A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said the PLCB is planning to open another liquor store in the nearby area, but no location has been decided yet. For now, Penn Students will just have to get their liquor elsewhere.

Nelson, Ruff, and Torpie told Naked Philly that Wedge + Fig will offer lunches and salads made from mainly fresh ingredients, a large variety of retail cheese, and a BYOB option for customers. Plus, “the garden in the back,” Torpie promised, “is the perfect setting for light fare in the evening. Bring a bottle of your favorite wine or ale and sample the cheese, bruschetta and other offerings.” Having loved this feature ourselves back in the OCCS days, we can attest. It’s a beaut.

Nick’s father, the late Harry Ochs Jr., was an integral part of keeping the market open in the 1990s, when closing the market down to make way for the Convention Center was considered. Paul Steinke, general manager of Reading Terminal Market told the Journal that the market was moving forward with eviction proceedings after Ochs fell behind on rent. He added, “Everyone is sorry to see them go. We will always remember the Harry Ochs name.”

Harry Ochs Prime Meats has since opened a new location at Main Street Market in Manayunk.

The General Lafayette Inn & Brewery closed at the end of September. An inn that once paid tribute to the man who led America’s freedom fighters out of Barren Hill, upon encroachment of the British, now lies empty, with a sad, snow-covered parking lot. A pending sale, that had been ongoing for almost a year, fell through. Now, the beautiful inn remains closed, complete with wonky orange for sale sign. Meanwhile, a new company, Copper Crow Beer, formed by General Lafayette assistant brewer Russ Czajka as president and majority owner and Chris Leonard as brewmaster, has been stirring in the cellar since its close. They will remain brewing at both the current site and at the new Prism Brewery in North Wales. Russ and Chris have been looking for someone to take over the restaurant portion of the business for a while now, so that they could concentrate on the beer. So it’s a good thing for them.

Copper Crow beer, if you haven’t had it is really, really good, and they’ve got some perfect brews out right now for the winter. If you ever see or hear of their Raspberry Meade Ale (and we’re not even that keen on berry beers) you must try it! From what we understand you can find Copper Crow at the following establishments:

Bella Vista Beverage
Devil’s Den
P.O.P.E.
London Grill
Standard Tap
Society Hill Hotel
Bar Ferdinand
Village Whiskey
Tinto
Hawthorne’s Cafe
1601 – where we just heard they are serving up $2 pints of Copper Crow’s Winter Hop Ale all night long. Go grab a few for the game!

Has the Ghost ghosted?

On New Year’s Eve, The Swift Half — the Piazza-located sister bar of the popular Good Dog — closed its doors for good. (Phoodies take note, though: Music booking impresario Bryan Dilworth has already taken over the lease on the location, and will be debuting a new concept in the space soon.) We had some good times at The Swift Half, and will miss it for sure, but today, we’re mostly wondering: What will become of the Swift Half’s signature drink, The Ghost Of Mary? The Ghost Of Mary, you may recall, was this inverted-green-tomato-bloody-mary thing that tasted like gasoline syphoned to your lips from those of God his own self. (That’s a good thing.) Will the Good Dog serve it now? Will someone share the recipe with us? In the meantime, farewell, Swift Half. You had a good run.

The Spaghetti Warehouse at 1026 Spring Garden St has been around for 20 years (really?!?), serving mass quantities of carbs and tomatoe sauce at cheap prices to church groups, PGW workers, and those waiting for judges at traffic court. 50 people will be losing their jobs two weeks before Christmas, as the restaurant will be shut down the night of December 13th. It’s a shame… well kind of. It will leave an already desolate Spring Garden Street even more vacant, but such is the fate of an establishment that over-serves, over-sauces and over-cooks their pasta. We hope something worth going to replaces it and creates a happy place between Eraserhood and Northern Liberties.

It looks like come August, Fishtown’s Cornerstone Market will be no more. This video, advertising the property on Girard Ave. and Leopard St. (near Frankford) appeared on YouTube this morning, and totally bummed us out. Onward and upward to the Cornerstone crew, whom we always found to to be super-friendly and helpful. We hope we see ‘em pop up somewhere else soon.

And so it is, up for sale on Craigslist like an old printer or a dusty, out-of-tune piano. Sigh. While it’s hard to say we didn’t see this coming for Fishtown’s Hot Potato — the potato-themed restaurant that used frozen potato skins until Gordon told them that this was not, in fact, acceptable — it’s still kind of a bummer. Aloha, Hot Potato.

In case you didn’t catch it on Sunday night, here’s Anderson Cooper bowing at the altar Chef Jose Andres on 60 Minutes. While we admit we do like the sight of smoke coming out of Anderson’s nostrils, the piece overall confirmed some things we’ve been thinking about this whole molecular gastronomy thing for a long time: That it’s a gimmicky fad for bored chefs who, when pressed, have a hard time explaining its real value. Is a mojito that is a gelatinous bubble, for example, in some way better than a well-made real mojito? If it is, Cooper’s piece didn’t explain why; it just fawned and hyped. Thoughts?

You will be missed, but then again, everybody loves a terrace! Good luck!