Sampan is Philadelphia’s latest entry into the celebrity chef dining scene, with Michael Schulson at the helm. It’s a modern asian tapas type of joint, with asian inspired small plates. The place is pretty cool looking even from the outside. Look at those crazy wooden slats, they totally draw you in!

It is a small plates place, and they recommend 3-5 plates per person. And each plate is not cheap. So get ready to spend! Here we have the edamame dumplings. These little translucent pockets are filled with a puree of edamame. The consistency is very creamy and ricotta cheese-like. It is served with a very mild sake based broth. These are very different and delicious! Don’t expect tons of flavor, as these are quite subtle.
Here are the kobe beef satays, with apricot, soy, and mirin. These were pretty good, but I don’t know man, they’re awfully expensive for two teeny little skewers of meat. I realize that the kobe cows are massaged daily by their individual handlers and pampered and such, but I’m just not sure that’s worth it when you just put hunks of their meat on sticks.
Here are some more meats on sticks that I can get a bit more excited about. These are the korean BBQ beef satays. They’ve basically taken bulgogi, rolled them and stuck them on sticks, and topped them with kimchi. Yes sir, these were fantastic!
Here we have something with slightly more heft, the pork banh mi, or at least Sampan’s take on the banh mi. It has berkshire pork belly as the main ingredient, with the standard carrot, cucumber, and cilantro as fixins. This is not nearly like the banh mi you will find at your neighborhood vietnamese sandwich joint, but these are definitely yummy. They do not have the shredded daikon, which I love, so that kind of bummed me out a little bit. And there’s a sauce in there that’s not typically found in other banh mi. It’s also pricey for a banh mi, that’s for damn sure, but for Sampan, it’s one of their tastiest bargains. E was absolutely crazy about this, and this was probably her favorite dish of the night.
Here is Sampan’s version of the “Philly Cheese Steak”. It’s got shredded beef plopped on little toasted buns, and are topped with shallot, cheese, and sriracha. These are a bit on the salty side, but I really enjoyed them anyway. The strong smell of the cheese threw me off initially, but then once my nose got used to it, I really found these to be quite delicious. I think this was probably my favorite of the night, along with the korean bbq satays. They don’t really taste anything like philly cheesesteaks at all, but I think that’s a good thing.We topped off the evening with a visit to Capogiro, my first all summer. I got half blackberry and half yellow plum sorbetto. Jimminy christmas trees, was this yellow plum some of the most fantastic frozen treats I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten yellow plums, but if they taste like this, then sign me up! The blackberry was delicious as well, and really tasted intensely like blackberries, but the yellow plum just blew me away. Definitely thumbs up on both the dinner and the dessert!

To visit my brand new nephew, I had to take a trip to america’s heartland – Columbus, OH. When I landed, we headed right out for a quick lunch at North Market. It’s like the West Side Market in Cleveland, or the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, or like a ghetto version of the Ferry Building. But then every market is a ghetto version compared to Ferry Building. There is a farmers market outside on Saturdays. Inside, there are a wide variety of food vendors.

My bro picked out Lac Viet, a little vietnamese counter. Their menu only has thirteen items, which is awesome. The more focus, the better! They also have a proper restaurant in the suburbs. The prices here are dirt cheap. Their banh mi is supposed to be out of this world.

It was a thousand degrees out so I could not bring myself to eat pho. But my nutjob of a brother did. Yum! The broth was great, which is always my sign for excellent pho.

I ended up having something I’ve never had before. I love vermicelli bowls, and I equally love rice plates. But I always get one or the other. On the Lac Viet menu, the vermicelli bowl/rice plate items are listed as being together with a particular topping, with your choice of rice/noodles. I thought this was for picking either rice or noodles. So I ordered grilled chicken with noodles. Then he replied with, so no rice? And I said no, just noodles. And then I said, wait, I can get both? And he said of course! I didn’t know you could do this! So that’s what I got in the end, a combination vermicelli bowl/rice plate with grilled chicken. And damn, it was glorious. There were noodles, broken rice, all the veggies that come with the vermicelli bowls, nuoc cham, and heaps of delicious grilled chicken. It was a surprising delight! Now, every time I go to a vietnamese place, I’m going to want this!

It had been awhile since E and I had gotten together for our sunday night dinner adventures. When she suggested banh mi at pho & cafe viet huong, you know I couldn’t say no! I’ve been to viet huong countless times, but have never had their banh mi. And E had never had banh mi before, ever, so this was going to be a fun treat. Since this was her first banh mi she went safe with the grilled chicken banh mi. It comes nicely wrapped in paper so that everything stays inside and does not fall apart. E was a big fan of her first vietnamese hoagie. How can you not like this? It’s really the best of east meets west.

It was hot, so I didn’t necessarily want hot food, and I found the thought of the stewed beef with bread intriguing. I thought it would be a banh mi with the stewed meat inside. Oops! It turned out to be a bowl of stewed beef (a la the same beef from pho bo kho) with a toasted baguette. Well, I didn’t mind this at all! It’s like taking all the delicious hunks of meat from your pho bo kho and eating that with an amazingly warm and crusty piece of bread. There’s tons of broth to dip the bread into or you can even make little sandwiches yourself. We also got a couple of smoothies, because it was so muggy out. E tried the avocado smoothie, per my recommendation, and she really liked it. I had strawberry and it was perfect in every way. Service was speedy and efficient, as usual!

Pho & Cafe Viet Huong
1110 Washington Ave # 2A
Philadelphia, PA