Table Talk: Meet Shredwich

Fast-casual - the segment of dining that includes create-your-own meals (e.g. Subway and Chipotle) - is exploding.

Jeff Hettinger, his son Steven, and business partner Felix Mailetta - who also have Viva Bistro in Wyomissing - slow-roast brisket, pork, chicken, and turkey, shred it, and add toppings and sauces for salads, rice bowls and sandwiches.

Hence the name Shredwich. The first location opened last month in Saint Davids Square (550 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, 610-688-5700). A second is on the way to Wynnewood Shopping Center, due in the spring.

Shredwich also makes chips, cookies, and brownies in-house, and designates local nonprofits to receive a cut of proceeds.

The Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel will stop serving dinner after Dec. 27, pending the hotel's closing sometime next year as it moves into the forthcoming Comcast Innovation and Technology Center.

William DiStefano, who rose from apprentice to head chef over 25 years, said the management team had decided to finish out its operation "with dignity. We want to give the Fountain its own designated departure time."

The restaurant, the city's most-decorated, earning four bells from The Inquirer's Craig LaBan for as long as he has been doling them out, will continue to serve breakfast and lunch.

But the hotel's decision effectively spells the end of an era. The Fountain opened in 1983 with the Four Seasons under chef Jean-Marie Lacroix. Pretty much from the beginning, it has held AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Travel Guide Five Star status - the only restaurant in the region to hold both. Dinner after Dec. 27 will be offered in the hotel's lounge.

What happens when a chef gets ahold of the humble bagel? Adam Willner, who started dabbling in bread while at Matyson, takes what he calls "a modern interpretation of the traditional bagel shop" near Washington Square at Knead Bagels (725 Walnut St., 267-519-9920).

He and his wife, Cheri, opened last week, offering a familiar plain, everything, poppy, onion, and garlic, but also bagels flavored with the Japanese pepper called togarashi, pastrami spice, black sesame, fennel seed and sea salt, Moroccan spiced apricot, flax and chia seed, and porcini, with appropriately cheffy spreads to match. Breakfast sandwiches get an upgrade with a swipe of aioli. There's seating and Elixr coffee.

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Pietro's Pizzeria & Birreria (236 N. Radnor-Chester Road, Villanova, 484-367-7072) joins locations in Center City and on South Street as it has opened for dinner next to Honeygrow and Hubbub Coffee across from the Radnor High football stadium. Pietro's partners Pete and Nick Pashalis, with Pete's brother-in-law, John Lois, also own Estia Greek Taverna at the opposite end of the strip center. Unlike the other Pietro's locations, this does not have a coal-fired oven.

Hai Street Kitchen, the Genji-owned Japanese burrito shop in Rittenhouse Square, has signed on for a University City location at 125 S. 40th St. and is due for an early 2015 opening.