Pork

Ramen Boy lasted, oh, about as long as one slurp. Or so it seemed for this sleek Chinatown entry from the owners of Yakitori Boy into the city's suddenly piping hot ramen scene. After a steady thrum of (justified) bad buzz on the "Yokohama-style" bowls, it closed after just five months while the owners regrouped. What a remarkable turnaround they've made in forming a new partnership with the Terakawa ramen restaurants from New York, which brought new recipes and a new chef. The cozy wood counter decor is the same, but the soups, focusing on richer tonkotsu, the cloudy broth steeped from Berkshire pork bones in the Kyushu style, are entirely more satisfying, and definitely worth another visit.

If you're a pork lover, here's an important fact you should know. Pork's pudgy image is inaccurate and out-of-date! While bacon, spareribs and sausage remain on the waistline-watcher's off-limits list, many other cuts of pork deserve a place on the dieter's dinner plate. The leanest and least-fattening cut of pork comes from the leg, also known as the "ham. " The fat that surrounds fresh ham is easy to trim and discard, and the meat itself is lean - only 42 calories an ounce. Contrary to common belief, the word "ham" doesn't necessarily mean salted, smoked, cooked and cured, although the leg cut of pork is often chosen for this treatment.

What to eat: Burritos ($6, they are huge); flour or corn tacos with, among other options, beef, chicken, marinated pork or veggies ($2 or $3); quesadillas ($5); platters with rice, beans and shrimp, chicken, pork ($6); taco salad or Mexican salad ($5). Also, breakfast burritos. Don't miss: The homemade sauces. Insane value: Chicken nachos, a huge portion for $5. Facebook: La Marqueza Philly. Find it: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 17th Street between Callowhill and Spring Garden, on the Community College of Philadelphia campus.

Where's the beef? That's what U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors wondered in 1987, when they began taking a closer look at "all-beef" meat products made by C.D. Moyer Co. at its plant in Silverdale, Bucks County. Turns out the company, a subsidiary since 1984 of the Philadelphia-based lunch-meat maker, Freda Corp., was using non-beef ingredients in certain products to cut costs and fatten profits, federal prosecutors say. The inspectors had a legitimate beef. Moyer and the vice president in charge of the plant, Matthew A. Guiffrida, 56, were charged yesterday with mail fraud and sale of adulterated meat.

For an unforgettable dinner, consider this sublime roast pork. Modern culinary technology can't beat slow, oven-roasted pork gently flavored with sage and garlic. At the table, the roast awaits the carving ceremony, a nice touch at a sit-down event. With the exception of boneless tenderloins (their cooking time is critical), oven-roasted meats are entertaining stand-bys. Slip them into the oven at your convenience. If carving is something you'd rather do without an audience, slice and plate the roast in the kitchen.

Haven't earned trust So, the point of your editorial on the New York Times leak of classified information ("Prosecuting Journalists: Democracy feels a chill," June 28) is that the press has the right to decide what deserves to be kept from our enemies and what the press should be entitled to know? That we should trust the press, but not trust our government? Sorry, you have not earned that trust. Terrence V. Gallagher West Chester Press doing its job The attacks on the New York Times for publishing an article about international financial transactions are particularly grotesque because the information that the government has been monitoring transactions has been in the public domain for several years.

It won't come as much of a surprise to most that the area around Washington Avenue has been witness to an increasing number of Vietnamese restaurants and food markets. What might raise some eyebrows is a food item called banh mi thit nguoi that I came across at the Viet Huong Cafe, 16th Street and Washington Avenue. This translates roughly to "Vietnamese hoagie. " "Well, not exactly," one of the owners explained. "It's actually a French hoagie. " Hmmmm. And we thought the hoagie was a Philadelphia creation.

For the last several summers, Bridget Gray's job could be described as culinary curator. As part of the staff behind the food-focused fund-raiser known as Feastival, she is charged with overseeing the menu items that nearly 90 restaurants and bars will serve Wednesday. She has to keep the selections diverse, to satisfy the 700 or so patrons who are paying upward of $250 a head for the night of entertainment and cocktail-party-style nibbling at Pier 9 on the Delaware River. This third Feastival - whose participants are wrangled by restaurateurs Stephen Starr, Michael Solomonov, and Audrey Claire Taichman - is expected to raise $400,000 for the Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe.

Math is a really, really difficult subject to master. And some students in Washington desperately need tutors. The students include Tommy DeLay, Denny Hastert and Billy Frist. They belong to an after-school club called "conservative Republicans" and have promised to be real careful in mathematics and save the country a lot of money. Like, billions and billions. Their teacher is Mr. Bush, who got alternative certification for this classroom position. He pretends to be stern, but he's really a softie.

For sheer friendliness, Chao Restaurant in Paoli is hard to beat. This spanking-clean little Chinese restaurant is bathed in bright fluorescent lights that dazzle almost as much as the smiles of the two sisters who own it. The owners and chef formerly ran the China Delight restaurant in nearby Devon (now run by a friend), but moved to the attractive Chestnut Village Shoppes in 1990. Like the decor, the cuisine is moderately pleasant, although dishes could benefit from more assertive seasonings.