Wayne's Restaurant Row Is Stretching Along Lancaster Avenue

Head west on Lancaster Avenue from Louella Avenue toward Devon and you pass six new restaurant projects. One is a sourdough bakery that opened this summer. Another is an Italian restaurant with more than 300 seats going into a former Bertucci's. The others include a live-fire grill on the ground floor of a new apartment building, a Mexican concept in the old Di Bruno Bros. and a North Wales favorite expanding into a well-known Devon address, with a sushi restaurant planned upstairs.

For years, a night out in Wayne usually meant North Wayne Avenue. These openings point to Lancaster Avenue itself, the road most of us drive through on the way somewhere else. Here's what's coming, in order from east to west, and how far along each project was as of its latest public update.

At a glance

Restaurant timelines move quickly, so check each restaurant's own page before you plan a night around it.

The east end: a grill near the restaurants already there

Old Friend sits closest to the dining spots Wayne already knows. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the contemporary American grill is going into a new ground-floor retail space at Lancaster and Louella Avenues, part of the Apartments at Wayne Station. The paper placed it "amid Wayne's restaurant row," across from Maison Lotus and Rosalie and a few blocks from At the Table, White Dog Cafe and the North Wayne Avenue dining strip.

The restaurant will have 86 seats: 78 in the dining room and eight at the bar. Sam Henzy, formerly executive chef at Fork in Old City, will lead the kitchen. The owners, Larry Kagan and Chas McFeely, met in 1984 at Welsh Valley Middle School and later went to Harriton High. When Kagan first described the project at a Radnor Township Board of Commissioners hearing in March on its liquor-license transfer, he said it would be a grill "that's going to have the soul of a steakhouse."

Since then, Old Friend has been on Radnor's Design Review Board agenda for September 9 for a wall sign and window graphics. As of the Inquirer's August report, the target was "late-fall," with no calendar date.

Old Friend adds to the restaurant row that already exists. The bigger change is west of here.

Eagle Village: where most of the new seats will be

Between 385 and 523 W. Lancaster Ave., three projects sit close together. Together they account for most of the new seating headed to town.

Wild Yeast Bakehouse, the one that's already open

Wild Yeast Bakehouse opened July 18 in the Eagle Village shopping center, between Autograph Brasserie and The Silverspoon. The Inquirer's July profile describes how founder John Goncher, a Rosemont resident who left a career in finance, started the sourdough business in 2021. Before moving into the shop, he built it up to about 250 monthly subscribers, half a dozen wholesale clients and a stand at the Media farmers market.

The 1,500-square-foot shop has a retail counter, a small seating area with a window seat, and large windows into a kitchen that Goncher plans to use for evening baking classes. On the shelves you'll find sourdough loaves that range from cinnamon-raisin and sandwich bread to olive herb and oat porridge boules, along with sourdough focaccia, cookies, scones, Gryphon coffee and Castle Valley Mill flour. Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, at 503 W. Lancaster Ave., Suite 1105.

Goncher told the Inquirer he looked at spaces in Bryn Mawr and Ardmore before choosing Eagle Village. The complex includes home and clothing boutiques, a florist, a barre studio and Main Line Mahjong. In his words, "This place [gets] constant traffic."

Martini & Roz, the biggest room on the list

Twenty street numbers west, the former Bertucci's at 523 W. Lancaster Ave. is becoming Martini & Roz, a Southern Italian restaurant from Fearless Restaurants. According to Delco.today's August update, the 7,500-square-foot space will seat more than 300 guests: 180 in the main dining room, 20 at the bar, 20 at a tasting counter, 20 in a private dining room and 70 outdoors.

That's well over three times the size of Old Friend. The menu covers seafood, steaks and chops, wood-fired pizza, house-made pasta and charcuterie. Two open kitchens will put the wood-burning ovens and a glass-enclosed cheese cave in view of diners, and the tasting counter will serve a nightly tasting menu with Italian cocktails, mocktails and wine. Main Line Today reported in May that crudo and oysters are also planned and that regional executive chef Merick Devine leads the culinary program.

The project still has municipal steps ahead. On August 12, Radnor's Design Review Board approved the exterior renovations and conditionally approved the monument sign. According to the meeting minutes, the project has to come back to the board for wall signage, outdoor dining, landscaping and lighting. It was listed as old business again on the board's September 9 agenda. The Martini & Roz website still says "coming soon," and Fearless lists it as opening this fall with no firm date.

"Dahlia," the all-day project at the old Di Bruno Bros.

A little east, at 385 W. Lancaster Ave., the former Di Bruno Bros. has been leased for a higher-end Mexican restaurant. Savvy Main Line reported plans for 180 indoor seats and 42 on the patio. Radnor's Zoning Hearing Board granted a parking variance that lets the restaurant share the existing shopping-center and farmers-market parking. If you shop that lot on market days, that detail is worth knowing.

Main Line Today's October dining roundup named the team: Mike MacCrory and Sean Coyle, whose restaurants include the Goat's Beard, Daisy Tavern and Mia Ragazza. It called the project an all-day concept operating under the working name Dahlia, with no opening date at press time. The final name may change before the sign goes up.

Add up the planned seats at Martini & Roz and Dahlia. Once both open, this short stretch of Lancaster Avenue will have more than 500 restaurant seats in spaces that, until recently, held a chain pizzeria and a specialty grocer.

Across the line into Devon

Lancaster Avenue doesn't stop at the Wayne border, and neither do the openings. According to Vista Today, Rich Kim, whose North Wales restaurant Salt has drawn praise, is aiming for late December for a second Salt at 840 W. Lancaster Ave. in Devon. That's the former home of La Jonquille and Shiraz. A carousel-style sushi restaurant called Yugo is planned for the floor above in 2027.

Three recent arrivals, and one that's nearby but not on the Avenue

The pipeline adds to a busy year. In its Wild Yeast story, the Inquirer listed recent Wayne newcomers including Maison Lotus, Johnny's Pizza and the boutique wine bar Nature's Vin.

ANEU Kitchens is often described as a Wayne-area project, but its planned 20,000-square-foot café, market, production kitchen and wellness center is at Eagle Yards in Tredyffrin Township. Vista Today reported a fall target in late September. The company's own locations page still lists Wayne as "Soon," with the address "Coming soon."

What to watch for this winter

The next few months should bring the signs that a restaurant is about to open:

• Old Friend: a firm opening date for the late-fall target at Lancaster and Louella.
• Martini & Roz: a return trip to the Design Review Board for wall signage, outdoor dining, landscaping and lighting, then an opening date.
• Dahlia: a permanent name and a timeline for 385 W. Lancaster Ave.
• Salt: a December opening date in Devon.

Until then, Wild Yeast is the one place on this list you can visit today. It's open Wednesday through Sunday, and the bread runs from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

If you live along Lancaster Avenue, these openings change what's within a short walk or drive of your front door. Our team is based in Devon, the same town where Salt is setting up, and we keep an eye on this corridor for the same reasons you do. If you'd like to talk about how the new spots are shaping your corner of Wayne, reach out to Dana Zdancewicz and The Caterson Advantage team. Contact Us anytime. We're always happy to compare notes on the next good meal nearby.