THE LIST

VALLEY

Tucked inside a former funeral parlor, on a narrow side street named for President Zachary Taylor, is Bonn Place Brewing Co., a vibrant, vital brewery and community center. The tap room is a magnetic beehive of gleaming tanks, brick walls and barrel tables, a merger of jazzy pub and rock ‘n’ roll rathskeller. The room becomes more welcoming at night, thanks to a wide, often open doorway originally cut for an auto repair shop. Sam Masotto, co-owner with his wife and fellow actor Gina, makes hearty, heady brews with local ingredients and flavorings subtle (chamomile) and bold (lady fingers). Sitting under a twinkling outdoor canopy I savored a pub ale with a teasingly bitter tang and a toffee tone, and a double pale ale melon hopped for a refreshing citrus ride. Every Thanksgiving Sam Masotto breaks out new and old editions of a cockles-warming concoction of champagne yeast, maple syrup and butternut squash. Merci is a gift to customers for five years of extremely loyal support. Another thank-you: the 1,300-plus trees the Bonn crew helped plant by Bethlehem’s watershed, the brewery’s invaluable resource. Talk about a good-will wellspring. (310 Taylor St., a block south of Third Street, Bethlehem; bonnplace.com; 610419-6660; BYOF[ood])

The Central Range of the Trexler Nature Preserve satisfies the senses and aligns the chakras. Part of an 18-mile system of trails, it begins with a blissfully preserved panorama, a 360-degree feast of tilted, quilted hills and valleys. A border trail dips into a wooded ravine that temporarily blocks civilization; opens into an inviting picnic/recreation area with a handsome bridge and a water crossing for four-wheelers; winds along a lovely lazy river, and meanders up and around a grassy, rocky ridge with wildflower banks and sculptural groves. Make sure to end your pilgrimage on an observation deck rising gently and organically above an environmental center. It’s a ramp to nirvana. (4935 Orchard Rd., Schnecksville; lehighcounty.org; 610-871-0281)

I’m sitting under the covered front porch of a long-gone barber shop, enjoying and admiring a triple-decker Cuban panini, chewing the fat about the spiritual wonders of foods and flowers. Such is the good life at The Green Stop, a mostly Italian restaurant in a greenpainted building that resembles a farm stand—an illusion strengthened by a glorious front fence of zinnias, dahlias and sunflowers. For 14 years office workers, farmers and Appalachian Trail hikers have been served filling, fulfilling dishes and kind company by Stephanie, an Italian-American from the Italian-American enclave of Roseto, and her common-wealth partner Flavio, a gardening cook who grew up in a tiny Mexican village with beautiful blooms and mezcal-making uncles. He makes his own bread, mozzarella and everything—calzone, cacciatore, German pizza—from scratch (“Everything is original—no fake”). He took 21 minutes to construct my Cuban sandwich, a one-pound cave stuffed with melted mozzarella and three layers of pork. Built like a bantamweight boxer, he jabs punchy opinions, too. “I don’t just work for you; I work for the Lord. I don’t just work with my hands; I work with my heart.” (6070 Sullivan Trail, Belfast; 610-614-0260; BYOB) n

It’s November. You surely fucked up the election for District Attorney, and now you’re waiting for the tryptophan to kick in and the Black Friday brick-and-mortar battles to commence when you could stay at home and buy on Amazon. That’s your month. Go home.

Or, try to find solace in these additional fruits at winter’s start.

Ever since its founding in 1999, the mission of Philly’s independent Azuka Theatre was to “strengthen the connection and shared humanity among its diverse audiences by giving voice to the people whose stories go unheard.” Sound familiar? So then, when 2020’s racial and social justice reforms kicked down the door, to say nothing of the activism of #MeToo, Azuka’s brain trust took its own action—not to produce any plays for the 2020-2021 season, and shut down so to have its staff and board work with an EDI/anti-racism/anti-sexism/anti-oppression trainers for the next 8-12 months, and make changes at every level, from the boardroom to the stage to reflect even more Black, Brown, female and LGBTQIA faces and voices than before. With that, Azuka Theatre finally returns with a World Premiere of a new play, Young Money. Its actors, playwright Erlina Ortiz, and director Briana Gause are local, and the topic of Young Money is the relationship between chart-topping rapper, the woman who cleans dressing rooms, and the “questions of morality, success, and redemption” dancing before them. Decent. (November 3–21, The Theaters at The Drake, 302 S. Hicks Street azukatheatre.org 215-563-1100)

On November 8, hometown hero Will Smith returns to Philadelphia (at The Met on North Broad) to talk about his life following his new autobiography, Will. This “Conversation with” is a lot to unpack, especially as Smith has gone back-and-forth on admitting that he and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, are in an open, sexual relationship, that he and his family may or may not be Scientologists, that the couple’s two kids, Jaden and Willo, though talented, are as annoying as fuck. If the original Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (yes, Smith is producing the Peacock streamer re-boot that recently shot some scenes in West Philadelphia and bought local artists’ paintings and sculptures to take back to their Los Angeles studio set) is going to lay truth to the rumors, I’m in the front row. If not, he might as well sing “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and call it a night. (The Met Philadelphia, 858 N Broad Street, themetphilly.org)

Anyone who knows me knows that for all of my pretentious and erudite manner, I am forever a boxing fanatic. No. NO. In no way am I one to actually fight or be physically aggressive in that fashion. I get my punches in on any given sentence. I’m a pugilist with the paragraph. I’m barbing, not boxing. That said, if there’s ever someone else’s boxing match to be had —and old fashion boxing beyond MMA and

—GEOFF GEHMAN

CITY

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—A.D. AMOROSI