Chestnut Hill Local

Fine dining, fine bargains from new kid on the block

By Len Lear

For 15 years Alfio Gaglianese owned and operated Alfio’s, an Italian restaurant at 17 Limekiln Pike in Glenside, one mile from Arcadia University (formerly Beaver College) and about five or 10 minutes from Chestnut Hill. Alfio, who once told me he was able to take only one vacation in the entire 15 years (and he had to close the restaurant for three weeks that one time while he went to Italy), was best known for his tuxedo, his magic tricks (he made everything disappear but your check), his peppery banter with customers and the Caesar salad and specialty coffee he prepared at tableside.

But you might say that Caesar, due to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, had to withdraw his troops from the battlefield. Alfio’s once-charming act had become as old-fashioned as a rotary telephone, so he pulled the curtain down more than two years ago. The property then sat as vacant as a kosher delicatessen in Saudi Arabia.

But along came Nicky Fischer, 50, a native of Willow Grove who had worked mostly as a bartender — at a hotel near Sea World in Florida so long ago that Sea World had mostly guppies in its pools; then at...

Most people would think a woman who spent her nights ironing baby doll’s clothes must have had too much energy and time on her hands. But for native Germantown resident Sandra Sowell-Scott, it was about making everything around her perfect when her health was falling apart.

Scott told her story during lunch with 200 other lupus patients attentively listening and laughing during a recent “Living with Lupus” conference at the Marriott in West Conshohocken.

Scott, who was diagnosed when she was 23 (30 years ago), tried for a long time to ignore the changes lupus made on her life. She didn’t want to accept that she couldn’t do the things she once could — like wear heels, dance or even put her earrings on in the morning.

From constant fatigue to swelling and arthritic symptoms in the joints, lupus can take a toll on the entire body of an affected patient, physically and psychologically. But Scott refused to believe she couldn’t ...

Although geographically somewhat off the beaten path (at 7733 Winston Rd.), McCarty Antiques is very much in the mainstream of shops on the Avenue in terms of style and status.

The impressive collection of paintings and furniture is housed in a smallish (4,000 sq. ft.), handsomely renovated building from which for many years the Marcolina brothers operated their tile business. To find it, you merely take a diagonal path across Winston Road from Filippi Bros. Iron Works. The shop sits perkily on a manicured lawn, next to its own parking lot.

Owner Mark grew up in Medford Lakes, N.J., where his father owned a contracting business. His mother had an artistic and decorative bent, and Mark early learned to appreciate art in many forms. He took art history electives in college. There he met a girl named Susan whom he married when he was 23. Together they started an art gallery in New Jersey, with Susan handling all the bookwork and publicity, while he did the buying and selling — a happy and successful arrangement still in place today. They have a daughter, Sara, a sophomore at New York University, who keeps in close touch with her Germantown Friends School pals by e-mail.

In 1986 Mark and Susan opened their first Philadelphia gallery on the corner of Emlen Street and Lincoln...

Local guy, former Star Trek star, now Prince-ly

By CLARK GROOME

Robert Picardo left his native Philadelphia for Yale in 1971. His intention was to be a doctor. It was a goal that he ultimately achieved, at least for a while, and he never had to pay malpractice insurance.

Picardo, who grew up in East Falls, spent seven years as the doctor on the popular syndicated Star Trek: Voyager. He has returned to his Philadelphia roots to star as the father in the Prince Music Theater’s Gemini, the Musical, which is currently in previews, opens on Saturday and runs through October 31.

After arriving at Yale, Picardo found “the biology curriculum was so challenging” that he changed his major to drama, finishing in three years.

His interest in theater went back, he said in a recent interview on his day off from Gemini rehearsals, to his days at Philadelphia’s private William Penn Charter School. He thanks his English and...

Hiller in Syria: Taxis, Iraqis and a Christian Muhammad

By BETSY O’NEIL

Betsy O’Neil is a lifetime Chestnut Hill resident and teacher at Penn Charter Middle School who is currently living in Damascus Syria. She has been sending back reports to the Local periodically about living as a Western woman in the Middle East. Here is her latest report.

Taxis figure prominently in my life. I have just about mastered the standard Arabic taxi lingo and am both amazed and very proud when I give directions, arrive, pay and get out without speaking any English. A small yet powerful linguistic victory.

I was trying to catch a taxi the other night outside the main part of Damascus, in Jeramana. It was about 9 p.m., when the city comes alive (that blazing sun has set). People stay awake much later, and even children's bedtimes seem non-existent. Often I see kids of all ages out to dinner with their families at midnight and beyond. This may change as the school year sets in, although I doubt it.

Thank God I was not in a hurry, because there were no free taxis to be had. And I was not the only person waiting for one. We were all flagging down the little yellow cars in the distance only to find them filled with passengers as they approached. I am still insecure about my Syrian "taxi wave.” I have gathered from my daily observations that it consists of a quick and small "come here" gesture with the hand; however, when I get desperate and feel...

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