Local Business Spotlight: That Italian Place

On August 13th, Phoenixville a new face to its already vibrant restaurant scene. That Italian Place, located at 150 Bridge Street, opened its doors and has already been getting rave reviews. Co-owner Stephanie Pennisi took a moment to talk about her new venture and is our most recent Local Business Spotlight:

---
That Italian Place
Market and Brick Oven Pizza
150 Bridge Street
(610) 935-1800
Hours: Mon-Thurs 11-9, Fri-Sat 11-11, Sun 11-8

That Italian Place, is owned by Andy and Stephanie Pennisi. We opened up our doors on August 13th. Andy, originally from Brooklyn, NY brings his 20+ years of experience in the restaurant business to this new location and has created many new recipes to make anyone's mouth salivate for more! Me (Stephanie), originally from the neighboring Collegeville area is in charge of Marketing the restaurant. We have an 11-month old son, Luca, who you'll see a couple of our specials named after.

We currently offer Italian Specialties including gourmet cheeses, olives, prepared dinners to go, homemade sauces, brick oven gourmet pizza and a full take out menu including Stromboli's, Brooklyn Hero's, salads, pasta dishes and entrees. A retail section is coming soon that will include oils, vinegars and other Italian specialties.

There are a few tables for dining in at this time; however, we will soon expand in the next couple of months, into the store front formerly known as Bistro 156. With the expansion will come additional seating, BYOB, additional menu items, desserts, pastries and much more! And we also know how much everyone wants delivery...that's coming soon as well!

Look for our Grand Opening in late September! Our web site is currently being created so we'll let everyone know when its up and running!

Hope to see you soon! Mangia!
---

Best of luck to Andy and Stephanie!

22nd Annual Citizens Advocacy Phoenixville Run Scheduled for October 25th

On Saturday, October 25th, Citizen Advocacy of Chester County will be hosting its 22nd Annual Phoenixville Run. The run features three distances, a 10k, a 5k and a 1 mile family fun run. The fun runs starts at 8am while the other two start at 8:30. Cost is $25 for the family fun run and $20 for both the 5k and 10k. All participants receive a t-shirt and the top runners in various age groups win great prizes.

Proceeds from the race will support Citizen Advocacy of Chester County, a private, non-profit community based organization which initiates relationships between citizens with developmental disabilities and their neighbors.

For more information and to sign up, please visit www.phoenixvillerun.com.

Indian-inspired meal and entertainment set for Sept. 6 at the Camphill Café

The Camphill Café will host an Indian-Inspired Dinner on Saturday, September 6, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets include a three-course vegetarian Indian meal followed by a presentation of classical Indian dance and a performance by renowned Indian vocalist Sankumani Sarma.

Tickets are $25 per person and $35 per couple. Proceeds from the event will help to raise money for a trip of a lifetime for Eva Herz, a 30-year resident of Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, a farming and handcrafting community that includes adults with developmental disabilities. Herz hopes to travel in October to a sister community called Sadhana Village in Pune , India.

Please call the Camphill Café at 610-935-3599 for reservations. The Camphill Café is located within Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, 1601 Pughtown Road, Kimberton, Pa.

For more information, visit www.camphillkimberton.org

New Blog About Reeves Park

Reader Phoenixvillain has started a new blog about Reeves Park, intended for "...people who care about Reeves Park". His first post brings up the possibility of putting in a fountain on the western side of the park, a spot in which a fountain previously existed.

The blog can be found at http://reevesparkblog.blogspot.com/.

A Word of Thanks

Wanted to take a moment and thank those of you who sponsored me in the City to the Shore National MS Society bike ride. Thanks to all of you I was able to reach my goal of $400 and then some.

If you'd still like to make a donation, click on the bikeMS logo on the right. It will take you to a post about the ride with a link to the donation page.

Thanks again!

Phoenixville Featured on CNN.com

CNN.com today has a feature on Phoenixville. The article, which can be viewed here, primarily talks about BlobFest and a growing culture of people who travel to towns where their favorite movies are filmed. But it also talks a bit about the renaissance we are experiencing and how the Colonial Theatre has played a big roll role in it. Well worth a read.

Thanks to readers David, Ben and Victor for the tip!

Update 8/21/08: Thanks to my anoymous editor for the catch.

Updates on That Italian Place and Crazy Cactus

News to report on two local eateries. Word has it that That Italian Place is now open for business. From what I have read/heard, they are a full service deli which also makes brick oven pizzas. They are located in the old Scioli Antiques storefront at 150 Bridge St.

Crazy Cactus, the Mexican themed restaurant that shares its location with La Taverna, held its Grand Opening this past weekend. CC has been in 'soft-opening' mode since April and has gotten decent reviews over in the Forums. Hopefully they've been able to work out the kinks that were a source of frustration by some of the negative reviewers. For more on the restaurant, see last week's article in the Phoenix.