After several failed attempts at going to the Bibou prix fixe, we finally got a reservation! I swear, every time we wanted to go, there was something stopping us. Either we tried to get a reservation too late, they were on vacation, or one of us wasn’t available on that said sunday. Then all the stars aligned and we finally went! Bibou is pocket-sized and adorably so. It’s warm and inviting.
Warm baguette, anyone? Yes, please! The butter was also delicious.
To start, we had the soup course, which was a bouillabase, with rouille toast. Oh, this was a cute bowl of seafoody goodness. It was hot, pungent, and a great start.
E got the foie gras duo. There was a foie gras creme brulee and a hunk of seared foie gras. For those of you who eat foie gras and like foie gras, this is the choice for you.
I decided to be bold and get the escargot. It’s a french place and I wanted to go as french as possible! Escargot is of course, snails, and these were in a ragout with fava beans, mousseron mushroom, and flavored with tarragon. I like escargot! I’d only had it once before, maybe nearly 10 years ago, but those were just pretty plain and buttered. These were succulent and savory and I even enjoyed the mushrooms. There’s nothing scary about snails at all. They’re delicious.
E wanted the octopus dish, but they had just run out. So instead, she got the striped bass prepared as the octopus had been. So here is the striped bass with with cauliflower couscous, tomatillo and red bell pepper, preserved lemon, in a caper brown butter. Yum!
I got the regular striped bass dish, which was served with artichoke barigoule, fava beans, butternut squash, and barigoule emulsion. What does all that mean? I don’t know, it just tasted good. Both of the fish dishes were perfectly cooked. The fish was tender but with a slightly crispy skin. The accompanying flavors and veggies were mild, yet perfect for how it was prepared. We both ate it up!
E is a chocolate girl, so she got the mimi’s chocolate cake with caramel sauce. Oh my word. This was an individual sized and baked cake. It was crazy good.
I prefer fruit in my desserts so I went with the crumble fresh cranberry pie. Jimminy cricket this was amazing too. The cranberry was fresh and tart and the accompanying berries were lovely and sweet. Really, every bite of this meal was superb.
Just when we thought we were done, they brought out some macaroons and other sweet treats. How cute is this! And if that wasn’t enough, Chef Pierre came out and said hello to us (and everyone else). We were both elated, stuffed, and a bit starstruck to say anything intelligible! We both thoroughly enjoyed our meal here, and the entire experience. I still don’t know jack about french food, but places like Bibou make me want to try it again and again.

Everybody loves Circles so I finally went! Why did I wait so long? I have no idea. There are two Circles, one take-out place and the sit-down place. I went into the take-out place and got very confused. But they kindly sent me across the street! Ah… that’s more like it! It’s a small dining room with no kitchen. That’s right, all the cooking is done across the street at the take-out place! I don’t know how the logistics of this works, but it just does! I would like to videotape all of the trips the servers have to make crossing the street.
Here are the famed tofu and corn fritters. These hot little suckers are battered and fried and served with a side of citrus aioli and a warm curry tomato compote with crabmeat. These were definitely a win for me. As a fan of tofu and corn, I saw everything right about putting these together.
The pad thai! We both loved it, and M is a big pad thai fan. As for me, I never ever tried pad thai very much, so I hadn’t ever been much of a pad thai fan. Not because I don’t like pad thai, but just because I’ve barely ever tried it. Well now, I’m a convert. Everything just works well here. The ingredients are super fresh, nothing is overcooked, and all of the flavors blend well together.
Drunken noodles are my usual thai dish of choice. I could never get enough of thick rice noodles. And I love the spicy sweetness of drunken noodles. It’s great here, and the portions here are large!
The Fried banana dessert aren’t just slices of banana fried up. Instead, they’re fried spring rolls stuffed with banana, drizzled with a sticky and sweet caramel sauce. They’re incredibly decadent!
We also tried the Thai Donut. Let’s face it, put the word donut on it and I’ll try it! These little donuts are more like plops of fried sugary dough. So they’re like fingerling donuts. And they are amazing! They come with a creamy and sweet dipping sauce, but you don’t need it. These hot puppies are great, as is. I probably haven’t tried enough of the thai restaurants in Philly, but with how good Circles is, I almost feel as I don’t need to! 

The Capital Grille had introduced a three-dish fixed price lunch menu and invited me to sample some of their offerings. The Philly location is huge, classic, and fancy, with very romantic lighting. There’s a whole lotta leather, wood, and people in suits. You get a basket of complimentary bread and it’s got a nice mix of things like pumpernickel, rolls, flatbread type things… I loved the variety.
Mint lemonade and grapefruit sodas. The lemonade was good, but not very minty at all. The grapefruit soda was awesome! Everything is freshly made, even these drinks!
M’s salad, with particularly tasty cherry tomatoes.
I had the clam chowder as my appetizer. This was quite the respectable cup of soup! It was thick, clammy, and full of potato and clam chunks. M got the lobster roll. Whoa, this was a huge pile of lobster. I mean huge. They didn’t really put it in the roll, they just kind of plopped it on top. That made sense though, as there was no way that giant pile of lobster was going to fit into any kind of roll. Oh man, that lobster was sweet and fresh and succulent. I’m not even all that into lobster, but this roll was great. And the haricots verts? I could not stop eating them! I’m a big fan of green beans and these were some of the best I’ve had in awhile.
I got the wagyu cheeseburger with fried egg and crisp onions. It’s got seasoned japanese wagyu beef, which is pretty darn fancy. And fried egg happens to be one of my favorite toppings for a burger! This little burger was good!
M picked the cheesecake as his dessert, which has a vanilla wafer crust, is garnished with fresh sweet berries in a strawberry sauce, and topped with a burnt sugar crust. If you like cheesecake, you’ll like this one.
I’m a creme brulee junkie, so you know that’s what I picked. The creme brulee itself good, but it was the fruit that won me over. Capital Grille philly, I don’t know where you get you berries from, but damn, they were awesome.
Some coffee, anyone? After all that food, it’d be hard to! Since we’re moving into Spring now, they’ve just switched things up for this lunch deal. They’re offering new selections, such as asparagus soup, spring and piquillo peppers with crisp bomba rice, and grilled spring veggies. Once again, it’s a three-dish prix fixe. For the quality and quantity of food, and the extremely high level of service, this is a great lunch deal!