Pattye Benson reports that McKenzie’s Brew House is looking to open a new location in Berwyn’s Valley Fair Shopping Center, in the former Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse space. No date is available at this time.

(Why couldn’t it be Sly Fox?)

For you township politics junkies out there, a hearing is scheduled for March 7, 2011 to discuss the transfer of Basil’s (Willistown) liquor license to McKenzie’s for this (Tredyffrin) location.

If you follow Avalon Restaurant on Facebook, you probably already know that chef/owner John Brandt-Lee will soon be opening Avalon’s Pasta Bistro, although Brandt-Lee has been mum on the location, other than the fact that he recently signed a lease. Many Facebookers have already guessed that it will be located at the former Jasper’s location in Downingtown, and Michael Klein confirmed that today.

According to some recent posts from Brandt-Lee, the bistro will be a “casual pasta bistro, serving complimentary beer & Sangria, Artisanal cheeses and a ‘best of line up’ of Avalon’s most popular homemade pastas.” It will “feature pastas like Pappardelle with poached sea scallops, black truffles in a lobster brandy cream or our 15 item antipasti platter with Preserved tuna, roasted peppers, white anchovies, chili cured olives, eggplant, zucchini, fried risotto, salumi, selection of artisanal cheeses, roasted beets, white beans etc.”

I’m not sure I get the “Pasta” modifier in “Pasta Bistro” (why can’t it just be a bistro?), but it sounds quite good nonetheless.

Darlene Moseng, the chef and owner at French BYO A La Maison in Ardmore, has recently left town for Seattle to develop a restaurant / catering biz at the Amazon Corporate Center. She’ll remain involved in the Ardmore restaurant, while everyday chef de cuisine Sean McMonagle will remain in the kitchen.

Interestingly, Mike Stollenwerk, the chef/owner Little Fish – who has been a busy bee lately with the opening of Fish and the soon-to-be Fathom Seafood Bar — will come on as a consultant. Expect to see his influence starting this Spring.

Here’s the description of a la Maison from OpenTable:

A la Maison is a casually elegant French inspired BYOB bistro located in the heart of Ardmore at 53 W. Lancaster Avenue.

Come & join us for a relaxing evening “at home” with your favorite friends & favorite bottle of wine.

Firinji, a Turkish-influenced (with a diverse international menu) quick-serve will open later this month at 54 E. Lancaster Ave, joining a slew of recent and upcoming Ardmore openings (Hummus, healthy chain Sweetgreen, and Di Bruno Brothers).

Firinji’s menu is centered around flatbread wraps, kumpir (stuffed baked potatoes), and coffee, with a wide variety of each. “Firinji” is Turkish for “baker”, and the menu anchors on Turkish specialties like doner & lahmajoun (no Turkish coffee though), yet quickly explores a wide variety of other cuisines such as Italian, Asian & Mexican. Hopefully they’re not stretching to far (a la Babu Bhatt) by trying to cover such a wide variety.

The atmosphere will be a casual cafe, with nothing on the menu over $10.

Firinji Website

Great news for folks who frequent the Ardmore Farmers Market – Michael Klein reports that Di Bruno Brothers, the venerable Philly legend of cheese & Italian delicacies, will be opening a stand this March. It’ll take up 5 stalls and include all the usual suspects: huge wheels of Pecorino & Parmesan, strangled provolone, legs of prosciutto and more, plus it a will have a small cooking-demo area.

Incidentally, you can now find a selection of Di Bruno’s wonderful cheeses in the Paoli ACME store (and presumably other area ACMEs).

NOTE: Baxter’s Black Sheep closed in December 2010.

The Berwyn space that was the Main Street Café is now Baxter’s Black Sheep Saloon. This shouldn’t be all that surprising, considering that Main Street Cafe co-owner Jessica Morrison is the daughter of the owner of Baxter’s Saloon in Paoli.

We don’t have any further details, though one might guess a simplification of the menu would be among minor changes to the place. If you’ve been, comment below.

Twenty9, a new bar & grill in the former Boathouse location in Malvern (which closed during the summer of 2010), opened earlier this month. It appears, from a few online reports, that the interior was given a much-needed renovation. Based on their Facebook feed, it appears Twenty9 will keep the drink specials-first, food-second attitude of the restaurant it replaced (and will surely pack the local business park set for happy hour, especially once the weather turns warm again).

BTW, we noticed that Twenty9 has a Facebook page but no website. Is this the new trend for restaurants? Why pay someone thousands for a site when you can just set up a FB page for free? Or is the website still in development? Hmmm.

Update: GAP Paoli opened on 3/3/11.

A few weeks ago, a friend approached me with a tip: The Great American Pub was opening another location in the former Casey’s space in Paoli (near San Nicola and the Bank formerly known as Basil) just off Rt. 30 on King Rd.

Naaaaaah, we both thought. That can’t be true. The GAP folks are always sure to find a location that’s ON the main drag, with a lot of foot traffic. Such a seemingly inconspicuous location wouldn’t make sense for them. Well, it appears we were wrong, as said rumor was recently confirmed by Main Line Media News, who states that extensive renovations are underway and a January opening is targeted. (Ha – extensive and January? They must mean 2012.) Perhaps these renovations include a really BIG sign.

I can’t say that we’re all that excited about another generic Great American Pub coming to the area, but perhaps this is a sign that Paoli is ready to embrace its place as “the next Wayne”.

Hummus restaurant in University City opened second outpost in Ardmore (in the Ardmore Plaza Shopping Center – near DSW) on November 26, 2010 (Black Friday!)

You can check out the details on Hummus’ city location (and hopefully the new one too) here.

Michael Klein reports that Bistro Evviva, a 50-seat French/Mediterranean joint with former Taquet and Pond/Cassis chef Abde Dahrouch at the helm, will open this fall in the Montgomery Ave. mansion that currently holds a catering business and private party venue. Evviva opened as a restaurant in 1983, but converted to catering-only in the late 80s.

The bistro will both have a full bar and allow BYOB.

Evviva is owned by the Wakim Restaurant Group, who also owns Gemelli in Narberth with chef Clark Gilbert, Aldar Bistro in Bala Cynwyd, and Murray’s Deli in Narberth.

[Evviva Official Site]