Table Talk: Old Midtown IV morphs into a Mexican El Rey

Sunday is the projected opening of

El Rey

, the Mexican concept from Stephen Starr in the old Midtown IV diner at 2013 Chestnut St. (215-563-3330).

The marquee-type front sign optimistically bears the slogan "esto cambiara su vida" - "this will change your life."

Chef Dionicio Jimenez, formerly of Xochitl, will execute a moderate-priced menu of home-style cuisine from Puebla to Veracruz - tortillas, tacos, tortas, guacamoles, and moles made in-house - in a colorful diner atmosphere of flea-market finds from Southern California and Mexico. The back-room speakeasy-style bar, called the Ranstead Room, will feature a drink menu concocted by New York mixologist Sasha Petraske. It will be open for dinner only at first.

The Happy Rooster

(16th and Sansom Streets) now has a Southern spirit in the kitchen: Jason Goodenough, who began cooking in college in Jackson, Miss. He moved to the Culinary Institute of America, and then to an internship in Philly at Brasserie Perrier, followed by jobs at Lacroix at the Rittenhouse, Morimoto, and Table 31. His first Rooster dinner menu (all entrees $20 and under) includes house-made agnolotti and capellini; grilled pork chops; and a nod to the Delta, shrimp and grits, which pair spicy whole prawns and bacon-cheese grits. See it at

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Jack McDavid marked the 20th anniversary of Jack's Firehouse in Fairmount and Down Home Diner in Reading Terminal Market recently at the Firehouse with barbecue classics, including a whole hog. More than $8,000 was raised for hunger relief. Mick Houston, who runs the Firehouse, estimates that McDavid has prepared more than 3.45 million meals over the two decades.

Tiffin's

Wynnewood location (50 E. Wynnewood Rd., 610-642-3344) started serving Monday.

After about 14 years, the Phoenixville location of Sly Fox Brewhouse & Eatery has moved across Route 113 inside an old Blockbuster video in Maple Lawn Shopping Center. If plans held, it should be open now.

Something good can come from the practice of taking mobile-phone photos of meals and posting them online. Foodies uploading to ShareUrMeal.com "earn" $1 for the United Way's "Live United: Food for Thought" hunger initiative for each post. Devon Segel of the United Way and more than a dozen charity-minded techies are behind the project, which relies on sponsors to fund the dollars in exchange for a logo displayed on ShareUrMeal.com. Drexel University and an anonymous foundation made the first gifts. Segel says ShareUrMeal not only has engaged twenty- and thirtysomething Philadelphians in the fight against local hunger, but also is showing the power of small transactions ("micropayments"). Segel is looking for more sponsors so ShareUrMeal.com can expand and pay for increased bandwidth; an expansion to the United Kingdom is on the way.