A was in town over Memorial Day weekend and she wanted to go have lunch. I like when other people decide where to go, and she suggested H-Mart. Yay! There wouldn’t be very many reasons for me saying no to this. A got the dolsot bibimbap. She doesn’t put the kochujang into her bibimbap and mixes it up before she eats it. So you can see that the rice is still white and nothing is spicy. But she takes little dips of the kochujang and adds it bite and bite if she wants. It’s a different approach. Hey man, whatever works! It’s good with the spice or without.

It was a hot day, so I did not want hot food, but wasn’t really sure what to get. Then, we saw two employees eating from this giant, and I emphasize, giant, bowl. That particular shop sold tuna albap and shrimp albap, but these girls were eating it with tofu. That’s what I wanted. But it wasn’t on the menu. But I asked for it anyway. The lady behind the counter got confused. So she asked one of the girls who was eating this, and she said sure, why not. So they made me one. What I thought was a serving for two employees turned out to be actually just for one. It just happens to come out in a giant bowl. You cannot see how giant this bowl is in the photo. That bowl with all the shredded lettuces, cabbages, carrots, cucumber, and tofu, does not have any rice in the middle of it. That stilll has to be added later. This giant bowl was just positively filled with a giant heap of shredded veggies. It was awesome.

When you throw the rice in there, the kochujang, and mix it all together, you get this lovely firey mess. Really, it looks like a giant mixed shredded salad or shredded cole slaw with a red dressing. Oh, but with a little teeny bit of rice mixed up in there. On a hot day, this really is just the perfect food. Raw crunchy cold ingredients, with a hint of spice. The tofu was warm with some sesame oil, and it was the perfect protein. Aside from the imitation crabmeat, this was practically vegan!

He’s been talking about it for years and years, but it finally happened. My uncle is retired! My aunt planned, and well schemed, a surprise retirement party. And it went off beautifully. Snowy weather and flight delays added a few wrinkles to the surprise, but otherwise, he was truly surprised! And of course, there was tons of good food! No one slaved for days on the food. Instead, it was catered! Shrimp cocktail. I love any party with shrimp cocktail!
Asian style mini meatballs. What makes the asian? Because they used sweet chili sauce in it. What an easy and brilliant idea.
Little mini spanakopita in the front. These weren’t that good. The mushroom cups in the back? Good! Actually, great. And this is coming from a girl who doesn’t really like mushrooms.

For a main dish, we had beef tenderloin with a mushroom gravy. This was the best entree of the evening.
Another entree was lemon chicken. I didn’t try this, but I heard this wasn’t that great. So I’m glad that I skipped it. The other entree was a veggie lasagna. A big vat of lasagna isn’t that photogenic. It was fairly tasty though. I would have preferred that the veggies weren’t so crunchy.
Rice pilaf. Not a favorite. Good, but there were chunks of crunchy bits in here.
Grilled veggies. I’m not sure what was in here, but there was definitely carrots, carrots, and carrots. There may have been a sweet potato, but I’m not that sure.
My favorite dish of the entire night was the salad. The mixed greens was nothing special, but it was what what was on top that blew everything out of the water. Candied walnuts, dried cherries, and an amazing balsamic syrup type of dressing. I could have just eaten a giant bowl of this and been stupid happy. This is my dream salad, because it’s like candy! I need to figure out how to make a dressing like that. Because well, I love candy! We also had mocha cake from the korean bakery. And everybody loved it! It was a fabulous party… happy retirement!

Every major city has some sort of restaurant week, and Philadelphia is no exception. It happens several times a year, and enclaves within the city even have their own versions of it. I don’t participate in it too often as the menus can be very limiting and not worth the value. But sometimes, once in awhile, I partake. So for this last go-round, we went to Mercato. I’ve always wanted to go here. It’s a teeny little byob in midtown village that is always packed. And there’s certainly many reasons why.
The place is so small and the tables are densely packed in. You literally have to squeeze yourself into your seat. But it’s not a big deal. Since it was restaurant week, we pretty much got our pick of the menu and got to select one app, one entree, and one dessert.  Only the cioppino was excluded from the menu and the antipasti had to be shared between two as the app. Otherwise, it was all fair game. I appreciated that. Some complimentary bread with a flavored butter. Just wonderful.
M’s roasted portabella and arugula puff pastry with pecorino, pine nuts, and thyme citronette. Delicious!

Whole grilled artichoke with a extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and a zesty citrus aioli. Again, delicious! And I don’t even like artichokes. It looked so good that I had to try it. Even if I don’t traditionally like artichokes. I’m trying actively to expand my horizons. It was so smoky and great. And we fell in love with this aioli. I could have drank it.
The crispy skin striped bass with caramelized cipollini onions, artichokes and pancetta crisp, in a chianti reduction aioli.  Ooh baby. If I wasn’t such a scallop freak, I would have ordered this. In fact, next time, I will!
So as for me, with very little surprise, I ordered the pan seared diver scallops with a wild mushroom and english pea risotto, parmesan crisp, and drizzled with truffle oil. I’m a sucker for scallops and I’m a sucker for this dish. So perfect. The risotto was creamy and dreamy and super flavorful. I love anything with peas in it! I could have licked the plate. And were it not for all the other patrons within an eyelash of me, I would have.
For dessert I got the panna cotta with cinnamon apples. Loved this too. Loved every damn thing about this place. I can see why this place is packed all the time and gets rave reviews. It deserves all of its lauds. Service was pretty good considering there were only 3 servers for the whole joint and the place was mobbed. It’s cozy but not quiet. Because you’re so tightly packed together it’s busy and loud and bustling. But it’s still adorable. And the food is lovely. I want to taste every dish!