Ethan hovered over five
take-out condiment cups with a dark, crispy fry. “It’s smoky yet creamy; a good
balance of flavors,” he said after a decisive plunge into the chipotle mayo. He
had ordered extra dipping sauces from Underdogs’ list of a dozen: Sriracha
Mayo, Malt Vinegar Aioli, Garlic Aioli, Chipotle Mayo, and Utah Fry Sauce. He
chewed the fry and rubbed his palms on his dark jeans, a dab of garlic aioli
next to a mole on his cheek. “I’m only thirteen, but I’m a foodie.”
Parent teacher conferences
provided the half-day Underdogs lunch opportunity, which Ethan took full
advantage of, extra dips and all. He ordered the Chihuahua – Chorizo sausage
with sautéed onions, chipotle mayo and queso blanco – and made it a combo with
fries and a Pepsi. “Underdogs has a lot of interesting things,” Ethan said,
like the Back in the Day (hot dog and cod fishcake, mustard and chopped
onions), the Marrakesh (spicy merguez lamb sausage with harissa mayo and Mediterranean
salad for $5) and even the Michigan (a dog with beef chili, cheddar, chopped
onions and mustard).
A lunch outing is somewhat
typical for a half-day afternoon; he takes the bus from Masterman Magnet School
on Spring Garden to his godfather’s shop on Sansom. Ethan and Alex head out
together and pick up lunch to bring back to stadler-Kahn, the one-of-a-kind gift/gallery/garment shop in Rittenhouse. They
often eat lunch cozied up with felted animals made by a local artist, displays
of children’s books written and illustrated by Alex, bright stacks of scarves,
and a couple tiny dogs eager for a crumb.
“They used to have these little teddy bears
that were made out of rabbit hair,” Ethan told me. “This women made each bear
from a specific rabbit, and she would weave them into these little bears that
were so cute and cuddly and soft,” he said, tilting his head to one side.
Alex’s shop features local artists as well as his own designs. “He does a lot
of cool small drawings,” Ethan said proudly, pointing toward a mannequin in the
back of the store. “Like that dress over there made out of tiny square
drawings. He made a map of all of those, like 500 digital box drawing and it
went into a pattern.” It’s an inspiring atmosphere, the eye wandering from an
ink drawing of miniature whimsical cities to a single, simplistically elegant
porcelain cup to the bowl of licorice candies near the front door.
On a normal school day,
Ethan wakes up around 6:30 to catch the bus and his mom packs his lunch. It’s nothing
special, usually leftovers. “But it’s not like the food in the cafeteria; it’s
better and it’s homemade,” he said. He’s given the cold sandwich bar,
hamburgers, and chicken patties a try, “They’re really bland, it’s all
processed.”
Ethan comes from a family
of food lovers. They order in often, using caviar delivery service. Monday
night they ordered Sichuan from Dan Dan near Rittenhouse Square. Ethan had
curry rubbed lamb with roasted peppers and onions and Sichuan peppercorn – a
tongue-numbing spice native to the Sichuan province of China. “It makes even
the water taste spicy,” Ethan said.
They cook at home too;
Ethan likes to do reality TV-inspired family cooking challenges. Potato was the
star ingredient of a recent competition. “I went out on a limb and actually
made gnocchi from scratch,” Ethan told me. It turned out pretty good, except the
tomato sauce wasn’t as sweet as he expected. “A good thing to do, Ethan, is to
peel a carrot and just simmer that in the pot with your tomato sauce. That will
take a lot of the bitter acidity out,” Alex said from the front of the shop.
“The sweetness of the carrot will go through but it won’t be the sugary
sweetness that you would get from adding sugar.” Ethan nodded. A good tip for
next time.
I asked Ethan about his
favorite spots to eat in Philly.
“I’ll do five. Three? Three.”
He put his fingertips together and looked up, letting out a breath. “That’s hard.”
He chose Distrito for
Mexican – great tacos and queso fondito in a fun atmosphere. He likes the Vetri
restaurants for Italian. “It’s not like the Italian food that Americans do where
it’s like oily pizza,” he explained. “I mean, that’s always fun to have like
some good bad food, as we call it, where it tastes good but it’s bad for you. But
this is like real, with real
mozzarella and pieces of pork.” He and Alex frequent Dizengoff – Michael
Solomonov’s casual Middle Eastern spot just down the street from the shop – for
the exceptional hummus and frozen Lemonnanas.
“Actually, the weird thing
is when I was young I used to be kind of like a beige kid,” Ethan said. “I just
ate hot dogs, mac and cheese, you know, pasta.” He didn’t try a hamburger until
he was nine – “I thought they were these weird patty things.”
A Marathon Grill burger changed
his mind entirely.
Ethan’s not sure what he
wants to do when he grows up. He could see himself being a computer programmer
or an engineer. “The only reason I’m not sure if I want to be a cook is it’s a
lot harder than I thought!” One year while on vacation, he set up a restaurant
in his family’s house and invited friends for dinner. “It was tough though, I’m
not sure if I’ll actually work in a kitchen,” he said. “Especially if it’s a
good kitchen; there’s a lot of pressure. So if you’re ever going to get to the
top you gotta work through a lot. And they do it daily.”
For now, Ethan will keep
trying new things. He’s not one of those kids that says, “I’m going to be this,” and sticks with it. I watch him
stack the half-full to-go cups in a pyramid that towers over the empty fry
bags. “I like to experiment.”
