Pork

I'M KICKING myself because I messed around and didn't purchase tickets for this year's Epicurean Palette at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J. It's a dang shame, since this is an orgy of food and wine the likes of which we don't see all that often around here. This would have been the year to go, too, since Kevin Sbraga will be finishing up his last weekend there as executive chef of Rat's Restaurant, which is a participant. Sbraga, who last week won Bravo's "Top Chef," is leaving Rat's Sunday to realize his dream of opening his own restaurant.

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat: Reader: Went to Bindi last week and had a delicious dinner. That 13th St. has really turned into a dining mecca. Any word on when those ladies will be opening Barbuzzo and what the holdup is? C.L.: I think the upscale modern Indian fusion at Bindi is one of the city's unique concepts. I'm looking forward to their soon-to-open Barbuzzo, too, because I love wood-fired Mediterranean fare (especially with what looks to be a Spanish influence)

Chimichurri sauce over sauteed pork is a Latin favorite. Parsley, garlic, red pepper flakes, oil, and vinegar are the basic ingredients for this piquant sauce that is used throughout South America.   Chimichurri Pork Chops 1. With food processor running, drop garlic down feed tube. Stop processor, add parsley and pulse to chop. 2. Add pepper flakes, olive oil, vinegar, and water and process to form a thick sauce; it will not be smooth. (if making by hand, chop parsley and garlic together and mix in the remaining ingredients.

On 12th Street, just south of Sansom, and just north - notably - of Glatt Delight, the kosher noshery, a new sandwich joint called Jake's Sandwich Board has debuted, prominently featuring whole roasted pig. No missing the point: The pig can be found typically all but smiling behind the sneeze guard, snout, ears, and all, ripe for the picking. So, young Jake's (it's going on three weeks now) has joined an old tradition - the Italian roast-pork royalty of South Philly, its ranks now swollen by a flurry of wannabe Southern barbecue boys (and at Percy Street BBQ, girl)

For James Villas, it would be the height of discourtesy not to invite a pig to his Memorial Day barbecue. A native North Carolinian, he bows to no one in his esteem for the humble porker, whose delectable iterations have graced Southern tables since Hernando de Soto introduced the first 13 pigs to North America in the 16th century. Southerners, goes the saying, eat every part of the pig except the oink. Villas' new cookbook, Pig: King of the Southern Table (Wiley; $34.95)

Passersby on 13th Street near Sansom at midday last Friday may have spotted a line spilling out the door at Sampan, the trendy, "modern" Asian spot recently opened by Michael Schulson. The draw was for something that's said not to exist, at least not outside the imagination - a free lunch. In this case it was a Vietnamese hoagie called a banh mi , offered gratis as a one-day special to promote Sampan's new lunch service. Schulson's careful upgrade of the traditional sandwich - he uses freshly grilled marinated Berkshire pork belly (not lunch meat)

Buns of pork! Those who expected Doma (Korean for "cutting board") to be a clone of its sister restaurant, Shiroi Hana, the 15th Street sushi bar, have been a bit surprised - and not unpleasantly. Sushi still dominates the menu here, but there's a distinctive accent of chef-owner Robert Moon's native Korea as well, especially in the rice dishes, the (bulgogi) Bento Box, and appetizers. One of our favorites is the soft steamed buns with a touch of sweet hoisin sauce folded over generous slices of perfectly tender (but not overly fatty)

A new analysis of congressional spending shows that lawmakers still have too much of an appetite for pork. The final count on earmarks for fiscal 2010 shows Congress spent $15.9 billion on no-bid contracts, up slightly from $15.6 billion last year. Spending rose even though the total number of earmarks dropped, from 10,363 to 9,413. At first it appeared that Democratic leaders had reduced pork spending significantly. But the independent watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense conducted a thorough study of both years' spending bills, eliminating certain accounting tricks, to come up with a more accurate picture.

Steve Welch knows how it feels to get dumped - twice in four months. Last year, the 33-year-old biotech entrepreneur announced his candidacy in the 7th Congressional District and had won the favor of Republican leaders in Delaware County. Then former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan entered the race in September and the Delco GOP machine lined up behind him, scuttling Welch's chance of securing the Republican nomination. So, Welch decided to try his luck in the 6th District. He was welcomed by local party bosses there, as well as the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Congressional Democrats have made modest progress in their efforts to limit pork-barrel spending projects known as "earmarks. " And then there's Rep. John Murtha (D., Pa.). Murtha is chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, a post in which he has earned the title as Pennsylvania's "King of Pork. " In last month's defense bill alone, Murtha led all House lawmakers by sponsoring 23 earmarks worth $76.5 million. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Murtha has directed billions back to his Johnstown-area district.