The last time I wrote about Blackbird Dining Establishment chef/owner Alex Capasso, he was allegedly punching a Center City lawyer who had allegedly insulted Capasso’s very pregnant hostess (the whole thing wound up getting tossed out of court). So when a source left a message on my machine saying “I have some information about Alex Capasso and Georges Perrier that you may find interesting,” the first thought that came to my bloodthirsty head was that the two hot-tempered chefs had bludgeoned each other to death with esoteric kitchen instruments, and that I would be up for a James Beard Award for Best Salacious Chef Exposé.

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For those of you following the admittedly silly little dustup between Alex Capasso of Blackbird in Collingswood and lawyer Thomas Zemaitis of Pepper Hamilton’s Philadelphia office, I am happy to report that the charges against both men were dropped this morning in Collingswood municipal court, meaning that Capasso can go back to cooking his three-bell food for hopefully less testy customers and Zemaitis can go back to the much less exciting world of antitrust and intellectual property law. — Victor Fiorillo

A couple of weeks ago, I reported in Taste Daily that tiny Blackbird Dining Establishment in Collingswood had a stunning 827 reservations for the South Jersey Restaurant Week, which was co-founded by Blackbird’s chef/owner, Alex Capasso. It seems the pressure may have been too much for him.

According to Collingswood police captain Richard Sarlo, a dispute took place on Wednesday, October 24th, between Capasso and a group of hungry customers who felt that he had given their table away to another party. A confrontation ensued in front of a packed room of diners, and Sarlo says that Capasso “pushed and shoved” the customers. Eventually, the fight went outside, where, according to the police report, Capasso punched one of the men in the eye. The man was treated by an ambulance but refused to be taken to the hospital. Police were called, and Capasso was arrested and charged with simple assault. The punched man was also arrested and charged with harassment.

Capasso posted bail and has a court date scheduled in Collingswood at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Reached by phone this morning, Capasso said he couldn’t comment without his attorney present, but did say “I was the one that was assaulted.” — Victor Fiorillo

Editor’s note: See our update on this item.

PHOTO: Philly.com

I’ve been hearing for a while that employees at Urban Outfitters’ Navy Yard HQ have been dissatisfied with the food and service at Frog at the Yard, the cafeteria run by Steve Poses, whose groundbreaking restaurant Frog was largely responsible for Philadelphia’s restaurant renaissance in the 1970s. And a couple of weeks ago, the word was that Urban CEO Dick Hayne himself had some problems with the establishment. Of course, these were unsubstantiated rumors, as was the one that Hayne had allowed Poses to use the space rent-free. But today, Urban spokesperson Kiley Baum confirms that Poses will soon be out on his ass, with a transition beginning next week.

The following e-mail was circulated to the staff today:

Dear Everyone,

Frog at the Yard team, Thank You.

I double-checked Feniger’s name spelling with Baum and turned nothing up on Google, so who knows? Whoever the hell he is, we hope he gets Poses’s delightful lemonade recipe, which we awarded Best of Philly in August. — Victor Fiorillo

Word on the street is that Tony Luke, the reigning Sandwich King of Philadelphia, is anxiously awaiting a phone call from NBC telling him whether he made it onto the next season of The Biggest Loser, the reality show in which the morbidly obese transform themselves into relative pictures of health.

The 350-pound Luke, who auditioned with his son Michael, is said to have made it through multiple cuts, the final of which is apparently scheduled to happen at any time. If he does make it on, he’ll be whisked to an undisclosed location on October 5th, only to return to the Philadelphia area next February. “It’s a strict quarantine,” says one source, who adds that Luke (who would not confirm the rumor on the record) will not be allowed access to phones or e-mail. All of which makes us wonder how Luke’s absence might affect his growing sandwich empire — though it’s likely that Luke sees the show as a way to boost not just his health and self-esteem but also his fledgling acting career. — Victor Fiorillo

Everywhere you look right now there are protesters. If it’s not casinos, it’s foie gras. And this week pro-goose-torturing restaurateurs are fighting back against the hypersensitive masses pushing for the City Council ban on foie gras.

The Inquirer’s Michael Klein reports that some area restaurants are gearing up to offer $5 foie gras lunch and dinner specials next week to combat the potential ban and to also flip a fatty-goosed finger to the disruptive protesters. Klein quotes chef Robert Reilly of Queen Village’s Salt & Pepper restaurant as saying “I think that with all the casualties in the war in Iraq, worrying about foie gras is kind of ridiculous. We eat pork, we eat chicken. To sympathize with these ducks, I think, is ridiculous.” True. But how many callous duck sympathizers are there impeding local businesses’ rights to serve?

Plenty, says Nick Cooney of Hugs for Puppies, who references a recent animal-rights poll showing 85 percent of Pennsylvanians think foie gras is cruel. (Personal skepticism about presupposed scientific polling suggest this number may be incredibly high and possibly bullshit.) However, Cooney tells the Daily Examiner that next week’s $5 drive, orchestrated by foie gras supply king D’Artagnan, of Newark, N.J., is also a little out of whack. “It’s a laughable publicity stunt. It isn’t changing the fact that the Philadelphia restaurant industry is moving away from foie gras, and nearly all the top chefs and restaurants are moving away from it for good,” he says.

Cooney couldn’t give an exact number of the restaurants that are “moving away from it,” but he did say the important-sounding website “Professionals Against Foie Gras” carries the most up-to-date listing of gavage-friendly bastards is here.

So, depending upon which side of the debate you fall, either bring your appetite or your favorite goose-getting-a-hose-jammed-down-its-throat protest sign and enjoy yourself.

A bargain for lovers of foie gras [Philly.com]
Hugs for Puppies [Homepage]