Dixie Picnic, serving Southern-inspired cooking, to open in Center City

Dixie Picnic, a Southern-inspired, fast-casual comfort-fooder now in Malvern's Lincoln Court, is about two weeks from opening a second location smack in the middle of Center City, at 1306 Chestnut St. It's the former Scratch Biscuits.

Owner Tracey Deschaine, a Restaurant School at Walnut Hill grad partnered with husband Dean Prescott, specializes in sandwiches, salads, and box lunches. "The menu is based on my visits with my Southern relatives, who would take us out on picnics," she said.

Dixie Picnic's signature item is an Upcake — an upside-down cupcake iced on the tops and sides. The fall flavors, including brown butter apple, blueberry pancake, and caramel apple, are about to resume.

The Center City menu at first (served 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) will be set up for lunch. Box lunches include a sandwich, a side, a deviled egg, and an Upcake.

Deschaine plans to offer breakfast tailored to the workforce with options that are "better than what you can get at a convenience store."

They also will offer online ordering, with a dedicated window for pickup.

Deschaine grew up in Virginia, and moved to North Jersey, where she worked as a nurse. After five years in Germany, she returned to the States and settled in Philadelphia. She said she sensed a need for scratch cooking and to decided to enroll at the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.

An early incarnation of Dixie Picnic was located in Ocean City, N.J., but fell victim to the 2008 recession, she said.

Vincent Stipo of MSC Retail represented Dixie Picnic in the lease negotiations.