Capital Grille

About 250 art students were evacuated from a 17-story Center City building and two restaurants on the ground floor were temporarily closed after dangerous levels of carbon monoxide set off alarms before dawn yesterday. Investigators had not determined the source of the odorless but deadly gas in the historic building on the southeast corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets by late yesterday afternoon, said Capt. Richard Davison, a Fire Department spokesman. Jared Rosado and his roommate, Nick Ryan, had slept through the alarm when they were awakened by firefighters who had entered their 17th-floor unit.

It was Saturday, preview night for Union Trust, the latest front in the city's untimely steak wars, and the shots of Sobieski vodka were suitably chilled after sluicing through onion-domed ice sculptures that recalled - given the moment - the gilded end days of czarist Russia. Outside at Seventh and Chestnut were the requisite lines of invitees, the up-sweep of floodlights, cadres of hop-to-it valets. Inside, vaulted ceilings, once a signature of Jack Kellmer's jewelers, soared like a cathedral's, a breathtaking 47 feet.

POSITION: Center HEIGHT, WEIGHT: 6-4, 330 Age: 28. BIRTHDATE: May 8, 1980. HOMETOWN: Miami COLLEGE: Delaware State YEARS PRO: 6 HOW ACQUIRED: Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2003. CAREER: Has made 50 consecutive regular-season starts, fifth-most among NFL centers. MEMORABLE JOB: Worked at the Carmike movie theater in Dover, Del., while in college. "I was a doorman and also scraped my share of gum. " PLAYER HE WISHES HE COULD HAVE SEEN IN PERSON: "I don't know, I was kind of a dork when I was small and wasn't into sports.

Owners Kim Strengari and Marianne Gere are waiting tables and tending bar at their West Conshohocken restaurants Stella Blu and Gypsy Saloon, where they've decided to cut their own salaries in half. In Center City, Del Frisco's Double Eagle, a pricey steakhouse opening later this month, is adding cheaper wines to its list and is promoting its more affordable bar menu. And Stephen Starr has hired a chef to develop lower-priced dishes for the menus at his restaurant empire. "Everyone I talk to is saying their business is 10 to 15 percent down from what it would normally be this time of year," said Gere, who is earning tips to supplement her salary.

For the price of about a gallon of gas, visitors to Penn's Landing could eat all the ice cream they could handle, or chow down on ribeye steak while enjoying live music. As the weeklong Welcome America! festivities closed, an overflow crowd packed the Great Plaza for the final day of the Taste of Philadelphia, then, if they so dared, dragged their bloated bellies to the adjacent Walnut Street parking lot for the final day of the Super-Scooper Ice Cream festival, a fund-raiser for leukemia research.

When it comes to beef, some restaurants are finding that bigger is better and that bigger and better is best. The philosophy may run counter to restaurant and food trends - small plates, more fresh and local vegetables and fruits, even vegetarian fare - but, in the ongoing scramble for consumer bucks, some restaurants are beefing up their menus, with prime, aged and specialty beef such as Kobe and Wagyu. And, in spite of the looming recession, the carnivores are buying, at prices up to $100 an entree.

Janine James, 16, hoped her new mentor could help nurture her dream of becoming an award-winning actress in musicals - even though she had never been in a play. Five days after being paired with Penelope Reed, the producing artistic director at the historic Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley, James was onstage, rehearsing A Christmas Carol. Mentoring programs have been around for decades, but James and Reed are part of the Youth Leadership Connectors Project - a new effort with a twist.

Fast food is often fat food, and eating it - even once a week - will probably not bring about weight loss, lower your bad cholesterol, or have a positive effect on your blood pressure. But should the city step in? Should Philadelphia require every high- and lowbrow chain restaurant to post nutrition content right on the menu or a wall? Absolutely, says Blondell Reynolds Brown, an at-large member of Philadelphia City Council whose bill would force even franchised chain restaurants to post what most see as the bad news about their food.

IT WAS A summery afternoon and the Chain Gang was craving crab cakes so we decided to try the new Phillips' seafood restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel at 16th and Vine. "Seems kind of fancy," one Gangster said as we entered. "Seems kind of empty," said another. A few seconds later we learned Phillips was closed for lunch and although we were offered the option of dining buffet-style in the Sheraton lobby, the Chain Gang has standards - the hotel may be a chain, but the lobby wasn't.

Sometimes a good steak can patch up a severed relationship. Flyers center Jeremy Roenick had lunch with general manager Bob Clarke and club chairman Ed Snider yesterday at Roenick's favorite haunt - the Capital Grille in Center City. So, Ed, did anyone order the dry, aged steak au poivre with Courvoisier cream sauce? "We had a very nice lunch with Jeremy," Snider said. "That's it. Period. " Roenick called the steaks "great," then added that his main objective was to apologize to the organization.