Archive for the 'Bite This' Category
May 7
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 5:15 pm posted by Drew Lazor
This year’s DISH — our annual* full-color magazine insert that dabbles in all things diney/drinky here in Philly — hits the streets tomorrow, May 8. But you can check it out right now by visiting citypaper.net/dish. There, you’ll find:
- A look back at the first 10 years of Kensington’s Greensgrow Farms
- Our chat with some of the minds behind the high-concept Apothecary Bar + Lounge, which opens tonight (we’ll be in the house — buy us a drink!)
- The story behind Bridgeport’s Suzy-Jo, which cranks out some of the best doughnuts we’ve ever sloppily eaten
- A lesson on at-home breadmaking from Nick Bronson, professional dough wrangler at Chestnut Hill’s Baker St. Bread Co.
- A profile of the adorable Little Candy Shoppe, owned by the certifiably swoonworthy Robin and Aliza Nahama
- The origins of some of Philly’s coolest restaurant logos
- Foodie gadgets galore (including the knork!)
- A guide to outdoor dining
- and more!
* OK, so we took a few years off.
Posted in Bite This | No Comments »
May 6
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 3:04 pm posted by Monica Weymouth
I’ve spent quite a bit of time finalizing my list of the best slices of pizza in this city. (Plain: Soho; BBQ chicken: Allegro’s; Specialty: Rustica; Eternal back-up date: California, I hope you never find someone to treat you right.)
Anyway, apparently I’m not the only one who agonizes over these things. Created by UArts MFA students Gregory Pizzoli and Ansley Joe, The Pizza Book: An Illustrated Guide to Philadelphia’s Best and Worst Slices is the best thing to happen since mozzarella met tomatoes. Behold:
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| doctorpizzoli.blogspot.com |
The guide — nay, bible — reviews the actual slices, as well as factors such as service, bathrooms and beverage options. Its handwritten pages and occasional sadistic tomato doodles lend it a pizza diary feel:
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| doctorpizzoli.blogspot.com |
You can’t have one yet, but you can pre-order it here. Place it before May 15, and they’ll throw in a screenprint.
Until then, you can catch Pizzoli and Joe this Saturday (May 10, 4-8 p.m.) at UArt’s Gallery One for The Kids Are Uptight, the one-day T-shirt exhibit and sale they’re curating. Other artists include Tim Gough, Chris Kline, Jeff Fry, Ryan Dumas, Michael Deforge and Pierre Richardson, and all designs are Philly inspired.
Posted in Bite This, Arts | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 11:21 am posted by Drew Lazor
Just got word that Apothecary Bar + Lounge (102 S. 13th St.), the "bespoke cocktail lab" from Bruno Pouget and URBANSPACEDEVELOPMENT, will soft-open tomorrow night. The ground floor will be open for business, but it’ll be at least another week until the second floor and roof deck are ready to go.
Check out some of our recent coverage here, and don’t forget to read our feature on the spot in our DISH guide, which debuts this Thursday, May 8.
Posted in Bite This | 1 Comment »
May 5
Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 5:07 pm posted by Drew Lazor
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| Photo | David Snyder |
This Saturday, May 10 will be Jonathan "Jonnymac" McDonald’s last night at Snackbar in Rittenhouse. No fulltime gig lined up at the moment: McDonald, known for creating some of the more daring plates Philly has seen in the past couple years, will do some consulting work over the summer and spend time with his girl and his dogs.
Snackbar owner Jonathan Makar says he’ll have info on his new chef in the next few days.
Pic is JMac eyeing up some Cryovac shallots from David Snyder’s Jan. 24 piece "Foam Over Function," which addressed so-called "molecular" cooking in Philly.
Posted in Bite This | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 2:13 pm posted by Drew Lazor
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| Ain’t that America? |
| Photo | Mary Compton, Southtown Star via AP |
SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) — Bill Bramanti’s favorite beer is Pabst Blue Ribbon. He loves it.
Really loves it.
So much so that he’s already had his coffin
specially made, and it’s designed to look like a can of the trendy
brew. Bramanti isn’t sick, so he doesn’t plan on needing it just yet.
For now he plans to use it as a cooler.
At 5-feet-9 inches tall and weighing 280 pounds, Bramanti has tried it out though.
"I actually fit, because I got in here,"
Bramanti, 67, of South Chicago Heights said. He threw a party Saturday
for friends, featuring his coffin filled with ice and, what else, Pabst
Blue Ribbon.
Posted in Bite This, So Lush | No Comments »
Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 10:37 am posted by Drew Lazor
Lazaro’s,
the popular G-Ho pizza takeout (1743 South St., 215-545-2775), has been
fielding customer requests for honest-to-goodness seating since they
opened. That’s why it’s cool that management recently purchased the
space just east of the storefront with plans to expand. A recent
peek-in revealed a decent-size dining area with two rows of stainless
steel tables and seating for 24. No doubt a vast improvement over the
spot’s current seating scheme, which consists of like two counter
stools. It’ll be ready to go in a few weeks, they say.
Posted in Bite This | 1 Comment »
May 3
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 pm posted by Drew Lazor
 | | cantinaloscaballitos.com |
Si, Cinco de Mayo isn’t until Monday. But Cantina Los Caballitos (1651 E. Passyunk Ave., 215-755-3550) sees no reason to delay the celebration until then. Synchronize your watches: Tonight, the first 15 people who show up for happy hour (starts at 6 p.m.) will get a free pitcher of margaritas (!). White sangria and ‘rita pitchers will be discounted to $14 (they’re usually $24-$28) through Lunes. Manager Kelly Sabatino tells us that they’ll also be doing games, from pinatas to a “guess the number of beans in the jar” type thing with first-, second- and third-place prize packages (the actual contents are a surprise).
Posted in Bite This | Comments Off
May 2
Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm posted by Brian Howard
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| Michael T. Regan |
True Story: In this photo from Michael T. Regan’s photo essay (this week’s CP cover story) documenting restaurateur Michael Solomonov’s culinary expedition to Israel, there is, no joke, an actual Philadelphia Flyers yarmulke. Can you find it?
"It just wandered into the shot," says Regan of the photo, which adorns one part of the wall at Solomonov’s opening-Monday Zahav.
Click the image above for the photo gallery (including snaps not seen in the issue) and here for the accompanying essay written by Pervaiz Shallwani.
Posted in Bite This, Flyered Up!, Photos, CP in the Community | No Comments »
May 1
Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 1:34 pm posted by Drew Lazor
In the first week of April, we pow-wowed with some of the principles behind Apothecary Bar + Lounge
— Bruno Pouget, URBANSPACEDEVELOPMENT’s Sam Shaaban, and consulting
mixologists Paul Tanguay and Tad Carducci, aka the Tippling
Bros. — for a feature in our upcoming DISH supplement. (For those who
don’t know, DISH is our annual full-color food/drink/dining magazine.
It’s got content galore — more on this soon.)
Though you’ll have to
wait until next Thursday, May 8, to check out the story, we figured
we’d wet your whistle with a few shots of the "bespoke cocktail lab,"
opening any day now at the corner of 13th and Drury. Jump!
(more…)
Posted in Bite This | 2 Comments »
April 30
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm posted by Drew Lazor
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| Level 6: Steal the hot purple Lambo and throw Molotov cocktails at Fogo de Chao |
Doesn’t this artistic rendering of Chima Brazilian Steakhouse, opening on Tuesday, May 27 at 20th and JFK, totally look like a screencap from Grand Theft Auto?
Press release after the jump.
Posted in Bite This | 3 Comments »
April 29
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 12:07 pm posted by Drew Lazor
Follow the jump to read about two upcoming drinkity spots — JL Sullivan’s Speakeasy (pictured) and The Institute.
(more…)
Posted in Bite This | 3 Comments »
April 28
Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 1:57 pm posted by Drew Lazor
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| Photo | Lindsay Snyder |
This Friday, Govberg Jewelers hosted a shindig at G celebrating the opening of its branch in the Comcast Center. Running Numerologist Nick Norlen and his girl Lindsay were in the house to check out the highlight of the evening: A 6-foot, half-edible, half-styrofoam Comcast Center crafted by Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes, who you know from the Food Network show Ace of Cakes. Looks like they were filming for an upcoming episode. Norlen says he wanted to try a piece, but since there was talk of not evening cutting the rapturous thing, he bailed before he had the chance. (Mmm, styrofoam … )
More shots after the jump.
Posted in Bite This, television | No Comments »
April 24
Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pm posted by Drew Lazor
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| Fruit! |
| Photo | Drew Lazor |
Yesterday, we dropped by Food & Friends Neighborhood Market (1933 Spruce St., 215-545-1722), which officially opened for business this past Wednesday. (We first mentioned it here and here.) Owner Jay Choi has given the 2100-square-foot space (it used to be Kitchen USA) a serious overhaul — now, it builds more up than out, with tall shelves, spacious aisles and and hardwood floors. It’s still in the very early going, and Choi says his grocery and produce inventory will increase dramatically in the coming weeks. He’s also still waiting on a few nuts and bolts things — mainly equipment/setup to offer deli sandwiches and the bulk of his beer selection (they’ll carry more than 300 varieties — locals, U.S. crafts and international). Hours are 7 a.m. to midnight daily. More photos after the jump.
Posted in Bite This | No Comments »
April 22
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm posted by Drew Lazor
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| ebay.com |
Neal over at MenuPages spotted this eBay listing for Barack Obama’s leftover sausage and waffles from an April 21 stop at a Scranton Diner. "His DNA is on the silverware," the seller assures bidders. Bidding’s up past $20K and rising fast! (Proceeds will apparently be donated to the Democratic party in a 50-50 split between the Obama and Clinton camps.)
I’ve heard that Obama is an extremely healthy eater who quietly bristles when forced to snack on salt-of-the-earth fare with the people on campaign stops, so I give the fact that he ate up a good portion of this meal a thumbs up. He could’ve locked up my mom’s vote by cleaning his plate, though. Anyone read his foreign policy statement on starving children in China?
UPDATE: The seller just ended the auction with a winning bid of $.99. I blame the recession.
Posted in Bite This, Obama v. Hillary | No Comments »
April 21
Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 5:43 pm posted by Drew Lazor
Lost Quizzo at Atlantis: The Lost Bar (2442 Frankford Ave.).
Full details here.
Posted in Bite This, So Lush, television | No Comments »
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