Common Wealth

319 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 372-7581
Website

I was asked to check out a tasting of the menu at Common Wealth in Old City, a "Lowcountry" style bar/restaurant I had not heard of before. As I LOVE Lowcountry food (and living), it did not take much coaxing.

I was offered a drink ticket for myself and a guest. Which was a little strange. Usually if you are invited to review a joint, they at least get you a couple of drinks. Get ya nice an liquored so the food tastes better, right?

Well, unexpectedly, this event took almost three hours and one drink ticket didn't cut it. So I ran up a healthy bar tab drinking some beers after trying some signature cocktails that were recommended. The Queen Anne’s Revenge is on the left – Bulleit Rye, sugar cube, squeezed citrus and bitters and the Travelers Passage on the right – house infused pineapple vodka. I was a bigger fan of the Queen Anne, because I love bourbon and don't particularly enjoy sweet cocktails.

The pork belly with citrus salad and hoisin glaze was first up. It was probably one of my favorites of the night. Although when isn't pork belly? It was crispy on the outside and succulent in the middle. Plenty of fat, though maybe a bit under salted. All in all, not a bad pork belly.

The hush puppies were likely my favorite of the evening, though I am not sure they are still on the menu. The tender interior was contrasted by the crusty fried shell, and the creole style sauce was delicious.

Next up, chicken and waffles. Usually one of my go-to's, can you tell what my complaint was with these? Yo waffles, where's the chicken? They should have been open faced, and served with a spicy/sweet side sauce. It was DRY. But the chicken was delicious. The honey-sriacha aioli was good, but those waffles needed a drizzle!

Open faced was more realistic, but I was left wanting for sauce.

You can see in the cut-away shot the chicken to waffle ratio is way off.

The oysters "Bienville" were next, in a roasted shrimp sauce with Creole butter. I thought these were okay, but they were so rich, they needed some acidity to cut the fat. Also, an oyster on the half shell, which gave me the zing I was missing with their heavier counterparts.

The oysters were fresh and the sauce tasty.

A lot of care went into these, but they were a bit heavy.

The shrimp gumbo was a disappointment. The roux was under developed for my taste, and lacked heat (and flavor).

I mean, almost every course had shrimp in it.

Fried green tomatoes with pickled shrimp were another highlight. The "pimento" was a sauce rather than a cheese spread (as I had hoped when I squealed with delight when I saw it on the menu), but the dish worked.

Crispy, well fried green tomatoes, and tart shrimp, with enough greens to cut the grease. But the tomatoes themselves were not great. Mealy. not even worth showing you that photograph.

Seared scallops on hoecakes with collards and a bacon cream sauce were, again, okay (who doesn't love scallops), but not all that memorable. This could be that I already ate about eight courses (doubles and triples of some), but it was just scallops.

Definitely cooked the right way, but under-seasoned.

Least favorite of the night (and biggest disappointment) was the shellfish and grits. The shellfish sauce lacked a discernible direction, and the subtleties of the lobster etouffee were not enough to save it. The texture of the Anson Mill Grits were great, think pastina but needed some more salt and punch to carry the dish.

The fried bread pudding dessert was well executed, but it was a lot of filler to eat after a meal.

All in all, this was a pretty okay spot, but I don't know that I would be rushing back. It was filling but lacking that lowcountry depth of flavor all around.

Downtown Cafe

224 East Capitol Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 592-5006
Website

I have been traveling for work a lot and I try to eat what the community eats – when working in Mississippi, it ends up being fried chicken quite a bit. As this wasn't calorie-centric enough, I decided to throw in some waffles as well. After lunch productivity be damned.

Downtown cafe is pretty nice inside, with an open kitchen and exposed brick walls. You will definitely see a lot of military personell here, as their physical activity makes it reasonable to eat the type of fatso diet I tend to stick to.

Fried chicken and waffles, sizzurp and butter. Hell. Most people wouldn't want four whole wings for lunch, and almost certainly wouldn't drizzle them in hotsauce and (maple?) syrup. Luckily I am not most people. Note the lighting was crap in there, so the pictures are washed out. Ah well.

The breading was well seasoned, and the chicken was moist and tender. There was plenty of crunch that stood up well to the rain of sticky sugar I glazed it with. For the record, syrup and hot sauce are amazing together.

In true over-indulgence, I got a side of the recommended mac and cheese. It was good, but I could barely waddle back to work after this feast.

The Tomato Bistro

102 Rector Street
Philadelphia (Manayunk), PA 19127
(215) 483-2233
Website

I have a lot of love for The Couch Tomato Cafe, so I was interested to try their newish addition, the more upscale Tomato Bistro.

Its kind of confusing to figure out where to go. There are also a couple of tables outside reserved just for bistro customers.

The menu looked pretty good, with pizza, sliders, and small plates.

They brought out complimentary tomato soup and garlic bread, which was delicious. Unfortunately it was by far the best item of the meal. I was constantly bombarded by an overly assertive server blatantly trying to up-sell just about everything. We were also the only other people in the place for the first half of the meal. It was early (about 6), but this led to more uncomfortable interactions with the pusher. Another questionable practice is making customers give first and last names to get a table. I would simply have withheld, but my dining partner gave theirs. For a walk in meal, in an empty restaurant, first AND last name is overkill. Let's face it, it's NEVER necessary.

The chicken and waffles had potential, but they were lacking a critical component, fried chicken. They contained lager braised chicken, apple butter, bacon and maple syrup on a Belgian waffle. There was also some wilted greens on top. This would have been pretty good as a sandwich, and if there were some type of crunch, a la fried chicken. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't quite right.

After the chicken and waffles, things went downhill. The Mediterranean plate sounded great, but was pretty awful. Which is kind of hard to pull off. The olives were fine, the grilled vegetables, however, tasted pickled and grilled. They were mushy and acidic, I was not a fan. the caper berries (with stems below) were a new one for me, and were pleasantly delicious. They were like a cross between an olive and a fig. The hummus was bland, the cucumber salad was terrible (old soft cucumber and WAY too heavy on the Greek oregano), and the ricotta salatta (or feta?) was inedible. It was supposed to have orange zest in it, but there was so much zest that it tasted like what I imagine Orange Glo would taste like. Me not finishing cheese is unheard of – I could not shake the chemical taste, and left it alone. Also, the house foccaia, which has always been terrific down stairs, was too sparingly dealt, and less than fresh.

The sliders were the last order of business. Now, I know that sliders suck. I am pretty sure it is common knowledge (think to yourself the last time you had a truly good slider, ever?) but I wanted to give them a chance.

The lamb slider was adorned with cucumber and tzatziki. Despite what looks like an abundance of sauce in the first picture, this was quite dry. Possibly because the meat to wheat ratio was way askew. Typical of sliders. This entire offering dripped of mediocrity.

The Kobe beef slider was another let down.

The meat was over cooked, in stark contrast to the medium rare lamb on the last mini burger. Much like the lamb, it looked really good from the side, but the cut away showed its true nature. There was not even a hint of truffle on this one, and the "fondue" served with it was not enough to make the dry bites enjoyable. Look at the bread!

The house made potato chips served with the sliders were pretty good, along with the balsamic drizzle, but unfortunately were not enough to make up for the variety of mishaps.

I wished this place was as good as their pizza shop downstairs, but I would never venture back up those stairs, given the choice between the two.