Dinner

  William Williams Keen Butcher, 97, of Chestnut Hill, CEO of the former Philadelphia brokerage firm Butcher & Singer and former chair of the Committee of Seventy public watchdog group, died at home Wednesday, May 15. A U.S. Army major who served in World War II, Mr. Butcher - who went by W.W. Keen - was a philanthropist and active member of the Republican Party at the national level who had U.S. presidents to his home for dinner. "I can think of several instances when we'd come home for dinner and the president would be there," said Noel Butcher Hanley, a daughter who lives in Bryn Mawr.

At a capacity of 556 over three levels, Del Frisco's Double Eagle , opening Friday at 15th and Chestnut Streets, will be Philly's biggest steak house. The centerpiece of the main floor is a 34-foot wine tower that can hold 2,484 bottles - and that's only about a third of the restaurant's potential wine storage. There are bars on the main floor and the mezzanine. Mezzanine? Old-timers may not remember one in the historic Packard Building, now known as the Grande, which was the train station in the M. Night Shyamalan flick Unbreakable . Del Frisco's (1426-28 Chestnut St., 215-246-0533)

Members of the Main Line Chamber of Commerce had no trouble grasping the message of their guest speaker at the organization's $75-a-plate, red-carpet dinner Tuesday night. The speaker, Msgr. Andrew J. McGowan, director of community relations at Mercy Hospital, Scranton, blended his wit with a call for community involvement before about 200 members and their spouses at the Great Valley Hilton and Conference Center. His speech was interrupted with applause and laughter, and after the dinner, members swarmed around him with congratulations.

IAGREE with your Sept. 16 editorial on the waterworks. The city should encourage the restaurateur who can provide the most exquisite dining experience. As for the obstacles: complicated parking, structural and historical limitations, and the need to fit a wide range of diners' pocketbooks, the first two are routinely encountered when dining in Center City or Old City, and the last needn't be an issue. The restaurant should be a special destination/special occasion one that would be so tempting to "foodies" that they would travel here and stay overnight.

It's the only political fund-raiser for which candidates pay $125 a ticket, knowing the money may help somebody they're running against. That's the Democratic City Committee dinner, which drew about 1,600 party faithful to the Franklin Plaza last night, according to treasurer Norman Loudenslager. Another 300 or so paid $250 apiece for a cocktail reception. Mayor Goode, the guest of the party that endorses him, made it clear - in the name of unity - that he will be fielding his own slate of candidates in the May 19 primary.

Last night might have been the best night of the year to snag a table without a reservation or a wait at the city's best restaurants - the streets were clear, the parking was decent, yet hordes of people had canceled their reservations earlier and stayed home. An informal telephone survey of some of the city's better restaurants turned up a bunch of lonely restaurant managers amid empty tables, mostly because the unusual nature of the storm produced piles of forbidding snow in the morning that quickly melted on the roads, making travel fairly easy later in the day. So, for a rare change, diners could walk into just about any restaurant in the city and get a table without a wait or a reservation - and with an eager staff waiting to serve.

Over and over, we hear that the nagging by Republicans, the media and former female acquaintances should end, and President Clinton should be allowed to do his job. I'm in favor of everyone doing the job for which they are hired and paid, whether it is a corporate CEO, a bartender or a kid who mows the lawn. And at times I'm amazed that anyone has the energy and brains for the demands of the presidency, which is the most awesome job in the world. So I would be delighted and relieved if President Clinton could be spared distractions.

State Sen. Manville Powell, candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, cordially invites you to a campaign fund-raising dinner, during which he will be murdered. He probably has it coming - he's a thoroughly disagreeable sort - and David Goldstein is more than happy to oblige. Goldstein has been killing off politicians at dinner for more than a year. Right now the murders are occurring in Boston; Dallas, and Shrewsbury, Mass., as well as in Philadelphia. And in September, the mayhem will spread to Tampa, Fla., and Sacramento, Calif.

When someone is adopted and leaves the children's home where Pamela lives, she cries. She's happy for her friend, but filled with sadness that she's not going, too. "Don't forget me," she says. "I'll really miss you. " And then the child is gone. Pamela wants to belong to a family, too. One of her dreams is to sit down to dinner with her family. "Please pass the potatoes, Mom. No thanks, Dad, no sauerkraut or spinach. " They'll be smiling at her, so happy to be together.

New-age Irish singer Enya's music played softly in the background, as the freshly lit candles sent a soft glow over a table graced with fine china and generous glasses of wine on a table covered with a crisp linen cloth. Yup, it's Wednesday night dinner at Scott and Maureen Murphy's modest townhouse in Chesterbrook - and that's how it is every night. But it wasn't always so. Scott Murphy was happy to take on the task of making dinner every night after he and Maureen got married.

SERGIO GARCIA apologized for saying he would "serve fried chicken" while making a joke about having Tiger Woods over for dinner. The British newspaper The Guardian reports Garcia was asked in jest while on stage at the European Tour's awards dinner last night if he would invite Woods to dinner during the U.S. Open. The Guardian reports Garcia said: "We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken. " In the statement in which he apologized, Garcia said: "I answered a question that was clearly made towards me as a joke with a silly remark, but in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner.

  William Williams Keen Butcher, 97, of Chestnut Hill, CEO of the former Philadelphia brokerage firm Butcher & Singer and former chair of the Committee of Seventy public watchdog group, died at home Wednesday, May 15. A U.S. Army major who served in World War II, Mr. Butcher - who went by W.W. Keen - was a philanthropist and active member of the Republican Party at the national level who had U.S. presidents to his home for dinner. "I can think of several instances when we'd come home for dinner and the president would be there," said Noel Butcher Hanley, a daughter who lives in Bryn Mawr.

Criticism of this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner was served even before the filet and flounder. Broadcast legend Tom Brokaw told Politico that "the breaking point for me was Lindsay Lohan," a reference to the appearance last year of the troubled actress, who came as a guest of Fox's Greta Van Susteren. "She became a big star at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, give me a break. " Mark Leibovich of the New York Times was next. He told C-Span, "There's a level of self-congratulation and self-celebration and so forth that can be very, you know, somewhat at odds with the mood of the country and how people view the media.

When Vice President Biden arrives in South Carolina on Friday to headline a sold-out dinner for state Democrats, here's what you can expect to go down: Biden will stoke speculation that he wants to run for president in 2016 by pressing the flesh in the first-in-the-South primary state. He will show himself to be on a first-name basis with many of the local politicians and county activists who will line up to greet him. They will gush over his attributes - genuine, down-to-earth, rock solid on the issues.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama joked Saturday about his plans for a radical second-term evolution from a "strapping young Muslim Socialist" to retiree golfer, all with a new hairstyle like first lady Michelle's. Obama used this year's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner to poke fun at himself and some of his political adversaries, asking if it was still possible to be brought down a peg after 41/2 years as commander-in-chief. Entering to the rap track "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, Obama joked about how re-election would allow him to unleash a radical agenda.

* Eating well to fight hunger is also the theme for a six-course dinner "Top Chef" Kevin Sbraga is putting together at his restaurant Sbraga (440 S. Broad St., 215-735-1913, Sbraga.com ) with a stellar lineup of local chefs May 14. Nicholas Elmi, Walter Abrams, Shola Olunloyo, Jonathan Adams and Dave Katz will join him in support of Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign. Tix are $150 each. * Food-truck operators stake their claim to be the city's best at the Philadelphia Vendy Awards' third-annual competition from 2 to 6 p.m. June 8. A limited number of early discount tix, $45, are available now at eventbrite.com . The event raises funds for the nonprofit Food Trust.

TV COOKING shows, am I right? They're everywhere, with red meat literal and metaphoric. Front-burner flare-ups and meltdowns, knife-edge competitions, violent outbursts, fireworks, car chases - you name it. Their "green" counterparts tend to be nonviolent, collaborative, animal-free, veggie-rich and . . . well, not exactly everywhere. And they don't have car chases. Which, on second thought, neither do the mainstream ones. Point is, however they might have languished in obscurity, plant-based shows are stepping into the limelight.

No outsourcing of quality time I feel sorry for Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, who says that, even with all her wealth and fame, she and her husband cannot get away from work for dinner with their two young children ("Women urged to push for equality at work," April 5). The same applies to all of us trapped in our hurried, crazy American culture. Rather than heed Sandberg's prescription to "lean in" to our ambition, we should be home for dinner. Women do deserve equal pay and greater access to leadership opportunities, and more support at home.

BEN STANGO's mom made the right call when he was in middle school. He'd gotten hooked on the Food Network. She let the boy cook. "I went big with my first meal," Stango says in his Center City kitchen. "A whole salmon. " It was tasty. Subsequent meals, less so. Regardless, now Stango's mother, Deb Weinstein, gets to cash in. He's cooking her a birthday dinner that he'll take to her home in Merion Station: Homemade beet tagliatelle with pine nuts and arugula, and pan-seared scallops with lemon and garlic.

WASHINGTON - Shifting course in the face of political gridlock, President Obama is making rare overtures to rank-and-file Republicans, inviting GOP senators to dinner Wednesday, planning visits to Capitol Hill, and working the phones. His efforts are aimed at jump-starting budget talks and rallying support for his proposals on immigration and gun control. With the $85 billion in automatic budget cuts starting to take effect, Obama has begun quietly calling congressional Republicans to discuss the prospects for an elusive longer-term deficit-reduction deal as well as his other second-term priorities.