On Location

FOOD

Marley & Me Edition.

By Adam Erace

Add Comment | Comments: 2 | Posted Jun. 18, 2008

Everybody loves dead dogs. Old Yeller. Frankenweiner! I can't manage to shed a tear for The Notebook or Saving Private Ryan, but you better believe I'm misty when Will Smith's German Shepherd Sam goes all Evil Dead in I Am Legend. So it's with verve that I welcome the crew from Marley & Me, former Inquirer columnist John Grogan's tale of puppy love and living proof that journalists can make millions--if you write a book about a dead dog.

Crooked-nosed star Owen Wilson, I've heard you've been strutting it Hans-suckass style along the Rittenhouse runways at G and Pearl. Earth to Owen: so March '08. My suggestion: Apothecary. There's a sweet roof deck and booze-friendly nibbles like the lovely crepe and olive oil tuna roulades the Apothecary magicians dub the Big Pills (something with which Page Six told us you're well acquainted). Cocktails run from the modern Dermis Fantasticus (organic vodka, ginger liqueur, cucumber, aloe vera, lemon verbena and agave nectar) to the retro Aviation and Corpse Reviver No. 1. Please pass that last one to Kim Cattrall before she passes through town to film Mannequin 3* at the KOP Chico's.

For eats, get Grogan to show you around Inkyland. If I worked at that paper, I'd be fat, broke and drunk from spending my lunch hour with oven-blistered zucca pizzas, polenta puddings and Dolcetto d'Alba at the bar at Osteria. Or take some tips from bro Luke Wilson, who finished filming indie comedy Tenure last month. He seems to have great taste, dining at Amada, Xochitl and Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor. But please, unlike him, don't fraternize with the Blue Moon at Kildare's in Manayunk. Don't you know Philly is Beertown, U.S.A.? Grab a recently released Fleur de Lehigh, Philadelphia Brewing Company's summer infusion of hops, malts, cardamom, rose hips and rhubarb, at Grey Lodge Pub in the Great Northeast. Take McSteamy co-star Eric Dane along for the ride, followed by dinner of chocolate pasta and sous-vide duck breast a few blocks down at Rylei.

Things didn't work out with Kate Hudson, and I sympathize, but dude, the solution isn't dropping Franklins on look-alike strippers at Rick's Cabaret. Keep it classy at Delilah's Den.

Jennifer Aniston's in town to play Wilson-as-Grogan's wife. Aniston checked out El Vez, but there are way better tacos and such down by the Italian/Mexican/Vietnamese Market. Hit Taqueria Acapulco for posole, El Jarocho for buttery carnitas and Los Taquitos de Puebla for pineapple-studded al pastor, one of the top reasons to visit the Headhouse Square farmers market. Where's crooning boy-toy (and funnyman) John Mayer been? Dare we ask if you're on a break?

* I made up Mannequin 3. A guy can dream.