Philadelphia’s favorite celebrity sommelier, Marnie Old, has filed a protest letter with the PLCB regarding the opening of Union Trust, the new SuperMegaSteakhouse on 7th and Chestnut Sts.
So reports the Daily News: “Her objections will lead to a PLCB hearing at a yet-to-be-determined date, which will undoubtedly delay Terry White and Ed Doherty’s planned September opening. According to correspondence, Old wants the restaurant to sign a document stating that it will never have outdoor seating or function as a nightclub.”
Her pissing and moaning is in regards to the location of the restaurant, which is in close proximity to her humble abode. Ms. Old has made her living creating wine lists for much of the Starr Empire, including one of the loudest beasts in the area (Parc, ahem) that recently plopped it’s fat ass right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. We also find the timing of this quite interesting, as she surely is developing the wine list for the up and coming Starr steakjoint opening where Striped Bass used to be. These are some really shameless tactics in an already shameless organization, and wreaks of hypocrisy worse than we smelled in a lonnnnnng time. Here she is Philadelphia, your celebrity sommelier, Marnie Old!
Since when do sommeliers who write books about the merits of beer and wine as food partners protest a liquor license for a high end steakhouse?? Oh…I get it Marnie…Wine goes well with steak at 18th & Locust but not at 7th & Chestnut…. What a hypocrite!
I could only imagine what she is like in person, yuck!
This is one of those comical moments that just shows how childish everyone in the food business in Philly is when they open their mouths.
Rather that find rationale and negotiate the merits of the dispute to make it go away, everyone pounds on their chest.
I am not here to defend Marnie, Terry White say’s in the daily news that “Marnie makes her living selling the most dangerous legal drug out there”.
Marnie does not sell alcohol, she sells ideas and if that is how he feels about alcohol, why is he applying for a licence ???
Also that bit about “PARC” being a “middle finger F-You” to the city by Stephen Starr is just sad.
There is no reason for ridiculous statements like that, clearly 1000 people a day do not think so.
Fact is every new restaurant contends with these kinds of concerns and smart people negotiate them away instead instead of pointing fingers and concocting conspiracy theories.
All parties involved just need to grow up, deal with the issues to mutual satisfaction and the food press ought to ashamed for fanning the flames.
We quoted the DN. We like the most dangerous drug on the planet. Mutual satisfaction would be to let the restaurant open without the involvement of folks who already have opened restaurants of the same grandeur just across the city. Why no complaint about Jones, Morimoto, 707, the upcoming Chifa, etc? Why the steakhouse?
I think the F-You was meant in the context of her trying to dictate where restaurants are allowed to serve alcohol not Parc specifically. Either way, if it was some xenophobic old lady protesting this it would be one thing but, Marnie Old is in the alcohol business. Its like the Marlborough Man complaining about the smoking section at a restaurant.
I just don’t get it, why would a former server, wine program and sales manager, beverage director (with an alcohol budget of over $1 Million), bar tender trainer, and current restaurant consultant who “drinks wine for a living” protest a liquor license for a luxury steakhouse? I don’t exactly think that’s a reasonable reaction from someone who’s life revolves around the distribution and sale of alcohol. Im sure it has nothing to do with her working for Stephen Starr.
Hypocritical? Yes.
Lame? Definitely
Ridiculous. Obviously she is scared of the owners of the new steakhouse in town that will threaten her livelihood. I certainly hope the tables are turned on Starr. They will get what they deserve someday. Not very good publicity for Starr and his cronies.
Maybe she didn’t mean it and just wanted some name recognition so that a national outfit would see it and she would get bounce for her book. I’ve met her twice. She seems quiet and maybe she has handlers putting her up to this for PR? I thought oxycotin was the most dangerous legal drug on the planet :-0
Perhaps it has nothing to do with Starr, as she is not his employee but a free agent and speaks on her own. Starr will pay her to get their steakhouse list up, trained, and running and then she will move to the next project. MAYBE Marnie is just upset that Union Trust chose another female wine consultant to guide their business and is miffed she wasn’t consulted for this big project. I certainly have no idea. just speculation.
For those who aren’t aware of who else protested the UT License; but have recinded, read below from I beleive the Daily News……………………. The Starr Corp. may have had a part in this…..ya think ???????????
“THE OWNERS of the Union Trust (717 Chestnut) steakhouse have lashed out at a local sommelier (that’s wine expert to you and me) who’s trying to block them from getting a liquor license.
Marnie Old, who lives on the same block as the steakhouse, filed a protest letter with the state Liquor Control Board last summer. Other letters of protest were written by restaurateur Stephen Starr, who later rescinded his objections, and Steven Petrecca, a chef at Starr’s Jones, less than 100 yards from Union Trust. Petrecca, who also lives on the block, toured the property, met with Trust owners Terry White and Ed Doherty and rescinded his letter.”
Open your eyes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!