City Kitchen in Southampton PA

A new place opened up in Southampton called City Kitchen. It's located at the site of the old Maggios in the strip mall at the corner of Second Street Pike and Industrial Boulevard. It's nothing like the old Maggios.

The interior is done in a semi modern style with a lot of chrome and steel sculptures.

When we walked in we were greeted by the General Manager and the Owner. We were seated and served quickly. The menu is decidedly Italian. The first time in, we were just looking for a late snack and had come well after the dinner crowds. They bring out bottled Southampton water (It sounds corny but it does work for a lot of reasons). We split a veal parmesian and a Caesar Salad. Both were excellent. They server the Marinara sauce on the side.

Desert was a real treat. They have a great selection of some really excellent gelato.

The combination of service and food along with our busy holiday schedule led us back twice more that week. Every time the owners and manager were greeting all of the guests and checking at the tables. It does get busy at prime time so plan ahead. The place is BYOB. If you don't want to do that, they have some great Italian sodas and lemonade to choose from.

When we went there tonight our son was with us. He had his ipod touch and noticed that they offered free Wifi. I don't think you would want to sit there during a crowded dinner hour with your laptop but it would probably be great for a business lunch.

Oh, I forgot to mention the music... it's a taseful blend of Italian oriented music including Sinatra and Connie Francis.. It's not overdone, just a nice background.

SUMMARY - If you like an slightly upscale pizzaria/italian place, give it a try...

Southampton Traffic and 57 new units

An article in Phillyburbs was talking about traffic problems on side streets near Second Street Pike and Street Road in Upper Southampton. During any part of the rush hour, Second Street Pike is at a virtual crawl.

A developer wants to take 3.5 acres of commercial/business property next to Premier Bank and rezone it to residential. Their plan is to put 57 condo units there. Question - If we already have traffic problems does it make any sense to rezone commercial/business property into residential? The developer is asking for a half dozen or so variances in order to build there.

Part of the development plan, as I understand it, is to route the traffic from these condos onto both Street Road and by the old train station onto Second Street Pike. So, we already have a traffic problem and now we are going to add a couple of hundred cars entering and exiting 2nd Street Pike and Street Road..

Calming
measures sought for traffic (phillyBurbs.com) Intelligencer:

"Residents of Hampton and Summit avenues are fed up with drivers using
their close-knit neighborhood as a cut-through from Street Road to Second Street
Pike.
They're asking the Upper Southampton supervisors to look into
traffic-calming measures for what residents describe is a neighborhood filled
with children."

Fourth of July Week - Southampton Days!!

If you are looking for something to do during the Fourth of July week, check out the 36th annual Southampton Days fair. There's plenty to do for the family including: Concerts, a parade, a baby parade, Fireworks, amusements, children't entertainment, food, pie eating contests, a car show, bingo, a 5krun, vendors and a whole lot more.

Check it out at http://www.southamptondays.com

You can avoid the traffic nighmare for the July 4th fireworks by using the free shuttle busses http://www.southamptondays.com/busschedule.html

Lunch at the Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille

The Blue Sage contines to offer consistently excellent service and food. We stopped in for lunch on Thursday. We had a bit of a wait since the place was completely full. We shared the Blue Corn Asparagus Tacos which are made with Grilled asparagus, tomato-almond pesto with jack cheese in a griddled blue corn tortilla. For desert I had a chocolate panini. This is 2 slices of toasted walnut bread with melted chocoloate and a scoop of , I believe, cinnamon Hazelut Gelato. If you think like a kid, you are actually eating a chocolate sandwich.!!. Life doesn't get a whole lot better than that.

They are now offering cold soups for takeout.

The place is almost always packed. It makes for a little bit of a noisy environment but that is more than offset by great service and food.

Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille