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Saturday, September 27, 2008
You can't get anything you want at Alison's restaurant

For all the restaurants that fling open the doors five minutes after they get their health inspections -- no matter how "ready" the owners think they are -- we have Alison two, on Bethlehem Pike in Fort Washington.

Night after night for the last week and a half, the glowing lights and dining patrons can spotted through the windows. Friday night (9/26), this sign on the front door warded off the public.

Even though chef-owner Alison Barshak opened the reservation lines the other day, the first reservations are not being granted for a full month out: Oct. 23. It's not clear when walk-ins may be accommodated.

Barshak is being slow and deliberate, fine-tuning with friends-and-family meals before the masses come in. It's commendable. No restaurant is up to speed from Day One, and negative word of mouth can be a killer. It's also expensive to dole out food, pay staff and fund Peco with no income. Keep in mind that Barshak recently shut down Alison in Blue Bell, her other restaurant 15 minutes away, as it undergoes renovations.

Posted by Michael Klein @ 12:32 PM  Permalink | File Under: TableTalk | Post a comment
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About Michael Klein
Michael Klein chronicles local people, places and things (in easy-to-digest portions) three days a week in his Inquirer column "INQlings." He also covers the restaurant scene in his Thursday Food column, "Table Talk." See his work at http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/michael_klein.
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