MarketStEl

Just took a look at the Fox & Hounds Web site. That's a shame. I'm sure that restaurant is very much Old School Fine Dining -- the sort of place "the Grownups" ran here in Philly before "the Kids" opened all those funky restaurants with mismatched place settings, fabric-covered ceilings, and creative, rule-breaking food during Philly's "Restaurant Renaissance" of the 1970s -- but it's been around long enough to qualify as a Bona Fide Local Institution, and it's always a shame when one of those bites the dust, unless (as with Old Original Bookbinders' prior incarnation here) the food had sunk to the level of Tourist Trap Cooking. I assume the buyer will knock down the building and put in a "power center" or townhouses or "lifestyle retail" or something like that? Cameron's and Mitchell's are definitely chains. Whether Mario Batali's restaurants qualify is another matter entirely. They don't meet the criteria listed in that Wikipedia squib. Neither do these 12 Philadelphia restaurants: The Continental Continental Mid-town El Vez Buddakan Jones Morimoto Striped Bass Barclay Prime Washington Square Pod Tangerine Alma de Cuba Except for the two Continentals, all of them have dramatically different menus, decor and price points. All of them also have the same owner -- concert promoter-turned-restaurant entrepreneur Stephen Starr. So is this a chain? Kinda-sorta -- Starr has three Buddakans now (the other two are in NYC and Atlantic City) and two Morimotos (the other in NYC, from whence Masaharu Morimoto came). Yet I'd say these places contribute to both Philly's roster of great restaurants and its rep as a great restaurant city and thus would belong on any local list like the one for Detroit above.

Permit me to confuse things further, then, Rob. There is currently a discussion of potato chips similar to this one under way on Phillyblog (a regional discussion board I also post to frequently), and one of the participants in this discussion, in response to someone else's favorable mention of Grandma Utz's, mentioned Good's Potato Chips, which are also still fried in lard. Good's Web site states that they are the oldest potato chip maker in Lancaster County. South Central Pennsylvania in general is a hotbed of chip-making: Besides Good's, the area stretching from Chester to Franklin counties along the state's southern border is also home to Herr's (Nottingham, Chester County), Snyder's and Utz (both Hanover, York County), LG (York, York County), Gibble's/Kay & Ray's (Martin's Famous Pastry Shoppe, Inc., Chambersburg, Franklin County; these are cooked in lard too, and they also make tasty potato rolls), and a bunch of other smaller manufacturers (including another Good's Potato Chips, in Adamstown, Lancaster County). Gibble's are pretty damn tasty too. I've had the Crawtators, and they're all that. I think we could have a taste-off in the making here.

Wow. You took the interpretation to a level I hadn't even pondered. Mine was more benign; specifically, that this couple hadn't bothered to cook at all before moving into a place with a classy kitchen. But I can see where you could read it the way you do. But how do you know that the cooking show they're watching isn't "B. Smith With Style"? (The developer of these houses is doing fine, BTW. The company is getting props for building new houses in not-so-fashionable neighborhoods all over the city, which could use the new residents.) Maybe. I still find the ad hilarious, but the dynamic doesn't seem to be playing out as had been feared. Time will tell -- still. Moving this back to the topic, I just unwrapped the June Gourmet (which I had buried) and find there's an interesting article in it about chicken processing called "A View to a Kill." They're taking on the hot topic of industrial animal "husbandry" with this story -- a pretty meaty subject (pardon the pun). This is the sort of story I don't think would have run in the old Gourmet that those bachelor gourmets read -- it's real issue journalism rather than lifestyle celebration (which still appears in Gourmet's pages). I haven't finished it yet; I'll share my thoughts on the piece when I do. Anyone else read it? What was your reaction? (Edited to revise the term to make it clear what sort of "farming" we're talking about. I put "husbandry" in quotes because there's nothing spousal -- or humane -- about the techniques being described in the piece.)

Thanks for the feedback on the other two places. I've auditioned for "Millionaire" once so far, in June. I also passed the test but didn't make it past the quickie interview. I was surprised how few people passed the test. I'll probably take another stab at it later this summer. (Edited to add: A Harvard classmate won $250k on the show. We all got to relive the experience at the 25th class reunion.)

← Completely forgot about this request when I treated myself to a chunk of 7-year after finishing a bear of a manuscript editing job on the 26th of June. The 7-year cuts easily with a trowel-like knife I have and comes off in flaky sheets. I'm about to start on another bear of a job from the same writer. I will make a point of asking at DiBruno's where this cheese comes from on my next visit. I vaguely remember seeing something like "Noord-Ost" or "Noord-Holland" on the bit of the label when last I looked at it -- I think.

FWIW, here are my two recent experiences with Wensleydale, which still sounds to me like a suburban Minneapolis shopping mall: --Stonewall Bar, Greenwich Village, NYC, 5/31/07: The bartender explained the cheese platter and tray of crackers in front of him, and me, thus: "There's this store down by the Fulton Fish Market where they buy cheese that's approaching its sell-by date from the regular cheese shops and sell it dirt cheap in large quantities. He goes down there twice a week and buys a bunch of cheeses, then serves them here at happy hour." You saw my post about this upthread. --Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus end-of-season party, 6/25/07: I had won a cheese platter from a market and cafe in Swarthmore, up the road from where I work, in a silent auction, so I decided I'd take my prize to the party as my food contribution. I spoke with the proprietor, who told me my platter would have four cheeses. He suggested a blue cheese--we settled on Point Reyes; two soft-ripened cheeses--Humboldt Fog, a goat-milk cheese from California, and Robiola "Duo Latte", a cow- and sheep-milk cheese from Italy that he praised highly; and Wensleydale. I paused when he mentioned the Wensleydale, recalling my experience with it in New York. I wasn't sure it would go well with the others. He acquiesced and substituted a Queso Iberico instead. When I went to pick up the platter the Saturday of the party, there was a table with cheese samples in front of the counter. One of them was Wensleydale. No fruit, no frou-frou, just the cheese. And the cheese was delicious. Mild, but with a nice tang, and crumbly. I bought a wedge to add to the platter. The owner smiled and gave me an I-told-you-so look. The cheese platter was a hit. The guests made quick work of the Point Reyes and the Wensleydale. Some of the Robiola and Humboldt Fog survive in my fridge as of this posting. I finished the Iberico a week or so ago. I thought a fellow Chorus member got a photo of the platter, but he hasn't posted it to any photo share site, so I can't grab a copy of it to show you.

Your mother's continual quest for barbecue as good as she would get back home in the Big Apple is the textbook example of "the triumph of hope over experience." What's your assessment of Rick Bayless' RUB (Righteous Urban Barbecue)? I remember the rather lengthy discussion of the place when it opened, along with (I think it was called) Dinosaur BBQ. Bayless is a Kansas Citian, so he ought to know his stuff, but he's still a Kansas Citian in New York and thus removed from the source. What you had at Hill Country looks much better than the ribs I had at a highly regarded 'cue joint in the West Oak Lane section of Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. That brisket may have been dry, but at least it was smoked, which was more than I could say for these ribs. Should the opportunity ever present itself, perhaps your mother and I should trade notes on coping in the Great Barbecue Desert. I like the simplicity of the dishes you have shared with us this weekend and the whimsy that fills your shop. When next I'm in New York City -- probably when I try out for "Millionaire" again -- I will make it a point to swing by. Thanks ever so much for burning the midnight oil for us!

Thanks for setting me straight. Combining this info with what Vadouvan and Holly said about the purposes to which sales figures can be put, both management's desire for sales figures and the merchants' reluctance to furnish them makes sense, though.

Following up myself to note something after reading the Sunday Inquirer Travel section: Maine and Oregon

i don't know if that's a fair question- do places like RTM exist in most cities? ← More than you might have imagined. Off the top of my head, I can think of: Lexington Market, Baltimore Central Market, Lancaster, Pa. (I think either this or Lexington is the oldest farmers' market in the country) Eastern Market, Washington, DC Soulard Farmers' Market, St. Louis City Market, Kansas City (turns 150 this year) Farmers Market, LA ("Meet Me at Third and Fairfax") Ferry Building and Civic Center markets, San Francisco Portland Public Market Pike Place Market, Seattle Boston's Haymarket is (1) more like 9th Street than these (2) a pale shadow of its former self. If Detroit's Eastern Market is also "more like 9th Street," as you said, then it's probably in this category. Philadelphia is somewhat unusual in having both the RTM and a street market. That's true. Though I haven't been to Houston in about 25 years, I doubt it has the suburban sprawl that Detroit does. At the same time, LA does, and definitely has its share of quality dining establishments. I get very confused when I start to find similarities between Detroit and LA. Anyway, are there 'restaurant cities' in areas without popular mass transit systems where suburban areas are spread out like in Detroit? ← Depends on whether you consider Kansas City a "restaurant city." Judging from the traffic I see on this board, I think you can make a case that it is now, and not just for barbecue. And Kansas City is one of the nation's least dense large metros. "...in-house bakery, brewery, and dairy..." "...we use the same equipment for brewing beer and making cheese..." Sounds very promising! I think I'd love this place, for I'm a big ol' cheesehead! Unfortunately, I have no really good excuse to visit Detroit on the horizon the way I do have excuses to visit KC and Seattle. I suspect that you are correct on that last point. I don't remember which discussion I posted this to, but I made--or tried to make--a similar point about the Ironbound, the Portuguese working-class neighborhood just east of downtown Newark, NJ. Within the past decade, it's come into its own as a dining destination, but it's been there, offering what it offers, for several decades. A recent Pew Charitable Trusts study (which I may have already mentioned in this discussion) referred to Philadelphia as "Bos-troit" -- meaning that the city combined the affluent core and urban vitality of central Boston with the widespread neighborhood abandonment and industrial decline of Detroit. I think that part about affluence in the city center may count for more than we might think in making the difference between "a city with good restaurants" and "a restaurant city." However: I consider Boston a city with good restaurants but not a restaurant city. It is somewhat relevant to note that Greater Philadelphia, Greater Boston and Metro Detroit rank 6-7-8 in population based on 2000 Census statistics (Edited to add: nxtasy: The World Gazeteer stats you linked upthread are based on 2000 Census figures too; there's a ranking error in their table--Dallas should rank ninth, not seventh; the population figures in their table are correct), and I don't think that the latest estimates would change that ranking; also, the Philadelphia and Detroit metro areas are growing at the same modest rate, around 5% per decade. When I talk about Philadelphia, I mean to include the entire 12-county metro region, including Wilmington and Trenton (which the Census Bureau places in greater New York so the Feds can give their employees there more pay) but not Atlantic City (which the Census Bureau does include in the metro region). There are lots of good restaurants in the Philly 'burbs too, but they are enriched by the presence of the city dining scene. And, in some cases, linked to it as well: Georges' in Wayne is Georges Perrier's suburban outpost, but his empire began with Le Bec-Fin downtown. I don't think we would have the former without the latter.

Gotta back up slkinsey here on the auto theory. Note that on this very board there are lots of lively discussions about restaurants and food in Kansas City, which appears to have developed a robust dining scene in the years since I left it for college. (When I lived there, two cafeterias were among the better non-barbecue restaurants in town, and an occasionally quoted quip purported to explain the city's relatively lackluster fine-dining scene: "The best meals I've had out were in the homes of Kansas Citians," or something like that.) I consider the opening of the American Restaurant in Crown Center in 1974 as the beginning of the transformation of KC's dining scene. But I digress. The point is that Kansas City has a mass transit system that is underpowered for a region its size; beyond the old (pre-WWII) core city, it offers at best commuter service, and it's all buses. The city is as auto-oriented as any I'm familiar with, yet it supports a lively dining scene now. I posted in that other thread san mentioned that I think core cities and their suburbs are more interdependent than either care to admit. That Philadelphia has a healthy urban core while Detroit does not goes a long way towards explaining the divergent food cultures, IMO. To underscore this, I'd like to ask a question: What's Detroit's answer to the Reading Terminal Market?

I am not 100% certain of the following, but I understand that the new leases incorporate three elements, percentage of the sales being one of them and square footage being another -- I forget what the third is. I don't know whether there is an audit requirement or not, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the lease contained a provision allowing for one in the event of a dispute. Audit or not, I am sure that the new lease terms do mean that the restaurants will pay a good bit more than they do now, so it should not be surprising to anyone that they were the most opposed to the new terms. Again, I don't fault Rick for looking out for the interest of his fellow merchants as he best saw fit. But I also understood that, for better or worse, most of the other merchants had come to some form of peace with the new terms. Wincing as they signed the leases? Maybe. But they signed them, which means (if I'm right) that they did provide the data needed to craft them. If I'm right that Oliveri still held out, then he cannot completely blame management for his plight, regardless what one may think of the terms themselves. If I'm wrong, then that does give the critics of this move some ammunition.

Pardon the drive-by posting, but: We're just 90 miles down the road, we've got a lot of yummy food all over the place, and you can afford the rent or mortgage here. Which leaves you more money to spend on things, including visits to New York whenever you feel like it -- there's frequent and cheap train and bus service if you don't want to drive. Okay, back to the real New Yorker.

Well, there is one possible way out of this standoff: Management offers Oliveri a new long-term lease on the terms offered to other merchants of his class. He then can sign or refuse. But there's a problem here, from what I understand. Wasn't Oliveri refusing to share sales figures with the Market management? And aren't the new lease terms based in part on a percentage of sales? Catch-22, folks. No sales figures, no way to calculate lease payments. No way to calculate lease payments, no basis for offering a lease. The ball's in Oliveri's court. So far, he's chosen to call on the spectators as referees. If my understanding of the situation is correct, he will need to return management's serve if he is to have any chance of staying in business at the RTM.

Parachuting in with questions and comments filtered through a haze of 1200 miles' distance and more than 30 years' absence: --Is the Kansas City Magazine still published by the Chamber of Commerce, or has it become independent like Philadelphia did about 35 years ago? (The fact that it has a restaurant reviewer suggests to me that the connection to the Chamber has been severed, but if so, how long ago?) --Lawrence isn't expanding to the east? It had seemed to me in the 1970s that Lawrence and Metro KC were growing towards each other, which would IMO bode well for Lawrence in some respects in that it would now fall into the Kansas City media orbit (as it already is in TV). I would also think that a blurring of the boundary between the two cities/regions would also bolster Lawrence's independent dining/music scene. --Lawrence was cool (for Kansas) even back in the 1970s. With the lifting of Kansas' restrictive liquor-by-the-drink laws -- instigated, so I've heard, by aspiring Lawrence brewpub owners -- I imagine Lawrence has become cool, period. The city supports a music scene; except for that westward expansion, it seems to me that it should be able to support a restaurant scene, too. --I didn't become turned on to tomatoes until I left Kansas City to attend college. There are great tomatoes to the west of me in Lancaster County, and absolutely fabulous ones to the east of me in New Jersey. Anyone out there had a chance to compare our local products with those of the Sunflower State? Or do I need to conduct an inspection trip of my own? --Judy: It will take all the powers at your disposal to get me to appreciate turnips, one of only two or three foods I absolutely detest.

That's putting it mildly, Dave. And that bodes ill for Detroit's overall health, not just the health of its inhabitants. It's a shame that Pathmark Stores doesn't operate west of the Alleghenies. As the capsule history in my link indicates, the Pathmark chain has a track record of opening -- and successfully operating -- large, modern supermarkets in neighborhoods other major chains shun. (A local independent, The Freshgrocer, is also big on opening stores in inner-city locations ever since it opened a store near the Penn campus to universal raves. They too are serving neighborhoods the major chains have abandoned -- to tie this into what's happening in Detroit, the Freshgrocer is slated to be the anchor supermarket in the historic Progress Plaza shopping center, a strip mall in North Philadelphia near Temple University that is the oldest black-owned shopping center in the country. The original anchor store was a Super Fresh [nee A&P, Farmer Jack's parent] that closed two years ago.) What I see happening with these two chains suggests to me that a savvy supermarket operator can succeed even in a challenging environment such as Detroit appears to be.

I don't understand. Did you wash your clothes and shampoo with the coffee before you bought this tin?

I was going to say something about Nichols putting the beef on his grill and explaining what's at steak, and how if you read between the lines at the end, it was clear that he put his cheese on one side of the sandwich, but you beat me to it.

Messy fridges, cluttered shelves, cheese fetishes! I love it when I encounter a kindred spirit! Love your store also. Your sense of whimsy comes through strongly in the selection of merchandise. Those Dutch ovens you teased us with are just as cute. I don't think I was on hand for that one, Ducks. I think I actually lucked out during my years in Boston in that I never had an apartment with a kitchen as small as the one in the Waverly Walk apartment I lived in from the time I moved to Philly in 1983 until 2000, when I moved to my current digs. But Manhattan takes compactness to a whole 'nother dimension. Zero closets in one's apartment? I think that even the most efficient "efficiency" apartment in Philadelphia has at least one small closet in which a tenant can hang clothes. Sometimes I wonder if the access to all those wonderful places, events, restaurants and other amenities is really worth handing over your firstborn child each month in order to rent an oversize closet. I think we strike a much more reasonable balance in Philadelphia. Millions of Manhattanites obviously disagree with me, but some of them have been defecting of late. Carry on with your 24/7 life, Jessica. We're all rooting for you. I wonder how you manage to find the time to blog, even!

...two out of three ain't bad. Our sojourn through the finest pizza pies Fairmount and vicinity have to offer turned into a two-person, two-pie affair thanks to some unfortunate emergencies and mix-ups. But your faithful correspondents, Bob Libkind and Yours Truly, soldiered on at reduced strength through two of our planned three stops. First up: Illuminare. Bob, who knows this territory well, advised me on the way in that the owner is also a custom builder who put a good deal of time and effort into constructing a wonderful space. And it shows. Back of this bar, which wraps around the open kitchen, is space filled with light thanks to huge windows and a clerestory roof -- appropriate, given the restaurant's name. We chose to sit in the peaceful outdoor garden, where, if you let your imagination run loose for a bit, you might believe you've walked into the courtyard of a Mediterranean house, even if one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. What better setting to enjoy a margherita pizza, the traditional Pizza Club control pie? We ordered one from our waitress and took our seats at our table. Not too long afterwards, it appeared: Our... Wait. We ordered a margherita. Where's the basil? Or the fresh mozzarella, for that matter? This is a plain cheese pizza! "I know," said our very friendly yet very professional waitress. "I'm a pizza snob myself" -- a claim she then backed up with personal history and stories about some of the city's other top pizzerias. "I've told the manager that they need to change the menu, but they haven't done anything about it yet. Funny thing is, most of our customers don't say a thing." She seemed pleased someone noticed this error. It appears that Illuminare stopped serving its highly regarded margherita pie without telling anyone they had done so. So, as Donald Rumsfeld might have said in this situation, you eat the pizza you have, not the pizza you want. And this pizza was decent enough. The crust was nicely browned with only a little char. The sauce, while canned, wasn't overly salty; in fact, it was just slightly sweet -- but not tomato-paste sweet. The mozzarella had been burnt slightly, but was otherwise fine. And the crust had a very pleasant surprise for a just-browned pie -- a light and airy edge with a most satisfying crunch. Illuminare has won as much praise for its pies as for its atmosphere, and the pie we had here demonstrated their competence in making pizza. If I lived in Fairmount, I'd come here to order pizza often; besides, their prices -- $7 to $16, depending on the variety, for a 12-inch pie -- are very reasonable. (And I'd bring a date here for a romantic evening meal, ordering off the dinner menu.) But I wouldn't make a special trip for a cheese pie like this one the way I might have for an excellent margherita. On our distance-based rating system, I'd rank Illuminare's pies as 10-milers -- but I have to deduct five miles for misleading advertising. Next time, I will have to try one of their other varieties for a better gauge of what this kitchen is capable of. From Illuminare, we ambled around the corner and up the block to Rembrandt's, a local institution of long standing. This neighborhood fave has a split personality -- half convivial pub, half romantic hideaway. Bob explained to me that this was the result of an expansion that doubled the restaruant's space some years ago. We took our seats at the pub and perused the short but interesting pie menu: margherita, bianco (with tomatoes! -- oh, and broccoli rabe and fresh mozzarella), malfatto (with prosciutto, red peppers, Asiago and aged provolone, how can they call this pie "badly made"?), rustica (soppressata, roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, aged provolone), and white clam (with bacon, three cheeses, fresh garlic and parsley), back on the menu after a hiatus, said Bob. We decided we needed to have something other than a margherita and ordered the white clam pie. Note that the clams are baked in their shells. It might have been better for them to have been added directly to the pie at the end, for they were chewy and overcooked, but in truth, they were superfluous. The rest of the pie was a perfectly balanced composition of smoky bacon, cheese with some bite and garlic ditto. (Edited to add: Bob thought it would have been even better with panchetta in place of the bacon.) All of this was served atop a nicely charred crust that was thinner than Illuminare's; however, the edge wasn't as crisp as our first pie's. The peel must have been dusted with flour before our pie was put in or pulled out of the oven, for flour fell from the bottom of our slices as we ate them. As Rembrandt's also has a short but well chosen selection of draft and bottled brews, we both had beer with our pie here. Bob ordered a Belgian ale with a nice malt-brown color, and I ended up getting the perfect summer beer -- Harpoon UFO Heifenweizen, a light and lemony brew that even came with its own weather forecast printed on the glass: I quickly figured out that this was actually a description of the beer in the glass--what it should look like at the proper serving temperature. It did. Prices here are reasonable too. Bob informed me that Rembrandt's had acquired a new head chef some time in the recent past; judging from this pie, the new chef is doing quite well. If the other pies in Rembrandt's repertoire are as good as this one was, I'd have to say that these are really good 15-mile pies -- but for the true test, we will have to return and order a margherita. From Rembrandt's, we parted company. Much though I was looking forward to Osteria, I decided I didn't have the stomach for an entire pie all to myself there after having downed the equivalent of a 12-inch pie at our two stops. Not to mention that it hadn't even opened for dinner by the time I walked past it on the way back home. This means, of course, that a Pizza Club inspection of Osteria is still necessary. Not to mention a control pie at Rembrandt's. Feel free to add your own comments, Bob. Illuminare 2321 Fairmount Avenue 215-765-0202 Rembrandt's 741 North 23d Street 215-763-2288 Nearest SEPTA service: Bus Route 7 (Pier 70 to Strawberry Mansion via 22d and 23d streets) heads west along Fairmount past Illuminare; Bus Route 48 (Center City to Tioga via North 29th Street) runs west along Aspen past Rembrandt's. Both routes run south on 23d near both restaurants returning to Center City.

BTW, Joe, I hope that you haven't taken anything I've said so far in this discussion as "undermining the importance of the lunch merchants." They are indeed a valuable part of the Reading Terminal Market and helped it through the lean years and the years when the Reading Company neglected a prime asset right smack in its headquarters. (Spataro's, dating to 1947, and Joe's establishment, dating to the late 1950s IIRC, are two eateries that have been through all of the lean years, as has Bassett's Ice Cream.) It does strike me, though, that the RTM could probably do as well as it does now with nothing but prepared-foods vendors -- IOW, as a huge food court. So I do sympathize with strategies designed to keep the fresh food merchants viable. My recent trip to Seattle partly informs my stance. As I mentioned in my trip report on the Pacific Northwest board, it struck me that the balance at the Pike Place Market had tipped way too far in favor of the everything else at the expense of the producers' market, and I know that the issue of what balance to strike is a live one as the Pike Place Market wraps up its centennial year and contemplates some major renovation projects. Pike Place having far more square footage than the RTM, you still get a very good selection of fresh food vendors even with a smaller percentage of the market devoted to them, but there is a point past which such a market ceases to perform its core function. The RTM hasn't hit that point yet. But without good management, it could.

Vermont Curry Update: I mentioned this product over in a discussion I started on unfortunate names for food products (the first of these: Bland Farms Vidalia Sweet Onions) over in Food Traditions & Culture, and a knowledgeable eGulleteer replied that the product is so named because of Vermont's strong association with apples. Now the name makes sense.

My French has gotten all rusty and barnacled over the decades since I took it in high school, but it looks like the "all dark chocolate" dessert has some sort of sweet-and-savory, sweet-and-pungent riffs going on. Mousse with Szechuan peppercorns? Chocolate creme with fleur de sel (sea salt, right?)? How were those two? You live in lovely country in a country I've always been fond of; the cheese and wine more than make up for the chauvinism (which, after all, was a French invention). I'm sorry I never did get to France after a group tour to Paris in high school got cancelled. Maybe I should become reacquainted with the language and get over there already. Thank you for sharing a delightful week with us. And please keep the cheeses coming!

I'm assuming that you've all read the stories in the papers, linked above. I think the Inquirer story contained much more useful background, so if you haven't read it, take a minute to do so now before continuing with the rest of my post. I think there can be no doubt that current Market management is making some major changes in the way the market operates, and that my characterization of those changes as "mall management" is not that far off the mark -- but it's mall management with a mission, and that mission is to make it possible for the fresh food merchants to remain the primary element in the Market. The RTM's primary customer, in management's view, is the shopper looking for something to cook or serve at home, not the person looking for something to eat right now. I've already mentioned what I see as the goal of the new lease terms, which do ask those who sell the finished product to pay more than those who sell the ingredients, and given who the market sees as its core customer, I can't quibble with the strategy. I'm sure that the merchants who stand to pay more, maybe much more, under the new terms are unhappy with them, and to the extent that they are, Rick Oliveri accurately reflects their concerns. And since I believe that eateries account for roughly half the Market's merchants (close: 34 out of 74, though some of those 34 sell both ingredients and prepared foods, like 12th Street Cantina and Hatville Deli) and more than half of its gross revenues, it is perfectly understandable that (a) one of their number would head the Merchants' Association and (b) the association as a body would be resistant to a lease plan that has restaurants pay more to keep the fresh food vendors viable. But the merchants don't own the market; the Reading Terminal Market Corporation does. If the owner is determined to implement a policy, there eventually comes a point where resistance is futile and, persuasion having failed, one must either accept the new reality or opt out of it. What I read between the lines of this dispute is that Rick Oliveri chose to do neither. In that light what happened was probably also inevitable, unless we aren't being told the whole story and Oliveri was actually willing to sign one of the new leases. His refusal to provide the data necessary to draw up one of those new leases, however, suggests otherwise. One passage in the Inky story caused me to do a double-take: If accurate, then I think some of the merchants need to look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are nonprofit institutions. Whether or not they want to compete with the for-profit groceries, the for-profit groceries are competing with them. I could buy my cheese at Whole Foods for no more than I'd pay for it at Downtown Cheese, for instance, and most American consumers wouldn't care that the folks at Downtown know how to handle cheese while the folks at the WFM cheese counter may or may not. Perhaps they ought not "be required" to compete with the for-profit groceries, but if they want to hold onto their own profit margins, they need to whether they think they do or not.

Great pix, great recipes, and charming anecdotes so far. A minor quibble, and maybe your mind got them confused with sister brand Lay's -- the first national brand of potato chips -- but Fritos are corn chips, which are different animals entirely -- and different from tortilla chips, which are also made from corn, as well (for one thing, they're thicker; for another, they're usually saltier and have a softer crunch than tortilla chips). Do they have anything like Fritos in France? Or tortilla chips? I'm guessing that one reason French supermarkets do better by their cheeses than US supermarkets do is because both the retailers and the consumers in France know their cheese, and the consumers wouldn't stand for the industrially-produced-and-packaged varieties that dominate American supermarkets. Or am I romanticizing the French supermarket? And since we're on the subject, I have to ask: Is Philadelphia Brand cream cheese sold in France? (I guess I should follow this up with "And if it is, why?") Do they have a term for it, other than "with a scoop of ice cream"? ← Not that I know of. Maybe the French have an expression that I don't know. Normally, they just ask "avec glace?" A la mode in French is "of the fashion" Up to date, fashionable, in other words. ← I'm guessing that this term carries with it a slightly different connotation than the similar au courant?