Hill Chef: More On His Plate Than Food

by ASHLEY PRIMIS

If his house in Chestnut Hill is a perfectly serene desert for his family, his kitchen is the oasis. Thoughtfully designed and perfectly planned, it is fit for a chef. Providing a nice alternative to the usual stainless steel, unbearable heat and loud noises that his professional kitchen holds, chef David Jansen, Fountain Restaurant sous chef, knows the special quality it has to soothe the teetering balance that is his life.

A Puff Article About a Classy One-Year-Old Hill Cigar Store

by CATHERINE BOGGS

“What’s a ‘legal’ Cuban cigar?” Brian DeCesare is standing at the cash register of his store, BNB International Cigars and Accessories, fielding a popular question from one of his customers.

“It’s pre-embargo tobacco,” DeCesare answers. “Imported in 1958 to Trenton, N.J."

Chestnut Hill Cheese Shop: It’s the cream of the crop

By DEVON GRIEB

“Good things are never cheap and cheap things are never good.” — a philosophy shared by Dan Weiss, 55, of Wyndmoor, and John Ingersoll, 48, of Chestnut Hill, co-owners of the Chestnut Hill Cheese Shop, 8509 Germantown Ave. Dan’s father, who started The Cheese Shop 42 years ago, previously owned a grocery store much like Caruso’s on Germantown Avenue. The grocery store was open from 1927 to 1964, when Dan’s father decided he wanted to run a smaller store in an area that was starting to develop a strong business economy.

Astral Plane: culinary star flies solo for 32 years

by LEN LEAR

Astral Plane, one of the restaurants that sparked Philadelphia’s Restaurant Renaissance in the late 1960s and ‘70s, has lasted an amazing 32 years at 1708 Lombard St. and has always stood out like a unicorn in a chicken coop. Someone once said its blend of sophistication and counter-culture charm made it the only place in town where a hippie would go for a martini.

Its eclectic, funky decor, which I would characterize as “Nouveau Gift Shop,” would cause any self-respecting interior decorator to start taking heart medication. Almost nothing matches; photos, tiles and paintings take up almost every inch of the crimson wall space; during a recent dinner, on our table there was an African violet and two other flower bunches, salt and pepper shakers in the form of a cat and other dog and cat collectibles.