If you go down to the woods south of London, you may be in for a big surprise. Not the teddy bears’ picnic—that seems to be what a good many urban folk seem to expect in the countryside these days, as though farms were all film sets and the animals, a collection of animated stuffed … Read more
When the A & J Gem Café of Uptown closed, I was despondent. During the hazy days of postcollegiate life, comfort food had a different meaning. What comforted me was anything but mom’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which haunted my youth. After college, what comforted me was food that was something I could call my … Read more
It’s a beautiful thing that, in this country, everyone can have an opinon. Want to see freedom of speech exercised? Just ask a few people in Philly who has the best cheesesteak. As far as the media is concerned, it comes down to Pat’s or Geno’s. As far as the construction workers, the students, the … Read more
Dateline: Philadelphia I’m here in the City of Brotherly Love for a few days and I have to say this is clearly a food town. Maybe not a food town like San Fran or New York where it’s almost a tourist trade, but more like a food town full of serious eaters. I’m not going … Read more
think outside of the fruit basket… I have not been a great friend of late. A couple of The Girls could use a little propping up, a little snarky laughter over lunch, maybe a day of beauty laced with The Macallan 12. But I don’t have time and we can’t seem to synch our schedules, … Read more
a plate from the Titanic? So…. I just hooked up with an old friend who happens to be engaged to a guy named Matt who happens to own the kick-ass Bulldog restaurant/bar in Uptown. They are scrub-scrub-scrubbing the place formerly known as Boom/Oddfellows in Nordeast to make room for the next Bulldog. This might irk … Read more
I think the gang at Lund’s has the right idea with their Food-E program. Having knowledgable food people in the store, existing only to answer questions and help customers is a great idea. But. I never see them when I need them. Or they’re in the front of the store and I don’t have anything … Read more
Lenny Russo was made for this. On October 3rd, check out a special dinner at Cue that challenges you to Eat Locally. The Bon Appetit Management Company, which runs the hospitality show at the Guthrie, has challenged Russo to come up with an entire meal made from ingredients within a 150 mile radius of the … Read more
What was once a kicky, quirky food magazine is now a kicky, quirky website. Chow was bought by the guys at CNet, about the same time they decided to re-work my favorite Chowhounds site. Now the two sites are working together to bring fun and un-stuffy food articles to eaters. With pieces on how to … Read more
Of all the depressing novels I know, Jude the Obscure takes the prize for sustained doom and gloom. Don’t let the film mislead you; it is far too pretty. All those authentic Victorian sets (not to mention the delightfully authentic Kate Winslet) undermine the exposition of Jude’s law, that Sod and Murphy were incurable optimists, … Read more