Dan Gross: Kobe rebounds at Delilah's

KOBE BRYANT drowned his sorrows at Delilah's (100 Spring Garden) Monday night, after his hometown loss to the Sixers.

The newly single, Lower Merion-raised Lakers superstar dropped by the gentleman's club about 1 a.m. Tuesday with a few friends and was joined a little later by teammate Andrew Bynum, who had just dined at Del Frisco's (15th & Chestnut).

Rick's return?

Rick Olivieri wants to bring Rick's Steaks back to the Reading Terminal Market. You may remember that Olivieri feuded publicly with market management in 2007, when the market didn't renew his lease.

He felt he had been targeted because he was making waves in his role as president of the Reading Terminal Market Merchant's Association. One result of the settlement was that Olivieri couldn't return for three years, a period that expired late last year.

Olivieri confirmed yesterday that he dropped off an application about three months ago. He got a letter acknowledging his application from Reading Terminal Market General Manager Paul Steinke.

"We have not taken any action on it at this time," Steinke said yesterday. As to whether Rick's would be brought back, Steinke added: "I would never say never. We do have three vendors who offer cheesesteaks, so that isn't our highest priority." Spataro's, By George and Carmen's all sell steaks at the market.

Steinke said the market probably has received 50 to 75 applications in the past two to three years.

Olivieri says that he has no hard feelings with the market management and that when he stops in to shop, "merchants tell me people are still asking for Rick's Steaks."

Steinke was conciliatory, too. "We can let bygones be bygones. We've all moved on from that time," he said of the drama.

After leaving the Reading Terminal, Rick's Steaks opened in the food court at the Bellevue and later moved to the Shops at Liberty Place and Lincoln Financial Field. The Liberty Place spot closed Dec. 31. Olivieri's father, Herbert, opened the shop at the Terminal in 1982. Rick took over in 1995 and changed the name from Olivieri's Prince of Steaks to Rick's Steaks.

Rick is a grandson of Pat Olivieri, who founded Pat's King of Steaks in 1930. Pat's brother Harry's grandson Frank Olivieri Jr. now runs Pat's. In 2006, Frank Jr. sued Rick for trademark infringement. The suit settled the next year.