Stromboli

When you approach by boat, the island of Stromboli appears as a perfectly symmetrical volcano, right down to the smoke flowing out the top. I half expected to see pterodactyls soaring in thermal updrafts over the crater as we drew near, and dinosaurs stalking the lava fields. In the tiny fishing village of San Vincenzo, however, we found instead a few little restaurants and small hotels, and the pretty houses and gardens of the villagers. The volcano has also visited very close to San Vincenzo, judging from the lava flows right at our feet.

What kind of burglars would snag a stromboli but leave a laptop? Probably teenagers, say Upper Merion police, concerned about seven residential burglaries since May 28 in the Merion View and Candlebrook sections. Lt. Robert Deuber said the burglaries were probably connected. He said the burglars entered between 10 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. through unlocked rear patio doors or open windows while the residents were sleeping. Most of the entries were not discovered until the next morning, Deuber said.

Armstead (whose nickname is Army) already has a career picked out for himself, even though he's only 10. Since he's interested in computer technology, he would like to teach the subject. He enjoys computer games and math, and that's a good start. He also enjoys riding a bike and a scooter, and playing football with neighborhood children. He's a big fan of the 76ers and is on a basketball team at the YMCA. Eating stromboli, shrimp-fried rice, and cheesesteaks get his vote. He attends special-education classes that offer full-time emotional support.

It used to be baseball, apple pie and Chevrolets. Now it's videos, upscale pizza and Hondas. On a recent evening I stopped by Golden Crust Pizza on Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy. Told that my pizza and stromboli would take about 15 minutes, I decided to kill some time next door at the Video Library. I knew this was a special place the moment I saw two movies I didn't think existed in video. "The Big Fix" is a 1978 film with a charming offbeat detective character played by Richard Dreyfuss.

Joao Nascimento had been trying to get a job at Torino's Pizza for three months. Last week he finally got hired. But Wednesday, shortly before midnight - his third day on the job - two armed thugs gunned him down after apparently calling in a phony stromboli order. Police were closing in on his killers last night. "We feel fairly confident we'll bring this job in," said Homicide Capt. Tom Lippo. Co-workers were stunned that the cheerful, hard-working father of three was brutally murdered for a few bucks.

Police last night were searching for two suspects who allegedly gunned down an unsuspecting pizza delivery man Wednesday night in Olney. They identified them as Christopher McLaurin, 19, of Broad Street near Wyoming Avenue, and Nathaniel Bailey, 19, of Front Street near Albanus. "Anyone with information on their whereabouts, please call police," said Homicide Capt. James Brady. "They should be considered armed and dangerous. " Shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, cops said the killers phoned in a stromboli order and gave one address.

Peter McAndrews — yes, he's all Irish — married a second-generation Italian American woman, Lisa DiPaolo, and they honeymooned in Italy. After one bite of the food, "I didn't want to come back to America," he said. He ended up training for six months in Piedmont and six months in his wife's ancestral hometown of Molise. McAndrews, who spent a dozen years as chef at the American bar Rembrandt's in Fairmount, has opened a string of Italian concepts in Northern Liberties and the Italian Market, starting in April 2007 with Modo Mio in Northern Liberties, followed by two Paesano's sandwich shops, Monsu, and Popolino.

Nathaniel Bailey says he was just playing video games with his father when Joao Nascimento was shot to death. But Bailey, 19, of North Philadelphia, agreed to turn himself into police yesterday as a murder suspect anyhow, telling a TV newsman that he wanted to clear his name. Later in the day, Bailey's alleged accomplice, Christopher McLaurin, 19, also surrendered. "I didn't do it and somehow I got to prove to them that I didn't do it," Bailey told Channel 6 (WPVI-TV), adding that he had never shot anyone.

The $52 robbery and murder of a pizza delivery man in Olney on Jan. 24 was covered by the media here and in Brazil. "The story made headlines there," said Mauricio Vasconcelos, 30, nephew of the slain Brazilian immigrant, Joao Nascimento, who had been in the United States for only about five months. Nascimento, 40, started working at Torino's Pizza, on Rising Sun Avenue near Gale Street, just three days before he was shot to death. He had been lured shortly after 11 p.m. to a house on Albanus Street near Rising Sun, to deliver a stromboli order, said Assistant District Attorney Judith Frankel Rubino.

Atiq Chaudhry did not know that he was creating the ultimate Philly fusion cuisine. He just thought that he was reacting like a good businessman. A few years ago, Chaudhry noticed that more and more of the customers at his Pizza Pak II hoagie shop were Muslim, and that more and more were requesting halal meat - meat slaughtered according to Islamic law. That is when Chaudhry, a Pakistani immigrant, came up with the idea of combining a local food favorite with a centuries-old Islamic tradition.

Peter McAndrews — yes, he's all Irish — married a second-generation Italian American woman, Lisa DiPaolo, and they honeymooned in Italy. After one bite of the food, "I didn't want to come back to America," he said. He ended up training for six months in Piedmont and six months in his wife's ancestral hometown of Molise. McAndrews, who spent a dozen years as chef at the American bar Rembrandt's in Fairmount, has opened a string of Italian concepts in Northern Liberties and the Italian Market, starting in April 2007 with Modo Mio in Northern Liberties, followed by two Paesano's sandwich shops, Monsu, and Popolino.

Armstead (whose nickname is Army) already has a career picked out for himself, even though he's only 10. Since he's interested in computer technology, he would like to teach the subject. He enjoys computer games and math, and that's a good start. He also enjoys riding a bike and a scooter, and playing football with neighborhood children. He's a big fan of the 76ers and is on a basketball team at the YMCA. Eating stromboli, shrimp-fried rice, and cheesesteaks get his vote. He attends special-education classes that offer full-time emotional support.

The $52 robbery and murder of a pizza delivery man in Olney on Jan. 24 was covered by the media here and in Brazil. "The story made headlines there," said Mauricio Vasconcelos, 30, nephew of the slain Brazilian immigrant, Joao Nascimento, who had been in the United States for only about five months. Nascimento, 40, started working at Torino's Pizza, on Rising Sun Avenue near Gale Street, just three days before he was shot to death. He had been lured shortly after 11 p.m. to a house on Albanus Street near Rising Sun, to deliver a stromboli order, said Assistant District Attorney Judith Frankel Rubino.

Nathaniel Bailey says he was just playing video games with his father when Joao Nascimento was shot to death. But Bailey, 19, of North Philadelphia, agreed to turn himself into police yesterday as a murder suspect anyhow, telling a TV newsman that he wanted to clear his name. Later in the day, Bailey's alleged accomplice, Christopher McLaurin, 19, also surrendered. "I didn't do it and somehow I got to prove to them that I didn't do it," Bailey told Channel 6 (WPVI-TV), adding that he had never shot anyone.

Police last night were searching for two suspects who allegedly gunned down an unsuspecting pizza delivery man Wednesday night in Olney. They identified them as Christopher McLaurin, 19, of Broad Street near Wyoming Avenue, and Nathaniel Bailey, 19, of Front Street near Albanus. "Anyone with information on their whereabouts, please call police," said Homicide Capt. James Brady. "They should be considered armed and dangerous. " Shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, cops said the killers phoned in a stromboli order and gave one address.

Joao Nascimento had been trying to get a job at Torino's Pizza for three months. Last week he finally got hired. But Wednesday, shortly before midnight - his third day on the job - two armed thugs gunned him down after apparently calling in a phony stromboli order. Police were closing in on his killers last night. "We feel fairly confident we'll bring this job in," said Homicide Capt. Tom Lippo. Co-workers were stunned that the cheerful, hard-working father of three was brutally murdered for a few bucks.

"For 18 hours, it is very intense," Jo Ann Morgano said of the whirlwind two days leading up to the open house that she and her husband, Ignazio, host every year for 40 guests. One look at Morgano's last-minute to-do list for the party would daunt even an experienced cook. The Marlton mother and marketing executive - helped this year by her mother-in-law and sister-in-law who were visiting from Cleveland - made stromboli and cream puffs from scratch, cooked and cleaned 15 pounds of jumbo shrimp, made 110 clams casino, fried smelts, skewered chicken for satay, tried a new recipe for crab pancakes bound with bechamel, cooked two roasts, made two sauces for the filet mignon and a cocktail sauce for the shrimp, made two vegetable dishes and a pasta, and assembled a beautiful tiramisu in a footed trifle bowl.

Atiq Chaudhry did not know that he was creating the ultimate Philly fusion cuisine. He just thought that he was reacting like a good businessman. A few years ago, Chaudhry noticed that more and more of the customers at his Pizza Pak II hoagie shop were Muslim, and that more and more were requesting halal meat - meat slaughtered according to Islamic law. That is when Chaudhry, a Pakistani immigrant, came up with the idea of combining a local food favorite with a centuries-old Islamic tradition.

What kind of burglars would snag a stromboli but leave a laptop? Probably teenagers, say Upper Merion police, concerned about seven residential burglaries since May 28 in the Merion View and Candlebrook sections. Lt. Robert Deuber said the burglaries were probably connected. He said the burglars entered between 10 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. through unlocked rear patio doors or open windows while the residents were sleeping. Most of the entries were not discovered until the next morning, Deuber said.

When was the last time you had a truly memorable dessert in an Italian restaurant? If it's been a while, look in on Solo Mio in Old City, which prides itself on its homemade ricotta cheesecakes and a ricotta-pasta pie. Solo Mio is the kind of place many restaurants try to be: friendly, budget- priced and so spotless that you'll notice. First-time customers are treated like regulars. The staff is well-informed about the menu. The pizzas, pasta dishes and desserts are made with skill and pride.