Philly Restaurant Week - BUDDAKAN - Thursday Night

I'm back. I see I have some followers now, too. Pressure's on. So here goes…

Back when I played baseball, the best games to play were the games where we were the away team and had to bat first, and we erupted for 10-12 runs in the first inning, making the rest of the game, from my perspective as a pitcher, a piece of cake. This blog will be starting the same way, as last night, I went out to dinner at Buddakan in Old City Philadelphia with a group of friends. I would equate this place to a 12-run first inning, because this is one of the nicest restaurants in Philly, and likely the nicest one I will ever write about.

If you're not familiar with Buddakan, I suggest you get familiar. Here is their website: http://buddakan.com/
It's definitely a birthday/ anniversary/ just-got-a-bonus type of joint, and I had been there once before, as Weiss Center's parents both have birthdays near mine, and so we had a big dinner there in February of 2009. Now anyone who knows me knows that I use a lot of superlatives. "Summer Catch is the best movie I've ever seen." "That Italian Place in Phoenixville is the best pizza I've ever had." "Joey Harrington is the best quarterback in the history of the NFL." I exaggerate. But I tell you, with no exaggeration, that the meal I had at Buddakan last year around my birthday is, to date, the best meal I've ever had in my life. So needless to say, I was anxious to get back.

The reason we went is because it's Restaurant Week in Philadelphia. Now there are a number of things I don't like about Philly. Namely, the Flyers, the Eagles, Flyers fans, Eagles fans, Flyers players, the Flyers logo, South Jersey, etc. But if you've never been to Philly, let me tell you, there are more good restaurants here than you would ever expect. I was shocked when I moved here. It's unreal. So basically, for restaurant week, X number of restaurants throughout the city have prix fixe menus at a decently affordable price. So yea, this was not a typical Thursday night for me.

Anyway, the place was busy, so reservations were not until 9:00 pm. At that hour, the place was still packed and bumpin. Every table was full, and so was the bar, but I managed to sneak in and order a Kirin Light. If you like light beer like I do, Kirin Light is a great choice when eating Asian food. All the rice and carbs in the food will expand and make you feel like you're pregnant by the time you're done eating, so something light and smooth like Kirin is the perfect compliment. However, when you drink seven of them like I did last night, the aforementioned point becomes moot. http://kirin.com/

Regardless, after about 35 minutes at the bar, we get seated at our table. It's kind of a dark restaurant, and it's very loud. Service was really good, though, and the whole table (7 people) got the prix fixe option. Total cost for it was $35 apiece. Throw in alcohol and a couple appetizers for the table, it was about $60-$65 per person. Pretty expensive, but at this restaurant, it was the equivalent of paying for a Ford and getting a Jaguar. It was too good to pass up.

The Restaurant Week menu consisted of a first course, second course, and dessert. My first course was the Crispy Shrimp and Scallop Spring Rolls. Really crispy egg roll shell, fresh, fat shrimp, and I couldn't really taste the scallops, but whatever, they must have complimented the shrimp nicely because overall the app got an "A" in my book. Buddakan serves family-style, so since three people got the same appetizer, they all came out on one huge plate, stacked together to a point like a couple teepees. Out of the three person serving, I probably ate about two people's servings worth of these things. Also had a nice syrupy dipping sauce, and another thicker, more mayonnaise-like sauce. Good start...

My second course was Sesame Crusted Tuna. I don't like canned tuna, like Starkist or anything, but this was the seared, rare variety, and it was also really good. Came garnished with some wasabi and Asian-slaw type salad. Sesame seeds coating the edges of the fish gave it a nice crispy finish, as well. I'm trying to sound like an intelligent restaurateur with this description, but basically, it was awesome, and I would have eaten the tuna fish in it's entirety like a real Kodiak bear: gills, eyes, everything, if it were sitting in front of me and even closely associated with this dish. I don't know if it was soy sauce or just runoff from the ginger and wasabi, but the overall flavor of the fish was incredible. An "A+" in my book.

Lastly, after I had finally thrown in the towel on the Kirin Lights, it was time for dessert, for which I picked the Crying Chocolate. This was basically a flourless chocolate lava cake. It was about the size of a hockey puck, and the chocolate inside was incredibly rich and melty. It came with a scoop of ice cream that tasted like coffee, and therefore did not fall victim to my appetite, but overall, like everything else about Buddakan, it did not disappoint. I think the whole table actually got this same dessert, but for the first time all night, multiple orders came out on separate plates, and aside from the ice cream, mine was wiped CLEAN. This dessert was a great way to finish up a great meal at a truly great restaurant. I wanted to rub the big bronze Buddha's belly on the way out as a display of gratitude. Instead I just grabbed a business card, braved the cold, walked past the hordes of people STILL waiting to get in at 11:00 pm (!) and started the countdown for when I might be able to go back. Good push Buddha. Good push.

All in all, I give the place a 9 out of 10, or let's call it Nine Bearclaws.

No big plans this weekend, so nothing quite this glamorous, exciting, or long on the horizon, but I'm sure I'll have something of interest to post.