First look: Grey Social
Old City's next restaurant-club is a space with a past.
Darin Picorella now says "two weeks" for Grey Social, the nightspot he's been planning for a couple of years at 132 Chestnut St., on the block that also houses such operations as Eulogy, Triumph, Buffalo Billiards, and Ariana.
Like many properties in Old City, 132 has stories: One is that it was owned by a mistress of Benjamin Franklin. More recently, the current building was a teahouse at the turn of the last century and segued as the 1920s roared into a speakeasy.
Which is pretty much the vibe that Picorella is going for: Prohibition-era cocktails (tea-infused, too), a French bistro menu (crepes, fondue, small and large plates), and a sultry look -- high-ceilinged brick walls into which niches have been carved for votives (wax melts down the bricks), a dramatic chandelier, tooled-leather paneling on the back wall, a backlit etched-glass piece, walnut bar, and a second-floor dining room with a private bar overlooking the first floor. Lots of steel and bronze, chinoiserie floral fabric panels, U-shaped leather banquettes, low glass-topped tables.
On your way downstairs to powder your nose, you have to check out the Art Deco-style, opaque-glass doors.
He's aiming at the 25-plus crowd.