Margarita

The secret ingredient to the best margarita in town, according to bartender Gina Loebera, 26, is the lime mix. "I can't tell you what's in it," said Loebera, "but a vital ingredient is fresh fruit. " Loebera tends bar at Grife's, 132 Market St., a drinking and eating establishment open since last February. Grife's won a citywide margarita contest held at Manny Brown's Rib Joint, 514 South St., last night. A margarita is Mexican in origin. Typically it contains tequila, a sweet liqueur such as Triple Sec and a lime mix. Usually the drink is served in a large glass with a salted rim and a wedge of lime.

Fishtown, on the whole, is an edgy, craft-beer kind of place. And Loco Pez has its share of brews to hit the required local (PBC Shackamaximum imperial stout), Mexican (Dos Equis amber on draft), and American craft (Dale's Pale Ale) touchstones. But the quality tequilas and margaritas here are clearly this bar's strongest suit. An already fine shot of Casa Noble, Herradura, or Milagro is even finer accompanied by a complimentary side of manager Sergio Ruiz's sangrita, a juicy tomato shot sparked with a distinctive fruity note of pineapple, a sweet dark tint of pomegranate molasses, and a pointedly hot finish of chile piquin.

No two places make margaritas the same way. And that's a good thing. If you're in a it's-the-weekend-and-I'm-ready-to-party mood, Arroyo Grille (Venice Island off Leverington Avenue, Manayunk; 215-487-1400) is the place to go. You can relax in big chairs by the bar or at outside tables overlooking the Schuylkill. Arroyo features 14 kinds of flavored margaritas - and more than 80 tequilas. Manager Molly Kelly says the fruit versions are made from a mix, with fresh fruit. My group sampled peach, strawberry (the best anywhere)

They were acclaimed dancers who helped establish the National Ballet of Cuba. But when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, Ramona de Sa? and her twin sister, Margarita, separated along political lines. Ramona stayed in Cuba, embraced the revolution, and married one of Castro's close associates. Margarita married an American dancer and they fled to the United States, eventually settling in Narberth, where they founded the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in 1974. The personal estrangement of these two identically lovely young women mirrored both the rift within Cuba and the one between Cuba and the United States.

Starting with the anagram of the title, the composer-authors of "Stauf," the American Music Theater Festival-Philadelphia Theatre Co. collaboration which opened Sunday at Plays and Players, freely borrowed from the Faust legend for their 90-minute bourse opera. They also raided the Roman pantheon for Dr. Jove, their Mephistophelean parallel, and the Hindu tradition for Kali, a regional nature girl, and filched certain elements of the Karen Silkwood story to construct the persona of Margarita, the ladylove of their anti-hero, Henry Stauf.

The Master and Margarita is one of those don't-drop-it-on-your-foot Russian novels that I confess I've owned for many years but never read. Mum Puppettheatre's production is an adaptation for two people and many, many puppets; it is an immense undertaking and the two actors/puppeteers - Robert Smythe and Robert DaPonte - perform heroically. It must be said, however, that puppet shows shouldn't be three hours long - especially if the staging involves a lot of neck-craning that segues into shoulder-shrugging as the plot becomes more and more incoherent.

'So, you guys wanna do a round of shots?" asked our perky, apple-cheeked waitress out of nowhere at El Camino Real. I turned around for a moment, thinking she was asking the table behind us. I looked back in the direction of the bar, where a Friday-night throng of hat-backward twentysomethings were screaming "Woo-hoo!!" in their best, margarita-soaked spring-break hollers. But no. She was talking to us, all right, me and a handful of other dads from the block on a guys' night out. Don't get me wrong: We're a fun-lovin' posse when we're loose on the town.

There will be some beachy keen doings in Wildwood on Aug. 15 and 22, when the folks from "The Block That Rocks" present two major concerts by the sea. The music, to take place along a five-block, fenced-off area of beach in front of Convention Hall at Burk Avenue and the boardwalk, will feature Johnny O & the Classic Dogs of Love, the Nerds and none other than Cheap Trick in the first show, billed as "The Beach Rock-A-Thon. " The second show will feature Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - and the one and only Beach Boys.

Let's begin with the set, partly because you may not see a better one all year and partly because it neatly establishes the fabulistic tone essential to Dog Lady and The Cuban Swimmer, the two one-act plays that the Philadelphia Drama Guild opened Wednesday for a run through Dec. 15 at the Zellerbach Theater. There are two sets, actually, which share a stage-high frame. The frame - painted in colors we've come to associate with Latin American art and inset with a series of illuminated retablolike boxes containing athletic trophies in various combinations - warns us to expect something more than everyday logic from the events we're about to witness.

Its name is ominous and its dangers clear-cut, but its cool, secluded appeal on a hot summer day is irresistible to some swimmers, especially those with a passion for high diving. On steamy afternoons, the Devil's Pool, a small freshwater basin near where the Wissahickon and Cresheim Creeks meet in the Valley Green section of Fairmount Park, draws young swimmers eager to illegally take the plunge from towering rocks and boulders into eight to 12 feet of water. A woman named Margarita who declined to give her last name gathered with two other adults and about five children in the cool water of the pool yesterday.

Fishtown, on the whole, is an edgy, craft-beer kind of place. And Loco Pez has its share of brews to hit the required local (PBC Shackamaximum imperial stout), Mexican (Dos Equis amber on draft), and American craft (Dale's Pale Ale) touchstones. But the quality tequilas and margaritas here are clearly this bar's strongest suit. An already fine shot of Casa Noble, Herradura, or Milagro is even finer accompanied by a complimentary side of manager Sergio Ruiz's sangrita, a juicy tomato shot sparked with a distinctive fruity note of pineapple, a sweet dark tint of pomegranate molasses, and a pointedly hot finish of chile piquin.

Sister Margarita Guggy, 92, a Franciscan nun whose extensive career included teaching at John W. Hallahan Catholic High School For Girls in Philadelphia from 1977 to 1982, died of cardiovascular disease Sunday, July 10, at Assisi House, a retirement convent in Aston, Delaware County. Known through most of her religious life as Sister Margaret Teresa, she was a principal at four elementary schools: St. Benedict School in East Germantown from 1954 to 1956 and 1970 to 1975; Resurrection School in Chester from 1964 to 1967; St. Mary School in Manayunk from 1967 to 1970; and another St. Mary School, in Schwenksville, from 1975 to 1977.

If you're lucky enough to bring a big spender like my pal Dave to Cantina Feliz, by all means, let him order a round of "supreme" sipping tequilas (at $26 a shot!) like my favorite, El Tesoro Paradiso, one of the most complex spirits I know, at once herbaceous, salty, brandied, and smoky. (Brilliant Cabo Uno would be my segunda choice). For more affordable sipping, though, try a "Cerveza de Margarita," which is exactly what it sounds like: a margarita made with beer. It's one of the first examples of the growing "beer cocktail" trend I've actually liked, especially because the beer of choice, Bell's Oberon, is a wheat ale that homes in perfectly on both the natural citrusy elements of the drink (fresh lemon, lime, and triple sec)

I just went on a girls' night out, or a GNO, and it got me thinking. How did that term, and even its acronym, enter the vernacular? Why do we specify when it's a girls' night out, as opposed to a boys' night out? And is it because a boys' night out is the norm, so we need to specify when it's a girls' night out, which is, what, bizarre? We all got dressed up for each other and even took pictures. Again, I doubt that guys dress up for a boys' night out, and they leave the flip cameras at home.

How to sort through University City's many culinary options during Dining Days? While there's not a bad choice among the participants, here are 10 sure to satisfy. City Tap House: Come for one of the 60 craft beers on tap; stay for chef Al Paris' beer-loving menu. Paris delivers the gastro-pub goods on this four-course menu with stand outs like an Italian accented chop salad, classic Margarita pizza and zesty jerk salmon filet with a chutney glaze. ($30) 3925 Walnut St., 215-662-0105.

'So, you guys wanna do a round of shots?" asked our perky, apple-cheeked waitress out of nowhere at El Camino Real. I turned around for a moment, thinking she was asking the table behind us. I looked back in the direction of the bar, where a Friday-night throng of hat-backward twentysomethings were screaming "Woo-hoo!!" in their best, margarita-soaked spring-break hollers. But no. She was talking to us, all right, me and a handful of other dads from the block on a guys' night out. Don't get me wrong: We're a fun-lovin' posse when we're loose on the town.

The Master and Margarita is one of those don't-drop-it-on-your-foot Russian novels that I confess I've owned for many years but never read. Mum Puppettheatre's production is an adaptation for two people and many, many puppets; it is an immense undertaking and the two actors/puppeteers - Robert Smythe and Robert DaPonte - perform heroically. It must be said, however, that puppet shows shouldn't be three hours long - especially if the staging involves a lot of neck-craning that segues into shoulder-shrugging as the plot becomes more and more incoherent.

Its name is ominous and its dangers clear-cut, but its cool, secluded appeal on a hot summer day is irresistible to some swimmers, especially those with a passion for high diving. On steamy afternoons, the Devil's Pool, a small freshwater basin near where the Wissahickon and Cresheim Creeks meet in the Valley Green section of Fairmount Park, draws young swimmers eager to illegally take the plunge from towering rocks and boulders into eight to 12 feet of water. A woman named Margarita who declined to give her last name gathered with two other adults and about five children in the cool water of the pool yesterday.

They were acclaimed dancers who helped establish the National Ballet of Cuba. But when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, Ramona de Sa? and her twin sister, Margarita, separated along political lines. Ramona stayed in Cuba, embraced the revolution, and married one of Castro's close associates. Margarita married an American dancer and they fled to the United States, eventually settling in Narberth, where they founded the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in 1974. The personal estrangement of these two identically lovely young women mirrored both the rift within Cuba and the one between Cuba and the United States.