Random Notes

With apologies to Rolling Stone. Sometimes I need to string together many diverse experiences and thoughts into one post, that is what I offer y'all this morning. My recent reduced output of quantity has not resulted in a raising of quality as I look back and read older posts, I guess practice helps.

Thanks to Philly Chit Chat for the photo

Last Thursday I attended Philadelphia Magazine's Best of Philly party that was held at the unfinished event space called Vie. This is the much anticipated new venue for the owner of Cescaphe and Tendenza, Joe Volpe. It is located at 600 North Broad in the old Wilkie Buick dealership which will also have two restaurants, one a Stephen Starr New England Style Seafood Shack and the other by Marc Vetri. This facility will be Mr. Volpe's first venture that will be more geared towards corporate events and it has a lot to offer, from size (capacity of 600 seated and 1000 reception), to location, to the very cool outdoor courtyard, to the excellent, always abundant culinary offerings. The food served at the event was very good and included a huge cold shrimp display, a slider station with burgers and mini South Philly style pork sandwiches, a never ending Sushi Station, and some nice passed items. Daughter Katie, my date for the evening, came to the event hungry and was very happy that she waited to eat. GPTMC's "uwishunu" website did a nice summary of the Best of Philly if you want some highlights before you tackle the whole list in the magazine. Click it: http://www.uwishunu.com/2011/07/philadelphia-magazines-best-of-philly%C2%AE-2011-issue-hits-newstands-today-get-a-sneak-peek-at-some-of-the-winners-and-why-theyre-honored-to-be-the-best-in-philadelphia/  I thought it was cool that Zahav won for "best restaurant to take your New York friends to", as that was the last restaurant I took New York friends to (even though they are both from Philly originally) and they were very impressed.

Two of Jon's current catering clients, Ruby & Bear

Mmm, Jon's grilled chicken. Nice.

Earlier in the day last Thursday I helped brother Jon cater for the cast and crew of a video shoot for Lil Wayne. Jon was in his best form and he served some very yummy food and had less than 24 hours to prepare. He still has it folks, and hopefully in the very near future I will have my first video clip in the blog, it will be an interview with Jon about some of his very fascinating history as one of the premier backstage concert caterers ever to bone grapple a rider.

Answer to question number 2, at top

My last post had a trivia contest and if you didn't see my comment, the winner was Jennifer Angelo who first answered all three questions correctly. The answers were Kevin Bacon, the Chambers Brothers and Bill Graham. Now if Jen would just tell me where and when I can deliver her prize. Hopefully it is sooner than the last prize I had to arrange for her, that took two and a half years to fulfill. Jen is a very talented event designer and is great to work with on corporate or social functions. The plug was an extra bonus Jen, no charge.

Sunday I checked out the Northern Liberties Second Street Festival. It was very well done with 4 stages, lots of crafts and food booths and beer gardens. Unfortunately it was just too hot to stay long and enjoy. Had a very tasty vegan fried chicken taco (seitan) from Dos Segundos.

Katie and da Munge. Colorado, February 2002

I have begun many cool projects for later this summer and fall. I started to plan the road trip that will end in Denver at Johnson & Wales University where Katie starts school in September. We are planning to take ten days and to stop in Memphis, New Orleans, Austin, El Paso and Santa Fe. Food and culture will be our main focus, although I am bringing my golf clubs and laptop for blogging. I am also helping with the silent auction for the Feastival, an amazing collection of chefs and performance art taking place at Pier 9 on September 14th. Buy your tickets now, it will sell out: http://www.phillyfeastival.com/ If you have a really cool and valuable idea for a silent auction item, let me know. Another project is a new concept for an ongoing series of networking events that I amhelping a colleague with, stay tuned for more info on that, they should be fun and profitable.

 
An Ambler farms update. Tomatoes are finally ripening, Black Krims, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebras and Beefmaster varieties are all pictured below.

Just harvested this morning

 One last snippet, totally unrelated to catering but very inspiring. Read this article. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_schmidle

Have a great day, enjoy.

Hershel 8/3/11