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.
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?)
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.
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.
Wayne’s new Cornerstone Cheese and Charcuterie may just have the corner on cool.
Apparently, there are places like this all over Europe, Northern California and hip downtowns across the country, but I can’t think of a spot quite like it on the Main Line. The concept – a gourmet shop/BYOB/chef’s table hybrid – taps into the tapas trend and then some.
A jewel-box of a spot at the corner of North Wayne and West Avenues, what Cornerstone lacks in square footage, it more than makes up for in ambition.
Holy Guacamole! Are we having a taco moment or what? By the end of the week, three new taco joints will have opened along a 4-mile stretch of Lancaster Ave. in less than a month. For the owners’ sakes, let’s hope that’s not one tortilla too many.
Riding the taco wave in downtown Wayne is Pipeline Taco. A beachy-keen twist on the traditional Mexican taqueria, Pipeline opened Friday in the former Garden Grove/Sophie’s Café/Cream and Sugar/Brew Ha Ha space on Lancaster Ave. (Clearly, the new owners plan to break the address’ apparent jinx.)
Tacos here are “island-inspired” – literally. The taste-of-the-tropics menu and ultra-casual surfer vibe are a riff on Killer Tacos, a taqueria on Hawaii’s North Shore with a cult-like following.
Ah, the steep price of beauty. Merchants at the Chesterbrook Shopping Center are paying it in spades this summer.
An unsightly, depressing mess after Genuardi’s closed in 2010, the center these days is even uglier, with chain link fences cutting off precious parking spots and earthmovers assaulting ears and kicking up dust.
But better days – make that, MUCH better days – are ahead.
Under new ownership, the dowdy gal’s going under the knife: shedding tons of excess square footage and getting a long-delayed facelift.
The makeover should help the struggling center keep old customers and make new ones – key among them: new neighbors inhabiting 123 luxury townhomes that will soon engulf her.
Quirky coffeeshop? Hip bakery café? Yes and yes but the surprisingly spacious Malvern Buttery is more like your favorite aunt’s enormous eat-in kitchen – assuming she’s a terrific scratch cook, uses state-of-the-art equipment and likes company by the carload. Fresh, pure, local, green, whole – there isn’t a healthy-eating buzzword the Buttery doesn’t embrace. Fruits and veggies come from Lancaster County farms; meats and dairy are grass-fed and organic.
B.good, a fast-food joint catering to our better angels, has descended upon the Main Line. Not only is its first restaurant now open in Wynnewood Square, it’s also dispatching this little puppy to serve up free smoothies to Main Line businesses this month. (Pitch a visit to your workplace via [email protected].)
B.good likes to brag A LOT about how its entire menu – house-ground burgers, oven-finished fries, kale and grain bowls, salads, sides, smoothies and shakes – comes from “local farms that support humane, natural and responsible growing.” Wall murals introduce you to virtuous guys like Farmer Rich from South Jersey.
