BY VICTOR FIORILLO

Next Wednesday, South Philly’s Royal Tavern gets its weeklong seventh-anniversary party going with a night of vegan and vegetarian blackboard specials and something that their invitation describes as “cruelty free” cocktails, which got me wondering: Are liquor companies battering seals to make gin? Using koala bear paws in whiskey?

I called Royal’s event coordinator, who seemed foggy on the whole thing, saying that the cocktails would just be “themed as vegan.” But it turns out, at least according to my preliminary research, that fish bladders are sometimes used in the production of beer and wine, and that many vodkas are filtered through bone charcoal, making them off limits for those hemp-wearing herbivores. The good news is that Campari, which used to be a vegetarian no-no thanks to the bugs used in the coloring, is now artificially colored (wait, since when was that a good thing?), meaning you can go ahead and have a Negroni with your seitan burger.

Royal Tavern’s vegetarian and vegan night takes place starting at 5 p.m. on November 11th; 937 East Passyunk Avenue, 215-389-6694. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to PAWS.

P.S. If you really do want a Monkey Gland, here’s a recipe.

BY VICTOR FIORILLO

Last week, while I was enjoying pork cutlet, a fantastic mushroom app, and way, way too much wine at Old City’s oft-overlooked Ristorante Panorama in the Penn’s View Hotel, the restaurant’s polished general manager and wine director William Eccleston told me that he is in the process of applying to the Guinness Book of World Records for their fabulous wine program, which, if you are unfamiliar, consists of 120 wines by the glass. He’s applying not only for the largest number of wines by the glass available in a restaurant, but also for the wine-preserving cruivnet system itself, which he believes to be the world’s largest (take that, Kentucky). For a good introduction to Panorama’s offerings, check out their weekly Friday Night Flights happy hour, featuring cheese, hors d’oeuvres, and a wine tasting led by Eccleston for $20.

Ristorante Panorama, Penn’s View Hotel, Front & Market streets; 215-922-7600.

BY BRIDGET SALMONS

Recently a group of friends and I gathered at Buddakan to celebrate a birthday. At a long communal table, the 13 of us ordered three $36 pitchers of Zen-gria, rounds of sake, and added on dishes when our waiter suggested that we might not have ordered enough food for the party. We even got dessert — you can’t go to Buddakan without getting the dim sum doughnuts! — even though we had brought along our own personalized chocolate cake.

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Marty Grims is one busy guy. Last night, he debuted Chew Man Chu, his noodles/dumpling/wok spot in the Symphony House on Broad. Next up: Du Jour at Commerce Square, a White Dog in Wayne, and, the newest development, Timber in Abington.

Grims says that the moderately priced menu at Timber — housed in the former Inn Flight restaurant, which closed in May after 40 years in business — will center around its wood-fired grill. “It’s going to be a fun spot, almost in the vein of a Houston’s but more individualistic,” says Grims. The 120-seat bar/restaurant is expected to open around January 1st.

I just got an amazing Jose Garces scoop — and no, it’s not whether he wins Iron Chef. Seems he’s nabbed the Letto Deli space at 208 South 13th Street — once rumored to be Stephen Starr’s next location — for a super-casual, single-focused concept: beer and brats.

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Stephen Starr has entered the pizza stage with Stella, and though the warring pizza-style factions all have opinions as to its success, everyone who loves pizza (which is to say everyone) agrees that it was high time that someone took on our pizza problem in a serious way. Let’s face it, Philly: We are pizza poor.

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BY VICTOR FIORILLO

A couple of months ago, I reported my suspicions that Oscar’s, a popular hole-in-the-wall bar at 1524 Sansom Street, was serving cheap bourbon to customers who ordered Maker’s Mark. I filed a formal complaint with the State Police’s Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, whose Officer Tara Amato paid a visit to Oscar’s, confiscating six bottles of liquor. Many of the bar’s devoted patrons and one employee attacked on our comments page, accusing me of “bad journalism” and, worst of all, of being a “bourbon fraud.”

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Last week, a friend of mine complained that he couldn’t find a single bottle of elderberry liqueur anywhere. Why he was so hell bent on elderberry liqueur, I have no idea, but he had been to two liquor stores and left both empty-handed. So I put my judgments aside and told him about the PLCB’s handy Product Search page.

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Philly’s burger obsession has inspired chefs to get super creative with their toppings, sauces, add-ons, and cheeses. (Apple and Gouda, anyone?) Here are 20 creations that will keep you chomping until you’ve tried them all.

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There’s a new chef/owner at Marigold Kitchen. Chef Robert Halpern is the fourth chef to helm the kitchen of this tiny, West Philly BYOB. At first glance, very little about the restaurant appears to have changed: The dining room is still painted that inviting shade of yellow, and the same comfortable brown banquette lines the right wall. The food, however, is vastly different from previous chef Erin O’Shea’s Southern-influenced cooking. In fact, as soon as we were seated, our waitress informed us of the new concept: “foams, gels, and bubbles.” She wasn’t kidding — much of the menu is devoted to such scientific cooking techniques that Robert picked up, no doubt, spending time in restaurants like the avant-garde Alinea in Chicago.

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