Geek of the Week: Collin Flatt, Foodie & Blogger Extraordinaire

Photo by Danya Henninger

Today’s Geek of the Week column features Collin Flatt, who a lot of you might know from his food writing here in Philadelphia. From Phoodie to the Feast, you’ve surely read his blogs about tasty noms. Read on to learn about how he got into food writing, his massive video game collection (MASSIVE), and his favorite haunts for food and drink.

Let’s start off with you telling me about yourself. People might know you best for your former involvement with Phoodie and presently with The Feast. How did you get into the food scene and blogging about it?

I am a food obsessed individual, like most young Philadelphians, but I just happened to get obsessed a little ahead of the curve. My mom was a bad cook (love you, moms), and because of this, I wasn’t exposed to great vittles when I was little and have no allegiance to her gravy or casseroles, like most food folks I know.

What this did, though, was provide my palate with an early education on odd flavor combinations, and food that was inexplicably out of balance. She made meatloaf that was covered in Rice Krispies, and her Chicken a la King is legendary for it’s bonding properties. Obviously it has scarred me for life. Because of those experiences, I searched out food from cultures all around the world, and made it my mission to be a better cook than she was.

I started writing about wine first, and it spread into food journaling, and then beer as well. Hobbies become your job if you decide to spend more time on them than what you’re paid to do.

Word on the street is that you’ve got a seriously impressive video game console collection. Let’s hear as full of a report as you can provide.

I got way into the Atari 2600 when I was old enough to pick up the sticks, with my favorite games being Adventure, Pitfall, and Yars Revenge. We had an original from 1977, which still has the price tag from Boscov’s on it. A note to people who bitch about pricey game systems, the Atari was $175 back then, which translates to almost $600 today. Crazy.

I subsequently got my own first game console when I was 8 years old in 1986, which was the Sega Master System. All of my friends had the NES, but the SMS was a little more powerful, and a little more cutting edge. From that point, I was hooked on gaming, and collected systems.

I own 32 systems total, past and present. Most of them have been purchased long after release, as no kid could really keep up with the technology financially. The crown jewels in my collection are the Vectrex, and the Odyssey2, because of their rarity.

The systems I own are: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Coleco Vision, Intellivision, Sega Master System, NES, Gameboy, Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, Turbo Grafx 16, Turbo Xpress, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Super Famicom (Japan), Sega CD, Sega 32X, Neo Geo Gold, Panasonic 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn White (Japan), Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.

My favorite series to this day is Metal Gear, and all of its many incarnations. Hideo Kojima was the first game designer to bridge the gap between games and movie productions. He pushed the technology to its limits, and created a real culture and universe where Solid Snake lived. Character development, dialogue, directing, and epic set pieces were his M.O.

Collin and HughE Dillon of PhillyChitChat.com

What’s currently your favorite spot in town?

I have a soft spot for Zahav, as Mike Solomonov is one of the most talented chefs I’ve ever met, and more importantly he’s one of the nicest people on the planet. My other haunts are Bibou, the French bistro in South Philly, and Barbuzzo, Marcie Turney’s place on 13th. The best bowl of soup is at Cafe Diem, the pho joint on 8th, where I eat lunch two times a week. For beer, I head to Varga Bar, Monk’s, SPTR, Good Dog, and The Standard Tap, but my homebase is definitely the P.O.P.E.

What’s your favorite dish (or drink)?

I have a few favorite dishes. The Chicken Liver Rigatoni at Osteria, The Bun Bo Hue at Cafe Diem, Stuffed Pig’s Foot with Foie Gras at Bibou, Twice Cooked Eggplant at Zahav, and David Ansill’s Steak Tartare.

Drinkwise, our local beer scene is chock full of amazing stuff. My favorites are Troeg’s Nugget Nectar, Sly Fox Pikeland Pilsner, Flying Fish Exit 4, Yards ESA, and Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady. I also have a soft spot for Bear Republic Racer 5 I.P.A., and Russian River Supplication. I do have a tattoo of Brasserie Cantillon Brouwerij on my shoulder. I’ve got a thing for sours.

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Thanks for chatting with us, Collin. To read up more on his latest food adventures, check out The Feast – Philadelphia. In the meantime, we wait excitedly for pictures of your complete video game collection. As the old adage goes, pics or it didn’t happen.