Michael Klein, editor/producer of philly.com/Food, writes about the restaurant scene in his Inquirer column, Table Talk. Have a question? E-mail it, and he'll answer in print or on his blog.
What a long, strange trip it's been for Nomad Pizza Co.
The onetime wood-fired mobile pizzeria - run from a 1949 REO Speed Wagon that co-owner Stalin Bedon won on eBay - put down roots nearly three years ago with its first shop in Hopewell, N.J. All sorts of awards followed.
The Christou and Kurnellas families, entering their 10th year with KC Prime steak house in Lawrenceville, N.J., have opened their second location, in a former Houlihan's in Warrington.
Center City restaurateurs Valerie Safran and Marcie Turney, enjoying hits with their Italian themer Barbuzzo and Mexican BYOB Lolita, have converted Bindi, their Indian BYOB across the street, into Jamonera, an intimate Spanish tapas bar.
To say the region is in a brewpub frenzy is no understatement. Iron Hill just opened its ninth location, in Chestnut Hill, and is planning a 10th in South Jersey in 2013. (See cover story on F1.) In Ambler, Forest & Main Brewing Co. is due to open toward the end of the month. A bit further off is Ardmore's Tired Hands Brewing Co.
Chef Mark Berenato's first solo restaurant - a rustic, balconied BYOB in Haddonfield's Shoppes at 116 - carries the name da Soli, Italian for "on my own."
Not satisfied with simply selling cars, Cortright Wetherill Jr. of Devon Hill BMW has gotten himself into the restaurant business with Ella's American Bistro in Devon Square (214 Sugartown Rd., Wayne, 610-964-3552).
Chef Arthur Cavaliere, a vet of El Vez and Amada whose last gig here was as executive chef at Parc, has landed in East Falls with In Riva (4116 Ridge Ave., 215-438-4848, www.in-riva.com), a Southern Italian specializing in wood-fired pizzas and antipasti.
Tony Blanche washed dishes and shucked clams as a teen at the old Clam Tavern in Clifton Heights, and 30 years later, he returned to buy and renovate it.
Rob LaScala, whose flagship restaurant is the casual, family-friendly LaScala's at Seventh and Chestnut Streets, is launching side-by-side Italian concepts a few blocks away.
The progression of Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby continues. He started cooking vegan back in the '90s at Horizons Cafe, inside a health-food store in Willow Grove. She joined him. They married and moved everything downtown in early 2006 as the more refined Horizons.
