A French bistro for Phoenixville
Sips is run by a former manager at Center City restaurants.
Sips Bistro & Bar (400 Bridge St., 484-924-9721), the lovely old house that used to hold the Moon Saloon, fulfills the ownership dream of Fabien Chaigneau, a onetime manager at such destinations as the Sofitel, Valley Forge Radisson, Pond, and Brasserie Perrier and most recently general manager at the Bungalow Hotel in Long Branch, N.J. (That job forced a commute from his Phoenixville home and time away from his wife, Veena, who works in the pharmaceutical industry.)
Chaigneau, a native of the Vendée in France, brought in longtime colleague Dan Wallace to help run the place and chef Gerald A. Petrus Jr. (Great American Pub, Circa, Plate) to execute a classic bistro menu (dinner entrees $17 to $27). Menu is here.
There's a full bar (it's BYO pending liquor license), a sweet outdoor patio with a babbling fountain, and various romantic rooms; one room's banquettes get the comfy treatment from red pillows sewn by Veena Chaigneau's mother, Jaya Gaddamidi.
It's open for dinner nightly and weekends for a $16.95 jazz brunch. Weekday lunch will start Monday, Aug. 6.