Table Talk: The scoop on More Than Just Ice Cream

Time for a changing of the guard at

More Than Just Ice Cream

in Washington Square West.

Brian Daly, who started at the casual restaurant/ice cream bar in 1975 and bought out owner Kay Helsel in 1990, is selling to longtime employees Dalton Castano and Rachelle Capistrano-Sorg.

Daly, 53, decided five years ago to get his master's of education degree in counseling psychology. Daly quipped that after years of training employees and counseling them as a big brother, "I could do it professionally and people will actually listen to me."

The changeover, which officially begins next week, has been a long time coming. Capistrano-Sorg, 36, an 11-year veteran, worked for Daly at MTJIC's previous location (1141 Pine St.) and moved with the business to 1119 Locust in 1998. Castano, 29, was the first employee hired at 1119 Locust. Castano will focus on the menu and kitchen while Capistrano-Sorg will focus on desserts and front-of-the-house operations.

"It's not as scary as it could be," Capistrano-Sorg said of the transition. "We're just thinking of this as moving to the next level." The two plan to "modernize" while keeping MTJIC's vibe as "someone's living room."

"I'm so grateful my legacy gets to live on through them," Daly says. That includes the baking. Daly's mother, Martha, is showing the ropes to the new owners.

Stephen Starr, whose

Butcher & Singer

steak house opens Monday for dinner and Tuesday for lunch, told me that he had a signed agreement of sale for the low-slung building that houses Letto Deli, still operating at 13th and Chancellor Streets in Wash West. Letto's owner and the building owner have not returned my calls over the last week. Starr's ideas for the place are Love Burger (a long-in-the-planning-stage gourmet-burger joint) or a pizza/wine/beer restaurant with a cool aspect he's not fully talking about yet.

Philly is in line for a branch of

Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man

, a chocolate-themed restaurant chain, at 212 S. 15th St. (that's the storefront that last was West Coast Video). Max Brenner is a multinational with units in New York, Australia, the Philippines, Singapore and Israel. A Max Brenner rep told me the plan is for a retail store/restaurant, to open in late spring or early summer.

The second

Naked Chocolate Cafe

, a sibling of the original at 1317 Walnut St., is due to open by the end of the month at 34th and Walnut Streets on the Penn campus. A third Naked Chocolate is due by the end of the year at 31 S. 18th St., at the Hub in the United Plaza Building.

Sometimes there are detours on the road to success.

Cresheim Cottage Cafe

and

Trolley Car Diner

in Mount Airy have soldiered on despite the ridiculously long closure of Germantown Avenue. Roadwork has contributed to the closing of

Tortilla Press Cantina

in Pennsauken, says chef-owner Mark Smith. Construction on the Maple Avenue bridge began a month after the restaurant's opening last November, and things quickly went down after that when a side street was also closed. Smith said he had regrouped at the original

Tortilla Press

in Collingswood.