Leave it to Spike TV to pair Eagles QB Donovan McNabb and his onetime wideout target/nemesis Terrell Owens on the basketball court in its new season of Pros Vs. Joes.

The series' usual premise is that ordinary people compete against pro athletes.

This special episode, to be taped this Friday, will break format as it features current NFL stars who played college basketball, Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga), McNabb (Syracuse), and Antonio Gates (Kent St.) against former NBA greats Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith, and Rick Fox.

Its air date has not been announced.

Which are the best cities for time-saving?

Real Simple magazine spent more than a few hours and brain cells in a quest to determine this, analyzing such categories as takeout on every corner, average commute, walkability, traffic congestion, airport on-time performance, physicians per capita, response times of emergency medical services, broadband and wireless availability, bookstores and libraries per capita, recycling access, number of farmers’ markets, number of personal trainers and organizers, restaurants offering takeout per capita, miscellaneous time-saving services, etc.

Philly came in 12th of the 21 cities rated -- ahead of New York and behind Baltimore. The magazine noted of Philly: "Very walkable and notably uncongested, Philly is also the largest East Coast city to offer weekly single-stream recycling, with a pilot program called Recycling Rewards that offers points redeemable at local and national businesses."

Ranking: Seattle, Portland, Ore., San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, Denver, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philly, New York, Chicago, Austin, Texas, (tie) Cleveland/Dallas/L.A., San Diego, Houston, and Phoenix.

The outside dining will remain.

After 10 years, the Rittenhouse Square destination Twenty Manning (261 S. 20th St.) is preparing to undergo a transformation -- one both physical and emotional.

Owner Audrey Taichman and chef Kiong Banh will close after business Saturday (3/13) for a month-long facelift that will spell the end of the Asian-inspired menu and glassed-in atmospherics.

Its new incarnation -- based on locals' requests -- will be an approachable, neighborhood-friendly American grill, "where you'll want to eat three times a week and feel comfortable," Taichman told me, confirming a longstanding rumor. The vibe will harken back to Carolina's, which occupied her corner of 20th and Manning from 1985 till 1997.

The name has not been determined. Leading contender is "Twenty Manning Grill."

Taichman has been in the neighborhood for years. She worked at Friday Saturday Sunday before the 1996 opening of her flagship restaurant, Audrey Claire, down the block at 20th and Spruce.

At the Red Ball, "One Life to Live" actors Kristen Alderson and Eddie Alderson with Schoolly D. (Photo: HUGHE DILLON)

About 1,200 guests attended last night's 11th annual Red Ball at the Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall.

Among the crowd were actors Tony Danza, Kevin Navayne and soapers Eddie Alderson and Kristen Alderson.

But Heather Graham, who'd been on the VIP list (she shares representation with Navayne), was a no-show. Photogs were assured all evening that she was on her way, but...

This morning, Red Cross relayed word that she was "feeling under the weather as she was suffering from a stomach ailment, which she assumes was food poisoning. She thought she could troop it out but was unable to."

Trestle Inn, the dive bar under the train tracks at 11th and Callowhill Streets, will get new life. Recently filed LCB records name the new owners as Ian Cross and Josette Bonafino, founders of Multicultural Youth eXchange, and list the corporate name Gladurhar. Cross politely declined my inquiry about the concept or opening date.

The Northern Liberties outpost of Dmitri's (944 N. Second St.) is up for a March 17 opening, says owner Dmitri Chimes.

Monday (3/8) is the rollout of Andy's Diner & Pub (505 W. Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, 610-940-1444), a 24-hour operation replacing the short-lived H.I. Rib & Co. Same team is behind the Blue Bell Diner in Blue Bell, the American Star Diner in North Wales, and the Liberty Diner in Springfield, Delco.

Stephen Starr and company go before the city's Zoning Hearing Board on Tuesday (3/9) with plans for a yet-to-be-named, 250-seat biergarten on Frankford Avenue north of Girard in Fishtown. The plan cleared the Fishtown Neighborhood Association's zoning committee last week and is expected to get city approval. Starr tells me that he hopes to open in June and that he's bringing in a consulting chef from Austria.

With the Philly location of Bobby's Burger Palace about a month out, and an orange liquor-license notice on the window, I wondered just what Bobby Flay would offer customers to wash down the burgers:

The plan, from Flay's Blackberry: 

"We will be serving frozen cactus pear margaritas, a number of beers (including Yuengling), BBP red and BBP white wines (which are bottled for us in Napa Valley), and spiked shakes made with bourbon, rum and vodka -- the same ones that we serve at the BBP Mohegan Sun."

Here's the Mohegan Sun menu for an idea of what he's talking about.

Chick-fil-A will open at Butler Street and Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond on Thursday -- and that means the chain's signature promotion: a year's worth of free chicken meals to the first 100 adults (ages 18 and older) in line.

The line officially opens at 6 a.m. Wednesday, with the free meal cards being awarded Thursday sometime between 6 a.m. and 6:10 a.m. The restaurant will open for business immediately thereafter.

If there are more than 100 people by 6 a.m. on Wednesday, all 100 spots will be determined by a raffle. See rules here.

The opening in October in Glen Mills was a mob scene.

Franco's Osteria, pre-wall hangings.

Franco Faggi, who uprooted Franco's Trattoria from East Falls last year, will open the doors tonight to Franco's Osteria, taking over the ground-floor restaurant space at the Presidential apartments (3900 City Ave., 215-473-3900).

Luca Sena Jr.'s menu is pretty much as it was before: hearty pastas such as tagliatelle Bolognese and penne puttanesca ($14.75), and classics harking back to Faggi's years at the old Monte Carlo Living Room, such as flounder Francesco ($19.75) and a rosemary-grilled pork chop ($18.75).

Faggi and crew have revived the gas-fired, wood-fed oven in the dining room for pizzas.

There's a full bar, but the wine list was unavailable last night when I stopped for a peek. (He had yet to hang the artwork, so walls looked a bit bare.)

It's open every day for dinner (entrees $19.95 and under), and weekdays for lunch (most of the lunch menu is $9.95 to $12.95).

?uestlove at the turntables. Photo by HUGHE DILLON / PhillyChitChat.com

The Philly-rooted Ahmir Thompson (aka ?uestlove) spins early this morning at an afterparty for the Black Eyed Peas at Voyeur nightclub.