Wine Bar

If you don't believe there is a new and improved West Chester, just visit Teca, short for Paninoteca, an authentic Italian caf? and panini bar that opened last month. A clue to how the menu works here is revealed in the restaurant's name. Teca is a combination paninoteca (for Italian-style sandwiches), enoteca (a wine bar) and discoteca (where the stylish night people gather to hear pop music in the late hours). Located on the shop-lined Gay Street, the place seems no bigger than a shoe box. But even that is true to its Italian roots.

A limited but charming wine-based menu gives Tomasello Wine Cellar & Restaurant a distinctive niche in Cape May's summer restaurant scene. Now in its second season, this pleasant outdoor place celebrates the products of Tomasello Winery in nearby Hammonton. Indeed, part of the restaurant's appeal is a wine bar with free tastings of more than a dozen locally produced bottlings, from light whites to heavy dessert wines. The summer operation is more than just a clever sales gimmick, for this is a legitimate restaurant with delightful cuisine, although many of the expertly prepared sauces admittedly are made with Tomasello wines.

When I hear the term "wine bar," I think about the fern and chablis bars of the 1970s. Bringing the term up to date, a picture of the bar at Philadelphia's Ristorante Panorama, with its special dispensing system and hundreds of wines available by the glass, flashes in my head. Enoteca is neither of those. Enoteca American Bistro, at 2 Kresson Road in Cherry Hill, does have a Cruvinet single bottle pouring system. And wine is served. But the emphasis on this wine bar is on the bar. As I walked in, I asked for the restaurant, and the bartender said, "You're looking at it. " Attached to a liquor store next door, Enoteca is dominated by a large, horseshoe-shaped bar, complete with cigarette and cigar smoking and a television tuned to sports - not that there's anything wrong with that.

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.

Tonight Phiz Fest , featuring a wide array of Champagnes and sparkling wines along with appetizers, cheeses, and other foods from area restaurants and food purveyors, with net proceeds to benefit the Neonatal ICU at Jefferson Hospital. $69 per person or $59 each for a couple online; $75 cash only at the door. 6-8:30 p.m. at the Grand Ballroom of the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, Broad and Walnut Sts. To purchase tickets and for additional information, visit www.phizfest.com . More information also available at 610-649-6330.

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.

IT'S no accident that Lady fell hard for the Tramp over a shared plate of linguine in the classic Disney movie. The very act of nibbling pour deux can be enough to get a body in the mood for romance. Although Valentine's Day is one reason to canoodle with your favorite dining partner, chefs around town are hip to the aphrodisiac power of shared deliciousness any time of year. "It's sexy to share," said Patrice Rames, chef/owner at Bistro St. Tropez in Center City. He offers a dessert duo meant for two, an airy Gran Marnier souffle and a chocolat chaud , or molten chocolate cake (see recipe)

The very idea of a place where you can sample any of a few hundred wines for 80 cents a glass - well, that just might qualify as wine lover's heaven. If so, then heaven on Earth is the Enoteca Italica Permanente - something akin to an Italian national wine bar - grandly situated in a 16th-century fortress atop one of Siena's three hills. The concept is quite remarkable. Under one roof, hundreds of wines representing all the major winemaking regions of Italy are brought together and made available to the public for tasting, at reasonable prices.

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 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.