Ochs, RTM  Squabble Over Lease

As reported by the Philadelphila Inquirer and Daily News, Reading Terminal Market has sued butcher Harry G. Ochs & Sons over back rent. Nick Ochs, who runs the business, told me this morning that the dispute, in his view, is over when he should have started to pay higher rents under the lease he signed in August. Nick is optimistic that the matter will be resolved and he will remain in the market. RTM General Manager Paul Steinke has told one and all that if Nick makes a dent in the back rent, the suit will be withdrawn.

This may be a useful moment to understand how the market establishes rents for its tenants. In essence what the market terms "Purveyors" like Ochs -- vendors who sell meat, fish and produce -- are subsidized by the other merchants, especially the "Food Court" merchants (lunch stalls). I've prepared a separate entry on how this works. You can find it by clicking here or on the "RTM Lease Structure" Pages item in the navigation column.

At least one merchant I spoke with complained that it's not fair if the market doesn't seek to collect full rent, as agreed to in the lease, from Ochs; that means other Purveyors, as well as other vendors, will in essence be subsidizing him.

St. Louis in Philadelphia

Pasta By George added cheese steaks and french fries last year, and along with them is a food I associate most with St. Louis: toasted ravioli.

Of course the ravioli is not actually "toasted". It's deep fried. Think fried wonton.

It's not the first St. Louis connection at the market. When I first started shopping there nearly 30 years ago, Salumeria featured some Italian deli meats from Joseph Volpe of that city's "Hill" neighborhood, home to Yogi Berra, Joe Gargiola and the Gateway City's closest approximation of South Philly. You can still buy Volpe product at a number of stores in the area, including DiBruno's. Before the U.S. legalized importation of Italian prociutto, Volpe's was one of the best you could buy; it's still an excellent product with good value.

Another St. Louis-Philadelphia similarity: German buttercake. Not all that surprising considering both cities have long-established German-American communities. But St. Louisans (who call their version Gooey Buttercake) are much more passionate about this baked good than we are. It comes in all sorts of different varieties. If you want to try it locally, take a trip to Haegele's Bakery in the Lower Northeast (Tacony), just two blocks off Frankford at the corner of Erdrick and Barnett.

Urban Farmers

With Charlie Gangloff at the wheel and Billy Moehollen on bullhorn, visitors take a tour de marché during today's Harvest Festival at the Reading Terminal Market.

The hayrides around the block were arranged by Iovine Brother's Produce (Charlie and Billy are both managers there) using a spare Ford-New Holland tractor from Shady Brook Farm in Bucks County, one of Iovine's contract suppliers of local produce.

Harry Ochs Way, a.k.a. Filbert Street, was closed off to street traffic and spread with hay. At least half a dozen RTM merchants set up outdoor shop for the day. I sampled cinnamon doughnuts hot from the fryer featured at Bieler's stand. I left too early to get some meat off Jack McDavid's Down Home Diner portable barbeque truck. One of the funniest offerings was the "Harvest Platter" offered by one of the Chinese food vendors: skewered chicken, rice? Delicious, I'm sure, but not one of the first foods I conjure up when thinking "harvest" with hay at my feet.