Just a quick reminder to head down to Penn's Landing this weekend for Taste of Philadelphia. A full food roster is available online. Check it out.

The great Philadelphia restaurant cull of 2007 continues. The Astral Plane's last day in business will be Sunday, July 1. They're shutting down after Sunday brunch. The restaurant, a 34-year-old Center City/Graduate Hospital institution, is closing its doors due to a decline in sales.

Astral Plane [MenuPages]
Astral Plane [Official Site]

Do you think you love bacon? Jill Barron of Chicago's De Cero restaurant and this guy probably have you beat.

Chef d'Oeuvres [New York Times]
Aaron's Tattoos Are More Awesome Than Yours [A Full Belly]

[Photos via Tom Schierlitz / New York Times & A Full Belly]

Click To Play

Mark and Audrey of Cheap Dates just put out their latest video guide to (yup) cheap dates in Philly. On the agenda this week: Penn's Landing and the Moshulu.

Cheap Dates [blip.tv]
Moshulu [MenuPages]
Moshulu [Official Site]

One of America's oldest breweries is for sale on Craigslist. Well... it might be. Joe Sixpack has some background info over at the Daily News on the "was it a brewery or wasn't it" question about the house in Burlington County, NJ:

The evidence is sketchy.

There is nothing in the house that shows any sign of beer-making. It's possible the brewery was razed completely and this old house was built in its place.

But Kimmel points to the location of the original main entrance, on the side of the house, as proof of its age. If it was a re-built house, he said, you'd expect the door to face toward the street and the scenic river. Instead it faces toward the location of what historians believe was the old malt house.

Could this really be America's oldest standing brewery?

"If it's true, it's certainly very exciting," said Dale Van Wieren, an area beer historian and author of "American Breweries II," a chronology of American breweries. Currently, he said, the title of oldest standing brewery goes to the Patrick Creagh house in Annapolis, Md., circa 1749.

Gregg Smith, an author who has written about American beer history, said it's possible Kimmel is on solid ground. "But then again," he said in an e-mail, "most substantial farms and settlements had one and could in one way or another make the same sort of claim."

Either way, the Craigslist post makes a great read. Recommended.

Did this old house make brewing history? [Daily News]
The Oldest Brewery Building in the United States, 1690s [Craigslist]

[Photo via Curt Hudson / Daily News]

There's something to be said about old fashioned, hardshell ground beef-and-cheddar-cheese tacos. We just found a fun little ode to tacos at a blog called The Homesick Texan. Here in Philadelphia, El Azteca II and Johnny Manana's are our go to spots for American-style tacos.

The good, the bad & the puffy [Homesick Texan]
El Azteca II [MenuPages]
El Azteca II [Official Site]
Johnny Manana's [MenuPages]
Johnny Manana's [Official Site]

• The cooking at tiny Conshohocken BYOB Blackfish garners comparisons to Thomas Keller and Alice Waters. Rather impressive.

• Center City's newest sushi restaurant, Vic, gets high marks.

• Cacia's Bakery just opened a branch in Northern Liberties. This one has more than tomato pie: It also has a full restaurant menu and (gasp!) seating.

• Fight leukemia at Penn's Landing by eating ice cream.

• Philly's top five non-traditional watermelon preperations.

• How to turn your child turning vegetarian into a newspaper article.

• Food & Wine and Philadelphia magazine recently co-hosted a reception at Osteria.

• A whole host of new restaurant openings.

With Disney's Ratatouille arriving in theatres, it makes perfect newspaper food section sense to write about ratatouille. The Daily News rescues us with their piece about the Provencal vegetarian classic:

The title dish is rib-sticking, peasant vegetarianism. Simply cook tomatoes, zucchini and other squash slowly in a stove-top skillet with the glories of the South of France: olive oil, peppers, onion and herbes de Provence, especially thyme. (The dried herb blend, which usually includes rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme and sometimes lavender, is available in the spice aisle of most grocery stores.)

Ratatouille (pronounced ra-ta-TOO-ee) is nearly idiot-proof. In all the years it has been a staple in our house, with many ad hoc variations, it has gone wrong only if I hurried the cooking down to 10 minutes.

Do Ratatouille Right [Daily News]

Quick news from Michael Klein over at the Inquirer: Felicia's in South Philly (Italian) and Restaurant M (New American) in Center City are both closing. Felicia's will be replaced by a bar and the former Restaurant M space will be used by the Morris House Hotel for private events.

Inqlings [Inquirer]
Felicia's [MenuPages]
Restaurant M [MenuPages]

• MP: Boston is getting retro with Jell-O.

• MP: Chicago found a damn fine beet salad.

• MP: San Francisco reports on the goings on at the California Culinary Academy.

• The firecracker roll is the dish to get at Uzu.

• Let's give a hearty welcome to the Headhouse Farmer's Market.

• Examining the dietary habits of construction workers.

The Korean food at Upper Darby's Pojangmacha just got some love from Philadelphia magazine:

After testing my shot protocol a few too many times, the men announced that we needed some food with our drinks. Like its Korean compeers, Pojangmacha sells cheap booze and street food, the point being not to eat dinner but to put something in your stomach to brace for the drunkenness. I was completely at the whim of my new friends, who could have ordered “fish bone water,” “some kind of curly thing from a shell,” and “barbecued cow tongue, like steak,” my best understanding of some of the items on the menu, written only in Korean. These foods may be common on the other side of the world, but they’re about as rare in Philadelphia as an experience like Pojangmacha. We settled, instead, on budae jigae, or “troop stew,” a spicy, brothy noodle dish studded with hot dogs and Spam. I’m not a hot dog fan, and I’d only tasted Spam once before in my life, but I finished my bowl and went back for seconds. The men kept asking if I liked it, smiling when I told them yes. I was convinced I was ready to brave the carts of Dongdaemun Market, 7,000 miles away.

Seoul, Upper Darby [Philadelphia]

[Image via Gianluca Foli / Philadelphia magazine]

Now here's something. Stephen Starr is opening a restaurant in Florida. The Starr Organization has inked a deal with Starwood Hotels that will bring one of his properties to the upcoming W Fort Lauderdale. Word is that the restaurant will be either a branch of either Buddakan or the Continental.

Starr is a busy man. He's also busy at work opening a New York branch of the Continental and, we hear, in negotiations to open yet another restaurant in the upcoming W Philadelphia.

Starr Heads South [Down By The Hipster]

The Melrose Diner, which has supplied generations of Philadelphians with greasy morning breakfasts and 2am burgers, has a new owner. Richard Kubach, Jr.—whose family founded the restaurant in 1937—sold the Melrose to local diner magnate Michael Petrogiannis. Petrogiannis also owns the Mayfair Diner, the Country Club Diner, Tiffany Diner, the Warminster West Diner, and the Michael's chain of diners.

Melrose Has New Owner [Inquirer]
Melrose Diner [MenuPages]
Melrose Diner [Official Site]

Service Tuesday is a new weekly feature where the MenuPages Blog scours the classifieds for industry jobs of note in the Philadelphia area. Without further ado, here's the goods...

• CC sushi standby Fuji Mountain is hiring servers.

• Servers with a background in wine have an opportunity over at the London Grill.

• Metropolitan Bakery in Fishtown needs a pastry assistant and some bakers.

• Rouge on Rittenhouse Square is hiring line cooks.

• Lastly, if you've got Excutive Chef chops, Stephen Starr has your number.

As Starbucks continues their steady rise to global dominance, the coffee chain has been keeping up by regularly adding new menu items. After this past spring's introduction of hot breakfast sandwiches, Starbucks decided to up the ante. Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce Starbucks salads?

Nationally, the company will offer a pair of salads: a tomato mozzarella salad containing fresh mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes and basil and a Southwestern variety containing roasted corn and black bean salad topped with grilled chicken.

The new series of salads are currently undergoing test marketing in the midwest but are expected to make their way to the east coast shortly.

Salads to perk up Starbucks menu [Chicago Tribune]

Chow decided to go for the obscure international wines with a look at the wines of Israel. It turns out that to go after the international market, many Israeli winemakers have been producing non-Kosher wines (that are subject to much fewer restrictions) that can compete with other regional wines from Italy, Greece and Cyprus on their own terms. The Yarden brand creates a high quality blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc called Katzrin. Also recommended are the Pinot Noirs of Galil Mountain Winery. Most of these wines are available through state stores in Pennsylvania.

Here's to the Holy Land [Chow]

Local smokers are going to have things a bit easier. According to Inquirer reports, Harrisburg has put major curbs in Philly's smoking ban. So what does this mean for your average Philly smoker? Basically, you're now free to light up in cigar bars, private clubs, bars where food makes up one-fifth or less of gross sales (!), charitable fund-raises where cigars are sold and one-quarter of the gambling floor at slots parlors. All in all, good news for dive bar-loving Philly smokers.

Senate acts to curb Phila. smoking ban [Inquirer]

• The fish and chips at Aspen? They're damn good. [Foodaphilia]

• Do Koreans make blood sausage? Yes. Yes they do. [Foodzings]

• Drinkin' at the Moshulu. [La vie a Philadelphie...]

• It's old-school style Queens Village upscale bar food at For Pete's Sake. [Mac & Cheese]

• Reviewing the upscale Indian of Palace At The Ben. [Philly Style]

[Photo of Aspen's mac & cheese fish & chips via Foodaphilia]

It's not overgeneralizing to admit that New Jersey's liquor laws are far better than Pennsylvania's. Unlike here in Pennsylvania, Jersey residents do not have to depend on a state monopoly of liquor stores and can even shop for beer at grocery stores. But some parts of New Jersey still have restrictive liquor laws in regard to restaurants and bars (what are called "consumption licenses") and are working to change it. The Inquirer reported on Moorestown's efforts to revoke the town's dry status. Encouraged by the example of Cherry Hill, they hope to attract high-end, Stephen Starr-type restaurants to town.

More towns catching liquor-license buzz [Inquirer]

Man, the Inquirer just can't get off the foie gras beat. Their newest contribution to the ongoing foie gras-mania of 2007 is a piece on the possible health risks of foie gras. The London Grill's Terry McNally is quoted.

Is foie gras a health hazard? [Inquirer]

Center City Basque pinxto/tapas bar Tinto just got the full review treatment courtesy of Craig LaBan and it made him want to say wow. Here's the deal:

Even short of that trip to Paris, I had to restrain the urge to leap up from my chair. "Wow!" was the word most commonly uttered between bites over the course of my meals, from that first flaky taste of the complimentary phyllo tubes infused with Mahon cheese that came with smoked tomato cream dip to the last sugar-rolled cube of jellied Txakolina wine.

Tinto [Inquirer]
Tinto [MenuPages]
Tinto [Official Site]

Over in the Inquirer, there's a nice little eulogy for the Wynnewood Pharmacy. One of the last old-fashioned pharmacy lunch counters in the Philly suburbs, the Wynnewood is a bit of pre-war culture that survived into the new century:

The soda fountains behind them are original, made by the Fischman company of Philadelphia, their swan necks a graceful reminder of an era when the city was a manufacturing giant. All around, the walls and machines track time's passage. An old ad touts Tab. A soda dispenser has a label for Lemon-Up.

Here, you can still order an egg cream, the classic soda-fountain concoction that contains neither eggs nor cream. Grilled cheese with bacon? Coming right up. Sliced-egg sandwich? Sure. And you can have any kind of salad you want - as long as it's tuna or chicken.

Regulars come for the food, but not just for that. Though the lunch counter doesn't possess anything that might pass for fine-dining ambiance, it abounds with friendliness.

The Wynnewood Pharmacy closes for good at 5pm today.

One last lunch together [Inquirer]
Wynnewood Pharmacy [Philly Magazine]

[Photo via Jonathan Wilson / Inquirer]

• MP: Boston makes us hungry for Portugese food.

• MP: Chicago reminds us that Mrs. Salman Rushdie is hot and gets Midwestern with a walleye pike sandwich.

• MP: San Francisco has the scoop on Food & Wine's top 100 chefs.

Mark Bee, proprietor of the newly reopened Silk City Diner and North Third, just sat down with Citypaper to discuss his venture:

When the Bees moved here in 1980, it was a rough neighborhood.

Silk City was still DeeDee's Diner — a truck stop that closed by 3:30 p.m. The bar was nothing but a hole serving booze breakfast and liquid lunch.

The Bees were a Kensington-born (B Street and Allegheny Avenue) family who lived for a spell in Atlantic City and Margate (Mark went to Holy Spirit High School in A.C.) before returning to Philly and new digs below Spring Garden.

"Actually I went to a vo-tech in Margate," says the bearded Bee, with a grin, about specializing in the most dangerous but profitable brand of plumbing: underground stuff. "I figured college would've been wasted on me."

Not so coincidentally, we now have Silk City's menu.

Mark'd with a Bee [Citypaper]
Silk City Diner [MenuPages]
Silk City Diner [Official Site]

[Photo via Citypaper]

How to order coffee in Spain [Chez Pim]
Apamate [MenuPages]

[Photo via Chez Pim]

Marge: What's brunch?

Jacques: You'll love it. It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you would get at breakfast, but you get a good meal.

The Simpsons love brunch and so do Philly chefs. The Daily News polled local chefs including Rae's Dan Stern (who is a big fan of the Royal Tavern in Bella Vista), Todd Fuller of Tangerine (whose brunch of choice is at Standard Tap) and Andy Brown of the White Dog Cafe, who digs Sabrina's Cafe. Surprise of the day: Both Michael Solomonov (Marigold Kitchen) and Marc Vetri (Vetri) picked dim sum spot Lakeside Chinese Deli as their go-to brunch.

Chef's brunch faves [Daily News]

• Does NE Philly's Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse have some good barbecue? Hells yes. [Foodaphilia]

• There's no jerking around at the Jamaican Jerk Hut. [Foodzings]

• A taste test of potato chips from the UK. You know, crisps. [Mac & Cheese]

[Photo of jerk chicken platter at Jamaican Jerk Hut courtesy of Foodzings]

It's a t-shirt smackdown, and only one may survive.

T-Shirt Smackdown [Epicurious]

Breaking: First Look at the Comcast Center's Table 31 [The Illadelph]
Philly Skyline [Official Site]

• Dear Citypaper, please never reference Bartles & Jaymes in a review of a winebar again. Thanks.

• What's the food like over at Smith's? It's pretty good, actually.

• Snackbar chef Jonathan McDonald is making on-demand food video for Comcast.

• Your new gastronomic trend for summer '07? Sliders.

• What to drink at Port Richmond's Veteran Boxers Association.

• Ch-ch-ch-changes: Over on South Street, The Table is gone and Ly Michael's is going to become Billy Wong's.

• The Mann Center has a new caterer.

• Where to go for a good picnic basket in Philly.

• MP: Boston tipped us off that Zach Braff is gonna direct a Dunkin Donuts commercial starring Naomi Campbell. Wait... Naomi Campbell eats donuts?

• MP: Chicago gets all William Safire with a discussion on Pinot Noirs vs. Pinots Noirs.

• MP: San Francisco checked out a rather fine Chinese bakery.

Times wineblogger Eric Asimov is feeling pretty surly. His newest post? A list of personal dislikes. Among them? The word "crispy", grill marks, plastic seltzer bottles with ridged bottoms and frozen margaritas with salt on the rim. It's like an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", only in blog form. Needless to say: blog bitterness is awesome.

Some Things Should Change [The Pour]

• The verdict on 707 isn't too good: Brian McManus says it looks great but "dinner's a bust."

• It's time for Swedish food with umlats at Midsommarfest.

• An overly-comprehensive guide to karaoke in Philadelphia.

Take one cheesesteak from Ishkabibble's Eatery. Wrap it in a slice of pizza from Lorenzo's and Sons. What do you have? The result is the local specialty known as the "Philly Taco". Over at Cho-Tabetai, they photoblogged eating the Philly Taco. Need we say it's amazing?

The Philly Taco [Cho-Tabetai]
The Philly Taco [Slashfood]
Ishkabibble's Eatery [MenuPages]

Ardmore's Suburban Square shopping center (home to the Ardmore Farmer's Market, Trader Joe's, Plate and others) has been sold for $210 million. Meanwhile, John Street is trying his best to make sure that Michael Asbell does not serve prison time for the Pier 34 tragedy. Disney is promoting their new Ratatouille with a contest whose grand prize is dinner for two at Brasserie Perrier. The kids are gonna love that! The comments threads over at Philadelphia Will Do are pretty damn weird and Metro has the scoop on a hard-shell crab fest at Gayle.

Service Tuesday is a new weekly feature where the MenuPages Blog scours the classifieds for industry jobs of note in the Philadelphia area. Without further ado, here's the goods...

• The Oceanaire Seafood Room needs a sous chef.

• BYOB Pumpkin is hiring servers.

• Tria's new branch has openings for cooks and host/hostesses.

• Manayunk's Couch Tomato Cafe is hiring counterpeople.

• Derek's needs a manager.

Over at Chow, they've put together a guide to diner lingo. It covers some well-worn territory... but if you don't know what a "whiskey down" Or "whistleberries" are, this is the time to find out. Best of all, they include pictures of San Francisco's Dottie's True Blue Cafe as well. Here in Philly, we have plenty of diners for your greek omelette & cheeseburger deluxe loving purposes.

Decoding Diner Lingo [Chow]

It looks like the University City District is getting in on the tourism blogging game. They just launched Breakmyroutine.com, an online guide to West Philly attractions. It looks like they already have plenty of food-related content up... and they asked one of the questions that has always been bugging us: Why the Wurst House is now the Best House. Brilliant punnage aside... We miss it.

Breakmyroutine.com [Official Site]

[Photo of Koch's Deli via Bridge & Tunnel Club]

South Philly dive bar The Dive (yup) is in trouble with Licenses & Inspections. A bar patron on Phillyblog reports:

It was a pissed off neighbor, called L & I and got him shut down for some faulty wiring and some code issues with the 2nd and 3rd floor, he was able to open back up just the 1st floor by building a wall to cover the stairs to the 2nd and 3rd floors, those two floors will be closed probably for about 2 months while they get the wiring and everything up to date. The neighbor apparently complained that the patrons wasted parking spots, (most of the customers there either walk or ride bikes) and that they were loud and causing problems outside the bar... which I think was VERY rare at that bar. In any case, the bar is open again.

So if you're down by Passyunk Avenue and feel the need for cheap drinks and Adult Swim, please be good.

The Dive [MySpace]
The Dive is closed... [PhillyBlog]

Everyone's favorite food critic, Craig LaBan, has some problems. Several months ago, the Inquirer critic mentioned City Avenue steakhouse Chops in a sidebar to a review of another steakhouse and said he had a bad meal. LaBan really didn't like the strip steak there. He called it "miserably tough and fatty."

So what did Chops owner Alex Plotkin do? He sued Craig LaBan, saying that the critic really had a "steak sandwich without bread." The case has dragged on for the past couple of months, but LaBan was forced to give a videotaped disposition for the public record on June 5th— without a disguise. As you might gather, that is rather bad for a food critic, who depends on anonynmity to fairly judge restaurants. Both the Philadelphia Weekly and Philafoodie are offering detailed rundowns on the case. In the Weekly, Philafoodie author (and lawyer) David Snyder notes the disposition is a savvy move on the part of Chops:

"To me, as a lawyer, this looks like a tactic—it was a tactic for them to take his videotaped deposition. If you know the guy on other end of the lawsuit needs to protect his identity, this is a great way to put your thumb in the wound to try and leverage some kind of settlement, and that’s troubling."

If anything, that restaurants take such pains to identify LaBan, and the best they can come up with is a 10-year-old photograph, may prove just how valuable a commodity his anonymity really is. It also suggests that if a current video of LaBan talking and answering questions were aired in a public courthouse—as one could be in the near future—restaurateurs figure to pack the seats.

Craig LaBan Unmasked? [Philadelphia Weekly]
An Update on the Chops v. LaBan Lawsuit [Philafoodie]
Chops sues LaBan [Daily News]
Serving You Tonight Will Be Our Lawyer [NY Times]
Chops [MenuPages]
Chops [Official Site]

[Image via Philadelphia Inquirer / Philafoodie]

We keep wondering what a biscut bowl would be like. Photo is courtesy of Phillyist of the KFC at Broad St. & Girard Ave.

Proofreading Philly [Phillyist]

Sunday's Inquirer includes a piece on meatball offerings at different Philadelphia restaurants. Amada's albondigas, llama meatballs at Bridgewater's Pub, Deuce's veal meatballs and London Grill's "Meatball Mondays" (with chicken-prosciutto meatballs) all get the nod. But the article seemed a bit familiar... Where did we see something about meatballs just a week or two ago? Oh, that's right.

Made-over meatball rolls back on the scene [Inquirer]
The Expanding meatball Universe [New York Times]

The Inquirer journeyed out to Chester County to take a look at Brandywine Prime. BP's chef Keith Rudolf recently got to cook at New York's James Beard House, but Inky food critic Craig LaBan ended up having some serious issues with both the service and the food:

From the service to the food, our meals were a disappointment. The waitstaff, dressed in silly uniforms of white chef coats and baggy jeans, is friendly enough. But our young servers were so inexperienced, they looked terrified and uncertain as they brought food to our table, tongues pinched between their lips in concentration as the china rattled in their hands. I saw more fumbled wine glasses shatter in a single night at Brandywine Prime than in six months of prior meals combined.

[...]

So many other ingredients, though, seemed to be wasted on the pretense of fussy fixings. If a chophouse goes to the trouble to serve an excellent cut of beef - and Brandywine's dry-aged cuts were good, but shy of exquisite - why drown its flavors with heavy-handed sauces and garnish? Brandywine Prime lays all of its steaks over a pool of fruited demiglace as thick as motor oil, then tops them off with a slice of oozing herbed butter the size of a credit card. And they're all so strong, you could hardly taste the meat. It didn't help that the rich gravy had already acquired a skin and gone tepid, as had the cookie-cutter vegetable garnishes.

Brandywine Prime [Inquirer]
Brandywine Prime [Official Site]

[Photo via Gerald S. Williams / Inquirer]

Here at MenuPages, we'll admit that we have a Proustian yearning for Entenmann's cakes. Their chocolate cakes, apple pies and donuts showed up in many people's childhoods here on the east coast. But did you know that the Entenmann's family owns a vineyard on Long Island that actually makes some quite passable wine? The Martha Clara Vineyards are owned by Robert Entenmann. No word as of yet on whether PA state stores stock any of their wines; interested parties might have to travel to New York for purchase. Their current offerings are quite extensive.

Martha Clara Vineyards [Official Site]
Donuts, and Cakes and Grapes, Oh My [Gothamist]
Entenmann's [Official Site]

[Photo via Gothamist]

Over in State College, the Penn State Creamery is the local ice cream institution. Owing to Pennsylvania's heritage as a largely agricultural state, PSU has the largest university creamery in the nation. The Associated Press' Robin Crawford just interviewed Tom Palchak, the manager of the Creamery:

Recognizing a good thing, the Creamery got busy coming up with new flavors - 10 to 12 a year for the next 10 years or so. Some, like pumpkin pie, were good; others, like carrot cake, were not so great and were quickly retired. Today, there are more than 150 flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and no-sugar ice cream on file at the Creamery, but only 25 or so on the menu at any given time.

That seems to be plenty for customers, who buy more than 750,000 hand-dipped cones at the store each year (45,000 are sold during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts alone). All told, 180,000 gallons are consumed just on campus every year.

If you can't live without a daily dose of Death by Chocolate, give Palchak a call and he'll give you the recipe. "The formulas are public," he said. "It's a public university, so technically, they belong to the public."

Although you'll have to travel to State College or order by mail to sample the Creamery's wares, we do have one local import from the town—Center City restaurant the Pita Pit.

Meet the man behind good taste at Penn State [Inquirer]

[Photo via Nabil K. Mark / AP]

Glenmorgan Bar & Grill on the Main Line just got a visit from Classic Wines. In the video clip above, sommelier Tara Sindoni talks about her restaurant and how extensive wine lists aren't just for the city.

Glenmorgan Sommelier Interview with Classic Wines [YouTube]