Michael Klein: Mexican restaurant fills a void in Media Borough
Media Borough may have had a wealth of dining options, as locals Greg Quintiliano and Alan Reh knew, but there was no Mexican restaurant.
Media Borough may have had a wealth of dining options, as locals Greg Quintiliano and Alan Reh knew, but there was no Mexican restaurant.
The friends fixed that shortcoming a few weeks ago with Dos Gringos (113 S. Olive St., Media, 610-565-7794), a BYOB in the former John's Place diner. Chef Don Koszowski, a former sous chef at Center City's Lolita, is going beyond ordinary, making everything from scratch, including turkey sausage and chorizo.
It's open at 7 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays, serving breakfast till 11 a.m. and lunch till 2:30 p.m. Starting next week, dinner will be added Wednesdays through Saturdays.
The small-town feel is exemplified across the street at Ariano, a rustic, bilevel Italian BYOB, with wood-burning oven and homemade gelato, that Quintiliano and Reh's friend Anthony Bellapigna opened last fall directly across the street (114 S. Olive St., Media, 610-892-6944). On the day I visited last week, Bellapigna was being quite neighborly, delivering silverware to Quintiliano and Reh.
What's new
Shuttered four years, the former Mexican Post and Don Pablo's on the outer fringe of Franklin Mills mall (4501 Woodhaven Rd., 215-637-5151) has new life. It's the handsomely appointed Katie O'Donnell's Irish Pub, equal parts pub, sports bar (with a 140-inch high-def screen), and full-service restaurant. It's a partnership of Ed Bonk and Dave Greenhalgh, former owner of Callahan's, who named the place after his grandmother.
What's coming and going
Table 31's Chris Scarduzio says he's about to open his second Atlantic City restaurant: a steak house in Showboat Atlantic City called Scarduzio's. It will replace Rib & Chophouse near the House of Blues. Scarduzio, who operates the Italian restaurant Mia in Caesars, says the new place will have an exposed sushi bar and late-night ultra lounge with DJ. Opening is projected for mid-July.
Memphis Taproom (2231 E. Cumberland St.) will open a beer garden in the lot next door at noon Saturday. Centerpiece will be a mint green truck, parked full time. Menu: hot dogs, canned beer.
The beer bar Fork & Barrel, which gained notice in its mere seven-month run on Ridge Avenue in East Falls, has closed. Owners Matthew Swartz and Matthew Scheller say they want to redouble their efforts at their new Farmers' Cabinet on Walnut Street.
Kensington has lost El Cafeito, the Puerto Rican cafe at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Chef Lisa Padilla said the building's owners, Olga and Osvaldo DeJesus, have decided to sell the building, sending Padilla back to Starr Restaurants. She was sous chef at Jones, and is next expecting a post at Dandelion.