"He who eats alone chokes alone." ~ Proverb

This weekend we had a number of fun-filled meals out.  On Friday we went up to the Art Museum area for dinner at the recently opened Hickory Lane with our pal JCM and his new wife.  I loved the ambiance, but right off the bat we had a bad taste in our mouths (excuse the pun) because the first words out of the waiter's mouth were... let me tell you about the menu, we do not do specials because our menu changes nightly (read: everything is special here)... and then when we ordered he proceeded to meet our choices with approving phrases like... you'll love it, such depth of flavor. 

For our first courses I ordered the french onion soup and B the green salad.

The soup was good, but I found the rosemary a little overpowering and I could have done with more broth and fewer onions.  I was impressed by the fact that the crouton under the cheese was still nicely crusty and not soggy.  The salad - pickled onions, goat cheese, white asparagus, field greens, and white balsamic dressing - was refreshing but slightly over dressed.

For dinner I ordered the tuna tartar with a side of onion rings (as if I hadn't had enough onions with the soup), and B chose the braised short ribs.

The tuna in the tartar was extremely fresh, but I found it under dressed and under seasoned.  I was similarly disappointed with the onion rings.  The breading was thick and soggy, no crunch at all.  The short ribs themselves had good flavor but I found the sides to lack seasoning.

All said, impressive ambiance, disappointing food, great times nonetheless.

Saturday was full of errands, but I managed to sneak in a delightful apple and walnut turnover from Cafe Ole.

I highly recommend.

That night we went with two other couples for drinks at Cooperage Whiskey and Wine Bar and dinner at Chifa.  Cooperage is in a strange spot but the drink list was good and there was a good number of people there without it being too crowded.  Chifa was doing a restaurant week menu, permitting each diner to select two dishes from a first and second course and one dish from the dessert course.  B and I teamed up to share ten different dishes.  For the first course we had the spring rolls, pork belly buns, ceviche, and duck tacos.

I didn't care much for the duck taco, mainly because the sauce wasn't that great and really over powered the duck.  The other items, however, were fantastic... especially the pork belly buns.  The pork belly buns are hands down one of the best pieces of food I've ever had in Philly.

For the second course we had wings, the shrimp noodle bowl, mussels, and the tamale.

I found the mussels to be a little chewy but the broth was nice.  The wings had a great crunchy exterior but were a little under seasoned/under sauced.  The tamale was fluffy and sweet, and paired nicely with  bacon, mushrooms, and garbanzo beans.  The highlight of the second course, however, was the shrimp bowl.  This dish is typically served at Chifa with lobster, but we mind the substitution at all.  The shrimp was perfectly cooked, the cream sauce has a nice kick and is wonderfully complemented with bacon and peas.

As you can imagine, we were pretty much stuffed by the time the dessert course rolled around.  That said we managed to sneak in a few bites of the chocolate cake, served with a chocolate and banana ice cream, and the panacotta topped with grapefruit and served with shaved coconut.

I didn't care much for the chocolate cake but the panacotta was a nice cap to the meal.

After many years of testing out restaurant week menus around Philadelphia, I can honestly say that Chifa has the best food for your buck that I have ever had.  Check it out!