This week in Philadelphia Magazine’s Restaurant Club Newsletter.

• Thanksgiving Dining Guide
  Food lovers aren’t necessarily cooks (ahem), so eat out for Thanksgiving.
• First Bite: Breakfast at P.Y.T.
  How does P.Y.T.’s breakfast/brunch stack up?
• Dinner with… Dan Stern
  Victor Fiorillo caught up with Daniel Stern to talk about vegetarian scrapple at MidAtlantic and how he may owe us all a free dinner!
• And a happy birthday to Philly Mag Food & Lifestyle Editor, Ashley Primis!

Restaurant Club Newsletter [Philadelphia Magazine]

A Foobooz operative recently was able to snap these camera phone pics of the upcoming Daniel Stern project, R2L.

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We have also found that Daniel Stern is looking high-and-low for help. A tipster recently directed us towards this New York Craigslst ad for line cooks.

As for an opening date, playing with OpenTable yesterday revealed that you could reserve a table for December 7th. Checking back today finds the online reservations system offline for R2L, so take for what it’s worth.

R2L [Official Site]

MidAtlantic teased us a couple of weeks ago via Twitter that there would be crab scrapple on the menu.

Today, we have the full menu to analyze.

The menu is broken down into several sections:

• Snacks, Salads, Pickings and Tap House food
• Chilled Seafood
• Every Night Dinners
• Nightly SpecialsSustenance
• Mixed Grills, the perfect shared feast
• Sandwiches
• Sides

The every night dinners are 3-courses for $30 and individual menu items top out at $18.

As for crab scrapple, it comes  in cake form with a toasted mustard sauce and in the Crab Louis with lettuce wedge, buckwheat and brandy Louis dressing.

We’re salivating for the Welsh Rarebit fondue and the 1/2 dozen hardshells every night dinner.

Complete menu after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

It would appear that is at least one of the menu items on Daniel Stern’s MidAtlantic menu.

We caught the following via Twitter last night:

Dreaming about crab scrapple, aren’t you?

MidAtlantic3711 [Twitter]
MidAtlantic [Official Site]

We can’t say we were surprised when we received word that Gayle will be closing on Friday, September 4th. There have been plenty of rumors swirling and dropping the liquor license turned out to be the writing on the wall. What was a bit unusual though was that the news didn’t sneak out via a disappointed employee but rather was released by a big-time New York PR agency.

Daniel Stern has a lot of big plans for the Fall. He’s looking to open R2L and MidAtlantic. He even has a Daniel Stern Restaurants web site (complete with three letter acronym, DSR). We hope this is one step back and two steps forward for the talented chef.

Complete release after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

Things change quickly in Philadelphia’s restaurant scene. Perhaps some inner monologue can help you follow along.

We: Daniel Stern is opening a new restaurant.

Us: Yeah, Rae in Two Liberty Place.

We: No, not Rae.

Us: No? Rae isn’t happening?

We: It’s happening but won’t be called Rae. It will be R2L. We’re talking about a different restaurant.

Us: Oh yeah, the casual restaurant set to replace Rae at Cira Centre.

We: Nope, not that. That doesn’t seem to be happening. The space is being shopped.

Us: Hmm. Interesting. So what’s this other restaurant?

We: It’s going in the Science Center at 3711 Market Street.

Us: Oh, odd. A restaurant in a science center. Don’t know what to make of that.

We: Yep, Michael Klein says it will be called MidAtlantic. And you have to check out the description of it. “Culinary roots of the mid-Atlantic region.”

Us: What does that mean?

We: No idea. Guess we’ll have to wait to early Fall to find out.

Us: We’re looking forward to it.

Exclusive: Daniel Stern’s next restaurant [The Insider]

We worry for Rae. The Kleinsider had a note Friday about Rae being closed for the weekend but today we notice OpenTable isn’t accepting any reservations for any upcoming dates. Daniel Stern is planning to move Rae to high atop Liberty Place Two but that isn’t scheduled to happen till around Labor Day.

What’s going on at Rae? [The Insider]
Rae [OpenTable]

UPDATE: Philly.com has more information. Rae is now a lunchtime only spot and only for December. After that Daniel Stern will be concentrating on moving Rae to Center City and retooling the current Rae space for a new concept. [The Insider]

The Inquirer is reporting that Daniel Stern’s Rae is going to move to Two Liberty Place.

When Rae opens, hopefully by Labor Day 2009, the 37th floor restaurant will be the highest public restaurant in the city. Stern also says he has plans for a more casual spot where Rae currently is.

No word on whether Stern will petition the city to allow him a sign on the exterior of Two Liberty Place.

Stern also owns Queen Village’s Gayle and he ishad been slated to have a restaurant in the 10 Rittenhouse complex, currently under construction.

Rae to move to Two Liberty [The Insider]
Rae [Official Site]

Are you gay if you like to drink rose? [Ansa]

Klein has news on a possible Daniel Stern project in Rittenhouse Square and a definite Bruno Pouget (of the not-yet-opened Apothecary) project coming to 20th and Sansom. It already has Tinto and Capogiro, could this be a new foodie nexus? [Inquirer]

Did you know there’s a “Hypertension Division” at Penn? They’ve determined that the health benefits of drinking eight glasses of water a day are iffy at best. You can now return to your eight glasses of beer. [Telegraph]