More Philadelphia eats! Especially sweets!

Even after I'd spent seven hours on my last entry, I can't help but keep eating my way through the city. To be fair, I've literally been here six weeks and it's only been calm enough recently for me to process all that I've put in my tummy. Plus, I've been attempting to try as many new places as possible, seeing as how I might be too overwhelmed in September to do much of anything but sleep!

ETHNIC:

Gia Pronto - While Gia Pronto promotes itself as more organic than Italian fare, I thought the presence of panini was enough reason to stick it in the ethnic category, at least for the time being. At this point, I've only been to Gia Pronto twice, but I've ordered salads both times, and I've found them a bit expensive, a bit soggy, and a bit wanting in general. Marianne raves about this place constantly (and she may very well be their poster child), but I've yet to comprehend the hype. The choose-your-own salad concept -- where you can pick your greens, toppings, and dressing -- is nothing new. (I know because I enjoyed a better version at CSFB about a decade ago.) Plus, having my salad doused in dressing seems to defeat the purpose of eating a salad in the first place. That said, I'm still willing to give the panini a chance, especially since they've looked and smelled amazing from a distance. Also, their chocolate-covered biscotti must be laced with crack, because they're so addictive that I had to consume two in a 10-minute timespan. Enough said.

Han-Wool - Given his recent pangs for bibimbap, Jared decided on Korean for our mid-week lunch date. And considering that the only run-in I'd had with Korean food around campus was the Koja truck (to be discussed below), I happily followed him to Han-Wool. Not having read the reviews, I personally thought the food was pretty darn good. While the banchan was fairly minimalist, my hae mool tang was just spicy enough for me, and Jared and I both contributed to polishing off the pa jun. Even though I'd only ever had pa jun with seafood, the vegetable version was just as good -- perfectly crispy on the outside and nicely chewy on the inside. From what I could tell, Jared seemed to think his bibimbap was quite good as well. While the Yelp reviews are less forgiving (particularly those from Koreans who obviously know authentic Korean fare), as someone who's had her fair share of Korean food, I'd still vouch for Han-Wool as a good mid-week Korean food fix.

KoJa - On the other hand, I was totally unimpressed by the KoJa food truck. Not only was the menu totally basic, it seemed to cater (or rather pander) to American taste buds. While they did have japchae and soondooboo, they also had stiry fry and sukiyaki, which are certainly not considered typical Korean dishes.  Furthermore, I ordered the vegetable and tofu stir fry, only to find out that the onions were sliced too thin and overcooked. Are you serious? It's a sitr fry. What's to mess up? Bryan got the beef bulgolgi, which he seemed to be less than impressed by. All in all, the best things about KoJa are: 1) the aloe drinks (and those were bottled!) and 2) their location next to Sugar Philly (the dessert truck right next door). Their staff was quite nice, but that certainly doesn't make up for their weaknesses food-wise.

Sitar - As consolation for working on a day when others were playing, a few of us got to have lunch ordered to the office. Since I don't eat pizza (the original choice), we went with Indian instead, and I finally got to try Sitar, whose buffet Melissa had raved about several weeks earlier. Considering the dearth of vegetables in my diet recently (and perhaps generally), I opted for the vegetable shahi kofta, a mix of vegetables and cheese in a mild cream sauce. My container arrived with a "korma" label, so I'm guessing the two dishes are synonymous. That, or my order was completely wrong -- yet still utterly delicious. As I've noted before, I tend to avoid carbs that aren't in dessert form. However, I was pretty ravenous by lunchtime, and the jasmine rice looked too good to dismiss. Ultimately, it was the best vehicle to soak up what was the most amazing cream sauce I've tasted in a very long time. There's just something about Indian sauces that make them indescribably scrumptious. Perhaps it's the perfect amount of butter or cream, or the subtle infusion of nut flavor, or the balance of spiciness with savoriness. Regardless of what it is, both my takeout containers might as well have been licked clean, because I was more than impressed with what Sitar had to offer.

IKEA - While I'm talking about ethnic food, I thought I'd throw a plug in for IKEA's Swedish meatballs. Considering that I hadn't been to IKEA in a decade, I had to make sure to pick up some of their Swedish meatballs before leaving the store this afternoon. And at 5 for $1, I really couldn't walk away. Thankfully, Karu was willing to indulge me (because once I have something on my mind, I really can't let it go), and partake of the experience as well. Despite the ubiquity of meatballs in other cultures, I personally believe the Swedes have cornered -- and mastered -- the market. I mean, these things were perfectly seasoned and moist, and yet somehow still made 10 times better than they already were by the luscious gravy lathered on top. I find IKEA items in general to be a bit hit-or-miss, but this sentiment certainly does NOT apply to their meatballs.

SWEETS:

Naked Chocolate Cafe - One of my first foodie stops in Philadelphia during my interview visit was at Naked Chocolate Cafe (which actually has several shops within city limits). And while I only purchased chocolates and truffles (which were happily and quickly consumed) at that time, I was mesmerized the other morning by all the gorgeous cupcakes being set out in the window for display. After getting my tetanus booster, I decided that I'd treat myself (and rightly so) to a cupcake for breakfast. I trekked all the way back and I was (again) mesmerized -- this time by the pure ginormousness of these cupcakes (about 1.5-2 times the size of typical cupcakes). After much pondering, I decided to try the marble (marble cake with marble frosting), which honestly had drawn me in because I thought it looked very smores-ish. Even though it wasn't smores-related after all, I found the cake to be pretty moist, though I wasn't as pleased with the frosting, which was more whipped than buttercream (at least from what I could tell). I guess my personal preference is for buttercream frosting, so whenever I get whipped frosting, I'm always disappointed to some degree. So fair warning to all cupcake purveyors out there!

Insomnia Cookies - Even though I've been working for six weeks, I haven't ventured too far from the immediate vicinity of my building. If anything, it's because we're so well-fed at the office that there simply isn't a need. Plus, I can't help it if Au Bon Pain (with its amazing selection of cookies and croissants) is no more than a few steps away from the door to our suite! (I swear I was cursed as soon as I found out it was there!) At any rate, I was absolutely touched when January and Jaime surprised me with my first trip ever to Insomnia Cookies. I could smell cookie heaven even before I walked in the door, and I was totally in awe when my Smores Deluxe cookie came out warm and gooey. I could've died right then and there, but I'm glad I didn't, because I wouldn't have had the joy of eating it on my walk back to my office. I don't think I even made it in the door without finishing the whole thing! Given such rave reviews, I had to bring Bryan and Peter down to try them, and I had to bring some back for Melissa and Joe as well. Honestly, these cookies come pretty darn close to the Doubletree Hotel cookies that I absolutely adore. And that's saying A LOT.

Sweet Ending - So I've passed by Sweet Ending several times over the last six weeks, but I've never felt the right pangs at the right time. Finally, on my way home from a movie the other night, I thought I'd stop by and sample a few flavors, just to satisfy my own curiosity. To be clear, I didn't think this version of the frozen yogurt shop would come close to Yogurtland -- and it didn't. However, the concept is the same (with many more flavors and toppings than Pinkberry or Red Mango), and the flavors are actually quite good. Unlike Yogurtland, however, Sweet Ending has fewer non-fruit flavors, and the consistency of the frozen yogurt seems to be a bit more icy and a bit less creamy. I suppose you could get over that though, especially if you've never had Yogurtland for comparison.

QUESTION MARKS:

There have been a few sweet spots that I've tried that I haven't been too impressed by. However, given that others have given them rave reviews, I'm open to giving them a second chance. For example, I found the cake in the vanilla pound cupcake (as well as the staff, quite honestly) at Brown Betty to be quite dry and unappealing. Perhaps I'm not a fan of pound cake, but I'm also a firm believer that any cake that goes into a cupcake should be nice and moist. I'm willing to take it as a batch issue though, especially since I've yet to try my favorite coconut and lemon flavors. Alli and Lee highly recommend the carrot cake and red velvet ones as well, and the "nudie" flavors sound quite interesting. I'm usually quite content to write things off, but I also value the opinions of my fellow cupcake connoisseurs! So, kudos to them for backing their favorites! :)