|
|
|
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Kris throws tomatoes, Trey Songz hangs tough, Paranoia eats, shoots and leaves
At the Amorosi household, we grow 14, count 'em 14 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. That's why I was ultra-curious about my neighbor chef Kristian Leuzzi's celebration of the red fruit fresh picked from New Jersey.
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Kris throws tomatoes, Trey Songz hangs tough, Paranoia eats, shoots and leaves
At the Amorosi household, we grow 14, count ‘em 14 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. That’s why I was ultra-curious about my neighbor chef Kristian Leuzzi’s celebration of the red fruit fresh picked from New Jersey. At first I was insulted about the idea of the chef going outside the neighborhood for tomatoes. But Leuzzi nailed it and proved why Jersey’s such a formidable foe. His Kris’ at 11th & Federal recently restarted his longtime operation (it used to be Kristian’s) with the guys from East Passyunk’s Stogie Joe’s now in on the operation. For Kris’ first big specialty dinner (ongoing through Labor Day), Leuzzi chose a Four-Course Jersey Tomato Dinner with a simple but elegant salt cod and tomato carpaccio with pickled red onion to start, a tomato bruchetta with pan seared dry scallop, a like-mom-made baked rigatoni featuring Jersey tomato, Scamorza, local zucchini and fresh basil and a chicken cutlet Milanese with lemon aioli, Jersey tomato salad and spicy dandelion greens that was truly amazing. Next time I’m trying it with the Italian microbrew Tenute Collesi Imper Ale Rossa.
Speaking of the neighborhood, South Philly’s James Darren plays in Vineland, N.J. on Aug. 24 at the Landis Theater. It’s been a minute since he’s played here but surely the 10th & Ritner native will be up for it what with a Concord label album due for 2013.
That Travel Channel show that La Colombe Coffee owner Todd Carmichael was filming in his Rittenhouse Row salon, Dangerous Grounds, just announced its premiere (Nov. 5, 10 p.m.) with Tuesday showings after that. Luckily, he doesn’t just stick to his 19th Street café for its locations. The always-adventuresome Carmichael hits up Borneo and Bolivia amongst other exotic locales for beans.
I’m not sure why this thrills me: Philly.com reported that Spanx, Sara Blakely’s billion-dollar body shaping girdle, is planning to open its first stores in October with the King of Prussia Mall and Paramus, N.J. as its initial homes. Just saying.
I’m excited that the Cheesesteak Corridor of South Ninth is getting an Underdogs in September and Jason Evenchik’s canned-beer and food-cart Garage in November. But jusssssssst a little bit further down that block at 1309, there’s a tiny blue Mexican grocery store that’s great in a pinch. There have been rumors off-and-on that the location wanted outdoor seating, but for what? Word comes after a Passyunk Square Civic Association meeting, that there are new owners and that the restaurant they’re planning will be more sweet than savory.
Anne Frey’s 1 Tippling Place, the quiet cool toast of Chestnut at 20th, finally got its liquor licenses Wednesday night and will be officially open throughout this weekend.
WHOWHATWHERE: With just days left until they leave town until December, the stars of Paranoia are sticking near-by their lodgings with Harrison Ford hitting Rouge, Lucas Till outside Parc and Gary Oldman spied going into Del Frisco’s. Nu-R&B crooner Trey Songz was all over town on Wednesday promoting his new Chapter V joint. First Songz visited POWER 99 in Bala Cynwyd, then he hit up FYE on Broad Street for a CD signing, then he stopped by Vango to hear some cool grooves — his own. Tweens thrilled by Miley Cyrus’ Sherman’s March-like attack on Old City the other day should have been enthused by pop kid Austin Mahone’s visit with on-air jock Maxwell at Q102 FM. Also cramming into Philly’s radio stations was American Idol victor Phil Phillips at MIX 106.1, Marina and the Diamonds who played the Q102 iHeart Radio Performance Theater and Alice Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie who visited the illustrious peackcock-ish Jacky BamBam at 93.3 WMMR.
- Activism
- Arts
- Arts Events
- Books
- Dance
- First Person Fest
- Last Chance
- Museum
- On the Fringe
- Philly Artists
- The Curator
- Theater
- Visual Art
- Arts News
- Artist Profile
- Arts Preview
- Street Art
- Been There, Done That
- Big Ups
- Comedy
- LOL With It
- Stand-up
- Critical Mass
- DVD
- Events
- Friday Fill-in
- Ice Cubes
- In Memoriam
- Interview
- Just Do It
- Just Opened
- Kaleidoscopic
- LGBTQ
- Art Phag
- Mailbag
- Movies
- Film Fest
- Movie Review
- On set
- Scenester
- screening
- trailer!
- Music
- 10 Track Mind
- Album
- Album Review
- Concert Review
- DJs
- Local Support
- Now Hear This
- One Track Mind
- Philly Bands
- Show
- Somebody Else Was There
- Song
- The Showdown
- concert photos
- jazz
- DJ Nights Blogged
- Night Watch
- Now See This
- Poetic License
- Printed Matter
- Radio
- Shopping
- Coveted
- Fashion
- What We Heart
- TV
- 24
- Idol Hands
- Mad Men
- ProjRun
- True Blood
- Useless Lost Recaps
- Couch Potato
- Shore Trash
- Turned ONN
- TopMod
- Video Games
- Free Online Game
- PSP
- PlayStation 2
- The 1-Upper
- Wii
- Web Junk
- CAGE MATCH
- Free Online Toy
- Weekend Omnibus
- Win
