magazine

City Life

Home: Domain: Before + After: Beach Boys

Who needs fairy godparents when you’ve got fairy-tale-worthy grandparents? To turn the third floor of their 1930s Ventnor Avenue summer home into a sleepover paradise […]

City Life

The Arts: The Fractious Philadelphians

SWEEPING WESTWARD across Europe this past May, the Philadelphia Orchestra played with as much virtuosity as anyone could recall. From Warsaw to Amsterdam to Madrid, […]

City Life

Home: Domain: Shopping: Brilliant Encores

The Hill Company This sunny suburban sister of Chestnut Hill’s classic outdoor-living store stocks the same patio essentials — Pawleys Island hammocks, Kingsley-Bate teak, Summer Classics […]

City Life

Home: Domain: Hire Her: Paige Chapman

Shot by shot, photographer Paige Chapman teases out the details of clients’ houses with an expert eye: the legend of a Main Line colonial, the […]

City Life

Taste: A Rose Is a Rose

Another unique storefront has popped up near 13th and Sansom, a corner already abuzz with an eclectic mix of tenants (foodie destinations Lolita, El Vez […]

City Life

Taste: Updating the Latke

The latke, traditionally made of shredded potatoes, onion and matzo and dipped in either sweet applesauce or cooling sour cream, is a Hanukkah custom. But […]

City Life

Taste: Recipe: Chocolate-Cello

Forget limoncello, the bracing traditional Italian meal-ender. At Valentino’s on the Square, a cozy Italian spot near Rittenhouse, cold weather brings ­“chocolate-cello,” a boozy, satisfying […]

City Life

Taste: Gayle Force

Daniel Stern doesn’t need to be modest. His résumé boasts stints with Rocco DiSpirito, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and, most recently, Georges Perrier. Stern’s repertoire […]

City Life

Taste: Ingredients: The Last Saffron Farmer

On a damp Sunday afternoon in October, Robert Martin Keen drove down a craggy road in Landisville, Lancaster County. He parked in front of his […]

City Life

Taste: Spirits: Only in Pennsylvania

Five years ago, the idea that out-of-state wine collectors might drive into Pennsylvania for deals on fine wines was unthinkable. But much has changed in […]

City Life

Taste: In Search Of: Artisanal Chocolates

To see just how good (or bad) Philly’s new artisanal chocolates are, we sent samples to three expert tasters: Fran Bigelow, owner of the venerable […]

City Life

Taste: Reviews: Bar Harbors

The first meal I ever ate in a bar was brunch, years before I was legally entitled to hoist a mimosa. It was no froufrou […]

City Life

Taste: Eat This Now: Neal’s Yard Dairy Cheese at Di Bruno Bros.

Anyone who feared that the Di Bruno Bros. expansion last spring would make the old dairy boutique lose its focus will find it reassuring to […]

City Life

Music: Rhapsody in White

IT WAS A shock to read accusations of racial discrimination against the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Village Voice last spring. For one thing, the Voice […]

City Life

Music: Is There a Maestro in the Wings?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PHILADELPHIA Orchestra. Seventy-five years young this coming season, and still exuding that same lush, rich sound that has made you so justifiably famous. […]