In an earlier posting I lamented the fact that, so far, finding the perfect Ultimate Offal dish--tripe--has eluded me in Philadelphia.
That has now changed.
My dining companion and I dined this past weekend at the (relatively) new Abruzzese restaurant Le Virtù. Located on South Philadelphia's own "Restaurant Row," Passyunk Avenue, and steered by chief Luciana Spurio, Le Virtù has a number of unusual offerings that hail from Signora Spurio's former haunts on along her native Adriatic coast.
At the restaurant's Website , where you can click through to a nicely done (with music), full representative menu, I couldn't find the kind innards you and we crave. But there it was, in all its splendor, a perfect bowl of stewed tripe that stands out among the appetizers.
The quest is over. This is tripe like your Nonna made, if she happened to've learned how to do it from her own Nonna nella antica campagna. Tender little morsels swimming in the perfect red gravy--an appetizer but next time we're going to see if they'll upsize it to secondo piatto portion. Brava Luciana!
Surf over to their Website for directions, hours, and so on. They take plastic and have a wine list--a damn fine one at that.
Highly recommended. Now, who's going to pony up with the perfect andouillette, that other tripe of our dreams? And who the classic Normandy dish, tripes à la mode de Caen?
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Extreme Offal: When Oh When? Where Oh Where?
Those of you who've consumed andouillette, the tripe sausage thought to've originated in the village of Troyes in France's Champagne country, know it as the ultimate in eating-on-the-edge.
Maybe, like us, you're already addicted? But if so, where have you found it, anywhere west of Paris or south of Montreal? Do let your fellow bloggers know!
According to the Troyes village office of tourism--check it out here-- about 20 million andouillettes are made every year, representing the "offal of 15,000 pigs per day."
They also point out that "[a]longside the andouillette is the andouille, representing 250 tonnes each year," but let not any of our readers think for a moment that the "andouille sausage" available in this country is anything at all, whatsoever, like the véritable item itself.
Years ago, on request, we were able to cajole a few links of this wonderful sworl of rolled-up innards, mixed with a bit of onion and what-not, out of our man Sonny D'Angelo in the heart of the Philadelphia Italian Market. Those were splendiferous. But Sonny, who doesn't list this variety on his sausage list, rightly noted the market was not exactly exploding for these little bags-o'-guts. And we're sure the prep for all those intestines wasn't exactly fun, either.
Once, years ago, we tried to bring andouillette into Philadelphia through the old International Terminal at PHL. Hard to remember exactly what happened--were there already the drug-sniffer dogs there back then, 15-20 years ago, smelling guts in our suitcases? Or were we just too honest: "gee, officer, these cry-o-vac goodies we were told are just like canned goods"? (We were, over there; but they're not.)
We just remember the fervent cry of the customs officer to his colleague: "AGGGGG!!"
Has anyone in our readership got a hot wire into some good sources--for home-cooking or better yet, in local restaurants, for these plump little marvels? Anyone with a yen for that special whiff of intestinal fortitude that you get when you make that first juicy cut into a grilled specimen of one of these puppies?
Maybe, like us, you're already addicted? But if so, where have you found it, anywhere west of Paris or south of Montreal? Do let your fellow bloggers know!
According to the Troyes village office of tourism--check it out here-- about 20 million andouillettes are made every year, representing the "offal of 15,000 pigs per day."
They also point out that "[a]longside the andouillette is the andouille, representing 250 tonnes each year," but let not any of our readers think for a moment that the "andouille sausage" available in this country is anything at all, whatsoever, like the véritable item itself.
Years ago, on request, we were able to cajole a few links of this wonderful sworl of rolled-up innards, mixed with a bit of onion and what-not, out of our man Sonny D'Angelo in the heart of the Philadelphia Italian Market. Those were splendiferous. But Sonny, who doesn't list this variety on his sausage list, rightly noted the market was not exactly exploding for these little bags-o'-guts. And we're sure the prep for all those intestines wasn't exactly fun, either.
Once, years ago, we tried to bring andouillette into Philadelphia through the old International Terminal at PHL. Hard to remember exactly what happened--were there already the drug-sniffer dogs there back then, 15-20 years ago, smelling guts in our suitcases? Or were we just too honest: "gee, officer, these cry-o-vac goodies we were told are just like canned goods"? (We were, over there; but they're not.)
We just remember the fervent cry of the customs officer to his colleague: "AGGGGG!!"
Has anyone in our readership got a hot wire into some good sources--for home-cooking or better yet, in local restaurants, for these plump little marvels? Anyone with a yen for that special whiff of intestinal fortitude that you get when you make that first juicy cut into a grilled specimen of one of these puppies?
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