Dinner at FARMiCiA (Philadelphia, USA)

It seems as though new diners to FARMiCiA fall into one of two categories: they either love this Old City restaurant and want to come back every week, or they hate it and don’t understand what the buzz is about. I happen to fall into the former category, and I’m thrilled that my most recent Thurs-date happened here.

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When we first arrived, we were immediately seated by one of the front windows, which gave us an opportunity to spend some of our time people-watching. It’s a good thing we had this view because our waiter was a bit too hands-off, and we quickly learned that we wouldn’t be seeing much of him throughout the evening. Since we weren’t impressed with our waiter, I thought we’d be falling into the category of people that didn’t like FARMiCiA, but I was proved wrong by the time our first courses came out.

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My vegan friend started with the Capellini and Sauteed Tofu. Her appetizer was a hearty plate that came with roasted tomatoes, mint, pine nuts, and red chili. While she said it was incredibly spicy, she loved it and mentioned that it was some of the best vegan food she’s ever had.

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I opted for the French Lentils and they were also delicious, although my favorite part of the dish was definitely the huge serving of baked goat cheese that came on top. The salad was one of the most filling ones I’ve had due to the cheese and the amount of lentils that came over the lettuce, but it was so nice and savory that I finished every last bite. I didn’t know how I was going to eat the rest of my dinner, however, I felt like I could try and power through.

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After our appetizers, our entrees came out pretty quickly. I ordered the Duck Breast and my love for FARMiCiA was further cemented by my first bite of this. The duck had a nice crispy skin to it and was cooked perfectly. The sweet sun-dried cherry glaze that came with it was a perfect accompaniment to the tender meat. The simplicity of it all was something that I definitely appreciated.

008The sugar snap peas on the plate were also really satisfying. In fact, throughout the whole meal, the only thing I could critique was my wild rice. As a Persian girl, I probably judge rice much more harshly than any other aspect of a meal, and this rice was just not up to par. While it wasn’t great, I was so full from all of the other things on the plate, that I hardly even cared that the rice missed the mark.

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The other main course we tried was the Fresh Corn Risotto Croquettes. These two croquettes were large and were tough for my friend to finish because her first course was also filling, but she had only fantastic things to say about it. She couldn’t stop raving about the sweet potato crisps that adorned the plate and said that it was the her favorite part.
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For dessert, I got the Orchard Fruit Crisp that came with apples and pears. It was a delicious, warm way to kick off the Fall season and end our meal. While FARMiCiA could use a little face lift in the waitstaff, the food outweighs the bumps they have in serving. I’m already anticipating coming back and can’t wait to try out some of the other phenomenal, farm fresh food they have on their menu.

Farmicia on Urbanspoon

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Lunch at Zama (Philadelphia, USA)

Now that Restaurant Week is upon us, all of my friends are dying to check out some of the many restaurants in the city. While my schedule is already pretty booked up for the next week, I kicked off this past week at Zama. Since there are so many sushi places in Philly, each new one I want to try really has to stand out in order to leave an impression.

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One of the first things I noticed when I walked into the restaurant was that, unlike so many of the other sushi places in Philly, Zama doesn’t have that sterile, mod feel with white walls and chairs. Although it may seem less hip than some other restaurants, the atmosphere was much more warm and inviting.

Even if I feel like I’ve been going out for sushi a lot these past few weeks, I excitedly reread the options for the Restaurant Week menu and quickly decided to opt for the Sashimi Lunch Set which included several courses for lunch.

The first thing to come out was Edamame, and was soon followed by Udon Noodle Soup. After the soup came out, I waited a few minutes before starting since I could see the steam rolling off of it. This turned out to be a bad decision, because by the time I picked up my chopsticks to attack the tempura shrimp and vegetables, they were so soggy that the breading fell right off.

I’m not quite sure what the point of putting crispy tempura into hot soup is, but I wasn’t all that impressed. That being said, not all of my shrimp was submerged in the soup, and the crispy tempura that I did try was very satisfying. It had a nice crunch to it, but I could still taste the fresh shrimp inside. Before I even had time to finish my soup, my entree came out with a side House Salad.The salad was a bit overdressed for my taste, but I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to salad dressing, and my friends thought it was fine.

What I was even more excited to try was the Mixed Sashimi and Tuna Maki Roll that I had ordered. The sashimi was fantastic, and I was especially drawn to the salmon slices as I thought they were the most flavorful. I was, however, not crazy about my maki roll. The tuna was great, and I particularly enjoyed the spicy mayo inside the roll, but the rice way too hard.

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After we finished our lunch, we still had dessert left. At this point, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away, but this turned out to be my favorite course. Our table ended up ordering the Chocolate Bread Pudding and Green Tea Mochi. While it wasn’t the prettiest dessert, the bread pudding was delicious and a great, sweet end to a meal. Although I preferred that dessert, the mochi was also phenomenal and was a lighter way to satisfy my sweet tooth.

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Even though I left Zama full, I don’t think that I’ll be back for the sushi. I’ve been to a number of better sushi restaurants in the city and besides dessert nothing really jumped out at me and convinced me that I should come back. While I went into my lunch hoping for something that would wow me, I ultimately left Zama unsatisfied. Next up  for Restaurant Week is FARMiCia, the only restaurant I could find on the list of participating places that offers up vegan options for every course.

Zama Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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