Summer is a veritable orgy of fresh fruits and veggies. Have you been to the farmer’s market lately? Get a load of those fuzzy peaches, Earlimagic baby plums and ear after ear of white Jersey corn. It makes eating fresh and local easy, baby. No cooking skills? No problem. Hit Rittenhouse hot spot Pearl for their Local Summer Corn Festival, happening on Fri., August 1. Chef Ari Weiswasser is doing five corn-themed courses for $55. Think shaved abalone ceviche with shellfish and corn emulsion, Korean corn bisque with mussels and corn cookies with peanut miso. An additional $33 buys beverage pairings—including sake and Japanese beer. Out in Berwyn, they’ve got a morel menu going at Nectar. Chef Patrick Feury has bolstered his dinner menu with dishes like morel consommé with roasted morels with duck dumplings, morel cakes and morel-stuffed squash blossoms.

Also celebrating the summer season is Yangming in Bryn Mawr. Rather than featuring a specific ingredient, Yamgming is featuring chef Ren-Wei Jia, a Chinese Certified Master Chef who will be in residence to coincide with the Beijing Olympics. Expect honeyed lotus root, Shanghai crispy fish, spicy sesame potatoes, Hangzou “at ear” pasta, eight treasure sweet rice, West Lake beef soup and Dragon Well tea shrimp. Chef Jia will be in residence at the restaurant from July 17 until August 24.  

In opening news, keep the heads up for Pub & Kitchen in September. P&K marks the reemergence of Jonathan “Jonny Mac” McDonald, last the chef at Snackbar. With molecular gastronomy and French bistro under his belt, Jonny Mac will be taking on British pub cuisine at Pub & Kitchen with dishes like bangers and mash with mustard green beans, beer-battered fish and chips and a domestic cheese plate with Guinness caramel. At the bar expect a dozen local and imported draughts, a wine list that tops out at $50 a bottle and homemade munchies like bowls of warm walnuts served with nutcrackers. Can we put in a request for a UK version of Ugly American’s kick-ass habanero caramel corn?