I missed most of Philly Beer Week this year because my vacation was unfortunately scheduled smack dab in the middle of it. It’s not a terrible thing, because I’m not the greatest drinker in the world, let alone beer drinker, but I was bummed about not being able to catch some of the more food related events. But on the last sunday, which may not have even officially been part of the week, I did get to catch one beer at Devil’s Den. That’s not a picture of my beer, that’s water, obviously, but I promise that I did drink a beer. It was a small and strong beer. I didn’t quite care for it, but I swear it happened!
You can get proper entrees and such here, but they also have a cheese and meat plate from Di Bruno Brothers. Yum! It came with some cured meats, cheese, nuts, dried cranberries, honey, and bread! And it was a lovely evening to sit outside, nibble on some cheese, and get loaded. No, I didn’t get loaded on one beer! Sheesh!

The last time we tried to go to Village Whiskey to get a burger, there was a ridiculous wait. And I hate waiting for food. This time, we somehow lucked out with one of the counters in the back, even though we only got one chair. It was the last non-table space and we snagged it! So who the hell cares if one of us had to stand? So I guess this place is mostly for boozing, but as far as food goes, everyone raves about the burgers, so that’s what we got.
I got the village burger with caramelized onions, done medium well. It comes on a good sized sesame roll with tomato, boston bibb lettuce, and a house-made thousand island dressing. I was a bit wary of the dressing so I asked for it on the side. Once I tasted it, I really liked it, so onto the burger it went! So the patty is pretty thick and mine was cooked the way I like it, not at all bloody. And the caramelized onions were plentiful and also delicious. In all, this was a good burger! The meat wasn’t chewy and it just melted. J got his burger medium so it was pretty bloody on the inside. Seeing as how thick the patty is, it seems pretty easy to keep it bloody. He thinks it doesn’t have to be such a thick patty. And he dug the thousand island sauce as well.

Oh, it also comes with a pickle. So people rave about the duck fat fries too, so we split a share of those. These fries are not plentiful at all. In fact, we think they line that silver cup thing with paper so that they can put even less fries in there than they can actually fit. They were good, but nothing amazing or life-changing. And we got the sly fox cheddar cheese sauce. It was melted cheese. There wasn’t anything sly foxy about it. It just tasted like a mild melted cheese. Don’t get me wrong, it was a tasty mild melted cheese, but is it really worth it? Meh. Overall, I enjoyed my burger a lot, but do I think it’s the best burger in all of philadelphia? I don’t quite think so. But that’s just me!

H/A and I headed over to nearby Saffron to stuff our faces. On a weeknight they were still doing brisk business. It’s nice to see this place busy. They had some monthly specials, as usual. When H/A ordered, the server complimented him on his pronunciation of the indian dishes.
we got one of the appetizer specials, the chicken and shrimp chaat. It’s a cold dish comprised of cubes of chicken tikka and shrimp tossed with cucumbers, tomatoes, chaat masala, and a touch of sour cream. It was ok but this didn’t excite me much. I think it would have been better just as a veggie salad as the chicken and the shrimp didn’t really kick this up any notches.
Here is the boti kabab masala. This is lean cubes of lamb marinated for 24 hours in yogurt and spices, baked on a skewer in a tandoor, and then finished in a tangy spicy sauce. The lamb was unbelievably tender and the flavor of this was pretty good. And there’s no veggies, it’s just straight up tender hunks of lamb and sauce, perfect for dipping your naan into! In this case, I got the spinach and cheese naan again. I had liked it the last time and I think it’s a nice alternative to plain naan or garlic naan. It has fresh spinach and homemade cheese. Eat it while it’s hot, people!
But you know what, hands down, with no doubt in my mind, the best dish at Saffron is the kadai paneer makhani. It’s got homemade cheese cubes cooked with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and freshly ground spices. There’s just something about this sauce that is unlike any other indian dish. It’s just the best! I would put this sauce on anything if I could buy it or figure out how to make it. It’s not like the sauce that came with the lamb, it’s not masala, it’s not korma, it’s not butter, it’s just the best indian sauce ever. Service is just fine here. They brought out the wrong bread at first but then fixed that right away. And they’re pretty good about filling up your waters. I will come back here for the kadai paneer makhani forever!