Menus totter ambivalently, one foot in the zucchini patch, the other striking out for the land of roasted mushrooms and harder squashes, the memory of chestnut and pumpkin not so distant anymore: A blanket was called out of summertime slumber one night last week.
In South Philadelphia, Ninth Street was getting some color back in its cheeks. Di Bruno Bros. was carrying sticks of sandwiches, the size of highway flares, one of them, in this shrine to Italian cheese, called "The French Connection": A chewy, easy-grip baguette was split, with full-fat butter, mincemeat-sweet green-tomato mostarda, and gentle coins of mild saucisson sec.
The coffee granita was still churning at Fante's, though its days, as the days shorten, are numbered. New projects were creeping along - a wine-and-cheese bar in the shell of Pronto, facing the mammoth Rizzo mural; a meatball-and-gravy take-out storefront from Villa di Roma; an Argentine-Italian dining room amid the butcher shops that hold down the east side of the street.
Argentine-Italian? Pasta and empanadas? A second rendition, coincidentally, is rising on 10th Street in the overhauled precincts of old-shoe Shank's & Evelyn's Luncheonette. (Shank's has moved into a skinnier, mostly-take-out space at 15th and Sansom: Same cast of characters, same fried eggplant and chicken cutlet, but the vibe is gone. Or maybe just resting up.)
French-pedigreed (American-flavored) Fond, staffed with Le Bec vets, has opened on Passyunk Avenue, another score for E'Punk. Tiny Salt & Pepper, at Sixth and Bainbridge, has dipped from the same gene pool, its latest chef seasoned at the closed Brasserie Perrier.
