Chef

Family and friends of James E. Webb, who co-owned the General Wayne Inn in Lower Merion, will hold a memorial service tomorrow night to commemorate the third anniversary of his slaying. The service will take place 8 p.m. at St. Timothy's Church on Route 452 in Aston. Carol Casey of Folsom, a friend of Webb's, said the family wanted to honor his memory and keep him alive in the thoughts of those who knew him. "It's also important, I believe, since it's an unsolved murder, to keep it out in front," Casey said.

Through tense silence at Avery Fisher Hall in New York earlier this month, he heard his name wash over him. Michael Solomonov. Pronounced correctly, even. Sol-ah-MON-ov . Beaming, he made his way to the lectern, where he was handed a bronze medallion bearing the visage of James Beard, attached to a yellow ribbon. Best chef, Mid-Atlantic region. Solomonov had no prepared speech for the James Beard Foundation, the Oscars of the food world. "I didn't want to lose again and go home with a speech in my pocket," said Solomonov, 32, who was nominated last year in the same category and two years ago in the category of rising-star chef.

Head chef Nathaniel Frison, 79, of West Philadelphia, a legend in the kitchen at the Old Original Bookbinder's restaurant on Walnut Street for nearly half a century, died Friday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A quiet, meticulous man, Mr. Frison developed the recipes for Manhattan clam chowder, snapper soup and bouillabaisse at Bookbinder's. "He was a wonderful person and a magnificent chef," said John Taxin Sr., the restaurant's owner since 1941. Mr. Frison began working at the restaurant in 1936.

Anna Pilla, who worked side by side with her late husband, chef and restaurateur Vincent "Cous" Pilla Sr., to make the old Cous' Little Italy a favorite dining stop for movie actors, mob bosses and other fanciers of Italian cuisine, died Saturday. She was 56 and lived in South Philadelphia. "When my dad first started, Mom was a waitress," said John Pilla, one of the couple's two sons. "It was like a partnership, in a sense. "He was always in the kitchen cooking. She would tell him what was happening on the floor, what people liked.

This is one in an occasional series of profiles of local chefs and restaurant owners. The image of a celebrity chef as a raging perfectionist and whirling dervish in the kitchen does not apply to Alison Barshak, the unassuming chef-owner of Alison at Blue Bell. As one of the region's handful of high-profile female chefs, she has captivated the local restaurant community since her debut at the Striped Bass more than a decade ago. Her 65-seat restaurant, in a mini office complex in Blue Bell, generally is filled to capacity on weekends.

Ellen "Jean" Dixon, a chef at Ye Olde Ale House in Springfield, died Saturday. She was 59 and lived in Folsom, Delaware County. Dixon had been a chef at Ye Olde Ale House for the past eight years, and had a loyal following from a career as a chef in Delaware County that spanned almost 30 years. Before going to work at Ye Olde Ale House on Baltimore Pike, she had been employed by the Rose Tree Inn for 20 years. Known for her delectable soups, sauces and gravies, Dixon was barely out of high school when she began working at the old Swiss Chalet, which became the Alpine Inn. There she trained under chef Al Wilson, recalled her sister, Winifred Hawkes.

Michael Roberts, 55, chef, restaurateur, writer and a creator of 1980s California cuisine, died Wednesday of complications of Kugelberg Welander syndrome at his South Philadelphia home. Kugelberg Welander is a progressive muscular degenerative disease. "Michael was one of the first groups of smart, educated, talented Americans who wanted to cook," said Gourmet Magazine editor Ruth Reichel. Reichel, who met Mr. Roberts 20 years ago in California, described his 1980s restaurant, Trumps, as "refreshing, filled with good modern art and great American food.

What's not to like about sweetbreads? That's the eternal question for Royer Smith, executive chef at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. He eats them every chance he gets. The thymus and pancreatic glands of a calf - the clinical description for the coyly named dish - are among his favorite foods. But then this is a guy who also likes tripe - a cow's stomach lining - and the fattened goose-liver delicacy known as foie gras. "They have a really great texture and a really delicate but not bland flavor," Smith said of sweetbreads.

Your restaurant is riding high. Day after day, plates of food go out of the kitchen looking beautiful and come back empty. Costs are in line. Employees are happy. Then one day, the chef sits you down. "I'm leaving. " Such is what happened recently at Fork, Ellen Yin's bistro in Old City. Terence Feury, who joined Yin to fanfare in January 2009, said he had a golden opportunity to invest in the renovation of the Old Swedes Inn in Swedesboro, Gloucester County, and to lead its kitchen later this summer when it opens as Tavro 13. Yin might have been surprised, but she could not have been shocked.

In chic Center City, where Alison Barshak used to be chef extraordinaire at Striped Bass, customers included Dr. Ruth. On the tony Upper West side of Manhattan, where the '90s food celebrity now lives, neighbors include Jerry Seinfeld. In Cedars, Montgomery County, where the culinary queen in exile has returned to open Alison Cafe, the people next door include farmers. And country-store owners. And housing-subdivision builders. And Graterford prisoners. But Barshak, whose five-star career went into decline after she precipitously left Striped Bass in 1996, insists she has everything she wants at Alison's restaurant.