Looks Like Amada Is Headed To New York City

Jose Garces to open an Amada in New York City? | Photo via

So last month, Jose Garces revealed to the New York Post that he'd open a restaurant in New York City if he won The Next Iron Chef.

And then a few weeks later he revealed to Grub Street that if that scenario were to happen, the restaurant he'd open in Manhattan would be an Amada.

Well, tonight is the season finale of The Next Iron Chef and not only is Jose Garces a heavy favorite to win, all signs (and rumors) point to him winning.

So if/when he does win the title of The Next Iron Chef tonight, is that a formal confirmation that he'll be taking the Amada concept to New York in 2010?

Pretty much.

UPDATE: Michael Klein reports that after the win, Chef Garces said he will not be bringing Amada to New York. At least not immediately. Regardless, congratulations to Iron Chef Garces on the win!

Related:
Jose Garces Continues Flirting With New York [ Grub Street New York ]
Jose Garces Throwing a Victory Viewing Party [ Grub Street Philadelphia ]

Previously:
Jose Garces To New York?

Del Frisco's Now A Nightclub?

Perloff/Last Call/Philly2Night party. Check.

On biggest party night of the year. Check.

DJs. Check. (Four of them.)

Bottle service. Check.

Light Show. Check.

Giant breasts on invite. Check.

Sounds a lot like a nightclub.

Desperate times? Desperate measures?

(But hey, if Le Cirque is doing it ...)

Related:
Del Frisco's Philadelphia [ Official Site ]

Pub & Kitchen To Answer Its Calling, Will Host Special Fried Chicken Dinner Next Week

We're betting it will be good.

Related:
Pub & Kitchen [ Official Site ]

Crafty Martha Stewart Lunches At Pod, Makes Her Own Chopstick Rests

Martha's design for makeshift chopstick rests at Pod | Photo via

Martha Stweart was in town on Monday to promote her new book and guest lecture at Wharton. Between the two, she lunched at Pod and then posted about her visit on her blog.

"In Japan, it is customary to use chopstick rests. We decided to create our own. This is my knot design."

Impressive.

Now let's see if Starr takes note.

Another design for a makeshift chopstick rest by Martha's team | Photo via

Related:
A day in my life - part two [ The Martha Blog ]

New Restaurant At 10 Rittenhouse To Be Located At Corner Of 18th And Sansom

10 Rittenhouse is to have a "premier restaurant" located on at this corner | Photo by Brad Maule of Philly Skyline

10 Rittenhouse, the new $300M, 135-unit luxury condo building rising 33 stories over Rittenhouse Square, is holding a grand opening later this month.

Work is not entirely finished, but it will be ready for residents soon.

One of the pieces not completed... the restaurant that will be located inside the building.

Developers are being tight-lipped about what the restaurant will be and who's behind it, only saying that there will be a "premier restaurant" with "first class dining" located inside the building.

We've confirmed that said restaurant will be located at street level at the corner of 18th and Sansom Streets.

So we have to ask: could Stephen Starr be bringing pizza back to a location that once housed Lombardi's???

Starr recently told Philly Mag that he "has secured a lease on yet-to-be-announced location in Rittenhouse Square" for another casual pizzeria a la Pizzeria Stella.

So, in theory, this could be that yet-to-be-announced location.

Which makes for a nice story, however, the developers of 10 Rittenhouse are positioning the building as super luxury, so it would be pretty surprising for them to go with a pizzeria for the building's "premier restaurant," even if it is a Stephen Starr pizzeria.

So the question remains: what will the restaurant inside 10 Rittenhouse be?

UPDATE: Michael Klein reports it might be Serafina from New York City.

Related:
10 Rittenhouse [ Official Site ]
Breaking: Two New Pizza Joints for Starr? [ Restaurant Club - Philadelphia Magazine ]

Pub & Kitchen Makes A (Brief) Cameo In Most Recent Episode Of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Pretty sure that is a CGI Big Belly trash can that was added during post-production

UPDATE: Not CGI.

In the most recent episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia — "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops," which aired on Thursday — Pub & Kitchen makes a cameo.

They show an exterior shot of the bar/restaurant on the corner of 20th and Lombard (still, above) and then do a scene where Artemis meets Sweet Dee inside. However, the interior scenes were not actually shot at Pub & Kitchen.

So it's actually a very short cameo.

But regardless, good location choice by production team.

Related:
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia [ Official Site ]

Morimoto May Guest Chef At Yankee Stadium, But Stephen Starr Makes Sure He Supports The Phillies With A Special Edition Gourmet Cheesesteak

Chef Masaharu Morimoto at the new Yankee Stadium | Photo via The New York Times

So Morimoto may have been a guest chef at the new Yankee Stadium earlier this season, but Stephen Starr is making sure his namesake restaurant in Philadelphia is staunchly supportive of the Philadelphia Phillies. And rightfully so.

Morimoto Philadelphia now offers a special gourmet Kobe Beef Cheesesteak that sounds reminiscent of the now-disappeared $100 cheesesteak at Barclay Prime.

It's a slightly less extravagant version, being without foie gras or lobster. But that means at $35, it might actually be a reasonable price. (If you really like Kobe beef.)

Regardless, good to see Starr staying true to the home team.

[ @StarrRestaurant on Twitter ]

Previously:
Morimoto To Guest Chef At The New Yankee Stadium
Stephen Starr Adds Foie Gras Back To The $100 Kobe Cheesesteak... For The Steak 954 Version In South Florida

Fox 5 New York Nominates Stephen Starr As One Of Philadelphia's 10 Biggest Jerks, Projecting New York's Own Dining Insecurites On Philadelphia

Fox 5 New York tries to call Stephen Starr one of Philadelphia's 10 biggest jerks and we're not buying it.

MYFOXNY.COM - Our "friends" to the south decided to ask people to vote for the biggest New York City Jerk.

We decided to return the favor. Philly is just a small town next to New York but it does have its share of "jerks."
[...]
Stephen Starr: The restaurant owner has made millions off selling "hip" drinks and under-sized portions to suckers in a series of Philadelphia hot-spots.

Whoa, now. We're the suckers?! Check yourself, Fox 5 New York.

A.) Your mom sells us hip drinks.

And B.) Stephen Starr's two highest grossing restaurants anywhere are in New York City, where Buddakan and Morimoto are numbers 7 and 53 respectively in the top 100 highest-grossing independent restaurants in the country.

Hypocrites.

If anyone is guilty of "selling 'hip' drinks and under-sized portions," it's every single trendy restaurant in New York City between 1998 and 2009.

You can thank Sex and the City for that.

(Also, for the record, Starr does good business precisely because his portions are not undersized.)

As for the poll, Starr is not "winning" the race for the Biggest Jerk. That would be Jon Gosselin. Starr is holding down second to last place.

So at least he can be happy about that.

Related:
10 Biggest Philadelphia Jerks [ Fox 5 New York ]

Previously:
Stephen Starr's New York Buddakan And Morimoto Doing Just Fine

Sarcone's Franchising, To Open Next Franchise In Delaware

The original Sarcone's Deli opened at 9th and Fitzwater in 1997. (The bakery has been around for much longer.)

Recently, the owners of Sarcone's Deli decided to try out franchising their deli concept.

They now have Sarcone's franchisees in Newtown, PA, Medford, NJ and, coming this winter, Delaware.

And the location on Ninth Street has a new storefront.

Related:
Sarcone's Deli Expands into Delaware [ PR Web ]

Denim Lounge Combats Recession With Porn Stars

While rumors of its sale and/or imminent demise linger, Denim persists.

And how.

The club's latest high jinks: porn star Gina Lynn will host Denim's Halloween party this Saturday — "Pornoween."

Naturally, it will be 70s-themed.

Related:
PORNOWEEN at Denim, hosted by Porn Superstar Gina Lynn [ Official Site ]

Davio's Cheesesteak Spring Rolls Now Sold At Patriots' Gillette Stadium And Your Grocer's Freezer

The Philly Cheesesteak spring rolls are now sold at New England Patriots games.

[Steve DiFillippo, the owner of Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse,] laughs when he thinks that a spring roll with Philly cheese steak filling has become one of the more popular menu items at his restaurant chain, and now a fast-selling product in about 900 supermarkets in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

A frozen version of the Philly Cheese Steak Spring Roll that was originally created by a Davio’s chef in Philadelphia six years ago is now being manufactured for retailers at Yankee Trader Seafood on Oak Street in Pembroke.

“Twenty-four years of owning a high level restaurant and I’ve become the ‘Philly roll guy,’” said DiFillippo, who is 48. “With all my training, being a restaurateur and chef, it’s really funny. I get more e-mails about the Philly roll than I do about the restaurant.”

Apparently, they are sold at Giant Supermarkets here.

Related:
Davio's Cheesesteak Spring Rolls [ Official Site ]
Davio's "Philly rolls" being manufactured at Yankee Trader Seafood in Pembroke [ The Patriot Ledger ]

Zagat Ranks Rouge Burger As Philadelphia's Best Burger, Osteria As Philly's Best Pizza

The results of Zagat's 2010 America's Top Restaurants survey were released today on ZAGAT.com and they included Zagat's calling out the best restaurants for certain cuisines in various cities including Philadelphia.

Rouge won best burger. Osteria for best pizza. Bomb Bomb Bab-B-Q for best barbecue. (Really?)

Philadelphia also retained its title as the best tipping city in America.

Related:
Hard Times for Restaurants Good Times for Diners [ PR Newswire ] via AHT

Union Trust Reportedly Makes $150,000 For Five Days Of Filming Rudd/Witherspoon Movie

So reports The Gossip on Philly.com.

The restaurant was closed to the public for five days while the untitled James L. Brooks comedy filmed scenes in the restaurant a couple weeks back. Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon were both there. And Union Trust itself, a steakhouse, had to play an Italian restaurant for the movie.

Meanwhile, no word on exactly how much Twenty Manning was compensated when it shut down for two days in September to accommodate filming for the same movie. Although, we imagine it was generous.

Inga Saffron Thinks The New Barnes Foundation Could Use A 'Tavern On The Green'-Like Garden Restaurant

Saffron thinks a cafe could better activate the 20th Street side of the plan | Photo via The New York Times

Inga wants the 20th Street part (on the right side in the image above) of the new Barnes design to get a little more animated and people friendly. And she thinks one of the better ways to accomplish this would be with a cafe or garden restaurant located on the 20th Street side of the plan.

The Barnes design, by New York's Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, gets an 'A' in aesthetics and an 'F' in urbanism.

It's not too late to improve the situation, especially at the critical, downtown-facing 20th Street corner, since preliminary site work won't begin until November.
[...]
The [20th Street] corner may be beautifully composed, with an elevated fountain that will be studded with water lilies, but another passive green space is not what Philadelphia needs to draw people to a street that is supposed to be its Champs-Elysees. And the drop-off plaza is vastly overscaled to accommodate the turning radius of the two charter buses that are expected daily. Nothing there will encourage exploration of the surrounding neighborhood, and the inactivity could even discourage development of the tracts of surface parking on Callowhill Street.
[...]
Fortunately, the landscape plan for 20th Street is one of the easiest things to fix. For starters, the architects could eliminate the drop-off plaza and replace it with a sidewalk cutout that would allow buses to enter and exit in the same direction. Who needs a turnaround when 20th Street runs only in one direction?

Activating the corner plaza requires more thought. The default solution is a cafe or, better yet, a garden restaurant such as Central Park's Tavern on the Green. Right now, the museum eatery is secreted in the rear.

Sounds good to us.

Related:
Changing Skyline: Perking up the Parkway - Even before the Barnes arrives, major landscaping projects will transform the area to make it more pleasing to pedestrians [ Philadelphia Inquirer ]

Pizzeria Stella Now Doing Take Out

Hopefully, the pizza boxes are made from recycled cardboard... | Photos via Stella

As Foobooz reported earlier this week, Pizzeria Stella is now doing take-out orders. Their pizzas are sent out into the world in the custom Pizzeria Stella boxes above.

(Looking for the menu? See it here.)

That is all.

Previously:
Lots Of Recycled Furniture At Pizzeria Stella — Is Stephen Starr Going Green?
And Now The Actual Opening Menu For Stephen Starr's Pizzeria Stella