Photo: Neal Santos / www.nealsantos.com

If you’re looking to score locally-grown veggies to round out your grocery shopping this week, stop by Farm 51 this Thursday to purchase organic food goods—and support West Philly farming—from its weekly produce stand.

Opened in May, Farm 51’s farmstand operates every Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the educational urban farm and market’s site at 51st and Chester Streets. Currently, the farm will have its fresh, organically grown kale, collards, lettuces, herbs, carrots, radishes, flowers, beets, and eggs from its chickens available for sale, and will introduce honey from its bees, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons and more, later in the season. The produce stand, in operation since the farm officially opened four years ago, will close in late October.

Farmstand costs, which are marked by bag and bunch, range from $1 to $6 in order to remain affordable for the farm’s immediate residents, said Philadelphia City Paper Staff Photographer/Associate Web Editor Neal Santos, who runs Farm 51 along with founder Andrew Olson. The farm only accepts cash at its stand but is working on equipping itself to also accept SNAP, Santos told West Philly Local.

Proceeds from the farmstand will go towards paying Farm 51’s junior gardeners, who staff the single farmstand, as well as supporting its garden and “all of its critters,” said Santos. In addition to the West Philly location, Farm 51 will also host a stand at Philadelphia’s Open Air Market at 23rd and Arch Streets, where it’ll sell its organic cut flowers and Santos’s photography.

“The plan is to consistently provide fresh, affordable and locally grown organic produce to our customers,” Santos told West Philly Local. Farm 51 plans on holding open farm days for guided tours in the near future. “We also hope to create more of a meeting and community space in the parts of the garden that are not growing space for pop up events.”

–Annamarya Scaccia

Neighborhood grocery store Mariposa Food Co-op with over 1,500 local members began accepting youth member applications last week. If you or some of your family members are between ages 14 and 17, this is a great opportunity for you/them to become a member-owner of a community-run business and to learn about the cooperative economy. By becoming a Mariposa member, our young neighbors, just like adult members, can participating in decision-making about the co-op through voting, earn a 5 percent shopping discount and receive other member benefits.

Interested youth or parents/guardians are asked to stop by the store located at 49th and Baltimore Avenue to pick up a membership application. By the way, youth member equity is only $5. For more information please visit: https://www.mariposa.coop/

Last month, Aljazeera became the latest offering in the burgeoning African/Middle Eastern food scene developing on the 4400 block of Chestnut Street. The latest eatery to take over 4403 Chestnut Street, former home to the short-lived Sudanese joint Al Khartoum Echo, might be also West Philly’s first-ever Middle Eastern buffet.

Owned by Samir Kassem of Upper Darby’s Falafel Exotic Cuisine, Aljazeera features an all-day, all-you-can-eat Halal spread of Middle Eastern staples like moussaka, yellow rice, stuffed zucchini, chicken curry, and beans with lamb meat for a flat price of $10.95. But guests visiting the new restaurant won’t taste dishes from just one Middle Eastern nation. According to the 48-year-old Kassem, who also acts as cook and manager, the daily-changing buffet menu represents the flavors of all countries in the region (he said he named the buffet Aljazeera, which means “The Island” in Arabic, for this fact.)

When West Philly Local visited Aljazeera yesterday, we had found ourselves standing in a dressed-down joint with a few tables and chairs, a simple buffet set up, and a few local residents chatting away. We had a chance to sample some of those buffet dishes upon the owner’s request and found ourselves noshing on hearty (albeit a tad greasy) home-style delicacies with just the right amount of salt, and a subtle but lingering kick. In the words of Kassem: It’s like your mama’s cooking. Continue Reading

Lois Zucker, owner of Lee’s Hoagie House – a neighborhood institution. (Photo by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local)

Lee’s Hoagie House, a Walnut Street institution on the west edge of Penn’s campus for 28 years, is closing for good tonight at 10 p.m.

Lee’s owner, Lois Zucker, is retiring and a new restaurant is moving into the space at 4034 Walnut, which is owned by Campus Apartments.

Lois has run the business on her own since her husband Jan died 14 years ago. “He was the heart and soul of this business,” she said.

Lee’s is a licensed chain that once had several independently owned shops. Lois and Jan opened the Walnut Street location in September, 1985. Its closing leaves only two Lee’s shops left in the city. The rest are in the suburbs.

A possibility remained that Lee’s would stay open under another owner. But Campus Apartments, which owns the Lee’s property and is one of West Philly’s biggest landlords, “wanted a change” for the storefront location, a valuable property on a block that has nearly exclusively student housing, Lois said. The potential buyer of the Lee’s license is scouting other locations in the neighborhood.

It remains unclear when the new restaurant, which will specialize in chicken dishes and “savory pies,” will open. There will be extensive renovation to the space.

The Zuckers built their shop around the area’s student presence and Lois said that students returned to the shop long after they graduated.

“The kids now come back with their own kids,” she said.

Lee’s also delivered subs via Fed Ex to Philadelphians or Penn students who had moved out of the region. She recalled sending two hoagies to a woman in Texas who was pregnant.

“She said all she wanted was tuna hoagies from Lee’s,” Lois said.

So there are just a few hours left to get a Lee’s hoagie in the neighborhood. Be sure to thank Lois. She’s the one in the green Lee’s t-shirt and ever-present white apron.

By the way, they don’t have any of their iconic t-shirts left to buy. We asked.

– Mike Lyons

Two cool things are coming back this summer beginning Thursday, June 6. Firstly, the Heart & Soul project that debuted last year and that features artfully decorated pianos installed in public spaces for anyone to play, is launching tomorrow in Clark Park (43rd & Baltimore) at 3 p.m. This time there will be four pianos, all decorated by artist Joe Boruchow and all placed in Clark Park, two in the northern section of the park (Clark Park “A”) and two in the southern section (Clark Park “B”).

The pianos will stay in the park only until June 16, so don’t miss the opportunity to check them out and play them (if you can). Joe’s work may be familiar to many locals. This spring we snapped a photo of his art piece, called Valentine 2013, pasted at the corner of 44th and Spruce:

More information about Joe Boruchow and his work is available here.

The Thursday edition of Clark Park’s Farmers’ Market also returns tomorrow. It will be open 3-7 p.m. The Thursday market will operate through November. For more information on vendors at Clark Park Farmers’ Market visit: http://universitycity.org/clark-park-farmers-market

Photo from West Philly Food Swap’s Facebook page.

If you’re a good cook/canner/baker or grow your own food read on. On Sunday, June 9, 2-4 p.m., the Chester Avenue Community Garden (4715 Chester Ave) and local produce buyers for Reading Terminal Market’s farm food stands Alexandra Jones and Jessica Bickis are hosting West Philly’s first Food Swap.

Here’s how it works: Bring your own creations, such as jars of jam, tubs of hummus, loaves of bread, bunches of herbs, or eggs from the chicken coop to share with others. The only rules are that items must be homemade or homegrown and should be individually portioned or packaged. Participants lay out their items on tables or blankets, and everyone browses the items and signs up on a “swap card” with an offer of what they want to trade and for what items brought by others.

The event is free and spots are limited so interested swappers are asked to RSVP at foodswapwestphilly@gmail.com.

To learn more about this event please check the West Philly Food Swap’s Facebook page. You can also check out these food swapping tips from a local food fermentation expert and swapper.