Dishes at Jasmine Rice Are Both ‘Appealing’ and ‘Reasonably Priced’; Roxborough’s Mel’s Kitchen Serves Hugs For Lunch
• With “friendly service” and “dishes that are both appealing and reasonably priced,” Brian Freedman writes “all the pieces are here for success” for Center City’s new Thai spot Jasmine Rice. “SuperBall-sized” meatballs were “nicely complicated with roasted garlic,” but were “brought down a peg or two” from overcooking. Duck fried rice “was fantastic,” but mired by “gray, dry meat, the flavor having long been cooked out.” Still with flavors that “are consistently excellent,” he writes, “there’s a lot to like here.” [PW]
• At Mel’s Kitchen, a luncheonette in Roxborough, Adam Erace digs into a sandwich “stuffed with Italian-style roast pork” that’s “layered with house-baked ham, Swiss cheese and Dijon glue between tall slabs of Texas toast in a buxom Monte Cristo. The resultant “egg-battered and cooked on the flattop griddle” masterpiece, he adds “was like having a hug for lunch.” The bottomless bowl of beef-and-bean chili, “brewed with 15 spices, displayed real finesse through its complex, slow-cooked flavor.” [Citypaper]
• Phyllis Stein-Novack checks out just-opened Tapestry in the former home of Adsum, where she and her companions find a chicken liver mousse “topped with a bit of microgreens and slightly sweet cherries” that “won raves all around.” A mixed-green salad with pickled fennel “overdressed and contained too much vinegar.” Charcuterie selections for the day arrived “set out handsomely on a large board,” and although the “meat was tasty and fresh, the board needed a bit of contrasting flavors.” A Lamb-laden shepherd’s pie was the “was comfort food at its best.” [South Philly Review]
