Sassafras International Cafe

Sassafras, you're misplaced. Olde City is a sea of poor service, overcrowded bars, and annoying patrons. You escape the pitfalls and stand out.

I've been meaning to eat here for years. And there's a lot to like about this place. As soon as you step inside, the decor stands out. Simple, historic, well taken care of. A long wooden bar leads along one side with small dining area in the back. There's a fireplace, but sadly, it's not in use. There's also an awesome textured ceiling. And I hear the lady's room is a sight to see.

I was out with my good friend Cambria while we were waiting for a showtime of "Black Swan." I didn't get anything to drink, but the beer list was respectable. Lots of local beers. There isn't anything that isn't readily available elsewhere, but still good choices nonetheless. There's also an extensive whiskey list.

Our server was excellent. He had a fantastic dry sense of humor, and he was on top of everything all evening. He knew a lot about the menu, including the fat content of all of the different burgers, which was helpful info and impressive. We both opted for burgers, medium-rare lamb for myself and veggie for Cambria. They were served with sweet potatoe fries and garlic aioli, and both of these were great.

My burger was excellent. It was juicy, and cooked exactly right. The lamb was a great meat for the burger, with a different taste than beef but the same consistency and texture. There are a lot of options for toppings and cheese, but I went simple with American cheese. Overall, it's an excellent burger, and probably the best in the area. It's also pretty sizable, I'd guess between 6 and 8 oz. The veggie burger is impressive, with a red bean and wheat base. It actually tastes good and has a pretty palatable texture. I don't eat veggie burgers often, but I could certainly enjoy this one.

Bottom Line: I don't make my way down here often, and Eulogy is still my first choice. But Sassafras has a nice bar, a great atmoshpere, good service, and tasty burgers. It gets my recommendation, even if it may be quite some time before my next visit. Still, I wouldn't recommend showing up here after 8:30 on the weekends.

Primanti Brothers

I've been busy with classes, but that's all done for a few weeks. I've been doing some traveling, and I want to get some pictures up about some of the food I had outside of Philadelphia. When I get back to Pittsburgh, I always make an attempt to eat at Primanti Brothers. These sandwhichs are delicious, and impossible to imitate. They stack griddle cooked meats, prefectly seasoned cole-slaw, and fries on squishy white bread in a heavenly combination. The sandwhiches are whipped out on pieces of wax paper and the whole atmoshpere of the place is quick and gruff; get in, eat, and out.

I was out with my good friend Callen and we split two different sandwiches, the pastrami and the capicola. Both were excellent, but I prefer the pastrami, which in my mind, is the best and most classic sandwich they serve. There's actually a lot of options on the menu, but stick to the

I love this place, its a Pittsburgh institution, and I recommend everyone to hit it up when your in Pittsburgh, and regularly if you live there.

Best of: Condiment

I know, maybe doesn't seem like a sexy category for my intermittent "Best of" posts. But when you get the perfect sauce that compliments your food, it completes the meal. And a few places are taking their sauce concoctions to the next level. I have a lot of favorites, so I'm going tomention three, instead of just one.

Honorable mention: Eulogy's "Bat out of Hell" wing sauce. This is a great sauce that uses chili paste that's sold alongside sriracha. The wing sauce is a perfect combination of tangy, sweet, and hot. I love that it's unique and made in house. They didn't try and emulate other wings that you can get anywhere else, but really strove to create a new taste, and they did so with great success.

Runner up: Duck sauce at Tamarind. While dining there recently, I had the spring rolls with a side of this wonderful sauce. It blows the stuff you get out of the packets away. It's perfectly tangy, light enough to let the flavor of the spring come through. I like duck sauce in general, but this is really stepping up the game.

First Place: Mustard aioli made with Yard's Porter at Kraftwork. This is by far the best condiment I've had at a restaurant, and probably hands down. The most amazing part is that I don't really like mustard all that much, making my raving about Kraftwork's sauce even more impressive. The kitchen dishes out little bowls of this with the burger and fries, and I can't get enough. I'd buy it in a second if they put it in a jar. I'm generally on the Kraftwork bandwagon, but even if I wasn't, the mustard is reason enough to visit.

Dang, all that just made my hungry. What are your favorites?

Tamarind

I can't recall the last time I had Thai food. And I love a good Thai meal. And good BYO, and a decently priced restaurant. Enter Tamarind.

Quinn lives around the corner for this spot and had never tried it out. It was a perfect spot for us to hit before catching a movie. Before dinner, I did some research and found that a riesling is probably the best wine pairing for Asian food. I picked one up that wasn't too fruity, yet had enough flavor to compliment the relatively big tastes served up by Tamarind.

We only had a short wait on a Friday night. Once inside, we were seated quickly and the impeccable service began immediately. Before we have even settled down at our table they took our bottle of win and brought it back in a wine chiller. The atmosphere is nothing special, but enjoyable enough. It's a good place to grab food, but you're not going to impress anyone here either.

The menu offers a lot of different choices, and I could be happy eating here a few times without repeating anything. We split appetizers of the chicken spring roll and steamed dumplings to start out. Both of these offered a lot of different flavors, and they were excellent renditions of standard dishes. Neither did anything new or exciting, they were just good. And I like that.

Shortly after we finished our first course, the mains showed up. The first was a Tamarind Spicy Noodle dish with pork. I liked this a lot; with the pork stir-fried with red pepper and large noodles. It was the heavier of the two dishes we ordered. It was good, but the real star of the meal was Pad Wonsoon. it's a rendition of a standard Pad Thai dish, with chicken and shrimp. Overall, it's very tasty, with the dish complimented by glass noodles.

Bottom Line: Tamarind is not breaking new ground, but they understand their food and craft well. There's so much to like about Tamarind. It's not going to change your life, but they provide great Thai dishes at reasonable prices and a BYOB to boot.

Essentials:

117 South St (at Front)

215-925-2764

Hours: Daily for dinner, lunch also on Fri, Sat, Sun

Avg Ent:10-15

Cash Only: No

Reservations: Accepted

BYOB: Yes

Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse

While visiting Asheville, NC, I was searching for the best BBQ places to eat. While on my Internet hunt, I kept turning up results for Sweet Lucy's, which was in my hometown on Philadelphia. I didn't help me at the moment, but it instantly made it onto my must-try list.

I made the way out to the Northeast for dinner with Jonny and Kristen with out love our barbecue ready to be satiated. Sadly, we went on Monday night, which only offers a $20 all you can eat buffet. We were able to order take out though, so the night was salvaged. Peering into the dining room, I saw that we wouldn't be missing much in the way of atmosphere. The buffet was small but seemed to include most of sides and all of the meats. I can't and don't want to eat $20 worth of food, so the take out menu was a good alternative.

There are a lot of good options on the take out menu, and there are different meals to feed any number of people. For the three of us to split we ordered a pound of four different meats, a half rack of ribs, four different sides, and cornbread. We ordered and only had to wait a short time to get our food.

Back at my house, we divided up all of the food onto our plates. The first thing I had was the baked beans, and it was basically love at first taste. The baked beans, like nearly everything I ate from Sweet Lucy's, had such a good flavor. The blend of spices on the sides, meat, and sauce was perfectly blended. The mashed sweet potatoes were also a delicious side dish, and I would say those two are must-trys. I was less than impressed, however, with the creamed spinach.

For the meats, we got to try five different things. We had smoked kielbasa, which was good if you're a fan of the meat, but didn't lend itself well to the BBQ style. We also ordered the beef brisket, pulled pork, and pulled chicken. All of these were tasty, with the pork being my favorite. I was impressed with all of them. Still, because the same sauce and general cooking method is used with the aforementioned three, the only real difference lies in the texture of the meats. Stick with the one you like the best for your preferred Lucy's experience.

The ribs were very good, but not as tender as I like. The taste and blend on the meat was awesome, but the cooking could use some work. They were still excellent. The cornbread was a perfect accompaniment, tasty and moist. At the end of the evening, we all had enough to eat at about half the cost of the buffet. I can't really see any benefits to eating in at Lucy's, but it's nice that it's BYOB.

Bottom Line: I'm holding Lucy's to a very high standard. And despite that, they still pass in my book. I love barbecue and there's so many good options at Lucy's. I like this place a lot and plan to eat here again, annoying Northeast visit and all.

Essentials:

7500 State Road

215-331-3312

Hours: 11am-9pm daily

Avg Ent: 10-20

Cash Only: No

Reservations: No

BYOB: Yes

White Dog Cafe

I finally got to visit this spot. It's tucked away on the 3400 block of Sansom, which is a charming little block with great house facades that have been turned into businesses. I had never even been down this street and it's a nice stroll through the generally otherwise annoying University City area.

White Dog has a neat atmosphere; it's a maze of different rooms set up as small dining rooms. The decorations are laid on pretty thick, and it's a great conversion of a house to restaurant without losing any of the charm. The service was swift and pleasant throughout the meal. I met here with my friend Quinn on a beautiful Saturday morning. Surprisingly, White Dog wasn't even close to full at 11am on a weekend.

I've heard complaints about the prices here, but I found it in line with other brunch places. The exception is the drink menu. Bloody Marys and mimosas for $9 are just far too high. I stuck with coffee for the morning, and was happy with the fresh brew they kept pouring.

Looking over the menu, there were several good options, but I landed with the steak and eggs. The dish had a good presentation, and overall I was satisfied with my choice. My only complaint was that the texture of the steak, in fact I question whether it truly was steak. It seems like a roast that was cut into strips before being topped with the other ingredients. Nonetheless, the dish was tasty and satisfying. Quinn ordered an omelet that came with mushrooms, onions, spinach, and smoked cheddar. She loved her option for brunch and the sample I had was good. She also opted for a side of extra crispy bacon, and it was cooked perfectly to her specification (although not to my taste).

Bottom Line: There's not enough going on here to make me want to make the trip regularly, but I do believe that White Dog Cafe is serving up the best brunch in West Philly. I enjoyed my brunch.

Rumor: Turducken

I've read that Jake's Sandwich Board (122 South 12th Street) is going to feature a Turducken sandwich for the rest of the month. I'm not sure if they'll keep up with it until the end of November, so look for me to hit it up soon and post some (hopefully delicious) pictures and thoughts.