it's what you want to know
It’s not often that violent crime comes knocking on the Main Line’s door.
But last week’s brutal murder in Berwyn reminds us that evil can strike anywhere, anytime.
Police are investigating the homicide of a 62-year-old woman in Daylesford Estates, an upscale Toll Brothers’ development that sits between Routes 252 and Route 202 in Tredyffrin.
On June 17, a relative came to check on Denise McDonald Barger and found her beaten to death inside her home.
Coffee geeks are bouncing off the walls this week.
And not just from caffeine.
They’re jazzed because the Main Line’s first La Colombe Café has opened.
At last.
The place is a knockout – a hip makeover of the old Bryn Mawr Garage with soaring ceilings, skylights, original brick and handcrafted wood seating.
Industrial chic done right.
The Main Line never really warmed up to Xilantro, its cold, neon vibe better suited to South Beach than Central Wayne.
But its North Wayne successor, the new Goat’s Beard, well, he’s a whole ’nother animal.
Warm. Fuzzy. Friendly.
Upscale but not uppity.
It helps, too, that the guys behind the Goat are local lads Sean Coyle and Mike “Mac” MacCrory, pals since their Malvern Prep days.
The food biz in his blood, Sean handles operations. (His parents had the TexMex mainstay Binni & Flynn’s; his sister, Meridith, owns Aneu Catering and Paoli’s Fresh Ideas Market.)
Mac’s the money guy – commercial real estate exec by day, goat-herder by night.
The two buddies think they’re onto something.
Smashing, surreal, sublime or silly, the hats turned more heads than the horses at Devon Ladies Day Wednesday.
So, deepest apologies to the dedicated riders in the ring; our eyes were elsewhere.
A record number of hopefuls sashayed before a nine-judge panel.
The maddest hatters told us they’d been perfecting their ensembles for months; others claimed they’d just rustled something up that morning.
Sure, if you say so.
The parade was a study in stunning artiface. A few talked about rising at 4 a.m. for hair and makeup calls – beauty rest be damned.
The Greatest Show on Turf is right around the corner.
Not the Devon Horse Show Grand Prix – although that night’s exploits are pretty swell, too.
No, the spectacle of which we speak comes on Grand Prix Eve when gals from far and wide converge on Devon for the Ladies Day Hat Contest.
What began as a homespun affair with a handful of hopefuls in horsey-trimmed straw toppers (extra points for Devon Blue!) has exploded into a paparazzi-packed proceeding of the first order.
Judge Carson Kressley Presiding. per usual.
(A blue-ribbon Saddlebred competitor as well as a style savant, Carson will be upping his hat game this year, sporting a custom design by la-di-da milliner Christine A Moore. Hey, if she’s good enough for J. Lo and Katy Perry, she’s good enough for our guy, Carson.)
Truly, the whole hat show has vaulted way over the top.
But that’s the fun of it.
If life-sucking depression has a Main Line face, surely it couldn’t belong to tall, athletic, bright and charming Drew Bergman.
But more and more, the 2012 St. Joe’s Prep grad who had everything to live for – but tried twice to end it anyway – has become that face.
His demons at bay, Drew now makes the rounds of area schools, one of 11 speakers for the Rosemont-based Minding Your Mind (MYM) Foundation.
In two years, he’s told his story 250 times – to your son or daughter, perhaps.
And he’ll tell the abridged version again this Thursday at the inaugural MYM fundraiser he’s organized, “A Celebration of Life: Philadelphia.”
When Drew speaks at schools, 15 to 20 students typically line up afterward, seeking a private word with the 22-year old who just gave a public face to the anguish they’ve long felt.
Who just told them it’s OK to speak of the unmentionable.
Who gave them warning signs and coping strategies.
Who bared his soul, shared everything, so they might, too – to someone who can help.
Jaw-dropping, trippy and altogether original, Autograph Brasserie is like nothing the Main Line has ever seen.
And see it you must.
Not since the 2004 debut of Nectar’s big-boy Buddha has a suburban restaurant arrived with such flash and splash.
After a yearlong total makeover, Autograph is now open in the former Peppercorn/georges/Le Mas Perrier space in Wayne’s Eagle Village Shops.
So sign up now, chowhounds; reservations are going fast.
Autograph is the latest head-turner from Main Line-bred restaurateur Marty Grims, the EA/Cornell grad behind White Dog Cafés in Wayne, Haverford and West Philly, and a pack of other places.
While the Dogs are playful romps with man’s best friend, Autograph is an homage to Man himself.
Specifically, to the stars, men and women, who’ve shaped our closets, our iTunes libraries and, yes, our kitchens.
Hallelujah! It has been SAVED!
A few months ago, we told you about the fire ’n brimstone fight to spare Strafford’s old Covered Wagon Inn from CVS’ wrecking ball.
Well, Praise Be: preservationists’ prayers have been answered.
CVS’ developer has submitted a new plan to Tredyffrin Township that keeps the small circa 1780 building – once the Covered Wagon Inn, now Thomas Moser Fine Furniture – standing tall at the corner of Old Eagle School and Lancaster.
Well, what do you know? We’re getting a Pizzeria Vetri after all.
Just not in Devon. Not yet. And maybe never, the way Devon Yard’s going lately.
Urban Outfitters Inc. is clustering four of its brands near its Urban Outfitters store at the King of Prussia Mall’s Pavilion.
By mid-fall, we’ll get another Anthropologie, a Free People (relocated from the other end of the Court), and yes, that Pizzeria Vetri (with bar & lounge) that we’ve all been pining for. At the mall.
Meanwhile, back in dear Devon, the Yard project is as mired in weeds and thorns as the old Waterloo plot on which it would sit.
Yuck runs amuck: Neighbor vs. neighbor. Little guy vs. “big, bad” developer. Homeowners’ concerns vs. township interests. Threats and counter-threats.
Ugh.
The latest: Red “Promote Easttown: Support Devon Yard” signs dueling with blue “Save Devon” yard signs around town. (And yup, the first homeowner to put up a red sign last week – architect John Toates – says he found it lying in his mulch the next morning – which is exactly what allegedly happened when the blue signs went up a few months ago. Oy.)
Developer Eli Kahn’s 60-foot high hopes have been officially and forever dashed.
After huddling with disgruntled Devon neighbors, he’s just unveiled a new plan that lops off the top floor of his proposed Devon Yard apartments and cuts the number of units from 135 to 100.
Was it the blue yard signs that sprouted like spring weeds along adjoining streets after that very vocal public meeting?
