Craig LaBan on Philly’s international produce, new-gen Cambodian restaurants, and more

Craig LaBan, The Inquirer’s food critic, does a lot of traveling to unearth some of the finest dishes and unknown restaurants across the globe. However, as a Philadelphia resident, he has access to international cuisine right at his fingertips.

LaBan’s newest venture in covering Philly’s dining scene is the Taste Philly newsletter, where readers are exclusively treated to profiles and reviews of local restaurants from different countries or regions once a week for six weeks.

On Thursday, LaBan logged into Reddit for an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) forum discussion on some of his biggest takeaways from reporting for the newsletter, from where to find the freshest produce to unsung local joints and a highlight of delightfully unique Turkish meze salads found in NoLibs. Below are some questions from Reddit users, followed by his answers, edited for length and clarity. — Henry Savage

What’s lesser known to you might be someone else’s soul food and family tradition. But that’s also sort of the point of this series — to dig a little deeper into some of the global communities that have made Philly their home and to learn more about their cultures by looking at one particular food, technique, or place. I’ve honed in on at least a couple of cuisines that have longstanding roots in Philly — Cambodian cuisine, for example — but that may be a little misunderstood by the city at large.

Cambodians have been migrating to this city since the 1980s, escaping a genocide, but due to a lack of resources, very few have had the money to open brick-and-mortar restaurants until recent years. That’s why the FDR Market has become such a great resource to taste those flavors in a public food space: freshly crushed sugar cane juice, pounded papaya salad full of salted crabs, fish sauce and spice, fried bananas, and grilled skewers of lemongrass-marinated beef and stuffed chicken wings are just the start of the wonders at that market, where you’ll also taste flavors of Lao, Vietnamese and Indonesian communities.

Places like Sophie’s Kitchen and Mawn represent that new generation of restaurateurs. But… I’d expect more Cambodian-inspired restaurants to pop up soon.

The only thing more exciting than shopping for Asian greens and noodles at one of the big Vietnamese markets on Washington Avenue (1st Oriental or Wing Phat Plaza) is heading up to the gigantic H-Mart at Front and Godfrey in North Philly, which has the broadest selection of kimchi and fresh fish anywhere, not to mention whole durians and a broad selection of mushrooms, and where you can also get great Korean BBQ for lunch next door at SO Korean Grill.

I love to shop for Indian ingredients at International Foods & Spices at 4203 Walnut St., which has an excellent selection of South Asian produce, rice, and spices. For foods from the ex-Soviet republics, it’s Bell’s Market or NetCost in Northeast Philly, where the produce is often pickled. There are good African markets at 51st and Walnut and on Woodland Avenue. I buy my Mexican essentials at El Paisano Supermarket #1 off East Passyunk.

I was just back at Pera last night in Northern Liberties, and the array of cold meze salads we ate reminded me why this Turkish kitchen is a step above so many others who have similar offerings.

Among our favorites is the Ezme, in which tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, and walnuts are blended with pomegranate juice — but by hand, with a Turkish zirh knife, which, as opposed to a food processor, blends and layers all the ingredients without turning them to wet mush…. And then there’s the Atom, which has the smoky eggplant you’d associate with baba ghanoush, but blended with yogurt instead. But it was Pera’s newest salad there that caught my eye: guzelleme, ribbons of raw zucchini shaved fine and tossed in a green vinaigrette flavored with cilantro then blended with slivered almonds and oranges. Delicious!

A recent trip to Puebla in Mexico was a good example of that and led to my greater understanding of the importance of the trompo spit to Mexican cooking.

I think there’s more work to do to showcase the diverse flavors of Thailand, even though Nok at Kalaya (with whom I traveled to Thailand) has done a tremendous job representing the traditions of Southern Thailand, for which she won a [James] Beard award. Check out Grandma’s Philly, a somewhat overlooked spot doing Thai tapas on Walnut Street, for a unique take on what Thailand has to offer.

Ireland took me by surprise. I did not expect to love Dublin’s food scene as much as I did, not only for fish and chips (try Fish Shop if you go, which has a cool natural wine bar attached). Had a miso-roasted whole turbot head at Library Street with my son that we can’t stop talking about. Irish food is boring, you say? I’ve discovered that it’s underrated.

A broad selection of Chinese food is something Philly doesn’t get enough credit for, most likely because we are in the shadow of NYC’s Flushing. But we’ve got one of the oldest Chinatowns in America serving great Cantonese cuisine (Lee How Fook, Sang Kee, Lau Kee, M Kee), an excellent Szechuan scene with EMei, Han Dynasty and DanDan, hand-pulled noodles (Nan Zhou; Spice C), Taiwanese dumplings and beef soup (Ray’s Cafe), multiple places for hot pot, Xi’an food and … of course, lots of Shanghainese Xiao Long Bao (ahem, newsletter issue #1!)

I don’t get a chance to go back to many places over and over again because, in this gig, it’s almost always about the new places. But there are several places that my family and I return to in our “off hours.” Villa di Roma is our go-to stop for “red gravy” Italian. It just has the taste we love, from the meatballs to the veal parm layered with eggplant, and fried asparagus with scampi sauce (also good with the shrimp, of course).

Just got a chance to revisit the Good Dog Bar to put its new Atlantic City branch in perspective. It’s been remarkably consistent over the past 20 years and sets a high standard for gastropub with affordable yet hand-crafted food. The burgers are worthy of singing about.

For Mexican flavors, Tamalex remains a favorite (pozole, tamales, gorditas, huaraches), but El Chingon has fast become a favorite, even though it’s new. Also, for a recent review of Pearl & Mary, I got a chance to return to the Oyster House. Still the best oyster bar in Philly. Had a fantastic strawberry gazpacho to go along with a Creole gumbo and what is still the best lobster roll in Philly.