Thirteen going on Foodie

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.”