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inseason By Adam Erace
KALE Each month, Adam Erace picks a crop that’s in season locally rightthisveryminute and asks some of the city’s best chefs how they’re preparing it.
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Gnashing through kale is really satisfying. ³ IS THIS WHAT early pioneers felt like? Gastronomically fatigued from root crops and cellared onions? We’re nearly out of the winter woods, but before ramp hysteria ensues, heralding spring with its burst of green garlicky goodness, there’s a sturdier leaf that deserves our attention until chefs squire it away for another year: kale. “Kale grows really well in this region,” says Kennett’s Brian Ricci, who sources the firm, stippled black-green Tuscan or Lacinato varieties from farms like Taproot and Culton, as well as grows his own in his backyard and community-garden plot. “It is hardy. I’ve got a couple rows that wintered over and have begun producing more leaves already!” Ricci can be credited with kicking off Philly’s rawkale-salad craze, a dish that’s been on his menu since the restaurant opened in 2010. “It stands up well to dressing five minutes before serving, unlike most greens, which tend to wilt quickly after being dressed,” he says. “The slight crunch I get when gnashing through kale is really satisfying.” At Talula’s Garden, Sean McPaul uses three varieties of mineral-and-antioxidant-rich kale: “Tuscan, which is my favorite; green kale, which has curly leaves; and last, we have kale sprouts, which are actually a cross between kale and Brussels sprouts,” which share brassica-family DNA with kale, broccoli and cauliflower. “I probably eat more of this family of food than any other over the course of the year.” McPaul stews the versatile greens as an accompaniment to Fontina and pistachios; blanches then buzzes them with mint, chervil, garlic and anchovy into a sauce vert for swordfish; and dehydrates them into a powder that’s added to cavatelli dough. Kate Hartman, soup mistress of farmers-market fixture Good Spoon, uses kale in three hearty soups: veggie white bean and kale, chorizo and farro with kale, and chickpea and lentil with kale and potatoes. “I actually think any hearty green is great for adding flavor and texture (and vitamins!) to soup, but kale is by far my favorite,” she says. Like the aforementioned chefs, Hartman is a big proponent of kale. “We eat some version of a kale salad about four nights a week at my house.” Which begs the question: What time is dinner? (adam.erace@citypaper.net)
MIAN MAN: Hand-pulled noodles from boil to bowl at Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House. NEAL SANTOS
[ tourist menu ]
NOODLING AROUND Slap, stretch, repeat: looking for la mian in Chinatown. By Caroline Russock
D
uring the past year or so, ramen has experienced quite the renaissance in our fair city with shops and pop-ups featuring shio and tonkotsu broth filled with noodles, slices of rosy fish cake and fatty slabs of pork belly springing to life virtually everywhere. But there’s another noodle happing in Philadelphia, not quite as sleek as the ones at these newly minted ramenyas (noodle shops), but one that’s worth investigating, because after all, ramen is made with traditional Chinese-style noodles. Originating in Lanzhou, a northwestern Chinese province, the process of making la mian, More on: or hand-drawn noodles is one that’s eye-catching to say the least. La mian makers begin with a wheat flour dough that’s kneaded, stretched, slapped, twisted, folded and stretched again until threads of long, ropey noodles emerge. It’s loud, labor intensive and visually arresting and there are a few spots in Chinatown where you can witness the magic firsthand, watching seasoned la mian pros transform a simple mix of flour and water into noodles through a process that’s, well, according to the Yummy Lan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House (131 N. 10th St.) menu, equal parts art and kung fu. A relative newcomer on the hand-drawn scene, Yummy Lan Zhou’s serves thin, hand-drawn noodles or raggedy-rustic shaved
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noodles stir-fried or in soup along with a selection of appetizers that range from the familiar (think crab cheese rangoon, and steamed dumplings) to the more out-there (a cold platter of tangy, oceanic marinated sea vegetables, cucumbers and sesame). The House Special Noodle soup is a bowl of al dente noodles (for lack of proper Chinese terminology for a noodle with stand-up bite) along with three kinds of beef (including tendon and fatty brisket) in an anise-y, cinnamon-y broth that takes you right to the pho parlors of Washington Avenue. The soup gets a bit of green from spinach and cilantro and pickled mustard greens; chile oil, white pepper, sriracha, soy and vinegar sit on the table to add heat and acid. But the real winner at Yummy is the shaved noodles with pork sauce. The chewy, glisteningly lacey and clearly hand-shaved noodles are served over a bed of crisp iceberg and sauced with something best described as Chinese Bolognese — meaty with a hint of sweetness that’s set off by a drizzle of roasted chile oil. MORE FOOD AND Just around the corner is Nan Zhou DRINK COVERAGE Hand Drawn Noodle House (1022 Race AT C I T Y P A P E R . N E T / St.), another hand-drawn haunt. The menu M E A LT I C K E T. here is fairly similar, tacking on a lofty history of Nan Zhou noodles: “The Sun and Moon Inn, which was established in the early years of the Ching Dynasty, served only officials, gentry and wealthy merchants.” Apart from a history lesson, Nan Zhou’s menu also boasts cool noodles that aren’t really cool at all. They’re thin, hand-pulled noodles plucked warm from a boiling water bath served with a small bowl of shredded chicken and julienned carrots and celery dressed with a salty-savory peanut sauce. (caroline@citypaper.net)