Check out this gorgeous new restaurant in the burbs | Let’s Eat

The owners of White Dog Cafe are good for a few tricks. I’ll take you inside the new Chester Springs location. Also this week, we recap the 2024 James Beard Awards, meet the entrepreneur who wants to bring back the Horn & Hardart Automat, and hang out with Philly’s answer to Willy Wonka.

— Mike Klein

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Friday is the debut of the fifth White Dog Cafe, capping a nearly three-year renovation of the sprawling former Vickers Restaurant near Exton. This 400-seater has more dog-related art than you can shake a stick at. I share a first look.

So Jesse Ito didn’t win a James Beard Award the other night, even though (a) after seven times, he is seriously overdue and (b) you cannot argue with his success — his omakase experience at Royal Sushi is the toughest reservation in town.

From a civic standpoint, we have plenty to be proud of besides Ito’s nomination: colleagues Craig LaBan and Jessica Griffin’s travel-story prize, the book awards for beverage mavens David Suro and Danny Childs, and the leadership awards for Muhammad Abdul-Hadi and Christa Barfield. As a Vietnam Restaurant loyalist for three decades, I got misty as Benny Lai and his mother, Thuyen Luu, accepted their America’s Classics medallion, given to owners of establishments that change the way we eat. The Lai family, who came to America with $30 in their pockets, did that and more. Read on for a recap of the three days’ worth of Beard awards.

David Arena, 35, never ate at a Horn & Hardart Automat, a part of Americana for 90 years. But his mission is to bring them back — not as a nostalgia play, but as an efficient way to serve wholesome food to the masses. Meanwhile, we apparently still love H & H: On Sunday, Arena offered 50 copies of an H & H history for sale online, and he says they sold out in one minute. He is working with Marianne Hardart, the coauthor and a great-granddaughter of founder Frank Hardart, to get the book reprinted.

✍️ Lots of you shared your H & H memories. Send me more!

Christopher Curtin might be Philly’s own Willy Wonka. Kiki Aranita caught up with him at the West Chester R & D lab for Éclat, where your wildest chocolate fantasies unfold. How about lemon ganache with a spoonful of tapenade?

Where to pick your own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and other produce near Philadelphia? We’ve fielded your request and plotted it all out for you.

Montco news: The closing of Fatty’s Bar & Grill last summer after two decades in Wyndmoor really got to restaurateur Brian Harrington, who lives nearby, and developer Jay Overcash, whose holdings include Enza, the pizzeria across the street. Fatty’s was “a neighborhood place where you could feed your kids after practice or watch a game,” said Harrington, a creator of the City Tap House restaurants. They’re turning it into the Stotesbury, whose name honors Springfield Township landholder Edward T. Stotesbury. “Enza is a restaurant that has a bar,” Overcash said. “This is going to be a bar that serves food.” Opening? Harrington said his parents’ 80th birthday party is booked there July 29.

South Jersey news: The Maple Shade location of Uno Pizzeria & Grill (2803 Route 73) has given way to Tony Roni’s Tap House, a sibling of the nine Tony Roni’s in the region. Same owners, bigger menu.

Rahul Bhatia, who launched Saffron Indian Kitchen 15 years ago in Bala Cynwyd and last month opened his fourth location (and his first in Philadelphia) at 423 W. Girard Ave. on the Kensington-Northern Liberties line, is proud of the philosophy that guides his restaurants: “People come in and say, ‘This just hasn’t changed,’” he said. “That is the key. They want consistency.”

Saffron’s menu, served in modest surroundings dressed up with linen tablecloths, is a straight-up recitation of staples: Lamb saag and chicken masala are the best sellers, and there’s a big gluten-free and vegetarian selection, though his wife and partner, Ruchi, insists upon a selection of regional specialties each month.

The Delhi-born Bhatia, 55, came to the United States in 1991 to study hotel and restaurant at Johnson & Wales in Providence, R.I. After working for a Sheraton in Boston, he was recruited to help run an Indian restaurant chain there. But, he found, Boston was becoming saturated with Indian restaurants. After visiting Philadelphia, he saw opportunity, particularly in the suburbs. After Bala, he opened locations in Wayne and Ambler — all on small-town business strips. The new location on Girard Avenue has this feel, too.

“The city was never my cup of tea,” Bhatia said, but this general area has become more residential since he started 15 years ago. The four Saffrons are not too spaced out — a plus, since either Rahul or Ruchi are at each restaurant every day.

Bhatia’s mission is to get people to try Indian food. “It’s growing, but I think only 1% of the [general American population] has tried it,” he said. “I’d say eight out of 10 restaurants now do a decent job, which is very important. I mean, if you come here for the first time for Indian food and if I do a terrible job, that’s what you’re going to think Indian food is.”

Saffron Indian Cuisine, 423 W. Girard Ave. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, noon-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Other locations at 145 Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd; 60 E. Butler Ave., Ambler; and 522 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne. BYOB.

John’s Roast Pork. John Bucci of John’s Roast Pork replaced the sign on top of the building at Weccaccoe Street and Snyder Avenue on June 6 — the 16th anniversary of the bone-marrow transplant that saved his life.

Bucci has named the smiling pig Nico after his grandfather Domenico, who founded John’s in 1930. (Craig LaBan’s 2013 feature on Bucci’s recovery and return to work is a must-read.)

“Made With Fire” is a series of live-fire dinner collaborations at the Lucky Well (990 Spring Garden St.) that will put chef/owner Chad Rosenthal in the kitchen with guest chefs on Tuesdays from 7-10 p.m. Launch is this Tuesday with chef Carlos Aparicio of El Chingon. That will be followed up on June 25 with chefs Davide Lubrano and Vinny Gallagher (Pizzata Pizzeria), July 2 with chef Liz Grothe (Scampi), July 9 with chef Natalia Lepore Hagan (Midnight Pasta Co.), and July 30 with chef Jacob Thinh (Nhau). Tickets ($100), including tax, tip, food, and unlimited wine, are up on Eventbrite.

Yeeroh, the fast-casual Greek grill, has opened its third location (after South Street and Media) at the former Ken Loves BYOB at Third Street and Fairmount Avenue. Sandwiches and bowls are half-off today.

Izzy’s 33, the South Philly bruncherie by chef Isrrael “Izzy” Romero, has opened a branch at Montgomery Mall’s food court.

Developer Ori Feibush has shut down his three OCF Coffee Houses, a week after workers told him they want to join a union. Feibush says the operation has not made a dime in 13 years.

Nicole Marquis has stepped down from the CEO role at Marquis & Co., the operator of HipCityVeg, Charlie Was a Sinner, and Bar Bombón, after 14 years. She’s handed it over to two colleagues.

Get the glamour of Lacroix at the Rittenhouse on a budget. Chef Eric Leveillee’s $55 three-course dinner tasting menu is served Thursdays: quenelles of pike with sauce Nantua; blanquette de poulet with morel farcis, asparagus, and savagnin; and variations of chocolate and cassis. Reserve on Resy.

D.C. Vietnamese restaurant Moon Rabbit, part of the Beard nominations this year, will visit Rittenhouse’s a.kitchen on June 23 and June 24 (sold out) for a $125 four-course menu with optional wine pairings from chef Kevin Tien.

Fishtown District is launching Fishtown Taps, a summerlong happy hour from 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays with discounted drinks at two dozen bars and breweries. Wraps Oct. 29. Participants are listed on the Fynd app.

Humpty’s Dumplings, marking its 10th anniversary and 10 million dumplings served, will give away free dumplings for a year to 10 customers. Owners Phillip Yesenosky and Patrick Doyle will place 10 gold-brushed dumplings into their inventory beginning Saturday at their Glenside location, and at farmers’ markets (Saturdays at Lansdale and Sundays in Horsham). To win, hit up Humpty’s Dumplings on Instagram with photographic evidence; prize is two dozen dumplings per month for a year.

There’s a dispute over the Philadelphia revival of Tun Tavern, the birthplace of the Marine Corps. What’s the issue?

A) The Air Force wants a piece of the action.

B) There’s a copyright battle over the name.

C) No one can agree over the recipe for fish-house punch.

D) Should antique pewter should be used in the mugs?

Find out if you know the answer.

When is Tequilas, the Mexican restaurant, ever going to reopen? — Edward R.

I caught up the other day with restaurateur David Suro, basking in the glow of his James Beard Award for his agave book. “Hopefully, September,” he said. Tequilas (1602 Locust St.) was heavily damaged by fire in February 2023.

The site of the old Melrose Diner has been dormant since they finished demolishing it a year ago. Are plans for the new diner still moving forward? — Evan S.

Well, it’s been nine months since the bulldozers arrived. Owner Michael Petrogiannis said he’s still raising the money for a mixed-use building that would include a rebuilt diner on the ground floor. “If you can find me $20 million, I will start tomorrow,” he told me.

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