Restaurant

My dinner partner, a distinguished older gentleman, looked worried when I announced we'd be reviewing Caffe Bene. His restaurant Italian wasn't great, he said. He wouldn't know what to order. What I read between the lines was that he sniffed a trendy restaurant where he would be forced to eat designer foods created for 29-year-old aerobics instructors. Trust me, I said. And he did, letting me make choices for both of us at the restaurant on South Second Street. The result was an evening that showed him that the trendiest of restaurants sometimes serve generation-bridging food and that I had guessed right in assuming that the restaurant - under Lew Norsworthy's direction - would offer fare similar to the simple but imaginative stuff I'd loved at Spring Garden's Mezzanotte when Norsworthy was there.

With just 24 seats, a number that includes the lineup of stools at the front counter, tiny Tapioca isn't the sort of restaurant you'd expect to see in this column. But it's fun, friendly and worth your attention, so I'm leaving the restaurant open to the risk of the ruinous rush of business that casting the spotlight on a small place often causes. The restaurant named for the old-timey comfort dessert is not a place you'd make a special trip to find. I would be mighty surprised if anyone went there to celebrate an anniversary or birthday.

The Mexican government has begun a restaurant hygiene program through which major restaurants can retrain employees and, after passing inspection, display an "E" for excellence sign in their windows. The program, outlined by Sigfrido Paz-Paredes, projects director for Mexico's tourism secretariat, is intended to allay health concerns of would-be tourists. Paz-Paredes announced the program at the National Tour Association's convention in Cleveland last month. The official said food-preparation standards were developed by the ministries of health and tourism and then offered to the National Association of Restaurants, whose members can enroll in the program.

Charles "Uncle Charlie" Collins, who could make bread pudding to melt in a mouth and smile to melt a heart, died yesterday. He was 89 and had lived in South Philadelphia. A lot of people are gone now who used to eat at the Collins' restaurant in the 1930s in the 500 block of South Broad Street. It was near the old Lincoln Theater at Broad and Lombard streets, and Collins' was a favorite spot for the vaudeville patrons and performers. Uncle Charlie later ran two other restaurants, in the 1500 and 1900 blocks of South Street in the 1940s and 1950s.

Sylvia Woods, 86, founder of the famed Harlem soul food restaurant Sylvia's has died. Tren'ness Woods-Black, her granddaughter, said Mrs. Woods died Thursday at her home in Mount Vernon, N.Y. She had been dealing with Alzheimer's disease. Mrs. Woods and her husband, Herbert, who died in 2001, started Sylvia's Restaurant in 1962. The restaurant became a fixture, with tourists and locals going there for cornbread, ribs, collard greens, and other Southern cooking staples. Woods-Black said her grandmother had stepped down from running the restaurant when she was 80, leaving it in the hands of her children and grandchildren.

Collingdale officials have received a petition from borough residents opposing a proposal to build a restaurant at MacDade Boulevard and Chester Pike. During a regular meeting of the Borough Council Monday night, Frank Perillo of the 100 block of Felton Avenue presented the petition to the council opposing the proposal to build a White Castle restaurant at the intersection. Perillo said residents were opposed because they were worried the restaurant would cause traffic problems at the intersection.

Bio: 50; Northeast native; now in Manayunk with his wife Robyn. Training: Bucks County Community College. Philly restaurant connections: Ristorante DiLullo, Apropos, 1701 Café, Capriccio, Sonoma, Kansas City Prime, Arroyo Grille, River City Diner/Tootsie's, Fish on Main, Carmellas. What's new? More veggie options at his restaurant, Derek's (4411 Main St., 215-483-9400, dereksrestaurant.com ). "When I look at my menu I see we're lacking things that are strictly vegetables, without any dairy, without any animal fats.

The requirement that a canopy link the Hampton Inn and the next-door building, R.H. Carr's restaurant, has resurfaced as an issue in Uwchlan Township. The inn and restaurant, owned by The Pickering Group, are at the northwest corner of Routes 100 and 113. A link between the two buildings is required. Raymond C. Carr of The Pickering Group told the Planning Commission on Wednesday that a canopy would have to be at least 14 feet high to allow trucks to pass under it. A canopy that high would be ugly, he said, and would do little to protect restaurant patrons from snow, rain or wind.

The Internal Revenue Service has seized Rosie O'Grady's, a well-known West Chester restaurant, for failing to pay $32,000 in employee withholding taxes. According to an IRS spokesman and to local police records, IRS agents and a West Chester policeman arrived at the restaurant just before 2 p.m. last Thursday and shut down the business. "This is money withheld on the behalf of the U.S. government," said Jim Wondolowski, an IRS public affairs officer. "When the employer is not paying this money to the government, enforcement is a little bit quicker," he said.

Kinterra will cease operations at the end of March, after six years as the stylish restaurant in the Wayne Hotel. In a partnership with the Wayne Hotel Associates and the Philadelphia Story Inc., Jean-Francois Taquet, a former partner in the Radnor restaurant that bore his name, will take over a new eating establishment in the hotel. "I think restaurants have to continually reinvent themselves. This was an opportunity to do that," said Richard Rossello, partner with Warren Scott in the Philadelphia Story, a restaurant management firm in Bryn Mawr.