Samesa

495 Lorimer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 599-1154
Website

I had to do a quick trip to Brooklyn and knew I'd be in a part of Williamsburg that has a lot to offer with little mom 'n pop shops crammed into little row homes on almost every block. That's the kind of NY experience I can get behind.

I did some walking around and stumbled across this great little turquoise vestibule and thought, hey what the hell is "Samesa?" So I consulted the internet and discovered that not only do they serve up some of my all time favorite foods (Mediterranean) but it's also a spot run by celebrity chef-owners the Sussman brothers.

Brother Eli was in the kitchen that day, you can make out the back of his head here. It's a tiny spot, long and narrow with a kitchen run like a well-oiled machine. Shiny too. There was a Grub Street write up posted about their za'atar wings served with labneh ranch, and as much as I wanted to give them a try, I was in a rush to get back to Philly and was going to have to eat behind the wheel, so I had to skip. Sadly, also against the counter guy's recommendation.

That said, I was happy to have to order the chicken shawarma sandwich instead. They also had a great selection of pre-made salads, dips, spreads and sweets packaged to-go, more on that later.

Great little Gene Wilder meme. They were also playing "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" on a big flat screen which, while majorly hipster, was sort of fun. I mean, this is Brooklyn after all.

The chicken shawarma came on the house made pita with cucumber tomato salad, tahini buttermilk, green zhug (like an Israeli chimichurri with cilantro, parsley, hot peppers and garlic) and fresh mint.

The house made pita was paper thin but maintained just the right amount of chew. It was perfect.

The chicken was tender and there was a crispy bit of heavily seasoned shawarma in every bite. The fresh mint was a pleasant surprise and the combination of all of the other green ingredients was a flavor explosion. The cucumber salad had a bit of a quick-pickle happening that brightened the sandwich nicely.

This is one of the better chicken shawarma sandwiches I've ever had and at only $10, it was more than filling and did it's job for both lunch and afternoon snack on the NJ Turnpike.

I knew that I had to try some of their other offerings, so I brought home some of the aforementioned prepackaged goods to round out the day with a Mediterranean dinner.

The pumpernickel rye was fantastic. It was a hearty and flavorful vessel to scoop all of the goods.

Great rye flavor in there with the caraway seeds.

The Moroccan tomato and roasted pepper salad brought the heat and acidity that paired well with the roasted beet & tahini spread and labneh dip. There was not one bit of flavor missing from any of Samesa's food. I don't want to over describe it, so I'll just leave it at that.

Both the beet and labneh dips were incredibly smooth, whipped to perfection, and presented beautifully with their respective toppings, even in plastic.

Well worth the trip, but let's not forget that Philly is home to Dizengoff either...

Tom's Dim Sum

13 E State Street
Media, PA 19063
(610) 566-6688
Website

Media PA, also known as "Everybody's Hometown" is a sleeper of a town for the food scene. There are always new openings and closings, and a variety of choices not seen in most Main Line area towns. For instance, you can eat some of the best Isreali food around at Desert Rose and get some killer hoagies and cheesesteaks at low key Wayside Market , not to mention a number of other places where you'll find French/Thai and (delicious) White Guy's Mexican. It also has one of the best walkable main streets in the area, and lots of shops. It is a hidden gem of Delco. When I heard they were getting Dim Sum, it meant another option for soup dumplings without having to drive all the way to Chinatown.

This is Tom's second location, the first one is under the convention center where the original Dim Sum Garden used to be. Confusing, I know. They offer the standard sauce options (dumpling, soy, vinegar, chili oil). It's a BYOB and they take cards. All things to like so far.

One of my staples is cold cucumbers. Although I prefer the cukes to be seeded, these had a better sauce than usual (though I suspect it is either a variation of the dumpling sauce or the actual sauce itself). I love bites of cilantro in with my cucumbers.

Sweet, tangy and salty, just missing a little heat.

I always add a couple spoons of chili oil to the mix and it plays very well together.

Another go-to is the scallion pancake. A flaky dipping vessel for leftover cucumber liquid, these slices generally get a nice bath while I eat a soup dumpling and then when they're fully saturated and sopping with sauce, they get scarfed down.

The flaky layers have just enough glutenous chew, coupled with a crispy, browned outside. They are simple and delicious. They can be a bit greasy at times, but when you do the aforementioned ginger soy bath, you'll tend not to notice.

Now to the star. If you have never had soup dumplings, I can't recommend them enough. Forget everything else on the menu. Steamed wrappers filled with a delectable pork meatball that is swimming in fatty broth. Take the dumpling by the balloon knot on top, put it into a soup spoon, and slightly tear the top open. The lets the HOT liquid inside cool slightly and allows you to add in any additional sauces you may want. I generally do a little dumpling sauce and chili oil right into the top to add the unctuousness of the broth inside. Be careful not to spill it out.

At this point you have two choices – bite through the skin and take half of the meatball inside, slurp the broth, or take the whole shebang (make sure its cool enough) in one go. I go with route number two because I am both fat, and I want the full flavor experience. Plus this means that while the suckers you are eating with are trying to save droppings of broth and juggle the spoon, you are reaching for your next victim.

I was here when they first opened, and they RAN OUT of soup dumplings. This was a tragedy. I only got one order, and was then informed of the misstep. Out of my mind, I ordered some Shanghai dumplings (at the waiter's request) but knew they would not be the same. Or even close. I forgive them this error, only because I have revisited several times, and on each of those consecutive trips the service and food has been great.

These sweet and sticky dumplings were good, but lacked the soupy goodness of my favorites. A couple of dips in dumpling sauce made for a salty contrast to the sweet porky rice inside.

When you go, skip the soups and Americanized entrees, and just order the hell out of the soup dumplings. You can thank me later.

The Flying Deutschman

Food Truck
Media, PA
(610) 333-7908
Facebook

2SP is a new-ish DelCo brewery complete with a canning line and they have gotten quite a bit of publicity recently. They focus on beer, and typically have a different food truck serving hungry drinkers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I have been wanted to try the Flying Deutschman for quite a while, after seeing it zipping by on the highway many a time, and it JUST HAPPENED to be at a brewery, so I decided to take one for the team and go drink some beer and eat. Selfless, as usual.

The truck is painted like a ship, and is quite cool. They offer a variety of specials mixed with standard menu items, of a German variety. There is a tablet for paying, so you don't need cash. Always a big plus in the old PP book.

You can get a couple types of schnitzel and wurst, and all can be served sandwich style. This means put on a roll for those with comprehension issues.

The truck has a nice clean work space. You can see the ordering tablet in the below shot.

I tried the currywurst sandwich, the jaeger schnitzel with mushroom sauce, and a side of cucumber salad.

I loved the currywurst. The curry sauce was packed with flavor, the wurst was juicy and had a great snap to the casing. I like the toast marks on the roll. My complaint is on the price. The sandwich was $8 I believe, but the side of cucumber salad was a whooping $5. It was a small portion for the money. I DO believe that this is some extremely fresh, homemade German-style food, on par or better than most any German restaurant in the area. So it does even out. But be warned, this isn't a cheap food truck meal.

I could have easily eaten two of these delectable sandwiches.

The jaeger schnitzel was another winner, with a thin, well fried and seasoned cutlet smothered in mushroom gravy. You can see the black pepper flakes speckled throughout the creamy sauce below. It was served with a roll, which coincidentally made quite the sauce mop for anything left behind.

The thin cutlet was was easily sliced with a plastic knife, and the seasoned crispy breading soaked up the indulgent creamy sauce. It was a great schnitzel, even though white sauces tend to be not very photogenic.

And the beer at 2SP was not bad at all either. I will be back and even if it's not the Flying Deutschman, I'll be happy to give another contender a try.

Chili Szechuan

4626 Baltimore Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19143
(215) 662-0888
Website

With the explosion of Han Dynasty, there was bound to be some new Szechuan style places popping up. This one is right in the hot spot of the Baltimore Ave Triangle, where some new and interesting places are always opening up. I felt it was worth a try.

There was a very small crowd for primetime on a Thursday, but the inside was reasonably well appointed, and clean.

They had the dishes made famous in Philadelphia by Han, so it was a must-try situation. Enter spicy cucumbers and Dan Dan Noodles.

The cukes were good, but not QUITE as good as the peppercorn master's.

The Dan Dan were also tasty, and a good substitute, but both of these dishes were the same price as Han's, so I just couldn't justify it, given the choice.

For the entrees, the hot sauce style chicken came out in one HUGE portion, which was not a bad deal, given the $15 price tag, and definitely brought the sour/heat that it should have. It was not a bad rendition by any means.

The hot pot style rabbit, however, had issues. I knew ordering rabbit from a place with one other table on a Thursday night was likely a risky venture, but my dining partner was in the mood, so far be it from me to discourage culinary adventure.

The issue with this dish, however, was that the rabbit was served bone-in. And the pieces were chopped so small that you were forced to try and suck a tiny piece of meat off of a jagged piece of bone and cartilage. It ended up being an effort in futility, and I can't say I was a fan. The flavor was there, but the tiny pieces of chewy hare just didn't seem worth it.

This was the "bone plate". Not so hot.

I can't say that I would definitely go back, given the proximity of the West Philly Han Dynasty, but some of the dishes were surely passable.