As discussed in a couple previous posts, Yelp issued the Yelp 100 Challenge earlier on in the year. Thanks to Boston and Cambridge, I've finally hit the target, with a couple months to spare. Check out the full list here.

Going forward, I'm only going to post my restaurant reviews on Yelp, keeping this site more focused on other random posts.

Stay tune!

Earlier in the year, Yelp issued a challenge to write 100 reviews in the year 2013.  While it's quite uncertain if I'll be able to hit that mark before leaving Philly, I think I've made a big dent so far.  This is review number 73 72 (because apparently updates don't count)!  See the full list here.

Matyson
37 S 19th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Square, Penn Center

It was another beautiful day in Philly on Sunday...or so I was misled to believe by the morning sun.  The rays of the sun woke me up a bit earlier than I would had liked for a Sunday morning, but the day was too beautiful to sleep through.  After skipping down (of course not, I took the trolley) to a Starbucks in Center City to wrap up a couple work related items and plan the last portion of my trip (which I failed to do), I stopped by Rittenhouse Square to people watch and to make use of my Kindle that had been collecting dust.  I haven't read anything in a while, and figured it's never too late to become more literate, learned, educated, whatever.  It was then that I discovered, while I was wrapping up work at the Starbucks, the weather had taken a turn for the downer.  The clouds had overtaken the city, hovering over us like dark ominous overlords.  I sat there for a while, but eventually it got a bit chilly so I took cover inside the nearby B&N.  Nothing like using B&N to subsidize my Kindle reading.  Go Nook.

Rittenhouse is conveniently located within a few minutes walk to Matyson, which recently installed a $35 prix fixe  menu for Sunday nights.  For this week, the theme was sea bass.  I'm more of a salmon kind of guy, but what the heck, why not?

We started off with two triangle shaped pieces of crispy polenta with mancheo and tomato fondue.  I thought this was alright.  The real highlight came second, with a bowl of steamed mussels bathed in an aromatic broth infused with coconut curry and sprinkled with cashew, sweet potato, and basil.  I took a deep breath to inhale the beautiful aroma that this concoction brought out.  My olfactory senses were happy...and so were my taste buds.

Then came the striped bass, which was served with black rice, asparagus, and saffron aioli (a fancy name for mayo).  As I said, I'm a salmon guy, and found eating the striped bass equivalent to eating solid water.  The skin was crispy and crunchy, but the fish itself was no salmon.  However, the accompanying black rice and asparagus were great supporting acts and saved the dish.

We wrapped it up with a chocolate kahlua mousse cake with hazelnuts and créme anglaise (a fancy French name for English cream).  Unlike the striped bass, the cake left no doubt that it was chocolate.  Rich and flavorful it was - luckily, the portion size was small so there was no risk of overindulging.

Rouge
205 S 18th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square

On a cold windy night, we found our way in Rouge on Rittenhouse Square.  Having walked by this place many times, I was never really impressed with their front, but inside, the atmosphere is warm and cozy.

The first dish that was served up was the French onion soup with gruyere and provolone.  I didn't have this, but word is it was good.  I had the King Salmon - a nicely cooked filet of salmon laid on top of a mixture of kale and red quinoa.  The salmon was delicious, but the kale and quinoa were mediocre at best with little to no flavor.  I asked for the dish without the honey-mustard sauce since I'm not a fan of mustard, so that may had altered the intended flavor profile.  I did ask if they could substitue the mustard sauce with something else, but was basically told there wasn't a substitute.  I had a bite of the Seafood Risotto, which tasted fresh and flavorful, unlike my kale.  We also shared the truffle parmesan pommes frites - come on, you know nothing with truffle oil can go wrong.

My delicious salmon paired with some bland kale and quinoa

Seafood risotto that needed a little mixin' to get the heat going

And the fries!

For dessert, we had the olive oil lemon cake served with vanilla gelato and cherry (?) spread.  We didn't taste much of the vanilla in the vanilla gelato, but this only made the flavor of the olive oil lemon cake stand out even more.  We also had the ice cream sliders - two of which were light and delightful, the third one (peanut butter) was the unwanted third wheel with no contrast in flavor and heavy to the palate.

Olive oil lemon cake with vanilla gelato

The sliders

Overall, the food was great; however, there were a couple misses.  First, we each had a small plate and a butter knife, but no one brought out any bread.  After the French onion soup was served, we had to flag down one of the waiters to bring over the bread.  Second, the outer layer of the risotto came out cold, and needed to be mixed up to distribute the inner heat out.  Third, it would had been great if the kitchen tossed the fries and truffle parmesan first, rather than just sprinkling the parmesan on top (which means by the time you get to the fries at the bottom, they're just plain old fries).  So, no big mistakes that can't easily be fixed.  In the words of a terminator, I'll be back.

Matyson

37 S 19th St

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Neighborhoods: Rittenhouse Square, Penn Center

We came here for Sunday brunch, which apparently is a relatively new development for Matyson.  As a spoiler, it was a great brunch!  We started off sharing the Shaved Tuscan Kale - a delicious mixture of quinoa, butternut squast, pepitas, parmesan, and oregano.  For a salad, this gave quite the buzz to my taste buds and felt very light.  Great way to start it off.  

Next up, we shared the Brisket Egg & Cheese with cheddar and a fried egg sandwiched between sesame brioche.  This sounds like a pretty heavy dish, but it was surprisingly very light as well  - all without losing an ounce of flavor.  

Still hungry, we split the Chicken & (scallion) Waffles - drizzled with Korean chili sauce and accompanied with a fried egg.  Again, this sounds like a heavy dish, but the chef pulled another Houdini and made the heaviness disappeared from the fried chicken.  If you order this dish, I'd suggest asking to have the chili sauce on the side - it's a bit spicy but also quite sweet.  So, unless you like your fried chicken sweet and spicy, get the sauce separately.  

A little hungry still, we asked to see the dessert menu.  Unfortunately, the pastry chef wasn't in so our options were limited. We went with Apple Crisp topped with vanilla ice cream.  Yes, you guessed it, this was pretty light as well!  Nothing paired with vanilla ice cream can go wrong, unless the vanilla ice cream is bad.  This was good. 

Yelp recently released it's challenge for the new year - write 100 reviews or updates to reviews in 2013.  Reviews for all types of establishments and located anywhere count - e.g., a hotel in North Carolina is just as eligible as a restaurant in Center City.  The city with the most number of qualified Yelpers takes home the glory.  This is Philly's time to shine.

I've taken on the challenge, but with less than five months left in the city, that means I have to write, on average, 20 reviews per month.  Donations are welcomed...

Check out the latest list of 2013 reviews I've written so far here (reviews are in no particular order).