7.04.2010

Garces Trading Company

In case you're living under a rock (or not from Philly), Jose Garces is the most recent Food Network Iron Chef and my favorite chef/restaurateur. He recently won the Best Chef in the mid-Atlantic region award from the James Beard Foundation, and he is on fire these days. He owns six restaurants in Philadelphia, all of them incredible. One of his most recent restaurants is Garces Trading Company, which the food critic at the Inquirer recently
reviewed
.

I went last week with my friend Marilys after running a rather surreal errand. Any excuse to eat an incredible meal is fine by me, and catching up with Lys was just the thing.
We bought a delicious champagne in the attached Wine and Spirits store. It's the first of its kind as far as I know, and very unusual for prudish Pennsylvania laws. It has recently attracted some legal trouble. Hopefully they pull out ahead and the concept becomes more popular around here.
We ordered the chef's tasting plate of cheese, which included a brie, a cheddar, and a fontina. The "sauces" were also amazing. white sangria honey, roasted garlic dulce de leche, pecan butter, and fig marmalade. I also got a jar of truffle lavender honey to take home. yum.
We also got the chef's tasting plate of smoked meats. I forget exactly what they were except delicious. We took almost an hour to eat the meats and cheeses, savoring each bite and sipping our champagne in between.
We split the Tuscon fusilli alla carbonara with guanciale, eggs, black pepper, and pecorino. Homemade pasta is about 74092547259 times better than the sad excuse for pasta everyone eats from a box. Bacon, egg, and cheese only makes it better.
This is the pizza we had with oven roasted tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto, and olive oil. It was all too much to eat so I took some home and put a fried egg on top for breakfast the next morning. When a restaurant is still making me happy a day later, you know it's amazing.

I brought home a delicious salted caramel macaron for Joe (and one for me, of course). I can't wait to go back!

Happy 4th! What are you doing today/tonight?

1 comment:

Country Girl said...

This is a well written review, Em. And yeah, when the food is still making you happy the next day, it's amazing.
Even after eating all that cheese.