SAVVY MAINLINE

it's what you want to know

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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New whisky pub in Wayne, a Gateway center surprise, the CYO guy you WANT coaching your kids & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

Wayne is getting its first whisky bar and pub. The Goat’s Beard, a hit since it opened in Manayunk a few years back, will open in the old Xilantro space on N. Wayne Ave. in May.

Owners are Wayne guy, Sean Coyle (whose family owned the old Binni & Flynn’s in Gateway), and biz partner Michael MacCrory.

Expect the same locally sourced pub menu, small-batch craft cocktails and no fuss vibe. Xilantro went dark last week.

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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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Main Line welcomes Maya.J (yum); dueling over Devon Yard; hazing alleged at Stoga & much more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

A new H-O-T spot for your restaurant radar: Maya.J.

After cooking his way ’round the world, Main Line native Craig Wilson has brought his sizzling sauté pans home.

Lucky us.

Open since Feb. 3, locals are flocking to Wilson’s Maya.J in Manayunk. (The ‘Yunk being where the Main Line schleps when we’ve had enough Estia chips already).

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Smashing debut for Cotoletta BYOB, a new Nudy’s, our first First Watch (yum!), Haverford School star’s tragic death & more

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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Can Strafford’s old Covered Wagon Inn REALLY be saved? Plus, a new use (at last) for Bryn Mawr’s FoodSource & aftermath of an Academy Ball gone bust

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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Delays & dustups over Devon Yard: The REAL reason we’re still waiting for Waterloo Gardens’ demolition

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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!)

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SoulCycle spins to Ardmore, T/E tops in U.S., Paoli gets a Devon Donut & Drums Alive, a bang-up new workout

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.)

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‘Autograph’ to replace Wayne’s Peppercorn, Paoli’s soothing new Sanctuary, a Shark Tank success story & shortcuts around town

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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?)

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SAVVY shops! Nifty gifts with local ties: A Charmed Garden, Absolutely (easy) Lobster, Jeffrey Levinson bags, FOREVER photos

/ By Caroline O'Halloran / /

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.

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