This past weekend I went on a short but adventurous 36 hour trip to Pennsylvania. I left Massachusetts with my friends at 2:30pm on Saturday and arrived in balmy Philadelphia about 7pm. As soon as the car door opened I could smell and feel the moisture in the air. It was refreshing because with the dry mountain air of the Berkshires I’ve been prone to nose bleeds, ok so that might be too much information for you all. We parked my car near the famous art museum steps, I turned around and saw this beautiful cathedral.
I later learned that one of my good friends grew up in that church, I was in awe of its beauty. That evening happened to be St. Patrick’s Day, while we had come into the city for a TV shoot the next day, one of the real reasons was so my friend could see her family. She grew up in Philadelphia, one of nine kids, in an Irish family. I was sure we were in for wild times. We, actually, only went to two pubs in town, Fergie’s and Moriarty’s. It was a blast though, drinking Guinness, hanging with her family and listening to bag pipes. We got back to her brother’s house about midnight and had a good old-fashioned sleep over. Four people slept on the floor and two couches. I was lucky enough to get the couch otherwise I would have been a grumpy man the next day.
The shoot on Sunday went really well and we started our trip back at about 6pm, but we were starving! So we decided to stop in a quaint, cute town called New Hope, Pennsylvania and get some food. When I go on these trips I don’t eat very well, meaning hardly at all. So I was in desperate need of a nice meal. My friend had been to this beautiful restaurant called Karla’s before. Unbeknownst to us, it was restaurant week in the town. We were given a 4 course menu and it only cost $29 per person.
I chose the soup of the day, which was a seafood bisque, brie, pork chop and then I got a white chocolate mouse for dessert. The soup was creamy and had a great orange tint to it.
The brie was the most fascinating dish because it was not what I had excepted. It was brie that was baked but oozing out onto the plate. Hey, I don’t think you can ever go wrong with brie but I just didn’t expect it to be served that way. It had a lovely apricot glaze drizzled on the plate as well as toasted almonds. If should be noted that if I had the opportunity to eat brie every day, I would!
The pork chop was tasty but nothing spectacular but the chocolate mouse desert had a crunchy chocolate shell and then beautifully formed mouse below with a nut bottom (I’m sure there is a joke here).
The ambience was wonderful, restaurant doors were open to take in the fading sunlight of the day. Couples were walking hand in hand, kids were playing and it is only March! I hope to one day have an excuse to visit Karla’s again!
