Have you been looking longingly at your fishing gear during the Philadelphia winter? Are Deadliest Catch reruns not hitting the same?
With the surface of the Schuylkill River still frozen solid and frigid temperatures returning this weekend, a reader asked through Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s outlet for answering questions, whether they were allowed to ice fish on it.
Ice fishing, after all, is a practice that began with subarctic Indigenous peoples thousands of years ago, well before the advent of the modern fishing rod in the late 1700s. Fishing along the Schuylkill is accepted and celebrated in warmer temperatures, so what about its frozen cousin?
Unfortunately for those Philadelphians dreaming about an Arctic lifestyle, the answer is no.
“Ice fishing is illegal in Philly,” Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp saidby email. The practice is not explicitly outlawed, but walking out onto the ice in order to carve a hole and cast a line underneath violates city rules.
A pedestrian walks past a large pile of snow and ice along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Monday.
“You can’t walk, swim, or be in/on the waterway — unless in a vessel — regardless as to whether or not it’s frozen,” Gripp said.
Philadelphia police began spreading the message to not venture out onto the frozen Schuylkill this week, after local CBS News video captured several adults and children walking across it Sunday. The Police Department’s directive on code violation notices lists ice skating, skiing, and sledding in some areas of Fairmount Park as potential offenses.
Ice fishing could put you in violation of a few city ordinances, too. While you would likely be subject only to a summary offense and a $25 fine for each violation, police say you would be breaking rules about using areas managed by Parks and Recreation outside of their approved use, and risk violating the ban on “swimming” or wading out onto any Philadelphia creek, lake, river, or stream.
Even though the Schuylkill’s frozen surface may be several inches thick in certain locations, ice’s integrity can’t be judged based upon only how it looks, how fresh it is, or the temperature outdoors, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Ice’s strength is alsoinformed by several other factors, including the depth of the water underneath the ice, and nearby fish activity.
“Anyone that walks onto the Schuylkill River, … they’re taking their life into their own hands. It’s not a smart thing to do,” said commission spokesperson Mike Parker. Parker said the commission highly advises against walking on top of or fishing on the frozen surface of any moving body of water, like a river.
“There’s no such thing as safe ice,” in those cases, he said.
A fisherman sits in the sun outside a pop up shelter while ice fishing on frozen Lake Wentworth in Wolfeboro, N.H.
But ice fishing can be relatively safe on still bodies of water, like lakes and ponds. As general guidelines, the fish and boat commission advises that anglers fish only on those bodies of water when ice is at least five inches thick, and never to go out onto ice alone.
Shockingly, Delaware County has only one strip club, Lou Turk’s in Tinicum Township. Not shockingly, it bills itself as “historic” and a “Delco icon.”
Over on Yelp, reviewers call it a “hallowed hall,” “better than expected,” and “the Cheers of the female entertainment industry in the Philly area.”
Now, folks can call Lou Turk’s something else: the Carousel Delco, though the odds that they will actually call it that are exactly zero. It’s as likely as Philadelphians calling the Gallery the Fashion District or anyone saying Columbus Boulevard instead of Delaware Avenue.
A Delco institution for more than 50 years, Lou Turk’s announced it was rebranding via a statement on its social media pages last weekend, prompting comments like “April fools?” “Fake news?” and “This may go down as the biggest travesty to ever occur in Delco … and my god that’s saying something.”
Along with the new name, the club released what appears to be new signage, with the word “CAROUSEL” spelled out using silhouettes of nude women. The establishment also announced recent renovations, new amenities, menu enhancements, and new management. Yeah, new management that did not return my requests for an interview about why this was done.
I have no idea what would inspire someone to name a strip club “The Carousel Delco,” aside from the fact that both have poles. The club’s statement seems to explain why the new name was chosen, but it actually doesn’t. Classic Delco.
“We are still a Delco bar — always have been, always will be,” it reads. “That legacy is exactly why this name was chosen.”
Wait, did Delco bars all used to have carousels inside? If so, I definitely missed this county’s Belle Époque.
When I saw the news, my biggest fear was that one of Delco’s most storied traditions could be in jeopardy — the annual Mother’s Day and Easter flower sales outside of the strip club. It’s been the subject of countless memes and something I’ve used in stories as shorthand to explain Delco culture.
Luckily, whoever wrote the club’s statement anticipated that concern and immediately assuaged all fears:
“We look forward to many more awesome memes along the way … and we will still be selling flowers this Mother’s Day holiday.”
Whew! I mean you wouldn’t want to tell your mom you bought her flowers at the Acme, would you?
Trials and tribulations
The establishment was purchased in the mid-1960s by the late Louis Saddic, who was better known as Lou Turk, a name he picked up as a kid in South Philly, according to a 1983 Inquirer article.
Located in the Essington section of Tinicum, just off of Route 291, the club is situated in between an Irish pub and a Wawa, because of course it is. It’s so close to the Philadelphia International Airport you can see the underbellies of planes flying low overhead, which historically made Lou Turk’s a popular layover spot for travelers. Being near the shipyard didn’t hurt either.
The building itself is a windowless parallelogram painted in a muddy brown, with LOU TURKS plastered in large white letters on a gray patch on the side and “LT’s Cabaret” written on the awning.
Lou Turk’s is at the intersection of Powahatan and Jansen Avenues in the Essington section of Tinicum Township.
It’s unclear if the business was always a strip club, but it definitely was by 1973, when it started to receive citations by the PLCB for “lewd, immoral or improper entertainment,” according to our archives.
In 1983, the club was raided twice, the second time by 55 police officers who confiscated a whopping total of $19 from dancers they claimed had sexual contact with patrons. Turk, who was subsequently hit with prostitution and racketeering charges, vehemently denied the claims, as did five dancers and five other employees arrested in the raid.
William J. Davies, then-deputy district attorney for Delaware County, said at the time of Lou Turk’s: “It won’t reopen” and “We are not going to tolerate this sort of thing out in Delaware County.” Boy, was he off base.
The following year at trial one dancer testified she would “haul off and slug” any patron who tried to get handsy, which tracks for Delco. Investigators who testified used marshmallows and hand puppets to describe what they allegedly witnessed in the club, a Daily News report said.
Turk was represented at trial by the late high-profile attorney A. Charles Peruto Sr., who at one point, while questioning a PLCB agent’s testimony about interactions between a dancer and a patron, “assumed the dancer’s squatting position in front of the jury box and questioned the agent about the physical possibility of the act he had described,” according to an Inquirer article.
It’s unclear if the jurors threw Peruto tips, but what is becoming clear is how the club got its storied reputation in the annals of Delco history.
Turk’s case ended in a mistrial because prosecutors didn’t supply his attorney with the necessary discovery material before the case went to court. You can’t hide anything when prosecuting a strip club.
In 1990, a judge ordered the club to close for a year, after it had racked up a dozen citations between 1975 and 1990, “the longest history of state liquor code violations in the Philadelphia area for lewd entertainment,” The Inquirer wrote at the time.
During the shutdown, the bar operated a sandwich shop with a walk-up window for a few months, but it didn’t cut the mustard.
Lou Turk’s reopened on July 1, 1991, and The Inquirer was surprisingly there on opening day to see a dancer named Gail with palm tree pasties perform to the dulcet tones of ’80s glam metal band Ratt.
The establishment hasn’t made headlines since, according to our archives, aside from a report by unnamed sources that Ryan Howard visited the club in 2008, and several passing references to it in stories about Delco culture by yours truly.
‘Holy mackerel!’
I’m not sure when I first became aware of Lou Turk’s. As a nearly two-decade transplant, it’s the stuff of legends that’s always been here and I’ve always heard talked about, like Wawa or the Lower Swedish Cabin.
Whenever someone asks for a suggestion for the best place to eat or visit on the Delco subreddit or on a local Facebook page, someone inevitably suggests Lou Turk’s, tongue-in-cheek, like they do Woody’s in Philly.
“I think I even got a Lou Turks answer to me asking about vets in the area for my cat lol I died,” one Redditor posted.
“Did the cat survive?” another asked.
“Yeah he got a lap dance and started feeling better.”
Several reviewers on Yelp attest that the club’s food is pretty good. Even Jim Pappas, who’s gained local notoriety for trying and cataloging more than 1,100 cheesesteaks in the tristate area on his Philadelphia Cheesesteak Adventure website and YouTube channel, gave the food a thumbs-up.
“Holy mackerel! Who knew Lou Turk’s would have great food?” he says in his review.
One Yelp reviewer in 2011 even used a cheesesteak analogy to describe the place.
“As far as quality of performers go, think of this place as a cheesesteak shop in comparison to LeBec Fin; you can get a very satisfying quality meal, but it’s not exactly something you’d be bragging about to everyone you meet,” they wrote.
Uncle Lou’s
Changing the name of anything is hard, especially around here, where change is as welcome as the Dallas Cowboys.
But it may be particularly difficult for Lou Turk’s, which is so ingrained in local culture some folks call it Uncle Lou’s.
That’s the great thing about Delco. It doesn’t have famous tourist sites like Longwood Gardens or King of Prussia Mall, but what it has it owns to the bone, including its lone strip club.
The property listing in Beaver, Pa., extolled the countless charms of the Colonial Revival. There was the “grand foyer with a handmade railing,” the built-in cabinets and “beautiful” hardwood floors, and the covered porch offering “stunning” views of the nearby Ohio River.
“This home adorns many wonderful features,” the listing read, “and outstanding details throughout.”
One detail, however, was notably absent from the listing: the sizable swastika arranged in permanent tile on the basement floor.
That omission has become the source of an unusual legal battle, a disturbing discovery that has weaved its way through the state court system and raised questions — legal and otherwise — about what represents a “material defect” in a property.
“I certainly have not seen [this] particular fact-pattern come up before,” said Hank Lerner, chief legal officer for the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors. “It’s a pretty specific one.”
When Daniel and Lynn Rae Wentworth closed on the five-bedroom home in 2023, for around $550,000, it was easy to see the draw. Anchored on a spacious lot, just a block from the river, the home was idyllic by just about any measure.
But shortly after moving in, the Wentworths were clearing out the basement when they discovered the grim iconography in tile — a swastika, along with, what appeared to the couple, to be an image of a Nazi eagle. (According to the Wentworths, the tiled images had been covered by rugs during the inspection of the home.)
After Daniel and Lynn Rae Wentworth purchased a home in Beaver, Pa., they discovered in the basement floor what they believed to be a tiled image of a Nazi eagle (pictured above) and a swastika.
“Mortified,” as they would later say, the Wentworths filed a complaint in Beaver County civil court, alleging the previous owner had violated the Pennsylvania Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, and seeking monetary damages.
The Wentworths argued they would never have bought the home had they known about the tiled floor. Nor, they said, could they be expected to live in the home — or sell it — given its condition. In their complaint, the couple estimated it would cost roughly $30,000 to replace the floor.
“This … is just not something you’d ever expect to have to deal with,” said Daniel Stoner, an attorney for the Wentworths.
“They could have actual economic harm from the potential reputational damage if people thought they put it in themselves or were aware of it.”
The seller — an 85-year-old German immigrant who’d owned the home for nearly a half-century — did not share this view.
In response to the Wentworths’ suit, Albert A. Torrence, an attorney for the seller, argued in a court filing that “purely psychological stigmas do not constitute material defects of property … and a seller has no duty to disclose them.”
What’s more, he argued, the Wentworths had failed to identify any untruthful or inaccurate statements he’d made regarding the property.
In an interview, Torrence denied that the home’s previous owner was a Nazi supporter. Forty years ago, he said, the previous owner had been reading a book about the swastika symbol being co-opted by Germany’s Nazi Party; angry, he decided to include the symbol in a basement renovation project, placed a rug over it not long after, and forgot about it.
“And, of course, it fits into the narrative, ‘A Nazi lived in this house,’” said Torrence. “It’s just not the narrative that people want it to be.”
Regardless, the case raised an interesting question: When it comes to property sales, what, exactly, does rise to the level of a material defect worthy of disclosure?
Pennsylvania law requires sellers to disclose a laundry list of potential problems with a home — termites, structural or heating problems, sewage issues. “[Any] problem with a residential real property or any portion of it that would have a significant adverse impact on the value of the property or that involves an unreasonable risk to people on the property.”
Absent from that list? Hate symbols that had been permanently embedded.
In court filings, the previous owner cited an earlier case that had advanced all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In 2007, after a California resident purchased a Delaware County home, she learned from a neighbor that the property had been the site of a grisly — and highly publicized — murder-suicide. The new owner, Janet S. Milliken, sued.
In that case, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the home’s unfortunate history did not represent a material defect, adding that it would be impossible to quantify the psychological impact of various events that might have occurred on a given property.
“Does a bloodless death by poisoning or overdose create a less significant ‘defect’ than a bloody one from a stabbing or shooting?” the court wrote. “How would one treat other violent crimes such as rape, assault, home invasion, or child abuse? What if the killings were elsewhere, but the sadistic serial killer lived there? What if satanic rituals were performed in the house?”
Leaning heavily upon the Supreme Court’s decision in the Milliken case, the Beaver County trial court dismissed the Wentworths’ complaint.
Unsatisfied with the ruling, the Wentworths appealed.
In a decision filed late last year, three Superior Court judges affirmed the initial ruling that the tiled imagery was not required to be disclosed in accordance with the state’s disclosure law.
“A basement that floods, a roof that leaks, beams that were damaged by termites … these are the conditions our legislature requires sellers to disclose if they are known,” the judges wrote in an 18-page ruling filed Nov. 12.
“We are not dismissive of the Wentworths’ outrage, nor their concern that the existence of the images could taint them as Nazi supporters,” the decision went on. “With this lawsuit, however, they have made a public record to counter any supposition in that regard.”
Though the couple could’ve appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Stoner, their attorney, said this week that they had decided against doing so, citing the low likelihood that the case would’ve been heard by the court.
“I’ve only had one case in my entire career that they’ve actually taken up,” Stoner said. “So the chances of them even getting it heard weren’t the greatest.”
As for the home, Lynn Rae Wentworth told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle recently that she and her husband planned to remove the tiling once they were sure the legal wrangling had concluded.
She said they were also considering approaching local legislators in hopes of changing the law, making hate symbols material defects that necessitated disclosure.
As she told the publication, “I don’t want anyone to have to go through this again.”
It should go without saying, perhaps, but city officials this week are saying it anyway:
Just because temperatures have dipped into the teens (or lower) in recent days, doesn’t mean it’s safe to walk, skate, or drive across the area’s frozen lakes, rivers, and waterways.
“We’re getting reports of people walking and ice skating on Philadelphia’s rivers,” the Philadelphia Police Department said in a post to X on Sunday. “This is illegal for a reason. River ice is not as thick as it looks — moving water underneath weakens it and conditions can change fast. Please stay safe and stay off the ice!”
🚨 Safety Alert 🚨 We’re getting reports of people walking and ice skating on Philadelphia’s rivers. This is illegal for a reason. River ice is not as thick as it looks – moving water underneath weakens it and conditions can change fast. Please stay safe and stay off the ice!
— Philadelphia Police Department (@PhillyPolice) February 1, 2026
Though the Philadelphia Police said Monday there had been no rescues at this point, the department has fielded more than a dozen calls already, according to Capt. Anthony LaSalle of the city’s police Marine Unit.
LaSalle said a “significant” portion of the Schuylkill was currently frozen over, something that hasn’t happened in a decade.
“In some areas, it could be thicker than other areas, and you’ve got to realize that water is flowing underneath it,” LaSalle said. “You can have six inches in some areas and one inch in another area. And if there’s debris, that makes the ice even weaker.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by City Hall, which this week also urged residents to stay off all frozen waterways for the safety of both themselves and first responders.
“Police and medical staff have been advising residents and visitors to stay off all frozen rivers, lakes and waterways,” a city spokesperson said in an email. “Ice conditions are unpredictable, and walking, skating, or driving on frozen surfaces is extremely dangerous.
“Falling through ice can become fatal within minutes and places both the public and first responders at serious risk. For everyone’s safety, the City is asking everyone to stay on solid ground and avoid all frozen waterways.”
DEAR ABBY: I am a widow who has been dating a widower for the past eight years. He’s a wonderful man and the love of my life. We both have children, so we have been extremely careful not to cause them any distress with our relationship, and we have kept our home lives pretty separate.
At first, I thought that when the kids graduated from high school, we would maybe change our living situation, but now with all of our kids in college, the kids are going back and forth. One has moved home with me, so a change still doesn’t seem appropriate.
However, even when the kids are all out of college and living on their own, I’m still not sure I want to move into his house. It’s an amazing home in a wonderful town with lots of room for me, but it was built with his deceased wife, and all of her things and decorations permeate the place.
I just don’t feel I could ever make it my home, as it was their family home from the time they were married and where they raised their daughter. Moving into my house is not an option because it is small, and I don’t think he would want to do that.
I thought we could possibly sell both places and buy something together, but, again, his house is such an amazing place that I doubt we could find anything comparable. What should I do?
— MAKING A CHANGE, OR NOT
DEAR MAKING: I think it is time you and your longtime partner have a serious, honest conversation about what your options are after all the children are finally independent. Express that as beautiful as his home is, you have qualms because it was the home in which he and his late wife raised a family. Tell him you fear any changes would be resented, and the house you live in is just too small. Then listen to what he has to say.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I recently became aware that someone I know through various community groups is married to a man who is on the local sex offender list (involving a child under 13). This information was confirmed by another community group member as we needed to see how it would affect his volunteer status and our location near a school.
I don’t know how to respond to this information. The man is pleasant and friendly. If I had not known this information, I would have suggested he and his wife get together with my husband and other friends. There are no children in my household, so no one would be endangered by his presence.
Should this information about his sex offender status change how I see or respect him? Neither he nor his wife know that I know, and I don’t plan to tell them or anyone else. What are my responsibilities if I see him around children?
— ON ALERT IN MICHIGAN
DEAR ON ALERT: Whether or not to see or respect this person is a decision only you can make. No one can do that for you. However, if you see a sex offender in the presence of minor children, you are morally and ethically bound to report it.
DEAR ABBY: My daughter-in-law, “Louise,” died of cancer five years ago. She was 45; my son, “Pete,” was 48. They’d been married for 15 years and had no children.
Three years ago, Pete met “Shelly” through a mutual friend, and they were immediately attracted to each other. Within a year, they were living together and seem very happy. Shelly has two grown children and three grandchildren. Her mother is also in the picture. I have met her a few times, and she was very pleasant.
What bothers me is that Pete’s “new family” doesn’t include me. They’re aware that I’m on social media and can see all the photos they post — doing things with the kids and their great-grandma — which is lovely. I’d just like to be included once in a while.
This past weekend, I saw another post of all of them, with photos captioned: “Enjoying a leisurely brunch with the whole family.” I was stunned when I realized they were in a cafe that is literally across the street from my apartment, but I wasn’t asked to join them. I won’t bring it up because I’m afraid I’ll be seen as a whiny, insecure old lady. But still, it felt like a deliberate snub.
I have kept a low profile and tried not to be “that” relative who always finds things to meddle in or gripe about. Is there a way to express my feelings without a “poor pitiful me” attitude?
— SNUBBED IN ILLINOIS
DEAR SNUBBED: It is possible that the dominant person in your son’s household is his lady friend, and she arranges their activities. Talk to your son. Ask if you might have said or done something that has put Shelly off, which is why you have been sidelined. And then, instead of waiting to be asked, start doing some of the inviting yourself. (Be sure to include Shelly’s mother when you do.)
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I’m stuck with an alcoholic husband. I do love him, but it’s complicated. I don’t have any family. My mom is 96, and I would never burden her with my problems. His family is in denial or whatever you call it. I have only my disability check, which isn’t much. I can’t find part-time work because of my age (I am 63). When my husband drinks, he becomes impossible to be around, packs up his stuff and leaves, and then demands that I apologize for his mistakes. I’m trapped. What can I do?
— PRISONER IN TEXAS
DEAR PRISONER: Go online and search for the location of the nearest Al-Anon meeting (al-anon.org/info). Al-Anon is an offshoot of AA. There are many meetings, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one near you. These meetings are free; they do not charge. Once there, start listening and share what you are going through. If you do, you may learn methods for coping with your alcoholic husband. You may think you are alone right now, but you will soon realize you are far from it.
DEAR ABBY: My husband and I have been married for 15 years. He is former military, suffers from PTSD, and has been verbally abusive and controlling since our wedding. I have always worked to support us, sometimes with two jobs. We have a 14-year-old son.
My husband has a sister who bought a house. I picked up items for her new home and looked at his phone to double-check the address. Among the recent messages my husband had sent to her was one in which he told her he was in hell living with me and he didn’t give a damn about me. He also asked his sister if he could move in with her! (She was fine with that.) He said he would figure a way out, and that there was always a way out.
I am beyond devastated. I have always been supportive of him; now this. Part of me says I should be relieved. Why does it hurt so much?
— SHOCKED IN TEXAS
DEAR SHOCKED: This “hurts so much” because you were caught flat-footed, without a clue that your husband is planning on leaving you. Be GLAD you know, because you haven’t a moment to waste. Schedule an appointment with an attorney who can help you protect yourself from the financial assault that’s coming. If there are assets in the marriage, find out exactly what they are and take your cues from your lawyer. I am rooting for you.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: As a single parent with two children, ages 9 and 10, I am in a challenging situation. I have been diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious heart-lung illness that progressively worsens. Although I am classified as physically disabled, advancements in new medications have significantly improved my condition compared to when my children were younger.
My mother helps me with cleaning my apartment each week, and I truly appreciate and often need her support. She holds a key to my home for emergencies. However, during her visits when we are out, she has removed items from my apartment without my consent. When I have mentioned this to her, she has manipulated my feelings and denied any wrongdoing, despite being caught in the act several times. Am I wrong for being angry about this?
— VIOLATED IN OREGON
DEAR VIOLATED: You are right for feeling your trust has been violated. It has been. Your mother’s gaslighting you about it is shameful. If there is an alternative to your mother helping with the housekeeping, please consider availing yourself of it. Contact your state department of social services (as well as your doctor) to find out if there are programs to help you with maintaining your household. If that is not possible, you will have to lock up any items of value you don’t want to go missing because of your light-fingered, entitled mother.
DEAR ABBY: Six years ago, at my 40th high school reunion, a few former classmates asked me about my old high school sweetheart. (We broke up after high school.) I decided to find her and located her on Facebook. To my surprise, she never married. I told her I am married. We became friends again, but from 3,000 miles away.
For a few years, it was a nice friendship. We shared old stories, and I helped her out with financial stuff and gave her some emotional support. Recently, she told me she has a long-distance relationship with an “oil rig offshore worker.” I asked her to tell me more about him, and it all points to a scam artist. I recognized all the signs and tried to warn her.
She insists he’s real, it’s true love and they are getting married. (They have never met in person.) Then I got an email from her with some nasty words about my comments. I told her I care for her safety and that the man she’s corresponding with is NOT real — it’s a romance scam.
I no longer hear from her. I still care about her even though it’s not a high school romance anymore. What should I do?
— SWEETHEART IN CALIFORNIA
DEAR SWEETHEART: Unfortunately, romance scams like the one you have described are common. The scammer claims to be on an oil rig or in a war zone (but rotating home soon) or is otherwise unreachable in person. He may also have a motherless child he is not parenting on a daily basis because his wife is “dead” and the kid is in “boarding school,” so the target would not be responsible for child-rearing. (How convenient!)
Predictably, an “emergency” arises, and the scammer asks the target to fork over hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of dollars “for a short time only.” After the money is sent, poof! The scammer is gone, and the romance is over.
My advice to you is not to be surprised to hear from her once the con has come to its conclusion.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are in our 60s. When we are at home, just the two of us, he likes to wear just his underwear around the house, whether it’s watching TV or eating dinner. I have accepted it all these years and never made an issue of it.
When our granddaughter visited us at the age of 1, he wore shorts at my request but no shirt. She’s now coming to stay with us at age 2 1/2. Don’t you think he should wear a shirt and shorts when she visits? He values your opinion.
— MR. INFORMAL’S WIFE
DEAR WIFE: Since your husband values my opinion, please tell him I said that unless it’s 95 degrees when your granddaughter visits, the appropriate thing to do would be to wear shorts AND A SHIRT during your grandchild’s visit.
What’s changed for chef Nicholas Bazik in the weeks since his Society Hill restaurant, Provenance, earned a coveted star from the Michelin Guide?
Everything.
And nothing.
“There’s this strange duality to it,” says Bazik. “It’s like a complete life-changing event. … But at the same time, the day-to-day is exactly the same. It’s just a little more amplified and there’s more things to do.”
Bazik’s Provenance was one of three local restaurants to be awarded a Michelin star in November, and already, the accolade has brought lots of things: National acclaim, a rush on reservations, and a plaque (yet to be delivered) that will be displayed inside the restaurant, which opened in 2024.
Then there’s the pressure that comes with earning the culinary world’s highest honor.
“The restaurant industry in and of itself is unique, because at every step, every milestone that you get, it just means that there’s more work to do — and more pressure,” Bazik says. “Having a Michelin star means that everyone coming through the door is seeing you as that thing, so there’s no time to let [up].”
The one exception might be Sundays, when the restaurant is closed and Bazik can finally take a breath. It’s a day that, for him, revolves almost entirely around family — though food, not surprisingly, also plays a supporting role.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
7:30 a.m.
I normally wake up around 7:30, which is around the time my 4-year-old son wakes up.
In my previous job, prior to me going on paternity leave, the owner gave me a gift certificate to a coffee company, saying, “You should get yourself an espresso machine because you’re going to need it.” That was one of the best, most thoughtful gifts I’ve received from an employer. It’s a Jura espresso/coffee machine, and I use that everyday.
Then we’re going to Sulimay’s. It’s as close to a perfect diner as it gets. The food is great, the service is great, the space is unique to Philadelphia. Any breakfast spot, I always get the same thing which is two eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, and rye toast.
10 a.m.
I’ll spend some time at the farmers market at Headhouse Square, which is largely how I like to shape my menus and figure out exactly what’s seasonal, what’s on offer, what’s relevant, what’s good. My family’s with me, and I’ll do shopping there for the restaurant and I’ll also do some shopping for home.
My son and my wife will go to Three Bears Park, which is around the corner from us, and I’ll go meet up with them there, and we’ll play and then go back home for a light lunch with some of the things that we got at the market.
1 p.m.
After lunch, we’ll go to Adventure Aquarium in Camden. My son is just obsessed with everything aquatic. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of sharks and fish and whales. We love going there — it doesn’t matter if we’re looking at the same fish every single time, he loves it. So we’ll go there for an hour, and make our next move, which is somewhere outdoors.
2-4 p.m.
Ideally, we’d make two stops. We’d go to Lemon Hill, which is where my wife and I got married, and then go to Wissahickon Park — so essentially try to spend the whole afternoon in a green space.
To be able to travel from Center City and 15 minutes later be in a green, open space with trees and wildlife, it’s incredible.
5 p.m.
Because our son is 4 now, he has the full capability of selecting what he wants to eat for dinner, so we leave it up to him. And we essentially go to one of two places: Kim’s Restaurant in North Philly, which is the oldest charcoal grilled Korean barbecue spot. The other one is Mr. Joe’s restaurant, which is my son’s name for Picnic in Fishtown.
For our purposes, Picnic is the perfect restaurant. It has chicken, french fries (my son’s favorite food group), oysters, and green salad. We get the same thing every single time, and we go enough that we should have a designated table.
6 p.m.
It’s time to go home and start the bedtime routine. We do shampoo time, and it’s the only time that my son watches any sort of TV. We’ll watch 20 or 30 minutes of something — normally a deep-sea documentary or a solar system documentary.
Then from 9-10 p.m., my wife and I get to talk about what’s happening that week — what’s happening with him at school, what events are coming up that week, giving her a proper heads up on what’s happening at work, because everything happens so fast that it’s sometimes hard to keep up.
And ideally, it’s in bed by 10 p.m., and then it’s start the week the next day.
I invited two other Inquirer fathers to discuss this submitted question, which is haunting the slight slopes of our region as the snow sticks around.
Have a question of your own? Or an opinion? Email me.
Evan Weiss, Deputy Features Editor
OK, the question is…
Every time we go sledding, my kids somehow inevitably lose a sled. And every time, there seem to be extra, unclaimed sleds lying around. Is taking one of those stealing (from a child!), or just part of the karmic redistribution of sleds?
Mike Newall, Life & Culture Reporter
Nark is a woodsman. He probably whittles sleds while eating tins of premade forest food.
Jason Nark, Life & Culture Reporter
Ha. When I think of sledding, as a child, it was rough business. No parents around. There were fights. Blood. Nothing worse than an older kid asking to “borrow” your sled.
I sled at the same place for years, so I never would have thought of taking a sled.
Mike Newall
Same. I’m pretty sure the old wooden sled in my house growing up first appeared in It’s a Wonderful Life. Ancient. Wooden. Rusted. We did the garbage can lid thing too. We sled in an enclosed grassy area adjacent to a belt parkway off-ramp. No parents. Chaos.
Jason Nark
Later I moved to a golf-course community (I didn’t want to) that was also one of South Jersey’s biggest sledding destinations. There were lots of sleds left behind after a few days but most were broken.
I don’t think I would have ever considered taking one, unless it was very nice… then I’d probably post it in a Facebook group to try to find the owner.
Mike Newall
I’m a city parent myself now. Every big storm, I inevitably wake up in a panic and think, “Oh no, we don’t have a sled. Where and how shall my boy sled?” So I run to five stores, buy the only sled available, rush him to some grassy lot with an incline, and push him down. Boom. My boy sleds. If the sled makes it home, it’s a bonus.
Those sleds were left for a reason. Either the kid was crying and hated it. Or the parents left it. Either way, look at it like one of those free library stands, except for sleds.
Evan Weiss
But I can’t imagine taking one home. What if, as you’re walking away, a little kid yells, “Hey, that’s my sled!”
Mike Newall
I just mean, if there are a few clearly discarded sleds, then use away. Like if there’s an old ball at the playground. Use it!
We live in a tiny rowhouse. Who wants a $14 plastic sled eating up valuable basement space? I’m not naturally wasteful. But no problem group-sharing sleds. Just use it and leave it.
Evan Weiss
So leave it? Don’t take it?
Jason Nark
I think so, yeah.
Mike Newall
Yeah, that would be plain-old sled-stealing.
Evan Weiss
Borrow for the hill, not for the home.
Mike Newall
(Unless, it’s a really nice sled that you just have to have. Kidding. Maybe.)
