Old Mill Inn in Hatboro to reopen

The Old Mill Inn, which has stood at Horsham and York Roads in Hatboro for nearly 300 years, is being restored and is scheduled to reopen in April as Louie's Old Mill, a neighborhood Italian BYOB with a rustic menu.

The "Louie"  is Louie Zweifach, a Brooklyn native who operated the Meatball Room in Boca Raton, Fla. The restaurant, on two floors, will open initially for dinner, and private events will follow. The property is on the banks of the Pennypack Creek - hence not only the "Mill" in the name and the sweet outdoor setup but the fact that it's on a flood plain.

Husband-and-wife builders/developers Lynda Clauser and Jim Case bought the inn in 2013, two years after another huge flood shut it down.

They stripped the building down to its original bones and removed drywall and woodwork on the ground floor leaving the 14-inch-square columns throughout the building. They left the original yellow pine beams intact, and retained the additional steel support added through the years.

While all hardwood floors were refinished on the second and third floors, they had the first floor peeled down to the original stone, stucco and concrete. The color palette will feature earth tones, with soft browns, beige and green throughout the interior and exterior.

It's now flood-tolerant, said Clauser. That is, if it floods, the structure is set up to minimize damage. The kitchen, for example, has been moved to the second floor.

Originally a grain mill from 1724 until the late 1800s, it then became a machine shop for milling parts. The structure was later converted to a tea room in the early 1900s and then to a restaurant.

Besides old-school classics, Zweifach will specialize in desserts, such as large sundaes, milkshakes, cannoli, and funnel cake fries.

Hatboro, incidentally, is getting another new restaurant soon as 58 York - a smart-looking American bar/restaurant - is taking shape at 58 S. York Rd., at the former Cafe La Fontana.