Moving and shaking at Reading Terminal Market

Musical chairs at Reading Terminal Market: The landmark is beginning work on a major reconstruction project.

DiNic's, the roast-pork haven, will move into the stand that Harry G. Ochs suddenly vacated last month, as reported Saturday by market watcher Bob Libkind on his blog. Libkind mentioned other imminent moves.

I have the rest of the plan:

Spataro's will move across the aisle into DiNic's. Then Flying Monkey moves into Spataro's as Spice Terminal slides a bit east with a full renovation to accommodate a bigger footprint for Flying Monkey. All will be done concurrent with the renovation, which starts soon. Flying Monkey's move will keep it on Center Court while opening up the vista to the new Rick Nichols public room.

Market manager Paul Steinke says DiNic's move will relieve the serious daily congeston in the aisle between DiNic's and Spataro's. The traffic jams are "caused primarily by the growth in DiNic's popularity in recent years as the roast pork sandwich has become an iconic Philadelphia street food," Steinke says. "There's also a nice symmetry to it, since Tommy Nicolosi of DiNic's hails from a South Philly butcher family and was a longtime close friend of Harry Ochs."

Nicolosi is planning to preserve the stenciled Ochs name on the market stalls within the space while investing in a full renovation.

Steinke says the market also is in talks with a "knockout" of a purveyor.

(See current map of merchants here.)

And if you're an RTM fan, keep lunchtime open on Thursday, July 7 when Philly.com launches its new food site with help from the market and the merchants. "Thanks Giving in July" will be a benefit for Philabundance, MANNA, and The Food Trust and will feature chefs' demos from four of Philly's hottest chefs. Stay tuned.