Food and Drinq

Kibett Mengech, who ran the kitchen at Ansill at its opening and pioneered all that precious stuff (such as the lamb's-tongue appetizer that was pureed and piped out to resemble a tongue), has surfaced as Matt Levin’s executive sous chef at Lacroix at the Rittenhouse.

David Katz, who became the darling of the eGullet crowd at the underappreciated Restaurant M, has turned up at Silk City, the new hipster spot in Northern Liberties. He says he'll do "updated diner" food. The move sends Peter Dunmire back to N3rd. Recall that Dunmire had moderately fine-dining experience (Rouge, Blue Angel and Brasserie Perrier) before he took the stove at N3rd.

Below, Katz a year ago at Restaurant M. (Photo: Jonathan Wilson of The Inquirer)

Pompeii, an Italian restaurant across from the Forrest Theater on Walnut Street, has been supplanted by Joe Pesce, an Italian-inspired place with a lower-priced menu. Same owner: Robert Liccio. He's brought in his brother Joseph Tucker, who's had quite a run here. Ten years ago -- yes, 1997 -- the South Philly-bred Tucker opened a grand Italian restaurant called Joseph's on the Avenue at Broad and Spruce, where Ted's Montana Grill is now and across from a vacant lot that years later became the Kimmel Center. Joseph's just didn't make it. Tucker lasted 3 months before he and his old business partner had a falling out. He went back home for a year, until Liccio set him up at Broad and Sansom, where the Commerce Bank is now, in a place called Pompeii. (It was Tony Clark's before that.) In 2000, the brothers opened Joseph's on the Parkway, and he stayed for a couple of years before heading to the Jersey Shore. Most recently, Tucker came up with the concept for Joe Pesce, which was in Ventnor. He's since closed that but thought the style of food would work at 1113 Walnut St. They're also running a "Four for Four" happy hour -- $4 specials from 4 to 7 p.m. weekdays. The brothers plan to open a second Pesce in October at a still-unnamed spot in Collingswood.

Dinner menu here Download file

Here's Tucker directing traffic in the kitchen at Joseph's on the Avenue in December 1997. Credit: Ron Tarver of The Inquirer

You can't order foie gras anymore at Ansill.
"It's just not worth it," David Ansill told me. He says he's tired of the protests that have been clogging up his Queen Village corner, so the chef-owner of Ansill has pulled foie gras off the menu. He told me he's doing this to spare his neighbors -- not so much the ducks. "I just want to cook," he said. When I wrote in June about the foie gras protest group Hugs for Puppies, Ansill was at the fore of a small group of restaurateurs who proudly served the liver dish despite regular picketing. Hugs for Puppies had targeted not only Ansill's restaurant but his home. So he's caved. "Have they won?" Ansill asked. "Yes."

Of course, this raises other issues. While the "cruelty" issue of foie gras can be debated, there's ample evidence that other forms of food production are just as cruel. Go to any chicken farm, for example. Foie gras might be just the tip of the iceberg (to mix and mangle a metaphor) for eco-protesters.

Christine Fischer, who's catered around here under the ChriStevens name, says she's signed a lease for the old Astral Plane at 1708 Lombard St., which closed July 1 after 34 years. She's sprucing the place up and will add an international menu when she opens as Astral Plane -- or some permutation thereof -- in mid-October. Founder Reed Apaghian (right) will own the bricks. And presumably get to keep the parachute ceiling, which will be replaced.

Food doesn't wait to happen, so why wait to read about it? The Food staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer has rolled out Food & Drinq, a blog, as a precursor to some exciting multimedia food/dining/wine/entertaining innovations on the way at philly.com. Dig in!

The contestants: Stephen Starr, who owns this town. Jose Garces, whom Stephen Starr brought in to cook at Alma de Cuba and El Vez. Garces left to create a restaurant empire of his own; he's now busy with Amada and Tinto (which is expanding, by the way), and a new joint in his hometown of Chicago.

Garces (left) also is working on a Mexican resto-lounge called Chilango in University City and it's on target for next spring.

Starr (right) now says he's going into University City with a Mex spot of his own. He's cagey on the location, but says it will be "not far" from Garces' restaurant. It's about a year away.

Maybe this is a trendlet, but I've noticed a couple of eateries expanding their hours of service. Rae, in the Cira Centre (at left), has added breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m, effective Monday 9/17. Cantina Los Caballitos, the Mexican on Passyunk Avenue in South Philly, just started weekday lunch, and it runs from noon all the way to 5 PM, when the dinner menu kicks in. And Cantina's Sunday brunch goes all the way to 4 p.m. Georges’, Georges Perrier’s joint in Spread Eagle Village in Wayne, put on Saturday lunch from 11:30 to 2:30, which it then follows with a so-called midday menu till dinner starts at 5.

Photo by Michael Bryant of The Inquirer

Center City Restaurant Week runs Sept. 23-28, and includes 108 restaurants that will dish up three-course dinners for $30, plus tax, tip and alcohol. Also, some city parking lots so graciously discount their rates to $9 during that period if you present a dining voucher. Click here for the Web site. Act now! Many good tables are taken. Two of my faves are booked: Bliss, the Broad Street bistro, and Le Castagne, the Chestnut Street high-style Italian.
Mantra, Albert Paris' mod, Asian-y bistro on 18th Street (at left), is wide open. I found a lonely deuce available at 6 p.m. on that Thursday at Amada and a deuce available at 9:30 p.m. on the Monday at Brasserie Perrier.
Twenty Manning (at right) has some tables open for 9 p.m. and thereafter. Pompeii is on the list, but if you're a regular Food & Drinq reader, you already know it's been redone as Joe Pesce.

Photos by David Swanson / Philadelphia Inquirer (Mantra)
Steven M. Falk / Philadelphia Daily News (Twenty Manning)

Du Jour, the gourmet market and café now in Haverford, says it's coming to the Symphony House, the 32-story condo building taking shape at the southwest corner of Broad and Pine Streets. Du Jour will be smack on the corner, dishing breakfast, lunch and dinner, eat-in/takeout; it's saying "early next year." (The Pine Street side of Symphony House also will house a reincarnation of the former Theater District Italian veteran Girasole.) Du Jour is owned by Marty Grims, who has a hand in the Moshulu on Penn's Landing, Tango and Basil on the Main Line, The Inlet in Somers Point, and Daddy O and The Plantation on Long Beach Island.

Ida Mae's, which opened in March as a "bruncherie" at Tulip and Norris Streets in Fishtown, has added dinner Wednesdays through Sundays. For "Ida's at Night," chef-owner Mary Kate McCaughey puts out cloth napkins and candles. Let's give props here: The menu by chef Barbara Scott might be the most ambitious cooking in Fishtown since Les 'n' Doreen's Happy Tap changed the oil in the deep-fryer: There's a 10-ounce pork chop ($19.50), a grilled 12-ounce ribeye ($25), turkey and shittake mushroom meatloaf ($19.50) and "seafood coddle" ($23, shrimp, mussels, black cod and clams in broth with Irish bacon, leeks and potato). Utterly out of the way, romantic, and less than 15 minutes from Center City. See the website here.

The blog Phillyskyline yesterday wrote of a "hearsay/conjecture/unconfirmed" closing of Ludwig's Garten, the terrific Teutonic at 1315 Sansom St., and a conversion to condos. I've learned that an agreement of sale is signed between the restaurant and Goldman Properties, which owns much of the neighborhood that it calls Midtown Village. Restaurateur Paul Olivier told me the plan is for Goldman simply to come into the restaurant as an investor. This would mean that you can continue to wear your lederhosen with pride. For a while anyway. I'm not entirely convinced that Goldman is so hot for wurst. (As for the condo rumor? Doesn't wash, given the real estate climate.)

South Jersey Restaurant Week, which comes off twice a year, will have 59 eateries this time out from Oct. 21-26. Newcomers include The Chophouse in Gibbsboro and Swanky Bubbles in Cherry Hill. Philly's restaurant week includes three courses for $30. Jersey's does it one better, for $30. See the list here.

The Lofts at 444 N. Fourth St. (that's between Spring Garden and Callowhill Streets) are a couple of months from seeing the opening of Cafe Estelle. Marshall Green, now sous chef at Center City’s Meritage, and girlfriend Kristin Mulvenna (of Cantina Los Caballitos) will bake and do other from-scratch cooking. And if you're coming off the Ben Franklin or I-95, note that they'll offer breakfast and have much parking.

Continental Mid-town will get some lounge competition up the block in a few weeks. The Sawan family has had a big presence in downtown's Middle Eastern scene, with the South Street landmark Fez and with Byblos (formerly Sawan) on 18th Street. They expect to roll out Vango Lounge & SkyBar, which will occupy the top floors of 116 S. 18th St., adjacent to Byblos. And there will be a roof deck. I'll have more about this in "Table Talk" next week.
For now, here's a shot of owner Diaa Sawan in the lounge. Photo by David Swanson / The Philadelphia Inquirer

Be ready, you first-nighters out there... Beneluxx Tasting Room, in that cozy, downstairs hole at 33 S. Third St. in Old City, is drawing very near. Owner Mike Naessens, who owns the nearby Eulogy Belgian Tavern, says the LCB just approved his license. He's waiting for an inspector to come out. (The state is usually quicker about inspections than the city is.) Beneluxx will offer small tastings of beer and wine, matched with cheese and chocolate. The tables have built-in glass rinsers. Bartender pours a few ounces of beer and wine to sample . . . sip . . . turn glass over . . . spritz . . . rinse . . . repeat.

By hook or by crook, the Book and the Cook is at last coming together for 2007. Dates are Oct. 22-28. TB&TC is a Philly-grown, annual pairing of local restaurants and national authors. TB&TC has been a victim of its own success, in a way. It was created back in the mid-1980s, when Emeril was probably a fry cook somewhere in Fall River. TB&TC gave needed exposure to chefs and cookbook authors. Now there are cooking shows on every channel, and the authors have been stretched thin. (Except for Emeril, who has seriously packed on the avoirdupois.) While TB&TC traditionally was held in the spring, it began having trouble attracting authors that time of year. Organizers of the 2007 event aimed for the fall, as the holiday book-selling season kicks into gear. Still, '07 participation seems spotty so far. There's no title sponsor, and no marketplace-type fair as in years past. The event list is shaping up and one of the more intriguing ones will bring Joan Nathan (left), the “doyenne of Jewish American food," to cook with
Alison Barshak (right) at her restaurant Alison at Blue Bell on Oct. 28. Nathan's most recent cookbook, "The New American Cooking," won a James Beard Award and received the annual Best American Cookbook award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). The dinner price has not yet been set.

See the growing list of authors/restaurants here.

The Academy House's restaurant space on Locust has been empty since a sophomorically named barbecue place called The Smoked Joint folded in June 2006. Back in March, I wrote about a then-nameless Japanese restaurant that supposedly was taking over. The project sat. It's rolling along now. There's a name, Kai, and a concept, "modern Japanese whose focus will not be a sushi bar." For now, backers want to stay low profile. They say they'll be open in late October. We oldsters remember the Academy House space (1420 Locust St.) as Marabella's. It opened in October 1984 -- an offshoot of an Italian restaurant at the Jersey Shore -- and morphed into a hot Italian chain with outposts in such burgs as Blue Bell, Warrington and Bala Cynwyd.

Here's a trivia question: What was the restaurant at 1420 Locust before Marabella's? Suitable prize to the first correct response.

Update: We have a winner, who admits to remembering Gabriel's Horn.

Below is a photo of a Bloody Mary taken at the bar at Marabella's old City Avenue location at the very height of the design movement known as "Early-'90s Restaurant Cheese." (Credit: Eric Mencher / The Philadelphia Inquirer)

One by one, the stretch of Broad Street between Spring Garden Street and Girard Avenue is filling in with newcomers. Friday was the opening of Cameron Seafood, the first Philadelphia outlet of a chain in the D.C. area, where it has 13 locations. It's in a gleaming, six-store-wide storefront three blocks north of Osteria and just up the block from the Met, that gargantuan white building at Broad and Poplar. Cameron has a well-stocked fish counter (halibut, salmon, tuna, red snapper, crabs and the like), plus a quick-serve counter for eat-in/takeout (your usual fried and broiled platters). Specialties include crab gumbo, crab balls and seafood subs (not hoagies). Posted hours are 9 to 9 Mondays through Saturdays and 10 to 7 Sundays. 906-916 N. Broad St., 215-765-1000.

Photo: Sherwin and Mitra Manzari, the owners, behind the counter.

Two events this coming week or so that look interesting:

Fifty bucks for all you can eat and drink in two hours? It's $40 if you get on the stick and buy a ticket now to Philadelphia Magazine's third annual Cocktail Competition, which will be Thursday (Sept. 27) from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing. It's a benefit for Greater Philadelphia Cares. Thirteen spirits brands will enter their specialty cocktail, and restaurants will put out food to absorb same. Phone: 1-800-595-4TIX or go to www.phillymag.com/cocktailcompetition.

Bourbon dinner on Monday, Oct. 1 at Taylor's at the Olde Mill in Norristown: Fred Noe, great-grandson of Jim Beam, will host as chef Keith Taylor does a four-course Southern dinner. Bourbon flights, too. (Taylor met Noe while working in New Orleans.) It's $50. Phone: 610-272-2011.

The roster of restaurants with bars that are allowing patrons to bring their own bottle to dinner is swelling -- probably one sign of a slackening economy and heightened competition. Just this week, Carmine's in Bryn Mawr, the Happy Rooster at 16th and Sansom and Bistro Cassis in Radnor all announced that Sundays would be BYO nights. By the way, if you like BYO, you really must try DiningInfo.com. Best search engine ever.

Photo: You might tote along a Stag's Leap or Mondavi. Few have access to the bottle that Philly wine-storage guru Scot Ziskind holds here: an 1893 Chateau Margaux, worth $3,000. (credit: Gerald S. Williams / The Philadelphia Inquirer)

This just in from Craig LaBan's online chat: Todd Lean says Saturday (9/29) will be his last night at Mandoline (213 Chestnut St.). He’s going to be the exec chef at Deuce (1040 N. Second St.), starting Tuesday (10/2).

So how many restaurants really do plan to participate in next week's "Freedom Foie for Five" promotion, which will offer $5 portions of foie gras as the Artisan Farmers Alliance wants to expose more people to the dish? It's still unclear. The alliance's widely distributed (and blindly reproduced) press release identified 20 eateries, including the vocally pro-foie Le Bec-Fin/Brasserie Perrier and London Grill. We went down the list, though, and encountered some hesitation. Michael O'Halloran of Bistro 7 in Old City and Ross Essner at Django in Queen Village told us they had been approached but would not participate. Stephen Vassalluzzo at Caffe Casta Diva near Rittenhouse Square initially said he was leaning against participating but later said he was on the fence. After our print deadline, Jeff Benjamin, who co-owns Vetri and Osteria, said Vetri would participate but Osteria would not, as Osteria has not served it.

The tally now seems to be 17 of 20 participating, if you include Caffe Casta Diva:

Brasserie Perrier, 1619 Walnut St.
Caribou Cafe, 1128 Walnut St.
Lacroix at the Rittenhouse, 210 W. Rittenhouse Sq.
Le Bec-Fin, 1523 Walnut St.
Little Fish, Sixth and Catharine Streets
London Grill, 2301 Fairmount Ave.
Matyson, 39 S. 19th St.
Rylei, 7144 Frankford Ave.
Salt & Pepper, 746 S. Sixth St.
Standard Tap, Second and Poplar Streets
Studio Kitchen (Shola Olunloyo's private catering joint), 424 N. 34th St.
Susanna Foo, 1512 Walnut St.
Twenty21, 2005 Market St.
Vetri, 1312 Spruce St.
Vintage, 129 S. 13th St.
Zinc, 246 S. 11th St.

I'll update this as news warrants.

This just in: Viewers of NBC's "Today" show have voted, and the BLT cheesesteak served at Vesuvio in Bella Vista is the top sandwich in America, besting entries from New Orleans (a muffuletta from Central Grocery), New York (a pastrami on rye from Katz's), Half Moon Bay, Calif. (a lobster roll from Sam's Chowder House) and Chicago (a "Frenchy's Fantasy" from Perry's Deli). The BLT cheesesteak, which sells for $11, has sliced filet mignon topped with provolone, sautéed onions, bacon, lettuce and tomato, and is finished with a sriracha mayonnaise and served on a ciabatta roll. Owners Michael and Jerry D’Addesi and the chef will be on the show Thursday live to do a cooking demo.

Another, more sensual view of the sandwich, from Vesuvio's Web site:

As Craig LaBan reported yesterday, chef Todd Lean (left) is closing Mandoline, his BYOB in Old City, after dinner this Saturday 9/29 and he'll become chef at Deuce in Northern Liberties, starting Tuesday 10/2. Tough going, the life of a chef-owner. Now, Lean will be able to cook and not worry so much about the front of the house, much as he did for many years as sous chef at Carambola. Speaking of the front of the house: Lots of rumors recently about the successor restaurant to Mandoline. Many think it's Jose Garces, who (the chatter goes) would either expand his eatery Amada or open a burrito shop there. Wrong and wrong. I spoke to Garces this morning, who said he was out of the running. He wasn't sure about a new operator.

So I'll put this one out there, based on what I've heard: a Korean BYOB.

Photo of Lean by Charles Fox / The Philadelphia Inquirer

A few imminent openings, one change-of-hands and two well-sourced rumors...

Cochon, the French BYOB at Passyunk Avenue and Catharine Street in Queen Village (the former Cafe Sud), has put down Oct. 5 as its first night. Chef-owner Gene Giuffi, a Restaurant School grad, has worked in at Pasion, Nan, La Boheme and Davios. He is a fan of peasant food and pork -- hence the eatery's name. Not to boar you with too much information: Gene and his wife, Amy, live in the neighborhood. Interior is by Adam Zangrilli (Twenty Manning, North Bowl, and Pasion), who put in an open kitchen and exposed tin and subway-tile walls and a mosaic floor. Res line is 215-923-7675.

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The area's first Pei Wei Asian Diner, a fast-casual, budget offshoot of P.F. Chang's (at right), is up for Oct. 8 in Springfield Square (950 Baltimore Pike in Springfield, Delco). Cool decor, $9-or-so-per-person check average. Next up will be the City Avenue location (at 4040 City Ave., next to the new Target) on Oct. 22. A P.F. Chang's China Bistro is on tap for Valley Square (721 Easton Rd. in Warrington) on Nov. 3.

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Beneluxx Tasting Room, 33 S. Third St. in Old City, should be open by Oct. 5. Owner Mike Naessens says the LCB inspection went well the other day, and he's now waiting for his fax machine to spit out the paperwork.

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Updating this: Taylor's at the Olde Mill, which had been giving it a go in Norristown for a few years, has changed ownership. The bourbon dinner scheduled for Oct. 5 has been canceled. The last owner and namesake, chef Keith M. Taylor, says new operators will change the concept.

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What's this I'm hearing about Morton's thinking of moving out of its second-floor space at 1411 Walnut St.? And, in an unrelated bit of meatery news, the talk of a swanky, homegrown (e.g. not chain) steakhouse coming to Washington Square (the neighborhood)?