Ghost Bar
Halloween night at McGillin's Olde is going to be scary: costume contest, pumpkin bombs and “scary-aoke." Terrifying, indeed. The McGillin’s folks are even expecting a ghostly visitor. According to the investigators from South Jersey Paranormal Research, this 148-year-old pub is haunted. F’real!

Autumn in Postiano
I give props to Old City’s Positano Coast for rolling out a new menu every season. You’d think most restaurants would have adopted this practice right now, but too often I’ll return to a restaurant having not been there for, like, three years, and the menu is totally identical. To that I say, boo. Chef Pippo Lamberti looks to the fall with rabbit ragu over tagliatelle, mushrooms, guanciale and squash sage cream; duck breast with baby turnips, pearl onions and strawberry pepper foie gras emulsion and roasted Alaskan black cod with lemon fennel confit and grape tomatoes.

Veg Out
Owner Jason Lay just premiered Mi Lah, a vegetarian spot in Rittenhouse. Chef is Tyler Black, a Florida native who’s worked in Philly at the Four Seasons and Horizons. Ooh-la-la. Expect grilled haloumi panzanella, red curry polenta cake and barbequed eggplant.

Pumpkin Patch
It’s just recently I’ve discovered the charm of Pumpkin Market, Ian Moroney and Hillary Bohr’s postage-stamp-sized all-local grocery on South Street. The tidy, tiny gem is stacked with baskets of Weavers Way chilies the size of earrings, Taste of Nature yellow onions, jewel-toned cherry tomatoes from Seeds of Learning and tons more of the fresh, local stuff. Pick up raw milk, just-pressed cider, preservative-free hummus and Sandy Ridge Farms in the cold case; Severino pasta in the freezer; and bakery items, raw honey and natural peanut butter on the bakery hutch. As the Headhouse Square farmer’s market wraps it up, I’ll be stalking this place.

More Than Just Servers 
Here’s a nice bit of news as your 401K continues to tumble: longtime More Than Just Ice Cream servers Dalton Castano and Rachelle Capistrano-Sorg have purchased the restaurant from chef-owner Brian Daly, who ran the luncheonette and dessert parlor for 18 years. Changes to the menu are coming, as well as—hark! The PLCB sings!—a liquor license. No changes to the ice cream; 32 varieties still available.

Starr Turn
While you've been busy trying to score a table at Parc, Stephen Starr's been busy putting the finishing touches on another restaurant. He's re-opened Striped Bass as Butcher and Singer, a swinging steakhouse supper club that just opened this past Monday. The tradition of power suits and power lunches continues, just like Bass before it, only this time over Steak Diane and gimlets.