Party Photos: Congratulations to Carmen Tedesco Party at Del Frisco’s

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 17, 2014

Congratulations to Carmen Tedesco, who is now the new General Manager of Del Frisco’s taking over the reigns from longtime Gm Rich Furino, who is now the district manager. The restaurant threw a party to celebrate the promotion of Carmen, inviting friends, family and the many guests who enjoy Del Frisco’s as their favorite dining place.

The Del Frisco’s Team: Jessica Kiefer, Sales and Events, Carmen Tedesco, new General Manager of Del Frisco’s, Rich Furino, DM of Del Frisco’s, formerly the GM, and Executive Chef John Stritzinger

Lauren Wenzel, Kelsey London and Cassie Heplen

Susan Wall and Jason Brantley

Julie Green, Jim Cohn, Jan Demarzo, Sharon Phillips Waxman and TJ Brown

Kylie
Flett, PR Director at Neff Associates, Megan Dooley, Account Manager at
Neff Associates, Kevin Tague, Philly Magazine, and David Neff,
President of Neff Associates

Laura Burkhardt, Stephanie Pratt and Jamyra Perry

Shawn, Angela Thorne of Delilah’s Steakhouse and Kevin Mayberry

On Wednesday, Delilah’s hosts Entertainer of the Year. Hosted by the Peek-a-boo Revue

Jerry Ehrlich, – ‎CEO at Lawyer Up and Sabrina Tamburino Thorne

Annette Walsh and Jennifer Upton

Lawrence Resnick and Jamie Quinn

The Del Frisco Twins Jennifer Fiorauanti, Dana Fiorauanti with Marcus Allen, CEO Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Mark McCloskey, Jr., Kathy McCloskey, Mark McCloskey, Pat McCloskey and Chris P

Carmen Tedesco, new General Manager of Del Frisco’s dedicates his rising star award to his mom, his star.

Philadelphia

St Patrick’s Day Road Closures Sunday March 16 2014

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 14, 2014

The 234th
annual St. Patrick’s Day parade will kick off in Center City
at 12:30 p.m., and police will close JFK
Boulevard starting at 9 a.m.

The parade
will start in the 1600 block of JFK Boulevard and proceed east to 16th Street,
turning north toward Benjamin Franklin Parkway, then head west on the Parkway
to the north side of Eakins Oval, where the viewing stand will be set up.

The street closures on JFK Blvd.
between 16th & 20th Streets will begin at approximately 7:30 AM for
the parade set-up preparation. As soon as the JFK Blvd.
is cleaned after the parade it will be reopened to traffic as will 16th
Street and then the Parkway in three sections. The first section will
be 16th to 18th Street, followed by Logan Circle, and then the remainder
of the Parkway.

The temporary closures are as follows:
JFK Blvd. 16th Street to 20th Street 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
16th Street Market Street to Ben Franklin Parkway 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
BF Prkwy. 16th Street to Eakins Oval 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Philadelphia

3PM Break: TICKET GIVEAWAY: CITY OF HOPE’S LET THEM EAT CAKE APRIL 7

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 13, 2014

TICKET GIVEAWAY: CITY OF HOPE’S LET THEM EAT CAKE APRIL 7

Have you been craving cake? Want to taste test 40 of the
regions best cakes? Do you like champagne, swag bags and dancing? Thankfully
the annual Let Them Eat Cake competition is just around the corner on April 7th!
Head over to the DoubleTree Hilton (237 Broad Street) at 6pm to start the sugar
rush. This event is perfect for brides-to-be, dessert fanatics and fondant
foodies! Early confirmed participants include Classic Cakes, Granny Schmidt’s,
Wonderland Cakes, The Restaurant School of Walnut Street and The Art Institute
of Philadelphia.

There will be a cake competition for the Most Artistic, Best
tasting, Best Theme, Best of Show and more. Celebrity judges this year are
Chefs Marc and Benny from City Cakes NY and former White House Chef John
Moeller. Local judges include Head Judge Natayna BiDona, co-host and co-chair
Diner en Blanc Philadelphia, Kathy Gold, owner of In the Kitchen Cooking
School, Dana Herbert, winner of Next Great Baker, and George Kyrtatas, the
Sweet Water Grill and Cut Throat Kitchen.

Tickets are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Tickets can
be purchased at http://www.crowdrise.com/letthemeatcake2014
or by calling 215.985.0869 or by emailing atieman@coh.org.
The first 100 attendees in the door on the night of the event will receive a
goody bag worth over $100.

In addition to the main cake
competition, City of Hope announces a new Sweetheart Tablescape competition
sponsored by UBER and coordinated by Soiree Philadelphia. Local wedding
planning and design companies will create Fantasy Wedding Tablescape that will
be judged by guests.

Philly Chit Chat readers can enter to a pair of tickets to
City of Hope’s Let Them Eat Cake by entering in the widget below. Tweet about
the event, follow @CityofHopePhila, like the City of Hope Philadelpiha Facebook
page and get creative when instagraming a delicious cake! You can come back
everyday between now and 3.20 at 12am to earn more points by tweeting about the
event/giveaway multiple times.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Philadelphia

The Calamari Sisters extended to May 4, here’s shots from the opening party at The Penns Landing Playhouse

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 13, 2014

The outrageously funny and sassy duo, known as the Calamari
Sisters, opened their new show ‘The Calamari Sisters’ Big Fat Italian Wedding’
on February 20th the Penns Landing Playhouse (located in the Independence Seaport Museum) and runs through April
13 wait WOW just extended to MAY 4. You might remember the 2012 Society Hill Playhouse run of Cooking with The
Calamari Sisters, which introduced us to the wacky duo. Now marriage is on
their minds and hilarity ensues. Last week was the “Opening Night Party”,
catered by Brulee Catering. The run is sponsored by Geno’s Steaks and
Cappuccio’s Meats.

The Calamari Sisters on Stage. I caught the last 45 minutes, as I was photographing the Container Store Opening, and it was hysterical. I can’t wait to take Mike to see the whole show.

Jay Falzone, Geno Vento, and Stephen Smith

Tom Longo, Metro Man and Pat Wright

Mary Lou and Vince DeFruscio

Joe Hull and Jim Ward

Larry Cohen, Brulee Catering and Maria Malone

Brian Whalen and Michelle Boyles

Carolyn Ceniccola and Logan Thompson

Brian Zaslow, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Debbie
Zaslow.

Michelle
Jenkins, Kevin Stout and Bryan Abrams

Paulie
Ventresca and Christina Bauch

Chris
Altomare and Ryan Landis

Lana Deangelis and James Rindone

Dr Thannja
Hamilton and David Weiss both are heading to Saturday nights Young Friends of NMAJH Purim Party

Kylie Flett,
Neff & Assocs and Evan Connolly

Philadelphia

RUMOR MILL: WEGMAN’S GOING TO THE BROAD AND WASHINGTON BART BLATSTEIN DEVELOPMENT

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 12, 2014

A few days ago I set Twitter a fire with this rumor. Since then two blog sites has said their sources say it’s not true . I’m sticking by my rumor that it is. I think my track record is fairly aaccurate. In the past I’ve rumored that Walgreen’s was going into the old Border’s,

and as much as the internet world and the City denied it was happening, it opened August 2013.

Then there’s the Nordstrom Racked Rumor I put out in April 2013

Same thing for Nordstrom Racked going into Daffy’s http://www.phillymag.com/property/2013/06/20/nordstrom-rack-responds-to-daffys-rumors/

Again I talk about the rumored Daffy’s here in June 2013

Philly’s Hottest Rumor Comes True – Which was confirmed in October 2013

“It’s now no longer the stuff of Philly Chit Chat items: Center City will be getting a Nordstrom outlet.
The news broke yesterday afternoon that Nordstrom Rack, the chain’s
off-price division, will be taking the first three floors of the former
Bonwit Teller store at 1700 Chestnut Street, most recently home to
now-defunct off-price retailer Daffy’s.
The store, slated to open in the fall of 2014, will have 96,000 square feet of space, according to a report on Racked Philly. Fameco Real Estate, recently acquired by CBRE, handled the transaction.
Will this development be enough to satisfy the “Nordstrom fetishists”?
Time will tell, but truth to tell, we doubt it. We’ll bet they’re
holding out for more news about that Bloomingdale’s in the Gallery HughE Dillon first injected into the rumor stream back in May.”

In September 2013, I tweeted that Comcast was going to build anther tower at 18th & Arch. That NBC Philadelphia and the Four Season’s would move there. Both NBC and The Four Season’s denied this was happening, and wrote me asking me where I got my info.

In January, the Inquirer published a huge article on the move, including much more detail, but that sure enough NBC Philadelphia and the Four Season’s would move there.

(I’m only as good as my sources, and I really want to thank them for entrusting me with these huge stories.)

Recently (Dec 2012) I proposed that Pearl Properties was going to build a tower, and a restaurant at the corner of 19th and Chestnut after I rumored that they were buying up half the block, and closing the Qdoba. (I put two and two together when I noticed Pearl Properties bought the old Little Pete’s building, plus already owned the property between the Boyd Theater and Little Pete’s, and noticed the Dollar Store was closed. Then I searched the property records and discovered the end two buildings were under contract.)

Updated: April 2013 the CCPR has posted information on the new Pearl Properties condo they are building on the 1900 block of Chestnut Street. http://www.philadelphiaspeaks.com/forum/center-city/39928-pearl-properties-new-high-rise-19th-chestnut.html

One of the arguments against thinking a Wegman’s could be built in the City is that Wegman’s hasn’t venutred into an urban area. I found this last night and tweeted it to my 2 guys (who are worth reading every day. Two guys who just like me set out to write content that all of us are interested in.) A Wegman’s is being built in downtown Boston @PassyunkPost & @NakedPhilly https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/01/16/bra-take-fenway-development-plan/SquVYFU94AwdcCkdXxBSiJ/story.html … So they r moving into Urban areas now.

Both of these drawings come from the Passyunk Post.

I’m just sticking by the rumor I floated out on the twitter world that yes, Wegman’s is rumored to be going into the Washington Avenue project. And with the much debated “Why are they building a parking garage with 1,000 spaces?” This would be why, a first class, hugely popular grocery store is coming to “Center City.” Currently my bet with the Passyunk Post guy is this thing will happen is something about eating an ice cream sandwich. Now how about if this great thing doesn’t happen I’ll donate $500 to my favorite charity, and I’ll take part in the dunking thing during Beer Week 2015 or 2016 whichever date they announce something other than a WEGMAN’s going into that space. I think my track record speaks pretty high, but deals do fall through. I probably shouldn’t have floated this one or the Bloomingdale’s one out so early. I guess it wasn’t close to the announcements, I never want to screw anything up, but my sources made it seem imminent.

Tags Bart Blatstein, broad and washington, broad street, center city, equinox, Philadelphia, shopping center, target, wegmans

Philadelphia

WHAT’S FILMING IN CENTER CITY AND THE BURBS – “HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER”

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 11, 2014

A few weeks ago I told you about a new TV show that would be filming in and around Philadelphia called “How To Get Away With Murder” starring Oscar nominated Viola Davis, (below in green coat.) Davis plays Annalise DeWitt, a law professor at fictitious Philadelphia Ivy League School called Middleton University.
The show is produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, the production team of Shondaland which created Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal.

Over the weekend they were filming in and around City Hall. Although it was somewhat warm out on Saturday, the scene called for the actors to film w/o coats on. Thus a big pile of coats in the foreground.

The employee’s of City Hall recieved this memo

“The filming is taking place in various common areas (hallways, interior
and portal stairwells, exterior portals, etc) in City Hall.

You may
notice that there will be equipment that will begin arriving as early as
Friday morning. The 6th Floor NE Men’s room will be utilized and is
being “dressed” for a scene.” I spy
Matthew Nadu.

The scene was a press conference, and there were news vans and “reporters” there. There were two nondescript vans, and one 6ABC news van, as the pilot is being pitched to ABC.

The actors break for lunch.

There really aren’t any big named celebrities attached to the show, besides Viola Davis, but there are significant stars of the future. Here’s Jack Falahee, he was most recently on Twisted (TV Series).

He’s been seen about town with co-star Matt McCorry. They’ve been to El Vez, the Mutter Museum and they work out at PSC on Market Street.

Matt McGorry is best known for playing a guard in “Orange is the New Black.”

Alfie Enoch was a character actor in Harry Potter. Liza Weil is also starring in the TV Pilot. You may remember her as Amanda Tanner from Scandal. Another Shonda Rhimes vehicle.

This week the cast and crew are out at Bryn Mawr College filming scenes that include burning a gigantic wooden football player.

Philadelphia

Photos: Ray Martin Charity Basketball Game

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 6, 2014

Every year Ray Martin has a Charity Basketball Game in honor of his mother, who passed away from cancer a few years ago. The proceeds go to Fox Chase Cancer Center.

The annual event gathers your favorite local television and radio
personalities in a face off on the court for the annual Celebrity Charity
Basketball Game! This great event, hosted by Ray Martin in memory of
his mother Carol, supports colon cancer research at Fox Chase. Check out
the after party being held at the West Tavern located at 15th &
Callowhill. Tickets for the basketball game are $10 and can be
purchased online and there is a $30 admission fee to the after party
that includes food and drink. For more information or to get involved,
contact Ray Martin at 267-312-5456 or go to www.fccc.edu/giving/celebritybasketball

This year Karen Hepp, Fox 29 anchor & reporter was honorary coach of the celebrity team. She’s with her family Brian Sullivan and kids. Happy Birthday Brian.

Players for the celebrity team include Casey Boy of the “Preston and
Steve Show,” CBS3’s Ukee Washington, Gervase Peterson of “Survivor” and
sports agents Jeff Randazzo and Bill Baldini. Eagle Jeremy Maclin will
do the opening tip-off

WMMR’s Casey does double duty with the basketball and tosses a football to fans.

Ray Martin coaching his team

The fans.

Gervase Peterson, who will be at Red Ball on Saturday.

The home team gets ready for the last few minutes of play

another point for the home team which takes them 3 points above the Celebrities

And the home team prevails over the Celebrities

Philadelphia

Photos: Annie Duke & Beth Shak together at the Jewish National Fund: Seventh Annual Poker Tournament at Del Frisco’s

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 5, 2014

“The Jewish National Fund was established more than 100 years ago by a small
group of leaders, including Theodor Herzl. By purchasing plots of land,
they hoped to establish the groundwork for the birth of our nation of
Israel. JNF continues to make a commitment to the land and people in the
21st century. While we still plant trees and create parks, our
organization does so much more. Read on to see how we’re making a
difference for generations to come.”

Every year they hold a fundraiser at Del Frisco’s. The evening starts out with a cocktail party, reception with hors d’oeuvres and a great silent auction. Then everyone heads downstairs to play fun casino games.

Rob O’Dell, Brett Hersch, Rich Cohen and Beth Lloyd

Anna Boni and Michael Boni, co-chair

Bill Glazer, Marina Furman, Regional Director , Rob Kitchenoff Esq and Daniel Eisenstadt

Ari Stanger, Aliyah Furman and Yedidya Harush

Poker Queen Beth Shak, Beth Cutler and Nikki Donzee.

William Bredt, Wendy Cohen and Joel Kramer

Reid Rosenthal and Aaron Kaplowitz

Eric Brooks and Poker Champion Annie Duke

Lisa Ostroff and Ashley Ostroff

From http://bleacherreport.com Frennimies…join forces for charity..
A true poker star. Annie Duke is the best poker player on my list.
She has won almost 5 million dollars in the poker world.
She is good at poker, mother of four, incredibly intelligent (double
major in English and Psychology from Columbia), and has a beautiful
smile.

Beth Shak is gorgeous, has her own clothing line, is one of the best poker players today, and is a mother.
But my favorite thing about Beth is her website, Bethshak.com. It is the coolest site of all the women on the list.

Philadelphia

FOX 29’S STEVE KEELEY WAS DAVID LETTERMAN’S TOP TEN LIST LAST NIGHT – HERE’S THE LIST

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 5, 2014

Top Ten Thoughts Going Through This Reporter’s Mind At This Moment

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

10. “Hey, that snow almost hit me”
9. “I blame Obama”
8. “Usually snowplow drivers are a little more curteous”
7. “My outfit is ruined!”
6. “Get my consultant to tell that snowplow driver he’s a jerk”
5. “Well, it was worth it to show our viewers what a snowplow looks like”
4. “I must’ve pissed off Governor Christie”
3. “Snowblow me”
2. “Snowblow me”
1. “Help me, Winter Jesus!”

Dave got all the facts wrong about who Steve Keeley cause he doesn’t work for the Weather Channel Dave, he’s on Fox 29’s Good Day Philly.

Here’s the video.

Philadelphia

THE LINKS TO THE PHOTOS I TOOK THIS PAST WEEKEND….

Post author By HughE Dillon
Post date March 4, 2014

OMG I almost went a day without posting something on my blog. That hasn’t happened since my beloved sister passed away in 2009. It’s 11:46PM so here goes. I photographed 13 events since Thursday. All day long I have been prepping columns, in addition to prepping photos that go back to the clients that hired me to shoot their events.

If I photographed you this past week, you’re photos may be up and online right now. Here are some of the links.