Foodsday Tuesday: Phillyist Does Restaurant Week

Today marks the third day of Restaurant Week, and last night, three Phillyists headed over to Astral Plane for dinner. None of us had been there before, despite innumerable recommendations from assorted friends, but we fell in love with the place the moment we sat down. The food would have had to be terrible for us to change our minds. (Fortunately, it wasn't. More of that after the following digression...)

A friend had mentioned earlier in the day, upon hearing of the Phillyists' restaurant plans, that Astral Plane was a great first date place: never mind that it would be a group of girls eating out. But we could see why: Astral Plane is just bright enough for you to see the food on your plate. Everyone looks good in that light. We speculated that several second dates went poorly for men whose nose hair or women whose crows' feet were unapparent during date one at Astral Plane. The mismatched—everything, really: chairs, silverware, plates, artwork—somehow just works. Maybe it's another reason that first dates there are so successful: there's so much to look at in the room that you never truly focus on your date. Or maybe that's the cynicism and the food coma talking.

And what a food coma! This is being written two hours after the conclusion of the meal, and we won't be sleeping for some time. That food needs to settle. Between the three of us, there was: a spinach salad, a Caesar salad, tuna sashimi, a steak, a stuffed chicken breast, a crab cake, rice pudding, carrot cake, and key lime pie. I can only attest to every third item on that list, but the other Phillyists' meals certainly looked delicious. The sashimi was served in thick slices, crusted with peppercorns and accompanied by generous helpings of wasabi, pickled ginger, and soy sauce. It was the best I'd ever had, which is kind of surprising, given the number of sushi joints in town. The crab cake was huge, but still light enough that I managed to eat the whole thing. I would personally have preferred the rice it was served on to be a bit more flavorful, but once the crab cake started to flake, it, the flavored mayonnaise-based sauce on it, and the rice, all combined together quite nicely, even if it was a little hard to get on my fork toward the end. The key lime pie, though not the best I've ever had, was still right up there, aided immensely by the delicious graham cracker crust, and by the fact that it was served without any whipped cream on top. (I like to taste my food, not cover it up.) All of this was accompanied by Astral Plane's Restaurant Week special bottle of sauvignon blanc. Do not be fooled by the screw cap: it was a fine bottle of wine.

And speaking of the wine, I'd like to give props to our waiter, whose service was excellent throughout the meal, but who especially impressed me when the bottle came out (admittedly after our appetizers hit the table). He asked who would like to try the wine, then looked at me, as I had ordered it. Poured me a taste, waited while I sampled, and then began to pour with the person farthest to my left (in this case, directly across the table from me), and continued moving left around the table before returning to me. This is the way wine is supposed to be served, but it's not something you see every day. It just added to the atmosphere.

When we left Astral Plane last night, we were the last people in the restaurant, but the staff didn't seem in much of a hurry to send us on our merry ways. The check was delivered with a very sincere-sounding: "Take your time with this," and when we left, their "come see us again" was completely believable. I know I'm going back.

Image, quite possibly of the table we sat at, via Astral Plane.