Wine Bar

Darlene Boline Moseng, who did catering and private chef-ing, is into her third week of A La Maison (53 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, 484-412-8009), a rustic French BYOB in the Main Line storefront that was Jewel of India. Moseng, a graduate of the Restaurant School, is keeping it traditional on a blackboard menu - coq au vin, short ribs, steak frites (dinner entrees: $21 to $28). She's backed in the kitchen by Maurice deRamus (Zen in Northern Liberties, Kujaku on the Parkway), and Marabella's alumna Lori Sexton is running the front of the house.

WHEN I walked into Paris Wine Bar, the newly opened adjunct to London Grill at 23rd and Fairmount, it was as if I'd walked into a wine bar in another, parallel dimension. You see, Paris Wine Bar is a wine bar that serves no wines from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Chile or even California, Oregon or Washington state. "All of our wines are from Pennsylvania," Cristina Tessaro, the bar manager, informed me. I looked around for hidden cameras to make sure I wasn't being punked.

WAY BACK in the Paleolithic era of American Wine Drinking — a time coinciding with leisure suits, fern bars and the Carter administration — sweet wines ruled. People loved their cheap Mateus and Blue Nun and Andre Cold Duck. Then, all of a sudden, everyone got all sophisticated and savvy and demonstrated this by eschewing sweet for dry. Basically, you were a moron or a rube if you liked sweet wine. Or at least that's what we were told. I know something like this happened in our home when I was growing up. As a kid, I vaguely remember a moment when my parents started opening bottles of Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay.

Chef Peter McAndrews has added the Old World-elegant Popolino , in Northern Liberties (501 Fairmount Ave., 215-928-0106), to his collection of Italian-themers ( Modo Mio , Monsu , Paesano's ). Working with Four Seasons alumnus Steve Flis, he's put an antipasti bar - tavole calde ("hot table") - in the middle of the dining room. (It's not self-service; staff does the portioning). Cuisine is moderate-priced Roman rustic - 10 appetizers and 10 entrees, plus house-made desserts.

Ever since the bagel shop closed many years ago, this tiny boutique of a space just south of Rittenhouse Square has struggled to find an enduring tenant. How about the small-plate appeal of Venetian cichetti and a wine bar? Former gondolier Andrea Luca Rossi, also a veteran of Girasole and numerous Boston restaurants, is giving the concept from his native town a try - and I like the early vibe. Out with the fussy white leather couches and marble of the old Italian wine bar. In with more rustic woods and casual buzz of the small-plate cantina.

Want to learn about wine really quickly? Everybody will tell you that the learning is in the tasting: If you want to know about wine, you have to taste it. The deeper secret is that if you want to learn quickly, you have to taste pairs, trios or whole groups of wines together. (In the wine world, a group of wines tasted together is called a "flight. ") When you taste wines side by side, you notice the differences between them, the small features that separate one from another. Your wine savvy goes up enormously any time you do comparison tasting, but you'll make the best progress if the wines are closely related to each other.

A. Serrill Headley, 68, formerly of Nottingham, Chester County, an adventuress who contributed to Philadelphia's restaurant renaissance when she opened Khyber Pass Pub in the 1970s, died of heart failure Jan. 17 at Augusta Medical Center in Waynesboro, Va. In the early 1970s, Ms. Headley purchased a neighborhood bar on Second Street near Chestnut. She left the regulars sitting at their stools arguing politics, while she transformed the surroundings with Pakistani wedding tents and created a menu that included Indian dishes and 180 brands of domestic and imported beer.

Chef Roberta Adamo, one of many Philadelphia-based proponents of cooking with fresh, seasonal foods from local sources, will lead "Shop, Cook and Dine" classes on Nov. 7, 14, 21 and 28 at Penne Restaurant and Wine Bar in the Hilton Inn at Penn, 3600 Sansom Street. The sessions ($30 each) are set to begin at 10:30 a.m. with a trip to a neighborhood farm market. There, Adamo will guide students in selecting ingredients for, and planning, the day's class menu. On returning to her pasta lab, the chef will give step-by-step instructions for preparing the meal.

It happens to almost everyone. You look up from an interesting project or conversation only to discover that time has flown and most restaurants have stopped serving lunch for the day. Ah, but with Restaurant Taquet near at hand, there's no need to miss the meal. Because hours at the Wayne restaurant's wine bar run nonstop from opening to closing, diners here have a chance to enjoy Taquet's extraordinary food all afternoon. That's good news for late lunchers as well as for those who'd like dinner before an early-evening appointment.

When it comes to restaurant fare downtown, two of the most obvious categories are missing - hot dogs and Italian food. At least that's how two restaurateurs see it. They plan to remedy the problem. "I mean, West Chester is a great place, but where do you find a hot dog or some wings? Or a taco?" said Bill Moscharis, who is scheduled to open his American Grill tomorrow. A block from West Chester University, the casual dining spot on South High Street, formerly Casa Maya, a Mexican restaurant, is two doors down from Moscharis' other place, Amore's Pizza.

WAY BACK in the Paleolithic era of American Wine Drinking — a time coinciding with leisure suits, fern bars and the Carter administration — sweet wines ruled. People loved their cheap Mateus and Blue Nun and Andre Cold Duck. Then, all of a sudden, everyone got all sophisticated and savvy and demonstrated this by eschewing sweet for dry. Basically, you were a moron or a rube if you liked sweet wine. Or at least that's what we were told. I know something like this happened in our home when I was growing up. As a kid, I vaguely remember a moment when my parents started opening bottles of Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay.

Chef Peter McAndrews has added the Old World-elegant Popolino , in Northern Liberties (501 Fairmount Ave., 215-928-0106), to his collection of Italian-themers ( Modo Mio , Monsu , Paesano's ). Working with Four Seasons alumnus Steve Flis, he's put an antipasti bar - tavole calde ("hot table") - in the middle of the dining room. (It's not self-service; staff does the portioning). Cuisine is moderate-priced Roman rustic - 10 appetizers and 10 entrees, plus house-made desserts.

Paris Wine Bar 2301 Fairmount Ave. 215-978-4545 www.londongrill.com Tria Cafe * Rittenhouse Square 18th and Sansom streets 215-972-8742 http://triacafe.com * Washington Square West 12th and Spruce streets 215-629-9200 Tria Wine Room 3131 Walnut St. 215-222-2422

WHEN I walked into Paris Wine Bar, the newly opened adjunct to London Grill at 23rd and Fairmount, it was as if I'd walked into a wine bar in another, parallel dimension. You see, Paris Wine Bar is a wine bar that serves no wines from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Chile or even California, Oregon or Washington state. "All of our wines are from Pennsylvania," Cristina Tessaro, the bar manager, informed me. I looked around for hidden cameras to make sure I wasn't being punked.

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat. Craig LaBan: I'm thrilled to see the Rittenhouse Farmer's Market still ticking along each Saturday into winter, with hot cider and the Renaissance Sausage cart to keep us warm, as well as a new-ish Jersey seafood stand with everything from fluke to scallops from Barnegat - all of it fresh and local, not frozen. They'd sold out by 1 p.m. when we arrived. We were in plenty of time, though, to plunder the Rineer Family Farms - one of the best all-purpose stands around: grass-fed rump roast; eggs with yolks as bright as the sun. But most interesting, Rineer has also recently been selling freshly ground white cornmeal (great for crusting fish)

Between trips to the Middle East, archaeologist Jill Weber makes her home in Philadelphia, where she's affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Dig this: She's turned her passion for international food and drink into a Center City spot, Jet Wine Bar (1525 South St.). Due to open this week, Jet has a sleek bar on the ground floor and a lounge with tables in the lower level. Chef Matt Zagorski, last at Rouge on Rittenhouse Square, has put together a menu of meats, cheeses, and sandwiches designed to pair with the beverages.

Want to know what that unctuous server was really thinking when he took your overcooked steak back to the kitchen? Pop over to the Restau-RANT at SketchJobs.com, where those who toil in the food industry anonymously vent. Sample rant: "Some cat announced that his beer had hints of Alaskan halibut in the nose. Who talks like that??" You'll need a stomach for strong language - not to mention disturbing tales of barroom excess - but it's kind of funny, especially if you've ever waited tables.

So our supper begins. It hasn't begun so humbly in days, various feasts and celebrations having spirited us to finer tables, in one case concluding in the take-home gift of a hollow dark-chocolate pig commemorating the birthday of a friend born in the Year of the Pig. One sprawling dinner in an Old City bistro included a passed hors d'oeuvre of tiny potato blinis topped with a bud of house-cured salmon, exquisite and sweet. Another, in a cozy townhouse dining room, was an homage to spring foraging - a mince of wild ramps beneath the pecorino in tender ravioli; and baby fava beans slick beside spongy morels in the rabbit dish.

Ever since the bagel shop closed many years ago, this tiny boutique of a space just south of Rittenhouse Square has struggled to find an enduring tenant. How about the small-plate appeal of Venetian cichetti and a wine bar? Former gondolier Andrea Luca Rossi, also a veteran of Girasole and numerous Boston restaurants, is giving the concept from his native town a try - and I like the early vibe. Out with the fussy white leather couches and marble of the old Italian wine bar. In with more rustic woods and casual buzz of the small-plate cantina.

There should be little surprise about what's on the menu at Queen Village's Hoof + Fin (617 S. Third St., 215-925-3070), which filled the former Gayle last month. Owner Lucas Manteca, who owns Quahog's Seafood Shack and Sea Salt in Stone Harbor and is chef for Cape May Resort, has opted for a rustic look at his South American-influenced BYOB grill: suspended clear lightbulbs, butcher-block tables, and assorted tchotchkes. Prices are aimed at the neighborhood; figure on under $20 for main courses.