Walk the stretch of Lancaster Avenue that cuts through Bryn Mawr Village this fall and you will pass a bakery expanding, a fried chicken counter already doing business, a dim sum concept moving in, and a gluten-free specialty shop finally getting its own address after years of baking out of a kitchen in Manayunk. They represent four different formats and operators joining the corridor.
Then there is 915 Lancaster Avenue. The address has had three restaurant names since 2017: Enoteca Tredici, Fiore Rosso, and Il Fiore. A new restaurant is planned for the same space. Alongside the other food businesses opening in the Village, its history is one part of the changing restaurant scene in Bryn Mawr.
Three Restaurant Names, One Format, Nine Years
The address has a real history, and it is worth laying out plainly because the pattern only becomes visible once you see it in order.
| Concept | Arrived | Departed | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enoteca Tredici | 2017 | 2021 | Mediterranean-style wine bar, a hit when it opened |
| Fiore Rosso | 2022 | 2024 | Italian, tied to the Marc Vetri restaurant group |
| Il Fiore | 2024 | January 2026 | Rebrand of Fiore Rosso, same footprint |
Enoteca Tredici closed in 2021, a casualty of financial pressure and the pandemic years that took down a lot of independent wine bars regardless of how well they'd been received. What followed was not a fresh start so much as a series of second attempts at the same idea. Fiore Rosso arrived in 2022 with a Vetri pedigree behind it, one of the more credible restaurant names in the region. It didn't last two years before rebranding as Il Fiore in 2024, which itself closed at the start of this year.
Three restaurant names, one throughline: an elevated, wine-centric Italian room aimed at an evening crowd. The space has hosted variations on that general format.
A New Restaurant Is Planned for 915 Lancaster
As The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, the tenant now taking on 915 Lancaster is 28-year-old chef-owner Alex Fiorello, who already runs Alessandro's Wood Fired Italian & Bar in Wayne, which opened in 2020 as an upscale-casual neighborhood spot with a loyal following, and Alessandro's Pizzeria in West Chester, a more casual lunch-and-slice operation. Bryn Mawr Village is his third location and, by his own description, the most ambitious. The plan calls for house-made pasta, wood-fired pizza, a live-fire grill, and dry-aged proteins using on-site aging refrigerators that came with the space, along with a handful of Japanese-influenced, sushi-style items worked into an otherwise Italian menu. Fiorello has said the concept, tentatively named Enoteca Alessandro's or Alessandro's Enoteca, is meant to sit a step above his Wayne restaurant, with more emphasis on the bar and the evening scene. He's backed by investors this time, not building it alone the way he did in Wayne.
Bryn Mawr Village's owner, Paul Aschkenasy, has been candid about what he's hoping for after watching two prior concepts come and go in the same footprint. He's said he wants a restaurant that appeals to a broad range of neighbors, keeps a lively bar going, and is priced so people can come back on a regular basis rather than saving the room for special occasions. His stated priorities—broad appeal, a lively bar, and pricing suited to repeat visits—set out what the owner hopes for in the next restaurant.
Whether the doors are open by the time you're reading this is worth checking before you build a Friday night around it. The reporting on the timeline put a spring opening in play, and Fiorello's history of running two other restaurants at once means this launch has more moving parts than a simple buildout. The planned restaurant remains Italian and wine-and-bar-driven, with a focus on the bar and evening scene.
Other Food Businesses Opening in Bryn Mawr Village
Several other food businesses are opening in Bryn Mawr this year alongside the planned restaurant at 915 Lancaster.
The Buttery opened its third location this year at 836 W. Lancaster Avenue, following an original Malvern shop from 2015 and a second location in Ardmore. The Bryn Mawr café runs 82 indoor seats from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with the kitchen closing at 3 p.m. while pastries, sourdough, coffee, and grab-and-go items stay available through close. Co-owner John Rhoads has talked about the brand's approach as building spaces where people gather and feel at home, and the Bryn Mawr shop is already planning to add dinner service and a liquor license, meaning it's positioning itself to become a daytime and evening fixture rather than just a coffee stop.
Love & Honey Fried Chicken opened its Bryn Mawr outpost earlier this year as the suburban counterpart to its original Northern Liberties location, bringing buttermilk-fried chicken, tenders, sandwiches, and house sides to Lancaster Avenue. Dim Sum Factory, an established local chain, has a Bryn Mawr location in the pipeline that was slated for a winter opening when it was first announced, which puts it either already serving soup dumplings and scallion pancakes or close to it. And Flakely, the gluten-free bakery that built its name operating out of an industrial kitchen in Manayunk, is finally getting a storefront of its own on Lancaster Avenue, a real address after years of working without one.
These four openings cover distinct formats: a café, a fried chicken counter, a dim sum chain, and a gluten-free bakery. They are aimed at different parts of the day and differ from the evening-focused Italian concepts associated with 915 Lancaster. Together, they illustrate the range of food businesses coming to Bryn Mawr Village and the address's separate restaurant history.
What This Actually Means If You Live Here
The businesses opening or already operating along Lancaster Avenue offer several different options. For morning coffee and pastries, the Buttery is one to consider; Love & Honey offers a fast-dinner option, and Flakely is planned as a gluten-free bakery. Dim Sum Factory is worth watching for an opening date. The restaurant planned for 915 Lancaster is another development to follow as the address adds to its recent history.
That's the kind of detail you only get by paying attention to a corridor over years, not months, and it's the same kind of attention we bring to every block we work in, whether the conversation is about where to grab dinner or what a specific address is actually worth.
If you're thinking about your next move on the Main Line, or just want a team that knows the neighborhoods and businesses shaping it, the McCann Team would love to help. Let's Build Your Next Chapter.
