Michael Klein: Restaurateur plans to grow business with 2 more eateries

Dave Magrogan will expand his empire further.

He is taking over what briefly was Square Peg at 10th and Walnut Streets; he is not sure yet of the new concept - only that it will open "later in the year." He also is preparing to take over Firecreek, the steak house in a 200-year-old refurbished paper mill on the banks of the Brandywine in Downingtown. Its last day is likely early next week around June 17, according to management. Magrogan (Doc Magrogan's, Kildare's, Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar) plans to relaunch it as Stella Rossa, an Italian bistro with wine bar and Neapolitan pizza oven. He's saying mid-July for the opening.

Chef Anthony DiPascale, who has spent the last year as executive chef of the Harvest in University City, will be chef. Di Bruno's will source the cheese, charcuterie, and olive program, and the bar will offer Italian wines, international craft beers, and specialty cocktails.

In addition to Stella Rossa, Magrogan has another Harvest due in August in English Village in North Wales.

Effective Thursday, the Rittenhouse (210 W. Rittenhouse Square) has revived its Mary Cassatt afternoon tea service in the lobby ($49 per person from 2 to 5 p.m. daily, half-price for ages 10 and under) and opened a swank Library Bar under Pablo "Papi" Hurtado, whose resume includes Alba, Amada, and Savona. Bar menu starts at $18; specialty, though, is assorted pairings from hotel chef Jon Cichon, such as foie gras verrine, black truffle, and duck rillette with Hennessy Paradis ($115 for one, $225 for two) and Valrhona Araguani mousse with a Warre's 1985 port ($55 for one $105 for two).

Developer Stanislaw "Stosh" Stachowski will import pierogi and pasta makers to work in a secret room deep within Royal Cracovia, a $3.5 million, 250-seat Euro bistro rising up where Magnolia Diner used to be on White Horse Pike. The place, to open late next month, has a quarry's worth of marble, granite and stone, four private dining rooms, an enormous banquet room, a wood-fired oven, a rotisserie, 25-foot cathedral ceilings, $200,000 in lighting fixtures, $40,000 of American red oak, and three custom-built Italian display cases to sell pastries, kielbasa, and grab-and-go salads and sandwiches.

Ross Scofield, who lived at 50th and Spruce Streets while attending the Restaurant School, is taking over the space that was Rx, at 45th and Spruce Streets. With help from Restaurant School classmate Danielle Coulter, he's opening in mid-July as Rx - The Farmacy - a triple-word-score homage to Rx, his farm-to-table approach and the building's past as a pharmacy. "I'm taking it back to where it was - a neighborhood restaurant," said Scofield, who comes from a family of Greek diner owners.

Taqueria del Sol - the Atlanta-based Southwest/Mexican quick-serve franchise whose founders have been nominated twice for James Beard Awards - has expanded to Springfield, Delaware County. It's next to Empire Beauty School in the Staples shopping center on Sproul Road just off Route 1 (781 W. Sproul Rd., Springfield, 484-472-8644).

The days-old Pour House outpost in Exton (116 N. Pottstown Pike, 610-280-7900), in the former Cheeseburger in Paradise, has a bar top milled from a 60-inch-diameter English chestnut tree that blew over in 2009 on the estate of the Duke of Northumberland in England. Pub menu is similar to the Westmont, N.J., location's. Pour House is a variation of P.J. Whelihan's with a respectable list of craft beers.

If Rittenhouse Square seems more alive lately, it must be the caffeine. You have La Colombe, Metropolitan Cafe, and Joe. Cafe L'Aube - the roaster/creperie with locations at 17th and Wallace Streets and in the new NextFab studio on Washington Avenue opened inside the 222 Rittenhouse condo building. It's just to the west of the square, on Locust Street.

Judging by the lunchtime crowds, they're on to something at the new Xi'an Sizzling Woks (902 Arch St., (215-925-1688). The restaurant in the minimalist Chinatown storefront specializes in cuisine from Xi'an, in northwest China. (It was known as Xi'an Famous Food when it opened, but a letter from the owner of the popular Xi'an Famous Foods restaurants in New York City sent the management back to the signmakers. Staff won't say much about the owner - only that he owns another restaurant, in Northeast Philadelphia.) Menu is written in pen. The house specialty is Xi'an liang pi ($5) - a plate of cold, flat, slippery "skin" noodles with julienned cucumbers, bean sprouts, and spongy wheat gluten, which you top with a spicy-salty sauce of soy and a thick orange paste. It's open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The steel-and-glass-girdled restaurant at 246 Market St. in Old City is empty again. Jalsa - a short-lived Indian restaurant with a nightclub on the second floor - has been evicted, according to city records that list more than $14,000 in back rent.

The club Industry XIX at 1904 Chestnut St. has been shut by Licenses & Inspections over an assembly permit.

Chef Sylva Senat has left Tashan, the high-end Indian concept created by Tiffin founder Munish Narula. Senat, who contends that he was let go, is succeeded by Kirti Pant, who'd been hired ostensibly as chef of Narula's new Tiffin Bistro.