Food and Drinq

It's sometimes hard to tell if a restaurant is out of business.
The drooping banner sign outside of Palate, on Spring Garden Street near 11th, tells the story quite clearly.

Matt Sigel is not the first guy to make potty-mouth chef Gordon Ramsay lose his cool on the Fox reality show Hell's Kitchen.

He is the first guy in the show's four seasons to make Ramsay lose his lunch.

Sigel is a sous chef at the Radisson Warwick in Center City.

Sigel did it on last night's fourth-season premiere when the contestants were directed to make signature dishes. Sigel, who lives in Pine Hill, N.J., whipped up a tartare of venison and scallop, topped with caviar and finished with white chocolate. Couple of bites, and Ramsay was wretching over a trash can like a frat boy.

“Can’t win it all,” says Sigel, who said he’d serve it again. “I’ve made that for plenty of people.” He said he learned it at Caesars Atlantic City from Keith Mitchell.

Ramsay, he notes, doesn’t like sweet and savory combinations. But Sigel knows he is on to something. "I can guarantee you that a ton of chefs will start playing with sweet food now," he says.

Sigel, a native New Yorker who left soon after he was injured on Sept. 11, 2001, is a bit of a mystery man. Until last year, when he was working for Flik at Merck in West Point, he was Matt Bloch. When he married Ellen Sigel, he changed his name to hers.

Photos: Greg Gayne/FOX

Here's his wedding coverage in The Inquirer on April 15, 2007.

Click here

Can Rittenhouse Square support another sushi joint? The paper sign in the window of 262 S. 20th St., across from Twenty Manning, advertises the coming of Yoshi. (Not to be confused with Moshi Moshi on 18th Street near Chestnut.)

Opening is about three months away, says the owner, a North Jerseyan who wants to keep her name out of the press for now.

It's now simply Dawson's.

Michael Petrogiannis of the Michael's Diner chain has bought the Plymouth Meeting location, continuing his buying spree. In recent years, he's taken over the Melrose Diner, Country Club Restaurant and Mayfair Diner. A few years ago, he bought La Veranda, but later sold it.

Many locals regarded J.B. Dawson's as the only semi-decent restaurant within a mile of Plymouth Meeting Mall. Dawson's (440 Plymouth Rd., 610-260-0550) is maintaining the same menu and concept, says a rep.

Dawson's will get direct competition in a few months from Redstone American Grill, due to open among a few other chain restaurants outside of Plymouth Meeting Mall . (See below.)

J.B. Dawson's maintains its locations in Drexel Hill and Langhorne.

Plymouth Meeting Mall and its outskirts are due to get the following chains:

P.F. Chang’s China Bistro (May '08); adjacent to the mall on the Hickory Road side.
California Pizza Kitchen (May '08); also adjacent to the mall on the Hickory Road side.
Redstone American Grill (June '08); also adjacent to the mall on the Hickory Road side.
Benihana (fall 2008); adjacent to the mall, near the AMC Theatre parking area.
The region's first FatBurger (fall 2008); upper-level mall entrance, near Bertucci’s. (There's one in AC at the Borgata.)
Dave & Buster's (July '08); near Macy's

Thanks to reader Pete Dorazio for spotting the list of mall projects.

Food & Wine has given Jim Burke of South Philly's James its highest honor, the Food & Wine best new chef award.

A press release says: "This highly coveted award, launched in 1988, identifies up-and-coming chefs in America who are innovators with a distinct culinary style and vision creating exceptionally delicious food. The 2008 winners will be featured on the cover in the July issue and profiled as part of a 20th-anniversary package on foodandwine.com/2008-best-new-chefs.

By phone a few minutes ago, after he finished a photo shoot, Burke said he was "excited and very, very proud of the restaurant. This is a validation of what we're doing and shows we're on the right track."

"Food & Wine has been scouting extraordinary chefs for the past two decades, and I expect this year's winners to make us as proud as any of the chefs who have preceded them,” says [editor Dana] Cowin. "These great cooks come from all around America, from California to Missouri to Vermont, and I'm excited to introduce them to a national audience. They are incredible talents."

The winners will be fêted tonight at a party in New York City. Twenty former F&W Best New Chefs, including Daniel Boulud, Tom Colicchio, Wylie Dufresne, Dan Barber and Todd English, will be creating signature dishes and Level vodka cocktails in honor of the milestone anniversary.

In addition to the 20 former F&W Best New Chefs, Hung Huynh, winner of the third season of “Top Chef” on Bravo, will also be preparing tastings for the celebration.

The 2008 F&W Best New Chefs will prepare an exclusive tasting dinner at the 26th annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, June 13 to 15.

Here's Burke's bio: Jim Burke, 34, is the owner and chef of James, a seasonally-focused, modern Italian restaurant in the Bella Vista neighborhood. Before opening James with his wife, Kristina, in 2006, Burke worked with top Philadelphia chefs Marc Vetri of Vetri (a Best New Chef 1999) and Vince Alberici of The Marker. He later headed the kitchen at Stephen Starr’s Angelina. He also did a stint at the Michelin-starred Ristorante Frosio in Almè, Italy.

Here's the list:

Photo: Jim Burke and Kristina Benene / Gerald S. Williams / The Philadelphia Inquirer

No, Le Bec-Fin is not closing.

Saying he wants to "start having fun," chef Georges Perrier will do away with the fixed-price dinner menus and set seating times that have been the hallmarks of his landmark Le Bec-Fin since it opened in 1970.

Starting Monday, Perrier will drop prix-fixe dégustation menus - some as high as $165 per person - in favor of much less expensive à la carte dining at the French restaurant at 1523 Walnut St. Instead of 6 and 9:30 p.m. dinner seatings Mondays through Saturdays, reservations will be booked every 15 minutes.

The vibe will be relaxed as well, although he has no plans to change the decor.

Jeans at Le Bec? Oui.

"I want to make my restaurant casual because I have no fun anymore," Perrier, 64, said in an interview.

Here's the full story.

The Waverly, the planned second restaurant from Michael O'Halloran (Bistro 7), has ended up in court. The deal, which seemed shaky two weeks ago when Food & Drinq reported on a "for-lease" sign in the window, is dead.

O'Halloran, whose corporation Leo Restaurant Group LLC is suing Pearl Properties in Common Pleas Court, alleges in a breach-of-contract suit that Pearl and its contractors missed construction deadlines and did substandard work. Among the allegations were an uneven floor and an exhaust flue that stopped about 12 feet from an outside wall. The suit also says that Pearl demanded rent in mid-March, even though the lease states that rent would not begin for 120 days after Pearl delivered the completed space. Leo/O'Halloran claims that the space was not completed.

Leo seeks $250,000 in damages.

Reed Slogoff of Pearl said he would respond in court, not in the press.

Terms of the lease, according to the lawsuit: five years (renewable for two five-year terms) at $6,400 a month (3 percent annual increases), plus $525 a month for the liquor license. Leo was to receive $75,000 for its build-out.

Meanwhile, O'Halloran is looking for a new spot.

Food & Drinq hears that trucks pulled up outside the Kildare's on the outskirts of Granite Run Mall late Friday night after closing and removed furnishings. No burglary, folks. It's gone. Pulled out.

Kildare's owner Dave Magrogan, alluding to a beef with mall operator Simon, says the pub will open a location this summer at the University of Delaware.

Chefs Eric Ripert and Jennifer Carroll have released a few dishes from the menu at 10 Arts, the restaurant they hope to open next month under the rotunda of the Ritz-Carlton.

WILD BOAR PROSCUITTO tomato and garlic rubbed sour dough

TUNA CARPACCIO extra virgin olive oil, shallot, chive and lemon

STEAMED MUSSELS chorizo and white wine broth

FISH BURGER oven roasted tomatoes, fennel and saffron aioli

STRIPED BASS “GRAND-MÈRE” pearl onions, wild mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and bacon

GRILLED FLAT IRON STEAK shallot sauce

Individual dish prices have not been set, but apps will run from $7 to $18, and lunch and dinner entrees from $18 to $34.

Laura Vernola pulled the plug on Deuce -- her gastropub in Northern Liberties' Liberties Walk development -- on Sunday (4/6/08) after nearly 2½ years.

Neighbors were quick to assign blame to developer/landlord Bart Blatstein, saying he orchestrated the closing, but Vernola honorably held up her hand at the screeds.

In a posting on NorthernLiberties.org over the weekend, Vernola wrote:

Yes it is true the Deuce is closing it's doors this Sunday. It's best not to make assumptions about why we have closed. There are too many factors that played into Deuce closing so please, please don't make this into a "I Hate Bart Blatstein" thing

I am grateful for all the support Deuce has gotten over the years but PLEASE DO NOT boycott Liberties Walk, The walk is all first time business owners who all require neighborhood support!

Thanks again for all the support and negative and positive feed back over the years :)

Blatstein and Vernola would not address talk around the restaurant industry -- from vendors and people close to Deuce -- that the restaurant had financial issues.

Meanwhile, chef Todd Lean, who joined Deuce six months ago after closing his Old City restaurant Mandoline, is not sure what he will do. He said it may be time to hang up his knives for awhile. Lean was the restaurant's fourth chef, after Scott Schroeder, Matt Ball and Greg Ling.

And also meanwhile, Owen Kamihira, who owns the busy Bar Ferdinand a few steps away, is not happy at the prospect of Deuce's darkness as the warm-weather high season approaches. Kamihira is about to expand his outdoor-seating area west along his storefront.

Though rumor has it that Kamihira will be brought in to operate Deuce, he told Food & Drinq that he had not been approached.

Whoever opens at the Deuce spot will have to wait. Vernola's corporation controls the liquor license. A transfer to a new operator -- should it become necessary -- could take months of posting and hearings.

THIS IS AN UPDATED ENTRY

Dana Spain-Smith, one of the main investors in 707 at 707 Chestnut St.., told Food & Drinq this morning that they're pulling the plug at the end of April after exactly one year. She said the two chefs and "concept debacles" didn't help business.

"I'm hoping to do some consulting and do what I do," said owner Ryan Margolis, a former Stephen Starr manager with a strong background in wine service.

Spain-Smith said the partners may have found a new tenant. If plans go through, the new occupant might open in about six months.

The a la carte era began Monday night at Le Bec-Fin, and here's what patrons are being offered.

Click here for the full menu. The cheese cart and dessert trolley are still available.

Les Bon Temps, the Center City offshoot of Bryn Mawr's Carmine’s Creole Cafe, opens Friday (4/11/08) at 114 S. 12th St., the former TPDS Club. Owners are Carmine's John Mims and lawyer Howard Taylor.

Style is Cajun-Creole.

Chalfont-raised chef Brett Naylor, 23, last was at the Brick Hotel in Newtown (a year and a half) after a year at George V in Paris. He tells me that he also did time at Room for Dessert in New York and Marigold Kitchen in West Philly.

It's dinner only for now, but lunch comes on in about three weeks and Sunday brunch is due in a month.

Romantics who remember the space from its restaurant incarnations including Odeon and Bistro Bix will want to ask for Tables 21 or 23; they're the ones on the twin balconies overlooking the first-floor dining room. Phone is 215-238-9100. Website is just showing a home page for now.

Menus:

Appetizers

Entrees

Small plates

Saturday (4/12/08) will mark the soft-opening of Time -- the "modern country-club/comfort-food" spot from Jason and Delphine Evenchik (of Vintage) -- at 1315 Sansom St. This is the old Ludwig's Garten.

Grand opening will be Thursday (4/17/08).

Phone is 215-985-4800, but don't call today; they're hanging crystals on the chandeliers. Tedium.

For now, gaze upon the menu.

Oysters Rockefeller? Steak tartare? Cote de Boeuf? How about braised pork belly, turkey bacon, and proscuitto served on toasted brioche with a roasted garlic aioli? (So glad they chose turkey bacon and not that rich pork bacon.)

Jason Evenchik has not set menu prices yet, and he says a late-night menu will be on after dinner till 1 a.m.

Greg Salisbury at Rx in West Philly tells of an interesting procedure to allow patrons at his BYO to quaff beer from Dock Street Brewery.

Rx stocks growlers of Dock Street's Bohemian Pils, Rye IPA and St. Alban's Ale. When Rx customers request one, they're handed a phone to call in their credit-card info to the cashier at Dock Street at 50th and Baltimore. After Dock Street gets paid, the growler is opened.

Salisbury says he does not get paid for the beer, so it's not his transaction.

Indications are strong that Deuce, which owner Laura Vernola closed Sunday night, will be returning, perhaps within mere weeks.

Vernola, whose corporation owns the liquor license, said she would not be involved.

A reopening would be good news to Rachael Ray's people, who shot the dining room and cheesesteak spring rolls for the Food Network show Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels on Friday night -- 48 hours before the shutdown.

Contacted Wednesday by Food & Drinq, supervising producer Wade Sheeler said he was "shocked" at the closing, which he had learned about Tuesday. He said he never had a case in which a restaurant closed within days of the shoot. "We were totally unaware," he said.

Vernola said she was confident that the restaurant would reopen before the show airs; it's up for early summer. Vernola was not on camera, but chef Todd Lean was.

So the footage is sitting in the can, and producers are sitting on pins and needles, hoping they don't have to shoot another Philly restaurant.

Cameras also visited Fork,etc., Amada, Tangerine, Sansom Street Oyster House, Rouge, Naked Chocolate Cafe, Django, Xochitl, Ortlieb's, Capogiro, Tacconelli's and Chez Colette.

And therein lies another potential issue: Chez Colette's own days are numbered as Stephen Starr is planning to set up a French-Vietnamese spot for the Sofitel to operate.

Lead times are a bear sometimes.

Miller's Ale House, a sports-bar chain with 43 units in Florida, one in Chicago, one in Atlanta and one opening soon on Long Island, is preparing to push into the Philly market this summer.

Miller's will take over two former Smokey Bones BBQ locations. First, to open in late June, will be on Roosevelt Boulevard at Red Lion Road. The second, up for August, will be outside Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne (2250 E. Lincoln Highway).

Why Philly? Jack and Claire Miller, now in their mid-60s and living in the Jupiter, Fla., area, formerly owned McNally's (a Northeast Philly taproom, not the home of the Schmitter) and the Rod n Reel Bar in Brigantine, N.J. He's a former Philly firefighter.

Those hoping to hit Rock Lobster on Penn's Landing this summer -- at what would be its 17th year -- may be in line for disappointment.

A drive-by shows that it's desolate and devoid of equipment. Also, the phone is disconnected and the Web site is partying like it's 2007.

By this point in early April, staff would be in place. A club official could not be reached for comment, but court records show squabbling underway among the landlord, the state Department of Revenue, and former operators.

A dozen Main Line restaurants on or near Route 30 will serve $30 three- or four-course dinners from April 28 to May 2. See the list at www.dinetheline.com.

Bobby Flay takes on chefs in his Throwdown! challenges for the Food Network.

Sunday night (4/13) marks the premiere of the Throwdown! episode in which Flay goes up against the Pop Shop in Collingswood in grilled-cheese sandwich-making. His Jan. 21 visit to Haddon Avenue was a setup. Producers had told Pop Shop owners Bill "Stink" Fisher and Connie Correia Fisher that they'd be taping a kids-cooking show called All Grown Up when Flay rolled in.

The Fishers, who have dozens of grilled-cheese sandwiches on their menu, whipped up their "Calvert," which includes roast turkey, avocado, bacon, jack cheese and balsamic mayo on foccacia.

Flay countered with goat cheese, Brie, bacon, watercress and green tomatoes on pan bread. (The sandwich will be on the Pop Shop menu all this coming week.)

After losing in cheesesteaks to Tony Luke and in barbecue to Mount Laurel's Butch Lupinetti, Flay has come roaring back. He topped Delilah Winder in macaroni and cheese and out-twisted the Pretzel Boys in soft pretzels. How did he do with grilled cheese?

No one will talk, so you can either tune in at 10 p.m. Sunday or, if this doesn't count as much of a spoiler in your universe, you can click here for the outcome.

Upside-down exclamation points, unused in these parts since ¡Pasión! folded last year, are ready to come back with the impending opening of ¡Cuba! on Germantown Avenue just a few doors from Bethlehem Pike in Chestnut Hill. (That's 8609 Germantown, if you want to be specific.) ¡Cuba!, due around April 28, is owned by former travel agent Miguel Castañeda, a Cuba emigre, and his son, Michael. General manager Christian Leo helped run Cuba Libre in Old City for five years.

They hosted an open house today (4/13), as they're hiring staff. The storefront is cute -- light wooden tables, rag-rolled green-straw-colored walls, and modern pinpoint track spotlights; a back room will hold about 10, and the rough-looking back yard supposedly will be converted for outdoor dining.

They'll open as a BYOB. A liquor license is in the works. I couldn't get a sense of the overall "look" because art/decorative touches are not installed. Chef Orjenia Lopez, also Cuban-born, will do Cuban favorites; most entrees will be under $20. The restaurant will be open seven days for lunch and dinner, and live jazz is planned for Friday nights.

* * * * *

So good to see progress in the rebirth of the Ho Sai Gai at 10th and Race Streets in Chinatown, which has been closed about nine years.

First photo, taken in January, shows the joint -- an eyesore if there ever was one.

Even in its day, the facade was a heinous testament to glass block.

The second photo, shot over the weekend, shows substantial progress in its renovation -- a move to a brighter, more inviting look.

It's due to reopen in about six weeks. One key feature will be a second-floor banquet space, as management is targeting convention business.

Red Sky (224 Market St.) was closed last night -- a Saturday night, no less.

And here's why:

Owners David, Scott and Sean Stein say they'll be running limited hours as an agreement of sale is pending after nearly five years. They won't disclose the prospective owner, but I hear that it's not a current restaurateur.

The Steins and partner Brett Perloff opened Pearl (1904 Chestnut St.)., a pan-Asian, about five weeks ago.

The Steins add that gift certificates will be honored at Pearl or at Red Sky during the opening hours, and they're pointing people to www.redskylounge.com for more information.

Capriccio -- which opened in the Warwick Hotel in December 1988, making it one of the earlier espresso bars in Center City -- is no more.

For now.

David Wagaman, who's owned Capriccio since 1994, lost his lease and shut down after business Sunday (4/13/08). But he's planning to reopen in a "high-profile location" in "late spring/summer."

Meanwhile, the operators of the Warwick are planning their own coffee bar -- with a liquor bar -- to open in June. It'll be called The Coffee Bar, whose concept will center on coffee products and “charged” beverages. Also on the menu will be house-made breads and pastries, soups and smoked-meat items. It also will act as a mini-market for the residents of the Warwick Condominiums that are nearing completion on the top eight floors of the hotel.

“In addition to losing our location, it's our loyal customers over the years who have become family to us that we will miss most,” Wagaman said through a rep. His other Capriccio location — at 840 Walnut St. at Wills Eye Hospital -- will continue.

An old hand in the neighborhood is opening Da Vinci Ristorante in the former Tre Scalini (1533 S. 11th St.). He's Sonny DeCarlo, who back in 1961 opened a sandwich shop called Steak-A-Roma in the building across the way at 11th and Tasker that is now Chiarella's.

DeCarlo bumped up Steak-A-Roma into a nicer place called Sonny's Seafood Italiano, which became better known as Frankie's Seafood Italiano. DeCarlo has owned 1533 S. 11th for some time, and was Tre Scalini's landlord before it moved around the corner to 1915 E. Passyunk.

DeCarlo is partnered with chef Francesco Parmisciano, whose resume includes 12 years with the Lamberti operation.

Yes, the concept will be Italian. High-end, says DeCarlo, but not high priced. Renovations are underway and he's aiming for mid-May.

In the photo above, Parmisciano is at left and DeCarlo -- yes, he's really in white denim jacket, black shirt crowned with a three-inch gold horn -- is on the right.

Below is a photo of his old sandwich shop, complete with Inquirer honor box out front.

Here's a drive-by of Les Bon Temps, the Center City offshoot of Bryn Mawr's Carmine’s Creole Cafe, which opened last week at 114 S. 12th St., the former TPDS Club. Owners are Carmine's John Mims and lawyer Howard Taylor.

They haven't tinkered with the decor, which I think is one of the most dramatic in the city. Great architecture minds could address the twin balconies that jut over the main dining room. The third floor is being converted to a New Orleans-theme lounge space.

Style is Cajun-Creole.

See my previous posting.

You'd figure that any restaurant open for more than 100 years would have stories.

Dante & Luigi’s, the classic South Philly Italian restaurant, is collecting customers' reminiscences through Aug. 30. To enter the Dante & Luigi’s Memory Contest, e-mail danteandluigis@breslowpartners.com to obtain an entry form. Submit the form, with name and contact information and story (no more than one page). A panel will judge the entries, and finalists will be notified and invited to a reception in September where the winning entries will be shared. Prizes will be awarded for great stories that will be used in promotional materials to demonstrate the history of the restaurant.

Some history, courtesy of our archives: Victoria and Michael Di Rocco opened in 1898 at Eighth and Salter Streets. In 1909, they moved to the southwest corner of 10th and Catharine. Two years later, they moved to the present location at 762 S. 10th St., in a building that was previously a select boarding school and a Baptist home for wayward girls.

It was run by the Di Rocco family until Connie and Michael La Russa took over in 1996.

Food & Drinq is certain that the La Russas are looking for quaint love stories. So we'll get one doozy of a NON-love story out of the way now: The restaurant became a part of Philly crime lore the night of Oct. 31, 1989 -- under the previous ownership -- when a gunman, wearing a yellow Halloween mask and black tights and carrying a MAC-10 machine pistol stuffed into a trick-of-treat bag, burst in and shot mobster Nicky Scarfo Jr. eight or nine times as he prepared to eat a plate of clams and spaghetti. Scarfo lived. So does that story. For months after, wiseguys would come in and ask for a table in "non-shooting."

The New York burger chain goodburger has penciled in *May 3 for the opening of its first Philadelphia location, 1725 Chestnut St.

Founder Nick Tsoulos, who's opened four locations in four years in New York, is partnered with Pete Pashalis, who also owns Pietro’s Pizzeria.

Goodburger uses china plates and silverware for in-house dining, and will offer beer and wine.

Goodburger's New York branches got a respectable "18" out of "30" for food in Zagat. Review reads:

Its name represents “truth in advertising” declare devotees of this “funky” East Midtown duo’s “juicy”, “made-to-order” patties; “when you want the grease”, its “tiny” burgers – along with “crispy” fries and “diet-blowing” shakes – “hit the spot”, though a budget-minded few cite prices a bit “high” for “fast food"; N.B. the Flatiron and West 40s branches opened post-Survey.

* CORRECTED ENTRY (4/16/08): OPENING NOW SCHEDULED FOR MAY 3

Disclosure: Michael Klein is the Zagat editor in Philadelphia.

That got your attention.

“8 Days of Eats” is a series of $30 dining deals being offered April 30 to May 7 by restaurants in the South Street Headhouse District.

The kickoff event will be April 29 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the headhouse shambles on Second Street between Pine and Lombard. Restaurants will hand out samples.

Among them: Artful Dodger, Ava, Bistro Romano, Bottom of the Sea, Bridget Foy's, Las Bugambilias, Cafe Nola, Chick's Cafe & Wine Bar, Copabanana, Core de Roma, Django, Downey's, La Fourno, Hosteria Da Elio, Kildare's, Lovash, Miami Cafe, Pad Thai, A Peace of Sole, Sonam, Tori's, Xochitl and Zot.

Here's a reward for those who have been following the creation of the Israeli restaurant Zahav on our blog, "The Making of Zahav":

The restaurant -- still under construction -- will host a public reception for a photographic exhibition by Michael T Regan from 6 to 9 p.m. April 25. (Zahav's address is 237 St. James Place in Society Hill; it's in a low building on the north side of Society Hill Towers, and faces the cobblestone street just east of the Ritz movie theater and behind Positano Coast at Second and Walnut Streets).

Regan accompanied Zahav management on its recent fat-finding (OK, fact-finding) trip to Israel, and he's come back with some stunning work.

Light nibbles will be provided. The restaurant is now up for an "early May" opening.

Inquirer video producer Steven Benjamin, meanwhile, has put together a neat little video of general manager Max Shapiro demonstrating three new drinks that will be on Zahav's bar list.

Click here to go to the blog.

An electrical fire Saturday (4/12/08) has knocked out Mama Palma's, the pizzeria at 23d and Spruce Streets. Though damage did not look like much from the street, the fire spread through the basement and damaged joists -- which means the basement and dining room must be gutted.

Fortunately, Brunella Russo-McCall says, the oven and kitchen were saved.

Russo-McCall says workers are at it almost round the clock, so they hope to reopen in about three weeks.

Hamlet Bistro, which enjoyed a decent three-year run on Emlen Street in Mount Airy, will bow out after dinner Wednesday (4/23).

Chefs Raul Schmalzbach and Jennifer Bostic are getting married and are moving to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

This leaves the bistro's owners -- the chef's brother, Jonathan Schmalzbach, and Jonathan's wife, Janis -- without chefs. They've elected to sell, Janis says: "We never wanted to be restaurateurs." She says they're negotiating with a new restaurateur to take over the space, which previously was Rinker Rock Cafe.

A sharp-eyed reader spotted a banner outside the Mayfair taproom Cappy's (Frankford Avenue at Longshore), heralding the arrival of Shank's & Evelyn's on Friday (4/18/08).

Shank's & Evelyn's?

The South Philly luncheonette on 10th Street between Christian and Carpenter, which just made Esquire's list of top sandwiches in America?

That same Shank's, which Evelyn and Frank "Shank" Perri started in the mid-1960s. ("Shank" was Frank's boyhood nickname, so given because he had trouble pronouncing his "F's.") He passed in 1994, and his widow has run the place since with various female family members.

Jerry Volpe, who's a partner, says he'll do the same sandwich menu: cheesesteaks, roast beef, roast pork, sausage and peppers, hoagies, fried eggplant and chicken cutlet , plus sides. None of the breakfast items, because he'll serve from noon to 10 p.m. daily.

Shank's & Evelyn's in Cappy's, 6901 Frankford Ave., 215-543-9897

The Esquire mention

Michael Schukar, a Florida-raised chef who was last executive sous chef at Tao in Las Vegas, has joined Pod in University City as executive chef.

So why would Pod chef Hiroyuki "Zama" Tanaka cede the kitchen?

Because Tanaka and owner Stephen Starr are planning to open an izakaya -- basically, a fun, casual Japanese bar -- near Rittenhouse Square.

Starr won't spill the name or exact location (lease not signed) but says it's about eight months away.

Tanaka's story is neat. He grew up in Japan and, wanting to learn English, enrolled in classes at Temple University's campus in Tokyo. To advance his studies, he transferred to Temple's main campus in North Philadelphia. He's been with Pod since the beginning, and became executive chef when Michael Schulson left to open Buddakan in New York.

Wash Westers can stalk the corner of 10th and Spruce Streets the week of April 21 for the opening of Kanella, the BYO from Konstantinos Pitsillides, who says he's simply going to open the doors and start cooking. So there. The transformation from Greek diner to Greek Cypriot BYOB may be a modern-day record, as he got the keys to the former Logan's only 90 days ago.

+ + + + +

Notice the construction project on the plot of land bounded by 16th Street, Ben Franklin Parkway and Cherry Street -- pretty much between the Phoenix (which has a Starbucks) and the Mexican Post?

It's going to be a coffeeshop-slash-tourist-info center this summer.

Talk is that this will be the new location of Capriccio, which closed last week in the Warwick after it lost its lease. Through a rep, owner David Wagaman had nothing to say. A spokeswoman for the Center City District, which is behind the construction, said a tenant had not been signed.

Memphis Taproom (Memphis and Cumberland Streets on the border of Port Richmond and Fishtown) opens softly on Tuesday (4/22) at 5 p.m., owners Ken Correll, Paula Decker, and Brendan Hartranft announced in a press release.

Hard opening (full menu) will be Wednesday at lunch.

The joint will feature 10 beers on draught (and one hand-pumped ale)
and an initial bottle list of about 20 craft beers.

Executive chef Jesse Kimball is formerly of Matyson and Lacroix at the Rittenhouse.

Philly Pretzel Factory dropped off a box of soft pretzels today with word that this Saturday (4/26), it will give away three free pretzels to everyone who walks into its 90 stores.

The company expects to use about 20,000 pounds of flour for nearly 100,000 pretzels on what's billed as National Pretzel Day.

For a location, go here.

The timing of the promotion, alas, creates an unfortunate twist for those who observe Passover, which doesn't end till Sunday night.

Talula's Table in Kennett Square, arguably the toughest table in the United States, is getting more national press than owners Aimee Olexy and Bryan Sikora can throw a spatula at.

Franz Lidz's story on Portfolio.com last month went viral and was picked up on AOL, MSNBC and Bloomberg.

NPR read it and now Alex Chadwick will run an on-the-scene feature on his April 22 "Day to Day" show, which airs on WHYY (90.9) at 1 p.m.

I also hear that New York Times Magazine has a feature up for May 18; the photog was out last week.

Olexy says reservations for the market's lone dinner table are "nuttier" than ever. The price just went up to $90 a head. Olexy adds that it probably will be $95 this time next year.

The table is booked fairly solidly a full year out, and they've opened a table in the kitchen for a more casual setting -- same food.

Res tip: Olexy says that they keep a couple Mondays a month open.

A bunch of big openings are on the docket for May.

Here are firm dates of these long-in-the-works, multimillion-dollar projects -- all cooked up when economists were not muttering the "R-word" under their breaths:

+ Maia, the Feury brothers' bistro/market/restaurant off the Blue Route in Villanova, will open to the public May 6, after a May 3 charity event. (I first wrote about this project in September 2006.)

+ Table 31, the Georges Perrier-Chris Scarduzio steakhouse/bistro in the Comcast Center, will open May 18 for beverage service with the related Plaza Cafe; the official opening will be June 3. (First mention, May 2006.)

+ 10 Arts, the Eric Ripert-fronted new American in the Ritz-Carlton, will start dinner May 20; breakfast and lunch will come on June 9. (This project was a fast-tracker, having been announced May 2007.)

+ Chima (say it "SHEE-ma"), the posh Brazilian churrascaria (steakhouse) at 20th and JFK Blvd., plans a soft opening Memorial Day weekend. (First reference: May 2006.)

Chef Bobby Flay visited the Pop Shop in Collingswood in January to challenge owners Bill "Stink" Fisher and Connie Correia Fisher to a grilled-cheese-making contest for his Food Network show Throwdown!

The Fishers brought out The Calvert -- one of their dozens of varieties. It's made of roast turkey, avocado, bacon, jack cheese and balsamic mayo on foccacia.

Flay's version had goat cheese, Brie, bacon, watercress and green tomatoes on pan bread.

Flay won.

The Pop Shop put the Flay sandwich on the menu last week, after the April 13 premiere of the episode.

Connie Fisher says they sold 259 of the Flay sandwich and 257 Calverts. "Flay beat us again!" she said, delighted at the exposure.

Photo from Food Network

With the assortment of films shooting in town, which restaurant is the biggest celeb hangout?

One contender of late has been Tinto and Amada, the always busy rooms owned by Jose Garces. Lauren Graham brought Jeff Daniels to Tinto a couple of weeks ago just before they started filming The Dream of the Romans, and Luke Wilson brought his Tenure co-star David Koechner to Amada, followed by drinks at Xochitl.

But Monday night, the major buzz was at Rouge on Rittenhouse Square, where Demi Moore and Parker Posey were spotted having al fresco drinks followed by dinner. They're in town to play sisters in the film Happy Tears, which starts before the cameras next week.

At lunchtime Monday, Graham, dressed in black, swiveled heads merely by walking along Sansom Street near 18th, one hand propping a cell phone and the other toting one of those "thank you very much" bags containing takeout. I'm not sure where she took out from.

But then, since Tenure is shooting in the suburbs, its stars are spreading the business around. Wilson has become a veritable honorary local in central Montco after he lunched Friday at Phil's Tavern in Blue Bell, which has been there pretty much since William Penn was in nappies. Wilson returned for dinner, went out to work, and came back yet again, staying till 2 a.m.

Wilson and Koechner cut wise in the dining room last week at Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor.

And how about Sunday night, when Morgan Freeman dropped into Plate in Suburban Square -- Ardmore? -- with a friend Sunday for the short-rib special. He also spoke of playing golf at Merion. And the same night, President Bill Clinton, folksinger Judy Collins, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D., Texas), Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter, and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie -- now there's a group -- rolled into The Continental in Old City for a late dinner with owner Stephen Starr.

Memphis Taproom on the edge of Port Richmond and Fishtown (2331 E. Cumberland St., 215-425-4460) marked its opening Tuesday night with a Flyers win.

Author/wine negociant Deborah Brenner, who founded Women of the Vine Cellars shortly after writing the book Women of the Vine. will host a tasting of Californians at Old City's Ristorante Panorama from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday (4/25). It's part of Panorama's “Friday Night Flights" series; tickets ($35) are available here.

+ + + + + + +

Radio station WXTU (92.5) and the Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce will host a Delaware Valley ICS (International Chili Society) Regional Chili Cook-Off, concert and festival (including beer garden) from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday (4/26) at the college (1400 Tanyard Rd., Sewell) to benefit a slew of charities.

Concert will feature country artists Sara Evans, Jason Michael Carroll, Sarah Johns, Lost Trailers, Wanted and Chelsea.

Tickets in advance are $25 per carload (that's up to five people including children); go through
www.delvalchilicookoff.com. At the gate, if it's not sold out, it will cost $45.

.

Philly Pretzel Factory's pretzel giveaway on Saturday (which happens to be National Pretzel Day) may have a happy outcome for Jews who observe Passover, which ends Sunday night.

A rep of the company says that anyone who goes into a Philly Pretzel Factory store on Saturday (4/26) may leave his or her name and return on Monday to get the promised three free pretzels.

Now then:

Would this qualify as a business transaction, forbidden on the sabbath?

Food & Drinq will leave that dilemma to rabbinical scholars.

Photo: www.roadfood.com

The wall sign for Zahav just went up on the building on the north side of Society Hill Towers, and the timing is right for a photo exhibition by Michael T Regan/open house tonight (4/25).

Zahav, whose creation has been chronicled since last winter in the blog "The Making of Zahav," will open May 5.

Here's a look at Toscana 52, which just opened at 4602 Street Rd., just west of Route 1, in Bensalem (215-942-7770). Owners are Mario Longo and his son, Riccardo, who also have the Italian Bistro chain, Toscana in Cherry Hill, Tuscan Tavern in Blackwood, and Tuscan Brick-Oven Pizza in Mullica Hill.

Riccardo Longo said they travel home to Tuscany every year and wanted to re-create a Tuscan experience in Bucks. The bar area has a cozy lounge (see top photo), though the bar itself holds up to 75 and features 40 wines by the glass, wine flights, eight sangrias on tap and a champagne-by-the-glass and champagne cocktail list.

It looks old world (stone, wood) with some urban edges. The main dining room, which can accommodate about 150, has as its focal point a large pergola, under which is an illuminated onyx marble community table (bottom photo). There's also a 5-foot-tall, ultra-private booth they call the "Mayor's Table" because it's reserved for the mayor of Bensalem (rank has its privileges), and a heated outdoor seating area featuring a three-tier waterfall.

Modern Tuscan menu features crudo (Italian sushi), grilled fish and meats, pastas and homemade desserts. The "52" stands for 52 additional feature menus (one every week) focusing on the cuisine of 39 Italian cities plus 13 cities outside of Italy (e.g. Paris, Napa, Madrid and Rio). Prices are all over the map, topping out in the low-$30s. It's open for lunch and dinner daily.

Now, wrap your head around the idea that this used to be a Bob Evans.

Ken and Skip Snockey of Snockey's Oyster and Crab House, on Second Street near Washington Avenue in South Philly, are marking their family's restaurant's 96th anniversary by rolling back prices to 1912 levels Friday through Sunday (May 2-4). Hours will be 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

The 1912 menu consisted of fried oysters, fried clams, large oyster stew, small oyster stew, large clam stew, small clam stew, half-dozen raw oysters, half-dozen cherrystone clams, half-dozen little-neck clams, deviled crab, pork chop platter and steak platter.

Each party of two can order one item from the 1912 menu at 1912 prices when they order the same item from Snockey's present-day menu. There's a limit of one offer per party of two.

You'll see quaint prices, like a dime for a half-dozen raw oysters. According to a purchasing-power calculator I found, a dime in 1912 is worth $2.21 in 2007 dollars (the last year it calculates).

So that 10-cents-a-half-dozen tab really was cheap by today's standards. Snockey's now gets $5.75 for six little-necks or cherry stones. The large oyster stew that cost 25 cents in 1912 is now on the menu for $8.50. A 1912 quarter in 2007 dollars is $5.51.

Snockey's, 1020 S. Second St., 215-339-9578

Been dying to write that headline for 25 years now...

Saudi Prince Nawaf bin Mohammed showed up late Saturday afternoon at Jim's Steaks on South Street. The prince, president of the Saudi Athletics Federation and the Saudi ambassador to the U.K. and Ireland, was here because the Saudis fielded runners in the Penn Relays for the first time.

Abner Silver of Jim's reports that a security guy called first because the prince wanted the "Philly cheesesteak experience." When they arrived, they realized that the Philly cheesesteak experience involved waiting in line, so staff ushered them behind the counter to watch the cooking. The prince, dressed in a leather jacket and T-shirt, got a cheesesteak-wit and ate it there. Before leaving, he wrote a note in English and Arabic: "This is the best ever in my life. We'll come back next year."

Cebu, which for several years has occupied the gorgeous room at Second and Chestnut Streets that formerly houised Rococo and World Fusion, is steering its menu this week from Filipino to one they're calling "dipping grill."

That is, you order a meat, poultry or vegetarian entree and it's served with three dipping sauces from a list of 30. Chef de cuisine Wilfredo Encarnacion has concocted some savory (such as a honey red wine reduction or capers piccata), sweet (chili garlic butter, mango coulis), and spicy (such as tomato curry sauce or the tamarind chipotle).

Bonefish Grill does something similar with part of its menu.

Prices start at $17 for vegetarian delight, including asparagus, red peppers, onions, bok choy, Napa cabbage, mushroom, tofu and zucchini. There's wood-roasted salmon at $21. Highest price will be seafood combo ($30), which includes jumbo prawns, scallops, mussels and clams. Most entrees are $21 to $23.

The Midtown Village corridor of 13th Street -- home to Bindi, Lolita, Tinto, Capogiro, El Vez and Vintage -- is about to get so much cooler, probably as soon as next week.

It's called Apothecary (102 S. 13th St., at the corner of Drury), and it's a cocktail restaurant.

That's right. Not a wine bar or a gastropub or a steakhouse or whatever it is that everyone else is doing.

If you fancy the notion of slamming shots or quibbling over the nuances of (insert the name of the two microbrews your buddy has never heard of but you do), you'll be in the wrong place.

The concept harkens back to the old-fashioned apothecary as the place to find cures for what ails you. Apothecary, therefore, will be a literal and figurative take on this in both the food and drinks.

Bartenders -- think of them as pharmacists -- will whip up drinks such as a RustOleo, consisting of Beleza Pura Cachaca, Flor de Caña Nicaraguan Rum, honey liqueur, açaí, fresh blueberries, lemon, with chocolate molé bitters and European bilberry extract. The fresh blueberries are antioxidants, right? And RustOleum is an antioxidant-type paint, right?

There also will be bottled cocktails -- mixed ahead and sealed into bottles. And yes, they will have a few beers on tap. They're using Kold-Draft ice cubes, a process that will make your eyes glaze over. Basically, the cubes are made upside-down, allowing air pockets and impurities to filter out, resulting in a colder, purer cube.

The food menu is similarly whimsically healthful-sounding: A panini called Dr. Cacao’s Sweet Blessing contains hazelnut chocolate, marshmallow, olive oil and salt. A snack called Universal “Pastilla” Panacea contains a few ingredients that are believed to ward off Alzheimer's: crispy phyllo, chicken custard, moroccan spice, raisin, almond. The photo shows a panini called "Centersun Supplement Secret," which has smoked salmon, caraway mustard and cranberry jam.

Prices are not fixed yet. Doubt they'll be aimed at the budget-boozin' crowd.

Owners Sam Shaaban, president of the design firm URBANSPACEDEVELOPMENT, partnered with restaurateur Bruno Pouget, brought in a duo known as the Tippling Bros. to create the cocktail list. Steve Cameron, chef at Blue in Surf City, N.J., and a partner with Pouget and Todd Rodgers in the future spot called Noble on Sansom Street, set up the food.

During my walk-through Friday (4/25), much of the place was in the usual pre-opening frenzy. In the top photo, that's Tippling brother Paul Tanguay behind the downstairs bar. The color is pretty much found throughout both levels. The construction, which included adding half the second floor, progressed amazingly smoothly; the project only has been in the works about six months.

In the bottom photos, that's a sampling of the bitters that will be used; a "RustOleo"; and a look at the upstairs bar. There's also a roof deck overlooking 13th Street.

Menus to come.

Zahav, the nuevo-Israeli restaurant that's been the subject of an Inquirer blog since last November, is saying May 5 for the opening.

Zahav's menu is a tasty-looking assortment of skewers, hot and cold mezze, salads, four different kinds of hummus, grilled sardines and Yemenite soup, and family platters of pastilla with rabbit and prunes, whole chicken and whole fish.

Skewers, the priciest single items, are $13 to $17, so figure on $35 a head. The bar will stock that Mideastern knock-'em-on-their-bottom favorite, Arak.

The fancier room off the main dining room is The Quarter, which will do a $65 prix-fixe menu that changes weekly. Examples might include Lobster & Mahleb, a preparation that infuses sweet and delicate lobster meat with the flavor of ground sour cherry pits, or sweetbreads wrapped in crispy chicken skin and served with tahini, or a poached egg in chicken consommé flavored with Yemeni spices.

Here's the main Zahav menu in PDF format and, for those who like things simple for a print-out, a web version

Here's the Zahav cocktail menu as a PDF and as web page.

And here's the dessert menu as a PDF and as a web page.

Reservations are now being taken through the website or through OpenTable.

Chef-brothers Patrick and Terence Feury, with managing partner Scott Morrison, are looking for a May 6 rollout for Maia (789 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, 610-527-4888), their long-in-the-works, bi-level Euro-style restaurant, cafe, coffee bar and market. (That's Patrick Feury at left in the photo of the restaurant, with Scott Morrison in the middle and Terence Feury at right; photo by The Inquirer's Sharon Gekoski-Kimmel.)

At 22,000 square feet, Maia is one of the largest non-supermarket food operations around, and one of few with valet parking. (This is the Main Line.) Among investors are Michael Wei, Jerry Holtz and Richard Caruso, all behind Nectar, Tango, Basil Bistro and Yangming.

It'll be open daily from early morning till late night.

At Maia, you walk in past a coffee bar with baked-on-premises pastries. In the back is the market, which has a communal table made of babinga wood and what I'm told will be an enviable beer selection. The partners envision this area as a daily cocktail party.

Decor is a mix of industrial and rustic. Behind the coffee bar is the bar area with bistro seating (entrees $10 to $21). Upstairs, serving dinner only, is the restaurant proper with a second bar, underlit with fiber optics and made of white onyx. A strip of incandescent ice glows from the center of the dining room's long, dark-wood communal table. There's a fire pit out back near patio seating.

The restaurant menu (entrees $10 to $34) focuses on Western Europe, basically Germany to Scandinavia. The all-day bar menu ranges from $6 soup to $26 lobster en croute.

Patrick Feury's resume includes Le Cirque in New York, Les Olivades in Paris, Suilan at the Borgata in Atlantic City, and Nectar in Berwyn. Terence Feury worked at Le Bernardin in New York, and in Philadelphia at the Grill at the Ritz Carlton and Striped Bass. Sommelier Melissa Monosoff was recruited from the Four Seasons' Fountain.

A draft on the main dinner menu -- whose final prices are still being worked out -- includes:

+ salads: (cress, field greens, endive); soups (potato-based mussel, and vegetarian mushroom with the broth poured tableside).
+ apps: eel & foie gras; baby ravioli; linguine with lobster; peeky toe crab tortellini with braised baby artichokes; Dutch herring; double-headed prawns); a raw bar and raw fish (including sliced scallops, a terrine of raw fish, smoked tuna loin, house-smoked salmon,and cured wild striped bass).
+ entrees: halibut cooked in fata paper; citrus-cured salmon; seared scallops; lobsters with sun choke en croute; wild striped bass en crepinette; herb grilled tuna; monkfish; black sea bass; filet mignon with kobe short ribs; roasted guinea hen (from Four Story Hill Farm) and Jamison lamb.

In photos below: Morrison is at the restaurant's podium, fashioned from heavily burled walnut; Andrew Wood, who does the charcuterie (proud that his first pig arrived on April 5); and a long table in the bar in the restaurant on the second floor.

May’s issue of Conde Nast Traveler lists Philly's usual suspects Tinto and Rae on its “Hot List” of the world’s best new restaurants.

Also in there, among such notables as Merkato 55 in NYC and Spruce in San Francisco, is Bolete in Bethlehem — yes, Bethlehem, Pa. — a six-month-old husband-and-wife-run New American restaurant in a 200-year-old building from Allentown native Lee Chizmar and his wife, Erin Shea, both of whom were last in Boston and craved small-town life.

Shea says a friend who's a New York publicist got Bolete on the editors' radar, and someone came in for a review.

As you'd imagine, the phones have been ringing since the issue was released a few days ago and now it's "super-booked" on the weekends. Tables are available during the week. Bolete can accommodate 40 to 50 in the main dining room, plus 20 in its tavern, which serves a small menu.

Conde Nast rhapsodizes over roasted cauliflower soup poured over a panko-dusted fried quail egg, caviar, sautéed leeks, and pancetta; lamb chops atop rich spaetzle and carrot puree; and day-boat scallops paired with risotto and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. Entrees are $25 to $36 and starters are $9 to $18.

Whoever runs the gaucho costume concession in town is looking at some serious business.

Chima, the Brazilian-by-way-of-Fort Lauderdale steakhouse coming to the Kennedy House (20th and JFK side), is looking to debut May 27. Here's a rendering of the exterior. Say it "shee-ma."

The high-arching churrasco concept is similar to that of Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian-by-way-of-Dallas chain that opened in late 2006 in the former Caldwell's space on Chestnut Street at Juniper. The restaurants are built around a huge salad bar and strolling gaucho-outfitted waiters bearing cuts of meat.

Differences: At Fogo, patrons are given discs that are red on one side and green on the other. When the card is green, gauchos will approach with meats. When patrons are full, they turn the card to red. At Chima, the "go" side of the card is orange and the não mais side is black. Fogo advertises 15 varieties of meats, while Chima claims 16.

Prices will be comparable. Fogo charges $48.50 for dinner ($29.50 for lunch), and Chima is looking at $48.50 for dinner as well. Chima will be dinner-only in the early going.

The John Harvard’s location on Lancaster Avenue on the Devon end of Wayne, which closed in December, will get a new occupant: Joe Carney of Carney’s Cape May and Steve Finley of Finley Catering.

They're not talking specifics, or even mentioning the name, but promise a complete renovation.

They expect to open in September or October.

(Now how about someone taking over Shiraz?)