Corner Bar

When you overfill a draft of Guinness, and a fluffy ring of foam slowly works its way down the pint glass, that's called a "bishop's collar. " Barkeep lingo, don't you know. No word yet on how the bishops feel about this, but if they happen to stop by the Bishop's Collar, a laid-back corner bar/sidewalk cafe in Fairmount, they needn't worry about sloppy tap work perpetrated in their name. "This is the one place you can't get a bishop's collar," says Megan O'Neill, who co-owns the place with Jeff Keel, allaying concerns about the pouring skills of her bar staff.

Taras W. Sawchyn, 34, manager of a family-owned corner bar in Kensington, died Friday of injuries he suffered in a one-car accident on Aramingo Avenue. Police said Mr. Sawchyn was alone and heading south on the Aramingo Avenue ramp that connects to Delaware Avenue about 11:30 p.m. when the 1981 Oldsmobile Cutlass he was driving mounted the concrete median, then slammed into an Interstate 95 abutment. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The results of an autopsy were pending, authorities said.

In the Technicolor glow of stained-glass poultry, Rose Parrotta is stomping her feet to Johnny Cash, reliving her wilder days in the apple orchards of New York and filling her Happy Rooster with an infectious energy boost. She welcomes friends to her little restaurant in a playful headlock, leading them around the thick brass bar pole. Even diners unknown to this diamond-studded dynamo get a blast of her charisma. She preens like Vanna White beside her ambitious chalkboard menu, discoursing on everything from her hand-scribbled boutique wine list ("people want forward fruit, but I won't give it to them!"

SHORTLY AFTER 3 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon, two girls sit at a table doing their homework in a building that for nearly 40 years was a popular corner bar in Strawberry Mansion. Over the next 10 to 15 minutes, about a dozen more children, most of them boys ages 8 to 13, come bustling through the door in groups of twos and threes. "Hi, Mr. Kev," they say to Kevin Upshur, founder of the Strawberry Mansion Community Learning Center. "You got your homework?" Upshur asks. "Sit down and get your homework done.

A patron was shot and killed inside a corner bar in Point Breeze early today, police said. The victim, in his early 20's, was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m. inside the Holiday Cafe on the 1800 block of South 18th Street, police said. He had been shot in the head. Investigators were seeking a description of the shooter and trying to establish a motive, police said. Contact the Inquirer Online News Desk at online@phillynews.com or 215-854-2443. Follow the Inquirer at www.Twitter.com/PhillyInquirer and www.Facebook.com/PhillyInquirer

A brawl that ended in a shooting overnight at a Chester corner bar has left a man in his 30s dead, according to police reports. The shooting occurred at Ginn's Restaurant & Bar at 2nd and Kerlin Streets about 12:30 a.m., according to police scanner reports. The victim was shot in the head and went into cardiac arrest at the scene where he was pronounced dead at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, according to reports. The incident reportedly began as an argument or fight in Ginn's that spilled outside where the man was shot.

There is self-service for gasoline at the pump, soda at the fast-food joint, and groceries at the supermarket. Next time you're at a corner bar, how about you get your own beer? Tir na Nog, a pub in the Phoenix, at 16th and Arch Streets, recently rolled out a two-tap self-service beer bar that seats six to eight people, the first of its kind in the city, and among the first on the East Coast. "Everybody wants to be a bartender," manager Ken Merriman said Wednesday night as patrons pulled their own brews.

Gus Tzitzifas and his wife, Effie, fell in love with the Old Swedes Inn in Swedesboro in 2006 when they stopped for dinner during Swedesboro Woolwich Day. As the saying goes, they liked it so much, they bought the place, though it took 4½ years to complete the sale. Then came the renovation, which took the 18th-century Gloucester County landmark down to the bare walls. Along the way, the Tzitzifases - he's a certified public accountant who also owns the Marlton Diner - were frequent patrons of Fork in Old City.

Cole (for Nicole) Mahon points out that her tattooed, formidably muscled arms have nothing to do with gym time; they're from long hours she puts in each week rolling out some of the tenderest pierogi dough in town. A pierogi menu wasn't part of the plan six years ago when she and her brother James took over the Green Rock Tavern, a corner bar with a bad reputation on Lehigh Avenue: "I grew up on ravioli," she says. But in deference to the Fishtown-Port Richmond neighborhood's Polish sensibility, she honed her pierogi moves at the table of a friend's mother.

You slip a C-note to a quiet guy sitting at the corner bar, the bar with the melted ice-cube windows and the red neon Schlitz sign and the barstools with the ripped vinyl seats, and you whisper, "Blue Note in the seventh in Atlantic City. " The next day you come back and he slides an envelope under your wet beer glass. "He came in at 15-to-1," he says. He doesn't smile. You do. Can it ever be the same? Can well lit, orderly and, for cryin' out loud, legal betting ever replace the neighborhood bookie?

SHORTLY AFTER 3 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon, two girls sit at a table doing their homework in a building that for nearly 40 years was a popular corner bar in Strawberry Mansion. Over the next 10 to 15 minutes, about a dozen more children, most of them boys ages 8 to 13, come bustling through the door in groups of twos and threes. "Hi, Mr. Kev," they say to Kevin Upshur, founder of the Strawberry Mansion Community Learning Center. "You got your homework?" Upshur asks. "Sit down and get your homework done.

Chef Eric Ripert is stepping away from his affiliation with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and its 10 Arts restaurant after nearly five years. He said a project in New York affiliated with his famed Le Bernardin required too much of his time. Ripert did say he will maintain his apartment next door at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton. Sous chef Nathan Volz, who manages 10 Arts' day-to-day operation, will continue to run the kitchen while Miguel Hernandez, the hotel's assistant food-and-beverage director, oversees the dining room.

Gus Tzitzifas and his wife, Effie, fell in love with the Old Swedes Inn in Swedesboro in 2006 when they stopped for dinner during Swedesboro Woolwich Day. As the saying goes, they liked it so much, they bought the place, though it took 4½ years to complete the sale. Then came the renovation, which took the 18th-century Gloucester County landmark down to the bare walls. Along the way, the Tzitzifases - he's a certified public accountant who also owns the Marlton Diner - were frequent patrons of Fork in Old City.

A brawl that ended in a shooting overnight at a Chester corner bar has left a man in his 30s dead, according to police reports. The shooting occurred at Ginn's Restaurant & Bar at 2nd and Kerlin Streets about 12:30 a.m., according to police scanner reports. The victim was shot in the head and went into cardiac arrest at the scene where he was pronounced dead at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, according to reports. The incident reportedly began as an argument or fight in Ginn's that spilled outside where the man was shot.

A Neapolitan pizzeria and a French bistro have joined Phoenixville's dining lineup. At Vecchia Pizzeria Napoletana (249 Bridge St., 610-933-1355), townsman Frank Nattle imports everything from Naples - the 00 flour, the San Marzano tomatoes, the bufala mozzarella, even the two stonemasons who built his oven from Mount Vesuvius stone. While working at the now-closed Brick Oven Bread & Cheese Shop down the street, Nattle experimented with pizza-baking after hours in the still-warm oven.

Cole (for Nicole) Mahon points out that her tattooed, formidably muscled arms have nothing to do with gym time; they're from long hours she puts in each week rolling out some of the tenderest pierogi dough in town. A pierogi menu wasn't part of the plan six years ago when she and her brother James took over the Green Rock Tavern, a corner bar with a bad reputation on Lehigh Avenue: "I grew up on ravioli," she says. But in deference to the Fishtown-Port Richmond neighborhood's Polish sensibility, she honed her pierogi moves at the table of a friend's mother.

A BARTENDER filling in for another worker early Sunday was stabbed to death while on the job in South Philly during a robbery. George Fox, 44, of South Philly, was killed about 1:15 a.m. at T-Barr's Bar, at 8th and Jackson streets. He was one of four people slain as of Sunday evening during a violent weekend in the city. Bar owner Tom Barr, 76, poured himself a glass of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey inside the brick corner bar Sunday afternoon. "I need one today," he said.

A patron was shot and killed inside a corner bar in Point Breeze early today, police said. The victim, in his early 20's, was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m. inside the Holiday Cafe on the 1800 block of South 18th Street, police said. He had been shot in the head. Investigators were seeking a description of the shooter and trying to establish a motive, police said. Contact the Inquirer Online News Desk at online@phillynews.com or 215-854-2443. Follow the Inquirer at www.Twitter.com/PhillyInquirer and www.Facebook.com/PhillyInquirer

If I were telling this tale as a joke, I'd say it's the one about a bar, a priest, and the Last Rites . The last is the title of the debut production at the brand-new, 96-seat Waterfront South Theatre. It opens Friday at Fourth and Jasper Streets, a block off Camden's Broadway. "It's life, it's art - and it's how cities repair themselves," playwright Joseph Paprzycki says, welcoming me into the light-filled lobby of the tasteful, three-story structure. Outside, workers install railings on the front steps; on stage, designer Robert Bingaman applies finishing touches to the Last Rites set. It evokes the corner bar that stood on the site in 1967, when the nearby New York Shipbuilding Corp.

There is self-service for gasoline at the pump, soda at the fast-food joint, and groceries at the supermarket. Next time you're at a corner bar, how about you get your own beer? Tir na Nog, a pub in the Phoenix, at 16th and Arch Streets, recently rolled out a two-tap self-service beer bar that seats six to eight people, the first of its kind in the city, and among the first on the East Coast. "Everybody wants to be a bartender," manager Ken Merriman said Wednesday night as patrons pulled their own brews.