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Showing posts from August, 2008

Local Business Spotlight: The Fenix

As mentioned a couple of months back , Phoenixville will soon be home to a premium martini and whiskey bar. Named The Fenix, it is owned by the owners of Molly Maguire's and will be located right next door to Molly's at 193 Bridge Stret. The Fenix hopes to have a soft opening tonight or tomorrow with a grand opening coming in September. I sent an email into General Manager Michael Matarazzo who had this to say regarding the new venture: --- Opening in September 2008, The Fenix will offer a unique selection of over 15 specialty martinis as well as classic cocktails, fine wines and spirits. An eye-catching menu of delicious food will also be available along with great music and live DJ’s. The Fenix will create an exciting and varied cocktail party atmosphere every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4pm. Our guests will enjoy the comfortable lounge for food or a casual after work drink. Later on, they can listen or dance to the best music and DJ’s around or just gather at th

Sly Fox Gets Some National Recognition For Its Pikeland Pilsner

File this under things that may only be interesting to me (and reader S.D. who brought it to my attention), but the Sly Fox Brewery recently got a mention on epicurious.com (and subsequently picked up by msnbc.com ). Specifically, its Pikeland Pilsner was rated as one of the top 5 beers you can buy in a can. The article can be seen here .

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 gour

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 .

Marly's Now Open For Lunch, Grand Opening This Weekend

Beginning today, Marly's will be open for lunch during the week. There lunch hours Monday-Friday are 11:30-2:30. Stay tuned for a lunch menu which they assure me will finalized soon! Marly's will also be holding their official Grand Opening on Saturday. The response on here so far has been overwhelmingly positive so be sure to check it out if you get the chance.

PACS Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser Being Held Monday, September 15th

Received an email today from Karin Williams who, along with others, is organizing a Spaghetti Dinner fund raiser to help support the Phoenixville Area Community Services (PACS). From the email: --- Phoenixville Area Community Services (PACS) spends tens of thousands of dollars each winter to assist needy residents of our community with their home heating oil bills. With oil prices presently through the roof, this winter will prove to be a difficult one for PACS and those in need of the services PACS provides. Please take the time to read the information below about a fundraising spaghetti dinner to help PACS provide heat to the less fortunate residents of the Phoenixville area this winter. ... Please join us to support this worthwhile cause, and pass this info on to everyone you know! Thank you very much for your support and we hope to see you there! --- Here are the details --- PASTA 4 PACS Spaghetti Dinner! Monday, September 15, 2008 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. at Irish Joe's Cafe 180 Brid

Update on the South Main Street Cafe

Received an anonymous tip today regarding the South Main Street Cafe, first mentioned here . Says the reader: --- A sign has been out in front of South Main Street Cafe for about a week now. "8-16-08 opening at 6AM, serving breakfast and lunch daily." ... I've been in it. Very nice. Yes - there are a few counter stools, as well as doubles, quads and I think booth type tables if I recall. --- The South Main Street Cafe will be located at 119 S Main St which used to be the home of the Moose Lodge and more recently Destiny Brewing.

Wegmans set to open late Summer/early Fall 2009

The Wegmans supermarket that is being built as part of the new development near the intersection of 29 and 422 is scheduled to open in August or September of 2009 . From what I have seen and read, the Wegmans will serve as the anchor of the Providence Town Center development, which logically would mean that the rest of the shops would start to open at around the same time, a cool two years after it was originally scheduled to open. Thanks to reader mvd623 who mentioned the update to the Wegmans site over in the Forums area .

Quick note about comments

Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed more and more comments being posted that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic of the post. Not only that, but several have been nasty and utterly pointless. With that in mind, I will begin to remove messages that are posted that do not add anything of value to the blog. This does not mean I will remove negative posts as I feel they can be of value but any comment that attacks another commenter will be removed. I ask that, going forward, you take a moment before posting a comment to think about its value to the blog. If what someone has written bothers you, either ignore it or post something constructive as to why you disagree. Thanks. Jim

2008 MyFoxPhilly's Hot List Award Nominees

Once again, Fox 29 is holding its MyFoxPhilly's Hot List Awards . Last year, Phoenixville was very well represented, with four local businesses winning top spot and three more placing in the top 5. The winners were Ramondo's Cheese! (which sadly just closed its doors), Hipster Home , Wolfgang Books and The Columbia Bar and Grill . This year's nominees are listed below. The Colonial Theatre Best Indie Theater Wolfgang Books Best Bookstore Hipster Home Best Housewares Columbia Bar and Grille Best Romantic Restaurant Sly Fox Brewery Best Brewpub Majolica Best New American Forge Theatre Best Theatre Group Robert Ryan Catering Best Caterers Eliza's Bakery Best Cakes Auntra Bicycle Repair & Sales Best Bike Shop Steel City Coffee House Best Coffee Shop Molly Maguire's Best Irish Pub The Kimberton Inn Best Romantic Restaurant Griffin's Gallery Best Art Gallery Jonathan Looper Antiques Best Antiques Earth Mart Best Housewares One 2 One Productions Best DJ Inspir

CAT Pickering Hosting Fund Raiser on September 20th

The Center for Arts & Technology(CAT) Pickering Campus is hosting a fundraiser for a number of their student organizations on Saturday, September 20th. The event, "Astronomical Anything Sells Sale", will be held from 8am-3pm and can best be described as a big flea market. For those interested in selling their wares, 10x10 spaces can be reserved for $20. In addition, there will be plenty of family activities including Bingo and a Chicken BBQ. For more information, please contact donnad@cciu.org or paulad@cciu.org . CAT Pickering is located at 1580 Charlestown Road, Phoenixville, PA 19460.

More on Marly's

A couple quick notes on Marly's. From this point forward they are going to be open for dinner Monday-Saturday evenings. Monday-Thursday their hours will be 5-9pm, Friday and Saturday they will be open from 5-10pm. They hope to be open for lunch in the near future. For those of you who are interested in what they serve, click the image below to see their menu. Marly's is located at 108 Bridge St. For reservations, please call 610-933-7471.

Marly's Holds Soft Opening This Weekend

Marly's, a new BYOB first mentioned here , had their soft opening this past Friday and Saturday. Reader and co-owner Samantha Hall tells me that for the next couple of weeks they will be open for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights from 5-10pm. Once they have their grand opening, they will extend their hours to include lunch and will be open every day but Sunday. For more information or for reservations, contact Marly's at 610-933-7471. They are located at 108 Bridge Street. Stay tuned for official hours as well as a menu which will be posted in the next couple of days. Good luck to Samantha and the rest of the Marly's crew!