Restaurant notes: Table 31 buttoning up; chef intrigue

The plaza dining outside the Comcast Center at 17th and JFK cooks with activity in the warm weather. How about alfresco dining 10 months a year? Table 31's Chris Scarduzio says an enclosure -- a giant canopy with drop-down sides -- is being fabricated offsite. In early August, according to plan, the enclosure will be installed in stages, to minimize service interruption. Scarduzio envisions special events, such as dining keyed to the Comcast holiday show on the lobby video wall.

Restaurateur Franco Faggi has been a-wandering lately. Last year, he left Franco's Trattoria in East Falls and opened Franco's Osteria on City Avenue, just across the Schuylkill. He's bowed out of that place (though it retains his name). In a few weeks, he expects to open a still-unnamed trattoria back in East Falls, at 3572 Indian Queen Lane. That spot has had a revolving door of names, owners, and concepts, including Silver Spoon and Hidden River.

And there's a whiff of intrigue surrounding chef Matt Zagorski, late of Rouge. The new daddy is working on something but won't talk. But: The invitation for the June 27 Chefs Dinner for the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society identifies him with something called "2025." Sounds like a street address to me.

Brian Nagele of Philly2Nite says he's not quite sure what he'll do with Apollinare, the Italian spot at the Piazza at Schmidt's, aside from the fact that they've ditched fine dining. Maintaining pizza and small plates and pumping up the drink specials, he's setting a rebranding and relaunch for late summer.