Food and Art

POSTED: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 6:32 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art | Openings
Pizza Brain on TwitPic
Our Jan. 21 post on Brian Dwyer's in-the-works Pizza Brain garned great reaction, so we figured we'd share this draft of the Fishtown pizza hub's mascot, named "Peppy." (It's by artist Ethan Harper.) Pretty sure this is what the inside of our skull would look like on an MRI.

Little Skeezers
Posted 2011-02-02 21:30:48
The pizza community has been begging for this day.
While there's always room for another place to get a great slice in Philadelphia, it seems like the people of the world are finally going to have a Mecca worthy of pizza pilgrimage.
Anthony Bourdain's gonna be all over this, and so will that blonde spiky haired dude from the TGI Fridays commercials. 
WE EAT WHAT WE LIKE!

Little Skeezers
Posted 2011-02-02 21:33:04
In addition to Peppy I think they need a classic mythology complete with a Hamburglar-style villain and a sidekick.

Tom Dwyer
Posted 2011-02-02 17:19:05
Ditto on the T-Shirt.  LOve the LOGO

Sarah
Posted 2011-02-02 18:09:21
I have had this condition before. Pizza Brain seems to run in my family. There will be some days when I will sneeze and whole slices of pizza will come out my nose! The worst time I ever got pizza brain was when I got a large chicken and white sauce pizza. I got pizza vision along with pizza brain and proceeded to eat the entire thing. I hope Peppy does a better job of controlling his pizza brain!

Tony Perkis
Posted 2011-02-03 00:43:22
whoa sick...reminds me of that pizza brain logo.

Ethan Harper
Posted 2011-02-02 15:32:00
Thanks everybody! :)

P.S. As the article states, this is not the FINAL image/mascot for our dear, future pizza shop, but simply a first daft (the 'red on his head' Bridget mentioned is just some reflected light off the ink in the photo I took with my cell phone);  Updated/final version to come!

benriz
Posted 2011-02-02 08:33:44
he's so ready to eat the slices that are INSIDE his head, what a dominator.

Penelope
Posted 2011-02-02 08:18:28
looks like an old tex avery cartoon! brilliant!

Ethan Harper
Posted 2011-02-02 08:41:34
Friends!  Philadelphians!  'Za-loving countrymen!  Lend me your brains!

:)

Let me know what you think of our preliminary 'Peppy' here, won't you please?
And spread the word about the 'Brain, from the wilds of Philly to...the ends of the known galaxy!

Hope you like it (and will do that for us),
looking forward to seeing you all in the fall (when 'Pizza Brain' will hopefully open),
and thanks for stopping by, Philadelphia ;)

~Ethan

Bridget
Posted 2011-02-02 14:09:22
Yum! except the red on his head makes me think of blood and then sauce..ewww! I love it though!

!stplace
Posted 2011-02-02 11:54:49
Kind of what goes on in my head all day! I love it

Ghostblaster
Posted 2011-02-02 12:01:51
Duuuuudes!

This makes me want to be a pizza brain surgeon!

Can I get an MRI with all the toppings?!

Do a brainwave scan and you'd be hearing something that sounds like the fat boys rapping over a remix of the TMNT theme song... HOTTT!

Brian Kelly Dwyer
Posted 2011-02-02 12:30:11
I need a PIZZA BRAIN t-shirt to add to my collection!!!!!!!!
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 6:32 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 4:33 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art
"I swear I didn't eat the last slice of pizza!"
Back in the day, the Silk Road stretched from the Mediterranean to Asia, a 4,000-mile network linking European merchants with exotic wares for from-off lands. In February, the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (3260 South St.) — their Egyptology gallery is absolutely sick — premieres its "Secrets of the Silk Road" exhibit, featuring artifacts from the Tarim Basin of Western China. The museum's Pepper Mill Cafe and chef William Brown are embracing the exhibit with a menu that will travel from China to Greece over the next 18 weeks. First up: recreations of edible artifacts unearthed in the Tarim Basin — shades of Dogfish Ancient Ales? — like sweet fried dough twists, plum blossom pastries and savory wontons, all washed down with rare Chinese and Indian teas. We promise they taste better than their 2,500-year-old counterparts below look.
Courtesy of the Penn Museum
fried dough twists
Courtesy of the Penn Museum
wonton
Courtesy of the Penn Museum
plum blossom pastry

Tweets that mention Archeologically inspired eats at the Penn Museum :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com
Posted 2011-01-27 13:21:40
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by pennmuseum, pennmuseum and pennmuseum, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Archaeologically inspired eats at the @pennmuseum: http://ow.ly/3LnDi [...] 
Posted by Adam Erace @ 4:33 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Friday, January 21, 2011, 8:32 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art | Openings
Photo | Drew Lazor

Last time we checked in with Kenzo artist Brian "Brain" Dwyer (above), he was organizing a hugely popular pizza-themed art show at Rocket Cat Café. Now, the serious 'za enthusiast and ginger bon vivant is taking the next big step: opening his own pizza place.

Dwyer and three partners recently signed an agreement of sale for an address in Fishtown (they don't want to say exactly where just yet in the press, but know that it's along the main Frankford Avenue drag), and the space will host Pizza Brain, a combination pizza shop, pizza memorabilia museum, arcade and performance space that Dwyer says will both celebrate and preserve the "culture around pizza." Dwyer is a serious pizza memorabilia enthusiast (that's him above brandishing just two of hundreds of his pizza-themed LPs; he's investigating whether he can create a category for pizza collectibles in the Guinness Book of World Records), and the plan is for Pizza Brain to display a prominent portion of his 'za cache. But he admits that he knows little about the actual challenges of opening and operating a pizza restaurant, which is why he's partnered with Joe Hunter, a Charleston transplant and biz vet who's ran shops down south.

While Hunter will focus on developing the menu (they want to do both grab-a-slice pies and fancier artisan stuff of varying circumferences in an open kitchen setting), Dwyer will concern himself with the entertainment aspect of Pizza Brain, which'll accommodate between 30 and 50. He is currently shopping around for pizza-themed arcades games (he's already secured a Plinko-esque Ninja Turtles Pizza Drop machine), and says the backyard area of his Fishtown hub will be home to a live performance space dubbed — wait for it — "Masterpizza Theatre." He wants to stay open late-ish to accommodate the hordes of Fishtown kids who gravitate further south toward Girard for their nightly entertainment. This is all very preliminary, but if everything goes as planned, Dwyer hopes to have Pizza Brain open by the fall of 2011.


Fishtowner
Posted 2011-01-24 17:51:35
This Bitch from the fucking white ghetto would appreciate you shutting the fuck up. THAT is MY opinion. I like my hood, am 3rd generation Fishtowner, college graduate who makes more $$ in a week than you probably make in a month. Your opinion is offensive, and in the proper company could get you beat up. So stay away, we don't like your kind (ignorant & rude) here in our urban oasis.

Kenya
Posted 2011-01-24 14:40:58
East Kensington?  Really?

Crusty
Posted 2011-01-26 11:05:46
GET THIS BAND TO PLAY! PHILLY PIZZA PUNX

myspace.com/pizzafaceband

BRAIN
Posted 2011-01-28 12:27:33
I know allll about pizzaface! that 'pizza bong' song is a total hit. 'pizza pit' is great too.
me and ben (the brains behind it) just started talking via facebook. turns out we're both red heads.
definitely pizza brothers, separated at birth. all competition will be destroyed.

BILLY
Posted 2011-01-21 23:20:31
PUMPED! OMG PUMPED!!!!! PIZZA POWER

JIM
Posted 2011-01-21 22:07:12
YOOOO!! i used to play that pizza drop plinko game at chuck e. cheese ALL THE TIME! holy crap. so pumped to see that thing in action again. it's been like 15 years for me. Score.

GingerBread
Posted 2011-01-21 18:58:10
Seriously grow-up!  Always an asshole that needs to act like a jerk.  There are a number of different people here in East Kensington now.  Take the act elsewhere.  Also to reiterate what km said try Franco's.

BRAIN
Posted 2011-01-21 18:20:03
INCREASE THE PIECE!

DSR
Posted 2011-01-21 16:41:41
lookin' dank my Dub man! Fire away!

DANIELLE D. D.
Posted 2011-01-21 16:36:29
oh, you can rest real easy. i have tasted and i've seen the goodness of joe hunter's pie abilities. he brought his stone over to my house a few weeks ago and whipped up a bunch of his creations. the 'buffalo '66' slice was ridiculous. and the 'macho man randy sausage'! BONKERS. it's so totally legite. philly pizza scene won't know what hit it. specially all those bogus fishtown shops.

shawn kilroy
Posted 2011-01-21 16:01:13
at last, there will be a decent slice of pizza in that fucking white ghetto.
i hope.

kbug
Posted 2011-01-21 17:33:20
I will be waiting in line on Day 1 to check out the offerings.  I'm thinking Pizza Brain is gonna be my new spot.  Do it big brother.  G.S.D.

km
Posted 2011-01-21 17:31:18
Francos pizza on tulip and huntingdon shaUUUn

Felicia D'Ambrosio
Posted 2011-01-21 15:45:50
I'm envisioning Pizza Brain as the pizza parlor-arcade where Principal Rooney grips up Ferris's girl doppelganger.

Dr. Pope
Posted 2011-01-24 22:31:40
Remember folks: it's all about the pizza.

Pizza Brain’s quite-literal draft logo :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2011-02-01 13:33:08
[...] Jan. 21 post on Brian Dwyer’s in-the-works Pizza Brain garned great reaction, so we figured we’d share this draft of the Fishtown pizza hub’s [...] 

Mike
Posted 2011-01-21 17:04:06
Wow- Fishtown is becoming pretty epic.  Really creative concept here. Nice to see it going down in this community!

Ondessonk Blackrobe
Posted 2011-01-22 09:06:27
Our Living Language:   When people today speak casually of ordering a za, "pizza," they are unwittingly producing an expression that is quite interesting to language historians. Za derives from the full form pizza by a process known as clipping. Two types of clipping are common in English: dropping the unstressed syllables or syllables not receiving the primary word stress, as in fridge from refrigerator; and dropping all syllables after the first syllable, as in ab, dis, porn, and vibe, whether or not the first syllable was originally stressed. In the case of za, the syllable that was dropped was originally stressed and was the first syllable, which is unusual. Rents for "parents," is another recent example of the same kind of clipping. Interestingly, we don't need to stay in the realm of contemporary youth slang to see the results of this unusual process. The words phone, bus, and wig (from telephone, omnibus, periwig) belong to Standard English but had their start as slangy or catchy neologisms formed by clipping stressed syllables, just like za. Who knows whether in fifty years za and rents will be as widely accepted as phone and wig are now? See Note at rent3.

shawn kilroy
Posted 2011-01-22 14:13:11
"Always an asshole that needs to act like a jerk."

i'm not acting. I'm also not name calling.  I'm also not commenting under some fake name.  I'm just stating my opinion.  That's still allowed, right?

Karen and Bill
Posted 2011-01-26 18:43:09
This is the answer to our prayers!!

BRAIN
Posted 2011-01-24 19:28:36
I'M OFF TO BE THE WIZARD. THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF ZAs

BRAIN
Posted 2011-01-24 19:29:33
fishtown actually. as far as real estate lines go. right there on frankford ave. 
right near circle thrift.

BRAIN
Posted 2011-01-24 19:30:48
hey dudes, increase the piece. 

give pizza chance.
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 8:32 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Thursday, September 16, 2010, 6:03 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art | Openings
www.penn.museum
The Pepper Mill Café opened for business this past Tuesday inside UPenn's Museum Of Archaeology and Anthropology (3260 South St.). Run by Restaurant Associates, whose 16-year contract with the Philadelphia Museum of Art just ended (Stephen Starr's got that gig now), Pepper Mill is a revamp of the Museum's café, situated to provide a sweet view of the Museum's inner gardens. Exec chef Will Brown serves a menu of sustainable and regionally conscious fare here, spanning soups, sandwiches, salads, mains and vegetarian options; signatures include a mezze plate (hummus, grape leaves, feta salad, olives, cuke/tomato salad, pita) and arctic char with mango papaya slaw. The Pepper Mill, named after William Pepper, the former UPenn provost who founded the museum, is open Monday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Brown will offer a light dinner menu option, with wine pairings, on the first Wednesday of each month.

Ticket Stubs: Meal Ticket Weekly Recap, Sept. 13-17 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2010-09-20 08:02:05
[...] UPenn’s Museum has a new eatery called Pepper Mill Café. [...] 
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 6:03 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 4:59 PM
Would you like some Napalm Death with that latte? Starting this Sat., Aug. 21,  the much-anticipated Pennsport coffee shop/vegan goodies joint Grindcore House (1515 S. Fourth St.) will open its doors for the first time. To celebrate the event, the House will host an art show entitled PHL: Printers/Haters/Lovers, featuring prints by Philly-based artists that pay tribute to our fair city. The  opening reception runs from 7 to 10 p.m.; we'll have further details on their food and drink offerings soon, but for now, check out Grindcore on Facebook and Twitter.

Ticket Stubs: Meal Ticket Weekly Recap, August 16-20 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2010-08-23 09:02:45
[...] Fried butter at Pete's Pork Roll• IN PRINT: City Paper Food and Restaurants, August 19• Grindcore House opens this Saturday with an art show• Flying Monkey Deuce debuts garden room• Win tickets to tonight's Brewer Master Class [...] 

More on Grindcore Coffee :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2010-08-24 15:49:44
[...] week, Rachel Burgos told you a little bit about Grindcore House (1515 S. Fourth St.), the new all-vegan café in Pennsport. Here’s a little more: Owners Mike [...] 

Tweets that mention Grindcore House opens this Saturday with an art show :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com
Posted 2010-08-19 12:43:53
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anna Johnsrud, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: South Philly's vegan café @GrindcoreHouse opens Saturday with an art show: http://bit.ly/9L7a1v [...] 
Posted by Rachel Burgos @ 4:59 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Monday, August 9, 2010, 6:25 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art | Food News | Openings
Photo | Drew Lazor
The weekend before last marked the official start of Stephen Starr's tenure at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the restaurateur's instituting a unifying French/Euro theme throughout the landmark's on-site eateries. For the first phase of the takeover (SRO won the contract from Restaurant Associates, which had held it for 16 years prior), Starr and Co. have tweaked out the upstairs Balcony Café (pictured above) and the Museum Café (the downstairs cafeteria setup). The quick-serve Balcony space features coffee from La Colombe, Premium Steap teas and grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, sweets and the like.
Photo | Drew Lazor
The downstairs space, meanwhile, is beginning to resemble a French market, with butcher-block tables and basketry; touches like subway tiles and chalkboard menus are on the way. The food will reflect the feel, as well, with a made-to-order custom omelette station, salads (nicoise, duck/farro, chopped salad) and sandwiches like the always-tasty Parc Baguette Provencal, a "Le Club" (heehee) with turkey and bacon and a roast beef sandwich with watercress and horseradish aioli. Also expect cheese/charcuterie setups, rotisserie chicken and a regularly rotating selection of hot entrées (beef bourguignon and branzino with fennel onion confit are two recent examples). And don't forget the pastries — profiteroles (above), macaroons, croissants, muffins, biscotti, you name it. Still in the works for Starr are a grab-and-go-type setup in the Perelman building, a makeover of the Museum's main restaurant space (it'll also stay within this French point of reference) and plans to literally roll out a series of food carts that'll dot the Museum's iconic stairs — think mobile operations dishing out coffee, crepes and bombe glacée.

Menu for SRO’s Granite Hill at the Philadelphia Museum of Art :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2010-09-02 15:37:16
[...] Organization has affixed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s main restaurant space. (We broke down all the details on SRO’s takeover of the Art Museum’s eats last month.) Priced up to $26 (for a filet/frites plate), the Euro bistro-style menu features [...] 
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 6:25 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Friday, August 6, 2010, 7:31 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art
parttimestudios.com
Tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. is the opening reception of We All Screen for Ice Cream, a group show featuring ice-cream-themed T-shirts — at Part Time Studios (2031 Frankford Ave.). And, since it would be sadistic to showcase all that cool creamy art without providing the titular snack for guests, Franklin Fountain will be on hand with ice-cold treats. Also serving — My Jello Americans, the awesome name for the awesome duo who makes the most gorgeous and original Jell-O shots you've ever seen (check these things out!).

Tweets that mention First Friday Food Art: We All Screen For Ice Cream at Part Time Studios :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com
Posted 2010-08-06 15:01:17
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper and Diane Menke, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Ice cream-themed art show opens tonight in Fishtown: http://bit.ly/9fxjmF [...] 
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 7:31 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 4:45 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art | Food Events
picklefest.org
This Saturday from 2 to 10, the South Philly art space Storage at 1414 S Darien Street will host the first-ever Philadelphia Picklefest, which will celebrate brined fare in both edible and artistic formats. "Pickles being a summertime food, and [considering] we haven't seen to much art related to pickles, we combined the two," says Storage co-founder Preston Link. On the art front, there'll be plenty of pickle-centric 2-D pieces (paintings, drawings), plus some sculpture work, as well. Try your hand at "pickle hole," a cuked-out variation on cornhole; Link says they'll also hang a pickle pinata, but it will be filed with candy, not half-sours and bread-and-butters (probably a good call). Everyone who's showing at Picklefest has been asked to bring a pickled dish along with their art. Link isn't exactly sure what will materalize, but he believes pickled fiddleheads, pickled eggs, pickled pig's feet, deep-fried pickle chips and even pickled martinis should be on the menu. Admission is free and guests are encouraged to both BYOB and BYOP.

Tweets that mention Saturday: Philadelphia Picklefest! :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com
Posted 2010-06-23 12:32:18
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Amy Strauss and Linus Graybill, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: Saturday: Philadelphia Picklefest in South Philly! http://bit.ly/bxiEeN [...] 

poncho
Posted 2010-06-23 17:27:23
This will be the greatest day ever

Jennie
Posted 2010-06-24 13:03:15
Pickle Juice Martinis are amazing...I'm just saying...

Howard Rissmiller
Posted 2010-06-26 07:28:24
The best pickled sausage and pigs feet in the world is made right across the WW Bridge in Gibbstown, NJ - Wagner's Provisions.

Ticket Stubs: Meal Ticket Weekly Recap, June 21-25 :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2010-09-08 16:08:25
[...] Don’t forget that Picklefest is this Saturday in South Philly. [...] 
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 4:45 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 3:00 PM
Filed Under: Food and Art
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
Brian Dwyer and Chris Powell are the two artists organizing "Give Pizza Chance," an entirely pizza-themed art exhibit opening this First Friday at 7 p.m. at the Rocket Cat Café (2001 Frankford Ave.). More soon — for now, check out these peeks at some of the pizzalicious pieces from the 25+ artist show. Yes, that is the ED-209 from RoboCop blasting flaming pizzas out of its gun turrets. UPDATE: Here's a link to the full feature on "Give Pizza Chance."

Foobooz » Pizza, Pizza, Pizza
Posted 2010-05-07 11:21:02
[...] Tonight at Rocket Cat Café its the opening of “Give Pizza a Chance,” an entirely pizza themed art exhibit. [Meal Ticket] [...] 
Posted by Drew Lazor @ 3:00 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
POSTED: Friday, April 30, 2010, 2:00 PM
Lovely weather is sure to bring crowds to the Piazza at Schmidts this weekend. Add a burger-eating contest, live music and free food and things'll be packed tighter than beach attire on Baywatch. This Saturday and Sunday (10 to 7 and noon to 7, respectively) will host its first-ever Restaurant Weekend. Stop by and shop the farmers market, then stick around to watch contestants swallow burgers a-la-P.Y.T. in the gluttonous race proprietor Tommy Up has dubbed Burgerdelphia. "But you have to say it like this — Burg-Burg-Burgerdelphiam and do the arm movements," Up clarifies to Meal Ticket (he's referring, of course, to the It's Always Sunny flip-cup episode). Pre-contest, he'll be giving out T-shirts and quizzing the crowd with burger trivia; then the gorging begins at 12:45 p.m. More than 150 people entered, but only 10 will scarf to win the Burgerdelphia trophy, $250 cash and $100 P.Y.T. gift certificate. Post-contest, catch Harry Arnold of Darling's Diner recreate his famous cheesecake and other Darling's dishes in cooking demos, then shop lots of great artists and crafters displaying their work and get your grub on compliments of local restaurants. Sunday, vendors are tentatively setting up on Hancock Street, as SundayOUT, hosted by the Equality Forum (see all CP's coverage here) is going down in the Piazza. A full list of vendors and participants after the jump. FOOD Bar Ferdinand (co-sponsor with Yelp) El Camino Real Mixto Apollinare Hikari Rustica Fado Elevation Burger Wine-O P.Y.T. Tiffin Speck Varga Bar Tommy Gunns Darling's Diner ARTS/CRAFTS/CLOTHES/ETC. Rack N Roll Clothing Philly Phaithful Brainstorm Print Diva Chic Jewelry Metropolis Soap Designs by Ilan MH Tshirt Designs The One Eyed Turtle Pia Vintage Jetty Clothing Blacktiques Cathy Gabor Glass Cabin Fever Hula Hoops Tyler School of Art ROOT liquor The Olive Oil Shoppe Philadelphia Greyhound Connection Alex's Lemonade Michael Solomon Art Overdue Industries Keystone Kettle Corn

Serious noms: BURGERDELPHIA competitors announced :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper
Posted 2010-04-30 14:27:10
[...] vote out for APO's Preston Eckman• Zama commits to the world's only sustainable bluefin tuna• May 1-2: Restaurant Weekend at the Piazza at Schmidts• Amuse Bistro debuts May 6• Early word on Tweed• Giving amidst decadence at the [...] 
Posted by Marie DiFeliciantonio @ 2:00 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About this blog
Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews herethose are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to caroline@citypaper.net.

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