Zavino (previously known as ‘Za Vino) has a web site and some other news. Pizza will be somewhere between Neapolitan and Sicilian. The opening is set for October. Michael Klein has some more on the menu. [The Insider]

Stephen Starr’s pizza place at 2nd and Lombard has a name. it’ll be Stella Pizza. Stella is Italian for star. [The Insider]

Who did we spot walking towards the old Cosi at 2nd and Lombard last weekend? Yep, it’s Stephen Starr approaching his soon to be Pizza Select.

KYW’s Hadas Kuznits tracks down Stephen Starr and she gets him to spill some beans on Pizza Select, Starr’s brick-oven pizza restaurant planned for 2nd and Lombard.

“I’ve been wanting to do pizza for a long time because I usually do things that I want.  And I can’t get really good pizza here in Philadelphia, so I’m just doing what I want to eat!”

He says they’ll offer lunch, dinner, and may even a little Italian-style breakfast. But they will specialize in pizza:

“It’s going to be real thin-crust, Brooklyn-style pizza, which you’d think is served here but it’s not.  Here it’s just thick, doughy pizza.  We’re doing a lot of research on this.”

Stephen Starr Creating a Pizza Restaurant for Headhouse Square [KYW Newsradio 1060 via MenuPages]
Coming Soon: Another Starr Restaurant [Podcast (MP3)]

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When we were tipped off by an anonymous source last week that Stephen Starr was interested in turning the former Cosi location at 2nd and Lombard into a pizza spot we were incredulous. Starr? South Street? Pizza?

But then a few more tipsters contacted us saying a deal was ready to sign. When a well-placed Starrling didn’t flat out deny the story we wondered if there could be something bigger than just a kernel of truth to this rumor.

We’re currently awaiting word back from Starr’s representatives but we want to know what you think: is Starr’s version of a “recession special” a pizza place?

Update: The Insider has the name as Pizza Select. [The Insider]