Icepack

Amorosi on the news, nightlife, gossip and bitchiness beats.

by A.D. Amorosi

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Published: Mar 10, 2010

How do we know spring's arrived? Other than a glowing sun melting Philly's ice sculpture weathermen? How about restaurants dragging outdoor seating from storage (better than swallows at Capistrano), throwing wide the windows and letting new chefs run wild. Like Sansom Street's Happy Rooster. Owner Debbie Jordan is enthusiastic about hoisting her cafe seats onto the sidewalk, but she's ecstatic about redoing the joint with more glass and lighting and hiring Jason Goodenough (ex of Buddakan and Brasserie Perrier) away from Table 31 to change up the Rooster's menu. "There'll be faves like spaghetti Bolognese and caviar 'n' eggs, but this isn't the same old boys club anymore," claims Jordan. And there's Jan Wilson's Cafette in Chestnut Hill. The sweet BYOB yanked out its garden chairs and got chef John McLaughlin (ex-Rembrandt's) to do the Southern-style cheffing that Wilson luvs. Then there's the word that Twenty Manning's Audrey Taichman and Kiong Banh will shut the door this weekend to put in more glass, turn toward an American-grill menu and break out the lawn chairs. Yay that.

► In case you've forgotten the woes of Haiti while panicking about your Oscar predictions, wake up. Mon., March 15, finds two venues at work for the earthquake-stricken country. World Café Live and Kindred host Bilal, Dice Raw and WyldLyfe for ER3. National Mechanics welcomes Sonic Liberation Front, Solal, Sgt. Sass, Bodega, Andy Armchairs and Midnight Sounds (the new band from the Stellarstar crew) for the Nationalities Services Center. Give till it hurts.

► I hear the near-done 777 S. Broad apartment complex wants restaurateurs. But do restaurateurs want in? Rumor has several smart chefaloos leery of the project.

► Sun Records-like rockabillyist Ladyfingers and the manic Northern Liberties solo project Erode + Disappear appear at Moonstone March 11.

► Philly electro expat Alice Cohen (of The Vels) returns home to play stuff from her new vinyl-only Walking Up Walls for pal Steve Tobin's Fire Museum event at Highwire March 13. "It's a pretty experimental night of women that I think he booked by sheer accident," says Cohen of her gig with Lillie Ruth Bussey and Labanna Bly.

► Doylestown isn't just for buttercups, baby. Peasant and its gentle soul/leader Damien DeRose drop Shady Retreat at a World Café Live release soiree March 11.

► Hey Voyeur. Don't be sad that the only two Black Eyed Peas who came last Wednesday were the two nobody likes. You're having a Kiss Me I'm Irish and Gay bash with velvet enthusiast Thom Cardwell on March 17 with your new Ultra party DJ/old-school spinner Reenie Kane. Better than Fergie, I say.

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

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