Year In Review: November

We’re doing our year in review. Next up, November, 2009 a month where we talked a lot about barbecue.

News

• Dale Van Wieren celebrated the 10,000th different beer he tried.
• Look who’s publishing food and drink events for you.
• Snackbar finished the year strong, getting bumped up to three bells from LaBan and this review from Adam Erace.
• We led a burger cruise and had a delicious time.
• We ask what dishes would you bring back from the dead.
• The fight against mixing beer and cocktails.
• Meritage gets a three bell review from Craig LaBan.
• As 2009 wound down the use of the term umami ramped up.
• Forbes, formerly Mobil Travel Guide gives the Fountain 5-stars.
• We update our Recession Specials.
• It’s a rarity in web site comments, a well thought out discussion! It’s about the drop off in local beers at are bars.
• Green Aisle Grocery opens on East Passyunk featuring some of our favorite bites from our favorite restaurants.
• It’s women in the kitchen in the Daily News.
• Rick Nichols looks at the growing interest in long-ago culinary traditions.
• Percy Street Barbecue brings Texas style BBQ to South Street.
• Hawthornes opened offering a new option for beer shopping and a quaint spot for a sandwich or brunch.
• Jose Garces wins Next Iron Chef and celebrates by playing Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize.”
• We analyze each dish Jose Garces cooked during the season and where you can find them on the menu today.
• Lari Robling enjoys Koo Zee Doo in Northern Liberties.
• Rick Nichols makes the 2009 edition of  Best Food Writing.
• Nichols also brings in some experts to help him at Percy Street.

Dish of the Month

Foie Gras Scrapple at Silk City

If anything called scrapple could qualify as light and ethereal, this is it. The sweetness of the foie unfolds on your tongue, with the pomegranate seeds scattered over an accompanying root vegetable hash and a tart cranberry compote providing contrast. Felicia D’Ambrosio, Meal Ticket

Smackdown of the Month

“The red-cooked pork belly in soup had the distinction of being both squishy (its fatty edges almost gelatinous) and tough, the meat a chore to chew. The nest of flat Shanghai-style noodles in anise-scented dark broth were at once undercooked and gummy.” Craig LaBan, Philadelphia Inquirer on Kong

Notable Openings

Green Aisle Grocery, Hawthornes, Percy Street Barbecue, Sonic Drive-In

Notable Closings

Alison at Blue Bell, Kitchen 233, Zot