La Colombe, Di Bruno's, Village Whiskey, Dogfish beer, and Rittenhouse Square

Sorry for a food post on Philadelphia but I have just returned from attending my son's graduation so you get what I get I guess.

Anyway, if you do find yourself in the City of Brotherly Love's Center City area let me make these suggestions.

Coffee: the best cup of coffee, espresso, or cappucchino in town, or on the eastern seaboard is La Colombe. I say this for many reasons, the first being, of course, an honest cup of hot coffee. But equally, it's a real place, real baristas, real wood chairs on a hardwood floor.

La Colombe keep things simple because they try to do one thing well: coffee, and they haven't turned the store into a retail gift shop that also sells coffee (Yes, that's you Starbucks), and they sell croissants from a local baker who cares about doing croissants well. As a friend of mine said, "at La Colombe, the coffee comes first, the customer second."

There's no menu, no chalkboard, just get in line and order your standard coffee drink of choice and all God's chillen' are happy. Cash only.

http://www.lacolombe.com/

La Colombe

Di Bruno's
I love this place. They have some of the best sandwiches in town. And cheese, and fish, and desserts.
http://www.dibruno.com/

Di Bruno's

Reading Terminal Market
Want the best pulled pork sandwich in Philadelphia? DiNic's.
http://readingterminalmarket.org/

Village Whiskey
Maybe the best 8 oz. hamburger money can buy. Made from grass fed beef. The bun is perfect and the Duck fat french fries aren't bad either.
http://villagewhiskey.com/

And while I'm at it a little love for the Rittenhouse Plaza-Warwick hotel. Old-fashioned hotel service. Great newly-renovated rooms, friendly staff, and reasonable rates for the location. Rittenhouse Square is the only place to stay if you the love the hum of the city.
http://www.radisson.com/philadelphia-hotel-pa-19103-6179/paphily

The Wall Street Journal agrees, by the way: Rittenhouse

View of Curtis Institute of Music from my favorite bench in Rittenhouse Square

Last thing. If you get to the beach: Don't forget Dolle's Salt Water Taffy and and DogFish Beer from the original pub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Late Spring at the Beach

Selling the sizzle...again.

One of the artforms of the times in which we live is advertising. Philosopher and social commentator Marshall McLuhan called advertising "the greatest art form of the twentieth century," and "the cave art of the twentieth century." These axioms reveal a subtle criticism and warning to our audio-video age even while recognizing advertising's influence.

But if you're going to do advertising and do it well one would be wise to learn from the masters, and one of them is Apple, or Apple's ad agency.

It's not easy to create a memorable ad but to create one that gets people to act, to actually go out and buy the product, as Apple does, again and again, is something to appreciate.

Here's their latest:
 


No mention is made of gigabytes, mps, or pixels.

Fort Worth Bike Share. 300 Bikes, 28 Stations. Up and Rolling.

 

I participated in the Fort Worth Bike Share launch this last Earth Day, Monday, April 22. Yes, I said Earth Day, and yes, I was there with the green and environmentally conscious. And no I wasn't sporting a red bandana and rolling my own (not that there's anything wrong with that). I kept a more or less low profile.

I hear my libertarian/conservative friends snickering in the background. That's alright, I can take it. I'm still a card-carrying Republican, wary of government intervention, taxes, and handouts, but this, this is different, and what's a measly million dollar grant from the Fed's anyway? Besides, one of the great things about old age is not worrying about every activity in life being logically consistent with all the others.

This was an enjoyable kick-off. I like that the city is supporting and encouraging bike use, walking, and trolleys, and anything else to make Fort Worth a city that people actually live in and not just drive in and out of.

There were about 500 people at the launch including 300 volunteers like myself riding the bikes to their docking stations. I really enjoyed it. I hope it works and grows. And congratulations to the folks at the T for everything they did to make this happen. It's what makes Fort Worth a good place to live.

For information go to: http://fortworthbikesharing.org/