Dan Gross | Zanzibar's blues

YESTERDAY we reported that Zanzibar Blue (Broad & Walnut), a popular jazz club and restaurant, would be closing at month's end.

The club's spokeswoman told Daily News jazz writer Shaun Brady that the club decided against renewing its lease and would relocate. However, sources say, the club and parent company, Growth Evolution, run by Robert and Benjamin Bynum, have been under financial strain.

The company has been sued 17 times since 2000 by plaintiffs including their insurance companies, seafood and meat distributors and also the city and state, which were awarded $246,769 and $323,244, respectively, for back taxes from Zanzibar, and in the state's case, Warmdaddy's.

That spot, owned by the Bynums and Growth Evolution, had been in Old City and recently relocated to South Philly.

Yesterday we asked the club whether the financial judgments against the establishment are causing it to close.

There were no financial reasons for the club's closing, Robert Bynum said through spokeswoman Melanie Johnson. It's "pretty standard" for clubs to have tax issues, Bynum said via Johnson.

Stolen Geno's table recovered

Geno's Steaks (1219 S. 9th) owner Joey Vento called us yesterday to say that the tabletop we reported as recently stolen from outside his sandwich shop has been recovered. It was returned to police in Aston, Delaware County, and they contacted Geno's.

Vento had someone pick up the table from the Aston police, and the department sent a photo of its officers, which now hangs outside Geno's.

Vento, however, is still offering $1,000 for info (English only, please) leading to the arrest and conviction of any of the four or five guys who, according to surveillance video, were involved in the overnight theft on March 31.

Ebony and ivory and man love

Gay nightlife impresario and TV host Butch Cordora and "Survivor" alum Gervase Peterson have teamed up to present "Chocolate," at Gigi (319 Market), a party geared toward black gay men, to be held on the third Thursday of each month - starting tomorrow. Butch says he got the idea from a trip to Atlanta's Bulldogs, a black gay club.

However, while he happily describes himself as "really, really gay," Butch is not black, so he enlisted his pal Gervase, who is black, but not gay, to co-host.

Enlisting Gervase was done "for legitimacy," Butch says. The party's flier, meanwhile, features a nude Cordora and a nude Peterson covering their naughty bits as Cordora paints Peterson's head.

The party, with DJ Stephen Durkin, starts at 10. There's a $5 cover and chocolate martinis will be offered for $4 all night.

Mallet's been horsing around

Fox 29's George Mallet has written a piece about Hard Spun, Delaware's Kentucky Derby hopeful, for the current issue of Delaware Today magazine.

Mallet says his fascination with horses began with Smarty Jones a few years back and continues to grow. He now rides and jumps horses three days a week at Ashford Farms and Carousel Park.

Out and about

South Philly's Aimee and another castmate from Oxygen's "Bad Girls Club" stopped into Ralph's (760 S. 9th) for dinner Saturday, arriving in a vintage convertible, as a camera crew captured their arrival and rolled as the girls dined upstairs.

* Mets manager Willie Randolph was among a small party at Davio's (111 S. 17th) and went for a Grey Goose martini, cheesesteak spring rolls and a salmon dish. *

If you have something you'd like to share with Dan, call 215-854-5963, or e-mail grossd@phillynews.com. To read Dan's recent columns, visit http://go.philly.com/dangross.