It’s been months since the sign pictured above was slapped in the window of a Sicklerville shopping center off of Cross Keys Road. Via Twitter, @ChewJersey asked @TonyLukeJr. what’s up. He verifies that the shop will open sometime in April.

Bad news for your bikini/banana hammock diet, but great news for your inner fat kid.

Nothing too deep here, just scratching the surface and wanna get your opinion on it.

So, how loud is too loud?

Scenario: You plan a peaceful trip to a local coffee shop with your book, diary, laptop, whatever. You shimmy into a comfy position in a comfy chair, sip your drink, nibble your scone, and settle in for some ME time. Then the guy on his laptop next to you starts playing the latest episode of a guns-blazing cop show without headphones and the empty table behind you fills up with a boisterous foursome of intellectuals debating health care, education, foreign policy, and the finer points of their fresh-baked croissants.

Pondering: What do you do when you’re surrounded by indiscreet,  coffee talk?

We’d: Be annoyed. Very annoyed. Although a coffee shop isn’t exactly the library you should follow suit with those around you – and those around you are being quiet – to avoid being rude and disruptive. Most likely we wouldn’t say anything. Afterall, it IS a public place that ISN’T dressed with signs reading “Quiet, please”.

You’d: Leave your thoughts in the comments!

West Side Gravy will let you in at 11 a.m. and Blackbird at 5 p.m.

A few weeks ago, Chew Jersey stopped in Coffee Works Cafe in the Voorhees Town Center for a quick sip. This Saturday will be the cafe’s grand opening ceremony.

Stop by Saturday, January 29 at 2 p.m. for the ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Michael Mignogna. Stick around for live music from local artist David Falcone, complimentary coffee, smoothies, hot chocolate, homemade kettle corn, and some other giveaways. Things will be going on until around 5 p.m.

What’s the incentive to get there early? The first 100 guests will receive at $5 gift card.

Thursday sounds like a good day for a few rounds of tequila, yes? Yes. Use this as motivation to shovel yourself out and head over to Tortilla Press Cantina in Pennsauken for a five-course tequila laced menu on Thursday, January 27.

UPDATE 1.27.11 – This event has been rescheduled for Thursday, February 3.

Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres and mini Jose Cuervo Blanco margaritas. Sit down for soup, either chicken pozole or roasted poblano with mushroom. Next comes a seared scallop with jicama, pineapple and avocado salsa, or a salad of the same – but no scallop – for vegetarians, paired with a Reposado sage and pineapple cocktail. Have your choice of chicken mole, campeche baked tilapia or vegetarian fajitas for dinner with a glass of Don Julio 1942 served neat. Dessert is a coconut cream puff and a Don Julio blanco sparkler (tequila, strawberry and champagne).  The cost, excluding tax and tip, is $38.95.

Reservations are recommended, call 856-356-2050 to make yours.

Food Network: Restaurant: Impossible. Already aired so check here for viewing options.

Philadelphia City Paper food/web and Meal Ticket editor Drew Lazor, South Jersey food bloggers, John and Lisa Howard-Fusco, and South Jersey magazine’s Beverly Bretlmann were brought together to taste the new and improved (?) samplings at Villari’s in Palmyra, NJ.

Travel Channel: Andrew Zimmern Bizarre Foods. Airs tonight, January 25 at 9 p.m.

Philadelphia-based writer and blogger Felicia D’Ambrosio guides Zimmern around Philadelphia’s bizarre eats from the Italian Market to the Reading Terminal Market and beyond.

Food Network: Iron Chef America. Airs Sunday, January 30 at 10 p.m.

Philly’s Iron Chef Jose Garces (Garces Restaurant Group) duels another of Philly’s most lauded chefs, Michael Solomonov (Zahav, Xochtil, Percy St. BBQ), in Kitchen Stadium. Love that Solomonov opted to battle Garces. Philly food fight!

photo from AP

Nibble on a bit of savory (or sweet) national food news with Chew Jersey’s weekly roundup. Here, we highlight stories, recipes, events, and must-have products popping up around the web. If you’ve nibbled on something good this week, let us have a bite in the comments.

Friends of Food 52 stir up  a few tasty tipples. Like all other cocktails, these will help abolish body chill, but with seasonality in mind. Nother nibble relating to Food 52, check out co-founder Amanda Hesser on last week’s episode of Top Chef: All Stars.

Can’t say we’re upset about this, because it ain’t what it used to be, but the Food Network’s rating are down according to HuffPo. This can’t be good for Fieri’s already elevated blood pressure.

The King of the Jungle becomes taco filling in Tuscon, Arizona. Bet that’ll put some hair on your chest.

Who are the most powerful people in food today? The Daily Meal rounds out the top 50. Among the list are annoying TV personalities, you, and Steve Jobs.

The Feast visits the Fancy Food Show and chats with vendors about food trends of 2011. Salty, hot and fruity.

UPDATE 1.26.11: Via the Tuscon Weekly, the restaurant planning to serve lion tacos has had a change of heart due to concerns about the well being of those consuming it. Good call.

Ingredients:

• Dry bean medley, 2.5 cups (I use Goya’s 16 bean mix)
• Chicken stock, 2.5 qt. (use veg or otherwise if you’d prefer)
• Crushed tomatoes with juice, 1 cup
• Yellow onion, 1/2, diced
• Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 4, crushed
• Carrot, 1 medium, diced
• Green pepper, 1/2, diced
• Frozen corn, 1/2 cup
• Canola oil, 2 tsp.

*You must first rehydrate the beans. Note some beans will still be a bit harder than others but that’s okay, they will cook the rest of the way in the soup. Use either rehydration method:

A. In a bowl, cover beans with about 2″ water and soak overnight.

B. In a pot, cover beans with about 2″ water and do a quick boil for 10 minutes or so.

For soup:

1. Add canola oil to a heated pot
2. Saute onion, green pepper, carrot until softened and translucent
3. Add chipotle peppers. Stir one minute.
4. Add beans. Stir one minute
5. Add stock and tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes. This will produce a thick consistency. If you’d like the soup thinner, simmer for less time.

*Add seasonings if you’d like: salt, cumin, garlic powder. No more pepper will be necessary!

from the Chicago Tribune

Sure, you’re all amped up about Restaurant Week  (Philly’s is January 16-21 and 23-28 and South Jersey’s is March 20-25) and, if you’re smart, you’ve already got reservations. In the spirit of pre-fixeness, we’re bringing you menus developed on the expensive end of the price spectrum a la Eatocracy.

Who else can McDonald’s piss off? This time it’s the folks in Vermont who claim there is no actual maple in McD’s Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. C’mon, Ronald, you can’t just throw around words like maple and meat when you don’t actually use them.

Those foods that have been proclaimed “super” are often super pricey. The Chicago Tribune lists under-the-radar superfoods that won’t break the bank.

Who’d have thought the excretions of a sperm whale would cost more than truffles? Well, that might be a small group but it’s probably larger than the group who imagined it would taste great in a cocktail.

The store-to-table movement is upon us. This month Food and Wine magazine features Philly’s City Paper food critic, Adam Erace, and his Green Aisle Grocery which he owns with his brother Andrew. Erace contributes five almost-from-scratch recipes that look/sound damn good. Check it out on Foobooz.

I’ve lived roughly a mile from Fat Tomato since it opened about four years ago. Unfortunately, it’s a mile away in a direction I rarely travel, so I never thought to stop in. But recently, I’ve been hearing good things and with a nice bottle of wine gifted over the holidays I couldn’t find a reason not to go.

Fat Tomato has a close-knit neighborhood feel. Imagine a cross between Sunday in a South Philly rowhome with a matriarch cooking Italian specialties all day for an endless flow of company and a corner store sandwich shop wrapping up burgers, cheesesteaks, fries, and other un-calorically correct delicacies.

Although the brick oven pizzas tempted in the way only that cheese-sauce-bread combo can, we went with antipasto salad and frutti di mare. Rather than a jumbled, drowned pile of lettuce and vegetables, the antipasto was neatly compiled and fresh; the fried eggplant glistened hot from the fryer, the mozzarella was creamy. I’d ascribe the same to the frutti di mare over pasta – neat and fresh. Also, difficult not to polish off.

Fat Tomato is good for a group – there’s a newly renovated private dining room – or a casual date. Maybe get a plate of spaghetti and meatballs and do the thing from Lady and the Tramp. It’s cool, you’re amongst family.