two tables next to me struck up an immediate rapport and conversation over coffee, croissant, and some smokes.  It really felt nice to see the ‘hood coming together like that, even if it was just for coffee.

(No pictures of either because I left my camera home both times.  Duh.)