In honor of mother’s day (or maybe because it was next in my photo queue), it’s a Momma Buco special.  Even though I think I eat pretty well, I still get excited for a home cooked meal.  Props to my Mom for always putting something good on the table often with little to no warning (I like to show up unannounced, keeps thing fresh).  My mom is also the queen of sacrifice.  She doesn’t even like fish, but it’s a healthy eat so my mom served some tasty, flaky fish a couple times a week.  This tilapia got a healthy amount sauteed mushrooms and onions and went on top of some fried rice.  Add some asparagus and that is one healthy, yummy meal.  I know my mom sometimes reads this blog, often cringing at the gluttonous meals (she’s a dietitian) and the some times foul (mild) language, but I do love her and thank her for everything she does for me.

So I know that I’ve put fajitas/burritos on here before, but this one holds a special place in my heart.  I had a successful battle with an “inconsistent” oven, which when broiling choose to get really hot in some areas and quite cold elsewhere.  But that motherfucking skirt steak came out perfect, pink on the inside and it settled nicely too.  It’s a victory over a thin steak I rarely get.  Also, I managed to pick a ripe avocado from the grocery store, another rare accomplishment.  I think I’m borderline retarded when it comes to picking that particular fruit, I think my success rate is sub 50%.  So yeah, two rare wins, albeit of amateur difficulty, made for a super fantastic meal. 

Pancake mayhem, or rather pancake pandemonium.  These massive hot cakes we served up by Darling’s 24 hour diner.  Topped with a drizzle of nutella and peanut butter and stuffed with blueberries and bananas, I covered the gargantuan griddle cakes in maple syrup.  Sure, I’m usually the savory food type, but I, on occasion, have gone slightly fanatical about pancakes.  I was pretty hungry, but I still couldn’t conquer the beasts.  Quite enjoyable.  My one problem was the fruit embedded in the pancakes.  While a nice touch those morsels stay at an incredibly high temperature for long then the rest of the cake.  So too often I would burn my mouth which was a bummer.  But overall an enjoyable experience. 

Oh boy, it’s BBQ season.  I can’t get enough of it and I think it’s what’s standing in between me and becoming a vegetarian.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some great vegetarian options, but none of them have delicious meat in them.  This photo was taken at Percy Street BBQ on South Street.  Solid Q at that place and an amazing beer list to go with it.  I don’t always need beer with my dinner, but when I’m eating BBQ I have to have a solid brew in my hand.  Nothing light, or any joke beers like pilsners or lagers.  If I’m consuming mass amounts of meat, I gotta have an ale… or maybe a pint of the black stuff.  Anyway, back to the moist, slow cooked meat. I have a scary love of brisket so I always go for it.  Percy Street did not disappoint.  I received a generous heap of succulent, tender brisket with some bread (for sandwich making), burnt tips baked beans and some ‘slaw.  You know how in American Pie they say sex is like warm apple pie, well I think sex is like BBQ brisket.  To me it’s perfect and Percy Street nailed it.

I think my girlfriend got sick of me making all of my sauces out of crushed tomatoes.  So somehow it was considered “changing it up” when I made our sauce out of diced tomatoes.  Oooo fancy, I know.  I think I got a little too excited trying to spice up the diced tomatoes and had to get reeled in.  I mean why not white wine and balsamic vinegar.  Alas, I was told to calm the fuck down and stick with one direction.  I put my fantastic sauce on top of some store bought tortellini.  I love tortellini, but I would never make that shit.  I mean it sounds like a good idea, but 8 hours of playing with dough and filling just to have it fall apart in the water makes me want to flush myself down the toilet.  Pasta making is something I’m a little scared to try, sorry.  As you can imagine, it was an enjoyable meal.  I even added some garlic bread, because who doesn’t love it.  I think there’s a million ways to make it, but it always tastes the same… great.

Okay, I don’t like doing things in the oven.  I like doing things on the stove top, but much to my chagrin, the food I want to eat demands that I throw it in the oven.  Well a while back I wanted to change up my typical chicken fajitas, so I decided skirt steak was the best option.  It would be poor form to try to sear such a thin steak, so broiling was really the only option.  At least I’m okay at that and it came out a beautiful pink.  A fajita is only as good as the sum of its parts, so a couple slices of avocado went perfectly with the meat.  I sometimes fall into the rut of not trying new things with my food and eating an endless cycle of similar food.  I hardly ever eat red meat, so it was a  delight to try something a little different.  The textures of the meat are totally different, and create a very different fajita.  A delicious difference I would say, so delicious that I might try putting other things in the oven.  Just call the fire truck for me…

Sadly, I get so excited about food, that I forget to take pictures of everything I eat.   Such was the case when I visited the Memphis Taproom in Fishtown.  The restaurant specializes in BBQ and traditional Fishtown food (German and Pol food).  My girlfriend and I tried to eat both styles when we visited, so we split our meals.  She got the brisket sandwich, which is always a favorite of mine, and I got the Fishtown platter (kielbasa, latke, perogi and sauerkraut).  Just quickly, I hate sauerkraut, I fucking loathe it.  Everytime I  see it, it lures me in and I want to give it another chance, and I do.  The same result follows this cycle; I spit out the sauerkraut and curse myself for falling for the devil’s cabbage’s evil tricks.  Joyfully, there were plenty of tasty things on the plate to make up for that silly sauerkraut.  The latke was the real standout to me, pillowy and moist.  Also, the beer list was strong, with a couple of $40 bottles of beer which I will have to purchase latter.  The brisket was also fantastic, but hey, its brisket and it should be a star.  I like the Taproom because it’s a classy joint and has some creative and tasty food.

Aloha, readers.  Due to monetary constraints, I don’t always get enjoy 3 course meals.  Every once in a while I get lucky and a restaurant does one of them cheap deals.  Such was the case at the Vietiane Cafe a while back.  They make Thai/Laosian(?) food, and I think thats about as close to Laos as I’ll get.  The first time I went there, I think I chose the wrong entree the first time i went to Vietiane Cafe, so I made sure to get something of their specialties.  Our first course was steamed wontons, soft and a bit mushy, but tasty none the less.  My main course was (as it should be) the star of the meal.  It was some very sexy pad-kee-mao which are thick noodles in a spicy sauce along with a plethora of veggies.  I just wanted to keep eating it well after it was gone, but that is just how good food is.  Desert was also a stand out due to a tasty, yet unexpected delight.  Just think, chocolate and banana spring rolls with a tangy mango sauce.  It just makes so much sense when I finally ate it.  It was a bit of an epiphany really.  I’m glad I went back and tried the place again because the food really was exceptional

This my friends, is a four cheese lasagna, but it is hardly the story of the picture.  This lasagna comes from Victor Cafe in South Philly where my family and I celebrated my Mom’s 60th birthday.  When my Dad told me we were going to the Victor Cafe, I was a bit confused because the place is famous for its opera singing waiters.  That is the type of cheesy gimmick that my dad usually wouldn’t go near.  Turns out my Dad took my mom to that very same restaurant 30 years before.  This was the cutest thing I’d ever heard of my dad doing.  We get to the place and it is classic South Philly with tons of Italian crap-olla all over the walls and waiters that sing every 10 minutes.  I figured a place like this was overpriced and not that good.  Well, it was overpriced, but the food was surprisingly good.  My mom got some smelts which is a small fried fish I can’t remember ever having before.  I enjoyed them, and for a small fried fish I was happy that they didn’t taste too fishy.  My girlfriend got a lovely, pasta with seafood in a diavolo sauce.  My four cheese lasagna was also quite pleasant (though don’t ask me what four cheeses it was).  The lasagna was light and airy, while the different cheese added some nice complimentary textures.  The best part of the dish was the spicy tomato sauce, but I guess if your a South Philly Italian place you better have good tomato sauce.  Gotta say, can’t wait for my Mom’s 90th.  (just kidding Mom)

Buco’s Dinner presents: A Kevin Wallace special!  I know this is supposed to be my food blog, or at least food I eat, but this was such a good idea I have to include it in the blog. Kevin is a man who makes interesting dinners but this one takes the cake.  He actually fried an egg in an avacado, a la eggy in a basket.  This was absolutely Kevin’s best idea ever.  I love avocados and I love fried eggs.  Seriously forget about the quesadilla or whatever vegetarian goo pile that kevin paired with this masterpiece, the star is the egg stuffed avocado.  Strangely enough I haven’t tried this but I think that’s because I still can’t pick an avocado for the life of me.  They are always too hard.  It’s the worst.