Gridskipper highlights some great places to watch the sunset in Philadelphia. Among their top six spots are Water Works Restaurant and Lounge, XIX Nineteen and Bistro St. Tropez.

Top Picks: Best Philly Sunsets [Gridskipper]

It hasn’t been an easy first year for the Water Works Restaurant. Floods , chef changes and middling reviews have all haunted the restaurant behind the Art Museum at the Fairmount Water Works. But now a year later things are starting to go right.

If you sit down with owner Michael Karloutsos, you can almost feel the post-traumatic stress. But drop by on a whim for lunch, the river twinkling below, and encounter the welcoming embrace of André Darwish, his eyes dancing, his linen suit just-so dapper, and, behold: You hear, afresh, the music of the place.

Darwish (like the Water Works itself) has come out of retirement, bored by days without opportunity for florid greeting and gracious seating, his stock in trade as a former maitre d’ at haute Le Bec-Fin. So before we order, before we fully register the newer touches - white tablecloths on the cafe tables on the veranda, imported shade umbrellas that twist in the wind (the better to avoid keeling over) - he sweeps an arm across the expanse of the Schuylkill, and the curl of waterfalls, and the silent freight tracks in the distance, and offers in a French accent heavy with affection and local pride: “Look, you are in Europe here, not in Philadelphia!”

A year later, it’s the place to be [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Waterworks Restaurant [Official Site]

Upscale Indian comes to the Franklin House as Palace at the Ben opened May 2nd. The 185-seater is an off shoot of “mini-chain” Palace of Asia. [Feeding Frenzy, City Paper]

A romantic BYO in Northeast Philadelphia? That’s what Rylei is. [Table Talk, Philadelphia Inquirer]

The dearly departed Mayuree Cafe of Wayne has reopened at its new location in Devon. [Main Line Restaurant Guide]

Water Works Restaurant and Lounge has created a drink for each mayoral candidate. The Al Taubenberger is a Courvoisier sidecar, “Perfect when you are just along for the ride.”Just as well Milton isn’t running, we can’t imagine enjoying a drink made with bat sh*t. [Dan Gross, Philadelphia Daily News]

One of Craig LaBan’s 76 favorites is no more. Cherry Street Vegetarian has closed. [Table Talk, Philadelphia Inquirer]

Well you might be hard pressed to find a touch of spring in the air today but rest assured it’s coming. and with spring comes alfresco dining. The Daily News takes note of several places to dine outside. Including Tavern 17 a new restaurant and lounge set to open May 1st on 17th Street just down from the Warwick Hotel. Tavern 17 will seat 170 indoors and another 16-20 outside, plus they’ll have a special menu for pooches!

Additional alfesco dining:

• Patou
• Meridith’s
• Avalon
• Positano Coast
• 333 Belrose
• Oceanaire Seafood Room
• Ecco Qui
• The Water Works
• Restaurant M

Alfresco, old & new [Philadelphia Daily News]

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

Aroundphilly.com catches up with six area chefs and gets their thoughts on chocolate and advice on romance.

• Justin Rambo Garwood from Philadelphia Fish & Co.
• Chad Durkin, executive pastry chef at Water Works Restaurant and Lounge
• Mike Luongo, executive chef at Vesuvio
• Jemale Edwards, at Brulee: The Dessert Experience at The Quarter at Tropicana, in Atlantic City
• Ralph Pallarino, executive chef at Gypsy Saloon
• Joseph Frost, executive chef at George’s

Philly’s Hottie Chefs [aroundphilly.com]

Phyllis Stein-Novack gets brunch at the reworked Water Works and finds the menu offers something for everyone.

Obviously [Ed] Doherty is running a finely orchestrated show. The hostess continually made her way through the dining rooms, bringing more madeleines and ensuring everyone was enjoying brunch. The wait staff watched the tables and timed the meals properly. The acoustics were first-rate and it was nice to enjoy a meal without the constant noise we experience in so many places.

Two-and-a-half tips of the toque to Water Works.

Water Works [South Philly Review]
Water Works Restaurant & Lounge [Official Site]

CBS 3 and Philadelphia Magazine run a feature they’re calling Top Restaurants for 2007 even if it is only January 5th. But none the less there are some interesting profiles on Horizons, Rae and the Water Works. Did you know there have already been 17 marriage proposals at the Water Works, all of them at table 42!

Philadelphia Magazine: Top Restaurants of 2007 [CBS3 KYW.com]

Dianna Marder of the Inquirer gives us a run down on Philadelphia’s first water bar, of course it’s at the Water Works Restaurant and the burgeoning high-end water market. The head spins as you read of water editors for online magazine, water sommeliers and $50 bottles of water (Bling H20, which happens to be the Water Works top seller).

Water makes a splash [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Bling H20 [Official Site]

We here at Foobooz have to be honest, we’re not the biggest fans of New Years. Events are often over-priced, under-served and most frustratingly, overrun by amateurs. Now New Years Day on the other hand…. When you’re out drinking with people on New Years Day, then you know you’re among professionals.

But that’s not to say won’t be going out. It’s just that we aren’t that big on the galas and such, but find a nice dinner out with friends, perhaps at a BYOB, that’s how we prefer to bring in the New Year. But we’ll be up and at it early New Years Day for some real debauchery.

Updated 12/24/06

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Michael Klein’s Inqlings column gives us this golden bit of gossip this morning. Adan Trinidad is out as executive chef at Water Works, just about five months after the restaurant opened. Ed Doherty, who consulted in the opening of the restaurant and was an executive chef at La Campagna in Cherry Hill is now in charge of the kitchen.

[Inqlings, Philadelphia Inquirer]