A few months ago I wrote about my delicious dinner at Vetri, a stunningly good Italian restaurant on the ground floor of a townhouse on an unassuming street in Philadelphia. Last Friday I was supposed to meet Philadelphia Inquirer restaurant critic Craig Laban at Mark Vetri's new pizzeria-trattoria Osteria. I had to cancel (too much work to do at Serious Eats, and I feared Serious Eaters Adam and Alaina would yell at their overlord). Now, Mr. Bruni has beaten me and Serious Eats to the punch with a long piece on Vetri in today's New York Times. After reading his account of his meals at Osteria, which sounded like works in progress, I decided that postponing my trip to Philly... More

Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market held their very first Scrapplefest last month to celebrate the Pennsylvania treat, and the big draw was of course a cooking contest with the winner to be crowned Scrapple King. Third place went to a pulled-pork and scrapple sandwich with pecorino cheese, and second to crisp-fried scrapple used as toast points with seared tuna, mango and avocado. You'd think the big prize would've gone to the guys who made a sweet scrapple bread pudding, dressed with a white chocolate sauce, or maybe the creator of "Scrapple Nouveau", who made a napoleon of sorts by layering "his homemade scrapple with apricot compote, blood orange sauce, goat cheese, microgreens and a polenta-pig topping." But no, 2007's Scrapple King... More

The Philadelphia City Paper's Margaret Battistelli lists five delicious Amish treats and where best to get them in the area. My tastebuds are all a-flutter at her description of the Stoltzfus Bakery's wet-bottom shoofly pie, "like two desserts in one — a buttery coffee cake laid over a thick, sweet sludge made of brown sugar, butter and molasses. It's better than the cakier dry-bottom version, and sweet enough to make your teeth ache on contact."... More

Chuck Martin of the Cincinnati Enquirer, on local radio host Marilyn Harris, his city's own Martha Stewart: "Several years ago at a conference in San Francisco, someone at the dinner table had the gall to ask Marilyn Harris what she did for living. Before she could answer, a friend piped up:"Marilyn's in charge of food in Cincinnati."Everyone laughed, but it is pretty much an accurate job description. Restaurant critics, food writers and trendy chefs come and go, but no one wields as much power on the local food scene as the host of the weekly radio program, "Cooking with Marilyn," 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday on WKRC-AM (550). This year, Harris marks her 20th year behind the microphone, serving cooking... More

What's the best piece of pie you've ever eaten? Karen Barker, pastry chef and co-owner of the Magnolia Grill, 1002 Ninth Street, 919-286-3609, Durham, NC), makes the best pies I've ever eaten. Karen made all the pies for a pie breakfast at a Barbecue Conference I went to a few years ago In Oxford, Mississippi, and I'm afraid I singlehandedly decimated her supply of pies. She wrote a terrific cookbook a few years ago, and tomorrow or the next day I will put her pie recipe up on Ed Levine Eats. In New York, as I mentioned yesterday, my two favorite pie bakers are Two Little Red Hens (1112 8th Ave. (11th St.), Park Slope, 718-499-8108, 1652 2nd Ave.... More

I did an insane thing last night. I took the train to Philadelphia to meet some friends at Vetri. Vetri was opened a few years ago by Marc Vetri, a Philly native who had cooked in NY at Bella Blu, an Upper East Side Italian restaurant that serious eaters have never paid much attention to. Rave reviews greeted Vetri's opening in Philly. Mario Batali raved, saying that Vetri was possibly the best Italian restaurant on the East Coast. My friend Andy Clurfeld of the Asbury Park Press kept telling me that I had to check Vetri out. So I did, last night, even though my first train was so late I had to buy an Acela ticket in order to... More