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We're Here to Help
You might want to eat light at brunch this Saturday — The Piazza's P.Y.T. is hosting the second annual Philabundance Cupcake Smash from 1 to 5 p.m. For $20, you can taste competitive cupcake offerings from professional and amateur bakers alike and cast a vote for the "People's Choice" winner. A pro panel, meanwhile, will determine the ultimate victor — this year's judges include CP's own Drew Lazor, P.Y.T. owner Tommy Up, Leah Kauffman of Phrequency, Tony Luke Jr. and Wendy Rollins of Radio 104.5.
Outdoor food vendors will be on site for your non-cupcake needs (they're donating 50 percent of profits to Philabundance), and free drinks from PBR, Fuze, St. Germain and Barefoot Wine will be circulating, too. Last year’s Smash sold out early and amassed $3,400 in proceeds, which provided 6,800 meals to folks in need living in the Delaware Valley. Tickets at philabundance.org/cupcakesmash.
On April 4 and 5, 10 local restaurants are teaming up with Young Friends of Team Jamaica, a support group helping young people from Caribbean nations attend and participate in the very-big-deal Penn Relays. With assistance from sponsors and diners, the Team Jamaica Bickle group (bickle = food) is able to fly more than 500 student athletes from countries like Trinidad, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Grenada to Philly to compete in the relays; the funds also cover costs like accommodations, meals and transportation.
Each spot participant in Caribbean Restaurant Nights will feature special island-inspired dishes (Gigi in Old City is doing an entire food relaunch, featuring jerk chicken and lime/beer-marinated ribeye, for example) and will donate 10 to 15 percent of their nightly gross food and alcohol sales to the aspiring runners. See who’s participating after the jump.
Stephen Starr's newest endeavor, Route 6 (600 N. Broad St.), is hosting the first of three special happy hours tonight to benefit Teens 4 Good. For the second year in a row, Starr employees are participating in the Broad Street Run with T4G as their choice charity — it's an organization that helps teens turn vacant city lots into gardens that grow healthy, accessible food for their communities. Tonight's happy hour, which goes from 5 to 7 p.m., is a fun way to help out without actually running anywhere (except maybe to the bar). Yards and Victory have donated beer and they'll also have a not-yet-named pomegranate/orange/vodka cocktail available. One hundred percent of sales from the select beer and booze will benefit T4G; you can also donate on their FundRazr page.
Photo: Neal Santos
On March 31, the Philly chapter of the National Association of Asian American Professionals is hosting its first-ever dumpling-eating contest to benefit the Prodigy Program, a mentoring initiative that matches members of NAAAP with local students in coalition with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Going down at Chinatown's Sang Kee (238 N. Ninth St.), the event will crown first-, second- and third-place eaters and will be followed by a dumpling tasting for non-stuffed attendees. We're telling you about it early because the deadline to RSVP (for the contest or just to watch) is this Friday. It'll cost you $30 to compete for dumpling-inhaling supremacy and $15 to spectate ($10 if you're a NAAAP member). Email mang.chang@naaapphilly.org by March 23 to sign up. Wonder how many dumplings the victor will end up consuming ...
Photo: Drew Lazor
Do-gooder group Philly Stake (we told you about them last year) is up to its philanthropic, food-lovin' ways again with its latest nomadic dinner party planned for Sunday, March 2 at the First Unitarian Church (2125 Chestnut St.). Menu should be sured up by mid-month, when half the $10-to-$20 tickets will go on sale online. (The rest will be available at the door.) Guests will hear proposals from various individuals and community groups, and after a vote at the end of the meal, one of the projects earns the proceeds from the event. Cool, right? Grant awardees from November's Philly Stake include Sink or Swim Philadelphia, a web-donor fund for uninsured/underinsured Philadelphians; and Girls Rock Philly Library, a multimedia library focused on empowering women through music.
Have a worthy project that needs funding? Stake is accepting proposals from March 4 to 11. (Get details on their website.) You can also try for individual grants for creative endeavors at the new Small Stakes, a mini version of Philly Stake starting this Saturday, March 3 at Shot Tower Coffee (542 Christian St.). It goes down from 7 to 9 p.m., and the $10-to-$20 sliding-scale tickets can be purchased at the café.
It seemed pretty simple for Bridget and Albert Coccia back in January. The couple, married 21 years, worked together at Albert's family's Frankie's Seafood Italiano and had just opened their own breakfast/lunch nook, The Cup and Saucer (743 S. Eighth St.). The banner was raised, the menu finished. Then, one morning, about two weeks ago, a sign appeared on the door of C&S that informed customers they were closed for a "death in the family." Seemed a shame that they had to deal with such tragedy after so soon after launching a new business.
We didn't know just how deep the tragedy ran until the owners, who have since reopened their café, sent out a note detailing the loss: It was Albert's 24-year-old niece, Tiffany Gillespie, who was killed in the basement of a home on Mildred Street. Gillespie, a mother of two, allegedly told Aaron Fitzpatrick, 19, that she was pregnant with his child, and he allegedly shot her out of anger. She was pronounced dead on the scene. Fitzpatrick was arrested, charged with murder, murdering an unborn child and weapons violations.
The note in full:
This Wednesday, Feb. 22, Dock Street (701 S. 50th St.) will be hosting a fundraiser to raise money for West Philly-based Books Through Bars, an organization that puts printed material in the hands of incarcerated men and women. As it turns out, dictionaries are one of the most frequently requested reads from those living behind bars, and Dock Street wants to help prisoners with access. Ten dollars at the door gets you a beer and a slice of pizza, and it gets BTB one bound dictionary. The event gets started at 8:30 p.m., with live entertainment from Sourmash and Cask & Co. kicking off at 9.
Photo: Drew Lazor
If you're Jerz this evening, run through Collingswood's Scottish Rite Ballroom (315 White Horse Pike) between 5 and 9 to grub out at the Food Bank of South Jersey's third annual Mac-Off, a mac 'n' cheese competition that supports a good cause on this day of service. Price of admission ($5 for kids under 12; $10 for adults) gets you access to mac renditions from South Jersey restaurants like Tortilla Press, Blackbird, Pop Shop, IndeBlue, Aunt Bertha's, blueplate and more; each chef will create his or her signature comfort-food dish using pasta donated by Severino's. Chef Aaron McCargo, Food Network personality and Camden native, will select the ultimate victor at the fam-friendly cook-off. One hundred percent of proceeds will benefit the FBSJ.
The sober reality of the bar and restaurant industry is that most people who work in it do not have access to healthcare benefits — which makes taking measures against any type of serious injury or illness a stiff challenge. This is where the quick thinking and generosity of in-the-business peers comes in. Phoebe Esmon, head bartender at the Farmers' Cabinet (1113 Walnut St.) and president of the Philly chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, has organized a benefit for her barback Jim Edwards, a Philly restaurant veteran who was recently diagnosed with cancer. This Sunday, Dec. 18, from 7 to 11 p.m., visit Khyber Pass Pub (56 S. Second St.) and take advantage of liquor, cocktail and beer specials — DonQ Rum, St. Germain, Philly Distilling and F-Cab itself are confirmed participants so far — raising money to help defray Edwards' medical bills. Cheers to a speedy recovery.
Nick Normile, Penn student and author of the blog Foodie at Fifteen (now 18), has organized a food-centric event for his Wharton management class that will raise money for HIP HOP Inc. (Helping to Inspire Positive and Healthy Opportunities for Progress), an organization aiming to reduce the dropout rate in West Philly high schools via youth empowerment services. He and a team of 10 fellow students have put together a night featuring food from area restaurants and vendors like Lacroix (where Normile used to stage), Fond, Belle Cakery, Fork, Chabaa Thai Bistro, Gia Pronto, Axis Pizza and Chewy’s food truck.
The event, A Night of Food in Houston Hall, will take place in that building (3417 Spruce St.) on UPenn's campus. Ten bucks at the door gets you all the food you want and all proceeds go straight to HIP HOP. It begins at 9 p.m. this coming Sunday, Nov. 20.
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