it's what you want to know
The eastern Main Line is pouring into the 100-seat BYOB in the former Mel’s Italian in Belmont Hills. (Even Mel himself showed last weekend to toast a pal’s 70th!)
The draws: rustic Italian fare and allegiance to owner Beth Amadio, the Penn Valley mom whose last culinary caper, Homemade in Narberth, closed in 2014.
“People really love Beth and missed her excellent food at Homemade,” says Nicole Dresnin Schaeffer, one of many FOBs dining at Cotoletta last Saturday night.
You drive by it all the time, barely taking note: a charming, undoubtedly very old shop on a bustling, modernized stretch of Rte. 30 in Strafford.
Next time, do a double take.
For this is The Little Building That Could – all 1,200 sq. feet of it.
The Little Building that could stop a big-time developer in its tracks.
That could force a multibillion-dollar corporation back to the drawing board.
That could be the engine that pushes a certain Main Line township to add muscle to its wimpy historic preservation laws.
For years now, we’ve been panting to be let loose in Devon Yard. (Terrain! Anthropologie! A Terrain Garden Cafe! Pizzeria Vetri! Amis!)
So what’s the hold up?
Postponing our grazing pleasure is the project’s residential side – specifically, a proposed five-story mixed-use building that’s giving some folks fits. (Too tall! Too dense! Too out of character!)
SoulCycle – the coolest workout on one wheel (just ask ’em) – is rolling our way.
The indoor cycling company with the celebrity-soaked clientele will open in Ardmore this spring, its first Philly location after recent debuts in DC, Boston, Miami and Chicago.
Soul’s signature yellow bikes will be installed in the 3,400 sq. ft. former Corner Bakery space in Suburban Square across from Ruby’s Diner. (Still no takers for the rest of the building’s first floor, vacant now that the holiday pop-ups have departed.)
The lights are on again at the old Georges/Peppercorn in Eagle Village Shops – but only for the contractors. Main Line restaurateur Marty Grims is transforming the onetime French Country space into Autograph Brasserie, an all-new concept for the White Dog proprietor.
According to Marty’s marketing gal, we can expect “modern presentations of European classics” in a “modern American brasserie ” setting. Whatever that means.
When he bought Peppercorn last year, Marty was talking Italian. I’m guessing he switched gears when he heard about Marc Vetri’s twofer headed to Devon Yard. (And we ARE a tad overstuffed with pasta/pizza joints in these parts, don’t you think?)
Savvy, eh? Not about candles, apparently.
Until yesterday I had no idea that most scented candles are toxic. That the “petro-soot” given off by paraffin candles is as carcinogenic as diesel fumes or secondhand smoke. That the “natural fragrances” in most aromatherapy candles are synthetic and have no healing properties.
I saw the light after a chat with Berwyn gardener, Anglophile and home cook extraordinaire, Sandy Dalby, hands-on proprietor of A Charmed Garden, a line of organic candles, sprays, soaps and such.
Bring it on! A hipper, more community-oriented cousin to our sprawling mall, the King of Prussia Town Center is finally beginning to take shape next to Wegmans.
When the construction dust settles next summer, get ready for a 21st-century dining, shopping and hangout hub unlike any the area has seen.
The idea is to bring a downtown experience – with lots of outdoor noshing, free entertainment and upscale retail – to the boring old burbs.
Over the years I’ve bid on and “won” a fair share of charity auction prizes. Among the more memorable: a week on St. Martin, a finish-line box at the Preakness, and a cocktail party on a terrace overlooking Rittenhouse Square.
But nothing quite compares to the prize I won at WXPN’s spring fundraiser and claimed last weekend: a speaking part in a movie in New York City, all expenses paid.
(Little known fact about me: All things being equal, I’d rather be acting. I took acting lessons as a kid and have belted out show tunes for years – lustily, if not always tunefully. Another fun fact: Indiana Caroline is almost always game for adventure.)
I’ve long contended that the eastern Main Line was ripe for new Coffee Shops Not Named Starbucks. So naturally, I’m pleased to report that after a string of “soft opening” days in low gear, .Green Engine Coffee Co. is going full throttle in Haverford.
The hip new coffee bar on Haverford Station Road should appeal to commuters, college students and coffee geeks alike.
I dropped by Green Engine this week and liked what I saw: sunny bay windows, a plush couch and fireplace, re-purposed church pews and a most unusual piece of hanging art – an 81 sq. ft. “living wall” of ferns.
Hola and Bienvenida to Besito! The long-awaited successor to Suburban’s Square’s Plate will make its public debut Monday night.
I checked it out with a few friends at a “pre-opening event” this week, and yes, Besito, “little kiss” in Spanish, is more than ready to plant one on the Main Line.
Like the new Xolo Tacos in Bryn Mawr, Besito aims for a refined, authentic Mexican experience and largely delivers. Thankfully, this not the kind of place that slops the inevitable rice and beans on a ho-hum Tex-Mex “combo” plate and calls itself traditional Mexican.
From aperitivos (starters) to postres (desserts), almost everything we sampled was delicioso.
