Uwishunu.com

Do you love Philadelphia? Do you love knowing everything that is going on in Philadelphia? And then sharing that knowledge with your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, etc.?

Have you ever considered doing it professionally? Here’s an opportunity to do just that: Uwishunu is seeking a new full-time blog editor.

If you’re interested, send us an email explaining why you think you would be the ideal candidate for the position, along with your resume and links to any relevant blogging/writing samples.

The Philadelphia Zoo, Photo by B. Krist for GPTMC

Enough time has elapsed so that everyone should have recovered by now from Philly Beer Week and be ready for the second annual Summer Ale Festival. On Saturday, July 24th from 6:30-10pm, the Philadelphia Zoo will once again host an evening of outstanding local and regional craft beers that have put Philadelphia on the map as a destination for beer-lovers across the globe.

Nineteen breweries will be in attendance – including Triumph, Victory (who will be serving Summer Love Ale!), Lancaster, Weyerbacher, and Philadelphia Brewing Co. – and food will be available from The Belgian Café, Dos Segundos, Bar Ferdinand, Brassetts Ice Cream, and 11 other local food distributors and restaurants.

In addition to enjoying these premier local brews and foods and spending time with the animals, you’ll be supporting a good cause. Funds raised from the event will be used for the Zoo’s Creatures of Habit initiative, which is designed to raise awareness about the Zoo’s conservation efforts concerning endangered species and habitats and how all of us can get involved.

Tickets are only available in advance, not at the door, so be sure to plan ahead of time. Here are your options:

* $80 VIP Tickets: Included early entrance at 6pm and a special VIP tent from 7-7:30pm
* $55 General Admission Tickets
* $25 Designated Driver Ticket: includes (2) tickets for non-alcoholic beverages (lemonade or ice tea) and access to restaurant sampling stations

Philadelphia Zoo
3400 W. Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 243-1100
www.philadelphiazoo.org

Outside the Please Touch Museum, Photo courtesy the Museum

Recently, the Please Touch Museum added weekend guided tours of Memorial Hall, inviting adults to come learn more about the history of this National Historic Landmark. You’ll learn about the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and the interesting backstory behind this unique building nestled in Fairmount Park.

The guided tours start at 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays, with weekday tours are still available on Thursdays.

Admission is $15. For more information on the Please Touch Museum, visit the museum’s official website.

Please Touch Museum
4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, PA 19131
(215) 581-3181
www.pleasetouchmuseum.org

Flat Iron Steak @ Le Bec Fin

This summer, with a $40 menu to celebrate their anniversary, Le Bec Fin invites you to visit over and over again. Believe me, you’ll want to—it’s hard to choose from a menu packed with exquisite fare like, Olive Oil Poached Salmon, Flat Iron Steak or Roasted Stuffed Quail. And that’s just one stop on the four-course adventure.

Among the list of appetizers is the Roasted Spanish Octopus, with two preparations of Chorizo and topped with pickled blueberries. Or, if you want something to cool down your palate in the hot summer weather, try the new appetizer, Tomato and Watermelon Salad, served with Grains of Paradise and Chevre Sorbet. Served chilled, it is crisp and refreshing—the perfect menu item to compliment the summer season.

The meal starts off with bread and cheese, then proceeds on to appetizers and the entrée followed by a cheese course, which is chosen by the chef. Make sure to save room for dessert.

The Famed Dessert Cart @ Le Bec Fin

The menu includes two choices from the famous Le Bec Fin dessert cart, which boasts an impressive display of house-made pastries, tarts, cakes and, of course, the signature Gateau Le Bec Fin—a delectable rum-soaked chocolate Genoise with chocolate butter cream. Guests may also order a la carte desserts like the Trilogy, which is three scoops of rich, flavored sorbet and/or ice cream.

Accompanying the menu is a $40 by-the-bottle wine list. Not a wine connoisseur? Not a problem. The highly amicable and knowledgeable staff will be happy to suggest the precise wine to pair with your dish.

The meal is only half the experience. When you see Georges Perrier interact with guests, its hard not to see why Le Bec has had the same owner and chef since opening its doors in 1970. There is an exuberance that fills the room when Perrier enters. He shows a passion not only for his restaurant, but for the people who eat there, as he keeps a watchful eye on his restaurant, ensuring that his guests are enjoying their time in the elegant, chandelier clad dining establishment.

To get a taste yourself, visit Le Bec Fin Tuesday through Friday from 5:00-6:30 pm. The event will last through the summer.

Le Bec Fin
1523 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 567-1000
www.lebecfin.com

It’s now Week 15 of the “Phanatic Around Town” photo submission contest and people are really getting out there and attempting to snap photos with each statue!

Keep sending us your best photos for a chance to receive free Philly baseball gear. Check out last week’s winner after the jump.

Week Fifteen’s featured Phanatic Around Town location: Citizens Bank – 15th and Market Branch

This week’s featured statue is the Citizens Bank – 15th and Market Branch “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” statue and the deadline to submit your photo is Monday, July 26th.

(more…)

Ballet X's Open Rehearsal, Photo by Bill Hebert

Now celebrating their 5th year, Ballet X will unite three unique performances to create the 2010 Summer Series. Last Thursday evening BalletX hosted an open rehearsal at The Wilma Theater with dances from “Journey of the Day”, “Risk of Flight”, and “The Last Glass”. I was able to get an inside look and witness the dancers up close.

The choreography represents an array of emotions through elegance and refined technique. The combination of soft cello music and up-beat folk tunes radically reveals the intentions of each choreographer. Comprised of ten charismatic dancers, Ballet X features each performer within his/her own spotlight, while the duets harmonize to interpret the inspiration behind a story.

Ballet X's Open Rehearsal, Photo by Bill Hebert

Opening the Summer Series 2010 will be the World premiere of “Journey of the Day” choreographed by Matthew Prescott, who will also be dancing in two other works. “Journey of the Day” is inspired by the Appalachian Journey album, with its hauntingly beautiful songs.

“Risk of Flight” by Adam Hougland will be returning to the stage since November 2007, described by critics as “staggeringly beautiful”.

Inspired by the wild street-parade rhythms of the indie-rock band Beirut, Matthew Neenan’s powerfully graceful performance titled “The Last Glass” uses free-flowing movements to celebrate relationships and raises a toast to falling in love. This performance will uplift your spirits and keep you intrigued with unique twists and energetic ensemble dancing.

I was truly captivated by this glimpse of Summer Series 2010 and was left wanting more. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

The Wilma Theatre
265 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 546-7824
www.wilmatheater.org

Come Sunday, August 1st, East Passyunk Avenue will be lined with over 100 muscle, classic, antique, custom and show cars, shining along the four block stretch of the avenue. It’s the 5th Annual DooWop Car Show & Street Festival, and you’re invited.

Along with a number of fancy cars to swoon over, you can look forward to live music, face painting, car memorabilia vendors, and a craft show at the Passyunk Fountain.

Several of East Passyunk’s popular restaurants will be dishing out special street food and beverages for the day, from smoothies at Fuel to home-made gnocchi and savory sausage & pepper sandwiches from Mamma Maria.

For more information check out www.visiteastpassyunk.com.

5th Annual DooWop Car Show & Street Festival [ www.visiteastpassyunk.com ]

Yvette Ganier, Kate Czajkowski, and Genevieve Perrier in Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters.

Spoiler alert: The sisters never make it to Moscow.

From the very beginning of Three Sisters, it’s practically all the three titular characters talk about. The aristocratic siblings are stuck with each other in a small, unrefined town where knowing three languages is “an unnecessary appendage,” with only a few stationed soldiers to distract them from the doldrums of their everyday lives since their fall from high society.

But for Temple Repertory Theater’s production of Anton Chekhov’s classic, that stagnation’s a good thing. The characters may never go anywhere, but the actors portraying them make full use of Chekhov’s witty banter (adapted to more modern language) and multiple stories to create a dynamic social circle that’s fun to watch change and grow. Despite the show’s relatively long run time, the action moves quickly with subtle set changes and leaps forward in time that reveal a significant portion of these characters’ lives.

And there are a lot of characters –Three Sisters has a large cast with a lot of Russian names, which makes for confusing plot summaries and characters you remember but can’t name. But even with this web of romances and connected stories, the show itself is easy to follow, in large part because each character is well developed and faces a unique set of challenges, despite many coming from the same family and almost all belonging to the same declining class.

(more…)

Tomatoes in a blue box (photo by M. McClellan for GPTMC)

On Saturday, July 31st, the Doylestown-based Heritage Conservancy will be hosting their second annual Farm to Table celebration. This buffet-style meal will be held outdoors at the Lindsay Farm in Warminster and is open to all ages.

For more than 50 years now, the Heritage Conservancy has been working to preserve the natural and historic heritage of Bucks County. In recent days they’ve turned their attention to the issue of rapidly disappearing farmland and are now hoping to combine their goals of land preservation with issues of sustainable agriculture.

The Farm to Table event runs from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Cost is $45 for adults and just $15 for children ages 12 and under. There will be no alcohol served at the dinner, but attendees are welcome to bring their own. The organizers ask that you sign up by July 23rd, to avoid disappointment. For more information and the registration site, click here.

Lump Crab Meat & Cantaloupe Appetizer @ Mercato

Executive chef Mackenzie Hilton, who recently won Food Network’s Chopped, has been at the Mercato kitchen’s helm since the restaurant opened in 2005… and her expertise shows. Using seasonal flavors, she puts an experimental twist on traditional Old World Italian fare. The result is unforgettable.

Start with the whole grilled artichoke, a bit of a claim to fame for Mercato. It’s bathed in fresh extra virgin olive oil, crusted with sea salt crystals, and served with tangy citrus aioli delicious enough to spoon-feed yourself with. The lump crab meat and cantaloupe is another appetizer must, a tower of crab, cucumber, cantaloupe and ruby red grapefruit seasoned with dill, mint and fennel, served with zesty orange-chive aioli.

Grilled Artichokes @ Mercato

What better entree to suit the cozy atmosphere and casual-chic vibe of this quintessential Philly BYOB than a warm plate of house-made pasta? Each dish is expertly crafted and prepared inventively yet still comfortingly.

The pappardelle – thick ribbons of pasta with crisp roasted mushrooms, caramelized wild onions, crispy parsnip curls, pancetta, arugula, and creamy sage brown butter- will leave you speechless.

Crispy Skin Striped Bass @ Mercato

For the “culminare” course, you can’t go wrong with the crispy skin striped bass, one dish that remains on the menu through the chef’s every seasonal revamp. It’s prepared in a Chianti reduction that’s raspberry-sweet, with caramelized cipollini onions, artichokes and pancetta crisp. Stuffed yet or not, you will eat the whole darn thing.

The pan-seared diver scallops are another choice you’d be remiss not to order, cooked to exquisite fragrance and consistency atop wild mushroom and English pea risotto and Parmesan crisp.

Molten Chocolate Cake @ Mercato

Don’t skip out on dessert: the bittersweet molten chocolate cake is liquid cocoa heaven in a cup, served with vanilla bean ice cream. Or try the classic tiramisu, in keeping with Hilton’s absolute delivery on traditional Italian, served with chocolate covered espresso beans and Kahlua soaked ladyfingers. The rotating flavors of sorbet and gelato are made in house, and can be taken to go if you’re ready to burst.

The four-course tasting menu ($48) is a good option to ensure you don’t miss out on any of Mercato’s prizeworthy offerings (it did indeed win Philadelphia Magazine’s best new BYOB award in 2006 shortly after opening). But don’t hesitate to ask your server for recommendations, as the waitstaff is as pleasant, competent and energetic. Grab a bottle of wine, a friend or two and a coveted table at this neighborhood gem.

Mercato
1216 Spruce St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107
(215) 985-2962
www.mercatobyob.com