Onion Rings

Reader: Just wondering if you've been back to Table 31 since your original 3-bell review. Seems like there's a lot of (deservedly) negative buzz over there with all the menu and management changes. It seems like you're quick to pile on a chain (Del Frisco's) that doesn't live up to the hype, but if it's a Philly guy whose work may have been respectable in the past (Scarduzio) he's given a free pass. Craig LaBan: I'm not a "free pass" kind of critic, and there are plenty of chefs, chained and local alike, who will tell you that past successes do not guarantee future bells.

Arturo Magallanes works mostly alone in a windowless room filled with the aroma of freshly cut onions. For 12 years, this has been his domain. His sharp knife and deft hands ensure consistency in the shatteringly crisp fried onion rings made from scratch every day at the Nifty Fifty's restaurant in Folsom, Delaware County. "He's got the touch, no question about it," said Magallanes' boss, Leo McGlynn, a cofounder of the Nifty Fifty's restaurant group. "When he goes on vacation, you can tell.

Some people pride themselves, I'm told, on finding bargain meals at places other than the conventional fast-food restaurant. These gourmands even rate their favorite places with a certain number of so-called grease stains. The Country Deli, a tiny restaurant that outgrew its name (it began 21 years ago as a meat shop but now is a full-scale restaurant), is hard to define. But I'm certain it would be considered a rare find for those trying to avoid the Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters of the dining world.

McALESTER, Okla. - A woman convicted of killing her son's ex-girlfriend in 1982 was executed last night by lethal injection, making her the third woman and 17th inmate put to death this year in Oklahoma. Lois Nadean Smith, 61, a minister's daughter, was convicted of killing 21-year-old Cindy Baillie in July 1982. Baillie was shot nine times and stabbed in the throat. Lois Smith's attorneys said she was trying to protect her son - who was sentenced to life for the murder - and was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

In many respects, time seems to have stood still at the Audubon Inn, the pleasant country restaurant near Valley Forge; indeed, history seems a palpable, living presence. The marvelous fieldstone building, operated as an inn since it was built in 1757, has the simple, straightforward charm of a bygone era - old-fashioned radiators, built-in bookcases filled with crockery and commemorative pewter plates, and deeply recessed windows with sheer cafe curtains and brown-stained interior shutters.

One of the more macabre pastimes associated with the return of capital punishment in 1977 has been the cataloging of death-row inmates' final meals. Both the www.deadmaneating and www.lastsupper.com Web sites compile such information, which is routinely provided in prison news releases and reported by the media. Two executions in July added to the lists. Eddie Albert Crawford, who was lethally injected July 19 in Georgia, refused a final meal, which is not uncommon. Of the more than 90 executions nationally since January 2003, at least 17 refused a last meal.

We thanked them when they told us about movie-theater popcorn. After all, who knew that something that smelled so good was really a coconut-oil-drenched time bomb in a tub? And now a mushroom cheeseburger with onion rings makes a gastronomical graveyard!? Popcorn was the news a few years ago, so the Center for Science in the Public Interest alerted the media. And journalists bit. The headlines eventually led to a culinary revolution, pushing some theaters to go so far as to offer air-popped popcorn to the coronary conservative.

Is this hot and humid weather getting to you, too? It would be nice if you could just take the family out to dinner these days, but of course that's hardly practical except as an occasional treat. With this in mind, I have gathered some recipes today that will use up your leftover poultry, fish, or meat of any kind, without using the oven at all. In some cases you will need to use the top of the stove for a few minutes only. For days like these it's a real plus having leftovers tucked away in the freezer.

On behalf of the faculty and staff here at Nightlife University, a fully accredited higher-education fabrication, I'd like to welcome you to our daily seminar: "Nightlife on the University of Pennsylvania Campus: What Is It, How Did It Get Here, Where Do I Park?" I'll be leading today's session, which focuses on the newly opened shops and cafe at 3401 Walnut St. As always with these nightlife seminars, there will be some homework - or, rather, some away-from-home work. If your thirst for knowledge has already taken you to, say, Cinnabon or Ribchicks or Benetton, you have a head start on the assignment.

More than 100 residents of Saunders House donned white sailor caps and raised champagne toasts Tuesday as they began a two-day cruise to Hawaii. Who cared that they never left the grounds of Lankenau Hospital. "In the past, we have taken trips to New Orleans and a dude ranch. This is our third cruise to Hawaii," said Alberta Dunn, activities director for the retirement and long-term health care facility, which was established in 1864. Dunn, who has been with Saunders House for 20 years, said the parties were always popular.

If hometown spirit counted in the scoring, a trio of regular Philly folk would have won $25,000 on Beat the Chefs Thursday night. They wore Phillies uniforms, made cheesesteaks their chowdown-showdown challenge, brought Amoroso rolls and bottles of Yards Brawler, and whooped it up appropriately, despite a not-so-laidback Los Angeles chef snarling about Philly being so angry. Alas, at the end of the Game Show Network program, taped in L.A. in July, the judges shot down the efforts of beer-industry consultant Michael Pearlman, his fiancee, designer Stephanie Singer, and food-cart novice Joe Hardy.

The Blue Bell Inn, which grew out of a mid-18th-century house at a Montgomery County crossroads, has been sold to a developer who intends to refurbish rather than flatten it. John Lamprecht, the restaurant's chef and owner since 1963, confirmed that Bruce Goodman, a longtime customer, will assume control Sept. 4. His partners in the transaction are Kevin Clib and Scott Dougherty, who own Bridget's, a steak house, and KC's Alley, a pub, in nearby Ambler. Before joining with Clib, Dougherty worked for Lamprecht for 11 years as a maitre d' and manager.

Reader: Just wondering if you've been back to Table 31 since your original 3-bell review. Seems like there's a lot of (deservedly) negative buzz over there with all the menu and management changes. It seems like you're quick to pile on a chain (Del Frisco's) that doesn't live up to the hype, but if it's a Philly guy whose work may have been respectable in the past (Scarduzio) he's given a free pass. Craig LaBan: I'm not a "free pass" kind of critic, and there are plenty of chefs, chained and local alike, who will tell you that past successes do not guarantee future bells.

UPON THE recommendation of a Gangsterette, the Chain Gang trundled off to King of Prussia this week to visit Rock Bottom Brewery, tucked away downstairs near Sears in the KofP Mall. "My boyfriend likes the beer," she said, cracking a big wad of gum. So we initiated the beau into the ways of the Chain Gang - he rode in the trunk - and decided to see how Rock Bottom's food went with its beer. After a monster appetizer, four main dishes and three desserts, our verdict: The beer is good.

Late-night-TV frat boy Jimmy Kimmel , 39, will be out sick a few days from his job on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live after undergoing an emergency appendectomy Wednesday night in L.A. "The surgery was a success," his rep said yesterday. In its report, the Associated Press saw fit to remind the world that Kimmel has somehow bewitched the strange, almost sublimely sexy, wicked funny comic Sarah Silverman to go steady with him. This fills me with envy and resentment. Trouble in LindsayVille?

Set me free, why don't you, babe? You don't really love me. You just keep me hanging on, you dirty rat. Not only Vanilla Fudge fans will hear echoes this morning of the heavy-metal soul anthem that ran through the first part of last night's Sopranos finale. Creator David Chase just cut to black - ending his TV masterpiece 100 percent unresolved. Cut to black? Cut to black after a scene so loaded with tension it was more delicious than the onion rings at Holsten's - "best in the state," according to Mr. Anthony Soprano, and who would know better?

I've always loved diners. I love them because they are the way I want life to be. They're places where everyone is warm and has enough to eat, and even strangers say hello. Distinctions of money and class tend to fade in diners, since no one dresses formally there and plenty on the menu is affordable. Diners welcome everyone. Showing up is all that's required for you to become a regular. You can get the feel of a diner as soon as you enter. Walk in and someone's there to take care of you, showing you a table or handing you a menu, telling you what looks good tonight.

One of the more macabre pastimes associated with the return of capital punishment in 1977 has been the cataloging of death-row inmates' final meals. Both the www.deadmaneating and www.lastsupper.com Web sites compile such information, which is routinely provided in prison news releases and reported by the media. Two executions in July added to the lists. Eddie Albert Crawford, who was lethally injected July 19 in Georgia, refused a final meal, which is not uncommon. Of the more than 90 executions nationally since January 2003, at least 17 refused a last meal.

If you happen by Gwen Foster's office today in Philadelphia, you'll probably hear a happy chant of "We're No. 7! We're No. 7!" Foster is Philadelphia city government's health and fitenss czar. Mayor Street gave her the job in 2000 shortly after Men's Fitness magazine tabbed Philly as the fattest, flabbiest burg in the land. And he stuck with her through some ridicule and sniping (including the reasonable query as to why a city that supposedly could not afford a tax cut could afford a well-paid fitness czar)

Some people pride themselves, I'm told, on finding bargain meals at places other than the conventional fast-food restaurant. These gourmands even rate their favorite places with a certain number of so-called grease stains. The Country Deli, a tiny restaurant that outgrew its name (it began 21 years ago as a meat shop but now is a full-scale restaurant), is hard to define. But I'm certain it would be considered a rare find for those trying to avoid the Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters of the dining world.