Marty Grims, owner of a slew of operations (including the Moshulu and Du Jour Markets), may be joining forces with Judy Wicks at White Dog Cafe, which she founded in her house on the Penn campus a quarter-century ago.

Grims says lawyers are working out details on an arrangement that would have Grims running the restaurant -- and building the business -- while Wicks stays in the background. "Judy wants to focus on her nonprofit work," Grims said, adding that the deal is not done.

Padre Pio mosaic, which was found in Olney.

Padre Pio is the unofficial patron of stress relief and New Year's blues.

Ironic solace to holiday visitors to St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, who had expected to see a new mosaic of Padre Pio and two stained-glass windows depicting the Ascension of Jesus.

It's because a creep (or creeps) in Philly stole the Florida artist's cargo van out of the parking lot of the Microtel near Philadelphia International Airport in October. (Philly hotel parking lots are murder on vans.)

Artist Paul Pickel of Vero Beach, Fla., said it was a year's work.

When police found the van in Olney a month later, the glass mosaic — an 8-by-12-foot rendition of the saint  — was there (talk about your miracles), but the handmade stained-glass windows — each measuring 44 x 37 inches  — were gone.

Pickel, whose workers were on their way to install the works at St. Raymond's, the Bronx's only Roman Catholic cemetery, said today that he was re-creating the windows. He said the mosaic would be installed next month but the windows are still a few months away.

Pickel said he got a gift in the mail the other day from Philly: a parking ticket, written up on the Olney street where cops found his van.

Oh, that British wit: Hannah McKeand entertaining her teammates by wearing a bra over her polar clothes during a South Pole trip in 2004. (Photo from ThePoles.com)

Gladwyne businessman-slash-explorer Todd Carmichael has a fan: Hannah McKeand, the British woman whose South Pole land speed record he broke.

Carmichael is resting at the South Pole after his 39-plus-day solo journey from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole. He regaled the pole's scientists with stories from the ice and dipped into a cache of food left for him by his advance team. Phone service to the pole is spotty, so he's not up to interviews yet.

Reached by e-mail today and asked if she had a message for Carmichael, McKeand said: "Only to send my huge congratulations! It was a really inspiring expedition to follow and I'm happy to be handing the baton on after such an impressive effort. I think there are only a few of us who have done similar things who can really appreciate what Todd has been through. He's proved himself to be one tough cookie."

See an interview with The Adventurist that Carmichael did before he set out.

McKeand's bio is quite neat, as is this story about the run-up to her own record-setting solo journey to the South Pole in 2006.

Pearl, the yearling restau-lounge at 1904 Chestnut St., will be reconfigured Jan. 5.

The second-floor lounge will continue to operate as Pearl. The first-floor restaurant will be known as Akoya, under executive chef Greg Garbacz (say it "gar-baze") and Scott Stein. Garbacz was sous chef under Pearl's former chef Ari Weiswasser and previously was chef de cuisine at Audrey Claire.

Concept will be "Asian gastro," and menu listings include Okinawa potato chips, fried wantons with pico de gallo, hard shell Hamachi tacos, and short-rib sliders. A robatayaki section will include grilled shrimp, lobster, beef, pork, and chicken on a stick, as will a surf and turf (short ribs, lobster and vanilla scallion oil).

Backstory on the name: An Akoya pearl is a cultured pearl developed by Kokichi Mikimoto. Stein's great-grandfather, Samuel, owned a pub at 100 Arch St. during the 1926 Sesquicentennial.  Samuel Stein met Mikimoto when he arrived by boat a block from the restaurant, and Stein and his wife, Rose, accompanied Mikimoto and Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick at the exposition on May 31, 1926. Mikimoto gave Rose Stein with a strand of Akoya pearls after presenting the city with a Liberty Bell replica covered in pearls. David Stein, Scott's father, recalls that his grandmother quoted Mikimoto as saying that “every woman should wear a pearl necklace.” The Stein pearls will go on display at the restaurant.

Todd Carmichael, during his first trek to Antarctica in December 2004.

You're complaining about a little walk from the bus to the office in today's zero-degree wind chill.

Check out this trek that I wrote about in today's Inquirer.

Gladwyne's Todd Carmichael -- co-owner of La Colombe coffee and husband of Lauren Hart -- walked about 700 miles from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole, dragging a 250-pound sled of supplies. He arrived Sunday afternoon, about 39 days later. He's the first American to do this.

Carmichael is safe at the Amudsen-Scott station at the pole, no doubt having had a great meal and several showers. The burning question is whether Carmichael beat the record for the solo/unassisted trip, which Hannah McKeand of Britain set in 2006. She did it in 39 days, 9 hours and 33 minutes.

A spokesman for explorersweb.com/adventurestats.com, which keeps records, told me today that the group is awaiting final word from Carmichael about his start/end times. Based on its preliminary reports, though, Carmichael may have missed the record by a mere 37 minutes! This is the polar-explorer equivalent of Michael Phelps' photo-finish win in the 100-meter butterfly over Serbia's Milorad Cavic in Beijing.

In last week's quiz, I asked readers to match restaurant corporate names to their trade names -- an exercise in nerdiness if there ever was one. It was no challenge to five readers.

First with the correct responses was Dallyn Pavey of Radnor. She's in public relations, but does not rep any of the restaurants in the quiz. She'll receive a copy of The Complete Robuchon (Knopf, 2008).

Fine cookbooks are on their way as consolation prizes to five other readers who nailed it:

Richard Smolen of Philadelphia | Simply Delicioso by Ingrid Hoffmann (Clarkson Potter, 2009)
Howard Maniloff of Philadelphia | Wings: More Than 50 High-Flying Recipes for America's Favorite Snack by Debbie Moose (Wiley, 2009)
Sarah Puleo of Southampton, NJ | Great Party Dips by Peggy Fallon (Wiley, 2009)
Jay Carlson of Collingswood, NJ | Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style by Mario Batali (NASCAR, 2006)
Lee Herman of Philadelphia | The New Whole Grains Cookbook by Robin Asbell (Chronicle, 2007)

Congrats, all.

»  Here are the answers

Something odd is happening... Restaurant closings... In December, traditionally the busiest month of the year...

Last weekend saw the departure of Root on Spring Garden Street near 11th, which lasted all of four months.

South Jersey has seen a few fairly established establishments go under, including Emerald Fish, whose last night is Friday, plus Onasis across from Garden State and Food for Thought in Marlton.

For years, independent restaurateurs have feared the chains -- those well-funded and highly marketed operations that can withstand a tough economy.

On a possibly related note, Benihana just opened at the Plymouth Meeting Mall, on the turnpike side, between Boscov’s and AMC Theater.

* Post corrected.

Councilman Tom LaBonge wearing a Phillies shirt in Los Angeles City Council chambers.

Back in early October, just before the Dodgers and Phillies got down to the National League Championship Series, L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge and Philly Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. made a friendly bet. (Jones was feeling a bit giddy, as he had won a case of Usinger's sausage from a Milwaukee alderman after the Phils beat the Brewers in the division series.)

The L.A.-Philly stakes were a case of Dodger dogs, books about L.A. history and pumpkin bread baked by a cloistered order of nuns at the Monastery of the Angels just beneath the "Hollywood" sign against a six-foot cheesesteak, books about Philly and a case of Tastykake.

LaBonge went one better as the loser. He wore a Phillies shirt to a council meeting.

The food and books are on their way, LaBonge's office said last night. Jones told me he'll give the food to a homeless shelter near City Hall. The books will go to a library in each councilmanic district.

That is, assuming they're still libraries in each district after city budget cuts.