Table Talk: Opa chef revamps the menu top to bottom

The first Greek American chef at the mod Greek spot Opa (1311 Sansom St.), Bobby Saritsoglou has revamped the menu top to bottom. It's all small plates.

Mike Giammarino, who owns the century-old Lombardi's in Manhattan as well as Gennaro's Tomato Pie in South Philadelphia, just debuted Grace & Pat's, a family friendly ristorante at 1533 S. 11th St. (215-336-3636), across from the Singing Fountain on Passyunk Square. The cash-only BYOB - done up in New York subway kitsch - has an early, limited menu of pizza, appetizers, salads, and desserts. Specialty is what Giammarino calls "grandma-style" pizza: rectangular, thicker than Neapolitan, not as thick as Sicilian. It's open Wednesday to Monday for dinner.

Tir Na Nog, the Irish pub, has opened a Cherry Hill branch. It replaces Dubh Linn Square at 482 E. Evesham Rd.

Six months into Aldine at 19th and Chestnut Streets, George Sabatino is doing away with the prix-fixe concept in favor of traditional à la carte. Figure on $9 to $15 for first and second courses, and $18 to $25 for larger plates.

As he expands his empire on 13th Street, restaurateur Michael Schulson is fixing to open Harp & Crown in Rittenhouse.

It has no set address, but is in the 1500 block of Sansom Street - north side, midblock - across from Oscar's Tavern and Ladder 15, and it is part of the building that was to become Tin Roof.

Schulson plans an American restaurant with a comfort-food menu. There will be no live music, he said. A mezzanine overlooking the dining room will be constructed, and there will be private dining in the basement.

Schulson also is overseeing the build-out of Double Knot, a coffee house/Japanese restaurant, next to his Sampan on 13th Street south of Sansom. He also owns Izakaya at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Thursday is the season-opener of Independence Beer Garden, outside the Dow Chemical building at Sixth and Market Streets, across from the Liberty Bell. Chef Leo Forneas' all-new menu reads like a backyard cookout, with a few nods toward healthful selections. Beer list has 19 varieties on tap; bottles have been scrapped this year in favor of cans (picking broken glass out of the pebble stones is a bear).

Pizzeria Vetri - in the guise of a mobile pizza oven - will be part of Saturday's Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival along Walnut Street. Vetri plans to open a pizzeria on the 1600 block of Chancellor Street this spring.

Ten restaurant chefs - including Marcie Turney of Barbuzzo, Josh Lawler of Farm and Fisherman, Tod Wentz of Townsend - and five food trucks will whip up street food in Eats 2015, a competition, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at World Cafe Live. Proceeds will benefit Wat Bodd Voraditth Orphanage in Thailand's Ang Thong Province as well as local nonprofit the Food Trust. Details are at www.eatsphilly.com.