Red Cabbage

Console me with familiar, unpretentious fare as the last of April's chill lingers and Pennsylvania's landscape just begins to turn green. The calendar says "spring," but some days seem too raw for the lamb, asparagus and baby strawberries I long for. This braised red cabbage is an updated version of a classic dish. Shredded cabbage is sauteed with onions and seasoned with wine vinegar, a little sugar, and crushed fennel seed. Add water and simmer until tender. Garnish with finely diced Granny Smith apple, toasted walnuts, and minced flat-leaf parsley.

It's an easy game, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumb's-up or thumb's-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

Azure tacos Fans of El Vez' signature mahimahi tacos won't be disappointed by the change-ups that chef Julio Rivera, an El Vez alum, has made at Azure. He has switched to warm, rustic, handmade corn tortillas (instead of the original flour). The meaty mahimahi is lightened up, not crusted, but dusted with achiote powder. Stuffed with a shred of iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and tomato over smoky chipotle mayo, then ignited with a fresh spritz of lime, they've become an overnight Northern Liberties cult favorite.

Coleslaw was not high on my list of favorite dishes when I was growing up in Maryland. The mayonnaise dressings with heavy doses of sugar simply didn't appeal to me. Still, as a young bride in Israel, when I was trying to learn how to cook from books, I decided to try to make this popular American salad. After all, I knew that cabbage is inexpensive and healthful. I'm not sure what possessed me to choose a coleslaw souffle salad that contained lemon Jell-O, mayonnaise and a little vinegar.

Let's face it: Even those of us who drink wine for a living have times when we like to push aside the vino and reach for an ice-cold beer. In many respects, beer is not all that different from wine, because there are many styles, flavors and approaches to blending beer and food. While the perfect beer generally is heavier and spicier, that doesn't mean that a meal with a brew can't be just as genteel as a meal with wine. We created our hot Italian sausage with red cabbage, apples and maple syrup especially to go with beer.

With its ultra-bright, romper-room setting, the Delmar Grille in Conshohocken seems aimed at preschoolers. But stay tuned, for this informal, California-style spot offers some exceptionally attractive dishes. Indeed, this is a good choice for a quick, home-cooked meal from what owner-chef Mark Grossman accurately describes as a "fun" menu. Open nearly a year, the Grille is a something-for-everyone place with lots of salads and sandwiches, a wide range of snacks and appetizers from nachos to drumsticks, several pasta dishes, and nightly dinner specials (available all day)

A wide selection of apple varieties is now on the market, such as Elstar, Fuji, green Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Newtown Pippin, Cortland, Northern Spy and Jonathan. In order to get acquainted with their qualities, I decided to invite guests to a dinner at which each dish would incorporate a different type of apple. At our house, dinner guests tend to congregate in the kitchen. So, since this was to be an apple-tasting dinner, I decided to have five or six of the newer apple varieties, both sweet and tart, on a cutting board for sampling, along with some cheeses and a dry riesling or a semillon.

Although Northern winters have many moods, all revert, eventually, to cold - to temperatures so frigid that they produce a certain misery that can be soothed only by good, hot, hearty food. Strong in flavor, solid in texture and balanced in nutrition, the proper cold-weather meal provides at least some compensation for nature at her yearly worst. Not much effort, and even less money, is required to serve a satisfying seasonal dinner to four people whose appetites may be sharpened by the air. Shopping is as close as the neighborhood supermarket, where all ingredients are available.

1 bunch (6 large) scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced 2 (16-ounce) bags coleslaw mix or 1 (16-ounce) bag each of shredded green and shredded red cabbage 1 small red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (from about a 1-inch piece) 2 tablespoons white vinegar 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, optional 1 teaspoon salt 20 grinds black pepper   1. Rough up the scallion slices a little with your fingers so all the little layers of the scallion whites separate.

With mountains of good, home-cooked southern Italian cuisine, moderate prices and unusually friendly atmosphere, Pinto's Family Restaurant in Voorhees has captured the classic formula for success. Indeed, the popular Echelon Village Plaza restaurant seems just as appealing today as it did when I first reviewed it nearly nine years ago; a return visit showed the same generosity of spirit and accomplishment I found then. Home-cooking was most evident in chicken-rice soup included with dinner, a rich, somewhat salty broth chock full of chunks of chicken breast, carrots, onions, celery, rough-chopped tomatoes and escarole.

1 bunch (6 large) scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced 2 (16-ounce) bags coleslaw mix or 1 (16-ounce) bag each of shredded green and shredded red cabbage 1 small red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger (from about a 1-inch piece) 2 tablespoons white vinegar 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, optional 1 teaspoon salt 20 grinds black pepper   1. Rough up the scallion slices a little with your fingers so all the little layers of the scallion whites separate.

IT'S AN EASY GAME, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumbs-up or thumbs-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

It's an easy game, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumb's-up or thumb's-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

Azure tacos Fans of El Vez' signature mahimahi tacos won't be disappointed by the change-ups that chef Julio Rivera, an El Vez alum, has made at Azure. He has switched to warm, rustic, handmade corn tortillas (instead of the original flour). The meaty mahimahi is lightened up, not crusted, but dusted with achiote powder. Stuffed with a shred of iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and tomato over smoky chipotle mayo, then ignited with a fresh spritz of lime, they've become an overnight Northern Liberties cult favorite.

The logo features a green olive speared on the prongs of a fork. The image is appropriate for a refined Main Line bar and grill that operates as party central in an otherwise quiet neighborhood in Radnor. The restaurant - 333 Belrose Bar & Grill - is a brightly colored former stable that dates to colonial times. It is the kind of offbeat place you want to discover for yourself and then tell your friends about. Anyone would be impressed that you managed to find a bar and grill that is both fun and a haven for culinary sophisticates.

Console me with familiar, unpretentious fare as the last of April's chill lingers and Pennsylvania's landscape just begins to turn green. The calendar says "spring," but some days seem too raw for the lamb, asparagus and baby strawberries I long for. This braised red cabbage is an updated version of a classic dish. Shredded cabbage is sauteed with onions and seasoned with wine vinegar, a little sugar, and crushed fennel seed. Add water and simmer until tender. Garnish with finely diced Granny Smith apple, toasted walnuts, and minced flat-leaf parsley.

A tray of homemade dinner rolls, plump and domed from their second rising, sits on top of the refrigerator in Stephanie Branche's compact kitchen. She catches a visitor eyeing them and politely deflects a request for the top-secret family recipe. "That I can't do," she says. "My mother just called from North Carolina and said, 'Do not!' " On a Friday evening, Branche's brick rowhouse near Graduate Hospital in Center City has all the hallmarks of an imminent festive dinner: martini glasses and shaker at the ready, log in the fireplace, table set for 10 with a lace tablecloth, linen napkins, a fabulous floral centerpiece, and company china.

It had only been two days, and the locals just weren't used to the idea. Cassano's, a favorite Cherry Hill Italian restaurant that catered to families, had changed its name to Jac Daddy's and was in the midst of becoming a sports bar. The bar area was expanded, the menu tweaked, the interior faintly retooled. Although vestiges of the old Cassano's still remained - like the black-and-white photos from "The Godfather," and other gangster flicks - it just wasn't the same. The biggest complaint, which we heard from booths on either side of us, was that the chef was no longer serving family style - platters large enough to feed a crowd.

Though they often sit on the sidelines, letting a fillet of sole get all the attention, vegetables are equally able to take center stage. And with Ash Wednesday ushering in the Lenten period today, they can help make meatless meals special. All they need is your imagination and another ingredient or two. Developing easy recipes for soups, meats and desserts is most often a matter of streamlining traditional preparations. But for vegetables, which usually appear unadorned, a second or third ingredient can seem luxurious.

The East Coast has had it all. Snowstorms. Ice. Winds blowing in arctic air. To battle the elements, we bundle up in down jackets, fur-lined leather gloves and boots, and thick woolen scarves. But on a freezing winter night there is nothing that warms the heart like a loaf of jalapeno bread, a jug of wine, and some complex carbohydrates. And don't forget the essential fatty acids and heat-producing spices. "Eating complex carbos such as rice, peas, beans, lentils, corn, potatoes, yams and squash not only speeds up your metabolism, making you feel warmer, it actually sustains that warmth and energy for a long period of time," says Elissa Ash Fleiss, a Los Angeles nutritionist.