Zahav

Tomorrow morning I take off for the Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival in San Francisco. This is an inaugural event for Foodbuzz, the online food community who provides food related advertising on my site. Aside from hosting the festival, Foodbuzz goes out of it's way to get foodies together to share new experiences in cities across the U.S. They hosted an amazing dinner at Fork for Philly bloggers last year, and just a few weeks ago we met up again at Zahav in the name of Foodbuzz.

Because we were all adventurous and willing to share, every person at the table ordered the three course tasting menu. This is probably one of the most worthwhile tasting menus in the city at just $36.

I'm a sucker for a good cocktail, especially if it involves some sort of lemon or lime component, I can't help it, citrus makes me weak in the knees! I thoroughly enjoyed the Lemonnana, a bourbon cocktail with muddled mint, fresh lemon juice and verbena. You can order this pretty drink by the pitcher, too!

Complimentary pickles and olives, as well as a three compartment tray of condiments (Za'atar, green chili paste and harissa) were brought out first and our knowledgeable server let us know the condiments were to be used throughout the meal to accentuate all of the dishes. Unfortunately, the little dish was lost amongst the many plates on our table, but fortunately no one felt that any dish was under seasoned enough to warrant the use of the additional condiments. The tasting menu starts with a tower of 8 salads, all vegetarian, and all but one gluten-free! As well as a large bowl of traditional hummus served with laffa bread and cucumber slices for our gluten-free diner. My favorite salads included the spiced pickled pumpkin, the stewed okra and the cous cous tabbouleh with pomegranate seeds.

The first round of small plates included a take on moussaka, served in it's own little skillet, eggplant was laced with kashkaval cheese and tomato. Fried cauliflower was served with labaneh sauce with chive, dill and garlic. Not being a huge fan of cauliflower, I liked the dish least at the table, it wasn't as crispy as I would have liked, but the sauce was divine. A generous portion of chopped liver was served with rye toast and sauteed cippolini onions. And lastly, the grilled duck hearts blew everyone away. Served atop dirty rice with toasted pine nuts, the duck hearts were meaty but tender under your teeth and melted in your mouth. I would jump at the chance to eat this dish again.

Stuffed peppers were also a big hit. Small paquillo peppers were loaded up with duck confit and almonds, then served with a warm salad of grapes. Sweet, savory and an unexpected win in my book. Also a big hit were the beef and lamb meatballs, spiced with cumin and served in a light tomato sauce over rice and beans. Similarly, a grilled merguez sausage was delicately spiced mixture of lamb and beef served with cous cous and a peppery matbucha sauce.

What tasting menu is complete without dessert? None in my opinion, and that's why Zahav's tasting menu is so wonderful. A wonderful starter, three small plates and dessert! I ordered the chocolate cake with tahini frosting. The cake was dark and rich with chocolate flavor, while the tahini frosting was lightly flavored with sesame but a bit on the grainy side.

Zahav brings a true taste of Israel to Old City and has one of the most worthwhile tasting menus available in Philly. Vegetarians and meat-eaters alike can leave Zahav feeling satisfied and perhaps exploring foods they never would have tried elsewhere. Don't skip trying a cocktail, they're totally worth it.

Zahav
237 Saint James Place
(At the base of Society Hill Towers)
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.625.8800

Square Burger

The most recent outing for Burger Club Philly had us trekking down to Franklin Square to check out Stephen Starr's Square Burger. Many had been there earlier in the summer, but it was my first visit to Starr's burger shack.

The menu is simple and straight forward, burgers, dogs, veggie burger, fries. Nothing too fancy, nothing too fussy. The original burger as it comes with cheese, ketchup, mustard and a relish made of chopped onions and pickles.

While it's not the most beautiful burger I've eaten, in fact it was rather sloppily put together, the slop did not diminish the delicious taste. I was really into the chopped onion and pickle relish, but could have used a bit less mustard. The burger was well done, the only way they cook them at this little shack, but it was juicy and I was happy with that despite the fact that I normally eat my burgers medium-rare. A Martin's potato roll kept all the toppings wrapped around the patty in a soft blanket of love.

Fries are rumored to be frozen, but they're fried up crispy and still maintain some of the skin, which always gets a big thumbs up from me. They were perfectly salty, and I'll take them over limp, hand-cut fries any day.

While native Philadelphians and butterscotch lovers swoon over the Cake Shake, this girl often finds butterscotch too sweet and overwhelming, so I skipped the infamous dessert drink and opted instead for the CMP sundae. The CMP combines vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce, a heavy handed scoop of marshmallow sauce and salted peanuts. Topped with whipped cream and a cherry, this sundae made my Square Burger experience something to write home about. I loved the addition of the salty peanuts to a sweet dessert, and anything with marshmallow cream usually gets a stamp of approval from me, so this was definitely a win.

Square Burger
200 N. 6th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Open until the end of October!

Midtown Village Festival

Looking for something to do this Saturday in Philly? Midtown Village, the area of Center City that runs from Spruce to Market and from Broad to 11th Street is celebrating Fall with a festival of specials and games.

The Midtown Village Festival is family friendly and open to anyone in Philly who wants to hang out in the city on what looks like its going to be only a slightly rainy fall day. Running from noon to 8pm, you can participate in Sumo wrestling sponsored by Raw Sushi, or just have a beer or two at the Oktoberfest sponsored by Time restaurant. Numerous area boutiques and restaurants have donated prizes and gift certificates to the raffle, so be sure to buy a ticket!

To learn more about Midtown Village, visit its website at www.midtownvillage.org.