See Pizza Olympics photos, page 22
Vo l. 6 4 N O. 3 0
w w w. s o u t h p h i l l y r ev i ew.c o m
J U LY 2 8 , 2 0 1 1
Model behavior
A Point Breeze teen will have a geographical advantage at an upcoming beauty contest. By Joseph Myers R e v i e w s ta f f w r i t e r
E
veryone knows that a teenager, even one on the verge of adulthood, can possess fickle ambition. Being wayward does not appeal to Zahnay Blakney, however. As Miss Teen Pennsylvania, the composed 17-year-old will further her impressive modeling career at next week’s All American Pageant. No matter the outcome, she knows the event will pulse with the “crazy energy” that has marked her runway existence. The vivacious adolescent earned her opportunity to spend Aug. 3 to 5 at the Ramada Inn Philadelphia Airport South in See BLAKNEY page 9
Sports
Manager Lucia Tripodi, left, and chef Marco DeCotiis were on the brink of having to shutter their establishment. A visit from a culinary expert has the two believing their former frustration will soon become a distant memory.
Who wants seconds?
S ta f f P h o t o b y G r e g B e z a n i s
A cable network has added bite to a Girard Estate restaurant with an impressive overhaul.
By Joseph Myers
Forward progress
A Philadelphia Eagle will conduct a clinic for youngsters at a Queen Village playground.
By Joseph Myers.............Page 32
R e v i e w S ta f f W r i t e r
O
ne wonders if novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, who lamented “There are no second acts in American lives,” would adopt the same philosophy for restaurants. The personnel at La Stanza, 2001 W. Oregon Ave., hopes its recent appearance on the Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible” proves good fortune
can lead to great fortunes. Desiring a new identity, the 12-year-old establishment served as the site for the second episode of the show’s second season. Hard times had concocted enough woes to cause the Italian eatery’s management to search for assistance. “We had nowhere else to turn,” manager Lucia Tripodi said before Friday’s dinner service. “The next step was probably to lock the door.”
John Tripodi, Lucia’s father, became involved with the location seven years ago as the ground floor’s partial owner and the overseer of The Loft, the second-floor nightclub. The former chief owner’s legal troubles led to a proprietorship transfer and the assumption of $600,000 in debt for the patriarch. Primarily a construction worker, he placed his daughter in charge in See FOOD NETWORK page 8