I read the Northern Liberties community message board a lot, and post on it with relative frequency. It's always nice to know what's going on in my neighborhood, even when the news posted is, well, less-than-nice. Yesterday, I saw a posting that made my heart go pitter patter. The Swallow Bistro, a five minute walk from my humble abode, has completely changed its menu: it is now an all mac'n'cheese restaurant. Choose your own......

For me, Thanksgiving is rarely about the turkey. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the turkey is generally a let-down. What I care about is the side dishes. Historically, my Thanksgiving dinner plate has a few slices of turkey and heaps of sides—several of which I end up going back for at least once. Whether it's the mashed potatoes or the glazed carrots or my grandmother's special peach Jell-O concoction (and......

Last week, Lenny Campello wrote about Viva Chile in Philadelphia, nine days of Chilean art and culture in Philadelphia. Included in the event's line-up would be a special menu (PDF) at The Restaurant School in University City, and I was invited to the kick-off dinner, held last Friday. As the name would indicate, the actual restaurant part of The Restaurant School is staffed entirely by students, with a limited amount of supervision. The table......

Click here for the first installment! Two weeks counting POINTS on Weight Watchers and I'm already finding myself struggling to be creative. After all, there are only so many Smart Ones I can eat every week. And so, armed with a pantry stocked full of Mexican food ingredients and a thawed chicken breast that I needed to use before it turned to the Dark Side, I set out to make myself something more satisfying (and,......

You've heard of a glass ceiling, but what about a cork ceiling? Gender isn't just an issue in the corporate and political worlds: apparently, it's important in the wine world, too. And so to conclude their yearlong "Art of Remarkable Women Series," the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts will be presenting a panel discussion called “Breaking through the Cork Ceiling," featuring seven women who also happen to be movers and shakers in the wine industry.......

Ah, Halloween. Costumes, pumpkins, and tons and tons of sugar. You know it, Phillyist knows it, and Carnival Cruise Lines knows it. That's why they'll be spending some time in Philadelphia this Sunday trying to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest piñata. The big event will be happening at the intersection of Broad Street and Washington Avenue, moved from its previously-announced Center City location on the off chance that a certain Philadelphia......

On Monday, I'm starting something like Weight Watchers—which is to say I'm starting Weight Watchers without actually paying to start Weight Watchers. There are plenty of online tools and recipe databases that will help me without my needing to pay a monthly fee. I already know how many "Points" I can consume every day, and approximately how many points each of my favorite foods are. A friend started the plan this way a few weeks......

DiBruno Bros. is a really dangerous place for me. I visited their Center City location yesterday because I was in the neighborhood and I thought maybe I'd pick up some fresh pasta. I was planning on making a quick pomodoro sauce to go with it... and then I got inspired. What I ended up serving alongside the porterhouse steak I ended up buying at DiBruno's (not part of the original plan, but it just......

We just received an email that Ristorante Panorama in Old City has been named the 2008 Wine Hospitality Restaurant of the Year by Santé Magazine, a publication for restaurant and hospitality professionals. (Panorama's location inside the Penn's View Hotel conveniently makes it appeal to both professions.) Panorama was selected "in recognition of [its] outstanding contribution to the professional service of food, wine, and spirits in the restaurant industry." We'd like to congratulate Panorama on their......

Many Phillyist staffers were sad to see Ludwig's replaced by Time. Sure, it was a little sketchy, but it was a real German beer hall, and we loved it. Fortunately for those of us still trying to figure out how absinthe could trump hefeweizen, Foobooz is reporting that a new German beer hall, Brauhaus Schmitz, will be opening up on South Street, just in time for Beer Week 2009. Married owners Doug Hager and Kelly......

A little over a year ago, I wrote about a solid meal Ross and I shared at a place in Northern Liberties called Isla Ibiza. Unfortunately, the fact that the restaurant was empty was a bad sign, and the place was closed just a few months later. Fast forward to last Saturday night. Ross and I have since moved quite near the old Isla Ibiza space, now occupied by a restaurant called Q-Ba. Since......

Labor Day typically signifies the end of summer, but while the weather's still hot (high today in the 80s, and my iPhone tells me that Thursday could be as high as 93°!), I'm going to enjoy my summery drinks, goddammit. Bring on the margaritas. Why yes, I will have another mojito. And did you say sangria? Hot damn! So for all of you who share my mindset and aren't ready to switch to hot toddys......

Labor Day is nearly upon us. While we love the extra day off work, what we don't love is the fact that we'll soon be hurtling toward cold temperatures, icy streets, and a severe shortage of our favorite produce varieties. So for those of us who want to cling to summer as long as we possibly can, City Food Tours of Philadelphia will be offering a “So Long to Summer” Food Tour on Sunday. The......

It shouldn't surprise anyone to know that we watch food shows. And so we'd be remiss if we didn't mention a new show on the Fine Living network featuring the inimitable Martha Stewart. Well, "featuring" is a bit of a stretch: the show, as the New York Times reports, will be more like a spin on Mystery Science Theater 3000, starring Stewart's daughter Alexis and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt, whose father, Charles Koppelman, is the......

Sometimes, our curiosity and attention span are at odds: we see something we want to find out more about, make a mental note of it... and quickly forget at the first glimpse of something shiny. We've been noticing an increasing number of black buckets filled with white, full-sized umbrellas at restaurants and bars around the city. We'd always wonder what they were, but by the time we got home, we'd forget to look them up.......

We can't believe we let this one slip through the cracks. About six weeks ago, we were contacted about Viewzi, a visual search engine that is, at least on first glance, more user-friendly and far prettier than the aforementioned Cuil. We haven't had a chance to really explore each of Viewzi's sixteen search options, but what we have discovered is their awesome recipe search, which pulls search results from Epicurious, Simply Recipes, 101 Cookbooks,......

A few months ago, we asked readers to tell us where we can eat cheaply and quickly in Old City. We got some great feedback (this Phillyist eats at Gianfranco Pizza Rustica at least once a week, much to the chagrin of her personal trainer), and now we'd like to add another spot to the list: Independence Al Fresco, next to the Independence Visitor Center. Now, we're not endorsing the spot, mostly because we......

Weren't we just talking yesterday about our love for wine? Lucky us that Positano Coast is willing to indulge that love, along with our love of raw and only-barely-cooked fish, with tonight's Crudo Wine Dinner. Crudo, best described as Italian sashimi, is probably what Positano Coast is best known for, and the crudo there landed Chef Pippo Lamberti in Philadelphia Magazine's list of the "Next 8 Great Chefs" in the city in 2006, and......

As a native Texan, I just don't understand vegetarianism. I respect it, sure—but I don't know if I will ever understand how anyone can pass up tasty red meat dishes, especially with the newly-opened Chima Steakhouse giving Fogo de Chão a run for its money. I don't mind the competition, though: it just means more meat on a sword for me (although, to be fair, Chima adds two seafood offerings—salmon and swordfish—to its Rodizio......

If it's spicy, chances are I'll like it. Thai, Szechuan, Mexican, Japanese, or Indian: if it leaves my lips a little tingly and my sinuses a little clearer, it's generally okay by me, which is why I was excited to try out the newly-opened King of Tandoor in Logan Square. Now, I'm no expert in the field of Indian cooking, but I've eaten my share of good Indian food, and my share of bad......

*Why yes, it is Wednesday. Chef Joseph Poon is sixty, but you wouldn't know it when you meet him. It's only once you start doing the math while he's talking—it seems as if the Chef has had hundreds of restaurant jobs, on top of owning no fewer than than four establishments over the years—that you realize that he couldn't possibly be as young as you first thought. Nobody can blame you for your misconceptions, and......

It's about seventy billion degrees outside, but somehow, people are still eating outside at restaurants with sidewalk service. Not only eating outside, but waiting to eat outside. Ordinarily, we at Phillyist are the sit-indoors-in-the-air conditioning type, but we do love a good al fresco meal, so we can't help but feel jealous of all the people who seem completely unphased by the heat as they enjoy their lunches and dinners. We've yet to discover......

While an undergraduate psychology minor, I learned about any number of behavioral studies involving children that went something like this: Researcher: Johnny, I'm going to leave the room for just a minute. While I'm gone, don't eat any of the delicious-looking candies on the table in front of you.Researcher leaves; Johnny shoves two handfuls of M&Ms into his mouth. And like this: Researcher: Billy, I'm going to leave the room for just a minute. While......

We already know that you like to put your money where your mouth is and support food-based fundraising efforts. Fortunately for you, summertime means there are plenty of opportunities to stuff your face and ease your conscience all at the same time. One of these, Fox Chase Cancer Center's 16th Annual Plain & Fancy: A Taste of the Greater Delaware Valley (a mouthful in and of itself!), happens next weekend. For a mere thirty-five bucks......

Philadelphia may not be perfect, but on the whole, we're a city full of big-hearted people willing to open their hearts—and, sometimes, their pocketbooks—to those in need. The latest group to benefit from this philanthropic city of ours is the family of the late Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski, who, you might recall, was killed while on duty just a few weeks ago. And funds will be raised in Phillyist's favorite fashion: through our stomachs. Several......

Wawa may be abandoning Center City, but for those of you not affected by the desertion, there's good news—especially if you're a young professional addicted to your Crackberry, or a teenager who can't put your Sidekick down during Calculus class: Select Wawa locations will now let you text message your sandwich orders straight to the store. You can order online, too, but let's think for a moment here. Online ordering is nothing new. But text......

We've had friends who lived or worked near Old City tell us before that they had trouble finding fast, cheap, non-pizza food in the neighborhood. Nonsense, we'd say. There are so many restaurants in Old City, surely, there must be a slew of options for a quick lunch on the go. The hungry tourists have to eat something, right? Well, yes and no. Sure, there's the food court at The Bourse, and about a......

There are few things we love more in the world than food. And when it's good food that comes cheap, we love it even more. That's why we're excited for 8 Days of Eats, the South Street Headhouse District's answer to the Center City District's Restaurant Week. There are fewer restaurants to choose from, sure, and most of those restaurants don't have menus posted on the event website, but 8 Days of Eats has a......

And no, we're not talking about roughage. We're talking green like local foods, which ensure that you're protecting natural resources and getting the freshest meats and produce available, prepared by some of Philadelphia's top restaurateurs. That's right—you don't have cook your own meals to make sure you're eating local, organic ingredients. Restaurants like the White Dog Café have been keeping it local for years, and popular and well-reviewed places like Farmicia, Fork, Vetri, Standard......

Okay, so the low temperatures this week might still be a little wintry, but, during the day at least, the sun will be shining and we can finally put away our scarves and gloves. And eat ice cream. Or gelato. Or water ice. So, this week's Foodsday Tuesday comes to you in the form of a question: When the temperatures start to rise, where do you go to cool down? Does the Franklin Fountain's old-fashioned......