Eating Out while Eating In

Sometimes it's just too darned hot to cook.  Philadelphia's been in the grips of a heat wave and the temperature's been hovering at 100 for days, with no relief in site.

We stopped for a water ice on the way from the bank to the super market and parked right in front of a boutiquey food takeout shop that we've been meaning to try.  It looked cool and irresistible -- and all the summer items on its outdoor chalkboard lured us right in.

This shop (Cooermarket in Bala Cynwyd, PA) gets high marks for a big selection, nice presentation and friendly help.

The quality of prepared "gourmet" food is always an issue of expectations.  If you expect it to be like eating in a restaurant, it depends on which restaurant you have in mind.  It won't be a three star, but it might be an excellent bistro.  Being a gourmet cook doesn't help.  Of course, you could make it better yourself!  The point is they're letting you not cook at all.

I'd say this food was quite good. 

• We had Cold Beet Borscht mixed with Sour Cream for a first course.  Good enough that we were sorry we had bought a pint rather than a quart. 
• Then we moved on to crab cakes and a corn pudding.  The crab cakes were excellent --all crab and already cooked so just a little oven warming was required. 
• The corn pudding was a disappointment.  It was filled with fresh corn (plus) but it seemed to have no seasoning at all and barely any other ingredient (we guessed there was some egg in it).  We doctored it up with some freshly ground black pepper.  In hindsight, I should have used some cream and butter, too.
• For dessert we tried pipeces of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.  It was pretty good -- a little too dense with a little too muh thick crust.  A little sugar sprinkled on the crust before baking would have helped a lot.  We sparked it up with small scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Would we go back?  Sure!  There are lots of other things to try and it's a lot better than raiding the freezer at the supermarket when you're too tired or too hot to cook.

What does it cost?  That's always an issue with good quality prepared food.  Let's say that it's more expensive than if you made it (no surprise) but cheaper than going to a restaurant for the same meal.  We paid $48 for the above meal for two.

We don't buy whole meals this way very often.  Usually we buy one or two prepared foods (crab cakes and rotisseried chicken are favorites, as are Italian antipasto items like roasted peppers) and then add our own pieces -- often simple things like salads, good bread, and fruit desserts.  That is, of course, more economical and more personal.  But it's fun sometimes to buy a whole meal this way -- a kind of picnic on our dining room table.