Tony Luke

SAN FRANCISCO - We're not in Philadelphia anymore, Toto. We're in the Land of Odds. You could tell because the weather here Tuesday was reminiscent of foggy London in the morning, sunny Miami at midday, and windy Chicago later. Other giveaways were the single-masted schooner about where Tony Luke's would be at Citizens Bank Park, a Thai sports bar, and a coffee shop across the street from the ballpark that was as crowded as the bars and where, a few hours before Game 3 of the NL Championship Series, several patrons were playing chess.

Another Bollywood movie is being shot in Philly. Who's in it? Who knows? Yesterday was the first day of camera work for an untitled drama from Mumbai's Yash Raj Studios, which shot an action film called New York here a year ago. For Day One, cast and crew were camped at a store near Seventh Street and Girard Avenue in North Philly. Tomorrow, they'll shoot all day at the Trolley Car Diner in Mount Airy. Sri Rao , a Pennsylvania-born producer who does a lot of work in the Philly area, said exteriors would be filmed in and around Center City until Oct. 11 or 12. The production, which was begun in Mumbai, will wrap in New York.

Jim Thome, the slugger the Phillies are courting with passionate pleas and piles of money, received a Philadelphia welcome yesterday that was fit for kings, presidents and baseball players believed capable of reversing the fortunes of a star-crossed franchise. The free-agent first baseman, whom the Phillies are trying to persuade not to return to the Cleveland Indians, was picked up by a white stretch limousine at 9 a.m. at the Ritz-Carlton in Center City and taken to Veterans Stadium.

South Philly sandwich czar/actor Tony Luke Jr. is getting into the TV game with Tony Luke's Eaglemania , a weekly, half-hour Philadelphia Eagles fan-friendly variety show. The show will air at midnight (late Saturday, up against Saturday Night Live ) on 6ABC, premiering Sept. 11. Shows will repeat a week later, at 1 a.m. Sunday. Luke will be backed by a house band including Skip Denenberg and Back2Life , and the show will tape at the Troc in Chinatown. First taping will be Aug. 17. Luke crossed the Eagles' radar during filming of the 2006 movie Invincible , based on the life of Eagles walk-on rookie Vince Papale . Luke played a goofy green-suited, green-caped aspiring Eagles player.

Frozen steak sandwich in a boil-in bag? It doesn't exactly have the mouth-watering appeal that comes from the sound of thin steak sizzling on a griddle and, oh my, the aroma of those onions frying next to it. But after nearly two years - and more than 100 attempts - South Philly sandwich impresario Tony Lucidonio Jr. says he has found the winning formula for preparing frozen cheesesteak sandwiches for sale in grocery stores that won't result...

Ihad a steak at Tony Luke's, on Oregon Avenue near Front Street, the other day. No, it wasn't 2:30 a.m., and the steak wasn't on an Italian roll dripping with cheese and glutted with onions and fiery cherry peppers. It did have mushrooms and onions, but it was a rather juicy sirloin, seared across the top and served on a plate, accompanied by a steak knife. I was at Tony Luke's Casa di Pasta, across the street from Tony Luke's the popular steak-and-roast-pork-sandwich spot.

Love is juicy, pungent, redolent. It's like garlic. It lingers, makes a mess, leaves a mark. You know what love is not? A box of chocolates. The concept of romance, especially around Valentine's Day, as something sweet, fussy, pristine, expensive and, inevitably, French, is so pervasive and tired as to be sitcom trite. Beyond that, it's just wrong - romance as an artificial, aspirational state detached from passion and longing, as if engineered by a Harlequin hack, not a seasoned adult.

South Philadelphia restaurateur Tony Luke yesterday tried to distance himself from the volatile dispute between Reading Terminal Market management and steak sandwich maker Rick Olivieri, hiring his own lawyer and vowing not to start formal lease talks until the dispute is resolved. Luke, 45, set and then canceled a news conference yesterday morning at his original location on Oregon Avenue near Front Street. But his public relations consultant, George Polgar, said Luke stood by statements in an advance copy of his remarks.

You've read it, heard it, tasted it, savored it, seen it in photo op action: Want a "classic" or "authentic" Philly cheesesteak? Gotta go with Cheez Whiz. Maybe it's time to melt that myth. True, Whiz is king at Pat's and Geno's, those legendary South Philly sites at Ninth and Passyunk. During the Pennsylvania primary, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert said their feud was fiercer than the Democrats' - and showed a sandwich dripping with Whiz. Barack and Michelle Obama, as well as Bill and Chelsea Clinton, ate at Pat's - and had Whiz.

10 tonight FOOD NETWORK Iron Chef Michael Symon (right) tours the country to settle longstanding culinary rivalries. Philly's cheesesteak is vetted tonight as Pat's King of Steaks faces off against Geno's Steaks? What, no Tony Luke's?