Philadelphia Skyline

Saturday, January 30, 2010

YUMMERS!

I just returned from the best dinner of my life. But let me start at the beginning...

Around 11:30 today I left my apartment to have an interview with Deborah Boardman, the leading Performing Arts photographer in Philadelphia. Her studio was only a few houses away and I arrived early, only to meet her coming around the corner. We went inside and began chatting about photography. I showed her a few of my photos, which she liked and surprisingly she wasn't at all concerned about my lack of technical experience. She was also very accommodating to the fact that I would be working a full time internship in a law office, telling me we could work out a few odd times to meet together for shoots or editing. We hung up a few of her prints in her office while she talked to me about Philly, people, art, and food. It turns out her husband is my landlord (yes, he OWNS my apartment building). They also own a hotel a few blocks away which houses a fancy restaurant. She told me I should stop by for the last day of Restaurant Week, which is a city wide event where expensive, high class restaurants serve three course meals (usually valued at $60) for $35. Her restaurant was taking part, but they were serving 5 courses instead of 3, and all of the courses were full portions! After talking for over an hour we parted ways and I returned to the apartment to tell all my friends about my new friend.

After telling all of my roommates about her restaurant, and the delicious food served there, we decided to spontaneously give it a try! We called ahead to schedule a reservation and Deborah called back a few minutes later telling me how excited she was to see us! So we dressed up in fancy clothes and marched 5 blocks in the snow, arriving at an adorable brick bed and breakfast. We entered the restaurant and Deborah immediately started chatting us up, leading us to a great table in the back and telling us the menu in detail. Then we perused the menu and chose our five courses. For the first course my friends got bruschetta (each person ordering a different kind) and I got calamari. Deborah kept popping in to see how we were doing, occasionally sitting down and chatting with us about Restaurant Week, her work, and her properties around Philly. The second course was a wonderful arugula salad with sweet beets and chopped almonds. The third course was pasta, and we all ordered different ones and then shared so we could try them all. There were three types of noodles with two types of sauces. The pesto was killer! Around this time Deborah came back to our table and showed us a full page list of the best restaurants around Center City which she had handwritten for us. She went through it line by line and explained all the best places, telling us why she loved them, what price range they were, and what the owners were like. She realized that none of us had ordered the homemade empanadas for our starter so she brought out a special plate of them for us to try. By this time we were starting to feel the food! Then the fourth, and main, course arrived. I ordered homemade vegetable raviolis that were covered in a cream basil sauce while two others at the table got salmon with asparagus. I cannot emphasize this enough... the raviolis were the most heavenly dish I have ever eaten in my entire life. I actually closed my eyes, sat back in my chair, and just savored the moment. The salmon was also fantastic, probably the best I have ever had, but nothing will ever come close to that vegetable ravioli. Our fifth and final course was dessert. Mine was chocolate ice cream rolled in powdered chocolate and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Two of the other girls got tarts (lemon, apple, hazelnut, peanut butter). We finished off the night with cups of peppermint tea to cleanse our palates and to warm us up for the ride home.

On our way out we said goodbye to Deborah who told us to come back soon. When we were leaving we gazed out the window, across the courtyard to the bed and breakfast, and we gasped at how beautiful it was. So Deborah took us on a tour! She led us across the courtyard and in the back door of the hotel. It was a gorgeous, historic, building with a big banister leading up the front staircase, built in bookcases, and HUGE fireplaces in every room. There were also old portraits hanging in all of the rooms which were painted as jokes by a friend of Deborah. They look exactly like Deborah's husband (our landlord) and his business partner! After our tour Deborah led us out the side gate and said goodnight. I can't wait to get to know her better over photography! If you want to look at the hotel, here is the website, it is beautiful!

http://www.morrishousehotel.com/

And now we are back in our warm apartment, watching the snow fall outside, about to snuggle up to a movie. So for now, goodbye! And goodnight!

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