From the OC Register comes the Best Thing I Ate All Week

Yeah, they look good.

Pizzeria Beddia, Bon Appetit’s Best Pizza in America, was the site of El Loco Dentista’s birthday fete. Joe Beddia makes 40 pizzas a day, opens the door (only Wednesday through Saturday) at 5:30, and is usually sold out by 5:45.

Here’s the plain. How is it? Ethereal. Read the Bon Appetit article for fancier descriptions of what goes into it, but know this – this pizza is fucking delicious.

Here’s the zucchini, basil, garlic and fresh cream pizza. Delicious.

Finally the Arrabiata. Spicy as hell. Also delicious.

Is it the best pizza in America? Maybe. Is it the best pizza I’ve ever had? Yes. Have I eaten a lot of pizza? Yes.

FON and Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan turned me on to Sakura Mandarin. Their diced chicken with chili pepper is a regular hit on the Nachojawn lunch circuit.

I originally found it when looking for a replacement for Szechuan Tasty House’s Three Pepper Chicken. They’ve got superior scallion pancakes on the menu too.

For $8 at lunch with soup, it’s tough to beat.

Sakura Mandarin – 1038 Race Street

Nachojawn is a big fan of corn on nachos.

Here’s a simple vegetarian recipe that doesn’t look bad.

Nachojawn is always on the lookout for lunch in the Market East neighborhood. I read about a new poke place only a couple blocks away and had to check it out.

You can get your customizable poké three ways. I went with the bowl, but you could ho with a salad or seaweed-wrapped sushi burritos.

The proteins, include ahi tuna, salmon, boiled shrimp, crabmeat, shrimp tempura, chicken, tofu, and grilled eel.

I got the Oishii Ahi, which had  ahi tuna, romaine lettuce, red onion, cucumber, avocado, tobiko, honey wasabi & fresh ponzu sauce.

Good stuff, and there’s a lot of rice under that too. I’m about that poke life now.

At the end of a night that saw the consumption of excessive amounts of meats and cheeses, it was clearly necessary for one more stop for chorizo nachos.

They’re advertised as having tres queso sauce, black beans, jalapeño, pico de gallo, and lime crema.

Also, they’re obviously radishes on that.

How were they? I don’t remember. We ate them all.

But if they look good to you, they’re available. Sorry, I don’t get paid for this, so I don’t have to take notes and not drink all night before I eat the nachos.

By looks alone and hazy memories, I’m going with 3.77/5 pickled jalapenos – eat these following $149.99/lb jamon iberico

La Casa de Tu Madre
8th and Catherine

Nachojawn was a regular at Joe’s Pizza since I moved into Philadelphia shortly after Y2K.

The owners of Joe’s have taken a step up, opening Medusa PIzza, which serves up pizzas that are not quite in the Neopolitan style, having a bit more heft to them, and a thinner crust.

There’s a beautiful roof deck, and Mrs. Nachojawn and I took advantage of the BYO situation with a nice bottle of red.

We started with the arancini, and got three pies. A margherita for a baseline, another with sausage, scamorza, potatoes, carmelized onions, fennel seeds, and mozzarella, and Nachojawn Jr. ate an entire red pie with pepperoni and roasted peppers.

There’s enough roof on the deck for a big party – go check out Medusa while the weather is nice.

Michael Klein is on top of it again with information about Mission Taqueria, which opens this week in the old Nodding Head Brewery space on Sansom Street.

A quick peek at the menu confirms the presence of nachos (with goat chili!).

Tortilleria San Roman chips

Freshly shredded cheddar/jack cheese

Ground beef

Spicy pico de gallo

Trader Joe’s Cowboy Caviar salsa (black bean and corn)

El Loco Dentista Guacamole

Tortilleria San Roman salsa verde

Drink: Paloma (Blanco Tequila, Grapefruit soda, lime)