Philly, Steak Dinner, Clinton St. Baking Co.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of eating and I've just found time to post about all the deliciousness. On Friday, I made a trip out to Philly to visit my soulmate and celebrate her birthday. We started the weekend right with a dinner at the infamous Tinto (Chef Garces, the newest Iron Chef.) I've heard fantastic things about this place by several people and was super excited to experience it for myself. There were a couple misses but overall I was impressed with the food and the entire dinner. Can't wait to check it out again! For the sake of my laziness and the overall poor quality of the pictures (dim lighting), I'll just post my favorite dishes.

Braised shortrib, bacon, asparagus, celery root aioli bocadillo. I absolutely loved this. It almost didn't seem fair that I had to share it with 3 other people!

Truffled chestnut soup, duck and mushroom hash, fried quail egg and pistachio. Hands down, the best soup I've ever had. It was truffly, nutty, creamy and simply lick-the-bowl good. I want more!

Diver scallops with cider demi-glace, benton's bacon and shaved apple. I usually think scallop dishes are underwhelming but this was perfect. I don't know who benton is but he sure makes some good bacon. 

I came back on Sunday afternoon, relatively early but not early enough to cheer on the bf for his first ever half marathon. To make up for missing it, I went to EATaly and picked up some super fresh groceries for a "I Ran a Half Marathon" dinner. I made Angus porterhouse with a shiitake gorgonzola sauce served with crispy potatoes and sauteed kale. It was simply delicious, if I do say so myself. And yes, if you run a half marathon, I'll make you this dinner too!

This was enough steak to feed three people!

I had no work on Columbus Day so took the opportunity to finally check out the most talked about brunch place in the city, Clinton St. Baking Co. I foolishly thought that on a random Monday morning, there wouldn't be that bad of a line. I forgot that half of NYC doesn't have regular schedules and tourists are everywhere. Even at 11am, the wait was over an hour for two! So I got a coffee, the New York Times and waited. It was worth the wait!

Wild Maine blueberry pancakes with warm maple butter. These really are THAT good. Probably one of the top in NYC. I usually don't even want more than a few bites of pancakes, but I ate most of these.

This was the farmer's plate with soft scrambled eggs, farmhouse cheese, herb roasted tomatoes, and a biscuit (substituted for the normal sourdough toast.) It was hard to choose the savory dish since this is my first time and I wanted everything. The eggs were scrambled just right, which is rare at most brunch places. The biscuit is super flaky and oh so delicious with the strawberry jam!

Sugar cured bacon. No matter what you order here, you must get this bacon. End of story. 

It was a wonderful long weekend filled with food. Time to return to my normal work week (also filled with food) and some gym sessions.