Beer Garden

IT'S AN EASY GAME, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumbs-up or thumbs-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

IN THE EYES of sociologist Elijah Anderson, the Reading Terminal Market is a "canopy" - a place where people from all races and walks of life experience each other's humanity. "We come to a place like this and learn that people who may be different are like all of us," said Anderson, who used the market as a backdrop in his recent ethnographic work, The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. Tuesday night, the Reading Terminal again played a role in bringing a diverse group together, but for a more deliberate reason: Global Citizen's third-annual MLK365 Beer Summit on Race Relations.

In the bipolar world that is Northern Liberties these days, you can stroll past a stable and a shaded paddock where the carriage horses are munching (at George and Bodine), and a minute later be in the monochromatic Piazza at Schmidts, its flanks surrounded by boxy apartments right out of the playbook of some prewar modernist housing project in Warsaw. It's not news that things aren't what they used to be in NoLibs, which was pretty bleak. But with the influx of new blood (and lots of reinforced concrete)

To a city in search of visibility and development, the idea sounded benign, even welcome. The Small Business Association, representing about 45 businesses in the city's long-suffering central district, was planning a weeklong carnival in September to raise money and visibility. So far so good. But then the organizers proposed a beer garden for the whole week, including the Saturday of the city's annual Gloucester City Day. Not so fast, said city officials, the Police Department and some residents.

Borough officials have found a novel way to raise money to build a community recreation center: Sell beer. Tuesday night, the Borough Council approved two measures - which one resident has already vowed to challenge - opening the door to a beer garden at next week's borough carnival. Half the profits from every $1.50 draft sold at the beer garden, which is to be run by the George Clay Fire Company during the carnival from Wednesday to Aug. 5, will go toward a center planned for Mackenzie Park, officials say. The council said the move was one of its few means of drumming up funds.

At the borough carnival next month, organizers guarantee concession stands stocked with loaves of babka, Italian water ice and pizza. Whether revelers will be able to wash down their snacks with Coors or merely Coke has become a subject of some debate. "All the carnivals in the area have beer, wine and whiskey," Mayor Joe Pignoli said yesterday in defense of his efforts to organize a beer garden for the carnival, to run from Aug. 2 to 5. "And they make good money," he said.

It's an easy game, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumb's-up or thumb's-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

Bush joins vets on 3-day bike ride FORT WORTH, Texas - Former President George W. Bush accompanied 20 wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on his second annual 100-kilometer (62-mile) mountain bike ride through Palo Duro Canyon State Park outside Amarillo, which concluded Saturday. Retired Marine rifleman Eric Elrod, 29, said he had never met a president until the three-day Warrior 100K. "To meet any commander in chief is a big deal, but especially cool to meet your commander in chief who was in office at the time you served," Elrod said.

Yesterday was a day for German Americans to come together and celebrate in a German American Sommer Festival at Penn's Landing. The day included food, music, children's events and, of course, a beer garden.

Bush joins vets on 3-day bike ride FORT WORTH, Texas - Former President George W. Bush accompanied 20 wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on his second annual 100-kilometer (62-mile) mountain bike ride through Palo Duro Canyon State Park outside Amarillo, which concluded Saturday. Retired Marine rifleman Eric Elrod, 29, said he had never met a president until the three-day Warrior 100K. "To meet any commander in chief is a big deal, but especially cool to meet your commander in chief who was in office at the time you served," Elrod said.

* Slightly crazed, hugely popular Phillies blog zoowithroy.com shares that Iron Hill Brewery's new playoffs beer, Doctoberfest Pumpkin, hits taps Tuesday only at the IHB in North Wales (Shoppes at English Village, 1460 Bethlehem Pike, 267-708-2000). Wear a ZWR shirt Tuesday for some free pumpkin pie. * Today's the deadline to register for the Greensgrow Farms Chili Cook Off during the 4th Annual Subaru Fall Festival at Greensgrow (2501 E. Cumberland St.), 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Oct. 1. The free festival will have local eats, crafts, gardening tips and farm fun for all ages.

IT'S AN EASY GAME, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumbs-up or thumbs-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

It's an easy game, this reviewing of restaurants and bars. In most cases, the fish really do just lie there in the barrel for the critic to shoot. One mocks the scene, questions the authenticity of the menu, harrumphs into one's make-believe ascot and gives the almighty thumb's-up or thumb's-down. And everyone can play along on Yelp! If you're really good, you even get to score it all on a clever rating scale. Since stars are passe and bells are taken, my editor and I discussed pictograms like unicorns or powdered wigs or maybe even Ben Franklin or Kyle Kendrick heads as our scale.

IN THE EYES of sociologist Elijah Anderson, the Reading Terminal Market is a "canopy" - a place where people from all races and walks of life experience each other's humanity. "We come to a place like this and learn that people who may be different are like all of us," said Anderson, who used the market as a backdrop in his recent ethnographic work, The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life . Last night, the Reading Terminal again played a role in bringing a diverse group together, but for a more deliberate reason: Global Citizen's third-annual MLK365 Beer Summit on Race Relations.

Media Borough may have had a wealth of dining options, as locals Greg Quintiliano and Alan Reh knew, but there was no Mexican restaurant. The friends fixed that shortcoming a few weeks ago with Dos Gringos (113 S. Olive St., Media, 610-565-7794), a BYOB in the former John's Place diner. Chef Don Koszowski, a former sous chef at Center City's Lolita, is going beyond ordinary, making everything from scratch, including turkey sausage and chorizo. It's open at 7 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, serving breakfast till 11 a.m. and lunch till 2:30 p.m. Starting next week, dinner will be added Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Special Events 77th Annual Pulaski Day Parade Celebrate Polish history. Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 215-922-1700. 10/3. 12:30 pm. Annual International Locks Conference - Natural Hair, Wholistic Health & Beauty Expo Over 80 vendors, workshops, natural hair showcase, cultural fashion show, spoken word & musical performances, vegan & vegetarian food & more. Walter D. Palmer Leadership Partners Charter School, 910 N. 6th St.; 215-438-8189. www.locksconference.com . $5. Closes 10/3.

Here is an excerpt from the online chat of Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan: Reader: I'm a St. Joseph's student. Quick question - City Avenue seems to be an upcoming area. What places could you suggest to eat other than the KFC's, Wendys, 7-11's, and McDonalds that surround the campus? Craig LaBan: Either this is wishful thinking on your end, or I've missed something new and exciting, but City Avenue isn't ringing many bells on my dining radar lately. Of all the places, I would be very curious to pay a visit to the new Franco's Osteria, which moved from East Falls into the Presidential City building.

Our first experience with the fish tacos at the Kite & Key didn't go exactly swimmingly. Happily, they've been 86ed. And in their place chef Justin Hoke is offering more adventurous, lushly braised veal-cheek tacos, set off with a crisp shred of radish, cilantro, and sweet onion - a great accompaniment to the pub's estimable list of craft beers, bottled and draft. Hoke, who did three years in the kitchen at Le Bec-Fin, gets a rich depth of flavor in the cheeks, sauteing them, then braising them for six hours in red wine and a veal jus reduction.