LaBan chat: Block party draw; Restaurant Week finds

Reader: Have you been to Loco Pez in Fishtown? Hands down the best tacos in the city. Great variety.

C.L.: Yes, I reviewed Loco Pez in January. I liked it as a fun L.A. twist on the Mexican gastropub for Fishtown. An affordable hangout for real Fishtowners who need a break from the tourists on Girard Avenue. But the best tacos in Philly? Not even close. Get thee to South Philly!

Reader: I was wondering what your current favorite sources for quality bread in Philadelphia are.

C.L.: Well, there are all the usual spots - like Metropolitan Bakery and Le Bus, which have been baking great French-style loaves for a long time. Some recent favorites in the French baguette style are from Parc and Agiato in M'yunk. Also, my perception is that the loaves from Le Pain Quotidien have really improved since it first opened. I really like its straight-up baguette - great combo of rustic crunch and moist interior chew. Faragalli's wood-fired Italian bread is my favorite of that style from South Philly. For challah, Solomon's from N'East Philly makes some excellent bread. For hoagies, I'll go Carangi over Sarcone's - especially for juicier sandwiches like roast pork (Sarcone's has the edge for cold-cut hoagies, a bit more delicate). Last night we ate one of the best breads I've had in a long time - a long, flat, puffy loaf of sesame-speckled Turkish bread that we bought from Makkah Market in West Philly. Froze it until last night's feast of lemon-lamb and olive stew. It reheated wonderfully, and disappeared faster than any bread I recall on our table in a looong time!  

Reader: Speaking of bread, I am sort of in love with Spread Bagelry's everything bagel, but at 2 bucks apiece they seem wildly overpriced. Add in cream cheese and you are over 4 dollars. Ess-a-Bagel in NYC, my personal favorite anywhere on the planet, is 1 dollar a bagel, and tops out at $2.75 with cream cheese, and that's NYC prices.

C.L.: These are handmade, not mass-produced bagels, and a bit more expensive due to the ingredients (honey, etc.). Yes, they're a little more expensive. But really, $4 is really not that much for an excellent handmade anything for breakfast. Montreal purists have all sorts of opinions over whether they match up to the authentic item. But we've come to love them and covet them. Certainly, given the lines that snake out of that 20th Street bakery each weekend, I think I'm not alone.