Mellow Hello
29.09.11
[ review ]
On a fall Friday night as crisp and clear as spring water, a crowd gathered on the 1500 block of South Street. Not for Bob & Barbara's, nor for a show at Tritone. Not even for a flash mob. Right on the corner, in digs that used to house Pico de Gallo, curry hounds had claimed all 34 seats of Sawatdee, the new Thai venture that replaced Pico in July. Outside, hopefuls waited on standby, peering ruefully through the electric-green BYOB's storefront windows like old ladies staking out hot slots.
Sawatdee ("hello" in Thai) is the brainchild of Tou "Tony" Inchote, who first visited Philadelphia on his honeymoon in 1994; a year later, he came back for good. Trained at his family's restaurant in Bangkok, the longtime chef has spent the past 16 years cooking at local restaurants (Nan, Susanna Foo, Twenty Manning, Friday Saturday Sunday, Dmitri's). With Sawatdee, he's finally added owner to his résumé.
It's taken only a few months for Sawatdee to gain traction in the neighborhood, judging by the crowds. And I have some good news for them: I will not be trying to steal their spot.
Source: Philadelphia Citypaper
Maple Grands-pères for Grandparents Day
09.09.11
At the Adirondack Museum , where an exhibit explained that they were made by French-Canadians in the logging camps. Recipes describe them as soft dumplings or biscuit dough cooked in maple syrup—served warm, they must have made for good comfort food after a day of hard labor. Variations may also include blueberries, raisins, nuts or other ingredients.
Why they are called grandfathers is unknown, although a French-language website offers two possible explanations: The first, which sounds plausible (if not so nice) is that they are so named because they are soft enough to be eaten even by elderly grandfathers who have lost their teeth. The other says that grandfathers cooked the dumplings because they were too old to “supply the boiler room,” and were relegated to mixing the syrup. (Here my limited French fails me: “supply the boiler room” is the translation my French-English dictionary gives me, although I am wondering if it refers to stoking the fire for boiling maple sap during sugaring season.) In any case, that one’s not so nice either. Poor grandfathers. At least they got to enjoy what sounds like a yummy—or, as the comments on one recipe site called it, “super délicieux”—dessert.
Source: Smithsonian (blog)
