Notes from the Weekend: December 30

Notes from the Weekend is a feature that sees the members of Team Meal Ticket compiling all the food/drink highlights uncovered during prime eatin' time, Friday to Sunday. We'd love to hear all about YOUR weekend eating adventures in the comments. Go for it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)

Adam Erace: AE

Caroline Russock: CR

On Friday night I decided to forgo my usual Thai delivery from Circles and tackle Andy Ricker's pad thai from Pok Pok. I stocked up at the Big 8 supermarket at 16th and Washington and headed home. The verdict? Ricker's pad Thai is super simple to make, seriously, it takes more time to soak the noodles than put together the dish. The secret ingredient is finely chopped reserved radish. Awesome awesome.—CR

C is a teacher, so all week has been like an extended vacation of sorts for us, and the days have blurred a bit. Following Christmas, we spent more time in malls and stores than before Christmas, handling returns and exchanges from the sorry saps that deviated from our holiday gift lists. Shopping this way, I'm learning, requires reservoirs of energy, and the following spots we visited were happy to accommodate.—AE

On Saturday I headed out to the Northeast to do some deli research for an upcoming project. Unfortunately the stars were not aligned and a flat tire and bizarre opening hours kept me away from a bunch of the spots on my list. I did end up getting a pretty spot on reuben at the Casino Deli, home to the most amazing AC and Vegas-themed mural I've ever seen in my life.—CR

We got breakfast on Saturday at Rosa Blanca, the renovation of which is so, so awesome. Servers wear carnation-pink aprons and tuxedoes, cooks in the open kitchen up front press Cuban sandwiches. The flaky guava pastellitos were filled with more air than fruit, but the grits were top-shelf. Later, lunched at dignified Nordstrom Cafe at the Cherry Hill Mall, home to a simple, conscientiously sourced and absolutely delicious pear salad stuffed with huge hunks of gorgonzola. I go out of my way to eat there whenever I find myself at Cherry Hill.—AE

Talk about boring. I made some pretty good tuna melts on Sunday. That's it.—CR

Sunday, ate grits again at Tela's in Fairmount, another great-looking space. Nice Four Barrel coffee and house-baked brioche, too. Had lunch later on at Kermit's, a slice of General Tso pizza (not nearly as strange as it sounds), a slammin' butternut squash bisque and all sorts of sweet things. Ended the binge at Santucci's. Not our Santucci's, but the one way up in the Northeast near Franklin Mills, where the service was sweet but the pizza and stromboli not nearly as good.—AE