Category Archives: Prepared Food

The Great Meatball Hunt

Posted on December 6, 2011 by alonna| Comments Off

According to NPR,

At the recent New York Wine and Food Festival, the Meatball Madness competition was sold out. That madness is spreading all over the country. Americans think of meatballs perched on top of spaghetti all covered in cheese, but meatballs are universal. Weekend Edition commentator Bonny Wolf reports on the latest foodie trend shaking things up.

Before reading that, in mid-November I posted to Chowhound, asking for recommendations for the best prepared food/takeout meatballs. I wound up getting fourteen responses so I guess I am not the only one craving carbs and delicious, meaty orbs. After I finish the Great Croissant Hunt, I will work on my search for the best meatball that you can take home.

I’d love to hear about your favorite Philly area meatballs!  Here is the sources I have so far:

Talluto’s, Norristown and the Italian market
Carlino’s in Ardmore
Sam’s Market in Willow Grove
Silvio’s in Hatboro
Altmonte’s in Doylestown and Warminster

Posted in Gathering, Prepared Food

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Cafe Soho

Posted on November 14, 2011 by alonna| Comments Off

You know all that brew-ha-ha about about fried chicken and donuts?  I was excited about the combination too.  What’s not to like? But real life sets in and I realize that I am not going to be able to try this combo unless the stars line up perfectly.  What with the drive and the fact that there is such a short window of availability:  I AM talking about Federal Donuts, of course, brought to us by the great chef Michael Solomonov and his partners, Steve Cook and Felicia D’Ambrosio.  Fortunately, I have and even better solution much closer to home, unfortunately sans donuts.

I bring to you Cafe Soho, reportably one of the inspirations for Federal Donuts fried chicken. Having a craving for fried chicken at 1:30 am on a Wednesday morning?  You are in luck.

This little imp welcomes you at the door.

There is five flavors of fried chicken so I asked for the 20 piece, $20 option spilt between the top two customer favorites.  That would be soy fried chicken and spicy fried chicken. I am sad to report that the spicy version was far too hot for me to enjoy, but the rest was so good.  Crisp, juicy, lightly battered, perfect fried chicken.

This chicken will be on my regular takeout rotation.  We didn’t finish the entire order the first evening and so I had some cold, just out of the fridge the next day.  The crust was still perfectly crisp–how do they do that?  Cafe Soho is a perfectly fine restaurant; quite sexy even in a lurid, bordello sort of way, but there have been service issues and straying off the chicken menu may be risky.

If you do takeout, call ahead.  There is a 25 minute wait for fried chicken perfection.

Details

They have a liquor license, parking is on the street, and they take credit cards.

468 West Cheltenham Avenue
Philadelphia, PA  19126
(215) 224-6800
Hours:  Mon – Fri : 3:00 pm to 2:00 am;  Sat:  1:00 pm to 2:00 am;  Sun: 1:00 pm to 12:00 am

Posted in Prepared Food, Restaurants

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