Local chef, Marc Vetri, is planning to open a swanky second restaurant sometime in the late fall, at 640 N. Broad. This is between Spring Garden and Fairmount, just south of where Ridge Ave. angularly bisects Broad Street.
Is anyone else a little amazed by this? I know that that neighborhood is improving, but Broad St. remains kind of deserted and sketchy in that area. I will either close rapidly, or will be the first marker of an improving N. Broad.
Perhaps my favorite Overheard in Philly ever.
“Yeah, if a tree falls in the woods, and no one links to it, did it really happen?”
Last week, Kariya Nine published a report that David Lee Roth got the boot, proverbially speaking, of course.
On Monday I turned on WYSP to hear how true his statement was. Son of a gun, they were playing Steven Lynch and bad commercials. Then the radio announcer guy said, “Stay tuned for an important announcement at 9am.” Son of a warmonger, I was at work and missed the announcement.
Of course, Barsky and his crew were hailing the return of my favorite shock jocks!!! So psyched was I that I called up my buddy Brady and said, “Dude! It’s lunch time!” and on the way to Applebee’s I told him to hit up the radio station for an important announcement.
Excitement? I think so!!!
So this morning I tuned in and was greeted with some now unfamiliar voices. It’s been so long, I forget what these dudes sound like. But who cares? They’re back and they’re here to stay. However, quoth Brady Hicks: “That sucks for the people who got XM Radio for the next year.”
Free Cone Day at B&J’s combined with gratis buffalo chicken wings at Drinking Liberally made for a intellectually stimulating, cheap Tuesday dinner (cheap because of tips/leukemia donation; otherwise it was free). I managed to be the last one to slip into the Ben&Jerry’s on S 18th, so the line wasn’t long when I got my double scoop caramel cone. Earlier the line had been a few blocks long.
Shane of Blogging.LA wrote this:
“For ten years, I’ve never given food cart vendors more than a casual glance during my time in Los Angeles. They were scenery to me, in the same league as bus stops, panhandlers and sidewalk prophets. I’d have sooner accepted tickets to a “free show” on Hollywood Boulevard than have stoppped to patronize a street vendor in front of a Bank of America.”
As I read that entry, my heart slowed a bit and my eyes got misty. I felt a little like I was punched in the stomach.
I mean, sure, he goes on to talk about eating at a fruit cart…but dear sweet Jesus! How can you not eat at food carts? How can you ignore them?
My little Philly heart swears by these things. No, really. If I need to eat cheap and quick, a food cart is my #1 choice. If I want a snack, food cart. If I’m interested in walking and enjoying my food, food cart. If I want to sit in a park, food cart. If I want something for lunch later, food cart.
Before I moved last summer, my best friend and I bought breakfast sandwiches from…you guessed it: A food cart. They were damn good, too. Melty egg and cheese on long toasty buns with ketchup and sausage for him. Really now…what’s a better way to start a moving day?
I seem to think the tradition of eating from a food cart on a regular basis is an East Coast thing. New Yorkers seem to do it with real gusto, and Philadelphia has it’s own breed of venders. My favorite carts are the R.D.D. Is Having A Fish Fry! ones in front of the 30th St. Post Office (if he’s even there), but there are highlights for me all over the city. The Belly Boys in front of the Social Security building on Spring Garden…the old man in front of the escalator at 15th St…the falafel cart at 40th and the very end of Locust Walk…the Greek Lady cart…Annie’s Hot Dog Cart on Spring Garden because she’s “Aye-shun”. Cory swears by the carts around La Salle, and UPenn friends (I know…it’s shocking, even for me) will gladly admit to enjoying a meal or two from their local food carts.
They’re just normal around here. And they are a good meal.
Why not eat at one?
Who’s right here: me and my love of the quick and delish dish or Shane and his fear of the food cart?
I’m really mad right now. My buddy Matt Winn (pictured below so I can annoy you all at once)
is playing at the Grape Street Pub tonight. at 8pm. AND I CAN’T GO!!!!!!!! he’s such a cool guitarist because you watch him play the guitar and bang on it like most people don’t smack their wives and you wonder how he gets such KICKASS music out of that piece of wood and string!!!
Matt Winn’s a local guitarist from the area who plays that very melodic and instrumental style. I love catching him whenever I can as a live performer. I picked up his CD, “A World Without Friction” which is an amazing set of instrumental mood music but like most records it can’t actually capture the performance and essence of the musician.
Hey. Here it is in writing: I owe you one if you go to check this guy out… I guarantee you’ll love him as much as I do.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Grape Street Pub
4100 Main St
Philadelphia , PA (Manayunk)
8:00 pm
w/ Justin King
Today, while I was walking down 20th Street towards work, I found myself behind someone who’d stepped out of Dunkin’ Donuts and taken a path dircetly ahead of me.
He was a big, burly guy. Compact, muscular, dressed in jeans and a dark blue T-shirt. In one hand he held his breakfast in the Dunkin’ Donuts bag (no duh!). In the other hand, he held what I’m guessing was his lunch.
And the container? A small Christmas gift bag, pink and purple, with a picture of Santa and Mrs. Claus standing together.
It Tuesday, and I’ve been busy all day, which means I’m late getting this email out. But, if you’re wondering what you should do with your Tuesday evening, might I suggest you amble on over to Tangier (18th and Lombard) and check out Drinking Liberally at 6 pm. If you get there early, you’ll even manage to grab a few of the free wings. If not, you can comfort yourself with the dollar off drink special. So go on, drink liberally.
This was the first year of my life where my mother did not make/send me an Easter basket/box. I think when you get to be 26, that’s okay. Especially if your mother is Jewish and really has no business putting together Easter baskets in the first place. Friday night, I let it slip to Sherri that I was just a little bit sad that I let Easter go by without tasting a single piece of Easter candy. She said she was sorry she hadn’t known, because she had just been at the grocery store and it was on sale and could have gotten me some. I said that I was better off without it anyway, and that Easter does come every year.
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The final attendance count for Body Worlds: 602,450.
The most recent estimate I’ve heard is that somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 of those attendees came through in the marathon weekend. As one co-worker put it: “It was like Black Friday all weekend long.”
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