We're so Metro

Just when you thought our panini couldn't get any better, we introduce to you... new bread! That's right, folks, we have switched bread companies and are now in cahoots with Metropolitan Bakery. As of this week, we've begun stacking our prime panini ingredients on their lovely foccacia, ciabatta, baguette, country white, and whole grain bread. They. Are. Amazing. Don't believe me? Come on down and try one for yourself. Enjoy one of our many Grab and Go sandwiches as well (a great idea for those on the go, especially if you're coming in for a morning cup of coffee). I just had the pleasure of gobbling up one of our Smoked Turkey panini, which for those who don't know, is a masterful combination of turkey, local thick-cut bacon, provolone cheese, onion, and Russian dressing, on Metropolitan's rosemary foccacia. HOMAGAWD good. Make it a combo by adding a hearty cup of peasant-style soup on the side.

QUINCE!

Fruit of the GODS (well, fruit of the Ancient Romans... which
basically means of the gods...).

The quince is actually pretty rad. It has a taste that I simply can't get enough of, that is most easily described as a cross between apple and pear. Most quince consumption is of the cooked fruit, as the raw one is quite astringent and tart. These fruits look quite similar to a pear but they're a bit lumpier and green, changing to a bright yellow as they approach maturity.

Cool facts? Tons!

1. Quince is native to warmer regions of Asia and it grows on a deciduous tree.
2. Quince is the sole member of the genus Cydonia. The ONLY one! How cool is that?!?
3. Both the ripened fruit and its flower smell crazy good, and can be used in perfume, honey, jams, preserves, etc...
4. Turkey ranks first in quince production at a quarter (despite the roots in Asia). Go turkey go! Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are big quince growers as well.
5. Quince was considered to be a symbol of love in years past. We're working on bringing it back. You should too. Give a quince to your better half - or your intended better half -  as a symbol of commitment. If they don't quite understand your wildly generous gesture, just direct them to this post.
6. The word "marmalade" originally came from quince jam, derived from the Portuguese word for quince, "marmelo". Yum.

Quince is typically available in our neck of the woods from October through December, so you've got a month or so left to get your rump in here and enjoy it! I am more than happy to provide flavor pairing suggestions, but you can trust that quince is delicious on it's own. For the palate that desires more than one flavor, I suggest trying quince with cinnamon gelato, cranberry apple sorbetto, fior di latte, or perhaps macadamia. Let's eat!

I'm thankful for these guys

...because whenever I'm having a bad day, these two are always there to make some juvenile and usually inappropriate joke to brighten me up. Their whimsical attitudes remind me to take things with a grain of salt and to never let the small stuff get me down. Thank you, Zach and Kami, for never being serious for more than five minutes at a time. You make me realize that maturity is underrated, and that I'm really glad to be almost 30.

Love you two!

Soggy Yet Delightful

Rainy days are the BEST at 13th street. Find solid reasons below.

A cozy perch by the window combined with a bowl of piping hot oatmeal or soup is the perfect remedy for chilly fingers and toes.  You know the contented feeling you have when you've finally warmed up from being caught in the wintry elements? At 13th, it's even more heavenly.

Gelato tastes good no matter what the weather is like outside. Especially if you consider an affogato, or a gelato con brioche, my new favorite thing in the whole wide world. A toasted brioche is the most simple, yet delicious, thing I've re-discovered in years. I have to restrain myself from eating them on the daily!

As many of you know, people-watching is already stellar at the corner of 13th and Sansom, but the next to the most sweltering days of summer, I say rainy days bring out the best parade of characters. Rain 'gear' is clearly a personal thing, and some folks have fun with it, while others just make do with what they have - or don't have. Big tall manly men with flimsy pink umbrellas, petite women with giant black business-y ones that take up the entire sidewalk, kids with animal ears/beaks/stuff popping out of very bright umbrellas... The funny clear ones that come half way down your torso... inside-out umbrellas caught by the gusts down Sansom, or useless ones dashed to the ground after the carriers have been caught in a splash from the fateful puddle on the corner.

Lastly, the rain doesn't stop most dogs from needing to go out at some point during the day. Like Jay said last week, we LOVE dogs! Totally dry, a wee bit damp, or completely soggy, those pups' wagging tails brighten anyone's day.  

*Note

You may feel as though we use a great deal of silly animal images. We think it's a fairly normal level, in fact, we encourage you to enjoy them as much as we do. Animals are goofy. And goofy things make us smile. And smiling is contagious!

It's a gorgeous Friday. Let's look at pictures of dogs!

Is this anything but a shameless excuse to post a buncha pictures of my favorite dogs? WHO CARES? Off we go...

ROSIE!

My dog. Best dog ever. (Not open to debate.) Yes, she's since passed, but let's not dwell on that. Half pit bull, half lab, all love sponge. Seriously lazy whenever she could make time for it. Loved watching (read: napping in front of) football on Sundays. Fan of beer and spicy food. SO good with the nieces and nephews. Excellent co-pilot with whom to drive across the country. Had more than one girlfriend squeal, "She's so cute I'm gonna steal her!" One broke up with me pretty much immediately after I stated my confidence that Rosie would be with me a lot longer than she was. I was right, of course. I miss my dog.

WILSON!

Rosie's brother. All the same kinds of awesome. (Remember me posting some unspeakably bad poetry about dogs a few months ago? It was about these two.) Wilson was, it's gotta be said, agreeably dumb. But look how distinguished he looks with a gray beard! Like a substantially more cheerful Sean Connery.

ANGUS!

Rosie and Wilson's step-brother. Also known by a variety of other, less family friendly names. Probably the brains of the outfit when the three of them got together. To be honest, adopting dogs from the same litter with your best friends makes for many cheerful, beery, summer back yard evenings.

RUBY!

Rosie's step-sister. Have to admit, when you've got yourself, your dog, your sister, your sister's dog, your niece, your sister's best friend, and your sister's best friend's dog who also happens to be your sister's dog's brother, you've got a pretty happy household. The back yard helped. Now Ruby lives with my sister, my niece, my other sister, my nephew, my other niece, my brother-in-law, two other dogs, at least one turtle, as many koi as the local herons have left, and for quite a while a hedgehog...that's just a menagerie. Awesome familial chaos. Ruby, Aussie Shepherd that she is, herds them all.

LAYLA! And a beer good enough to drive to Delaware for.

Best boxer ever. Not spastic! If you've never seen an un-cropped tail nub twitching while you're scratching a fuzzy butt...man. It'll put a little joy in your world. Seriously, I love a spasming tail nub almost as much as I love a destructively and enthusiastically swinging tail. (Beer+coffee table+tail=inevitable alcohol abuse.)

VINNY!

Vinny's the thespian of the bunch. Also goes by a variety of lewd nicknames. You've actually seen him in a dog food commercial, though his home movies--which are a little mature for a family-friendly blog--are way cooler. He's part of my Los Angeles crew. Mellowing like a fine wine, Vinny is. Little astringent at first, if you see what I'm getting at. Much better sofa dog than some others on this list.

TORO!

Sarah's boy. Official CapoMascot. Loves to shove his face into a big bowl of Fior. (Have you given your dog gelato today?) Loves his housemate Albert more than he's willing to admit, because Albert happens to be a cat. Sharing a sofa with Toro is challenging, but at least he feels guilty about shoving you off.

DOGS! Dogs.

Sir Gordon doth approach

As you, dear fans and readers, know, Gordon Ramsay flew into our
quaint South Philly neighborhood this past week on a, you guessed it, helicopter made entirely of knives! The town was in a tizzy; it was an awesome sight for sure. We managed to keep his crew and Don Gordon himself fueled for with our swift baristi special skills. ( I won bragging rights to having made Ramsay a latte and scooping him a fine cup of Pistacchio Sicciliano and Bacio [he found both to taste delicious]*) I only wish he could have stuck around a lil longer.. CapoYunk just got in veggie-friendly spicy pumpkin soup and a yellow lentil soup that I have teared up while tasting. To see a hardened chef with world renown weep over lentil soup would have been quite the sight, more incredible than a helicopter made entirely of knives.

xoJessica

*My face for the rest of the week

Missed Connections: You are a strange fruit, Cherimoya (Rittenhouse)

You came into the store the other day. I called you Artopple, because you looked like the lovechild of an artichoke and an apple. You were a weirdo. I've come to find out that you are from the Andes, which makes you oh so much more exotic and appealing. They say that you grow on a shrub, which I think is adorable. Inside I hear you are like a sweet appley sherbet. Mark Twain called you "the most delicious fruit known to men."

I want to eat you with a spoon.

I was standing behind the bar wearing a grey beanie with a slightly demented and lustful look in my eye. Let's get together sometime, I'd love to get to know you better.

YUM.

Hokey Smokes YUM!!

As most, if not all, of my comrades have touched upon here, business in Capo-land has been just grand as of late. What better way than to celebrate than by rekindling some flames (Steph's crazy good brownies) and introducing some brand new ones (new soup!) while you're at it?

Our suggestion for this week?

Start by sitting down, relaxing your shoulders, and warming up with a bowl of pumpkin soup. It is absolutely DELICIOUS!!! (I just had a bowl). Sip on the beverage of your choice and read something fairly educational or or fairly useless, your call. Give yourself a few minutes to let the soup settle in and then dig into a warmed peanut butter brownie (a la gelato if you so choose). Heavenly. This is a meal for champions! After this, we imagine you'll be ready to tackle just about anything... perhaps the rest of your work day, perhaps your bed. Either way, we've got your back!

Totes jelly, brah. Totes jelly.

So Becca went to see Andrew Bird a couple weeks ago. Not once, but TWICE. And she didn't take me, I guess because her boyfriend wanted to go or something. Which, I mean, sure. Whatever. I'll stay here and work while you get to watch THIS happen:



It's looking like a great weekend. And we have cherimoya! Another one of those genuinely exotic fruits that Dan and Sarah get giddy over. And delicious soup! On one of these perfectly blustery fall weekends, where the temperatures have finally, truly, thankfully dropped and the leaves are blowing in gyres of fire and rustle, soup and a strong beer sounds pretty much perfect.

A brief reflection on the times in which we live:



which is really, really funny in a totally 2011 (for only a little longer! WHAT THE...) meta-sorta-way and has its basis in the awesomely funny Hyperbole and a Half, which is pretty much the best thing on the interwebs. Though the post about her dog getting lost (but coming back home!) can be a little tear-jerking for the fans-of-four-feet among us. So. We'll see you this weekend, yeah? Don't forget your hat!

Right, Simple, Rustic...Yeah?

Chef Ramsay in is our hood filming! Oh please come in for a gelato!