A tasty couple of hours in Philly

There is nothing sadder for a foodie such as myself to be spending the summer in a new city, chock full of tantalizing restaurants, lounges, and farmers markets, and not being able to indulge my senses because of work commitments. When I began to cringe as I hurridly walked past restaurants advertising happy hour specials, that I knew something had to be done. Luckily, a friend of mine is virtually telepathic and invited me out for a night on the town. First stop, Positano Coast for happy hour. What a beautiful spot! With an organic blood orange cocktail complimented with springs of muddled rosemary, I took in my surroundings. The restaurant was situated on the 2nd floor and I almost felt like I was on the deck of a ship. If it hadn't just rained, my friend informed me that the glass panels would have been thrust open and the entire place bathed in sunlight, with a warm cross breeze. Mmm, I almost forgot I where I was. We took advantage of the happy hour deals and sampled a vegetable slider (yes, just one!) and a trio of spinach and goat cheese bruschetta. Both met with our approval, but we didn't want to ruin our appetite, so we stopped there. 

The sun popped out, so we took the opportunity to stroll the 8 or so blocks to Kanella, a Greek Cypriot restaurant. My friend is a big fan of my blog, and wanted me to check out her favorite spot, taking this time to warn me that the chef was a perfectionist of sorts (aren't the best ones?) and that he didn't want anyone to take pictures of his food. (what?!?) However after she explained that he thought that most people's photos didn't do the food justice, I understood. Although I still snuck a photo or two in, to respect his wishes, I am only posting the best one. 

Chef Konstantinos Pitsillides from Cyprus

While the interior of the restaurant is inviting with its simple whitewashed walls, with hints of brick and blues, we chose to eat outside along the sidewalk. The restaurant is a BYOB and took the time to chill our wine, and serve us (a surprise from BYOB's that I have visited before, and a nice treat!) We decided to try 2 appetizers and split an entree. First came a cutting board with slices of whole grain bread and a tahini sauce to dip them in. Could be the first time that I have see tahini outside of it's typical partner and my mother's favorite, falafel. Then the food appeared. First up: Mediterranean Red Mullet, pan fried with Cretan rusk salad. We were struck by the appearance of the mini fish filets, sparkling hues of silver and red, delicately placed next to a stacked salad. Sadly we were not won over by the taste, finding it rather bland. This improved however when we added the thin lemon wedges to each bite, maybe we were supposed to do that from the beginning? Next appetizer was Bureki: fillo pastry parcel stuffed with feta and thyme, drizzled with thyme honey, served with roast beets. I am not sure that words will describe how much I loved this dish. Warm feta, flaky fillo, and a bite of herbed beet= small mouthful of bliss. 
Especially charming was the use of a wooden honey dipper to adorn the fillo!

 At this point, we were praising ourselves on how smart we had been to share an entree, because we were getting quite full. Our chosen entree was Pouleriko: Organic baby chicken flattened and cooked under a brick, served with a spinach, rice and raisin pilaf. Our server brought small glass bowls of lemon water for each of us, and perhaps in response to my quizzical look explained that the chicken had alot of bones and we were advised to use our fingers to get all of the meat off. We however, restrained ourselves from doing that. The chicken was so succulent though, it was tempting. And when we reached the sweet pilaf underneath, it was even more of a treat! In deciding what entree we were going to share, we had both intrigued by the special of the night, which was made of beef tongue. Both of us had tasted tongue before, but found that we disliked the texture. We do heartily approve however of the chef's interest in using secondary cuts of meat. Americans are partial to primary cuts of meat, and the remains tend to be wasted. I would like to give a thumbs up to the chef for his philosophy, and encourage all adventurous diners to try and support his efforts. I am quite sad to say that I couldn't make it to dessert. My tastebuds were certainly peaked by the offering of Pistachio and Olive Oil Cake with pistachio ice cream and preserved cherries. Next time! 

Websites: 
http://positanocoast.net/
http://kanellarestaurant.com/