The Swift Half in the Piazza at Schmidts is launching weekend brunch tomorrow, and it’ll run both days from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Exec chef Jessica O’Donnell says they’re starting off with a small menu to test the waters. Check out what they’ll be serving this weekend after the jump.

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Local music writer Dave Allen also works at Brauhaus Schmitz (718 South St.), and he just shared some disturbing news with us — sometime this weekend (most likely Saturday night), the German beer bar’s autographed David Hasselhoff poster (subject of a September WWE?) was pilfered from the second-floor restroom. No one seems to have seen the large framed poster make an exit out of the front door, which has led to some speculation that someone actually unscrewed it from the wall, removed the screen in the bathroom window and lowered the thing onto Kater Street behind the bar, kinda like a drunk-ass Thomas Crown Affair.

If you have any information that may lead to the recovery of The Hoff poster and/or the capture of this apparent master poster thief, please come forward.

We’ve got the new fall menu at Zinc (246 S. 11th St.) for you after the jump, but it also behooves us to let you know that the French bistro’s duck press, which we told you about last month, is up and running. Available Tuesday through Thursday (with two day’s advance notice), a full-on duck press meal for two will run you a very reasonable $70. The deal includes a whole roasted Normandy duck carved tableside; after all the meat’s sliced, your server will pop the duck carcass into a badass medieval press to extract the fat and juice and blood and other goodness, which are then reduced and served as a sauce with the duck’s breasts and potatoes. For a second course, you get the grilled legs and wings of the duck along with a house salad.

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Photo | Drew Lazor

This Thursday, Yards Brewing Co. with be honored, along with nine other area companies, as a 2010 Green Business of the Year by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Tom Kehoe’s Delaware Avenue brewery (above) is getting the environmental nod for its sustainable practices, from relying on repurposed building materials for construction and recycling with the Pedal Co-Op to reliance on wind power electricity and recycling spent brewing grain as feed for local livestock. We touched on Yards’ green practices in our Sept. 2008 piece on the first batch of Philly Pale Ale to come through the new facility.

This weekend, North Carolina-based Fairbank Farms issued a voluntary recall of more than half a million pounds of ground beef the meat purveyor believes are possibly contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

Locally, these products were carried at Acme, Giant, BJ’s and Trader Joe’s. The recalled beef, produced/packaged by Fairbank between Sept. 14 and 16, would already be past its expiration date by 23 to 32 days, meaning there are two very important things to keep in mind here: 1) no store is currently stocking any of the products in question; and 2) if you did purchase any of these products, they would most likely be in your freezer right now.

Acme has recalled all ground beef products sold at its Pennsylvania, Jersey, Maryland and Delaware locations between the dates of Sept. 16 and Oct. 6, including “all brands of ground beef including Wild Harvest, Lancaster Brand and store-made ground beef products including meatballs, meatloaf, Salisbury steak and stuffed peppers.”

Slashfood has a detailed list of all the recalled products. If you are in possession of any, return them to the store for a full refund.

If you have questions, contact your retailer or call Fairbank Farms’ consumer hotline at 1-877-546-0122 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Hotline hours are extended to 8 p.m. today.)

Scott Hockfield’s Wrap Shack (120 S. 18th St.), just off Rittenhouse, has acquired a liquor license — it’ll now be called Wrap Shack Kitchen & Bar. There’s a new 10-seat bar inside, featuring three flat-screen TVs. They’re rolling out a nice deal to celebration the addition, too: $10 will get you any of three new wraps (New York strip, tilapia or a chocolate peanut butter crepe dessert wrap) along with a beer/cocktail pairing (the sweet wrap’ll come with a spiked white chocolate milkshake). Dollar pints during the World Series, too.

Photo | Drew Lazor

Meal Ticket dropped by the kitchen at P.Y.T. yesterday for a peek at what Tommy Up last week dubbed his World Fucking Champion (WFC) Burger. Chef Kevin Maskol walked us through the construction of the $25 beast (named, of course, after Chutley’s timeless parade-day quotable), which’ll be available as a special starting today at 5 p.m. and ending whenever the Phillies get around to shaming the Yankees into perpetual submission.

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Photo courtesy LYFVE

Faith Beckford, founder and co-owner of LYFVE (Love Your Fruits & Veggies LLC.) is on a mission to get your kids reaching for carrots instead of cookies.  Beckford’s cooking classes for children, nutritional coaching and delivered meals and snacks focus on fresh, whole foods that promote holistic well-being for children and adults.

Her latest scheme is the Life Giver, a countertop fruit and vegetable dispenser. One turn of the lever delivers a one-ounce portion of mixed fruits or vegetables, much to the delight of gadget-happy kiddies.  “We went to a birthday party,” says Beckford, “and I was watching a mom trying to get her three-year-old to stop eating cookies. We bring the Life Giver in and when the kid turns the handle and the grapes come rolling out,  he was just so excited… the cookies were forgotten.”

Life Givers are available for purchase ($49 for one, $43 for more than ten) and refills of fruits (strawberries, blueberries, grapes, pineapple, raisins) and vegetables (green beans, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, corn, etc.) are $15 each and can be delivered or picked up.   Beckford notes that the Life Giver is sanitary, has an air-tight lid, reduces packaging and the container can be lifted off the dispenser for storage in the refrigerator.   Her primary customers so far have been schools, who often add squeeze bottles of LYFVE’s homemade “ketchups”  (honey mustard, hummus, strawberry-banana) to add a fun dipping element for kids.

“People are buying them for their homes,” said Beckford. “It makes it easy to eat healthy, when the things are already prepared.  It’s also the novelty and fun of it… it’s like a jackpot machine.”

Life Givers are available for rental or purchase by calling LYFVE at 267-584-0831 (PA) or 877-445-6051 (outside PA).

Nick Macri, whose charcuterie work at Beneluxx (33 S. Third St.) garnered some good looks from the foodie crowd, is out of the Old City tasting room, the chef tells Meal Ticket. He wants to focus on La Divisa Specialty Meats, his fledgling wholesale meat operation; he hopes to have a space up and running by the coming spring.

Courtesy of Zinc

Starting in mid-October, Olivier Desaintmartin’s Zinc (246 S. 11th St.) will roll out this traditional duck press. What’s a duck press? It’s a traditional, mostly archaic French tableside tool — and it is not for the squeamish.

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