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The Goat’s Beard debuts in Wayne; Remembering Polka Dots’ Susan Randels & other news around town

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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Hat hijinks at Devon Ladies Day, Sizing up the new SoulCycle Ardmore, A Gateway getaway & much more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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Handicapping the hats for Devon Ladies Day contest; Racial Justice Town Hall & scoops around town

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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New Autograph Brasserie’s a stunner in Wayne’s Eagle Village Shops, iFly over K of P, a Stoga video you gotta see & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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Who’s Coming, Who’s Going, Who’s Growing in Wayne, Stoneleigh in Nova saved for ALL & Mom’s Day ideas

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Turning the page on Bryn Mawr, Main Point Books is heading west to Wayne.

Score one for Wayne in the Main Line Downtown Showdown.

Dusty, down-at-the-heels and now officially defunct, Wayne’s old-timey Reader’s Forum will get re-incarnated as Main Point Books in mid-summer.

“I wouldn’t have moved if I hadn’t been offered this specific space,” says bookseller Cathy Fiebach, a Wynnewood mom who will pack up Bryn Mawr after a three-year run and open on North Wayne Ave. the last week of July.

‘Cause Wayne’s got what Bryn Mawr’s still pining for: foot traffic.

“People understand how to park in Wayne and how to walk around town,” she tells SAVVY. “Bryn Mawr doesn’t quite have that worked out.”

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3 New Spots You Need to Try: Biga in Bryn Mawr, Brandywine Branch Distillers & Wayne’s Christine Shirley, plus Covered Wagon Inn SAVED!

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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A Devon Yard Uh-Oh; Big 5 High Fives; Malvern’s new Scoops – the next Handels? Verge Yogi’s book & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.)

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Heroin strikes again: RIP Tyler McCloskey (Stoga ’12); Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre goes BIG time; baby- & dog-napping news

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

The Tredyffrin and Conestoga communities are mourning yet another young life tragically lost.

Tyler McCloskey, 22, died of an apparent heroin overdose over the weekend.

Tyler was the younger brother of Reilly McCloskey, the 2010 Stoga grad/photographer who only a few weeks ago shared his own addiction struggles with SAVVY Main Line.

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Now clean, sober & thriving, Conestoga ’10 grad Reilly McCloskey calls out area parents (ouch), Stoga hazing update & sunnier stuff

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Reilly McCloskey is clear-eyed. At last.

An addict through his teens, Reilly, 23, is clean and sober, his vision fixed and in focus, the grayscale blur of his Conestoga days turned radiant.

And like Dorothy in Oz, Reilly is relishing every last pixel, capturing them with his Canon D in all their Technicolor glory.

Indeed, the first show of his photography (“Interaction of Color” at Bryn Mawr’s New Leaf Club through March) is an explosion of hue and light.

A celebration of seeing. For the first time.

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Bold, hip & rockin’, new Bulldog Yoga romps into Villanova (will yoga ever be the same?), plus a new Zavino, Besito blasted, shoutouts & fond farewells

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Take every notion you’ve ever had about yoga, then flip it – like your best downward-facing dog.

What do you get? Bulldog yoga.

Debuting its flagship this Friday, Feb. 19 in stunning space in the new Villanova Center, bulldog aims for Top Dog status. If it hits the bull’s eye, it will become nothing short of the SoulCycle/FlyWheel of yoga.

A breed apart AND a breed above.

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