R2L

A surprisingly sophisticated newcomer to the Philadelphia restaurant scene, R2L may be getting overlooked in its hidden perch above the city. Maybe it was a Monday night, maybe it was the negative side to the LaBan Inquirer review, but R2L deserves more of a crowd than it's getting. It raises the bar in Philadelphia and most importantly of course, it made my birthday just a little bit better.

Located on the 32nd floor of Two Liberty, R2L offers no guarantees in getting one of the leopard print banquettes that face out on the cityscape. Here was my view. (If you look carefully, you can see me, my father and stepmother).
Later, there were fireworks over the zoo that seemed magically arranged.

Speaking of extraordinary, our server was both professional and personable, setting the tone for feeling like we were getting VIP treatment. The food followed suit. I was foregoing the lobster as an entree, so I indulged with the lobster roll appetizer. A buttery fresh roll cradled lump lobster meat lightly dressed in a lavender-infused dressing. I confess I didn't detect the lavender, nor did I miss it, I was too busy scooping up lobster. The fish and chips hit the right note of moist crisp fish and fries. On our server's recommendation, we ordered the grilled truffle flatbread, with parmesan and arugula over a thin crusted bread. Glad we took his advice, the dish was lusciously balanced between ingredients.

Without fail, I like appetizers more than entrees. While I appreciate the effort of R2L into my striped bass dish, the separate portions of scallop, bacon, and bass were not unified, but instead offered three standalone tastes on the plate. The scallops were amazing, but the other tastes were a bit dry and further inconsistent with the citrus salad in the middle of the three. My father's veal signature dish featured three small dishes again, this time more melded -- tenderloin, brisket and meatloaf. Forming a loose stew, it rated highly in terms of done-ness and flavor. The shitake mushroom fries, while interested (pureed mushrooms deep fried into fry shapes), were almost too rich to eat.

Because I view desserts as almost effortlessly good, I rarely judge a restaurant more favorably based on its desserts. After all, how hard is it to make sugar, flour, and fat taste good? Yet R2L surprised me with its donut ice cream. Apparently, dozens of glazed donuts are sacrificed for this concoction; more importantly, you can taste every one of them, blended to perfection into a rich ice cream. This is one that I will crave in the future. Also worth mentioning is the warm vanilla cake, a vanilla version of the popular molten chocolate. Very good, but don't miss the donut ice cream. Topping it off were fun complementary root beer macaroons and decadent bergamot truffles.

Ushered back down into the exclusive elevator and bid goodbye by the friendly hostess on the ground floor, I began thinking of future special occasions or even my next available happy hour that would allow a return trip. While I love how down to earth the Philadelphia restaurant scene can be, I hope more restaurants follow R2L's lead take on fine dining.

R2L is located in Two Liberty, 37th floor, with an entrance on 50 S. 16th Street. http://www.r2lrestaurant.com/

Signature Potato Salad

Nothing signals summer like potato salad. A staple for barbecues, summer holidays and family outings, it's the perfect comfort food tempered by its coolness. After tasting my mother's potato salad over July 4 weekend, I became determined to make my own potato salad - my signature version, so to speak.

As it turns out, potato salad is much harder than it looks. Trying to make it your own? Well, there may be more peeling potatoes in my future. I started with the ingredients featured to the left, as well as Martha Stewart and Julia Child ideas floating around my head. I also opted against the vinegar or "German" styles. While I love them, there is something to be said for the cold and creamy taste of classic potato salad.

I used about two pounds of red potatoes, hoping they would stand up to the challenge of being firm (they did). I peeled and covered them with water and set them on the stove to boil, despite Julia Child's instruction to go for simmering. I can't pay attention to the boil/simmer dichotomy, Julia, I'm way too busy with prep.

The majority of my prep was spent on mayo. While I adore my mother's version because it reminds me of her and my family, I am strangely averse to mayonnaise (or miracle whip or anything else like that). However, I've had great homemade mayo at fancy restaurants and loved it, so I thought that might be part of this salad. After looking at several recipes, it appeared Martha's was the easiest, so I went with that. It calls for two eggs, a dash of dry mustard, 1 cup each of light olive and a vegetable oil, 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/4 tsp kosher salt. Mixing all of the ingredients together except for the oil, you then add the oil slowly while blending (or whisking, as I did, with an electric whisker). I recommend going light on the salt, or adding it at the end to taste. I also used slightly less oil as I wanted a thicker consistency. I ended up putting in about a teaspoon of sugar to take off the salt edge, but this may have been a misstep. All in all, not bad, not wonderful for my mayo-hating palate. Another key is light olive oil -- I used the good stuff and it overpowers the flavor.

All this whisking made me lose track of the potatoes, which were over-boiling (told 'ya I had no time to monitor). I turned them down and let them go until the fork test said "done, but not crumbly." I drained them, but let them sit about 5 minutes before I remembered my mother's trick of running cold water over them to get them to stop cooking. It works!

And now we come to both the easiest and hardest part: seasoning. I ended up going with chopped mild yellow onion (about 1/4 -1/2 cup), bacon bits (the kind on the jar is better for you, but TRB wisely noted that the freshly made ones may have had more flavor) and chopped chives to taste, with a little light sour cream to even out the mayo tang.

The result? I need to work on the spicing, to bring this up from good potato salad to great, and make the mayo in advance so I'm concentrating on the potatoes and bringing everything together. I'm also thinking of using real bacon freshly cooked and browned onion bits versus raw. Any other advice is always welcome, as I'm hoping to perfect the recipe.
Perfection aside, I'd like to think it still fits well into this tailgating meal. Beer, a Phillies win, and fireworks are all good accompaniments, I might add.