It's Labor Day weekend. Go and do something fun, dammit!

We'll be back on Tuesday.

New Center City Mexi-brewpub Jose Pistolas just got the Daily Candy treatment. It's operated by former Fergie's bartenders Joe Gunn and Casey Parker, and if DC's right — we're looking forward to trying the food:

Make your taste buds happy with homemade sopes served with refried beans, pickled onions, jalapenos, tomato, cilantro, lettuce, crema, and queso fresco. Or sample one of three $4 fish tacos — house-smoked swordfish, red snapper, or tempura-battered grouper.

• MP: Boston is welcoming back college students and hoppin' a ride on the soda train.

• MP: Chicago is on a quest for non-Chicago pizza in Chicago and fresh tomatillo.

• MP: San Francisco found a restaurant where it's roast pork day everyday and discovers a San Fracisco institution facing a massive rent hike.

• MP: South Florida mourns the decline of Krispy Kreme and celebrates really expensive food.

Steve Volk has been keeping busy ever since jumping ship from the Philadelphia Weekly to Philadelphia magazine. In his latest piece for Philly, he interviewed Esquire food critic John Mariani. Some interesting stuff here:

PM: Is Philadelphia a place where a chef can enjoy a whole career and earn appropriate recognition without going to New York?

Mariani: That’s a good question. I think it can be done. You look at a chef like Jose Garces [of Amada], for instance. When guys like that put their personality on the line as much as their style, he’s certainly taken on national significance. Or Marc Vetri [of Vetri and Osteria]. They are an antidote to what Stephen Starr has been doing for the last seven years, in that they are chef-driven restaurants. All due credit should go to Starr for picking up ideas from other cities and putting them in Philadelphia. In the case of Starr, they start around a concept and they are not chef-oriented. More often than not the end result is quite a good restaurant. But the problem with Stephen Starr’s restaurants it that they are huge, and any time you go beyond 100 seats the food tends to suffer. Because the individuality that a chef and brigade of talented cooks tends to wane after that.

High Steaks: Table Scraps [Esquire]

Cheers to G-Ho's standby bar of choice, Bob & Barbara's, on being named one of Maxim's "Best Dive Bars in America." However, bar owner Jack Prince wants you to know it's not a dive bar. Rather, it's an "energetic neighborhood bar." Whatever it is, we appreciate the PBR-and-Jim Beam combos and the whole scene... even if Nate Wiley is gone.

Bob and Barbara's Becomes Maxim-Worthy [Daily Examiner/Philly Mag]
Bob & Barbara's [Myspace]

• It's ethnic adventure time in South Philly with the cuisine of Indonesia.

• Barbecue. Delco. It's Pig Daddy's.

• Those crazy vegans and their cruelty free donuts.

• Chain alert: Goodburger's coming to Philly.

• Those crazy vegans and their meatless jerky.

• Tomatoes and more tomatoes.

• Cute. Godiva is now making s'mores.

• A taste test of green-tea infused foods. Green tea-and-chocolate covered cherries? Green tea pumpkin seeds? Green tea candy? We'll pass.

• Damn. The Jersey branch of Swanky Bubbles paid a cool $1.6 million for their liquor license. Also, new French and Italian restaurants are opening in Bella Vista. Which happens every three weeks or so, but still... just so you know.

A little grocery store action courtesy of Uwishunu. It turns out Ding Ho, a small grocery store on Arch & 10th Street, sells fresh rice noodles to the public... for dirt cheap:

Like other Chinatown minimarts, an odd assortment of goods lines the shelves of the shop: Anything from women’s undergarments to Vietnamese sausage to bean sprouts can be found at Ding Ho. At first glance, the fresh rice noodles — not the packaged fresh rice noodles — are nowhere to be found. On a moveable cart hidden behind the counter, however, stacks of freshly made, glistening-white, folded sheets lay covered with plastic wrap. When the woman behind the counter asks “how much?” she wants a dollar amount not a weight. For rolls, one dollar’s worth will easily feed two people. These noodles, when rolled with grilled shrimp, mint, cilantro, Thai basil, lettuce and pickled carrots and daikon and served with nuoc cham (the Vietnamese dipping sauce made with lime juice, fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and chili sauce), make a delicious dinner. To sample this delicacy, ask the woman for a small ($1) or large ($2) serving of the noodles steaming inside the large rice cooker-like vessel sitting on the counter. The warm noodles get sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and a sauce — a secret sauce — the recipe for which the woman will never disclose. She has admitted that four sauces comprise her creation, and some of these ingredients include peanut sauce, hoisin, and rice vinegar. I would guess that somewhere in that mix is a dash or two of fish sauce.

Chinatown's Best Kept Secret [Uwishunu]

• Do you like cupcakes? Then take a trip to NoLibs for Brown Betty Dessert Boutique. [Finding Philly]

• The owners of Woody's have opened a new restaurant in the Gayborhood named Knock. [Philly Chit Chat]

• Is La Viola the best of Philadelphia's BYOBs? Foodzings seems to think so. [Foodzings]

• High dining, Main Line-style at Blush. [Minor Gourmandry]

• Bistro Romano: "The Cheapest Lobster In Town." Is it any good? Check with Phillyist to find out. [Phillyist]

We were previously unaware of it, but hipster writer favorite (and former Philadelphian) Neal Pollack is now a food blogger for Gourmet/Bon Appetit site Epicurious. For Neal, it's all about gloating all over how cute is kid is... and how he's training the kid in the fine art of food snobbery:

He'll gladly consume any pile of crap that the Cold Stone Creamery serves up, and has no problem eating a bowl of gummy freezer-burned Piggly Wiggly-brand electric-green mint chocolate chip at his Nana's house. If it's cold and sweet, he'll put it in his mouth.

But these are also the glory days of American artisanal ice cream, and Elijah's palate hasn't gone untouched. His best friend's parents own a gelato shop, and not just any gelato shop--Pazzo Gelato, which has deservedly been on Best Of L.A. lists almost since the day it opened. So most of the time, Elijah's eating ice cream made from Valhrona chocolate, Santa Rosa plums, dulce de leche, and whatever else was fresh at the market that day. He's eating white chocolate straciatella instead of Jamoca Almond Fudge, and it costs maybe 30 cents more.

To make matters more pretentious, I sometimes take him to Scoops, an ice-cream shop run by a Japanese chef who makes flavors like brown bread, oolong tea, and his infamous bacon caramel. Bacon-flavored ice cream is overkill for me, much less for a four-year-old. Also, Scoops is kind of a pain in the ass to get to from our house, and we can almost walk to Pazzo. While I admire Scoops and want to eat there pretty much every day, the choice is clear.

There you have it. Hipster Parenting 101.

The Emperor Of Ice Cream [Epicurious]

Interesting. The New York Times reports on the efforts of food scientists to create edible antimicrobal films for foods from natural substances. For instance, thin films woven from a thyme derivative could line bags of spinach to kill E. coli. Alternately, as the Times puts it:

Strawberries could be dipped in a soup made from egg proteins and shrimp shells. The resulting film — invisible, edible and, ideally, flavorless — would fight mold, kill pathogens and keep the fruit ripe longer.

Which seems a bit puzzling to us. Many advances made by food scientists to create safer, longer lasting foods have led to a loss of taste. Compare your average supermarket tomato, bred for a long shelf life and in wax-covered skin, to a delicious farmer's market specimen. Or take milk fresh from a dairy and compare it to the supermarket version. It doesn't add up. In addition, what about the many vegetarian, kosher and halal eaters who might be concerned about breaking their dietary codes? Hmm.

Edible Films With Superpowers [NY Times]

[Image via New York Times]

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal's expose of beer pong entrepreneurs (!), we learned that Philly plays a crucial role in America's beer pong scene. Nah, it's not the antics of all those Penn/Drexel/Temple kids... instead, a local firm named Bing Bong creates beer pong tables for nationwide distribution. Who woulda thunk it?

Thwock, Gulp, Kaching! Beer Pong Inspires Inventors [WSJ]
Bing Bong Tables [Official Site]

• Pho Hoa, the Vietnamese noodle chain that could, has a relatively new South Philly location. But the PW's Kirsten Henri thinks it lacks character.

• New bars for West Philly (that whole Dock Street shizbang) and the Loft District with the new Maker's Local.

• Philly's sexiest margaritas. Sexx-ay.

• Pita Pit needs a bike delivery person.

• Dishwasher Pete, we're calling you. Valentino needs a dishwasher.

• They need a brunch cook over at the Ants Pants Cafe.

• Coquette is hiring servers and runners.

• Old City Coffee needs a barista.

The Craig LaBan/libel suit/critic-unmasked-OMG! story has officially gone regional, folks. New York magazine's Grub Street blog chimed in... by dissing Craig LaBan:

What makes the story especially satisfying, aside from the usual unmistakable air of Philadephia conflict, a city specialty akin to fame in L.A. or status in New York, is the comeuppance it provides LaBan, the worst of all American critics at preening his ridiculous disguises and costumes. We always found the idea of restaurant critics going out in disguise ludicrous, especially the famous ones, like Ruth Reichl or LaBan, whom everybody knew anyway.

However, the problem is that we personally like LaBan. The goofy costumes and willingness to play his persona for laughs point to a levity that's all too uncommon among newspaper food critics. Although there are exceptions, such as the Village Voice's Robert Sietsema and the San Francisco Bay Guardian's L.E. Leone, it's just too damn rare on the whole. In a culinary journalism world filled with automatons who obsess over buzzwords like "locovore" and "artisinal", LaBan's approach is a breath of fresh air.

Philadelphia's Chief Critic Unmasked; Area Restaurants Say, 'Who Cares?' [Grub Street/NY Mag]

[Photo via Philadelphia Magazine]

Philadelphia mag's new food blog, Taste Daily, is indicating that former Restaurant M chef David Katz (pictured) will soon be taking control of the kitchen over at Silk City Diner. If they're correct, current Silk City chef Peter Dunmire will be bounced back to North Third. Except there are a few problems here. Silk City's current menu is based around new-breed American food like hot roast beef sandwiches with gruyere and empanadas filled with pulled pork and sweet potato. Meanwhile, Katz more of a French cooking guy... and Philly says to "expect Katz to significantly revamp the menu."

Coming Soon: A New Chef at Silk City? [Taste Daily/Philly Mag]
Silk City Diner [MenuPages]
Silk City Diner [Official Site]

The Big Mac is celebrating its 40th anniversary. In honor, why not watch a Big Mac commercial from 1975?

Big Mac Commercial from 1975 [YouTube]
An American Icon Of Obesity Turns 40! But Who Cares? It's a Damn Good Burger! [DiscoverInsanity]

Fishtown brunch (and now dinner) spot Ida Mae's Bruncherie just got a shotout from Uwishunu for their homemade potato chips:

What I do need to tell you about is Ida Mae’s potato chips. I know, it’s such a small thing, but it’s important. I am usually disappointed when a restaurant serves a sandwich with chips. It’s like the restaurant is saying, “We like you. But we don’t like you enough to give you fries, which we know full well are more delicious.” And then they throw one of those shiny silver bags of Wise chips on your plate and consider themselves done with you. But Ida Mae’s chips. Holy crap. They’re fresh and homemade and the most amazingly thin potato chips I’ve ever consumed. I think they’re laser cut. And I know this might be sacrilegious to say, but: they’re better than fries. Yes, that’s right: better than fries.

Mmm... Crunchy [Uwishunu]
Ida Mae's Bruncherie [MenuPages]

[Photo via Uwishunu]

Philadelphia Style mag is holding their Hottest Chef Competition. The choices: Rich Landau (Horizons), James Locascio (Barclay Prime), Ian Moroney (Pumpkin), Georges Perrier (Le Bec-Fin), Kevin Sbarga (The Grill, Geno Sena (La Famiglia), Michael Solomonov (Marigold Kitchen), Scott Swiderski (Buddakan), Marc Vetri (Vetri) and Matthew Zagorski (Rouge).

Hottest Chef Competition [Philly Style]

New Philadelphia magazine blog guru A.J. Daulerio is tackling the newest big food trend: vegetarian cheesesteak. Hot on the heels of Citizens Bank Park winning an award from PETA for their animal friendly options, the question remains - what is a vegetarian cheesesteak?

The stadium branch of Rick's Steaks makes their vegetarian cheesesteak with a faux-meat called "Veggie Lean - Beef Style" made from "water, textured wheat protein (wheat gluten, wheat flour, caramel color), natural flavors, spices and salt." We presume other local veggie steak standbys like Gianna's Grille and Govinda's Gourmet To Go use that or a similar faux-meat.

But then there's the practice of creating "vegetarian cheesesteaks" out of cheese, onions, peppers and mushroom on a roll, sans meat - for the price of a regular cheesesteak. It all reminds us too much of when our newly Smiths-listening friends in high school would order Whoppers without the beef patties at Burger King, but what do we know. For a good vegetarian sandwich, hell, it's all about the Uncle Mike at Tony Luke's, anyway.

Mock Steak Mania May Be Ballpark Boon [Daily Examiner/Philly Mag]

Just like Philadelphia's tourism board, Center City steakhouse The Palm is going after the gay dollar. New York magazine's Grub Street blog reports on a new ad campaign focusing on the gay community:

Plus, they want to attract more gays and lesbians. Bruce Bozzi Jr., executive vice president at The Palm, says that “in each community where our restaurants are located, our general managers are focused on building relationships with women, African American, Latino, Asian and gay and lesbian groups.” Just how, exactly, does the Palm plan to sell a porterhouse as gay? Too premature too say right now, but Scott Long, director of the Lesbian and Gay Right’s Project at Human Rights Watch, is a bit baffled. “It’s interesting that they assume that gays and lesbians aren’t eating steaks already,” he says. “Gays eat steak too!”

The national steakhouse chain will also start advertisements on VH1 and a line of new salads aimed at women with names like "Tequila Shrimp" and "Raspberry Lobster Tempura."

Kinder, Gentler Palm Wants Your Gay Business [NY Mag/Grub Street]
The Palm [MenuPages]
The Palm [Official Site]

Over at Portland, Oregon's Voodoo Doughnuts, the order of the house at only-open-at-night carb stop is the bacon maple bar: "A substantial buttermilk long john frosted with maple glaze and festooned with strips of bacon that somehow, magically, retains a welcome crunch." There's also an "Arnold Palmer" donut covered in lemon and tea powder and a "Triple Chocolate Penetration" chocolate donut covered in chocolate glaze and, yes, cocoa puffs.

The donut shop even performs weddings with ordained ministers under a velvet painting of Isaac Hayes and offers Swahili lessons every Monday night.

What's your favorite Philadelphia donut shop? Let us know.

Voodoo Doughnuts [Official Site]
Voodoo Doughnut [Roadfood]

[Image Via Roadfood]

Rick Nichols stepped into the Inquirer's restaurant review shoes this week with a look at Coquette. The South Street area bistro is praised for its good, affordable food:

The point is that Coquette may be just what the neighborhood was lacking, with its honest salads (at $7, the Lyonnaise a light meal in itself), juicy boudin blanc (at $9, a nice plate of juicy white sausage served over warm lentils and mustard-braised lettuce), beautifully seasoned (but non-French!) yellow-tomato gazpacho, and mostly-under-$20 entrees - a decent steak frites, flavorful roasted chicken and light monkfish.

However, Nichols takes a few potshots at readers of eGullet.org who are a "tight cadre of folks eager to show off their knowledge of proper French." What's so wrong with that? If you're going to write your menu in a foreign language, shouldn't it be typo-free? But that's just us.

Also recommended at Coquette: Slow-cooked Portugese pork with clams.

Note to all fussy bloggers: Coquette nicely fills a niche [Inquirer]
Coquette [MenuPages]
Coquette [Official Site]

[Image via Inquirer]

• MP: Boston makes us wonder what Peking ravioli are and celebrates the return of college students to town.

• MP: Chicago breaks the law with forbidden foie gras and examines weird restaurant crime.

• MP: San Francisco is all about quinoa and Anheuser-Busch's new product line.

• MP: South Florida celebrates Pakistani Independence Day and follows up on Top Chef.

Foobooz just reminded us that the Marathon Grill delivers brunch. Salmon and asparagus omelettes to your front door? Breakfast salads? Baked eggs? It's all yours — even at the University City location.

Breakfast in bed [Foobooz]

The world's most expensive ham comes straight out of the hills of Extremadura, Spain. Maldonado ham sells for a cool $160 a pound and is the priciest you're likely to find. Spanish ham producer Manuel Maldonado feeds his free-range pigs a diet of high-quality acorns and then cures their meat for two years; the Associated Press calls them "Spain's poshest pigs." They probably are; the cost of a full leg of ham costs more than four iPhones. While we don't think this ham will be showing up in restaurants anytime soon, we do have some of our own posh pigs here in Philly. Specifically, Tinto's array of Spanish hams, Tria's charcuterie platter and the range of cured meats at Chick's Cafe & Wine Bar.

World's costliest ham triggers pork envy [Boston Globe]
Maldonado Ham [IberGour]

Joe Sixpack just tried out the newly opened Dock Street Brewery:

"Forget the polished brass and marble of Dock Street's now-closed original location next to the Four Seasons in Logan Square. That wouldn't work here.

Located in an old firehouse that most recently housed a farmer's market, the new brewpub has a rough-edged feel to it. Yes, it has undergone extensive outfitting, but the paint on the cement floor is faded, and the original subway-style tiles are dulled with age. An old couch looks as if someone slept in it last night.

Owner Rosemarie Certo was so adamant about the funky feel, she even refused to show off the copper-clad brewing kettle in the front window. "This is not a theme restaurant. It's a working brewery, and we needed to use the space in the rear," Certo said.

[...]

The menu is basic pub fare - wood-oven pizzas, salads and panini. And, yes, they'll be serving those famous trio fries that were so popular at the original Dock Street."

Pub as urban tonic? Cedar Park thinks so [Daily News/Joe Sixpack]
Dock Street Beer [Official Site]

This week, the Daily News' "Chain Gang" column skipped the national ApplebeesChilisTuesdays in favor of something more local — sandwich mini chain Slack's Hoagie Shack. The food turned out to be a mixed bag:

"Slack's new "Godfather" ($6.99) works well either there or to go. Drizzled with oil and piled high with sharp Provolone cheese, prosciutto, Genoa salami, Capicola and roasted peppers on a seeded Amoroso's roll, the "Godfather" was a sandwich we couldn't refuse.

One Gangster said it would replace the standard Italian hoagie he usually ordered.

As for those standard Italians ($5.20), they also scored well.

One Gangster devoured his so fast he clamored for another. Another said the sandwich, although not the best he'd ever had, was far superior to the Italian hoagies at chains like Quizno's and Subway.

Gangsters watching their figures ordered Slack's Cacciatore Salad ($6.25), made with diced, grilled chicken, sweet peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, croutons and Parmigiana cheese. It too traveled well, tasted good and was plenty filling. Way better than those McDonald's/Wendy's salads.

The Meatball Parmigiana ($5) was OK for the price, but the meatballs were spongy and non-descript. Once you've had the meatball sandwich at By George! in the Reading Terminal Market, it's hard to eat one from a different place."

Check out the menus for their Port Richmond, Grant Avenue, Far Northeast, Huntingdon Valley and Springfield locations.

A heap of hoagies from Slack's [Daily News]

[Image via Philadelphia Daily News]

• Don't those homemade donuts from Johnny Brendas look awesome? [I'll Have Another Stout]

• Cantina Los Caballitos is now serving lunch. [The Latest Dish]

• Checking out the Brown Betty Dessert Boutique. [Mac & Cheese Review]

• Is the Philly Phanatic a vegetarian? [Philly Future]

• Dining in Germantown. [Uwishunu]

[Image via I'll Have Another Stout]

If Michael Klein is right over at the Inquirer, New York steakhouse Wolfgang's is in talks to open in the former AAA headquarters at Market & 20th. Opened by longtime Peter Luger waiter supreme Wolfgang Zwiener, the mini-chain (two locations) is in talks with World Acquisition Parners to open in the space. In addition, a branch of Brazilian steakhouse Chima is scheduled to open in early 2008 at 20th Street and JFK.

Inqlings [Inquirer]

Stop the presses: Chefs like fresh produce. The Daily News spoke to Philly area chefs about what they like to grow in their garden. Christopher Lichtman (pictured), of the just opened City Grange, is a big fan of tomatoes. Brendan Dougherty of Chester County's Marshalton is is a fan of blackberries and peaches. Over at Peppers Cafe in Ardmore, owner Kate Rapine is a fan of growing heirloom tomatoes, chard and Brussels sprouts.

The ripe stuff [Daily News]

[Image via Daily News]

• Ex-Monte Carlo Liing Room founder Franco Faggi has a new Italian restaurant in East Falls.

• Rylei: "For Northeasters who desire a slightly fancier place, Rylei is a good bet.

• Fishtown's got a new coffee shop.

• It's time for Cantina Los Caballitos' Tequila Club.

• A lesser known indigenous Philadelphia specialty: The buttercake.

• Celebrate the mystery beer special at Tangier.

• The Copa Too-replacing Jose Pistola's will open on Wednesday.

• All the locavores are going loco over the Head House Farmer's Market.

• Rich? Or at least upper-middle class? Why not get a personal cook.

• Forget the idea of healthy salads with a delicious fried chicken salad. Mmm... heart attack.

• Behind the scenes at the new, improved Silk City Diner.

• Shank and Evelyn's will finally be serving dinner... after about 30 years. It's about time!

• Alcohol: cause of and solution to all of life's problems.

Philadelphia magazine's long awaited piece on Craig LaBan and the Chops libel lawsuit is finally online. An interesting read (and, yes, you can see exactly what LaBan looks like), but the money quote comes from ex-Daily News editor Zack Stalberg:

“I don’t know Craig,” says Zack Stalberg, president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy and former editor of the Daily News, “but he seems like a guy who takes himself too fucking seriously. It’s the disguises that I think are over-the-top, and I have to believe the people in that business know what that guy looks like, so I think it’s just a gimmick.”

With all that said, we sympathize for Craig. A libel lawsuit? Over steak?? It's a crazy world, kids.

High Steaks [Philadelphia]
Chops [MenuPages]
Chops [Official Site]

[Image via Philadelphia magazine]

La Colombe just got some love from the New York Times. The newspaper of record visited the coffeemaker's first New York store and had this to say:

"High-end restaurants around town serve coffee from La Colombe Torrefaction, a Philadelphia importer and roaster that started training baristas years ago to make artful designs in cappuccino froth. Now the owner, Jean-Philippe Iberti, and three partners, including Douglas Wolfe, have opened a relaxed but very focused brick-walled cafe in TriBeCa, where well-made espresso, cappuccino, latte, American coffee and some teas are served, properly, in china cups ($2 to $3.50).

There are no flavored coffees or sugary concoctions. The closest the cafe comes is its modestly sweetened, slushy coffee granita ($3.50). Pastries from Petrossian round out the inventory.

The coffee, both beans and ground to order, is also sold in the cafe: 319 Church Street (Lispenard Street), (212) 343-1515."

Food Stuff [New York Times]

[Image via Fork & Bottle]

Ex-Daily News food writer Sono Motoyama now lives in southern France, where they sure love their snails. So much so that there's even an annual Snail Festival in the town of Bompas. Located near the Spanish border and the self-proclaimed "Snail Capital of the World," it has quite a bit in common with South Philly:

"When I moved here last year from South Philly, I thought I might learn to distinguish between chenin blanc and sauvignon blanc, discover a fabulous recipe for gateau au chocolat, maybe even read Proust en francais. Then at the end of July my husband took me to a cargolade - a snail barbecue - at the self-proclaimed Snail Capital of the World, where a reported 160,000 snails were consumed. Also featured were roving brass bands, scantily clad Brazilian dancers, drunken revelers chugging quarts of pickle juice and more drunken men pretending that snails were snot coming out of their noses. It was sort of like a cross between the Wing Bowl and the Mummers Parade. Maybe I wasn't so far from South Philly after all."

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Not a snail fan? Apparently the merguez and sliced pork belly at the barbecue were awesome.

A snail of two cities [Daily News]

[Photo via Philadelphia Daily News]

While Rick's Steaks fights it out in court with Reading Terminal Market, the restaurant has patched up another feud. The Inquirer reports that owner Rick Olivieri and estranged cousin and Pat's King of Steaks owner Frank Olivieri and have settled their trademark lawsuit. There has been bad blood for a while between the South Philly and Center City branches of the family:

"The trademark infringement suit between the cousins was all the more confusing because of the tortuous biological and corporate lineage. Pat's King of Steaks, The Old Original Still run by the Olivieri Family, is the original sandwich shop opened during the Depression by brothers Pasquale "Pat" and Harry Olivieri. Frank, the owner of Pat's, is Harry's grandson. Rick, the owner of Rick's, is Pat's grandson. The family line divided when Pat and his son, Herbert, (Rick's father) moved to expand and created franchises of Pat's King of Steaks. Ultimately, Pat became more interested in real estate and working as a boxing promoter, and Herbert became a lawyer and active in Republican politics. About 25 years ago, the Olivieris closed the franchises and divided the family business. Harry and his son Frank Sr. (Frank's father) got the original business in South Philly. Herbert opened in Reading Terminal Market in a business originally named Olivieri's Prince of Steaks, a play on the fact that he was King Pat's son."

But everything's been all worked out. We doubt they'll be buddy-buddy at the next family reunion, but hey—it's an end to one of the great Philadelphia rivalries.

S. Phila. cousins settle steak legacy [Inquirer]

[Photo via Philadelphia Inquirer]

• Wanna work as a line cook? Than Django has your number.

• Moriarty's is hiring for servers and hosts/hostesses.

• Ansill promises that if you become one of their cooks, "its not just a job its an adventure."

• Go to Temple? The Draught Horse is hiring.

• If you've ever dreamed of being a waitress at the Melrose Diner, this might be your only chance to live the dream.

Tony Luke's just got written up in Roadfood:

"The local favorite lunch stop, with one ordering window and a few tables of covered outdoor seating, is situated below the interstate with rumbling of 18 wheelers passing by-- giving it a diesel smell, but a convenient location for area workers to have a hearty sandwich. The ordering process is fast-paced-- have your order ready when you approach the front of the line and be ready to pick it up immediately when your number is called. The small establishment is filling hundreds of orders during peak hours and the counter staff don't want to miss a beat with late-collected orders.

[...]

The highlight of this Philadelphia eatery though was Tony Luke's roasted pork Italian: thinly sliced tender pieces of meat and provolone cheese with one unique addition - broccoli rabe sautéed in garlic. The tender and peppery pork seems to melt with the garlicky greens. The sandwich is held together by a firm piece of French baguette style bread. Quality ingredients and well-balanced spices give this proprietary specialty a winning combination that brings back customers again and again--me included."

We could definitely go for a Roast Pork Italian right now.

Tony Luke's [Roadfood]
Tony Luke's [MenuPages]
Tony Luke's [Official Site]

[Image via Roadfood]

The Metro covered the opening of West Philly's new Dock Street Brewery in today's edition. We'll have a menu for the brewpub soon, but in the meantime, Metro has the scoop. Their angle is that the Brewery in the historic firehouse building at 50th & Baltimore offers a gathering spot for the gentifying neighborhood and that a restaurant on the corner will promise more foot traffic in an area that's sometimes desolate after business hours.

Dock Street Beer [Official Site]
A pub with a conscience [Metro]

[Image via Philadelphia Metro]

Our soldiers overseas are getting new MREs. Since the DoD has to figure out new flavors, new ways of distributing the meals and all that fun stuff... they decided the smart thing to do would be to have soldiers do a taste test. The Smoking Gun got their hands on soldiers' reviews of MREs from Fort Greeley in Alaska. We support our troops overseas, especially when they have to eat meals like this:

"Eight complete meals were tested, with mixed results. One soldier complained that a chicken and dumplings MRE triggered, "a flatulence symphony in my tent all night." A stuffed cabbage MRE led one evaluator to exclaim, "The meal sucked! Do you even try this crap before you give it to us?" That same MRE also led another reviewer to write, "Don't ever give the stuffed cabbage to a soldier again, even POWs deserve better." One evaluator questioned whether the new MREs should actually be tested by non-military diners: "Soldiers will eat all of this nastiness no matter what, because we have to eat." Not all reviews were negative, however, especially when it came to a chicken loaf MRE with a tasty dessert. "The vanilla pudding is so good that I ripped it open. Licked the inside and rolled around on top of it like a dog," one enthusiastic soldier noted."

Well, at least the pudding is good.

Meals Ready To Excrete [TSG]
MRE Info [Official Site]
Meal, Ready-to-Eat [Wikipedia]

Inquirer food critic Craig Laban has a problem: Philadelphia magazine is going ahead with plans to publish a non-disguised picture of him in their September issue. LaBan has been traditionally protective of his identity — which is not much of a surprise, given Philly's food-obsessed media. However, the Chops/Alex Plotkin libel lawsuit has been taking its toll on LaBan and Plotkin's plan to unmask LaBan has apparently worked. Although LaBan has taken steps to put disguised pictures in the media over the past year (such as the photograph from a recent Inky feature above), this will be the first picture of him in a major media outlet... Though, with a bit of creative Googling, one can find pictures of him from a weekly community newspaper. Shh.

Over at the Daily News, Dan Gross got a sneak peak of the Philadelphia issue in question:

In his editor's letter, Philadelphia magazine's Larry Platt writes that LaBan's photo has already appeared in the Chestnut Hill Local and Ted Beitchman's Real Philly magazine. Platt says Philly mag has always protected LaBan's identity, but "this whole debate of his anonymity just smacks of so much self-importance. Listen, the guy eats meals and writes about them. He's not Valerie Plame, okay?"

Mag blows food critic's cover [Daily News]

Because you can find anything on the internet... How about a video of cheesesteaks getting made? This is from the Springfield branch of Jim's Steaks.

Jim's Steaks (Springfield) [YouTube]
Jim's Steaks [MenuPages]
Jim's Steaks [Official Site]

Uwishunu is paying tribute to longtime Center City-meets-Deutschland standard Ludwig's Garten:

"I usually try one of my standby beers like Leffe Blonde, Gaffel Kölsch or Köstritzer, but this time I had the Weihenstephaner Hefe with refreshing lemon slices. The food they have makes me feel like I’m in my Oma’s kitchen (if I had an Oma). I love the Rotkraut (red cabbage), the Spätzle (like thin dumplings) and the Muscheln (mussels). The food is warm and seasoned just right and it always makes me feel cozy—even in the summer.

The beer list is exhaustive (if you like imports) and Ludwig’s always has a number of taps flowing. You can also get a “flight” of beer—a set of different beers for sampling. Don’t forget the sausages too! There are many exciting things on the menu, but the sausages never disappoint. I suggest trying the wurst platter—it’s the best!"

Mmm... heart attack on a plate.

Ludwig's Garten [Uwishunu]
Ludwig's Garten [MenuPages]
Ludwig's Garten [Official Site]

Awesome. Food bloggers Finding Philly just did a tour of Chinatown with plenty of pictures (like the example above). Stops include