The best things we ate this week

Not much tempted me out of the house this week, but the siren song of lemon curd — piped into a brioche bun and topped with a smoothed-over smear of whipped labneh to make a maritozzi — compelled me to undertake the journey to Roxborough’s Dead King Bread, the “pirate ship-treehouse-bread cathedral” just down the hill from the towering antennas of Domino Lane.

In Philly’s bustling, pop-up-riddled bakery scene, Dead King has some of the most idiosyncratic hours out there: It’s open just twice a week, from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Perhaps as a result, one often needs to brave a long line that snakes through the numerous warehouse spaces inside Manayunk Timber, which houses the bakery. (If you just want sourdough or pizza dough — both excellent — and you live in parts of Northwest Philadelphia, you can subscribe for bread delivery.)

I was rewarded for my pains on an icy Thursday afternoon by a nearly empty parking lot and no line at all. There were plenty of rosemary focaccia slabs, tomato pie slices, and olive-twisted baguettes to be had, plus loaves of plain, cinnamon raisin, and jalapeño-cheddar, saucer-sized chocolate chip cookies, and cream cheese-iced spice cake squares. And that maritozzi? I polished it off in minutes, not taking nearly enough time to savor its buttery brioche cushion, tangy labneh topping, and the bright burst of lemon curd at the center. Oh well. I’ll just have to go back next week. Dead King Bread, 5100 Umbria St., deadkingbread.myshopify.com

— Jenn Ladd

Manti holds a special place in my heart. It’s the dish my family eats when I touch down in Istanbul for my annual trip to Turkey. The second the plates land on our table at Aşkana (one of my favorite restaurants in the city), the ceremony begins, signaling to everyone in the dining room, “This family has reunited!”

Manti is also the dish my mom makes best. Whenever she has guests over, this is what you’ll find on the dinner table. It’s a labor-intensive dish, generally a family affair: one person makes the dough, another prepares the filling, and several fill and fold the dumplings. It’s popular across Turkey, Armenia, and Uzbekistan, but the version served at Pera reminds me of the recipe I grew up with: small, tender dumplings filled with ground lamb — pinched to look like little stars — topped with garlicky yogurt and spiced butter. Is it better than my mom’s manti? I’m obligated to say no. However, it comes close. Pera’s manti is textbook, with each bite containing the sacred combination that makes this dish a comfort meal: lamb, yogurt, and butter. Pera Turkish Cuisine, 944 N. Second St., 215-660-9471, peraphiladelphia.com

— Esra Erol

This week, the balm that soothed my frozen body, attained after scaling the mountainous snow piles of South Philly, was a bowl of soup at Heavy Metal Sausage on Thursday. It was kapusniak, a sauerkraut soup with mushrooms that’s currently on their lunchtime specials menu. Tangy, hearty, and lightly smoky, it instantly transported me from the butcher shop to Poland, where I once spent the weeks sipping sour soups. Heavy Metal Sausage Co., 1527 W. Porter St., heavymetalsausage.com

— Kiki Aranita

As an antidote to the bitter cold, chef Thanh Nguyen has just put a selection of curries on the menu at Gabriella’s Vietnam, and her fried chicken curry may be the very best version of the dish found in Philly. The chicken is tender, its skin crispy, and the curry meets a Goldilocks ideal — not too thin, not too thick, balanced in creaminess and savoriness, with a touch of spice. It’s extraordinarily restorative when spooned onto steaming hot rice. Gabriella’s Vietnam, 1837 E. Passyunk Ave., 272-888-3298, gabriellasvietnam.com

— K.A.