Movie Nights are back!

It's been a while, guys.
Let's be honest but we promise it'll be well worth the wait.
M O V I E   M O N D A Y S are back!

Starting next Monday with "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"
Fitting right? Magical intrigue, golden tickets, people becoming blueberries, amazing sweets and a surprising helicopter ride... get ready!
June 7, 2010
Starting time: 7pm

Time to be a kid, again OR bring your kid...
Speaking of which, this year, we will start to show kid-friendly movies earlier in the day for folks with young'ins. Stay tuned to the blog to find out more info.

In fact, did you know that Capoyunk is open every day at 9a.m. (except Sundays, at 10a.m.) ready to go with H & H bagels, various coffee drinks, and flaky, buttery, delicious pastries?

We love you, South Philly and we're here for you.
(We even set up a mix tape swap!)

Lately, we've been getting greener and greener.
Our to-go cold cups are earth-friendly and bio-degradable, made of corn.
And our new pints are, also, bio-degradable and earth-friendly, made of sugar cane.
In similar spirit, we here at Capoyunk thought it would be swell to share our coffee grounds with local gardens for composting.

In the very near future, get ready to sit back and relax with your gelato and your favorite records.
We've got a record-listening party we're excited to set up; we're just working out the details.

Capoyunk, coming back with a bang!

The short list.

My Newest Obsession...

Rhubarb Gelato Con Brioche!!

Tart, sweet, and refreshing Rhubarb gelato held in the loving embrace of a buttery, rich Brioche, sprinkled with a little sugar: THAT'S how you start a busy work week... Scratch that, that's how you should start EVERY week.

Not into rhubarb? Don't fret, we've got plenty of other tasty springtime fruits for you to indulge your palate with. Why don't you stop by and check it out!!

See you soon.

The citric embodiment of summer.

A wide variety of flavors and smells evoke summer memories for me. Bell's Oberon pale wheat ale recalls several summers spent perched with friends at a street side cafe in Madison, wiling away the evenings under a dusty sunlight. Canteloupe's musky pungency will always be linked to the summer my brother worked as a fruit monger for the local co-op and we shared in a summer-long fruit feast that I doubt will ever be matched in my life. Grilling chicken covered in sweet barbecue sauce brings back my early years in Burlington, WI, watching intently as my dad masterfully manned the Weber at one of our family gatherings.

All of these tastes and smells are subtle yet simple, just as my favorite summer flavor: lime. Nothing says hot weather and cooling drinks like lime does. Gin and sodas (try one with Philly's own delicious Bluecoat gin) with a healthy dose of lime juice make our searing summer days easy to cope with. A splash of fresh lime pairs perfectly with pico de gallo salsa and grilled fish atop fresh corn tortillas, a favorite summer repast. Lime's distinct and unique flavor and punchy tanginess make for one of the most elegant sorbetti Capogiro offers, as well as one of the most refreshing.

While today's rain might not be the most predicitve of what lays ahead for our summer, those humid and harsh days will be here soon enough. When they do, you can be assured that one citrus fruit will make your days much more enjoyable. It turns out that Kermit was wrong: it's pretty dang easy being green!


These guys are good buddies.

Go Ape for Aperol!

Aperol--popular in Italy for years but unavailable in the States until fairly recently--is like a toned-down, more orangey version of Campari. It is commonly featured in that favored aperitivo the Spritz, which is Aperol (or Campari, or Cynar), some prosecco and a splash of soda. Perfect Summer refreshment!

It's sweet and refreshing, with enough of a bite to let you know it's for grown ups.

Come on down to CapoPenn and claim yourself a slice of Italian happy hour. If you sit with your back to Walnut Street, you can pretend you're in Venice or Milan...

How About a Little Sweet Action?

One of my favorite neighborhoods in Brooklyn is Red Hook. It's beautiful in that Marlin Brando "On the Waterfront" kind of way, and evokes the Bywater of New Orleans in vibe and appearance (which is one reason why John Frizell decided to hunker down and open his lovely cafe Fort Defiance there). In spitting distance of a giant Ikea, the scrappy and far-sighted folks of Added Value have turned a dis-used parking lot into an urban farm, supplying local restaurants with tasty greens and teaching local kids that food doesn't originate in a foil package (they are also instrumental in building a small farm on Governor's Island).

Stumptown Coffee of Portland Oregon planted their East Coast roastery in Red Hook, and I'll be danged if there isn't a hum-dinger of a brewery there, too. Six Point Craft Ales is fast becoming one of my favorite American craft breweries, and we have got some of their delicious Sweet Action Ale on tap over here at CapoPenn.

Shane Welch of Six Point, in an interview with Beerbasics.com, describes Sweet Action thusly: "...a hard one to describe, simply because it doesn’t fit into any particular style. It’s made with Pilsner and Pale Malts, but is hopped with only noble hops. It’s fermented with a Belgian yeast that provides a dry spiciness. Look for a unique orange taste underneath it all.. 6.9% ABV, 33 IBU".

What's missing from the description: the layers of delicious, sweet, fresh maltiness and the supple body; how those noble hop aromas complement the fruity yeast characters, and the razor-sharp bittering hop backbone tidily zips up all these sensations into a complete package.

Ezra, Dave and Jason sat outside in the May sun today, drinking way too many of those. They just couldn't stop! Come on in here and get some yourself, before these greedy pigs guzzle it goodbye. But, really: I'll be stocking this beer for as long as I can. It's just too good to let go!

Whaddup No'Libs? We haven't met, yet. We're Capogiro and we're kind of a big deal. ;)

CAPOGIRO WORLD DOMINATION PHASE: Fishtown
Northern Liberties... (thanks Conrad) 

The City Paper's Meal Ticket blew the lid off our Northern Liberties collaboration with Nana Petrillo's. I love The City Paper. It leaves me giggling uncontrollably in public places on the reg... Biden IS a gaffe machine! Thanks for the blurb!

Anyhow, YES we're totally excited to be an addition to a long list of delicious offerings at Joe Cleary's new dessert and coffee bar. (Awesome logo, guys!) They're shooting to open in early June and keep an Italian theme. Onward with summer, onward with delicious Italian sweets and three scoops cheers for the oncoming Capogiro revolution!

GUESS WHAT?!

So here I am, sitting in Passyunk and I'm not going to lie, it's the prettiest day I've ever seen. Oh, and it's ten in the morning. IT'S TEN IN THE MORNING AND PASSYUNK IS OPEN! Guys, this is epic. They've got the good bagels! And the pastries! And are smiling like crazy, waiting to see your beautiful faces. Come say hi, South Philly. Get some coffee and chat with us.

Rhubarb: A Love Story

I was always both confused and intrigued by rhubarb. When I was a kid, my parents would ship me off to Minnesota to stay with my grandparents, so that they could take an 'adult vacation' of their own (don't ask). So I would spend my time there having wholesome Midwestern fun, jumping off of sun-bleached wooden docks into one of the 10,000 murky lakes, barreling down their block on a rusty old cruiser, and trying to save myself from being sucked dry by the Volkswagen-sized native mosquitoes.

It was a simpler time. It was one of those summers that I first fell in love... with rhubarb.

My grandmother would harvest this strange plant from her garden in the summertime, an alien looking stalk that she told me was poisonous if not prepared correctly. She would cook it down with loads of sugar, then can, can, can for hours. When she first made me try a taste from the bubbling pot of pink, I tried to run. At last she succeeded in her efforts and I tasted one of the most unique things in my life. Tart and sweet at the same time, rhubarb demands the exact proportion of sugar to stalk to bring out it's majesty.

I remember at the end of my visit heading to the Minneapolis airport with a empty milk gallon full of sweet rhubarb (security was much more lax then). Ever since, I've taken every chance I can to have rhubarb, whether baked into a pie with it's amigo strawberry, or simply on it's own.

My love affair with rhubarb reached a new peak today when I came into Capo and my eyes fell on Rabarbaro gelato. After one taste, I was back at the lake in the summertime, my lips sticky and sweet, the summer sun setting over the trees, the mosquitoes waiting to strike.

So What Are The New Pints All About?

A question I got three times over the weekend, for which I am here now to inform you.

Our new pints are green. Scratch that, does that even mean anything anymore? Our new pints are earth-friendly and sustainable, like Oprah. If Oprah were a packaging supply. Let me explain...

Our new pints are made out of harvested sugar cane which is pressure formed into the lovely shape you take home. Simple, really, it's that simple. No plastics. No crying mother earth. Even the whole production facility uses up to 70% less fossil fuel than a typical plastics manufacturer.

So no more need to feel badly about takin' home a few pints. Not that you ever felt badly about it. Wait, does this mean you can take more home now? Like when you buy those 100 calorie bags of cookies, but ALWAYS eat two at a time. (I eat three at a time... Sshhh!)

New Faces, New Places, New Spaces

It's that time of year again... Summer...
so many wonderful breezes, trips to the beach, dog parks, laying out in Rittenhouse...
but there's the other side of summer too:

graduation!
or worse summer school!!

weddings!

the vacation you thought you were going to go on but the island got hit by an earthquake, tsunami, volcanic ash, a flood!

Never fear: gelato's here!

It won't ask you what your plans are now, ask you to buy a gift for it, and it won't even expose you to gale force winds.

Now, it's not as funny as a Tina Fey skit on SNL, but there is something magical about!

So go ahead. Stop into a Capogiro and for 5 minutes let the biggest question of your life be... "Strawberries and Cream gelato or Strawberry Tequila sorbetto?"

Look into your heart. You know you can get both.

And find a little piece of relief.

Our berries are Phamous!

Thanks so much for the shout out, Metro! We're looking forward to trying some of the city's selections of berry dishes this season. We really do wait on pins and needles for strawberries all year long!... then come the blueberries... and raspberries and CHERRIES... oh my! Can't wait to see you at Capogiro!

On today’s plate at Capogiro 20th, a series in haiku:

New pints have arrived

Greener, cuter, and more hip

Change is always good

I love bananas

With chocolate, a rare treat

Like days at the beach

Caitlin brews coffee

It is windy on Sansom

The crunch of bacio

The coffee is hot

that bialy is garlicky

I am very pleased

How now, tahini

Tasting like hummus is one

Crazy thing to do

What shall I eat now?

Pistachio, or maybe

Bourbon butterscotch"

By; Sarah Tandy

Strawberry Fever

So it wasn't just us... Apparently the whole city is excited about our Strawberry gelato and sorbetto!

And to help capture that excitement today, Mr. Rikard Larma, of the Metro news, came out to photograph our famously mouth-watering spring treat for the Wednesday, May 12th issue of his paper. These photos, on the other hand, are by me, Conrad. Hopefully they help wet your whistle until you can get your butt into one of our four stores for a scoop.

Now that's pretty sweet!

Jesus, Joseph and BERRIES!

They're finally here. No one even told me... I just happened to catch a glimpse of the glorious, berry-box tower in the Capo fridge just moments ago. It made me totally forget what I had even gone in there to steal umm... borrow. Side note; Why is it so unforgivably cold outside if my blushing beauties are ripe and ready for feasting upon?!! 

Things to look forward to seeing in the case for a while;

Strawberry Gelato

Strawberry Sorbetto

Strawberry Tequila Sorbetto

Strawberry Tarragon Sorbetto

Strawberry Chartreuse Gelato

Strawberry Cheesecake Gelato

Now you know why we're excited.

The Fall Guy

Why can I still remember, word for word, the theme song for The Fall Guy? Because Lee Majors as Steve Austin fought Bigfoot, became his friend and then married Farah Fawcett. That iconic Farah poster hung in my barber, Ralph's, shop. One day he caught me staring at it, and he said, "she's beautiful, eh?". I did my best to shrug indifferently, as a disinterested conoisseur would (wasn't I, after all, still having a crush on Elizabeth Taylor from the movie National Velvet?) and stare more covertly. Sure, she was alright, but that hair had to go.

Then Lee Majors became Colt Seavers: a stuntman and a bounty hunter who got to drive a really cool 4x4 truck around with criminals stashed in a secret compartment in the bed. And, as consolation for not being married to Farah Fawcett anymore, he got to have Heather Thomas on his show who would occasionally run around in a bikini. This was pretty interesting stuff, and her official iconic poster was much more compelling than that other one. Yes, but still--even then--I felt distracted by the terrible hair.

It's kind of weird that I wasn't allowed to watch the Dukes of Hazzard, but was allowed to see Smokey and the Bandit and Greased Lightning. My grandmother thought that "Dukes" was a stupid show and forbade it in her home. One night, when she was gone and Gramps was asleep, I went ahead and watched an episode and I had to grudgingly admit she was right. There were some compelling scenes featuring the eponymous short-shorts, etc. And better hair, as I remember.

I am reminded of the time that my friend Phong talked his wonderful Vietnamese mom into taking us to a double feature of The Outsiders and My Tutor. She was really, really mad about halfway through My Tutor, and Phong was pleading, "I didn't know it was going to be like this! I didn't know!". She let us stay and watch the whole thing anyway, but boy did he get a royal Vietnamese chewing out on the car ride home, which was kind of awkward for him but entertaining for me.

Anyway...

The kids are alright!

When I moved to this city, a lot of people warned me about the sense of style, the lack of food (I was vegan at the time.), and the cultural shift of moving from Chicago/ New York.

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect other than...cheese steaks and the particular pronunciation of "water".

And lo and behold, Philadelphia, to this day you never cease to amaze me:

Murals on the side of every building.
Delicious food.
Some of the best people I've met in the world call Philadelphia home.
One of my favorite painters was recently acquired by the PMA.
I've had food that's rival my time in New York and Europe.
And gelato, oh the gelato.
Most people don't know this... but I have always loved frozen desserts. I've had Australian ice cream as well as french French, sorbet and sherbet, ... you name it, if it's in the city limits, I'll try it.
I am still thrown for a loop by the innovation that the chefs at Capogiro use.
And I work here.

Rosemary Goat's Milk... a Capo classic
Avocado... it's not just for guacamole
Sea Salt... how did I ever hesitate?
Pummelo... have you ever tried one in real life?
Lemon Opal Basil... it's totally different from Lemon Basil


I love it.

As for my friends from home, one taste wows them.
They fall in love with you, Philadelphia.
Just like I did.

Thanks, Capogiro for indulging our palates with deliciousness and for bringing friends closer.

Looking Ahead - Summmmertime!

A few weeks ago I woke hell bent and determined to go to the beach for the afternoon. After gathering everything I would need and driving the two, two and a half hours to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, I perched myself on the beach only to be pelted by handfuls of sand tossed about by the gale force winds that had descended upon my day of sun bathing. Shortly thereafter, the fog arrived. I stuck it out for as long as I could - 45 minutes, maybe? Before throwing in the towel and hauling myself back to Philly.
Guys, I think it's safe to say...we've weathered the storm(s). It's May, it's 80 degrees, and the berry bushes in my backyard are gathering steam. Word on the street has it strawberries made their debut at Headhouse Square's Farmers Market's first day since last season, via Buzby Farms in New Jersey.
What else is on the horizon? Morels!
Center City Sips!
Today is Cinco de Mayo, are you ready to brave the fray for a shot of tequila? (Go Mezcal or go home!)
Beer Week!
The PHILLIES!
Farmers Markets!!


Have fun, Philly. Check in with us wherever you are. But I'm telling you right now, if you swing by 20th Street with armfuls of strawberries, mezcal and morels you'd best be prepared to run...

If you were awake early Sunday morning (by early I mean anytime before 11:00 am) and you happened to be somewhere near Broad Street, you might have seen me! Annnnd 30,000 other people. The 31st Annual Broad Street Run took place this past Sunday. The race starts by Central High school, at Broad and Olney, and finishes 10 miles south, in the Navy Yard. City hall is roughly the midpoint and it looks wayyy far away from both ends.

While I’ve been running since middle school, this was only my second non-school-related race. The first one was a 5k. I’m not sure what made me think that a 10 miler was the logical next step. I was pretty nervous before the start, but I’ve got to be honest. I loved it. We took the El and the Broad Street line from West Philly and arrived in plenty of time to wait in lines for the bathroom and gear check. We did a lighthearted warm up to a selection of pop songs and then headed towards Broad to find our corrals.  Once I reached my corral, my jitters ebbed away and I got a kick of adrenaline.

Remember how this weekend had record-setting high temperatures? By the start of the race at 8:30 am, it was already in the upper 70’s. The folks behind the scenes were prepared for the heat. Water and Gatorade stations about every two miles and sprinklers attached to fire hydrants along the race route made the heat a nuisance rather than a threat.  Sure it may have slowed me down a few seconds each time I made a bee line across the street towards the sprinklers, but at least my body felt good at the end of the race. Good enough to enjoy the rest of my Sunday with some mango sorbetto and a good deal of time outside enjoying the sun.

Congratulations to anyone who wheeled, ran, walked, combined the two, etc… You did it! A huge thanks to the volunteers, organizers, and the folks cheering from the side lines. My knees are pretending that they don’t want to function this week but I expected it from them. I’ll let it go this time, but I think they’re in for more races in the near future. 


-Dawne
Photo by Conrad

Post Row ;)

How was your weekend, Philly?

Did you hit the Rittenhouse Row Festival? I think I saw you there... Flowered sundress? Strappy, gladiator sandals? Casually tipsy by 2pm? I swear, its like those rocker/Jackie O shades were made for you and you alone. Rock on, lil' phillie.

I made my way through the fashionable masses to find our Capo Conisti scooping like there was no tomorrow on the corner of 16th and Walnut. We may have to bench a few of our major players for a day or two to get their forearms back into full gear. (Ryan and Nelson, how do you always manage to look so adorable even under the most grueling conditions?) I was there for like 10 minutes before I nearly drowned in sweat... maybe the boys were sneaking samples of Champagne Mango to keep that cool composure. Regardless of the heat, there was an awesome turnout and we look forward to doin' it again next year!

Thanks to the people at XipWire for being awesome booth buddies and helping our lines move along faster with their fancy "pay with a text message" technology and of course, to our hard working baristi.
You're all rock stars in my book.