Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The Gryphon at the flower show

Since The Gryphon didn't get to go to the flower show on Friday, we went on Saturday. The morning started bright and early with me dropping off our doggie, Una, at the pet sitter's, where she would be staying overnight.

And then we came back home, and The Gryphon made breakfast of pancakes for everybody. We helped Mom pack up the car and get on the road, sticking around a little while to be sure she didn't get lost finding her way back to the turnpike.

We missed the regional rail that came through in the 11 a.m. hour, so we had lunch at a nearby coffee shop and caught the next train into Center City.

Though we were afraid it would actually be busier, I think Friday was worse. Maybe it was just the fact that we arrived later, but we didn't have to wait to get in, like I did with Mom on Friday.

Now, I knew that I had missed a few exhibits the day before, so The Gryphon and I walked through systematically, starting in the larger exhibits and working our way to the competitive categories.

Actually, except for some smaller displays, such as one near the stage, I found out I hadn't missed one. I'd missed that on Friday, because they had a lot of performances by Irish dancers and musicians, so the area was always packed.

In addition to the floral exhibits, we checked out a culinary demonstration. This one was by the head chef at the Bistro Romano in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. He did an interesting presentation. In this case, the chef just cooked and another person from the restaurant, perhaps an owner, gave a play-by-play. They also worked with the moderator for the culinary programming, who acted as a color commentator, giving additional information about ingredients.

They did a really nice presentation, making an appetizer, Portobello Romano, and a steak entree. In contrast to the demonstration the day before, the recipes seemed like something that people could actually make. Not only that, but they'd put the recipe for the portobello dish on everyone's chair when they came in, along with a business card for the restaurant.

We made our way back to the flower exhibits to see what we'd missed. While looking at the competitive displays, we critiqued them ourselves and talked about whether we agreed with the judges' comments. I found a new favorite flower, anthurium, which is a very waxy looking, tropical flower that actually looks like plastic. I think it's sort of mod. I joked I was going to make a paper dress with real anthurium blooms on it as a pattern.

By now, since we'd eaten lunch early, I was getting hungry, to the point of getting a little dizzy. We looked at the food available from the concession stands and selected a soft pretzel. Later, when I looked it up, I discovered it was a good choice, except for the salt. It's fairly low in fat and calories.

Here are some of my best pics from the day.

When we'd pretty much seen everything we wanted to see, we talked about where to eat dinner. The Gryphon had a couple ideas but didn't know exactly the name of the places, so we went to the Kinko's in the Marriot Hotel lobby and bought Internet time to check out possibilities. I wrote them down in my notebook before we went looking for them.

The first place was a Belgian place that was just a few blocks away, but it was really packed, and the wait was an hour. After wondering around the environs for a short while, The Gryphon suggested we try a steak place he used to go to in Old City, so we took a cab to Third and Market.

As we were walking up to it, I recognized the place he was talking about. While I was working there at the Museum about five years previously, this place had gone through several owners and multiple renovations. The latest incarnation, as evidenced from the menu posted out front, was geared towards tourists. The menu consisted of burgers and fries and chicken fingers.

We walked up Market to see what new restaurants had come in since we'd last been there. We checked out Tangerine, but it was a little pricier than we wanted for that evening, so we walked a couple doors down and tried Amici Noi, an Italian restaurant and bar.

They sat us at a little table with bench seating around a corner, which was nice because we could sit close to each other. The restaurant is fairly small, but has the appearance of roominess, with dark chocolate brown high-backed seating contrasting against a fall palette of deep reds and oranges.

The Gryphon ordered us a bottle of white wine, and we shared a bowl of black bean soup as an appetizer, along with some of their delicious homemade bread with olive oil.

For entrees, I ordered the monkfish special and The Gryphon ordered a shellfish risotto. We were really pleased with our meals, and had a good time, talking, eating and enjoying the wine.

The chef came out and asked us how we liked everything, and we said we liked it. I told him it was my first time eating monkfish, and he said it was his first time serving it. He had a pronounced Italian accent and was in his late 50s. I thought it was really nice that he came out to greet us. The last time we had something like that happen was in the Japanese restaurant where we always used to get sushi until they changed their menu.

We also ordered a dessert, splitting a slice of chocolate cake. So it was a bit of a splurge, but it was worth it. Great food, pleasant atmosphere. We should bring my mom there, because we could enjoy ourselves and actually hear each other talk. When we left, the chef came out to thank us for coming, and we told him we'd be back.

For a reasonably priced restaurant, the food is excellent and the atmosphere relaxing. It's a great place to try if you're in Old City.

We caught a cab to try to make it to the Market East Station to catch the train home but just missed it, so we browsed the FYE on Broad Street instead. I bought Sixty-Six Steps by Leo Kottke and Michael Gordon, which I'd found out about at the Internet radio station I listen to, the Rock Garden.

The Gryphon got two used Lilith Fair CDs which have a lot of great artists on them. We listened to them when we got home.

On the way back, we ran into all sorts of revelers who were celebrating St. Patrick's Day early, dressed in green and wearing green Mardi Gras beads and pins and such. We talked for a little bit to a woman in a green pope hat, who explained that they were celebrating early because of the flower show's Irish theme this year.

We made it back to the train station in plenty of time for our train, riding it with many bar-hopping 20-somethings in green T-shirts. We had fun listening to them talking about their exploits. Who would have thought the flower show could inspire such bacchanalian celebrations?

More from the Philadelphia Flower Show 2007:

March 12, 2007 - Legends in the Making

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

March 2007 Index

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